Liverpool vs Southampton Post Match Thoughts..

[Oncy]

Havnt seen the game lads (sorry I couldnt get my cock out, had to work) but I wouldnt be too hard on the team. Suarez, Coutinho, Allen, Johnson, Enrique out for one reason and another. Thats arguably HALF our outfield starters missing. Suarez, Allen and Enrique will all be back for Sunderland and hopefully things will look very different.
Terrible result at home that, but first defeat in 12 league games, lets not all suddenly pretend the last 8 months hasnt happened and we are back losing every other game again.
Lots of problems at the minute, maybe this will focus the mind a bit again.

 

[Oncy]

Oh and of course I will have the old wab swinging for the next game if im home intime.

 

[StevieM]

They were not a great team last year



... not as good as Chelsea or City last year, and yet they won.

Seriously mate, we do this every year - Man Utd are shit - yet they always finish in the top 2 - we're fooling ourselves about how good we are and how good certain I dubiously players are - the bottom is - year in and year out those players "underachieve" - there's a point at which the realisation should hit like a freight train that its not just the odd dodgy tactic or team selection - it's that the majority of our players are only really good in the minds of our supporters - certainly not consistently in the pitch.

 

[red_maradona]

Apart from Hernandez - who got 10 last year.

Wellbeck, Young, Nani, Valencia & kagawa will all chip in with a few - That's their attacking line - it's better than ours - by some distance - ding kid yourself its not - all of the would walk in to our team (well maybe not Wellbeck).

Bingo. I've been banging on about this all summer. We've spent so much on defence, but hardly anything on attack. When push came to shove yesterday, we brought on an 18yr old kid and a 6m second division spanish lad.

FIREPOWER.

 

[mark1975]

And just to add, we could have a lot fewer points this season than we have done due to poor performances. The way things were going last year we would have conceded that penalty against Stoke, Benteke would have scored that shot for Villa, United would have had 8 more minutes Fergie time to get a goal, Swansea could have grabbed a winner and we churned out a performance today we've seen a lot in recent years. That could have been 3 points instead of the 10 we have.

I know a lot of it is hypothetical, and like I said before, getting points while not playing well is the sign of a good team, but glossing over everything as "oh we were top this morning" is laughably naive and detrimental to our progress. There are lots of things to improve and it was a matter of time our poorness caught up with us.

"If that shot had gone in", we can say that about every tight game. Let's start on United - "if they didn't score that goal in the last minute".

So anyway, people being happy that we're top is laughably naive? I don't think anyone thought seriously it was anything but a nice thing to look at in black and white, I doubt many fans read too much into it, it's a long season, which is why picking up on our first defeat in ages as a sign of where we're at is equally myopic and narrow minded. We finished 7th last season, we weren't going to suddenly lose our deficiencies over night, but we're progressing well, regardless of how irrelevant you think the table is at this stage. 3 wins, a draw and a defeat is probably our best start in as long as I can remember, unless anyone expected us to become invincible over night, which is doubtful, unless you're so pig headed to seriously believe you're the only fucking realist on here.

If we hadn't fucked up it would have finished 0-0, that's about as relevant as your points about how narrow the games where and how on another day it would have cost us. Isn't that the nature of the game? The fact is we won the first three games. It's ok to be cautious, but to undermine our achievements so far? Don't be ridiculous. What if's are fruitless. We know we need to be better, but we're on the right road, and let's be honest, it's not the first time we've failed to break down a minor side at home and subsequently lost, it's been happening for decades.

And just for the record, 7 of the starters yesterday have only come into the club this year, it'll take time but the defeat is not symbolic of where we're headed, it's just a reminder of the sort of failings that these signings should eventually be looking to diminish.

We should be looking to push for Europe and beyond, the league is wide open so anything can happen, I don't think we're good enough to challenge yet (does anyone?), but we're building a good squad and we have some talented players who can progress and push for honours, but it will take time. Yesterday was disappointing but it's been as good a start as any so far, games are narrow but we've picked up points without being on top of our game. Imagine what we might do once we get going.

 

[red_maradona]

"To first lose possession, and then a goal, with so many defensive minded players on the pitch was criminal," the Liverpool manager said. "It [the back line] was what we had available. They coped as well as they could but we suffered a little offensively. I would like a much stronger squad, but we have what we have."

Just seen this from BR.

FFS Brendan, you spunked 20m on players unlikely to have any immediate impact (illori, aspan and alberto) and then 18m on a position which is not a priority. What do you expect?

 

[mark1975]

"To first lose possession, and then a goal, with so many defensive minded players on the pitch was criminal," the Liverpool manager said. "It [the back line] was what we had available. They coped as well as they could but we suffered a little offensively. I would like a much stronger squad, but we have what we have."

Just seen this from BR.

FFS Brendan, you spunked 20m on players unlikely to have any immediate impact (illori, aspan and alberto) and then 18m on a position which is not a priority. What do you expect?

What? He was saying it was a soft goal to concede with so many defenders on the pitch, what the fucks that got to do with Alberto and Illori? You're a proper moaning cunt.

 

[red_maradona]

What? He was saying it was a soft goal to concede with so many defenders on the pitch, what the fucks that got to do with Alberto and Illori? You're a proper moaning cunt.

What is your problem?

For starters don't swear at me, I dont like it. The ball not the man.

Secondly, read the section in bold, he is complaining about his squad. Hence, I am responding and saying most of it is his own doing,

Do me and yourself a favour and put me on ignore, you self-righteous troll.

 

[FoxForceFive]

"To first lose possession, and then a goal, with so many defensive minded players on the pitch was criminal," the Liverpool manager said. "It [the back line] was what we had available. They coped as well as they could but we suffered a little offensively. I would like a much stronger squad, but we have what we have."

Just seen this from BR.

FFS Brendan, you spunked 20m on players unlikely to have any immediate impact (illori, aspan and alberto) and then 18m on a position which is not a priority. What do you expect?

That kinda contradicts your point.

You don't get a stronger squad by buying one player instead of three. You'd have a better option at times, but when we have as many players out as we have you'd be in an even worse position.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

Seriously mate, we do this every year - Man Utd are shit - yet they always finish in the top 2 - we're fooling ourselves about how good we are and how good certain I dubiously players are - the bottom is - year in and year out those players "underachieve" - there's a point at which the realisation should hit like a freight train that its not just the odd dodgy tactic or team selection - it's that the majority of our players are only really good in the minds of our supporters - certainly not consistently in the pitch.

I know, but you can have me on the 'dark side' in a few games if things don't improve (unless we've won all the games obviously)

 

[red_maradona]

That kinda contradicts your point.

You don't get a stronger squad by buying one player instead of three. You'd have a better option at times, but when we have as many players out as we have you'd be in an even worse position.

I see your point, but squad is not just about quantity but quality. He has forked out close to 40m resulting in only one player who can have an immediate impact in a area that, in my view, was not a priority. HE could have gone for quality. Yet he looks to blame his squad, which he has had two years on building, as partly responsible.

 

[mark1975]

Bingo. I've been banging on about this all summer. We've spent so much on defence, but hardly anything on attack. When push came to shove yesterday, we brought on an 18yr old kid and a 6m second division spanish lad.

FIREPOWER.

Conveniently overlooking the fact that Coutinho, Allen and Suarez were all unavailable.

For the record, do you know how much United's reserve five (Wellbeck, Young, Nani, Valencia & kagawa) cost? Alot more than Aspas, Alberto and Sterling. You can moan about us investing heavily in the defense, but we already had a strong forward line, spending millions upon millions to compound that would be equally naive. We tried to buy two big attacking players in the Summer but they both turned us down for European football.

United have:

Rooney £30m
RVP £22.5m
Hernandez £8m
Wellbeck - Homegrown
Young - £15m rising to £20m
Nani - £17m
Valencia - £15m
Kagawa - £17m
£130.5m

that was built over years and years. Rodgers has been here for a season.

We have:

Suarez £20m
Sturridge £12m
Moses - Loan
Coutinho - £8.5m
Gerrard - Homegrown
Sterling - £500k
Aspas - £7.7m
Alberto - £7m
£55.7m

Bit of a difference.

 

[mark1975]

What is your problem?

For starters don't swear at me, I dont like it. The ball not the man.

Secondly, read the section in bold, he is complaining about his squad. Hence, I am responding and saying most of it is his own doing,

Do me and yourself a favour and put me on ignore, you self-righteous troll.

Ha.. I'm a troll? Do you read your own posts?

 

[Der Alte]

Ha.. I'm a troll? Do you read your own posts?

To be fair I don't think he is trolling. He's just, you know, stupid.

 

[red_maradona]

Ha.. I'm a troll? Do you read your own posts?

every single I post, you come out moaning this, moaning that, several times you have amended your post on reflection, which I appreciate. however, you seem to have taken it upon yourself to be some sort of arbiter of what is appropriate to vent about and what isn't. my original post in this thread was complaining about rogers complainig about his squad, which you conveniently put aside (the part in bold).

 

[Fabio]

He added depth to the squad, but not enough quality.

If he added quality and not depth then I'm pretty sure people would moan the other way round

 

[TSD]

Rodgers' team selection was influenced by the enforced absence of all four fullback options, but I'm flummoxed he went with the same midfield as before, the same midfield which relies on the width provided by the fullbacks, the same midfield which labors and buckles under pressure without passing options. Or with Allen out, did he genuinely run out of options too?

 

[StevieM]

I know, but you can have me on the 'dark side' in a few games if things don't improve (unless we've won all the games obviously)

Hah - it's just so frustrating watching us sometimes.

 

[StevieM]

Conveniently overlooking the fact that Coutinho, Allen and Suarez were all unavailable.

I don't think it's overlooking it at all. Fairly good odds on Coutinho not replicating his end of season form now he gets closer attention. Rodgers had put a lot of faith in him as our main creative outlet - cracking wee player though he is.

One more creative player at his level capable of playing across the attacking midfield line was a necessity.

Replacing Agger & Skrtel has to happen too - at least it's begun.

 

[Red Mullet]

Rodgers' team selection was influenced by the enforced absence of all four fullback options, but I'm flummoxed he went with the same midfield as before, the same midfield which relies on the width provided by the fullbacks, the same midfield which labors and buckles under pressure without passing options. Or with Allen out, did he genuinely run out of options too?

Midfield was our problem last season and it's evident it's this seasons problem.

Last season we were shaky at the back until Carra came in at the turn of the year. Our front line was a problem at the beginning of last season in that it was heavily reliant of Suarez alone. That got resolved with Sturridge and Coutinho. We now have Sturridge, Suarez, Moses and, as back up Aspas (so obvious he was bought in to cover a leaving Suarez or a banned Suarez). Coutinho was a risk when he came in and it paid off massively but he's now injured.

Our problem this season and last is midfield. Allen didn't perform as expected last season (either through injury or poor form), Henderson only really started going towards the final third of last season, Sterling burnt out and we were left with Downing (who had rare spurts of quality in a few games), a declining Gerrard and Lucas.

Shame our midfield transfer targets decided to go to other clubs and like BR says, we are where we are. So we're now hoping on a skipper getting his groove back, Allen playing like his potential suggests, Lucas getting back to what he produced against Man City all those seasons ago and Henderson continuing his upward trend.

 

[Woland]

Jeebus, shut up moaning. It's like tons of you got your period on the same day.

Suarez is back on Wednesday and hopefully BR has realised that Gerrard needs to play behind him and Sturridge.

Everybody knows that we should have bought a top CM, but we didn't, and even if we did he'd have done his ACL by now.

 

[keniget]

Gerrard should play further forward but it doesn't look like BR wants him there.

 

[Whirly]

That kinda contradicts your point.

You don't get a stronger squad by buying one player instead of three. You'd have a better option at times, but when we have as many players out as we have you'd be in an even worse position.

I think he's talking about how many key players who we already have are hurt or not fit.

 

[ILD]

Gerrard, god love him, was in the way at times yesterday. He had a stinker.

 

[Halmeister]

"If that shot had gone in", we can say that about every tight game. Let's start on United - "if they didn't score that goal in the last minute".

So anyway, people being happy that we're top is laughably naive? I don't think anyone thought seriously it was anything but a nice thing to look at in black and white, I doubt many fans read too much into it, it's a long season, which is why picking up on our first defeat in ages as a sign of where we're at is equally myopic and narrow minded. We finished 7th last season, we weren't going to suddenly lose our deficiencies over night, but we're progressing well, regardless of how irrelevant you think the table is at this stage. 3 wins, a draw and a defeat is probably our best start in as long as I can remember, unless anyone expected us to become invincible over night, which is doubtful, unless you're so pig headed to seriously believe you're the only fucking realist on here.

If we hadn't fucked up it would have finished 0-0, that's about as relevant as your points about how narrow the games where and how on another day it would have cost us. Isn't that the nature of the game? The fact is we won the first three games. It's ok to be cautious, but to undermine our achievements so far? Don't be ridiculous. What if's are fruitless. We know we need to be better, but we're on the right road, and let's be honest, it's not the first time we've failed to break down a minor side at home and subsequently lost, it's been happening for decades.

And just for the record, 7 of the starters yesterday have only come into the club this year, it'll take time but the defeat is not symbolic of where we're headed, it's just a reminder of the sort of failings that these signings should eventually be looking to diminish.

We should be looking to push for Europe and beyond, the league is wide open so anything can happen, I don't think we're good enough to challenge yet (does anyone?), but we're building a good squad and we have some talented players who can progress and push for honours, but it will take time. Yesterday was disappointing but it's been as good a start as any so far, games are narrow but we've picked up points without being on top of our game. Imagine what we might do once we get going.

I agree with a lot of that, but it's two sided. And I didn't say we weren't to be happy that we were top.

But focusing just solely on our first 3 results glosses over our deficiencies. We are improving, but we're still a way off the top. I don't know if we'll make top 4, but I'd be over the moon with it.

Like I said, signs are positive, but there are a lot of things we need to address. Nobody should be surprised by the weekend's result, since we've been putting in performances like that regularly for 20 years.

 

[Ryan]

Gerrard should play further forward but it doesn't look like BR wants him there.

I actually think it's Gerrard's choice to not play there.

 

[dmishra]

I actually think it's Gerrard's choice to not play there.

He's never been the smartest cookie.

 

[Silver Sean]

Agger was awful. Sturridge strolled. CBs at FB is only an option when you have no other options. Gerrard is awful at the moment. No creativity, no cohesion, outplayed by cheaper players who a) knew what they were meant to be doing b) did it.
We were a shambles.
I imagine a similar outcome from every set of 5 games this season. 3 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss.
Would give us 68 points.
We will finish 5th or 6th.
Same, same.

 

[nealmac]

There should be a way of tagging all the cunts that were saying we don't need Suarez.

 

[the count]

Agger was awful. Sturridge strolled. CBs at FB is only an option when you have no other options. Gerrard is awful at the moment. No creativity, no cohesion, outplayed by cheaper players who a) knew what they were meant to be doing b) did it.
We were a shambles.
I imagine a similar outcome from every set of 5 games this season. 3 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss.
Would give us 68 points.
We will finish 5th or 6th.
Same, same.

Eh, ten points from five games is a two point per game average.
Which would give us seventy six points at the end of the season.
I would be over the moon with that