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Liverpool Football Club Thread

glb

By glb
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Gabe

Gabe

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Posted

Unless we go on an unbeaten run the league title is lost and top 4 is now the priority. I can't see us making the points up to catch Chelsea.

Did you honestly expect us to be challenging for the title then? Even if we'd kept Suarez, our main problem has been an iffy keeper and defence (the CBs in particular), and neither of those have really been addressed, if the Lovren-replacing-Sakho stuff is true.

It's always a case of take each game as it comes, but if we can get to Christmas without any further defeats (and we'll have played Chelsea, Man U and Arsenal by then) then the second-half of the season could see us properly compete for the top-4, but I never thought the title was on and at the moment we look miles away from hitting any kind of stride.

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Stig

Stig

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Did you honestly expect us to be challenging for the title then? Even if we'd kept Suarez, our main problem has been an iffy keeper and defence (the CBs in particular), and neither of those have really been addressed, if the Lovren-replacing-Sakho stuff is true.

It's always a case of take each game as it comes, but if we can get to Christmas without any further defeats (and we'll have played Chelsea, Man U and Arsenal by then) then the second-half of the season could see us properly compete for the top-4, but I never thought the title was on and at the moment we look miles away from hitting any kind of stride.

I don't know really, I thought with buying the players in he did, he had addressed a lot of the issues, but seems they're still there. Ii just thought we might have made a bit of a better start than this even without Suarez.

Sure we can blame it on injuries, but all teams get them, even title winning ones. We increased our squad size to try and battle that but it's just not clicking at the moment.

We should have own today and there was nothing anyone could have done to prevent that goal, I don't think we were even doing much wrong at all.

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Gabe

Gabe

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Yeah, you can't blame injuries, especially as of those injured only Sturridge and perhaps Johnson would have been in the starting 11s each game.

I gather we were the better side (certainly that was true from what I saw) but I agree with a post above, we're conceding too many late goals (and too many goals in general, of course) but don't have the fire-power to outscore teams. I know it's early days, but I'm still wondering how Balotelli will fit into this side with Sturridge in a way that will get them both scoring goals regularly.

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Azrael

Azrael

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Our best performance this season came against Spurs when Sturridge and Balotelli both played so hopefully when he's back we can get them playing well together.

------------------ Mig

Manquillo Skrtel Lovren Moreno

--------------Gerrard

-------Henderson Lallana

----------- Sterling

-------Sturridge Balotelli

Would be my preferred starting 11 when everyone's fit. But even then I have questions over some players.

Maybe Flanno at RB and Can in Gerrard's spot.

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Commander Jameson

Commander Jameson

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I should have expanded but what I meant was how we're all having a good little laugh at them but they're ahead of us after Tha same amount of game. We've been just as shocking as them.

Bear in mind the teams that they've played compared to ours in those six games though. Spurs apart, we have played poorly no doubt, but let's see how their side plays at Man City, etc. Think it is still too early to make any judgements on the third to sixth positions yet.

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Chewylegs

Chewylegs

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One thing from yesterday I did notice, Rodgers substitution choices aren't always the best when seeing out a game. Lucas really should have been on with Sterling going off in the last 10mins. For one Sterling has played 210minutes of football since Tuesday, but also because when you are 1-0 up with just a few minutes left, why do you need Coutinho, Sterling, Lambert and Lallana on?!

I'm impressed with Manquillo as well, he looks like a great alround right back. Moreno looks awesome going forward, defensive wise he's more in the Glen Johnson bracket, but both Johnson and Flanno will struggle to get back in the side.

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Gabe

Gabe

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Rodgers is often a bit odd with his substitutions, I find. You can only imagine his rationale in bringing Phil on was to try and add a second goal to kill the game off, as we were far more dominant, but you tend to do that with 20-25 minutes to go, not 10. As dogsout mentioned, the equaliser was ultimately from having too many gaps down the flank, which in turn was because we still had a load of attack-minded players out there.

As for Manquillo, I think Johnson will come back into the side when fit, in part because he's just a kid at the moment. Not sure about the left-back slot though.

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Keiths_Dad

Keiths_Dad

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I think the left back spot is Moreno's for the taking, just as long as someone can collar him into being more responsible defensively. Whether that means drilling it into him in training or by having his centre back screaming into his ear at every opportunity, it doesn't matter, but right now he's something of a liability.

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Gabe

Gabe

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Well Enrique, when fit and on form, had a good balance of defence and attack so hopefully he can replicate how he was in his first 3-4 months when he was excellent.

Feel sorry for Sakho, though; couldn't even get in the matchday squad. Wonder what his future holds, because it seems pretty evident that Rodgers wants to have Lovren and Skrtel as the first choice pairing.

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dogsout

dogsout

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I think his substitutions are often spot on. I was saying he should bring Phil on about 5 minutes before he did. We needed more control between the lines at that point of the game. He effectively had to choose between Markovic and Lallana because Sterling was still looking fresh and causing problems with his pace. I personally felt he should have hooked Lallana and swapped Markovic and Sterling because Raheem had become increasingly wasteful in his attempts to drive inside, and Markovic was having trouble going outside Baines. I could see the reasoning behind the sub but felt he made the wrong choice in leaving Lallana on. There was no way he could have brought Lucas on without changing the shape of the team, or moving Henderson to the wing. Both of which would have been bad ideas, IMO.

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Chewylegs

Chewylegs

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There was no way he could have brought Lucas on without changing the shape of the team, or moving Henderson to the wing. Both of which would have been bad ideas, IMO.

Which is what I think he should have done on this occasion as another goal was very unlikely yesterday with 10 to go. Not to look into the past but a Benitez team would have seen out that 1-0 victory.
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dogsout

dogsout

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Which is what I think he should have done on this occasion as another goal was very unlikely yesterday with 10 to go. Not to look into the past but a Benitez team would have seen out that 1-0 victory.

A Benitiez team may very well have drawn that game 0-0.

I really disagree with you. It's not sensible to change the whole shape of the team in a game you're winning and controlling. Failing changing the shape, we'd have seen Henderson going wide in order to allow Lucas to sit next to Gerrard. A pairing which has been proven to be terrible as a partnership pretty much every time they've played together in a 4-2-3-1.

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Chewylegs

Chewylegs

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Fair enough,but personally at the 80min-ish mark I didn't see us controlling it as well and we had far too many attack minded players on the pitch. We could of taken Sterling off (as by then he was making mistakes) and settled for a 1-0. Granted the goal didn't come from us attacking but I think he is naive to always be looking for the next goal.

Anyhow, we move on to the next game and it's about time we got 3 points again and scored a few goals.

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dogsout

dogsout

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I agree with you about the problems in the last 10 minutes. I think the problem he had there was he'd already made the mistake of leaving Lallana on when he brought Phil on. If he brings Lucas on then he's still going to have the problem of Lallana tearing around and we're going to be more vulnerable through the middle due to the lack of mobility in the Lucas-Gerrard pairing. On top of that, taking Sterling off for Lucas leaves us with no out ball, bar Balotelli, who seems to be allergic to playing vertically.

For me, the mistake was made when he made the first sub because, as versatile as he is, Lallana actually limited our options in that formation. Oh well; on to the next, as you say.

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Adrock

Adrock

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The next being West Brom, who managed a decent victory the weekend, in the league. Basle is going to be a very tough test on Wednesday night.

With champions league being tough and also the problem of teams setting up to stifle Liverpool I think it's time Rodgers began to take a view that a 1-0 victory is more than enough sometimes.

Sakho storming out doesn't bode well for his future, especially considering he hasn't been setting the league alight with his performances.

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Chewylegs

Chewylegs

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This game is so open its ridiculous. What is with Enrique seemingly playing as a third centre back most of the time meaning we are getting destroyed on the right hand side of the pitch?!

I reckon though, one goal and the floodgates will open......for which side, no one knows!

We desperately need Studdger back, Mario needs help.

Postives, Markovic is looking better with each game and Lovren doesn't seem so error prone.........thats about it.

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Chewylegs

Chewylegs

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The ref is quite happy to let persistent fouling continue, very frustrating to watch.

As for the goal, BR has really done nothing to sort out how we defend this season....its worse than last.

What's with Sterling's final ball as well? We seem to be relying on him far too much these days.

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