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

whatawaster

Is anyone writing off Manquillo?

Think he has been very good, very decisive and confident. He has almost always made up for his mistakes with good saving tackles.

To be honest him and Moreno are the only ones of our signings to hit the ground running

noodler

whatawaster wrote: »

Is anyone writing off Manquillo?

Think he has been very good, very decisive and confident. He has almost always made up for his mistakes with good saving tackles.

To be honest him and Moreno are the only ones of our signings to hit the ground running

Been disappointed with Manquillo and Moreno defensively.

Been happy enough with both in an attacking sense.

Mr Alan

whatawaster wrote: »

Is anyone writing off Manquillo?

Think he has been very good, very decisive and confident. He has almost always made up for his mistakes with good saving tackles.

To be honest him and Moreno are the only ones of our signings to hit the ground running

Agree with this. Haven't seen anyone really slating this pair

You willing to admit you're wrong about Mignolet yet?

Dickerty

noodler wrote: »

Been disappointed with Manquillo and Moreno defensively.

Really? They have both been excellent in the tackle, very rare that a winger gets any joy so far. If anything, their issue is that they don't know what the CB inside is going to do...

whatawaster

Mr Alan wrote: »

Agree with this. Haven't seen anyone really slating this pair

Razorblunt has

Mr Alan wrote: »

You willing to admit you're wrong about Mignolet yet?

whatawaster wrote: »

I've defended him for ages but I've had just about enough of Mignolet

Dickerty

Mr Alan wrote: »

Agree with this. Haven't seen anyone really slating this pair

It's a huge upgrade on Johnson and Cissokho/Flanagan/Enrique... :eek:

Knex*

"Manquillo, he loves a tackle."

I find myself saying this at least once, every game he plays

Just back home from the game. Talk about a mix of emotions in the last 12 or so mins of that match !

Firstly, we got the 3 points required. The performance was average at best and at times quite poor. We really lack a cutting edge in the final 3rd. Coutinhos form is hurting the team tbh. I'd drop him and try Lallana there or Sterling who imo is wasted out wide.


Mingolet : Doesn't inspire confidence whatsoever. Has he a voice box? Gerrard slated him and Sakho during the game.

Fullbacks were average, sloppy enough with the final ball in attack. Defending wise ok nothing more.

Lovren was steady enough most of the game but they cut through him and Sakho easy enough on a few occasions including goal iirc

Sakho : I always defend this guy but bloody hell he's making it hard. He has lapses in concentration at times and needs to sort that asap. Needs to communicate better

Gerrard : Balls of steel as usual for the penalty. Was quite average during the game though.

Henderson : Our best player. Popped up everywhere as usual. Should have bagged a goal too. No concerns with him really tbh.

Lallana : Poor. I'd play him more central or not at all.

Coutinho : Awful. Needs to be dropped.

Sterling : Looked our biggest threat on the ball. Needs to be involved more. Moving him more central earlier on in the game could have helped things

Ballotelli : Great goal but his work rate is shocking. Very static. Crowd didn't like this. When he gets the ball he looks threatening but I really don't know about him yet.


Atmosphere was great. Fantastic to be back in the CL

Hangballlouie

Knex. wrote: »

"Manquillo, he loves a tackle."

I find myself saying this at least once, every game he plays

To yourself?

Jesus Wept

We is the bestest

NEDDURC

I was really disappointed with Gerrard last night. Numerous occasions the defence had spread wide and they were looking for a pass into Gerrard to get the play going but he was walking around and letting the Ludogrets player easily pick him up.
That put Lovren and Sakho under quite abit of pressure at times. Like near the end when Lovren ran it out on the right hand side. Gerrard was completly static so he had no option. Lugogrets took a quick throw in and nearly scored.
He is just not the player to control the game from deep. He likes getting the ball facing the goal to move it fast to the wings but can't come short and pick it up off defenders, turn and get the play going.
He also adds almost nothing defensively to the team.
We either need a defensive mid who'll throw his weight around (maybe Can) and break up the other teams attacks or a true quarterback who'll get the play moving quickly (maybe Allen). Currently Gerrard does neither.

Otherwise, my main point to note is that we have to go with two up front with a diamond behind in the next game. Everytime so far that we've switched to that it has worked so much better. Causes defences much more of a headache

Cartman78

rarnes1 wrote: »

Atmosphere was great. Fantastic to be back in the CL

Kinda surprised to hear this, seemed very nervy,tense and quiet at times on the telly.....although I was watching it on TV3 which automatically sucks the life out of anything

SlickRic

no Sturridge is a far bigger deal than we perhaps all envisaged, though judging from Rodgers' comments when he came back from England injured, he knew.

Balotelli up top is not the same. he's great when he gets it - strong and looking to make something happen. but he doesn't have the movement of Sturridge.

why did we beat Spurs 3-0? because the movement of Sturridge and Sterling was sublime, puling defenders all over the place. Balotelli doesn't pull defenders around in the same way. it's the single biggest reason we're not creating the chances we were. we're having to change our style to suit what he offers.

i'm delighted with the win, but until Sturridge comes back, I'm afraid games might be a bit of a slog at times because our forwards aren't creating the space that was the team's hallmark last season.

rob316

bur wrote: »

It's bizarre to me how overrated Henderson has become. I like him, he's decent and i love his attitude and workrate. But, i still don't see enough quality in much of anything he does with the ball.
Fantastic grafter but the way a lot of Liverpool fans go on about him you'd think he was prime Gerrard and Alonso rolled into one.

If anything he is underrated still.

He's the engine room to this team, when he got sent off against City last season, we had no one near his quality to replace. I'm not saying we would have won the title if we had him for the last few games but it could have been different.

Cartman78

Cartman78 wrote: »

Kinda surprised to hear this, seemed very nervy,tense and quiet at times on the telly.....although I was watching it on TV3 which automatically sucks the life out of anything

I was at Annie Road end and it was quite noisy. There were indeed nervy times as is always the case. The cheer when Gerrard scored was deafening!

Boom_Bap

After Balotelli scored last night, he looked a different player. A different better player. He was dropping deep to pick up the ball, chasing back, he was back in our box a couple of times. And he got the confidence to start giving back a bit of agression to the defence who were aggresive with him all evening.
At one point he floored one of thier defenders as he played a ball up the pitch with what appeared to be a small nudge in the back.
One other positive, he celebrated with the team for both goals. His reaction to scoring his was life a weight was lifted off his shoulders.

Boom_Bap

Boom_Bap wrote: »

After Balotelli scored last night, he looked a different player. A different better player. He was dropping deep to pick up the ball, chasing back, he was back in our box a couple of times. And he got the confidence to start giving back a bit of agression to the defence who were aggresive with him all evening.
At one point he floored one of thier defenders as he played a ball up the pitch with what appeared to be a small nudge in the back.
One other positive, he celebrated with the team for both goals. His reaction to scoring his was life a weight was lifted off his shoulders.

Very true actually.

If he can get his ass in gear he'll be loved at Anfield.

5live

i heart chewy louie wrote: »

We is the bestest

We is betterer than the bestest

NabyLadistheman

I don't think Coutinho & Lallana should play together. It is either one or the other in the number 10 role.

Mignolet is terrible. Where he was off to for that goal I will never know. Once we've reached 10 points this performance will not matter. It was average, the team and management are fully aware of this.

Mr Alan

Agree that Coutinho is becoming an issue. He is playing awfully.

SlickRic

I'm certainly done with Mignolet.

He has no presence, and as a result, I think it's causing some of the uncertainty in front of him.

rob316

Few things I want to see for the West Ham game.

- 2 up top, does this need to be even said anymore, we are blunt with one striker.
- Sterling through the middle, he is wasted out wide, we all know he can beat his fullback, get him around the box that's where is most dangerous. Either up top as a sort of striker or in the no.10 role.
- Rest coutinho, he's like a fella playing blindfolded.
- Skrtel in for Sakho if he's fit, Skrtel is our best defender he needs to build a partnership with Lovren.
- Allen hopefully will start, as Gerrard won't get himself around the midfield Henderson needs help and Allen gives that balance.

Really we need 3 points badly Saturday anything less and we could find ourselves hovering around midtable for a while.:( Don't care about the performance just win.

tok9

Borini needs to start for me. As Slick just said, Balotelli's movement just isn't really there. As soon as Borini came on last night, he already had one of the best chances of the whole match.

Hopefully Allen is back at the weekend too. For me I'd replace Coutinho and Lallana with Allen and Borini.

Lallana is only coming back from an injury so I'll cut him some slack but Coutinho is really off the boil. If I remember right, this is pretty similar to last year too where he started off really poorly. He really needs to improve quickly.

Just on Borini, did he grab the ball for the pen?

Didn't see the replay yet but heard somebody say it. Lol if he did!

gafferino

rarnes1 wrote: »

Just on Borini, did he grab the ball for the pen?

Didn't see the replay yet but heard somebody say it. Lol if he did!

Didnt see that happen on TV anyway. Surely he wouldnt have the cajones to do that.

NEDDURC

My thoughts on Coutinhoo last night were that he was poor but because Gerrard was terrible at getting the game moving from back to forward and Baloteli's movement isn't great, it puts pressure on players like Coutinho and Lallana to try to force something creative to happen like a tricky pass or a dribble.

Strange how he's gone from on fire in pre-season to so off the boil so quickly. Next game I think he should certainly start on the bench but would like to see him come on and make an impact.

gafferino

rarnes1 wrote: »

Just on Borini, did he grab the ball for the pen?

Didn't see the replay yet but heard somebody say it. Lol if he did!

Rarnes just on your post about Balotelli's work rate - don't know if you have seen it yet but Gerrard post match was full of complements about his work rate saying thats what him and the lads want to see from him and he was 'relentless' last night.

5live

NEDDURC wrote: »

My thoughts on Coutinhoo last night were that he was poor but because Gerrard was terrible at getting the game moving from back to forward and Baloteli's movement isn't great, it puts pressure on players like Coutinho and Lallana to try to force something creative to happen like a tricky pass or a dribble.

Strange how he's gone from on fire in pre-season to so off the boil so quickly. Next game I think he should certainly start on the bench but would like to see him come on and make an impact.

The difference between pre season and now is the presence of Sturridge.

When he comes back, Coutinho will have someone to show for passes.

Super-Rush

Is Gerrard capable of playing 3 games in 7 days?

gafferino

Super-Rush wrote: »

Is Gerrard capable of playing 3 games in 7 days?

I hope so or we will have Lucas in there most likely. He should be as he didnt play with England.

klose

Super-Rush wrote: »

Is Gerrard capable of playing 3 games in 7 days?

I wouldnt say so? Always thought that how rodgers deals with gerrard this season will be a big test for him and think he needs more rotation, he did alot of running more than usual last night i thought. Hopefully allen is fit at the weekend too, also a big player for us.


On lallana and coutinho, lallana looks nowhere near ready match fit and think hes been rushed backed if anything, coutinho is off form but its understandable for a lad hes age, consistency has been his issue since his arrival so hopefully he will be back to his normal self soon

Dickerty

I actually didn't think Lucas did bad when he came on. It allowed Stevie to move up, and he moved the ball around tidy enough. We immediately looked better, and gave the ball away less with Coutinho off.

As with Hamann in Istanbul, sometimes bringing on a defensive player actually makes you better in attack...

Harry Palmr

J Allen Knee Injury 20th Sep 14
E Can Ankle/Foot Injury 25th Oct 14
D Sturridge Thigh Muscle Strain 27th Sep 14
G Johnson Hip/Thigh Injury no return date
J Flanagan Knee Injury 20th Sep 14

.

Chip Whitley

Valdes can't be signed quick enough Edit: (Fitness permitting!!).

Manquillo and Moreno have been playing quite well imo. Manquillo walks around with a constantly surprised look on his face, but you would have to say he's done well considering his age, he's in a new team, new country etc. He looks to get the tackle in hard and fast (tee hee) and has pace to get back and make up for any errors. Pure determination and grit to steam in to the box and win that penalty so late in the game. Already an upgrade on Johnson.

Moreno has some pace. Will be giving wingers and full backs nightmares when he settles in fully.

Coutinho needs some bench time. Whether he is low on confidence or what I don't know, but he is giving away possession far too much, and Gerrard bawling him out over it last night said a lot.

Lallana tried and ran his arse off, but still doesn't look 100% match fit.

Last night was probably the hardest I've ever seen Balotelli work tbf. He gave away some stupid 'striker' fouls but a couple of times the ref was harsh on him I thought. He seems to be suffering the same problem that Sturridge was when playing up top on his own. He is coming too deep to get touches leaving no-one in the box.

It's nice to have complete confidence in the penalty taker, even in injury time, in the first Champions League game in 5 years, at home, after the blow of conceding a late equaliser a minute before.

Would have been horrible to even draw that game, so delighted with the 3 points. Coming off at the end the players looked like they had lost the game, they know it wasn't good enough.

Lovely Bloke

Is Valdes not injured til November? Would have made no difference last night, and paying him to recover seems stupid.

the speculation can't be doing anything for Mignolet's confidence either, really.

Knex*

hangballlouie wrote: »

To yourself?

Nah, to be fair, I've watched every game so far this season with other people.

That's not to say I wouldn't say it to myself though. I quite probably would.

Knex*

rarnes1 wrote: »

Fullbacks were average, sloppy enough with the final ball in attack. Defending wise ok nothing more.

Very surprised at this. Thought they were our best players by a mile, without whom we'd have certainly lost.

Moreno MOTM for me.

punk_one82

Have to agree with you there Knex. Moreno is a beast when going on the attack. Pace to burn. He also gets stuck in when it comes to defending and instead of letting the cross go in he attacks the ball.

Manquillo may not be as good as Moreno going forward, but he's definitely a threat and pretty solid in the tackle too.

All in all two very good signings in my opinion, and it looks like Manquillo may be a steal if we choose to buy after the loan.

NapoleonInRags

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Is Valdes not injured til November? Would have made no difference last night, and paying him to recover seems stupid.

the speculation can't be doing anything for Mignolet's confidence either, really.

Most keepers I can think of would have done a better job with the goal than 'no man's land' Mignolet!

Lovely Bloke

NapoleonInRags wrote: »

Most keepers I can think of would have done a better job with the goal than 'no man's land' Mignolet!

but he's injured currently, and couldn't have played.

Not that hard to understand, is it?

gafferino

Harry Palmr wrote: »

.

Joe Allen will be needed in the coming weeks hope he is back on that date.

Underpaid Mike

rarnes1 wrote: »

Ballotelli : Great goal but his work rate is shocking. Very static. Crowd didn't like this. When he gets the ball he looks threatening but I really don't know about him yet.

gafferino wrote: »

Rarnes just on your post about Balotelli's work rate - don't know if you have seen it yet but Gerrard post match was full of complements about his work rate saying thats what him and the lads want to see from him and he was 'relentless' last night.

I would have to say that there can be no way that Gerrard actually thought Ballotelli ran his socks off. Gerrard and Rodgers both seem to be singing from the same BS hymnsheet when it comes to Ballotelli which no doubt is an effort to take pressure off of him from the media and integrate him into the squad quickly.

No one can tell me that he worked his socks off last night because he didnt. He stood up like a statue, was caught out of position endless times and made no effort to get in the box over and over again when Moreno and Manquillo were crossing dangerous balls in. I think for the Henderson header chance Ballotelli was 20 yards outside the box looking for a short pass. What the hell he is doing that for when he is meant to be leading the line ill never know. More than even Sakho last night, he frustrated me the most. Loads of talent etc but how you expect to score 20+ goals a season when you spend half the match standing up outside the box ill never know. Hopefully he buys into the team ethos and starts to pick things up

Pyjamarama

People are really calling for borini to play up top instead Mario?!? Madness... Whatever about balo's weaknesses as a love striker borini would be a disaster up there on his own. Starting both I could get behind tho.

punk_one82

Underpaid Mike wrote: »

I would have to say that there can be no way that Gerrard actually thought Ballotelli ran his socks off. Gerrard and Rodgers both seem to be singing from the same BS hymnsheet when it comes to Ballotelli which no doubt is an effort to take pressure off of him from the media and integrate him into the squad quickly.

No one can tell me that he worked his socks off last night because he didnt. He stood up like a statue, was caught out of position endless times and made no effort to get in the box over and over again when Moreno and Manquillo were crossing dangerous balls in. I think for the Henderson header chance Ballotelli was 20 yards outside the box looking for a short pass. What the hell he is doing that for when he is meant to be leading the line ill never know. More than even Sakho last night, he frustrated me the most. Loads of talent etc but how you expect to score 20+ goals a season when you spend half the match standing up outside the box ill never know. Hopefully he buys into the team ethos and starts to pick things up

On one hand you're right and the other you're wrong when it comes to Balotelli last night.

You're right in the fact that he should have been getting into the box more.
You're wrong in the fact that he was inside our own half multiple times helping the team out defensively. He wasn't busting his balls ala Hendo, but he wasn't just standing idly by outside the box either.

gafferino

Pyjamarama wrote: »

People are really calling for borini to play up top instead Mario?!? Madness... Whatever about balo's weaknesses as a love striker borini would be a disaster up there on his own. Starting both I could get behind tho.

No one said start him instead of Mario. They said play two up top....which is what you are saying.

Sir Gallagher

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

but he's injured currently, and couldn't have played.

Not that hard to understand, is it?

Why is it that i always feel a little bit more miserable after reading your posts?

K-9

Balotelli is the problem for Coutinho and also Sterling to a degree. He doesn't make the runs Sturridge does and it doesn't look like he has his game intelligence either. Having said that I think he did work hard and didn't give up, a 6/10 for me. His touch isn't great sometimes either which doesn't help in holding the ball up. A bit under whelming so far but as said so many times, early days yet.

I like the look of Lalana, can see him settling in nicely, nearly trying too hard at times!

The Gerrard conundrum still remains!

punk_one82

K-9 wrote: »

Balotelli is the problem for Coutinho and also Sterling to a degree. He doesn't make the runs Sturridge does and it doesn't look like he has his game intelligence either. Having said that I think he did work hard and didn't give up, a 6/10 for me. His touch isn't great sometimes either which doesn't help in holding the ball up. A bit under whelming so far but as said so many times, early days yet.

I like the look of Lalana, can see him settling in nicely, nearly trying too hard at times!

The Gerrard conundrum still remains!

I think the real solution with Balotelli while Sturridge is out is to play Balotelli up top with Borini. Borini will make the runs like Sturridge would and will create more space for Balotelli. 4-3-3 just isn't working for us. I'm glad Borini got a run out last night because he really did help when he came on.

Underpaid Mike

punk_one82 wrote: »

On one hand you're right and the other you're wrong when it comes to Balotelli last night.

You're right in the fact that he should have been getting into the box more.
You're wrong in the fact that he was inside our own half multiple times helping the team out defensively. He wasn't busting his balls ala Hendo, but he wasn't just standing idly by outside the box either.

Well his 1st half heatmap from the game would suggest otherwise
Played the #10 role instead of the strikers role dropping way too short
Granted it could be because of how awful Lallana and Coutinho

Fescue

Sturridge and Balotelli have the potential to complement each other really well.

Balotelli likes to come short, Sturridge likes to run in behind. It certainly looked promising against Spurs.