Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014 - Mod Note in OP, 1/09

slingerz

I think the defence gets exposed by the openness of our midfield at times.

Our fullbacks are class

Mignolet is not good enough, hopeful Valdes gets in

Coutinho hasn't played well in the 4231 formation

Balotelli needs a strike partner who runs in behind

Borini showing how useful a squad player he can be I'm happy we didn't let him go

Lucas did well when he came on might be a good option in Europe

Lambert has to get a start soon he must be nailed on to start against Middlesboro

Lallana is still rusty after his injury

Injury list is long with Johnson, Flanno, Skrtel, Can, Allen, Sturridge all out and Markovic suspended

Tipsy McSwagger

rob316 wrote: »

If we lost Henderson for any period I would really worry the energy he gives is relentless and his attacking play is getting better.

Delighted for balotelli, the two Spanish lads were brilliant and lallana looked good just a bit rusty.

Lovren looks great he's strong and agressive and great on the ball but his positioning is shocking. Sakho gives me the shakes he can barely trap a ball. Mignolet I'm just tired of never will be good enough.

Coutinho was terrible as bad as Saturday.

Henderson's red against City last season was a major factor in not winning the league.

The Mig

Can I change my name to The Valdes when he signs? I'm even contemplating The Jones.
I've lost all faith in Mignolet!

Kunkka

I am concerned with Lallana's two performances so far. I know he's back from an injury but how many times in the last 15 years have we been like that with a new player just assuring ourselves he'll come good and they never do. I haven't seen enough of him to comment on how good he is but I still think at 20+ million he's got to have a better showing than he has.

rob316

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Henderson's red against City last season was a major factor in not winning the league.

Cant be stated enough, Rodgers said as much. Best English midfielder and our best one. I love watching him he will just run and run but it's all got purpose.

Augmerson

The Mig wrote: »

Can I change my name to The Valdes when he signs? I'm even contemplating The Jones.
I've lost all faith in Mignolet!

The name should be Multiple Migs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv5ef7jkPB8

Fescue

Kunkka wrote: »

I am concerned with Lallana's two performances so far. I know he's back from an injury but how many times in the last 15 years have we been like that with a new player just assuring ourselves he'll come good and they never do. I haven't seen enough of him to comment on how good he is but I still think at 20+ million he's got to have a better showing than he has.

I thought he looked pretty good tonight and got better as the game went on. He will get better.

Hangballlouie

If fairness to Rodgers he was right there in his interview; there isn't any poor sides in the Champions League. It's the reason why Utd didn't qualify.

rob316

Kunkka wrote: »

I am concerned with Lallana's two performances so far. I know he's back from an injury but how many times in the last 15 years have we been like that with a new player just assuring ourselves he'll come good and they never do. I haven't seen enough of him to comment on how good he is but I still think at 20+ million he's got to have a better showing than he has.

About 120 mins he played so far after a 2 month lay off and no proper preseason judging him already is grossly unfair. He is a quality player and will be in our starting eleven imo.

He was one of our better players sat and again tonight, he should be far sharper come the west ham game.

NIMAN

hangballlouie wrote: »

If fairness to Rodgers he was right there in his interview; there isn't any poor sides in the Champions League. It's the reason why Utd didn't qualify.

Pool and Utd fans, eh?:rolleyes:

So your team is ****, who cares cos at least we are in it. Yeah, great logic.

redbaron_99

hangballlouie wrote: »

If fairness to Rodgers he was right there in his interview; there isn't any poor sides in the Champions League. It's the reason why Utd didn't qualify.

There are plenty of poor sides in the CL. You watched one or two of them tonight.

delw

Who got MOTM?

hadepsx

I'd say nuri is a happy man tonight

Hangballlouie

Jasus that was easy.

Gbear

Individually quite a few good performances.

Moreno seriously looks the business. An absolute steal if he keeps playing like this.

Manquillo lacks a bit of composure in the final third but there's the making of a great full back in there. Dunno what he was doing up front to win the penalty but that's some damn fine initiative.

Sakho and Lovren were pretty solid. They both made a couple of mistakes but were both let down by players supposed to be covering them as well.
We've conceded relatively few chances in the last 2 games so I'm not sure what else Rodgers can do. Your defence needs to be able to make mistakes without it almost guaranteeing a goal be the result of it. They're supposed to be a team and cover each other (there were also a few examples of that working very well).

Mistake by Mignolet. Disappointing. He failed virtually the only test he had all match.

Coutinho was trying things that maybe should've been there. But they weren't and he constantly gave the ball away. If we get better balance up front we might see the best out of him but for the moment I think he needs to be benched.

Lallana was pretty good. Lost the ball a few too many times though. He needs some more game time. The few times he's gotten close to the attack it's looked very promising. A bit more of that hopefully.

Sterling didn't do much wrong. Not hugely effective either though. His final ball is a long way from the finished article but he gives you so much solid possession in the final third that it just makes things happen around him. Wasn't his fault they mostly didn't.

Gerrard was ok. Just isn't involved a whole lot in our general play these days.
His set piece delivery was mostly pretty poor. Nice to have a virtually guaranteed penalty taker though.
I'm eager to see what our midfield looks like with someone more mobile. It's a bit sad seeing what was such an amazing player doing a menial task that pretty much any of our midfielders could do just as well.

Balotelli, I was pretty impressed with. Made a few stupid fouls but worked pretty hard the whole game. He needs a partner though. Nice little finish.
Borini seemed to work fairly well alongside him but losing Lallana and Coutinho from midfield and replacing them with Lucas was a blow.

Lucas isn't good enough further up the pitch. He was never great on the ball aside from being able to turn, shield and pass it. He can't run at people.

Our biggest problem is that Rodgers still hasn't quite figured out how to make this work with Mario.
Hopefully we see the diamond against WHam. It still didn't work brilliantly but he hamstrung our midfield at the same time as changing the system - having players like Markovic, Lallana and Allen should do the trick.

All in all I'm pretty pleased by the result. This is a problem that I think is down to Rodgers having to juggle too many things at the same time - we're trying to attack without both of last season's strikers as well as integrate 3 new attackers. We need to get a few results while Bren gets a firm grasp on the situation and to tide us over til Sturridge gets back.

billy2012

I really like moreno and manquillo, 2 super signings!! Nice finish by Mario. Lallana has shown glimpses of magic but ain't hit form yet. I preferred Lovren on the with Skrtle. With no Sturridge that's a lot of changes from last seasons starting xi especially in the villa game with markovic playing as well!!

Augmerson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzGwKwLmgM

delw

Just looking at Madrids goals,Bales one was tasty

Fescue

I get the feeling Rodgers wants to move away from the diamond but it remains the formation that gives us a real cutting edge.

Ardent

Strongbow10 wrote: »

Midfield is not good enough. The defence is completely exposed when we are being attacked, theres no protection whatsoever.

Same old story from last season. Rodgers can change the backline all he wants but we will continue to ship goals while the opposition drive a bus through our midfield.

I mean, WTF was Lucas' job when he came on?

Mr Alan

Mignolet needs to go, he is clearly not up to it.

Ardent

Gbear wrote: »

Individually quite a few good performances.

Moreno seriously looks the business. An absolute steal if he keeps playing like this.

Manquillo lacks a bit of composure in the final third but there's the making of a great full back in there. Dunno what he was doing up front to win the penalty but that's some damn fine initiative.

Sakho and Lovren were pretty solid. They both made a couple of mistakes but were both let down by players supposed to be covering them as well.
We've conceded relatively few chances in the last 2 games so I'm not sure what else Rodgers can do. Your defence needs to be able to make mistakes without it almost guaranteeing a goal be the result of it. They're supposed to be a team and cover each other (there were also a few examples of that working very well).

Mistake by Mignolet. Disappointing. He failed virtually the only test he had all match.

Coutinho was trying things that maybe should've been there. But they weren't and he constantly gave the ball away. If we get better balance up front we might see the best out of him but for the moment I think he needs to be benched.

Lallana was pretty good. Lost the ball a few too many times though. He needs some more game time. The few times he's gotten close to the attack it's looked very promising. A bit more of that hopefully.

Sterling didn't do much wrong. Not hugely effective either though. His final ball is a long way from the finished article but he gives you so much solid possession in the final third that it just makes things happen around him. Wasn't his fault they mostly didn't.

Gerrard was ok. Just isn't involved a whole lot in our general play these days.
His set piece delivery was mostly pretty poor. Nice to have a virtually guaranteed penalty taker though.
I'm eager to see what our midfield looks like with someone more mobile. It's a bit sad seeing what was such an amazing player doing a menial task that pretty much any of our midfielders could do just as well.

Balotelli, I was pretty impressed with. Made a few stupid fouls but worked pretty hard the whole game. He needs a partner though. Nice little finish.
Borini seemed to work fairly well alongside him but losing Lallana and Coutinho from midfield and replacing them with Lucas was a blow.

Lucas isn't good enough further up the pitch. He was never great on the ball aside from being able to turn, shield and pass it. He can't run at people.

Our biggest problem is that Rodgers still hasn't quite figured out how to make this work with Mario.
Hopefully we see the diamond against WHam. It still didn't work brilliantly but he hamstrung our midfield at the same time as changing the system - having players like Markovic, Lallana and Allen should do the trick.

All in all I'm pretty pleased by the result. This is a problem that I think is down to Rodgers having to juggle too many things at the same time - we're trying to attack without both of last season's strikers as well as integrate 3 new attackers. We need to get a few results while Bren gets a firm grasp on the situation and to tide us over til Sturridge gets back.

I must have watched a different game. I couldn't possibly pick a Liverpool player tonight who had a good game, bar Moreno.

Hangballlouie

Fescue wrote: »

I get the feeling Rodgers wants to move away from the diamond but it remains the formation that gives us a real cutting edge.

I think when Sturridge is back he'll play it all the time. I don't believe he rates Lambert or Borini enough to do a job from the start in bigger games.

Hangballlouie

Mr Alan wrote: »

Mignolet needs to go, he is clearly not up to it.

When is Valdez ready to go? I'm hoping it is lined up.

Fescue

Ardent wrote: »

I must have watched a different game. I couldn't possibly pick a Liverpool player tonight who had a good game, bar Moreno.

Manquillo also I thought.

Harry Palmr

hangballlouie wrote: »

I think when Sturridge is back he'll play it all the time. I don't believe he rates Lambert or Borini enough to do a job from the start in bigger games.

Any two from Lambert/Borini/Sturridge/Balotelli is better than playing any one of them on his own. If Rodgers thinks otherwise he is wrong.

Fescue

hangballlouie wrote: »

I think when Sturridge is back he'll play it all the time. I don't believe he rates Lambert or Borini enough to do a job from the start in bigger games.

I'm no fan of Borini but he was better tonight and he does bring really good movement up top which allows others space to work in.

With Mario as the focal point of the attack and Sturridge working the channels it could be a really good partnership.

Great to hear Rodgers say they asked Mario to get in the box more.

Gbear

Ardent wrote: »

I must have watched a different game. I couldn't possibly pick a Liverpool player tonight who had a good game, bar Moreno.

I said individually there were good performances but at the same time it wasn't a good team performance.

The midfield and attack were mostly just a big muddle.

I don't think players are capable of just fixing that on the fly. It's going to take different combinations of personnel and a lot of work on the training pitch to sort out but most of the players did a pretty good job in that context.

At this point, it doesn't look like we've figured out quite what we're trying to do (at least not with this line up).

Vicxas

Even Gerrard said they were OK. Not great but OK.

Knex*

You know what's daunting?

We could have quite easily lost that game 3 nil.

Charlie19

hangballlouie wrote: »

When is Valdez ready to go? I'm hoping it is lined up.

I wouldn't replace Mig with Valdez.

If you're going to replace a keeper, the keeper you get in should be far superior. Have we not learned from getting rid of Reina?

klose

Thought sakho was also good along with the two fullbacks bar when he took the balk down poorly and ludo hit the post.

Augmerson

Knex. wrote: »

You know what's daunting?

We could have quite easily lost that game 3 nil.

I don't want to like this or agree but it was very possible to lose tonight. Not a great performance by any means. A lot of work to be done before the next CL game.

MD1990

Lucas reaction was incredible when Ludogorets broke for there goal. Actually just stood there first & then decided to move when it was too late. The defence needs to improve but getting in behind our midfield is too easy.

livinginkorea

First game nerves I think for the lads tonight...they were trying to hard and it didn't work.

With the win now hopefully the pressure is off for a while

Utopia Parkway

Ridiculous how much space Ludogorets had to attack in there for their equaliser.Two quick passes from the back and they were into our penalty area. We were 1-0 up at 90 minutes. What are we trying to do? Score more goals in injury time. Just take the 1-0 and go home.

Charlie19

klose wrote: »

Thought sakho was also good along with the two fullbacks bar when he took the balk down poorly and ludo hit the post.

I've been critical of Sakho in the past but didn't think he'd that bad of a game, he didn't look as composed as Loveren on the ball but still done ok.

Fescue

Charlie19 wrote: »

I've been critical of Sakho in the past but didn't think he'd that bad of a game, he didn't look as composed as Loveren on the ball but still done ok.

He was ok but he has got that clanger in him that can cost you a goal. I don't see that he's done enough to keep Skrtel out of the team and I expect him to come straight back in.

hadepsx

Great to win in last minute. I remember another team in red who used to do the same .
Mario really needs to be in the box more, otherwise there'll be a sniff of Andy Carroll itous off of him. Coming deep too often when u need him in the box.

Augmerson

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Ridiculous how much space Ludogorets had to attack in there for their equaliser.Two quick passes from the back and they were into our penalty area. We were 1-0 up at 90 minutes. What are we trying to do? Score more goals in injury time. Just take the 1-0 and go home.

There is certainly a learning curve ahead for Rodgers at this level.

Knex*

Augmerson wrote: »

I don't want to like this or agree but it was very possible to lose tonight. Not a great performance by any means. A lot of work to be done before the next CL game.

But it was really that close.

They hit the post. Sakho was then all ends up, and only a great sliding tackle from Moreno saved us. He then got up, broke up field and put the ball in for our goal. A huge turning point.

They then scored, and our penalty was lucky, all things considered.

We really could have lost 3 nil. 3 nil to a team 90% of us can't even spell without the help of Google and Copy & Paste.

Agent Coulson

Ok that was my first match thread and it was a win but the pressure and responsible for getting a win in a match thread is to much for me:( I think I will bow out with a record of one match thread and one win.

Charlie19

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Ridiculous how much space Ludogorets had to attack in there for their equaliser.Two quick passes from the back and they were into our penalty area. We were 1-0 up at 90 minutes. What are we trying to do? Score more goals in injury time. Just take the 1-0 and go home.

Thats it... When Sterling lost the ball, Moreno had already past him and the Ludo goal came from that side.

Hopefully a bit of a bollicking from the senior heads and experience will cancel out those sort of mistakes.

delw

Fescue wrote: »

He was ok but he has got that clanger in him that can cost you a goal. I don't see that he's done enough to keep Skrtel out of the team and I expect him to come straight back in.

In fairness Skrtel not clannger proof either

Fescue

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Ok that was my first match thread and it was a win but the pressure and responsible for getting a win in a match thread is to much for me:( I think I will bow out with a record of one match thread and one win.

No way man. You got to keep doing them while you're on this hot streak.

Demosthenese

Delighted with the 3 points really am. I don't think the other games in the group will be anything like that one - it was very cagey and all of a sudden became very open. BR responded by bringing Lucas on surely to shore things up but instead he was driving forward and we were badly exposed on the break at times - very strange. We tried to be "professional" and close out the game but seem unable as a squad to sit behind the ball and become heard to break down. Its actually something i am not quite sure BR actually knows how to do by the looks of it. Moreno going past Sterling in the 91st minute and getting caught out is unforgivable at this level!!!

That said, Lallana contributed more than last game, the 2 fullbacks look good to me and really catch the eye not only going forward but in defence too. Long may that continue.

I am not panicking or picking holes in the performance i think we can all agree with Stevie it wasn't great but something worried me tonight about that performance off the back of the Villa game ... we seem to be losing confidence at times in the passing game and begin to horse in high balls with only really Mario in the box. We never really did that last season instead relied on the creativity ...

Plenty to digest for tomorrow ... i'd say plenty were laighing at us in 91st min and then eating humble pie 60 seconds later ahahaha.

Fescue

delw wrote: »

In fairness Skrtel not clannger proof either

He doesn't give me heart palpatations everytime the ball is played back to him though.

klose

Fescue wrote: »

He was ok but he has got that clanger in him that can cost you a goal. I don't see that he's done enough to keep Skrtel out of the team and I expect him to come straight back in.

Id drop lovren sooner, he's pretty much been involved in all our goals conceded so far this season. Poor start for someone brought in to shore up our defence.

Mr Alan

Getting a win tonight was the main thing.

However, I think fans & management at the club have radically under-estimated the contribution Suarez made to our season last year. As things stand currently I'm quite concerned that this season is going to represent a rather considerable regression. Based on the money spent that would be hugely disappointing & I would be concerned that it won't be acceptable to FSG.

Time to cut our losses on Mignolet & if this period (Skrtels injury) is meant to be the time when Sakho makes a slot in the starting 11 his own, well, the opposite is actually happening. Barring a significant upturn in form id be having Skrtel straight back in & I'd be putting Sakho out onto the market in Jan-nearly a year at the club and he has shown **** all. Lovren needs to up his game too. For the money paid we should be getting infinitely more return.

Chucky the tree

Moreno was excellent but wtf was he doing sprinting past Sterling in the 90 minute on the attack when we were 1-0 up. Absolutely brain dead stuff we see far to often from Liverpool players in those situations.