10 Dec 2014

'I could've helped': Devastated Sturridge reacts to LFC exit; Markovic Red deserved?

It's the proverbial 'morning after night before', and in the cold light of day, Brendan Rodgers can have no complaints about the club's ignominious - and inevitabe - exit from the Champions League remains. When all is said and done, the Reds garnered a pitiful total of five points during the group stage, and that is symbolic of the team's ineffective performances during the competition.

There's no point analysing the game to the nth degree - the plain fact is that Liverpool just weren't good enough, and the reasons for that have been discussed a million times this season.

Reacting to the result, injured Reds striker Daniel Sturridge tweeted:

"We fought hard man. Sat here devastated wishing I could have helped. We'll come back stronger from this and I'm working hard to do the same".

Sturridge is right - Liverpool fought hard...for about 35 minutes. What about the rest of the game? The first half was a total write-off as Basel dominated possession, and the team only started putting in the requisite effort in the second half of the game. By then, though, it was already too late.

And then came the Markovic incident.



At first glance, it seemed like a harsh decision by the referee, but on reflection, Markovic clearly deserved to get sent off:

* As he motors away with the ball, Markovic clearly looks back at Safari.
* He then lashes out with his arm, and catches Safari in the face.
* This is clearly a deliberate act, irrespective of the seriousness of the contact.
* Markovic's intent is clear, which is (probably) why the referee sent him off.

Watching the incident in slow-motion, it's impossible to defend Markovic here; quite why he decided to lash out in full view of the referee is anyone's guess, but his damaging stupidity made it much harder of Liverpool to go on and win the game.

I don't blame Markovic for LFC's failure to win the game, though. The match was lost before he even entered the field of play, and if he'd remained on the field, I doubt the end result would've been any different.

After Liverpool's exit, Rodgers is now 5-1 second-favourite to be the Premier League's next managerial casualty, and defeat at Manchester United this weekend could conceivably seal his fate.

Author:


50 comments:

  1. If we lose at old trafford he has to go!! Rafa Rafa Benitez and bring higuan with you please

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  2. Basel didn't dominate possession in the first half, they were just more dominating with the possession they had.


    But yeah, I agree with the whole article bar that minuscule statement I pointed out. If Rodgers is sacked before Christmas, then we really HAVE done a Spurs. The guy has the talent to manage, he's just too bloody stubborn.

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  3. When B R had a small squad he was fine BUT now he tries to please everyone and ends up pleasing noone at all . His arrogance with the lone strker proves he NEVER learns - I have very little sympathy with him because of that. Sturidge could have taken better care of himself when called up by England so little synpathy with him either. Good old Stevie G summed it uo - we were useless from start to finish in all the Champions League games. The Club needs a clear BACH HIM - OR SACK HIM before the weekend by John Henry - Supporters have been short changed terribly this season plus being asked to pay silly prices to see rubbish football. Ex players are going to batter B R today

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  4. Dortmund have qualified for the last 16 so there the option of Klopp out the window.

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  5. Markovic red was deserved harsh yes.... but deserved should've known better especially in europe! but he wasn't to blame for getting knocked out the onus is totally on Rodgers left coutinho and Llalana on the bench... i hate to say it maybe this is a blessing in disguise because if next round we had come up against Barca bayern or PSG we could've been humiliated also well done Basel and for the banner they are very underrated team with underrated manager and players remember this team beat Mourinhos chelsea home and away last season! Rafa Rafa Benitez and bring Higuan and Hamsik with you!!

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  6. Nevergonnacrackthecode7:28 am, December 10, 2014

    Markovic is my favorite signing
    now we need to see him vs Man utd


    ..........................................Sterling
    lallana/Hendo.......................Coutinho.......................Markovic
    .........................................Can.......Gerrard
    Moreno.............................Lovren..........Skrtel.............Johnson
    ...............................................Mignolet




    Lallana.Markovic, Moreno,Lovren and Can should play
    we play all out attack no more defensive football
    Rodgers if he can get them playing well he can vindicate his summer activities

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  7. Nevergonnacrackthecode7:30 am, December 10, 2014

    We should buy Bony or Doumbia
    Higuain is pretty much past it

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  8. Lucas instead of gerrard and no henderson!

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  9. Agree he should have been sent off but disagree it was already too late as the margin was just a single one goal at the end. One lucky break a scuffed shot or a moment of magic. Who knows what might have happened had we still had him on the pitch and such small margins can define whole seasons and thr futures of individuals


    Silly error yes and one to learn from but the apologists for his action will do him no favours.

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  10. yeah, i love players that get sent off after 15 minutes

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  11. Klopp with Reus please. Much better and hopefully he can find us the new Lewandoski to play with Studge and Origi

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  12. You generally spout complete nonsense but you're right on this. We need to get back to forwards with exceptional movement and pace if that is what Klopp wants.

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  13. Sent off or NO make no diff to result ! Brave for another disappointing coming match....Unless be playing diff formation and diff approach !!!

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  14. Very unlikely BR will get the boot before the end of the season. So he has until then to prove last season wasnt a fluke for him. I'm beginning to cringe a bit every time I hear a BR interview. He's starting to sound like a real phoney. The latest being the 'folklore' comment...BR please!

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  15. Not going to engage with the click baiting but we went at them from the off in the second half. That is plenty of time to overturn a one go deficit.

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  16. There is a difference between being an "apologist" and seeing it differently.

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  17. Apologists see it differently. There.

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  18. Why should the man u game make a difference? Isnt three years of incompetence enough? No Benitez, Frank de Boer. A manager who plays to win, who every player on the planet knows and who can spot a good player a mile away

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  19. Yes. Its his stubborness that makes him sign dudds all the time

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  20. I think Real Madrid was humiliating enough. They didnt even have to make an effort

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  21. I doubt Markovic would have been red carded hadn't the Basel player dived and pretended he had his eyes poked out which he didn't.
    J.K. you complained about Suarezes antics yet no doubt this Basel player cheated to get Markovic the red.

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  22. Oh you were a Suarez apologist as well. Good thing we got rid of him and his antics! Worked out really well for us didnt it? Now we have a striker who had the antics but doesnt score those pesky goals. When hes not injured or at the barber's of course

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  23. We needed to win this game! We should have been at them from minute 1. Not 45 when a goal down!

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  24. Not too sure that he would be sacked after a defeat against Man Utd.

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  25. In My Opinion the Markovic decision was harsh esp looking at some of the challenges that were made esp on Sterling that went unpunished...
    Also how was it that there was only 4 minutes of added time at the end?
    there was a goal and a few hectic injuries that took a while to cleat etc a sending off... and only 4 mins? anyways the game was lost because of BR tactics and how many times this season already has he got it wrong? its his players that are not performing and he is relying on the previous managers players to get him out of trouble!The problems are so obvious i cant understand why he cant see it!!!

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  26. Why give yourself 45 minutes when you can give 90 minutes?

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  27. Absolutely. I posted on another site when I saw the lineup. Uninspired we will lose. Rodgers has shown a lack of courage lately when he should have been going for it a bit more. Lambert should never have started. But having said that we got close enough with ten men so we definitely could have gotten the win but that fight needs to be evident from much earlier.

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  28. What? My philosophy on Suarez was he was a nobhead but he scored goals and was class. Now he is elsewhere I don't much like the little muncher.

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  29. Be carefull what you wish for.... To all you "Rodgers out" gang tell me 1/ who do you realistically think we will get to replace BR. 2/what happens if this manger has a bad patch, do you sack him too?.... To be honest I am so shocked how flikle some LFC fans are... I thought we were different to every other club.... I remember where were before BR took over. We were going backwards, fast. I don't think any other manager could have took us to 2nd from where we were.

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  30. are u on crack, i remember where we were aswell, 7th having been to 2 cup finals, we then finished 7th in his first year which was a worse season and are 9th in his 3rd year, total regression after a 212 million spend, you can talk about finishing second all u like but the reality is the majoriy of his time here has been a disaster, 2 and a half year at the club 1 and a half of which have been a disgrace, 212 million spent on 23 players, 21 of which have been a disgrace, he had no right to get the jobin the first place based on his championship cv but to keep it at this stage is not even up for debate, RODGERS OUT

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  31. I guess if having a different view to means being on "crack", then yes Im on Crack.
    "The majority of his time has been a disaster"? Well I seem to remember from the time he bought Studge and Phil till the start of this season we were playing the best we have done in years. So I guess your wrong there.... Go on tell me your grand plan for LFC, sack Rodgers then? replace him with who.

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  32. if your of the view fans are fickle because they dont support a manager come what may than ur deluded or on crack, rodgers had FAILED and doesnt deserve to keep the job he didnt deserve to get in the first place, if the owners want to go with a dof id look to appoint frank de boer with johan cryuff as dof, the echo announced cruyff had agreed to become dof until rodgers said he wouldnt work with one so scrapped it and brought in the awful transfer commitee, de boer is used to working with one at ajax, they both have the dutch and barca connection and would be a huge draw in attracting players, de boer fits the owners model of being young, plays attacking football and is used to developing top players such as vermaalen verthongen ericksen and luis, hes a winner both as a player and manager and has vasly more experience in europe, he would leave ajax mid season for a top club having said hes took ajax as far as he can and is more realistic than a klopp or simeone figure

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  33. Agreed Rodgers has some pride on him for one so young. His treatment of players that he signs is also worse than Benitez in my opinion. The way he trashed Borini, Asaidi, Aspas and Alberto amongst others without ever giving them a run in the side to get used to the league and surroundings is criminal. BR does not have a clue how to work with a big squad. He is at his best with a tight group of 15 and then having young players he can bring in and charge indirectly with our failure. I can see Rodgers being a coach in Harry Redknapps back room team soon if he's not careful along with Hoddle and the other ghosts of of arrogant managers past.



    That said....... looool..... he is a talented guy but he needs a director of football in the mould of van Gaal or Rijkaard to: 1) make ALL of our future signings and 2) who he can bounce of OR who will have it out with him regarding team selection if needs be. There are far too many yes men in that backroom of his who are simply happy to be there.

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  34. Im not sure what your obsession with Crack is about but if you think vermaalen verthongen are top players then I'm just happy you are not in charge of LFC. As for saying Rodgers has "FAILED". Most fans of football didn't even expect us to be anywhere near the top 4 last year therefore being in the cham league this year was not expected by most.

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  35. The red was deserved. It doesn't matter that the contact was a wussie girl slap, or that the 'victim' was calling for an ambulance and legal team on the way down, the intent was clear. It was a shame because I thought Markovic changed our on-field culture for 15 minutes. He actually had the stones to attack. Part of me wants to say that Basel realized this and began the process of messing with him in order to get some sort of response. That they succeeded beyond their wildest expectations is a shame. The further bad news is that despite the obvious talent, BR probably doesn't trust him to play at all now and that's the real loss.

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  36. I was being sarcastic...

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  37. if vermaalen and verthongen had come through our youth system they would be heralded as huge products of the academy and a testament to whoever brought them through it is my point, they are both international players one of which plays for barca so they have to be chalked down as as success as far as development is concerned with de boer, top 4 is ALWAYS the minimum at liverpool, most fans didnt expect us to be anywhere near the tiltle fair enough but when your in charge of liverpool and you spend 100 million on a squad that finished 3 places off 4th and got to 2 cup finals like rodgers did to say you didnt expect to be anywhere near 4th is ludicrous... the fact is in any walk of life if u wre lucky to get a job above your station and you fail to deliver in your first year your sacked, also if you regress in your 3rd year to a place where your worse than your very unsuccessful first year your sacked, also if you waste close to a quarter of a BILLION quid in 2 and a half years your sacked, if you do all 3 than its laughable to even suggest its fickle to call on him to be sacked, hes the 5th longest serving manager in the league so hes gotten longer than most let alone at a top club and hes been given huge backing, it hasnt worked, he has failed and needs to be sacked

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  38. You know that seems to be typical of managers under pressure. They start being overly cautious. It was the same with Benitez and Houllier. When we started under Benitez we played some really good football. His Valencia side did as well. But as soon as he made a few poor signings, alienated important players and coaches and got distracted by the owners, we became worse and worse to look at. Houllier was the same. We never were fantastic to watch under him but before he had his heart condition, we were actually looking like we were going places. Rodgers is the same. Last year we started every game looking to be 4-0 up after ten minutes. Now we start games, must win games, with Allen and Lucas. What would have been the harm of starting last night with Markovic and Sterling around Lambert and Henderson, Gerrard and Coutinho in midfield behind them? Sure they could have countered us and gone a goal up (which they did anyway) but we could also have overrun them and go two, three up by half time. If nothing else, we wouldn't be talking today about how Rodgers bottled it.

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  39. By the way, did anyone else think Lovren looked solid last night?

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  40. yep all he needs is a proper defensive midfielder at southampton he had schneiderlin at liverpool he had gerrard that sums it up really

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  41. if vermaalen and verthongen had come through our youth system they would be heralded as huge products of the academy and a testament to whoever brought them through it is my point, they are both international players one of which plays for barca so they have to be chalked down as as success as far as development is concerned with de boer, top 4 is ALWAYS the minimum at liverpool, most fans didnt expect us to be anywhere near the tiltle fair enough but when your in charge of liverpool and you spend 100 million on a squad that finished 3 places off 4th and got to 2 cup finals like rodgers did to say you didnt expect to be anywhere near 4th is ludicrous... the fact is in any walk of life if u wre lucky to get a job above your station and you fail to deliver in your first year your sacked, also if you regress in your 3rd year to a place where your worse than your very unsuccessful first year your sacked, also if you waste close to a quarter of a BILLION quid in 2 and a half years your sacked, if you do all 3 than its laughable to even suggest its fickle to call on him to be sacked, hes the 5th longest serving manager in the league so hes gotten longer than most let alone at a top club and hes been given huge backing, it hasnt worked, he has failed and needs to be sacked

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  42. to be honest for us guys man utd game shouldn't make a difference but there are some fans still asking for patience so best we all agree after the man utd game

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  43. Yes mate. My own personal set up I wished (but didn't expect to see) was something closer to what we had when Markovic came on. A sort of false nine thing with Sterling and Marovic wide of Gerrard but the two fast lads making a point of playing off the shoulder or tucking in to space left by fullbacks getting forward. Fluid like last year. I wouldn't have minded a midfield of Lucas, Allen and Hendo then as we would need more work from the three. But no Rodgers did what he had been doing for ages and would have been very easy to prepare for if you are Sousa.

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  44. Markovic deserved a red for being an idiot; Safari deserves an actual poke in the eye for being a cheater.

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  45. Cleaner tackles do more harm than that.


    It's not a red. Plain and simple, the ref got it wrong. We've all seen far more dangerous plays get yellow.


    But I don't believe that the ref cost us the game. We didn't do enough to win it. That's what happens when you don't show up for the first 45 minutes.

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  46. And now he has Lucas, and he looked better.

    BR should stick with it and see how it works.

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  47. You were but it didn't make sense

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  48. You're right there can be a difference and I was only referring to the apologists. Interested to know though whether you did see it differently to me.


    I thought he looked back to see where he was and then flung his arm out. He may not have actually made much if any content but for me the intent was enough to send him off.

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  49. Neither come out of it well but if Markovic had not tried to slap him there would have been no incident.

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