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Liverpool Football Club Thread

glb

By glb
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Keiths_Dad

Keiths_Dad

Posted
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You're joking, right? Both the full backs were awful, they were what caused us problems all night. They might look exciting bombing up and down the wings, but they got caught up the pitch far too often.

Edit: that was in response to the Manquillo MOTM suggestion.

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Azrael

Azrael

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Harsh on the fullbacks, both assisted in the goals and Moreno stopped what could have been a goal when Sakho messed up. A clear penalty and never a dive. Poor play from the Lud defender for that pass back.

Can see Madrid destroying us mind.

Fabio Borini coming on to play for Liverpool in front of the kop in the Champions League pretty much explains why he wanted to stay.

So close to scoring with that header too, would have loved that to have gone in.

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Gabe

Gabe

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We saw both the good and bad of the full-backs in those last few minutes - Moreno shouldn't have been anywhere near Sterling when he lost the ball for their equaliser and Manquillo arguably shouldn't have been so far up the pitch either in the circumstances, but that worked for us.

From the 40 minutes I saw, Lovren didn't look too hot either and Sakho continually looks scared of the ball. In addition to missing Johnson, I also want Skrtel to get fit quick too (he is injured, right?), and that's never good.

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Keiths_Dad

Keiths_Dad

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I think Lovren grew into the game, but he started quite weakly. But, and I know I'm in the minority here, Sakho is a fucking rock. He's a beast in defence, and he's solid on the ball - his distribution is particularly good. People seem to have this notion that he's a clumsy oaf based on his early form for us, and then use the occasional error he commits as confirmation of this. I'm not having it though - he's a top centre back, and he's quickly becoming my favourite player.

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Gabe

Gabe

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I think Lovren grew into the game, but he started quite weakly. But, and I know I'm in the minority here, Sakho is a fucking rock. He's a beast in defence, and he's solid on the ball - his distribution is particularly good. People seem to have this notion that he's a clumsy oaf based on his early form for us, and then use the occasional error he commits as confirmation of this. I'm not having it though - he's a top centre back, and he's quickly becoming my favourite player.

When he signed I said that he looked really solid in the tackle and was like an old-fashioned no-nonsense English centre-back, but he tended to dive in and looked nervous (which he did for a while). I don't think he's terrible, though you're perhaps onto something and I tend to disproportionately notice those little moments where he looks like he's new to the game because he makes me feel edgy.

In fairness, I think he's probably been our best defender so far this season, though that isn't a high bar at the moment because we look shaky as a unit and are getting opened up by a bit of pace or just simple balls through the middle.

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Adrock

Adrock

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Sakho looked like a different player to me tonight, a lot more confident compared to the performances in the past.

Lallana is clearly rusty but you can see he has quality, Henderson is a rock for the midfield yet again.

Balotelli also looked much better tonight and finally I hope the constant Valdes rumours are true because Mignolet is shit, always one big mistake during every single game.

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reef

reef

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I'm with Keiths_Dad in thinking that Sakho has been solid, pretty much since his arrival at the club. As mentioned above, his distribution is as good as any defender in the league for me, really pinging passes 15-25 yards consistently into feet at pace and with confidence. Full backs both played well tonight for me, can't be too critical about them being caught up the pitch on the counter. If they are up there then it's the defensive midfielder's job to cover.

Unfortunately the starting formation leaves Balotelli too isolated at times. If Coutinho's passing isn't accurate or we face a defense which is too tight and well organised, not leaving many gaps to play balls into, then it's very hard to get any striker on the ball as much as you need to. Sterling wasn't on the ball enough for me in the first half, formation change helped tremendously with that and getting him central. Lallana clearly needs more game time for fitness.

It's funny how, with Suarez leaving, we all thought that reverting back to a lone striker would help us and that playing the two up front last year was forced upon us due to the quality of the strikers. It's looking more and more like playing two up front, with the diamond behind, might be our default going forward.

Fabulous win and just so very happy to be back in the Champions League again, well done fellas.

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Kelthink

Kelthink

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I think we are going to get better. One thing I noticed last night was when Balotelli had the ball, there was almost no movement from the other players since it looked like they had no idea how to read him. For now he'll probably be the best as the final player in the chain, but once he learns the team better we'll gel.

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Gabe

Gabe

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Agreed, I think the players need to settle onto a style of play where they know where others will be, which will take a little time.

I think there is also some confusion around roles, too. Whilst last season we were more fluid in attack, with Sterling becoming more influential as the attacking tip of the diamond it is having an effect on Phil in particular, who has been very poor. To a lesser degree I think Henderson is playing a bit deeper so we're losing a bit of his attacking thrust. I trust that these things will be sorted in time, I just hope we remain competitive in the meantime.

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Takizawa

Takizawa

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My worry is we're going to see Sterling try and do too much. He's clearly shown he's good at bringing the ball forward, but I hope it doesn't stop him getting in more forward positions in the first place, behind the full backs, pulling balls across the 6 yard box, that's what I remember from last season.

I thought Coutinho was excellent against Southampton, he was really elusive and was carrying the ball forward the way we've seen Sterling do, but it hasn't quite worked for Phil n the last few games. That's what my limited tactical brain tells me, we need to get Phil back ding what he did against Southampton, and keep Sterling further up the pitch, so he's doing his magic in more dangerous positions.

Or we should just clone Henderson and play him everywhere :wub:

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DeNeo

DeNeo

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It's no real shock that with 5 new players in the starting line-up (6 against Villa), we aren't as fluid as last season, especially without both Suarez and Sturridge. Hopefully we'll start to improve soon - can't wait for the 2nd half of the season, that's where we've looked stronger in Rodgers' time in charge.

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Chewylegs

Chewylegs

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I couldn't watch the game last night, so just sat down and watched it this afternoon. I was expecting some horrific performance by us, but it wasn't like that at all. We basically dominated possession but struggled to the final half of the pitch. Personally I thought the full backs played extremely well, and they way we play they are bound to be caught out at times, but that's the risk involved. Manquillo was excellent, Lallana looked promising and although Coutinho didn't have the best of games he was on the ball another and tried to break through.

We need to be playing the diamond though, we seem to work better that way and if it means certain players have to sit on the bench, then so be it. Borini looked like a man possessed when he came on, keeping bringing it I say. As for Mario, lovely finish for the goal and plenty of huff and puff...you could tell he thought, At fucking last, when it hit the back of the net.

I agree with the comments about Sakho too, thought he was solid, it's Lovren I worry more about.

As for Ludo, yeah they looked half decent and if they managed a draw then you couldn't say it wouldnt of been unfair, but fuck do I feel sorry for them, they didn't do that much.

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Gabe

Gabe

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Last season we would have scored more than let in but I can't see that happening today. This is going to be a tough lesson for the boys on the pitch. We also need a new defensive coach.

Well that's the issue - we've not improved defensively at all so far from last season, but it just looks worse because we aren't scoring this season.

Sakho on for...?

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