post match - Swansea

[juniormember]

Yup.

We struggled to break down Swansea and share looks off the pace. Concerning

Breaking down Swansea, after four goals is not the problem.
Our defenders are really really nervous, Mignolet's always too scared to act as the sweeper when passes go behind the defense and Gerrard today for some reason went back to looking clueless in the dm position. Couldn't believe the gap he constantly left bang in the middle.
I'm also not a fan of 8 players wandering around the opposition area and leaving only two players to handle counter attacks. We've got the three S's, Coutinho and Henderson, plus one fb that consistently works the opposition. The other fb plus Gerrard needed way more discipline to support the CB's.

So, so, relieved with the win. Thank god we have those attackers but we're criminally shite at defending as a team and using our brains.

 

[Fabio]

We scored 4,but that was due to us being clinical. We struggled to break them down. I'm sure Southampton will be better than Swansea

 

[Whaddapie]

yes some sort of positive yes. but if we aspire to a top 4 finish, we should be beating the likes of Fulham and Swansea more comfortably than we have done in the last 2 matches. if we can play like this against city or Chelsea and still get 3 points then I will say yes a lot of positives here but not when we beat Swansea after conceding 3 goals (no disrespect to Swansea or Fulham)

Understand the point, in theory, but it's the 'win' party that's important, not the 'comfortably' part...

Ideally, yes, we shouldn't be biting our nails against Swansea or Fulham with 3 minutes left. But nor should we be singing 'we want 5!' at halftime against everton or arsenal. It happens... We play better / worse than expected from time to time. Good teams do what we've been doing for the past few matches - Snatching (possibly) undeserved winners from scrappy draws. The team I think will win the league did it yesterday.

We're still in pole position for 4th spot, maybe higher. We're the top scorers in the league. And we're good again. Remember where we were this time last season, and relax a little...

 

[Hyena]

I though Swansea played above themselves today. Shelvey too.
You would expect them to, so really a scrappy win is more than I expected.

 

[moron]

No excuse not to win league.

we only have the league to play for - we should be perfect.

 

[gkmacca]

They were there for the taking. They didn't cause me any anxiety at all. We did. We scared me to death at times. It was an easy game made very difficult by poor effort, poor thinking and poor attitude.

 

[phantomjoy]

Understand the point, in theory, but it's the 'win' party that's important, not the 'comfortably' part...

Ideally, yes, we shouldn't be biting our nails against Swansea or Fulham with 3 minutes left. But nor should we be singing 'we want 5!' at halftime against everton or arsenal. It happens... We play better / worse than expected from time to time. Good teams do what we've been doing for the past few matches - Snatching (possibly) undeserved winners from scrappy draws. The team I think will win the league did it yesterday.

We're still in pole position for 4th spot, maybe higher. We're the top scorers in the league. And we're good again. Remember where we were this time last season, and relax a little...

I wish I could mate. I wish I could. this is only going to get worse as the end of season approaches. I will have no nails left or my poor ticker would have given up.

 

[localny]

Granted Localny I am only accentuating our negatives. this is because we are so close to achieving something that I doubt most of our fans thought we could achieve i.e. top 4. I do like how we are grinding out points when playing so poorly but we wont get away with that all the time and spurs just wont away and you can only write off the scums at your peril.

Agreed but consider the improvements to date. Look how far we've come, it would be unrealistic to expect it to be where you suggest. But it's realistic to expect more going Forward from here. We are looking like CL material, when 9 months ago we were in despair. Do you trust the manager to address the blinding obvious defensive frailties? I think as a top Irish coach, he's earned some trust and latitude,

 

[Hyena]

Leffe look on the bright side.
Swanseas three goalsh
1. Was a Shelvey scorcher
2. Was a free kick + deflection
3. Was Skrtel foul + a harsh decision from a long ball in.

None really due to the defence losing organisation. Not much we could do about any of them.
That said there were a few nervy moments too

 

[Markeh]

I do fear the team intimidated itself with that first half against Arsenal. They now have to get through that sense of apprehension and get used to that kind of intensity. Sturridge and Suarez and Sterling are superb, but Coutinho really needs to wake up - if he wants to play in the World Cup this summer he needs to start when the whistle goes off in every game, not after about half an hour. His basic stats are good but they don't tell the whole story. He's far too quiet against teams he ought to be bossing from the first minute. And as for the defence, well, it's a shambles. Loads of work on the training pitch is needed.

For me he should make way for Allen against Southampton, unless Rodgers fancies dropping a striker and putting him back on the left. They're another team like Swansea and we'll need the extra effort in midfield, we can't play anything like that away against them and expect a result.

 

[gkmacca]

Thankfully in his postmatch press conference Rodgers sounded really sick of his defence, so hopefully there will finally be some serious changes.

 

[Red Bird]

Is Mignolet mute? And what is it with Skrtel and anybody who runs at him?

Still, I think it's glass-half full at Anfield, and although not enjoying the defending I am just loving the fact that we're never easily beaten. You can either have Moaninho's flukey 1-0 wins or what Rodgers's is making us go through. At the end of it all, it's 3 points and one more to the goal difference for us. And, for the first time in a long spell even when Suarez is not scoring, someone else is. And what a tactical master-stroke the substitution of Sterling (who had done little wrong) for Allen was. Gerrard was being left to deal with two/three runners on his own but Allen helped wrest control of central midfield back to us.

4 points off 4th? Onwards and upwards!

 

[Markeh]

Agreed but consider the improvements to date. Look how far we've come, it would be unrealistic to expect it to be where you suggest. But it's realistic to expect more going Forward from here. We are looking like CL material, when 9 months ago we were in despair. Do you trust the manager to address the blinding obvious defensive frailties? I think as a top (Northern) Irish coach, he's earned some trust and latitude,

😀

 

[phantomjoy]

Agreed but consider the improvements to date. Look how far we've come, it would be unrealistic to expect it to be where you suggest. But it's realistic to expect more going Forward from here. We are looking like CL material, when 9 months ago we were in despair. Do you trust the manager to address the blinding obvious defensive frailties? I think as a top Irish coach, he's earned some trust and latitude,

only time will tell mate but I agree with everything u say. its just that if we defend like this, we will throw away our good position.

 

[Hyena]

Oh and Glen Johnson was shit today innit. He needs to get back to fitness / form fast if he wants a new contract...

 

[Whaddapie]

No excuse not to win league.

we only have the league to play for - we should be perfect.

If you're being uber-sarcastic, enough already... We get it.

If you're not, please stop it.

 

[Farkmaster]

Thankfully in his postmatch press conference Rodgers sounded really sick of his defence, so hopefully there will finally be some serious changes.

What did he say? I haven't seen it.

 

[refugee]

http://rutube.ru/video/652a490dd02aa6cd2c7b5d86f7f60a84/

 

[gkmacca]

What did he say? I haven't seen it.

He was discreet, but he let it be known that the problems had been there for quite a while and he wasn't happy with it. He also hinted at the lack of aggression and resilience in the centre of defence. He didn't slag people off but he let it be known it wasn't a one-off and he was well aware something had to be done about it. He also implied that Sakho will be back as soon as possible ('a week to ten days').

 

[dmishra]

When is Sakho back?

 

[dmishra]

We could well have Sakho-Ilori as our CB pairing next season.

 

[Fabio]

#prayforsakho

 

[peterhague]

We could well have Sakho-Ilori as our CB pairing next season.

Ilori doesn't really look close to being ready, but even so, that might well be our best central defence right now.

 

[hmmmmm1]

Seasons gone by past we would have lost that game.

Best thing about us now is we have some resilience when things aren't going our way and showing some character to come back and win games. That is helped by having an awesome attack, scum did this for years.

 

[ctlovesred]

Just finished watching on DVR. Great win, I'll take 3 every single day.

We had a lot of trouble with their pressing because Gerrard was sitting so far back that there was too large of a gap between our center backs and Henderson or Coutinho. That and Stevie didn't really do much beyond jog around and pass backwards. Since when did our players become afraid to turn or play forward out of the back? Everything was constantly backward backward backward.

 

[dmishra]

Ilori doesn't really look close to being ready, but even so, that might well be our best central defence right now.

The Granada chairman said some very complimentary things about him yesterday. Started 2 games now, and will start again against Valencia today. Hopefully, that experience brings him into first team consideration for us next season.

 

[localny]

Ah now I am sure Man U fans debated their defense this much when going ahead four different times In a game. No they didn't, I was all, "Fergie's thrown the kitchen sink at them again, what a great manager"

 

[gkmacca]

Ilori has the potential to become the classiest CB we've had since Hansen. Sakho would fight battles for him like Lawrenson did for Hansen, except that Lawro was the best tackler inside the penalty box I've ever seen and Sakho would scare me to death tackling inside the box. He's the one who needs the most work. Ilori is just going to gradually become better and better.

 

[gkmacca]

Seasons gone by past we would have lost that game.

Best thing about us now is we have some resilience when things aren't going our way and showing some character to come back and win games. That is helped by having an awesome attack, scum did this for years.

On this occasion I don't think that's much more than a lazy comparison. In seasons gone by we'd have never have surrendered the lead three times against such a side. It was just sloppy. No need to allude to any earlier season. It was sloppy plain and simple.

 

[dmishra]

Ilori has the potential to become the classiest CB we've had since Hansen. Sakho would fight battles for him like Lawrenson did for Hansen, except that Lawro was the best tackler inside the penalty box I've ever seen and Sakho would scare me to death tackling inside the box. He's the one who needs the most work. Ilori is just going to gradually become better and better.

That's high praise. I hope you're right.


That said, any CB partnership needs a quality holding midfielder in front of them. I'm not convinced by Gerrard there at all. Lucas is better, but as everyone knows, I don't particularly think he's the best player in the world either.

We need to buy a CM.