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Post Match Thoughts: Swansea - Liverpool

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Ok I'm going to go against what I think is the popular opinion here.

Daniel Sturridge is either still carrying an injury OR he was fucking lazy last night. In the second half, when Swansea started the alehouse approach thew work rate of our striker was shocking. We needed high work rate to get them to make mistakes in their own half and then capitalise. That's what we did in the first half.

Fair play to Daniel for his excellent anticipation and the finish but the second half work rate was not what I'd expect.

Now if he is carrying an injury and is protecting it, then he gets a pass but the manager doesn't. We needed an energetic player to buzz around their players higher up the pitch. If Sturridge is carrying an injury he can't do that and we need to adapt.

I'm not picking on Sturridge here, just my observations. Gerrard needs to roll his sleeves up and get stuck in. They got physical, we should have got physical. Ashley Williams was given carte blanche to do what he wanted cos no one went and nailed him. Take a booking, show the other lot we won't be intimidated by that sort of shit.

Wisdom was getting sucked in loads during the 2nd half which meant a) Henderson was playing right back and b) he was getting in Skrtels way.

Skrtel was excellent. Moses showed good strength in the first half and that was a good goal.

We are top of the league and I'm happy with the position of the team but we definitely have issues to resolve in our midfield, the 2nd half of games and when the opponents want to stick it to us physically in midfield.

But we are top in spite of these deficiencies and if we can resolve them and still keep grinding out results, be they draws away or wins at home then we are moving in a good direction.

Next up Southampton. Be interesting to see how we deal with Lambert.
 
We also seemed to have an alarming lack of players who could hold onto the ball under pressure and suck some of the tempo out of the game. Again, in that position it should be Gerrard central to this, but our full backs and attacking players (bar Coutinho) couldn't. Sturridge and Moses get a bye from me on that count due to fitness, in fairness.
 
Spionkop69 said:
Ok I'm going to go against what I think is the popular opinion here.

Daniel Sturridge is either still carrying an injury OR he was fucking lazy last night. In the second half, when Swansea started the alehouse approach thew work rate of our striker was shocking. We needed high work rate to get them to make mistakes in their own half and then capitalise. That's what we did in the first half.

Fair play to Daniel for his excellent anticipation and the finish but the second half work rate was not what I'd expect.

Now if he is carrying an injury and is protecting it, then he gets a pass but the manager doesn't. We needed an energetic player to buzz around their players higher up the pitch. If Sturridge is carrying an injury he can't do that and we need to adapt.

I'm not picking on Sturridge here, just my observations. Gerrard needs to roll his sleeves up and get stuck in. They got physical, we should have got physical. Ashley Williams was given carte blanche to do what he wanted cos no one went and nailed him. Take a booking, show the other lot we won't be intimidated by that sort of shit.

Wisdom was getting sucked in loads during the 2nd half which meant a) Henderson was playing right back and b) he was getting in Skrtels way.

Skrtel was excellent. Moses showed good strength in the first half and that was a good goal.

We are top of the league and I'm happy with the position of the team but we definitely have issues to resolve in our midfield, the 2nd half of games and when the opponents want to stick it to us physically in midfield.

But we are top in spite of these deficiencies and if we can resolve them and still keep grinding out results, be they draws away or wins at home then we are moving in a good direction.

Next up Southampton. Be interesting to see how we deal with Lambert.
Click to expand...

Sakho would eat Ricky Lambert.
 
Spionkop69 said:
Ok I'm going to go against what I think is the popular opinion here.

Daniel Sturridge is either still carrying an injury OR he was fucking lazy last night. In the second half, when Swansea started the alehouse approach thew work rate of our striker was shocking. We needed high work rate to get them to make mistakes in their own half and then capitalise. That's what we did in the first half.

Fair play to Daniel for his excellent anticipation and the finish but the second half work rate was not what I'd expect.

Now if he is carrying an injury and is protecting it, then he gets a pass but the manager doesn't. We needed an energetic player to buzz around their players higher up the pitch. If Sturridge is carrying an injury he can't do that and we need to adapt.

I'm not picking on Sturridge here, just my observations. Gerrard needs to roll his sleeves up and get stuck in. They got physical, we should have got physical. Ashley Williams was given carte blanche to do what he wanted cos no one went and nailed him. Take a booking, show the other lot we won't be intimidated by that sort of shit.

Wisdom was getting sucked in loads during the 2nd half which meant a) Henderson was playing right back and b) he was getting in Skrtels way.

Skrtel was excellent. Moses showed good strength in the first half and that was a good goal.

We are top of the league and I'm happy with the position of the team but we definitely have issues to resolve in our midfield, the 2nd half of games and when the opponents want to stick it to us physically in midfield.

But we are top in spite of these deficiencies and if we can resolve them and still keep grinding out results, be they draws away or wins at home then we are moving in a good direction.

Next up Southampton. Be interesting to see how we deal with Lambert.
Click to expand...

As I said already, Sturridge needs services, and lots of it. He got fuck all of that in the second half last night. I agree he was very quiet in the second half, but I don't think it was all necessarily his own fault.

How he got MotM, fuck knows.
 
Spionkop69 said:
Ok I'm going to go against what I think is the popular opinion here.

Daniel Sturridge is either still carrying an injury OR he was fucking lazy last night. In the second half, when Swansea started the alehouse approach thew work rate of our striker was shocking. We needed high work rate to get them to make mistakes in their own half and then capitalise. That's what we did in the first half.

Fair play to Daniel for his excellent anticipation and the finish but the second half work rate was not what I'd expect.

Now if he is carrying an injury and is protecting it, then he gets a pass but the manager doesn't. We needed an energetic player to buzz around their players higher up the pitch. If Sturridge is carrying an injury he can't do that and we need to adapt.

I'm not picking on Sturridge here, just my observations.
Click to expand...

Is that going against popular opinion? I made that comment last night and a few others did as well. There's no mystery about injury - he's not fit and he's nursing a thigh problem and in the second half he was clearly protecting it.
 
Spionkop69 said:
Ok I'm going to go against what I think is the popular opinion here.

Daniel Sturridge is either still carrying an injury OR he was fucking lazy last night. In the second half, when Swansea started the alehouse approach thew work rate of our striker was shocking. We needed high work rate to get them to make mistakes in their own half and then capitalise. That's what we did in the first half.
.
Click to expand...



You're a quiffer. I said this on page 5 of this thread. And I said it much more sexily.
 
@Spionkop69, totally agree about Sturridge. I'm putting it down to being 75% fit and carrying a potential injury.

Gerrard did clatter Williams early on in the game in a 50/50 but I do know what you mean. Williams is a bully and thinks he can get away with it.

Our right side was our weak link. Henderson tucked in a fair bit and allowed their full back the opportunity to carry the ball into our half. Henderson had a fine game but our right side suffered as positionally he moved quite a bit. I like Wisdom, but I feel he is merely doing a job out there. Perhaps Kelly if fit should get a go. Another who probably isn't a FB but I've always rated Kelly.
 
doctor_mac said:
You don't need service to close down the opposition. You do need fitness though.
Click to expand...

Yep. He just didn't seem arsed to harry their defence in the second half and it was that harrying, high tempo, high up the pitch that produced their mistakes that led to our goals.
 
gkmacca said:
Is that going against popular opinion? I made that comment last night and a few others did as well. There's no mystery about injury - he's not fit and he's nursing a thigh problem and in the second half he was clearly protecting it.
Click to expand...

I made an assumption it was. I know there's no mystery, my point is, he was effectively a passenger for the last 30 mins when we could ill afford a passenger.

The manager should have changed that imo.
 
Leo said:
Yes Steven Gerrard and Kolo Toure are very similar.
In your world maybe.
Click to expand...
Age doesn't matter if you are the best in your position.

What age is Ferdinand?

Toure in his short time here has proven to be our best defender in back to back to back games.

Play him til he fucks up or gets crocked.

Likewise Skrtel who has been flawless since given the chance.
 
Dreambeliever said:
Age doesn't matter if you are the best in your position.

What age is Ferdinand?

Toure in his short time here has proven to be our best defender in back to back to back games.

Play him til he fucks up or gets crocked.

Likewise Skrtel who has been flawless since given the chance.
Click to expand...


Ferdinand is a centre back. That's hardly comparing like with like.
 
Spionkop69 said:
Ok I'm going to go against what I think is the popular opinion here.

Daniel Sturridge is either still carrying an injury OR he was fucking lazy last night. In the second half, when Swansea started the alehouse approach thew work rate of our striker was shocking. We needed high work rate to get them to make mistakes in their own half and then capitalise. That's what we did in the first half.

Fair play to Daniel for his excellent anticipation and the finish but the second half work rate was not what I'd expect.

Now if he is carrying an injury and is protecting it, then he gets a pass but the manager doesn't. We needed an energetic player to buzz around their players higher up the pitch. If Sturridge is carrying an injury he can't do that and we need to adapt.
.
Click to expand...



Two things mate:

1 - We dropped deeper in the second half than we did in the first. Our midfield in particular played a much deeper line. Sturridge meanwhile maintained his high line, so all that means is he's defending from the front on his own cos the midfield were 30 yards away from him. You could see him visibly fucked off with it, and he had a point.

2 - We had less possession. He didn't have to work as hard in the first half without the ball, cos we weren't without the ball very often. Changed dramatically in the 2nd half.
 
From the off he was a yard off the pace, it was more noticeable when he was running from deep and having to beat a player, but he's clearly not playing at full pelt. Maybe the Suarez return will give him a breather, he's visibly not moving as easily.
 
mark1975 said:
From the off he was a yard off the pace, it was more noticeable when he was running from deep and having to beat a player, but he's clearly not playing at full pelt. Maybe the Suarez return will give him a breather, he's visibly not moving as easily.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and he seems reluctant to have a shot from distance too. I can see him being rested at United next week. Back in for Sunderland away the following Sunday.
 
Of all the things Rodgers has done, the one thing that always seems to cause the biggest problem is persisting with Gerrard in the deeper role.

When we're on top, dominating possession, he can sort there pulling the strings and letting Coutinho cause all the problems probing in the attacking third.

When we're under the pump his lack is discipline, although greatly improved, and static movement hurt us.

The better option last night, I reckon, would have been to put Gerrard in Coutinho's role, pull Henderson back to sit beside Lucas, and stick Aspas out wide. Rodgers has steadfastly refused to play Gerrard in a more forward roll - maybe I'm missing something, but I don't quite get it.

I still think the big mistake we made in the transfer market was not in the deep midfield positions, but in the attacking positions - predominantly someone who could play to the right or sit in the centre.
 
StevieM said:
Of all the things Rodgers has done, the one thing that always seems to cause the biggest problem is persisting with Gerrard in the deeper role.

When we're on top, dominating possession, he can sort there pulling the strings and letting Coutinho cause all the problems probing in the attacking third.

When we're under the pump his lack is discipline, although greatly improved, and static movement hurt us.

The better option last night, I reckon, would have been to put Gerrard in Coutinho's role, pull Henderson back to sit beside Lucas, and stick Aspas out wide. Rodgers has steadfastly refused to play Gerrard in a more forward roll - maybe I'm missing something, but I don't quite get it.

I still think the big mistake we made in the transfer market was not in the deep midfield positions, but in the attacking positions - predominantly someone who could play to the right or sit in the centre.
Click to expand...

Moses can play on the right though. I'm sure I've seen him do so for Wigan when he was there.
 
Swansea just battered a 10 man valencia 3-0 away from home, maybe our 2-2 draw will be considered a reasonable result at the end of the season?
 
Barrett - BR has held urgent talks with his staff in an attempt to solve #LFC's inability to maintain performance levels for an entire game

BR: "It's more of a mental than physical thing. A few weeks ago we were saying how fit all the players looked. Their condition is fine."
BR: "I was disappointed we didn’t get all three points against Swansea, in the 2nd was not how I expected us to be."
BR: "For me it has been mostly in the last two games. We intentionally dropped our lines a bit deeper against Aston Villa."
BR: "Against UTD we dropped too deep, too quickly. Even though we looked comfortable that was not the type of game we want to play."
 
No no Brendan, you should be pleased with a draw after 65 minutes where our team was under the cosh and was struggling to hold onto the ball for more than 2 seconds due to idiotic long ball passes from every midfielder bar Lucas and Henderson.
 
red_maradona said:
Swansea just battered a 10 man valencia 3-0 away from home, maybe our 2-2 draw will be considered a reasonable result at the end of the season?
Click to expand...

We were leading 2-1, FFS. The problem is that once we concede a goal we're more likely to concede a second and a third. The defending for both goals was disappointing.
 
This kind of thing can have a nagging psychological effect. It's like when a team scores a few late goals - it gets talked about, and as the clock ticks down you can see the team push on with confidence and their opponents get really nervous. It's the same with this - now it's being discussed so much, all opposing teams will come out for the second half really fancying they can finish the stronger of the the two. And it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. We need to nip it in the bud.
 
We need to put games too bed in the first half so. Comfortable 3-0 on Saturday please.
 
The stats I posted shows us having 54 % posession on the first half and 37 % in the 2nd half in our first 4 games.
We definetly need to get that right.
 
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