Soton (A)

[Modo]

Fortunate to still be in the lead after the first half.
Very fortunate.
Southampton dominating the midfield and bypassing us with ease.
Our passing has been abysmal and the midfield seems disjointed.
Coutinho looks lost, has just been gifting them the ball, but he's not alone.

Best players from the first half.

Mignolet - Great saves.

Johnson - Looks very assured. Brendan must have had a talk with him

Agger - Stable

Skrtel - A rock.

Flanagan - Leaves too much space behind him at times but is doing well on the one on ones.

The defenders are actually doing their job in this game so far, with little to no help from the midfield it seems.

Sturridge and Suarez are getting little service upfront.

We need to get Sterling on the pitch and hit them on the counter.

I say sub Coutinho, move Henderson to the middle and play Sterling on the right.

They've already ran us ragged.

 

[jon545660]

Oops

 

[juniormember]

And Gerrard needs to get the fuck back into the position he's supposed to be in.
The fuck's he doing running into the other half and leaving his defenders stranded once he's bypassed?

 

[RedZeppelin III]

as it stands ...come on defence , keep a clean sheet !

 

[Modo]

as it stands ...come on defence , keep a clean sheet !

Come on midfield, help them.

 

[localny]

Arsenal lost today, this is our chance to leap into second . Let's see if we have it.

 

[ILD]

Midfield not helping the fbs. Llallana is being given the freedom of St Marys.

Henderson and Coutinho anonymous for most parts. Maybe time for Sterling??

 

[Frogfish]

Agger and Skrtel have not been stable Modo. We are lucky to be leading. When Lallana hit the post Skrtel was fucking nowhere, just flapping about in midair and Agger missed his man completely after dosing off. They are accidents waiting to happen.

 

[keniget]

I can't believe we went into HT ahead. They could've had three or four in that half - we've been absolutely fucking woeful.

The disappointing thing is that it didn't start off like that. We looked fairly bright but when Southampton started to close us down and not let us play our game a few let their head drop in my opinion.

Flannagan keeps getting tempted into trying to nick the ball and failing leaving massive gaps behind him. He's struggling with no protection quite a lot. The defence as a whole have been fucking useless as usual. What was Skrtel doing when Llana hit the post? Fucking go and head it.

The midfield have no idea where they're supposed to be and what they're meant to be doing. And Coutinho has been an absolute waste of space.

This formation is not working and Rodgers needs to fix it pronto. Restore some familiarity.

If the second half is anything like the first, we'll lose and deservedly so.

 

[Buddha]

Defensively Allen offers far, far more than Coutinho. He'll harass their players all day long while Coutinho seems to do anything only on the odd occasions he feels like doing.
Phillepe off, Sterling on please.

Not for me mate. Last weeks cameo aside Allen's starting to irritate with his complete lack of physical strength in the tackle or shoulder-shoulder.

He's powder puff, lacks aggression. In this system we need more bite from our midfield.

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

The shape we're playing isn't helping. Looks like a diamond with the front pair of Suarez and Sturridge. That's exposing us on the flanks to no end, and that has knock on effects in the middle as a result, as Henderson and Allen are pulled to the sides to help defend, leaving two in the middle.

It wouldn't have been so bad if the midfield at least did its job but it isn't at all. Gerrard needs to remember his role is defensive / holding first and charging ahead second - there have been several occasions when his mindless charges up front have been fruitless and we've turned around to see a gaping hole in the middle as we retreated.

Probably Sterling on and we revert to a 4-3-3 to give us an injection of pace, a weapon to exploit Shaw's forays up front, and also to give us the people in wide positions to defend there in the first line, so the mids don't get yanked about.

Credit to Soton though - very good team they have.

 

[Buddha]

I had a tenner bet with a mate (Utd fan) that we'd keep a clean sheet today - lets hope I collect and rub his nose further in it.

 

[Frogfish]

Oh and we need to cut out this hoofball from Ming and Skrtel. Gerrard and Henderson need to come closer and make themselves available not just stroll around.

 

[Buddha]

Credit to Soton though - very good team they have.

That needs saying. Lallana's a cracking player too.

 

[juniormember]

Not for me mate. Last weeks cameo aside Allen's starting to irritate with his complete lack of physical strength in the tackle or shoulder-shoulder.

He's powder puff, lacks aggression. In this system we need more bite from our midfield.

I think it'll be way different if we get Sterling on and revert to our usual 4-3-3 with the three midfielders more compact. Each midfielder's way too exposed right now, and Stevie going AWOL isn't helping either.

 

[Mystic]

Agger and Skrtel have not been stable Modo. We are lucky to be leading. When Lallana hit the post Skrtel was fucking nowhere, just flapping about in midair and Agger missed his man completely after dosing off. They are accidents waiting to happen.

Not much you can do when 4 or 5 players are allowed to run at you unchecked. The issues are starting in midfield, we need to tighten up, I think the lack of wide midfielders is really hurting us.

 

[Mystic]

Hopefully Glock doesn't hurt us.

 

[dmishra]

Fucking hell, Skrtel!

 

[Mystic]

Where we left off by the looks of it.

 

[dmishra]

This is going to be much of the same. Change it Rodgers.

 

[Red Mullet]

This feels like a England game, where it's high pressure from a technically more skilled team against a bunch of hoofers.

 

[dmishra]

Sterling being readied. Good.

 

[RedZeppelin III]

2-3 minutes into the second half and nothing has changed , i don't get that .

 

[Holle]

I'd love to see Sterling coming on soon.

 

[DHSC]

We are losing out on the flanks and the midfield. What the hell are our midfielders doing.

 

[Red Mullet]

I think Moses has been coaching his 'laid back' attitude.

 

[DHSC]

I bet Rodgers takes Allen off.

 

[Holle]

I think it's going to be Sterling on, Coutinho off.

 

[DHSC]

Seriously balls pass from Gerrard. Took both Suarez and allen out.

 

[RedZeppelin III]

when i played and our passing was as bad as this our coach wouldn't let us take a break at half time , we'd have to do 5 yard quick passing exercises. The embarrassment was enough to wake you up . rodgers should have done the same here 🙂