Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014 - Mod Warning in OP, 10/12

mosstin

Kerrigooney wrote: »

Not gonna name names,am I? I'd be lynched.

But just to be clear,I'm not talking about any of the lads that have posted in the last hour.

Right, well I'll take you back off my ****list then.

Gbear

monkey9 wrote: »

Really like the way Liverpool are approaching things the last few games. Rodgers is up for the battle.

It's good to see him actually getting a bit creative.

We don't have what we need to play the way he wants.
He was too slow to adapt and we paid for that in October and November.
It's possibly cost us top 4 (even another 4 or 5 pts would be massive right now).

We've been playing better for several weeks now. It's still fundamentally broken, especially up front but Rodgers is certainly doing better with the tools at his disposal.
He's trying to give Lovren time out to sort his **** out, he's brought back in Lucas and Toure, he's given Markovic and Lallana more of a chance as well and he's trying some wacky formations that are giving us a lot more chances.

We're not where we are because we've dropped points against Utd and Arsenal.
There's been a marked improvement since the Palace game. Some of the games in that run were genuinely embarrassing and nothing short of a disgrace but I think it's bull**** not to give Rodgers any credit now that he's addressing a lot of the issues and to pretend like we're not making progress on the pitch.

There's still a boatload of work to do, but I definitely think, given the possession we're starting to get, the chances created and more protection being given to the back 4, that Rodgers has a good idea what he's trying to do with the squad.

Dropping Sturridge back into that team would be transformative. I think we're on the cusp of getting back on track. We're just missing a crucial player.
At the same time, if we don't get him back for long enough then we've no hope and if we continue to fail to address the issue of a striker to give us the cutting edge we need we're never going to get anywhere.
We're still very much on a knife edge.

Kerrigooney

Kerrigooney wrote: »

Not gonna name names,am I? I'd be lynched.

But just to be clear,I'm not talking about any of the lads that have posted in the last hour.

Fair enough but I'm not sure how anyone can say the manager is totally blameless. That's just mad.

Gbear

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

Oh boo hoo, the guy is stupid plain and simple. I couldn't give two shiney sh1tes who's right or wrong between him or Rodgers. He's paid to play for the club not the manager. He acted like a complete fool and let his team mates and the fans down by being sent off.

I wonder is that the real problem with him.

He gives off the air of this sort of cheery simpleton on twitter.

Maybe he's just too thick?

If it was just based on performances, while he mightn't be good enough long term, I don't think he's shown any less than Lambert. Not in the Liverpool shirt at any rate.

I was quite happy when the team and formation was announced for last Sunday's match, I was happy when we saw more of the same for Wed & today. I'm not overly bothered with Mig' dropped although he may have done better than Jones has done but he may also have had a clanger or two, Jones is more decisive at the moment imo, he decides he's going/coming for the ball or he doesn't. His reflecive saves etc are completely sub par premiership goalkeeper standard.

I see it as Rodgers wants a new keeper in Jan and potentially wants Mig going out to finance it, the club might be wanting to avoid Mig' staying and fighting for his starting place.

Lallana's injury at the start of the season was a blow, coupled with Sturridge's issues & Balotelli being woeful and Borini not leaving we were very weak up front. This I feel will improve shortly as I feel a striker of some sort suiting the fast paced attack will come in.

Lucas remaining fit is a worry and I do hope to see someone of his ilk come in, especially if the back three CBs is something Rodgers feels can be a regular formation, it's essential to have a decent DM in front of them when we are playing wing forwards rather than wing backs.

Lovren has been appalling, no one could have expected a player to be this bad, he has made multiple errors that are inexcusable.

Rodgers has impressed me the last week with the formation, he is fighting to get this team & squad higher up the table, he's not shellshocked. I believe he is a very decent manager with a little something extra that might make him a great manager, I hope he pulls it off. The team/squad are certainly showing that he has not lost the dressing room, total rubbish that talk is.

Gbear

Gbear wrote: »

I think we're on the cusp of getting back on track. We're just missing a crucial player.
At the same time, if we don't get him back for long enough then we've no hope and if we continue to fail to address the issue of a striker to give us the cutting edge we need we're never going to get anywhere.
We're still very much on a knife edge.

Bang on

Kerrigooney

Kerrigooney wrote: »

Not gonna name names,am I? I'd be lynched.

But just to be clear,I'm not talking about any of the lads that have posted in the last hour.

Kerrigooney

Augeo wrote: »

I'm keeping my eye on you

5live

Augeo wrote: »

I was quite happy when the team and formation was announced for last Sunday's match, I was happy when we saw more of the same for Wed & today. I'm not overly bothered with Mig' dropped although he may have done better than Jones has done but he may also have had a clanger or two, Jones is more decisive at the moment imo, he decides he's going/coming for the ball or he doesn't. His reflecive saves etc are completely sub par premiership goalkeeper standard.

I see it as Rodgers wants a new keeper in Jan and potentially wants Mig going out to finance it, the club might be wanting to avoid Mig' staying and fighting for his starting place.

Lallana's injury at the start of the season was a blow, coupled with Sturridge's issues & Balotelli being woeful and Borini not leaving we were very weak up front. This I feel will improve shortly as I feel a striker of some sort suiting the fast paced attack will come in.

Lucas remaining fit is a worry and I do hope to see someone of his ilk come in, especially if the back three CBs is something Rodgers feels can be a regular formation, it's essential to have a decent DM in front of them when we are playing wing forwards rather than wing backs.

Lovren has been appalling, no one could have expected a player to be this bad, he has made multiple errors that are inexcusable.

Rodgers has impressed me the last week with the formation, he is fighting to get this team & squad higher up the table, he's not shellshocked. I believe he is a very decent manager with a little something extra that might make him a great manager, I hope he pulls it off. The team/squad are certainly showing that he has not lost the dressing room, total rubbish that talk is.

On the DM and 3 CB, one thing I noticed was how far forward both Lucas and Gerrard were at times to help the attack but never both up together.

I felt we gave Arsenal a spanking today without having a finish. It was refreshing to see the return of the high tempo pressing game, probably helped by overloading the midfield with us now having 7 players to press.

And Coutinho is a joy to watch. I am looking forward to Sturridge coming back to see the two link up again. Hurry up, Danny boy.

5live

Kerrigooney wrote: »

Not gonna name names,am I? I'd be lynched.

But just to be clear,I'm not talking about any of the lads that have posted in the last hour.

You could just put the names in 3 envelopes. ...

mav79

5live wrote: »

On the DM and 3 CB, one thing I noticed was how far forward both Lucas and Gerrard were at times to help the attack but never both up together.

I felt we gave Arsenal a spanking today without having a finish. It was refreshing to see the return of the high tempo pressing game, probably helped by overloading the midfield with us now having 7 players to press.

And Coutinho is a joy to watch. I am looking forward to Sturridge coming back to see the two link up again. Hurry up, Danny boy.

Completely agree with this, I would have preferred if Henderson was in Gerrards position. I thought Gerrard was very poor today, with three CB's there was no need for Gerrard to drop deep a times to collect the ball off their toes when there was no-one pressurizing them. Henderson is wasted out wide and would have been better more centrally.

5live

5live wrote: »

On the DM and 3 CB, one thing I noticed was how far forward both Lucas and Gerrard were at times to help the attack but never both up together.

I felt we gave Arsenal a spanking today without having a finish. It was refreshing to see the return of the high tempo pressing game, probably helped by overloading the midfield with us now having 7 players to press.

And Coutinho is a joy to watch. I am looking forward to Sturridge coming back to see the two link up again. Hurry up, Danny boy.

I'm not overly keen on Lucas that far forward tbh, goals & assists aren't in his locker.

Soft Falling Rain

Gbear wrote: »

It's good to see him actually getting a bit creative.

We don't have what we need to play the way he wants.
He was too slow to adapt and we paid for that in October and November.
It's possibly cost us top 4 (even another 4 or 5 pts would be massive right now).

We've been playing better for several weeks now. It's still fundamentally broken, especially up front but Rodgers is certainly doing better with the tools at his disposal.
He's trying to give Lovren time out to sort his **** out, he's brought back in Lucas and Toure, he's given Markovic and Lallana more of a chance as well and he's trying some wacky formations that are giving us a lot more chances.

We're not where we are because we've dropped points against Utd and Arsenal.
There's been a marked improvement since the Palace game. Some of the games in that run were genuinely embarrassing and nothing short of a disgrace but I think it's bull**** not to give Rodgers any credit now that he's addressing a lot of the issues and to pretend like we're not making progress on the pitch.

There's still a boatload of work to do, but I definitely think, given the possession we're starting to get, the chances created and more protection being given to the back 4, that Rodgers has a good idea what he's trying to do with the squad.

Dropping Sturridge back into that team would be transformative. I think we're on the cusp of getting back on track. We're just missing a crucial player.
At the same time, if we don't get him back for long enough then we've no hope and if we continue to fail to address the issue of a striker to give us the cutting edge we need we're never going to get anywhere.
We're still very much on a knife edge.

I think it's a bit much to say Sturridge's return will have a transformative effect. He's barely kicked a ball this season and still has it all to prove in terms of getting out of Luis' shadow. The problems this season have been simply much bigger than him.

Gbear

Augeo wrote: »

I'm not overly keen on Lucas that far forward tbh, goals & assists aren't in his locker.

I suppose the only thing is that someone needs to do it and if he's at the edge of the box it pushes someone better at scoring into the box where they can more easily do damage.

It still didn't quite work today. Sterling, Coutinho and Gerrard took a few poor shots and we didn't get the real danger men in shooting positions often enough.

More fiddling is needed but without a striker, we've got about 40 goals in the side at most. 1 goal a game is not enough.

MD1990

Griezmann should have been targeted after missing out on Sanchez. Had a 24m buy out in the summer.
Since its hard to get players from the top clubs we need to be targetting players like Griezmann with a good goalscoring record. Vela from Sociedad would be a very good signing. Markovic & Lallana are both starting to play well but are not goascorers.

Gbear

Soft Falling Rain wrote: »

He's barely kicked a ball this season and still has it all to prove in terms of getting out of Luis' shadow. The problems this season have been simply much bigger than him.

He really doesn't. He's scored at a similar rate as Suarez, Aguero and Rooney over the past 2 years (albeit, without making enough appearances).
What's more, he scored more crucial goals than Suarez last year (fewer "useless" goals like the 3rd and 4th in a 4-0 win) and his scoring has persisted with Suarez out of the team.

He's remarkably productive and consistent when fit.

Every team has problems and regardless of how you play you're making compromises. You put a proper striker in this team and it irons out a lot of the bull**** when we really were garbage and it gives us the capacity to blow teams away when we're playing on form.

We have massive issues in having at least 1 midfielder doing nothing at all times, 4 erratic CBs, no good keeper, but being good in the opponent's box is more than half the battle.

mylefttesticle

The team played well today, the defensive relapses are still there but overall it was a good effort, it really makes a difference having lucas in the team at the moment he is playing very well so I hope he stays there.

In fairness to BR he has changed things and they are having an effect so credit due to him for that. It will be interesting and telling to see if they can keep this going against supposedly weaker teams in the weeks to come as with MU last week and Arsenal this week it was amazing to see how easily we bypassed midfields on both occasions with ease I wonder what it will be like with a teams who want to settle for a draw before matches have been played.

I am not sure if Arsenal were really poor or we made them look poor but honestly it was incredible to see how average they played today.

My biggest happiness was that there was some zip and fight from the players at last so I guess something happened recently so its a positive few days.

I am glad that some people who expected us to be trashed against arsenal have been proved wrong. Support the team. It is what supporters or meant to do.

5live

Soft Falling Rain wrote: »

I think it's a bit much to say Sturridge's return will have a transformative effect. He's barely kicked a ball this season and still has it all to prove in terms of getting out of Luis' shadow. The problems this season have been simply much bigger than him.

I don't know about that.

So far this season, the biggest aspect of our attacking play that is lacking is our ability to stretch defenses with a through ball. Sterling is providing that now without the finishing that Sturridge provides. It will stretch the distance between oppositions defense and midfield as the defenders can't hold a high line with our pace to get in behind.

mada999

mav79 wrote: »

Lil' Phil, a joy to watch.

thought he was very wasteful myself...made a great move and showed great touch and skill for the goal though

niallo27

In fairness to Sturridge when Suarez was banned he always stood up to the mark and scored some really important goals to win tight games.

Turtyturd

'The man with the big black bandage on his head.'

Kerrigooney

Turtyturd wrote: »

'The man with the big black bandage on his head.'

It rolls off the tongue.

duffman13

Liverpool were decent today, looked a bit like last year and really should have won that game, which worries me as a united fan. We will find out in the next game has Rodgers turned a corner. Will he play the same team against Burnley and Swansea and leave Balotelli on the bench?

Charlie19

Kerrigooney wrote: »

It rolls off the tongue.

Its no "He runs through puddles without making a splash"

Jesus Wept

Borini is a laff.

Gits_bone

i heart chewy louie wrote: »

Borini is a laff.

Been horribly treated.

mosstin

Turtyturd wrote: »

'The man with the big black bandage on his head.'

Who mostly plays as if there's one over his eyes.

djPSB

Turtyturd wrote: »

'The man with the big black bandage on his head.'

'The man with the big black bandage on his head LEAPED LIKE A SALMON.'

Charlie19

Taken from the humor thread.

We think we've got problems at CB.

Turtyturd

Kerrigooney wrote: »

It rolls off the tongue.

Fairly sure they also said 'He arrived like a train leaving Lime Street station.'

Osmosis Jones

Not sure how people can say Suarez is a massive loss but Sturridge returning won't make much difference, we've had over 60 attempts in our last 3 league games and scored 2 goals, need a finisher.

Harry Palmr

That was noted on MOTD, he did that against Stoke?

Turtyturd

The big cowardly giant.

Osmosis Jones

Harry Palmr wrote: »

That was noted on MOTD, he did that against Stoke?

Speaking of which, what an awful analysis.

BenEadir

mosstin wrote: »

You're cool with him being referred to as a degenerate? You think it's OK for some pissed off internet warrior to add personal insults to their criticism of him as a manager (which is, for the most part, justified)?
No, not for me. It's LFC. Not how we do things.

Tell that to Borini :P

dogbert27

Augeo wrote: »

I'm dreading the African cup thing, hoping sakho rises to the opportunity

Sahko is French.

Agent Coulson

dogbert27 wrote: »

Sahko is French.

I think he means lossing Toure, Hopefully Sakho will take over his leadership role.

SlickRic

Today, again, doesn't take a lot of in depth analysis to work out.

Rodgers got the tactics spot on. We looked as good as we have since Spurs. Lucas in particular was superb IMO.

the problems, again, were that we don't have top level forwards to take advantage, and we're an absolute shambles when defending balls into the box.

The first issue is down to Rodgers' transfer business, and the second is down to Rodgers' ignorance of our defensive issues. He may ultimately still get hung because of those deficiencies.

pmy.murphy

Kerrigooney wrote: »

Isn't that what everyone does?

Unless they're banned,of course.

What I mean is he completely jumps on the bandwagon when the team loses

Hangballlouie

Agent Coulson wrote: »

I think he means lossing Toure, Hopefully Sakho will take over his leadership role.

Has Toure not retired from internationals recently? Or is it for after the African cup?

whatawaster

Mr Alan wrote: »

Well look who it is!

Question, you always maintained the improvement of Rodgers' team was always clear & you'd continue to support him as long as it was clear we were going in the right direction.....

You've been very quiet this season....surely the above should mean you're done with Rodgers?

I still believe Rodgers can turn this around. Ultimately, he will live or die by the success or lack of success of the signings he made last summer. The jury is still very much out on most of them.

Moreno has only shown glimpses of his quality, and has shown even more naivety and poor positioning.
Markovic started badly but has been really good in the last 3 games. He was written off far too quickly.
Lallana has been pretty good, probably the most consistent of the signings. I don't think he is top-4-starter quality, but he's a good player to have around. Manquillo has been ok. I wouldn't mind us making his loan deal permanent, because he has definite ability.
Can looks a good player. No idea why he is not seeing any action.
Lovren has been terrible, but I don't think he is a terrible player. It's all so murky with our defenders. They clearly aren't being brilliantly organised. So that is a big part of the problem. Then what is going on in front of them is questionable at best (Lucas has helped things), what is going on behind them is a shambles (it's a disgrace that Brad Jones has remained our number 2 keeper for so many seasons) and I'm not sure the full-backs are helping matters. The goalkeeping situation is critical, and is surely going to be addressed in January because Jones cannot continue in goal.
I still have hope for Ballotelli.

To make a comparison with Benitez's final season at Liverpool - one of the main reasons I lost faith in Benitez was because things were so obviously going stale and sour with the squad, and the squad was getting old and needed serious rebuilding. A new direction was needed imo.
I don't think it's obvious that this is currently the case with Rodgers' Liverpool squad. If Moreno, Can, Markovic, Lallana, Lovren, Ballotelli and Manquillo all fail (or most of them fail) at Liverpool, then it will be a disaster and Rodgers will lose his job.

I'm not ready to write a single one of those players off at this stage, and nor should anyone really. They have all at least shown hints of promise, some more often than others.

In the last few games we have seen a more fluent Liverpool, a more creative Liverpool. Coutinho, Henderson and Sterling, three key players from last season have all gone through a difficult stretch. All have looked better recently. They will be key to us rediscovering our best form.

This season has been a perfect storm.
- Suarez left
- Sturridge injured
- Early losses leading to fragile confidence.
- Summer signings not hitting the ground running
- The manager making several mistakes and compounding them with more poor decisions.

Rodgers has made lots of mistakes this season.
- persisting with Glen Johnson is beyond a joke
- Gerrard has been awful. Rodgers either needs to do what he did last season, which was find a way to accommodate Gerrard in a way that helps the team, or he needs to bench the captain.
- Can has been underused
- the defense
- Mignolet should have been "rested" for one game only. Not indefinitely. A kick in the ass was worth a try, but this is getting ridiculous.

I don't know what the solution to the defensive issues are. I really thought time would improve our defense, but it hasn't. I wonder if a better goalkeeper would make a difference. I wonder if no Skrtel might help things, i wonder if a better holding midfielder might help things. I just don't know.

6 months ago, Rodgers led us to our best ever premier league campaign. At no other stage since we last won the league have we ever had the league in our hands that late in the campaign. Winning as we did against City in the highest pressure league match I can ever remember . . .
The notion that it was all Suarez is preposterous. Of course we couldn't have done it without Suarez, he was our best player. Just like we couldn't have finished 2nd under Rafa without Gerrard. But it's totally unfair to now diminish the efforts of not just the manager, but players like Sterling, Henderson, Coutinho, Sturridge, Gerrard, Flanagan etc. Don't forget that Suarez somewhat went off the boil on our run-in. Sterling and Coutinho, both of whom have impressed immensely under Rodgers, were our best players in that spell.

I think we can get back to playing the kind of football we did last season. We will never be as good, because we will almost certainly not have a player as good as Suarez (unless Sterling becomes that good with us), but we can be effective enough.

So to answer your question - it's certainly not clear right now that we are going in the right direction and our progress has very much stalled. It's unclear. Needs more time and more information. In the coming months we will learn a lot about the players we have bought and about the manager.

Tony Barrett said on Wednesday that Rodgers retains the support of the board, the support of the dressing room and, mostly, the support of the fans. The latter is probably the most fragile of the three, it's certainly wavering. But I'm still behind him because I believe he can turn it around, unhappy though I am with how the season has gone, and bemused though I am at some of his decisions.

Agent Coulson

Stop Searching My Posts wrote: »

Has Toure not retired from internationals recently? Or is it for after the African cup?

He siad he would retire after the African Nations.

Mr Alan

Good post Whatawaster, I think you're being way too "glass half full", but that's your perogative!

whatawaster

Mr Alan wrote: »

Good post Whatawaster, I think you're being way too "glass half full", but that's your perogative!

i've been pretty much depressed since August!

Mr Alan

It's only football dude, don't let it get to you!

kildare75

whatawaster wrote: »

I still believe Rodgers can turn this around. Ultimately, he will live or die by the success or lack of success of the signings he made last summer. The jury is still very much out on most of them.

Moreno has only shown glimpses of his quality, and has shown even more naivety and poor positioning.
Markovic started badly but has been really good in the last 3 games. He was written off far too quickly.
Lallana has been pretty good, probably the most consistent of the signings. I don't think he is top-4-starter quality, but he's a good player to have around. Manquillo has been ok. I wouldn't mind us making his loan deal permanent, because he has definite ability.
Can looks a good player. No idea why he is not seeing any action.
Lovren has been terrible, but I don't think he is a terrible player. It's all so murky with our defenders. They clearly aren't being brilliantly organised. So that is a big part of the problem. Then what is going on in front of them is questionable at best (Lucas has helped things), what is going on behind them is a shambles (it's a disgrace that Brad Jones has remained our number 2 keeper for so many seasons) and I'm not sure the full-backs are helping matters. The goalkeeping situation is critical, and is surely going to be addressed in January because Jones cannot continue in goal.
I still have hope for Ballotelli.

To make a comparison with Benitez's final season at Liverpool - one of the main reasons I lost faith in Benitez was because things were so obviously going stale and sour with the squad, and the squad was getting old and needed serious rebuilding. A new direction was needed imo.
I don't think it's obvious that this is currently the case with Rodgers' Liverpool squad. If Moreno, Can, Markovic, Lallana, Lovren, Ballotelli and Manquillo all fail (or most of them fail) at Liverpool, then it will be a disaster and Rodgers will lose his job.

I'm not ready to write a single one of those players off at this stage, and nor should anyone really. They have all at least shown hints of promise, some more often than others.

In the last few games we have seen a more fluent Liverpool, a more creative Liverpool. Coutinho, Henderson and Sterling, three key players from last season have all gone through a difficult stretch. All have looked better recently. They will be key to us rediscovering our best form.

This season has been a perfect storm.
- Suarez left
- Sturridge injured
- Early losses leading to fragile confidence.
- Summer signings not hitting the ground running
- The manager making several mistakes and compounding them with more poor decisions.

Rodgers has made lots of mistakes this season.
- persisting with Glen Johnson is beyond a joke
- Gerrard has been awful. Rodgers either needs to do what he did last season, which was find a way to accommodate Gerrard in a way that helps the team, or he needs to bench the captain.
- Can has been underused
- the defense
- Mignolet should have been "rested" for one game only. Not indefinitely. A kick in the ass was worth a try, but this is getting ridiculous.

I don't know what the solution to the defensive issues are. I really thought time would improve our defense, but it hasn't. I wonder if a better goalkeeper would make a difference. I wonder if no Skrtel might help things, i wonder if a better holding midfielder might help things. I just don't know.

6 months ago, Rodgers led us to our best ever premier league campaign. At no other stage since we last won the league have we ever had the league in our hands that late in the campaign. Winning as we did against City in the highest pressure league match I can ever remember . . .
The notion that it was all Suarez is preposterous. Of course we couldn't have done it without Suarez, he was our best player. Just like we couldn't have finished 2nd under Rafa without Gerrard. But it's totally unfair to now diminish the efforts of not just the manager, but players like Sterling, Henderson, Coutinho, Sturridge, Gerrard, Flanagan etc. Don't forget that Suarez somewhat went off the boil on our run-in. Sterling and Coutinho, both of whom have impressed immensely under Rodgers, were our best players in that spell.

I think we can get back to playing the kind of football we did last season. We will never be as good, because we will almost certainly not have a player as good as Suarez (unless Sterling becomes that good with us), but we can be effective enough.

So to answer your question - it's certainly not clear right now that we are going in the right direction and our progress has very much stalled. It's unclear. Needs more time and more information. In the coming months we will learn a lot about the players we have bought and about the manager.

Tony Barrett said on Wednesday that Rodgers retains the support of the board, the support of the dressing room and, mostly, the support of the fans. The latter is probably the most fragile of the three, it's certainly wavering. But I'm still behind him because I believe he can turn it around, unhappy though I am with how the season has gone, and bemused though I am at some of his decisions.

I have to say you speak for me, that's bang on!
genuinely I tip my hat you sir
lets hope it all comes right

MD1990

Mr Alan wrote: »

It's only football dude, don't let it get to you!

its only an interview after a game don't let it get to you:p.

Gbear

On the defence, while I'm not enough of a loon to suggest it has been anything other than crap, I think some more analysis is needed to give a bit more perspective.

As things stand we have the 7th worst defence in the league - pretty awful on the whole.

However, the difference between us in 14th and West Ham and Swansea in 5th and 6th is only 6 goals. After that there's a fairly sharp drop off but we're never going to lead the way in defence.

We've conceded 24 goals. That's 53 extrapolated over 38 games. 2 worse than last year.

Looking at us lately, we've drafted in an actual DM and we've conceded 5 goals but against 2 teams with pretty good attacks. The real acid test will be against poorer teams. You cannot in a million years afford to be conceding 3 goals against muck like West Ham and Palace.

Goal difference is usually a fairly good indicator of a team' success. What I think we need to be aiming for is about +40. Unless we're really beefing up the numbers with redundant 10-goal thrashings, it ought to mean we'll get top 4.

Getting the Goals Against down to 30 seems utterly unfeasible.
Getting it down to 45 or even 40 doesn't seem all that impossible. We got 51 last season without any DM. We look like we're going to get a new GK at some point as well. That mightn't be enough but we don't necessarily need to put the whole back 5 (and Rodgers) on the dole to get an acceptable level of defending.

In general, the standard of defending at the moment seems to be pretty poor. Some of the chances we were able to create against Arsenal and Utd were pretty poor stuff from them.
We don't need to be good - we just need to be roughly as bad as our rivals.

We've almost certainly left too much for ourselves to do this season in terms of acheiving the sorts of numbers we need for top 4 (something like 80/40 GF/GA), but over the course of a full season, while we need to be significantly better at the back, it's far from an insurmountable problem.

It certainly can't be ignored either.

Turtyturd

If a new keeper does come in what's the plan?

Is it 'So long Brad...no you're going the wrong way, the door's over there' or is Mignolet going because he's not seeing eye to eye with 'The Rodgers' and we're back to relying on Jones if the new keeper f*cks up/falls out with him?

Ardent

Just want to say I was greatly encouraged by that performance today. All suggestions of a lost dressing room are completely debunked.

Also, I hardly recall Mr Alan posting on here last season- now that Rodgers is under some pressure this season, every second post belongs to him. Pathetic.