Liverpool Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014 - Mod Note in OP 28/8

rossie1977

Going to be a long season. City never out of third gear and win easily pulling up. Thats two extremely poor performances back to back.

I think brendan and a few fans got carried away with themselves last year.

NukaCola

Its going to take a while to get that fluidity that we had last season especially with a lot of new signings coming in.

We were well beaten but up until the first goal we more than held our own. A lot of work to do but a loss to Man City away on the second game isn't a disaster, how we respond will be very important.

Disappointed but not terribly surprised.

darced

This post has been deleted.

Gbear

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Big glass of reality to be consumed now. Last season is very much in the past. We're not great.

:rolleyes:

Absolute rubbish post Lloyd.
Just negativity for the sake of it.

I don't think anybody was acting as if we were the champions elect so I've no idea what you're on about.

City dropped 5 pts at home last season. We lost there last season and took the title down to the last day. We have 2 signings who've yet to play at all and 2 who've barely had a look in in Can and Markovich.
City have spent about £2bn and probably have 2 of the top 10 first 11's in the world in their squad.

We gave a good display in the first half, we wobbled a bit for the first 20 minutes in the 2nd half and had a decent end to the game especially considering the injury problems.
Really great work by the lads in the last 10 minutes.

A solid performance in a game where any points were a bonus and that will be true of every single team going there this season.

Good displays from Gerrard, Allen, Sterling, Skrtel and especially in the 2nd half, Sturridge.

Moreno was good other than the blunder. He's young. Hopefully he'll learn something from that, he's not too badly hurt and he can put it right next weekend.

Lovren was a bit iffy. Neither of the CBs have blown me away over the two games and I think Sakho needs to be given a chance in the few weeks.

Whatever trouble Spurs might cause us next week, we were the ones who beat them 9-0 over 2 games last season and not the other way around.

We were beaten by the best team in Britain but there's another 93 pts on offer from the bottom 16 teams in the league who I do expect results against, starting next weekend.

djPSB

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

Lol at the posters saying it's maybe time to start benching Gerrard. One of our only players who didn't look completely lost out there tonight.

One of our best players tonight.

mylefttesticle

Still 3 points better of than last season with these two fixtures (Southampton & city)

Some positives but mostly it was horrendous to watch its not even that we played poorly as we were good in some parts its just City didn't even need to go up a gear to beat us.

Gerard has been a great player for us and still has a role to play but jesus he could never control the midfield even in his prime so I don't know why he is expected to now.

Can will be quality was a bit clumsy tonight but the potential is there.

Defence was all over the place but against a top class team with no protection from the midfield then that was to be expected, don't really understand why we have so many creative midfielders but not one quality defensive midfielder.

If we don't sign a defensive midfielder then we should keep agger and see how he does in that role, he can pass, tackle and read the game very well and cant be any worse than what we have.

We will be ok for a top four finish I think we have the quality to steam role lesser teams but we wont have answers for the bigger top four physical teams.

Must say fair play to city I thought they where excellent and controlled the game like champions, they will take some beating not to be crowned champions again.

whatawaster

rarnes1 wrote: »

He did very little once City scored.

Sturridge needs proper help up there asap

Attacking players generally don't do loads in every game. Doesn't make them poor.after the first half hour he saw much less of the ball

MD1990

For Spurs i would go

____________Mignolet___________
Manquillo___Skrtel___Lovren____Moreno
____________Gerrard______________
_____Henderson_____Allen__________
__________ Sterling______________
________Sturridge____Balotelli______

donfers

A-Train wrote: »

Really need to look at getting a top class keeper in because Mignolet is not the answer.

Three shots on goal for them, three goal...top keepers produce the goods in key games, 2 of those 3 goals were saveable...he seems to make errors or at least, doesn't perform in key games which is a bad habit

Sir Gallagher

rossie1977 wrote: »

Going to be a long season. City never out of third gear and win easily pulling up. Thats two extremely poor performances back to back.

I think brendan and a few fans got carried away with themselves last year.

Hang about, you are comparing a sample of 38 games to 2 here, i think you're the one getting carried away mate.

noodler

Sterling and Sturridge need proper help would be more apt.

Sterling was involved in almost everything we did decent up front. Put Sturridge through on goal, narrow angle though, in the second half after a very decent run.

Hoki

What I noticed from that - we need to be playing 2 up top . We looked more dangerous when Ricky came on , Sturridge doesn't have the ability to hold up the ball at the edge of the box - he prefers coming deeper.

We controlled the first 40 mins then shat ourselves when they went ahead. Moreno looked very good going forward but a little suspect defensively - he gets a pass being his first game .

Glen Johnson is dogsh-it - so slow and pedestrian on the ball - nearly every time he got the ball on the right wing he slows down to a walk completely taking the pace out of our attack- wouldn't wish an injury on any player but it might be a small blessing .

City are going to be challenging for the title this year no question so in theory this is the hardest game we'll play all season . Give the team time to gel , might be a rocky start but hopefully after they have been training together a few months they'll start hitting top form. I've a feeling the 2nd half of the season will be where we will come good & it may be a bit ropey until then.

spockety

rossie1977 wrote: »

Going to be a long season. City never out of third gear and win easily pulling up. Thats two extremely poor performances back to back.

I think brendan and a few fans got carried away with themselves last year.

Yup, got carried away with that TITLE CHALLENGE.

Utopia Parkway

mylefttesticle wrote: »

If we don't sign a defensive midfielder then we should keep agger and see how he does in that role, he can pass, tackle and read the game very well and cant be any worse than what we have.

Agger is far too slow to play DM.

djPSB

Soft Falling Rain wrote: »

Again Coutinho was poor. I won't be harsh on him but I think he needs to be benched for Spurs.

Not too downhearted but it could be a long road while Rodgers gets this team settled.

It had nothing to do with the team being unsettled. Simply beaten by a better side.

Stargate

Would have been happy with a draw before the game . Only our second game and it will take time to get the team playing to it's full potential . We were good for periods , had a few chances. Several times i thought we were in . Need to put those away when away from home .

Move on to Spurs now and pray we have a full squad to pick from .

Super-Rush

mav79 wrote: »

We are getting bodies back defending but it looks too easy to bypass players. Its like schoolyard defending where everyone is drawn to the ball. Not many players seem to cover the space.

Yeah Lucas let's players get past him too eas.........oh wait. Who gets the blame now?

Big Knox

A loss away to the league winners one week into the new season with 2 new defenders starting and people are throwing the toys out already.

Relax ffs!

Fescue

The strange thing is I was expecting the return to one up top would leave us more defensively solid. It hasn't. Plus we don't look as dangerous going forward.

A return to the diamond with Balotelli and Sturridge up front might be the way to go.

Hoki

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

Hang about, you are comparing a sample of 38 games to 2 here, i think you're the one getting carried away mate.

Rossie has never made a positive post about Liverpool since Rafa left so its best to ignore his embarrassing posts.

mylefttesticle

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Agger is far too slow to play DM.

Don't agree you need speed to be a great DM, you need an eye for pass, a good range of tackling and intelligence to read the game.

Utopia Parkway

Sturridge might need some help up front. Coutinho doesn't get up into the box enough to help him. Sterling managed it occasionally. At one stage in the 2nd half there he beat a City defender and flashed a ball right across the goalmouth. Last season Suarez would have been there for a tap-in but there was nobody up top to help him.

Francie Barrett

Super-Rush wrote: »

Yeah Lucas let's players get past him too eas.........oh wait. Who gets the blame now?

Man City have about £200M worth of central midfield talent in their squad. Our midfield cost about 1/3rd of that, so it's not like this is down to any one player.

Utopia Parkway

mylefttesticle wrote: »

Don't agree you need speed to be a great DM, you need an eye for pass, a good range of tackling and intelligence to read the game.

Agger would be lost at DM. Too slow both on the run and more importantly slow on the turn. And at DM you would have to be turning back and covering a lot.

joe123

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Big glass of reality to be consumed now. Last season is very much in the past. We're not great.

Keep telling myself Do not rise to the bait.

I think I know what you are.

Anyways we are two games in. City are going to be tough for anyone in the league. Lets start judging ourselves 10 games into the season...even five.

Not two lads.

Kirby

Mistakes for every goal.

Moreno, Lovren, Gerrard for the first.

The second goal I'm not sure wtf Glenn Johnson was trying to do on the line. Head it away. It's so easy and he goes with his leg.

Mignolet was badly at fault for the Aguero goal. Okay, it's Aguero, he's a lethal finisher but Mignolet's positioning was bloody awful. Basic keeping.

Not a great day for Liverpool. The thing is, they were actually pretty good for most of the first half.

whatawaster

mylefttesticle wrote: »

Don't agree you need speed to be a great DM, you need an eye for pass, a good range of tackling and intelligence to read the game.

Agger is an average passer and tackler though.

mylefttesticle

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Agger would be lost at DM. Too slow both on the run and more importantly slow on the turn. And at DM you would have to be turning back and covering a lot.

I am not saying he is the permanent answer to the problem but in lieu of any decent DM at the club do you have a better suggestion? That is if they don't sign one.

spockety

I was only thinking how horribly cliched all the stuff is that Sky Sports commentators and summarisers go on about.. Last time Man City got a hattrick against liverpool was in 1343 or something, and that season they .... WON THE TITLE. Etc.

This thread provides no respite. It was our 2nd match of the season, against the champions, on their turf.

Screw this.

BoardsMember

Agreed we need a DM. But then you have a problem, what to do with Gerrard. I know what I would do, I'd get a young midfield in there. GErrard's no Pirlo, and we cant afford to have him as DM, or a DM plus him. He watches so many players make breaks past him, week in week out, he's becoming a liability in defence.

rob316

Can't make my mind up about mignolet saved us last week but incredibly poor for all 3 goals.
Moreno looked very good going forward reminded me of dani Alves but he has alot to learn defensively.
Lovren was very shaky.

Hopefully that's the end of johnson he really is uuseless. Lambert and markovic looked good, Ricky should of smashed that shot though would have made for a great ending.

Once again tonight showed we need to play with 2 strikers the difference when lambert came on was night and day. Lambert doesn't have to do anything just stand in the box it creates space for Sturridge.

Charlie19

Hoki wrote: »

Rossie has never made a positive post about Liverpool since Rafa left so its best to ignore his embarrassing posts.

Think Mike mark1 got into trouble for rising to it towards the end of last season.

mylefttesticle

whatawaster wrote: »

Agger is an average passer and tackler though.

Would not agree with either of those assertions. He may not be the CB he once was but his tackling is still good, his passing can be excellent and he has game intelligence.

I am not saying he is the answer but we are seriously light in CM for a DM especially in games against top six sides.

Zak Flaps

Not our year.

Finical

Right pretty down after a poor result as you know yourself lads.

Thought it wasn't the worst performance. Once they scored their first it was a totally different game from there on out. I also think experience played such a huge part in that game too. Defence is still a bit over the place as well.

The second goal totally killed it and boy was that schoolboy defending, the space leading up to it was baffling. Johnson could of surely flung his head at it though either way? I dunno maybe I'm a bit harsh. He also could of played on I'd say when he "limped" off. I'd say he's realising himself that he really has gone downhill to what he was before and even at that he wasn't great.

The positives: Moreno looked really good despite his mistake. Markovic looked very solid when he came on. Lallana and Balotelli still to come in to the side.

The most important thing to come from that game is the the reaction away to Spurs next Sunday.

Utopia Parkway

Our pressing disappointed me again. Last season we pressed teams relentlessly and forced them to turn over the ball which we attacked quickly from. None of that evident so far against Southampton or City tonight.

whatawaster

mylefttesticle wrote: »

Would not agree with either of those assertions. He may not be the CB he once was but his tackling is still good, his passing can be excellent and he has game intelligence.

I am not saying he is the answer but we are seriously light in CM for a DM especially in games against top six sides.

Put it this way - Gerrard, Allen, Lucas, Can and Henderson are all better options than him there

Soft Falling Rain

djPSB wrote: »

It had nothing to do with the team being unsettled. Simply beaten by a better side.

Not sure where I made an excuse but carry on. It was almost embarrassing how much on top City were after they scored and you won't see me making an excuse for that.

I'm just saying that this team is clearly in a period of change, and between the addition of 9 players and the loss of one world class player it may be a long road while Rodgers figures out his best line up.

Anyway, just a few thoughts:

I hope that Lovren's lapses in the last two games are born purely out of settling nerves because he's looking anything but commanding. Says it all when Skrtel is the more composed one.

I think Sturridge made a fair few wrong decisions tonight.

Can was comedically bad when he came on.

As for Johnson, can't believe I was defending the chap a few weeks ago. It wouldn't be ott to use the word disgrace for once.

djPSB

Balotelli didn't do enough tonight. Not sure he'll make it at the club.

billymitchell

Rodgers is not too happy with the Balotelli signing, really sounds like he would have preferred to get a different striker

Devilman40k

Losing against a city side that lost ONCE there last season and we're going mad... played well for 35 mins then fell asleep. Third goal was shocking alright. One thing that I did notice was we were a little pedestrian up to the point Markovic came on

We're up 3 points on last season. The real judge of where we are is next weekend. Get a result at WHL and that's 6 from the first 3 nothing wrong with that.

36 to go.

One thing I did find funny was Tyler and Smith wondering if Suarez would have made a difference. Yep from his living room he would have done alright lads!

razorblunt

One thing to note on Moreno, making his debut in a new country, league, away to the previous seasons champions was always a baptism of fire, but, I was surprised by Neville and Carragher praising his tackling abilities beforehand they showed three clips and in each one he was out of position as a left back.

Thought he showed great character to stay on though and have faith in the coaching staff to address the areas oh his game that need work.

ratracer

Hold the phone.... How comes nobody has said:









Rodgers out...... :0

gafferino

billymitchell wrote: »

Rodgers is not too happy with the Balotelli signing, really sounds like he would have preferred to get a different striker

What did he say?

Charlie19

billymitchell wrote: »

Rodgers is not too happy with the Balotelli signing, really sounds like he would have preferred to get a different striker

Yeah it sounded that way, he said something like "limited availability in the market"

darced

This post has been deleted.

Francie Barrett

All I can say is LOL at armchair pundits talking about putting Agger into midfield. People must be utterly deluded if they think you can just throw a 30 year old central defender who has the turning circle of a barge into an alien midfield position while playing against one of the best midfields in the world and expect it to work!

Devilman40k

billymitchell wrote: »

Rodgers is not too happy with the Balotelli signing, really sounds like he would have preferred to get a different striker

He won't have any problems benching Balotelli if he doesn't want him there. Rodgers has shown in the past that with Sahin and Assaidi that he can and will give a player the cold shoulder

mylefttesticle

whatawaster wrote: »

Put it this way - Gerrard, Allen, Lucas, Can and Henderson are all better options than him there

Don't agree, they certainly play better when as a team everyone is pressing but when we are not pressing they are very vulnerable, in those situations when the team is not pressing you need a player with intelligence to dictate the pace of play to suit the team, that's what we lacked tonight.

Still its too early and as I said there is positives and we are still 3 points better of than last year after these last two fixtures.

Kerrigooney

rossie1977 wrote: »

Going to be a long season. City never out of third gear and win easily pulling up. Thats two extremely poor performances back to back.

I think brendan and a few fans got carried away with themselves last year.

Sad.