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Swansea (H) 29th Dec.

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You can't help but love that...

Some of our attacking play was thrilling... first time ive enjoyed watching us this season really but then ive missed 2 games....

I wish we hadn't sold luis not only did he drive the team on up front be he had that little bit of genius in him which lent our play the added sheen of the spectacular...spectacular enough to scare every team... that's gone...

That said...

It's about fucking time we stopped moping around and played and tonight was a real tonic.... we actually can play...sitting around waiting for the season to start in fucking December hoping beyond hope...

Some of the touches up front were sublime, coutinho really shone as did lallana...some beautiful football was played which in the absence of the title is certainly a nice consolation, even last season... nobody was better to watch...

Hopefully the lads can push on and string together some wins and some performances to boot.

Mig wasnt massively shaky today, but still....should never be in goal past these next few weeks...

Can looks assertive and good on the ball with good pace... very pleasing.... he was pretty good against Burnley too so ... well done to him.

BUT.. that was a poor performance against us by Swansea in truth, what the hell were they doing leaving massive spaces in front of the back four like that, we did cut them to pieces at times...
 
Again, I realise I'm provably being overly harsh, despite playing well, I really hope Coutinho can continue to improve because he's still lacking the end product for me.

He's tidy, technically good, can exploit space well and operates well in tight areas, and while he has an eye for a pass, sometimes he over elaborates, when similitude would be better.

If he was more clinical with that final call and better at shooting he'd be truly world class.

Hopefully the run of games will allow him to develop.
 
Some outstanding football played in the second half.

Really need to sign a striker to bury some of the chances we are creating
 
rurikbird said:
I think some rotation is necessary for this game, plus an unconvincing performance from many players gives Rodgers a good excuse to make a few changes.

I would stick with Can at RCB, he played well after coming on and deserves to be given a chance to establish himself. Also I am really tempted to find someone to replace Skrtel as the middle CB. Lately he's been very poor defensively, arguably at fault for both goals against Arsenal and made a whole string of mistakes yesterday (although he partially redeemed himself a couple of good interventions late on). Rodgers will probably stick with Skrtel, but I would consider playing Toure as the middle CB with Can and Sakho both sides of him. Another option would be to give one more chance to Lovren, but I'm not sure it's the right time for that yet.

At LWB I think Markovic definitely needs a rest, particularly after he played the whole 90 minutes yesterday, which is unusual for him. Step up Moreno. At RWB Henderson looks mentally and physically fatigued – step up Manquillo. Like I said before, wing-back is the most energy-draining position on the pitch and it's better to rotate than to field same players on a short rest.

So, my back 5:

Manquillo--Can-Toure-Sakho--Moreno

Gerrard definitely needs to be rested. But what can we do if Allen is still injured, Can starts in defense, and Hendo plays at RWB lately and also needs to be rested? I would go to the system Rodgers used at home vs West Brom in October – move Coutinho back to the deep-lying playmaker role, alongside Lucas, with another midfielder (Lallana – in the West Brom game it was Henderson) making constant runs forward from the tip of the "triangle" and trying to get on the end of Coutinho's passes. This system would not work against Burnley or Stoke, but it can work against teams that "play football" and don't press overly aggressively: teams such as Swans.

So, midfield 3:

--Lucas-Coutinho--
-------Lallana--------

Finally, the front 2 depends on whether Sterling needs a rest. If not, then I would go with him and Balotelli up front. If yes, then probably Borini and Balotelli.

---------Can-Toure-Sakho---------
Manquillo-------------------Moreno
-----------Lucas-Coutinho----------
----------------Lallana-----------------
------Sterling(Borini)--Balotelli----
Click to expand...


So the only real difference from my lineup was Henderson instead of Balotelli – in hindsight it was a correct decision from Rodgers, Hendo looked a lot better playing in Gerrard's role rather than with Gerrard. Happy to see a good performance from him finally. Although I think it would have been OK with Balo too – Swansea didn't press at all in the first half and that was their undoing, Lucas and Coutinho would have controlled the midfield just as well and Balotelli would have freed up Sterling from having to fight the physical battle with Fernandez.

Moreno and Manquillo came into the team and did OK (it's not always bad to make a couple of changes, right @StevieM?), although I wouldn't go overboard with praise just yet. I thought Moreno was a bit rusty, but he also created the goal by moving inside and then continued his run inside the box – I love when full-backs do that! Was it Modo who recently said Moreno should never ever play as a wing-back for us again? I wanted to ask why, but thought maybe I missed something. I look forward to the competition between Markovic and Moreno for this spot now.
 
Hansern said:
Rumoured team

Ming

Can Skrtel Sakho

Manq Hendo Lucas Moreno

Coutinho Lallana

Sterling

Modo said:
Oh wow
Glen C said:
No way is that the team, he wouldn't be so suicidal.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I didn't want to run the slightest risk of jinxing us, so I let it go at the time. But I really don't get the logic. Why would anybody call that team "suicidal"? Is it the mistrust of 3-4-3? Or fear of changing a winning team even slightly? I really don't get it.
 
rurikbird said:
So the only real difference from my lineup was Henderson instead of Balotelli – in hindsight it was correct, Hendo looked a lot better playing in Gerrard's role rather than with Gerrard. Happy to see a good performance from him finally. Although I think it would have been OK with Balo too – Swansea didn't press at all in the first half and that was their undoing, Lucas and Coutinho would have controlled the midfield just as well and Balotelli would have freed up Sterling from having to fight the physical battle with Fernandez.

Moreno and Manquillo did OK (it's not always bad to make a couple of changes, right @StevieM?), although I wouldn't go overboard with praise just yet. I thought Moreno was a bit rusty, but he also created the goal by moving inside and then continued his run inside the box – I love when full-backs do that! Was it Modo who recently said Moreno should never ever play as a wing-back for us again? I wanted to ask why, but thought maybe I missed something. I look forward to the competition between Markovic and Moreno for this spot now.
Click to expand...
Modo says a lot of things, but he never said anything like that about Moreno. He's still young and can improve.
 
Throughly deserved that, lots Played well but I think it proved that without coutinho and lallana we are shite, some of the pass coutinho played where outstanding.
 
Brilliant stuff. Really encouraging signs.

Get Lallana and Coutinho on the pitch, at the same time, and in the right areas they're more capable of ripping shit up. Can looks classy there at the back bringing the ball out.

Lets smash Leicester and look forward to some better times in 2015.
 
philippe-coutinho-raheem-sterling-adam-lallana_3246005.jpg
 
Quick ratings :

Ming - 6
Moreno - 7 (his pace getting back to defend was very useful at times)
Sakho - 7 (can't put too much blame on him for their goal, if he hadn't climbed all over Bony to at least get something on the ball then Bony would surely have buried it from 5m out)
Skrtel - 6.5 (gets an extra 0.5 for that fantastic ripped shorts tackle on Routledge) !
Can - 7 (highly impressive, especially in possession, calmness and passing, despite his obvious error leading to their goal)
Manquillo - 6.5 - was strangely ignored when often in acres of space on the right (obvious instructions to hug the side-line), thought he did very well when in possession.
Lucas - 7 (despite his awful lack of pace) !
Henderson - 7 (what a pass) !
Coutinho - 9 - superb
Lallana - 8.5 - superb
Sterling - 6 (really made a lot of poor decisions and failed to lay it off, trying to go it alone far too often when there were better options, notably failing to pass Henderson and Lallana having made good runs).

Markovic & Balo both did well in their limited time. I said at HT I'd like to see Balo replace Sterling but BR really left it too late, he could have made the substitution at least 15 mins earlier. I think Balo would have scored yesterday given more time.

BR - 7.5 - can't be too critical, he's sticking to his guns with this formation and is getting it to work, has got the passing and pressing aspects of our game back. Hallelujah !
 
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