Season 2014/15

[the dude abides]

In his after-match-sermon to the masses, Brent reckons:

"It was a game we had almost full control of."

"We passed the ball well and had good options in front of the ball."

[barticus]

God awful game to watch...2 teams out of sorts...no bright light in any of our players...we're gonna get thrashed by Real who don't have a barca match following and so will go for the kill at home...and then we have chelsea...oh joy!

[Ed]

"It was a game we had almost full control of."

"We passed the ball well and had good options in front of the ball."

Scary watching their goal, before and after the block
by Moreno.

Being pushed back so easily in the lead up

I credit Moreno for making the initial interception 'cos
the lad was in on goal otherwise but...

Very soft to give Pérez a shot (granted he was very alert!).

It's not really the individual error, if you could even call
it that, of Moreno, more the collective weakness most
likely beginning out there with Johnson.

It just doesn't function as a strong unit.

[Martinmarx]

In terms of defensive stability this was probably our best game of the season. If it wasn't for that overrated Moreno we probably wouldn't have lost. No, our problems lies elsewhere. We're utterly and completley unable to threaten in the opposite direction. I feel for Balotello who gets no support and forward energy from out of sorts players like Henderson and Sterling.

Speaking of which I think it was fornicating criminal to take our best player Allen off and leave that overhyped, incompetent and pretty much worthless piece of shed Henderson on. He's so poor it's unbelieveable. NEVER chose the forward direction, ALWAYS chose to turn home making us increasingly predictable.

I very very much question Rodgers decision to allow an out of sorts Sterling start the 2nd half. I very very much question Rodgers decision to start Henderson at all. I very very much question whether Rodgers have the capacity to learn anything. Finally I question very very much Rodgers decision to stick with his inep, worthless fornicating 4-2-3-1 or what the fork it's called when the team so desperately need a formation from which they can build confidence. But no, Rodgers have seen the light and the light is 4-2-3-1. No matter the fornicating fact the entire world can see this very formation just isn't working for us, let alone suits us.

I hereby state my belief we'll finish no better than 8th. I also think it's fair to say Rodgers lost his head after last season's success, which also means he lost the humility I liked so much with him. Just like Benitez he's stuck in stubborness playing the wrong players in the wrong formation.

This means with 95% probability we'll lose 3 on the bounce.

[Ed]

In terms of defensive stability this was probably our best game of the season.

Jesus, watch the f**king goal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPnb-peUuk4

Watch the Newcastle lad pick the ball up on the wing just
past midfield.

Look at his confidence.

Watch the guy coming on the overlap.

See the casual nature of our retreat, to the point where there's 6 in the box,
but Newcastle are still picking passes?

You focus on Moreno?

The danger starts as soon as the guy picks up the ball on the wing.

There is opportunity after opportunity missed for us to pressure and do the most
basic thing in football - put in a tackle.

I call that a shambles personally.

[Ed]

Two words - Dirk Kuyt.

A balanced side, the attacking winger knows his defensive duties and
that goal never happens.

[Martinmarx]

Jesus, watch the f**king goal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPnb-peUuk4

Watch the Newcastle lad pick the ball up on the wing just
past midfield.

Look at his confidence.

Watch the guy coming on the overlap.

See the casual nature of our retreat, to the point where there's 6 in the box,
but Newcastle are still picking passes?

You focus on Moreno?

The danger starts as soon as the guy picks up the ball on the wing.

There is opportunity after opportunity missed for us to pressure and do the most
basic thing in football - put in a tackle.

I call that a shambles personally.

It's very easy, of course, to single out a situation spanning over 15 seconds pinpointing every fault that eventually led up to the goal. I was talking attitude, balance, cohesion and such stuff. As far as the goal itself goes I guess you can analyse any goal being scored throughout the league this season and pinpoint where things Went wrong. But beside the goal they hardly threatened us all game which is a rarity the way I see it and thus a step forward. I'm not in this place to beat down on everything just to get a case against Rodgers. He has his flaws. Whether he can rectify them remains to be seen but I ain't calling for his head just yet.

To lay the blame for Moreno's shortcomings at Rodgers is unfair (besides playing him of course, but with Enrique injured...). The lad just isn't good enough and I can't for the world understand the hype that surrounds him. He's making Djimi looking like a solid LB ffs..

[Martinmarx]

Two words - Dirk Kuyt.

A balanced side, the attacking winger knows his defensive duties and
that goal never happens.

But Dirk is like 34 or something.

[Ed]

It's very easy, of course, to single out a situation spanning over 15 seconds pinpointing every fault that eventually led up to the goal.

But sure they're the most important 15 seconds in the game?

Listen, you have Suarez in the side, teams are nervous and you
can get away with shoddiness at the back because the teams
are wary of pushing extra men forward from the back.

Without Suarez, these things make the difference.

You simply can't afford to let the opposition waltz deep into your
territory with intent and expect to get away with it away from
home.

It's collective failure, failure of the system and sure Pardew knew
these weaknesses, I can hear him in the dressing room hammering
the point into the full back about the overlap and Glen Johnson &
telling the other lad about the space behind Moreno.

Most likely there are other blatantly obvious ways to get a goal against
us that anyone with video-player could figure out. It's why we concede
so many.

[Edward224]

No coincidence that we looked better when Borini came on.

Yes he's not very good but he offers movement and energy up front and works well with Balotelli.

We need to change back into a diamond formation because not only as per above but this allows Sterling to play at the tip of the diamond.

Overall it was a poor performance with individual mistakes costing us again.

[the dude abides]

Ultimately, the problem is that we are not scoring goals.

If we were scoring goals, then the conceding of a goal up at Newcastle is no massive deal (after all we are away from home, so it is almost to be expected that they will score).

But let's not be forget, Newcastle despite a recent upturn, are a team that are not playing well.

They sell their top assets, bank the money, and spend peanuts on a replacement from Timbuktwo.

I felt that Rodgers had to get a result today - most likely he needed to win.

BECAUSE, we will most likely get beaten in our next two games.....at Madrid, and then when we play Chelsea.

If we get beaten badly enough, then Rodgers job is very much on the line.

[the dude abides]

I took a look in to the RAWK (redandwhitekop) forum, after the game.

A fair few fans are now starting to see the light re Rodgers.

Has there ever been a manager so badly shown up, for how poor they are, when a single player has left their club?

Without Suarez, Brendan looks like barely a pub-side manager.   

I reckon he wouldn't even be fit to lace Big Sam Allardyce's in-stadium headset intercom system.

[Ed]

I took a look in to the RAWK (redandwhitekop) forum, after the game.

They seem to a quite malcontent-ed bunch over there
for some reason today 

And these are only from the first two pages of a 35 page thread
on today's game.

And I've been giving Rodgers the most enthusiastic support and
benefit of the doubt, but as soon as he goes back to playing his 'philosophy'
of football, we look like a 6-8th placed side again.

fork me that was the worst iv seen us under Brendan!

What has happened? We'll be lucky to finish top 10 at this rate

Turgid fornicating shine-a-light.


Rodgers got it wrong again


Some incredibly average players in our team, and they don't look arsed at all.

Awful play, awful tactics, awful signings. Not much more needs to be said.

Unacceptable, Brendan has a lot of work to do. Sort it out!!

Cowardly tactics.

Sort it out Brendan. That was fornicating dire.

Worst performance since the Hodgson era.....


Brendan entirely responsible for today's result.
Got his tactics completely wrong and it's not the first time this season.

can't wait for the positive brigade to come out and defend that dross

Don't let the door hit you on the way out Rodgers.

[the dude abides]

 

yes, one suspects that the RAWK moderators will have their work cut out over the weekend, to keep all the posters in line.  There may be a fair few posters suspended or banned.

And I noted in one of the major newspapers tonight, in their match report, they also made reference to fans being very annoyed in the Liverpool forums.

I think the game is up for Brendan. 

With Suarez leaving, Brendan needed to try to continue to hide (or mask) his own inabilities, by bringing in this summer, another top goal scorer.   Lambert and Balotelli were never going to be near good enough. 

Indeed, I suspect that Balotelli's signing will ultimately cost the Ulsterman his job.

[Martinmarx]

You're all gonna go IS on me but I would challenge you all by saying we actually turned a corner today. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am this was the best defensive display of the season. We didn't play as far up as we usually do thus helping the team staying short. As Dude was saying above the actual goal wasn't where we lost the game but rather our inability to threat at the other end. I'm not singing Rodgers praise here nor am I lauding the team but I really believe in the old saying you have to start building at the back.

It is therefore a tad unfortunate we play two of the strongest teams in Europe during the next 7 days. But it also represent a chance to build on what we started today. I think a tweak here and there (switching to the diamond formation as Edward suggest) might be enough to find some much needed structure and stability from which confidence and cohesion can start to grow. It's also important that Rodgers play both Sterling and Henderson sparingly from now on, albeit for different reasons.

We may lose both our next games but that isn't important. Rather the manner in which we do it is all that counts for me. After the break, given we can build on our defensive display of today, we have a good chance to go on a good run.

Am I the only one to think we actually kept one of the formteam's at bay at their place in a way we haven't all season?