19 Mar 2013

'He got it wrong' - LFC hero slates BR over Coutinho failure. Harsh or fair...?

Liverpool's disappointed ex-players are not a happy bunch at the moment. The fallout from club's abject defeat to Southampton last Saturday continues apace, and Reds legend Steve Nicol has singled out Philippe Coutinho for criticism, accusing the attacker of failing to defend against the Saints.

Speaking to TalkSport on Sunday, Nicol argued that Brendan Rodgers made a huge mistake playing Coutinho as part of a 'midfield four', and suggested this led to the club's defeat. He argued:

“I think Brendan got it wrong when he played Phillippe Coutinho as one of the wide players of the midfield four.

"He was always going to be under pressure defensively, and you’re always going to be open for attacks because Coutinho doesn’t defend.

"If you’re a left back with Coutinho in front of you, you know you’re in for a long day of people running at you"


Nicol is entitled to his view, but with the greatest respect, this seems like a lazy analysis to me; a case of blindly peddling the old 'attackers don't defend' cliche because it 'fits', rather than because it reflects reality.

Coutinho does defend, and he pressed well against the Saints. None of the goals came as a result of the Brazilian failing to defend well enough, and in the matches he's played so far, one of the positive features of his game is clearly tracking back and pressing opposing players. What do Coutinho's stats so far reveal?

* Tackles: 3
* Tackles lost: 0
* Tackle success rate: 100%
* Interceptions: 4
* Clearances: 3
* Duels won: 11 (30.6%)
* Duels lost: 25
* Aerial duels won: 20%
* Recoveries: 20

Stats: OPTA

Clearly, Coutinho could defend more, but as Rodgers has stated several times, he is not fully match-fit right now, which may lead to tiredness later in games, but to accuse him of not defending is clearly unfair.

Liverpool legend John Aldridge admitted that he was 'shocked' by his old club's performance against Southampton, and accused the players of being 'outfought and outplayed from the opening minute'

"We were so sloppy, especially in the first half. We were a distant second best all over the pitch, and we got it wrong both tactically and mentally. We struggled to get hold of the ball and left ourselves wide open in midfield"

It's all too easy to blame Joe Allen and the absence of Jamie Carragher for the defeat. Even without Carra and Lucas, the team that started the game is far superior (on paper) to Southampton, and Liverpool had enough quality in the side to win the game.

For me, the issue is mental, not tactical. A mixture of subconscious complacency, poor mental preparation, and players believing their own hype. Over the last ten years, Liverpool have been plagued by this backslapping trend of excessive public ego massage, and it's the same old story this season.

After every good result, we have players kissing each others' asses in the press, describing each other as 'world class', and generally engaging in sycophantic ego massage. To compound that, we have Rodgers with his gross overpraise after practically every result (good or bad) which (IMO) is seriously counter-productive.

Add both together and you get a a fatal blend of mild narcicissm and rampaging hubris, which - over a period of time - dull the team's competitive edge, hunger, desire and focus. And let's not forget, all this (undeserved) praise is for a team that is out of all the cups, and struggling to finish in the top 8 (!)

I'm not the greatest fan of Rafa Benitez (!), but he had the right idea with his approach to the players. The Spaniard's philosophy of mercilessly demanding continuous improvement - even after great victories - is sorely missed at Anfield.

For the rest of the season - and future seasons - The players and the manager need to tone down the triumphalism, stick to the task at hand and reserve the gross praise for when the club has actually achieved something.

REMINDER: Any post insulting Nicol, Aldo or anyone else will be deleted.



NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)


120 comments:

  1. bit harsh on coutinho cannot wait for the season to finish also read somewhere fsg are going to bank roll us to the tune of 20million in the summer so not looking forward to next season in a hurry either sad times at anfield me thinks

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  2. A manager should never change shape. We play 4-3-3 and we should do it every single match. If some players aren't fit, the others will just have to adjust to whetever position they need to play in. But always 4-3-3. You pick the system and the players fit into it, not the other way around.

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  3. Top post- spot on

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  4. One thing I have definitly noticed is every time we start doing well someone starts talking about the chances of finishing fourth and then we lose our next match. They should just stick to the "trying to win our next match" Talk that way the won't look like fools when they don't

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  5. I think he is right to a certain extent, although he does exaggerate the point by saying he doesn't defend. Coutinho is still learning the English game and I would feel a lot more confident playing him as one of a front 3 - with a solid 3 man midfield behind (ideally Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson). I felt we lacked a certain presence in midfield (not only down to Lucas's omission - but also by including Coutinho there), there was space and time for the opposition and we found it hard to link up the midfield and attack - I buy what you are saying Jaimie, but I don't think it is as simple as listing a few tackling/duels stats to justify his inclusion as part of the midfield.

    I like him and he clearly has an abundance of quality - but have to say, I don't CURRENTLY think we can play him outside of a front 3, especially away from home.

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  6. Liverpool players superior to Saints? thats where you are dreaming son. Just because Saints are still seen as a small club although lord knows unless you have your head in the sand you will realise the description no longer fits, just look at what they have both in the way of facilities and players and unless you are a complete moron the penny will begin to drop. They have seven or eight youngsters in the team who are potentially world class, what have Liverpool got, Ill tell you Suarez and Gerard the rest woulkd not get into the Saints team. And Im not sure Gerard would be able to oust Schneiderlin on current form there is no way I would prefer Gerard.
    Liverpool were well beaten, and Chelsea, albeit a tougher proposition, will have to watch out. although they have far better defenders than Liverpool, whose big weakness is defence. In spite of Merson s comments,, not unexpected as a former Pompey player,, I thought Saints would prove a handful and so it proved..I am not at all sure that Terry is going to enjoy chasing shadows in a fortnight since he is not getting any younger.If he plays that is.

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  7. It seems that everyone is looking at Liverpool's performance in isolation and failing to recognise that the team that beat them has recently outplayed Man C, Arsenal and Everton and also had SAF refer to their second half performance at Old Trafford as the best he has seen all season. Sometimes the opposition has something to do with the result as well...

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  8. The 20 million "warchest" has been around since the Houllier days. Every year the papers write the manager will have 20 million to spend with addition of money made on sales and every year they have been wrong. I honestly believe FSG will bankroll the additions we need. Sure there will be departures and our net spend may not be very high at the end of it but there's nothing wrong with that if we have a competitive squad. It would be worse if we would just spend for the sake of it. The wastefullness shown by clubs like Citeh and PSG with the world in the state it is in, is shocking imo.

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  9. I said 'on paper' LFC's players are superior to Southampton's, and that is inarguably true. League position is the greatest indicator of this, and even though LFC are doing poorly this season, we're still ahead of Southampton, which is strong evidence to suggest that the players at LFC's disposal are superior (overall) to the players turning out for Southampton.

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  10. look m8 every big club will spend and fsg will ley us fall further behind thats my honest opinion,and to be true i dont care what state the worlds in ,we are no longer a big club and under fsg i do not ever see us getting back there imho

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  11. Amongst a few other things, the major reason for Liverpool's loss was that Southampton was very, very hungry and Liverpool was not.

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  12. I dispute this. You have no one of any account coming through at Liverpool, we have simply stacks,.Gerard is past his best and you are having to buy in because you have produced no one. As you will find out next season Saints have a conveyor bellt of potentially top class players and Im sorry to say that Liverpool are not in the same league on that front.Their academy is way superior to yours and you would be a fool to assume that just because of past glories that you are now competitive in these terms.I honestly struggle to think of any players apart from Suarez, Coutinho and Gerard who would struggle that I would want in the Saints team. Watch out for Saints next season....

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  13. jaimie if southampton stay up they will have achieved there there goals at the beggining of the season if we do not get top 5 we will have achieved nothing ,and yes we are still ahead of southampton but when if ever have we finished below them

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  14. Achievement is not just measured by league position; that's just an easy way for you to slate Rodgers. If LFC finish 6th, that will be progress, not just in terms of literal advancement in the league, but in terms of performance level, style of play, building for the future, implementing a new philosophy, scoring more goals etc.

    Yes, we lost against Southampton, but there are still 8 games to go. 24 points to play for, and top 5 is still a possibility.

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  15. I do think Nicol is exaggerating. However Coutinho does need to defend more, but overall his performances have been pleasing. I think Coutinho has proved in these few games that he can be a good player for us. 2 goals and 3 assists is it? Puts Downing to shame.


    I am very fond of Benitez although I have criticized him allot for poor decisions but one thing that he did expect is 100%. If you don't play well then he will say you didn't play well. If we play extremely well he will highlights points that we need to improve. This kept players sharp and on their toes. Benitez never massaged players egos and that kept their ego on check. Never he has said how so and so is amazing and terrific, certainly not when we lose. I never heard the man sing praises when we lost. If you lose, regardless how well you player...you still lost. An acceptable explanation might be " We played well at times etc...but not " we were magnificent and I could not have asked more from them".


    That is one thing I feel BR needs to stop doing. My worry is that he might to that privately as well in the training ground.



    Liverpool were beaten by the better team on Saturday. A few players played very poorly which just highlights the needs for new personnel in the summer.

    Looking forward to next season.


    BR...stop the overpraising. I might create a facebook page with that slogan lol

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  16. yes we lost to southampton?wba twice aston villa i was going to name the rest but then i realised they did not beat us they hammered us all putting 3 goals past us 3 of the games at anfield the fa cup lucky against mansfield hammered by oldham ,swansea knocked us out of the carling cup now lets look at our eufa cup victors did they not lose to the mighty basel 3/0 the other week ,the few decent results we have had have been against the whipping boys and swansea who rested players for the cup final and spurs who are starting to feel the heat,so please do not try and tell me the performances have improved,and yes we mite have scored more goals its just a pity a lot of them have come in the same matches eg swansea and norwich 5,

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  17. agree m8 theres been loads talking about it on here ,but i would not call them fools dreamers maybe but fools is a bit harsh;-)

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  18. Agree with you 100%. We were outplayed by the better team.

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  19. With respect, I don't see how this is relevant. At the end of the season, we'll see where the club is in the table, and if league position, points total, goals scored etc are superior to last season, then that is clearly progress.

    Goals conceded is definitely an issue, but it's not the deciding factor when assessing the success of an entire season.

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  20. if you concede more than you score in any game i would say it was a major factor;-)

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  21. oh goody we might have 21million unless the unthinkable happens and we sell suarezwhich i think is highly likely hope not,because i do not think the money will get invested wisely

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  22. THIS. THIS THIS THIS. I am SO SICK of the turkey slapping Liverpool players give each other after wins! 'SUAREZ IS INSPIRING- STEVIE G", "STEVIE G IS INSPIRATIONAL- LUCAS". And then comes Gerrard and others with the predictable, "TOP 4 IS POSSIBLE", "WE WILL FIGHT TO THE END", and in previous seasons, "WE CAN WIN THE LEAGUE". Liverpool's website is just a boiling hot melting pot of ego massaging and self-hype. It drives me nuts, and it's such a major problem we have ourselves in. Players believe their own hype and get complacent, or, they choke, and experience mental blocks on the field.


    A team like Liverpool should never give away 3 points like that at teams like Southhampton. It's just embarrassing. Where the hell have our standards gone? As a team, we're just too mentally soft. Do you ever see Man Utd players and practising this? Another thing we can learn off them! It starts with the top; Rodgers and SG, and SG has been a culprit of this for years. Maybe his triumphant predictions actually do have effects on their performances Jaimie. I've raised this issue a number of times in the past, and I'm so happy you discussed it, because for me, it's actually been their worst enemy for years. They need to shut the hell up and take each game at a time, because I can't stand to read liverpoolfc.com, it's utterly cringe-worthy at times. That's my rant for the day, at the 11th hour AEST time.

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  23. Coutinho cant defend because the whole team cant defend!! At the start of last season we were getting worried as Madrid and City where looking to snap up Skrtel for 20M, Skrtel, do you all remember?? How can this be? BR reminds me of Kevin Kegan. Kegan produced some great performances as Newcastle manager, got them into the top division and almost claimed success. He scored lots of goals but due to his lack of tactical awareness and organisation to have a balanced team was his Achilles heel. In conclusion, I see Liverpool getting beat with similar tactics; a team starts to press us high up the pitch as we slowly move up the pitch with tika taka, they withdraw into two solid banks of 4 and soak the pressure, over the course of the match we have to send more players into the opposition half to try and break them down, At that moment, when they get the ball back they quickly counter and pass it (max 2 passes) to a strong physical forward player who quickly stretches our team who often scores. The problem is all season BR does not know how to stop this, you see it often, teams countering and steaming through our team. If Aston villa start the game with a high tempo, press high up the pitch and then fall into two banks of 4, watch benteke grab a goal from a counter attack!!!

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  24. Would you say we have showed signs of progression this season?

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  25. I'm thinking more in terms of Skrtel will command a £10M plus fee and with other sales we might en up with £30M plus who knows.


    "Footballing wise" selling Suarez would be a massive hit for LFC. But if we get a £70M bid then man...I don't know.

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  26. Totally agree, Nick. This incessant backslapping is one of my biggest bugbears, and over the years I've posted countless articles about it. The main problem, as you suggest, is that it comes from the top. Right now, it's Gerrard and Rodgers leading the way, and over the years, SG and Carra have been the biggest offenders.


    It's a complete joke, and if I was in charge, there would be a blanket ban on this kind of ridiculous, presumptuous ass-kissing. Yes, the players get asked questions about each other, but if there was a specific policy in place by the club to stop gross exaggeration, the club wouldn't end up looking like mugs most of the time.


    It's a losing battle with Rodgers though. He sets the tone, and every second word out of his mouth is one of the following: outstanding, amazing, incredible, terrific, fantastic and wonderful. Ugh.


    I can't think of any other team that praises so much but achieves so little.

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  27. Good points. I agree that playing Coutinho in front of a midfield three would be a better way to go.

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  28. I'm also going to add, mentality defines 50 percent of your performance. Right now, Liverpool players would let their feelings get hurt by a 5 year old. They are that mentally volatile.

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  29. I don't think I can remember a single instance where Benitez described a performance and or player as 'outstanding', and this is during a time when the Reds won the CL and regularly finished in the top 4. Yet under Rodgers, that word is uttered about 10 times in every statement he makes.


    I really wish they'd bring back Spitting Image - Rodgers' persona is ripe for satire, especially the overpraise aspect.

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  30. Hmmmmm....An article where i actually agree with everything youre saying Jaimie. Youre losing your edge. Ha ha. Good article. BRs overpraise is never something thats palatable because it isnt honest and i think Brendan is an honest man. It doesnt suit him. Rafas constant quest for perfection yeilded some great results but towards the end of his tenure i found it hard watching our style of play. Im enjoying the current good days more now because of our style of football. Consistency, strength of character and brutal honesty will make men out of of those boys. We're going in the right direction but the knee jerk reactions to wins and losses is infuriating.

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  31. The most positive article i ever read from JK.

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  32. Agree the 20 mill being touted as our potential kitty plus sales is going to do us absolutely no favours.
    If this is indeed true, we are going to be well off the pace next season as I see us selling major assets just to be able to compete in the market.
    We should only be looking to sell Carroll, Spearing and Skrtel with perhaps a couple of non playing fringe players from the youth then adding quality to what is left.
    The 20 mill figure plus sales is bullsh..!!

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  33. More departures than quality additions will have us up shi!! creek again next season with moaning and groaning how our squad is "so small"

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  34. HAHAHAHA David who cares if you produce world class players? You sell them all anyway! (See Bale, Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain)

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  35. It really is a joke. I've also concluded that it's the sole reason for the many false dawns we have been sucked into in the past years since Rafa. The players work the fans up and then let them down like the serial let-down merchants they are.That backslapping stuff is perfectly okay for intellectually disabled athletes in the special olympics, but not for top-drawer level professional footballers. I have to admit, I kind of disagreed with your utter annoyance with Rodgers' praise at the start of the season, but it's really started to irk me as well, and I've realised it's only adding fuel to this unwanted fire that's plagued the club for years. Rodgers is the leader, and I'm afraid that at the moment, he doesn't display that leadership steel and ruthlessness that you see in Fergie and Moyes.

    I can't believe no one at the club has tried to be proactive about this problem and rid of it, because at the moment, people like Stevie G will think it's fine, if even his boss his replicating the embarrassing and unprofessional antics.

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  36. Guys why does all the wannabe managers or should i say ex players that have failed in the USA even comment. These are the men that no matter what Brendan does will always fine fault. If Liverpool fc would have won on saturday there would be no issue. Cant we all see that the players are quite simply not good enough. Have faith in Brendan and don't listen to those has been wannabe managers who don't have the personality to manage a childs party let alone manage a football team. Just saying.

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  37. 2 things would fsg give the 70 million to rodgers and would you trust him to spend it wisely no would be my answer to both

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  38. How much will it hurt us if Coates leaves? Or Wilson? Or Pacheco? They never play now so them being here or not, does not make a difference. I'm positive that the only players who have featured regularly we may not see next season are Carragher and Skrtel (possibly Reina) and they will be properly replaced. We don't need thirty players in a squad of whom 15 never even come close to playing. We need 20 who push each other for a starting place. We've had big squads with best and second best under Houllier and Benitez and it brought us nothing in regards to the league. Nothing wrong with departures.

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  39. I respectfully disagree :-)

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  40. great piece. nicol does love to drone on about anything and everything. he and lawrenson are a right pair of whingers imo.

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  41. no problem everyone as the right to there opinion:-)

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  42. Steve Nicol ain't an Anfield legend. He needs to shut his mouth. Just like Mark Lawrence and Jim Beglin. These ex miserable player's need to f@@k off and concentrate and thier only true love in life, Sir Alex. The way they suck him up him, i swear thier all gay. They have never got anything positive to say about Liverpool, even though we made them. They criticise player's who are better than them. Coutinho has only just joined us, get of his back. And he claims to be a Liverpool supporter and yet he bring's us down. Some supporter. Jaime you claim to know him. Do use a favour when you see him, slap him.

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  43. Fine that's your opinion. I have little knowledge of the payers you hope will make the step up- a very difficult thing to predict, by the way, but I really think you should do your homework before making such statements. Liverpool as a club is looking short in some key areas.
    Having good, young players with potential is not one of them.
    Be careful you don't get too carried away with a little bit of success- that's the whole point of this whole thread....

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  44. I said 'more' departures than additions. MORE being the key word.
    I do not disagree with what you are saying and have no issues with the names you mention.
    I am however, a little concerned to hear talk of 20mil budgets plus sales in the summer.
    At present our squad is small and not up to a major challenge as is blatantly obvious. If we keep the core of our best players for starting 11 and substitutes, then the new 'quality' coming in will serve us much better.
    However, regardless of how good the new signings turn out, if our squad gets smaller than it already is, (including new additions,) who steps in for out of form or injured players?

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  45. Have i ever told you the definition of stupidity?!



    Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again... and expecting things to change... At first, i did not believe that...


    Then, i saw BR doing the same exact thing over and over and over again, hoping that this time things will be different...


    We dropped so many points this season only because of his cluelessness...

    A donkey might know more football than him...

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  46. Theycallmemrburt2:29 pm, March 19, 2013

    It was pretty clear our problems stemmed from Skrtel being as rusty as the titantic. To even mention Coutinho shows NIcol's inability to engage his brain in his role as pundit. Coutinho as far as I can tell has consistently backed his full back up during games to the extent that I have been impressed with the lads workrate.

    Against the Saints our back four pretty much took Skrtels lead and defended recklessly and deep which played right into the hands Ricky Lambert.

    Off topic, I do feel that we play at our best when Gerrard is disciplined. He has been masterful all season, his best season for many a year, goals or no goals. Gerrard scores a good few goals when he is being disciplined. But when we are chasing a game Gerrard does look to bomb into the box, which isn't his game when playing center mid. He doesn't ghost into the box Ala Lampard or how Gus Poyet used to, he just empties the midfield. For saints third goal I was looking round for Gerrard on the replay, nowhere to be seen. We needed his ergency defensvely at that moment. When we played against Wigan our second half performance was not up to sctratch because Gerrard lost his discipline and stopped doing the things that have made him so dominiant in games. He chose to bomb into the box to try and get himself a goal. We need Gerrard to dominate a game, when he is doing that the goals will come naturally to him. When he slips into his old ways we start to look unstable.

    Im not knocking Stevie he has been magnificent, just an observation.

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  47. Hm, before last season Skrtel's form was a bit patchy, too. Kenny's system obviously suited him more then that of Rafa, Roy or Brendan. Do you remember Skrtel's first game against Havant & Waterlooville? He seemed like a duck out of water in that match, against fifth or sixth tier opposition. His standard was better afterwards, but unfortunately it seems as if the high standard he has achieved last season was a one-off.

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  48. BTW, I didn't see much, if any, tiki-taka last Sunday, or against Spurs, or against Wigan. We didn't play particular well in any of those matches, didn't dominate possession and didn't pass the ball around very much. I find the current change of tactics worrying.

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  49. The players should only be allowed to do interviews once the season is over. The pay-TV-channels and official site won't like it, but at least the players would stop bigging themselves up publicly.

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  50. Did this go through the word-filter? Ass-kissing? Just asking :-)

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  51. Coutinho is definitely better off, defensively, in a 3-man attack, not a 4-man attack, as he will come inside and wander, which makes it harder to come back wide and track back and thus puts more of a onus on the central midfield as well as defence. Its the same problem at Chelsea, Hazard and Oscar like to come inside (and Mata, when played wide (brilliant, absolute brilliant player)), which sometimes leaves their own full backs isolated at times, which is a big problem when they don't always play with a natural holding midfielder and have a very questionable CB in David Luiz. Its a bigger problem at Chelsea, than it is here (especially when it is such early days for Coutinho), the problem with wondering wide players and the impact it has on the defensive side of the team. But in terms of the Southampton game, it wasn't anywhere near the biggest problem, that issue. The lack of a good combination in the two-man central midfield and the mess that is the back four was the bigger problem.

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  52. True. Happened in 14 league matches last season.

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  53. I can't say anything about your youngsters as I haven't seen them play, but rest assured that quite a few Liverpool supporters, too, think that some players in our youth set-up are great and stars in the making. It has been like that for years, but as soon as they had to play first team football, they were found wanting. The same may, or may not, be the case with the youngsters at Southampton. I for one wouldn't read too much into youngsters standing out at youth-level. Quite a few of those who did ended up in League Two.

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  54. i totally agree with you but if there is no tik taka has been replaced with panic, worry, ball watching and hoof it!!! great Plan B, think we need to go back to the drawing board.

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  55. The same way they trusted KK, may I remind you the only two players to show form are Downing & Hendo will they turn us into a top 4 team? NO

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  56. They give the 50 million from torres sale to kd.. Plus babel sale.. Plus.. Plus..

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  57. agree m8 i hate to say it but we are now a top 8 club

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  58. do we actualy have tactics

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  59. its also possible we will lose them all,,,,,the only saving grace is allen is injured so hendo may get a game

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  60. not to some on here

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  61. Yeah sure lets spend another 100 Mil and come in 8th that will make us even better right???

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  62. We are on the same page here mate...wow I think that's a first..It is very frustrating when the team shows up to a game and they think just because they are Liverpool other so called smaller teams are going to just lay down and have them have their way with them...That got's to STOP!! These players needs to realize that in the EPL nobody gives a crap who you are especially when a team is fighting for survival!!! Personally the whole team needs to be reassess cause they are not focus. Some players got's to go...We need Players who are HUNGRY!!! This issue happens every year and that's why we can't keep a winning streak going.

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  63. or spend 50 million on top like rodgers and do f"ck all

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  64. plus nothing you can dream that they give a crap about the club if you wish

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  65. Over this season in the games when we come close to putting pressure on the top four spot it has resulted in rubbish display's aston villa the stoke then west brom and again after beating spurs and them have extra time in the europa legaue its all chucked away at southhampton so to me its mental to good wins before each of those matches and then poor poor games . It needs sorted

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  66. for this season i am sure sure rodgers can take us to new depths next season

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  67. oh so we did not sign anyone else[defender] and rodgers signings are all shite except coutinho ,imo sturridge will turn into the dud i always suspected

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  68. totally agree but he mite still name him in the starting line up because i would not know he was on the pitch till he screws up

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  69. My god you really grate on me, you really think you are rite about everythin dont you. Why dont you take a step back from championship manager and actualy look at the position we have been in last few years. We are not the team we were you cant expect us to be that team due to those two idiots we had in charge we are goin to have to rebuild slowly we aint got big money to spend . Give the manager a chance he has takin over a poor side and is doin pretty good with wat hes got I can see the way he wants us to play and we are gettin better this season was always a rite off especially with that shambles in the summer. Get behind the team Carr and stop criticising ynwa

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  70. Jamie spot on couldnt have said it better carr you are a true blue

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  71. load of effing rubbish from nicol, which 50% that comes out of his mouth is. not a mention of defenders who are incompetent of actually DEFENDING our goal, skrtel is pathetic. and il continue to slate him till he has our shirt off his back.

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  72. Sorry m8. I wasnt dreaming bout anything. I simply reply to your post. They did give the money from torres sale, babel sale, and so on to became nearly 100m transfer kitty for kenny. And he spent it like crazy.. So why you should worried bout..1. They will give 70 million from suarez sale to rodgers. 2. Would we trust rodgers to spend it wisely.. While the FACT is 1. They did give the money to kenny. 2. Kenny didnt spend it wisely.. Wheter fsg care about us or what would they do later, i dont know, cause i dont have a crystal ball and neither do you. But based on the past FACT, your argument didnt stand strong me think.. Its FACT not DREAMING

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  73. We had started to become top 8 LAST YEAR....

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  74. Worst than 8? Next season? What would you put as a bet? Wanna bet your house?

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  75. start by going rid of rodgers am sick of his post match bollocks,,praising the opposition ,,then stating its all work in progress COME ON all the crap that has beat us this year havent the money we spent or have ,its not work in progress its bad management ,,below average players ,,,bad training methods,,etc etc etc ,,the only reason rodgers is optimistic and banging the work in progress drum is because of saurez without the man where the hell would we be,,,if his goals ever stop god help us ,,and rodgers knows that,,,

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  76. What makes you think you kniw more than rogers. you win the league on champ manager TOOL Give the man a chance

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  77. i know £20M is not alot but take a look at it this way. west ham seem keen to sign carrol and we got an 18M agreement with them. that will feel like an absolute dream to coup that much for carrol. that will be 38M. we got wisdom who is excellent level headed good player who can play cb and rb, plus martin kelly is coming back to fill the cb role left by carra, so we might as well sell coates as he doesnt play and might as well be replaced. we'll get 6M for coates, that will give us 44M. sell skrtel for £10M. thats 54M. and then i honestly think we should look for buyers for borini. hes much too fragile and low in confidence and we dont need players like him at the club. 1 goal for a striker at liverpool is unacceptable. we bought him for 12M but if we can around 7M for him we should be happy. that will be £61M in total from sales and the transfer kitty.

    rodgers should not think too much about defenders but he does need to sign at least 2. as johnson can play LB, if enrique is injured he can cover and theres other options for RB
    Ashley williams 28yrs - CB - £8M
    Stefan De Verij 21yrs - CB- £8M

    rodgers needs to add competition to lucas and add a real bulky player but also with flair. also a real magician type player who can be on the end of setpieces, win games on his own and really get a team going.
    Mohamed Diame 25yrs - DM/CM - £3.5M
    Keisuke Honda 26yrs - AM/ST/RW - pre-contract or free



    rodgers needs to buy one more striker to give us 3 top class forwards who make competition for places exciting. fabio borini should be replaced with a PL experienced player of similar age to play in cup games and against lower teams to score goals and earn a place.
    Alex Pato 23yrs - ST - £17M
    Andreas Wiemann 21yrs - ST - £5M


    all together that will be £42.5M spent still bringing in quality. with suarez, gerrard, coutinho, lucas, sturridge, enrique, agger, williams, honda, diame, wiemann, pato, de verij, johnson, ....we'll have a squad that scares the living lights out of teams and these transfers are all 100% realistic and possible. lets push for these transfers to happen. #YNWA

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  78. Jk is on spot. Why play Coutinho in midfield he was performing so well at the left. Dont know what is wrong with BR he is respnosible for the defeat. Yes it is true each time they win a match they think they won a championship cup. BR and players should stop all this over praising . Some praising is enough but stop over doing it. You are not judge by winning one game and losing or drawing next. Consistency is lacking in Liverpool teams of today. Inconsistency will not push them to the top. No point saying bad day , there should not be many bad days. Look at Manu they dont have bad days. Every match they take serious and Ferguson is ready to throw his boots at players who dont perform. BR must have guts, intelligence and tactical knowledge on selection. At times he lacks this.

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  79. 1 goal for a striker that has been injured the majority of the season, plus what he does when he plays is much more important, he opens the play up for Suarez to work his magic. Pato has potential, but hasn't delivered on that potential and for 17m, that is way too much of a risk, he would be much worth 10m imo

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  80. And you can dream that they don't give a crap about the club if you wish. The fact is, they own the club. The fact that they own the club means they they do give a crap about the club. Even if in your opinion, they are only wanting to make a quick buck, they would want us to be successful so they could sell the club for more.

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  81. Tbh, Jose Enrique has been in form this season. More than Downing and Hendo combined.

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  82. Although I agree with the majority of what you say, I believe we do have the money to spend on the right players. We are taking a stance where we are not going to be held to ransom by clubs who charge us at least 5m for a player than another club would pay. This doesn't mean they don't have the money, this means they are smart businessmen. That is a very big difference.

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  83. What we need is 2 players for every position, so a squad of 22, maximum 25.

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  84. And who have you heard 20m plus sales from? Have you heard it from fans or have you heard it from LFC?

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  85. Let's be honest, under H&G we were a top 8 club, Rafa punched well above his weight by keeping us in the top 4 for the majority of his tenure.

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  86. Which is why we have become a solid team at Anfield again, something we didn't have under Kenny, we have scored a lot more goals this season than we did under Kenny. We have 45 points so far this season, for the whole of last season, we only managed 52 points under Kenny. Last season, we were 12 points behind Chelsea who finished 6th, this season, we are 9 points behind 4th. This shows a huge improvement on last season.

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  87. 4th wasn't a realistic objective to this season anyway, a realistic objective is that we would be closer in regards to points to qualifying for Europe, only reason we got to Europe last year was because we won the League Cup, however this season, we may genuinely qualify on our league position, this to me, would be a huge improvement and would reach the season objective handed out. We are playing better football, yes we were outplayed by Southampton at their home ground, but on the whole, we have played some great football. Next season is realistically the season we should be pushing for top 4. I'm in my early 30s and so started supporting Liverpool during their dominance in the 80s, so I remember those times, Because of this or maybe in spite of this, I am a patient fan, I see progression under Rodgers, I know it's not going to happen overnight, we don't want 1 title and fall off again like the likes of Blackburn and Leeds did in the 90s, we want sustained success and this doesn't happen overnight.

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  88. What would you rather? If a club don't think they can win the league or qualify for Europe, what is the point of playing?

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  89. Don't you know? Ass is a donkey ;)

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  90. Good article Jaimie but I don't think it is counter-productive to be so positive in the press conferences. Even Shanks did the same. He might make his team sound like heroes in front of the cameras but behind closed doors they'll be getting the truth with both barrels and that's how it should be :0)

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  91. Absolutely True! BR needs to constantly look for ways to improve instead of going on about so called "world class players" and "world class performances"

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  92. That's not the point. Of course I'd rather them have belief. They just need to shut up about it most of the time though, they do it in a way that gets your hopes up too high. What ever happened to focusing on each game at a time? Every win is a prelude to some player's prediciton that we will catapult to great new heights and conquer our goals.

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  93. get f"cked poor side 2 cup finals lets see how many poor sides get to the fa cup final this year and i suppose it was apoor side that beat us in last years final we are a poor side now under the man you call a manager i prefere to call him something else

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  94. take it the dust as settled after the latest rout notice you never comment straight after we have just been thrashed must have been hard for you this season having to wait

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  95. and rogers as spent as much net and he has spent it less wisley only coutinho as any chance of being decent sturridge is already turning into the player a thought he would be for lfc

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  96. do you actually watch the matches to try and say he has been anything but a complete waste of money is the most idiotic post i have ever seen ,get back on the medication

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  97. west ham dont want carroll, and no one is paying 18m. be lucky to get a swap for ben arfa w toon. downing, henderson, fab b, shelvey, skrtel and spearing could all be sold.

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  98. david brent has his methods

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  99. and allen ,assaidi ,borinni and sturridge will do me a favour,coutinho looks half decent,sturridge to sulky the rest tripe,be lucky to get 10million for the 3 of them

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  100. always next season what about this oh i forgot it was over in january,go and annoy someone else because i cannot be bothered with the rodgers as a plan brigade any longer

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  101. mite have had something to do with getting to two cup finals lucas injury and suarez ban if we had lost suarez for 8 games this year i can garuntee you we would have a hell of a lot less points

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  102. It currently doesn't look so, but we used to have. I have bemoaned the change of system already on here.

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  103. Drawing board, good idea. How the entire teams seems to be totally clueless about football once Plan A doesn't work, is beyond me. And, no, I don't blame Brendan or any previous manager for this. It is a recurring topic.

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  104. Sell downing and Henderson? That would be a crazy decision and would weaken the squad massively.

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  105. Sack the manager so we can spend another season bedding in before people decide they want instant results, get rid of the owners unless they give us 50m a season to spend and put us further into debt. These things make no sense to do and i for one hope this does not happen. Too many people want instant success these days and are not willing to give anything time, its one of the worst things in modern football.

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  106. a couple of 'half' decent performances is not enough from 2 years of employment. we could get almost 20m for that pair.
    that 20m could go on top class world teamers, provided the transfer committee do their work well.

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  107. skrtel 9m, downing 9m, henderson 9m, borini 9m, carroll 12m, spearing 50p. that makes the kitty a lot tidier.

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  108. Im not joining any kind of brigade.. You said that you are sure, rodgers will take us to new depths next season.. So that must worst than 8th right.. So i asked you.. If u so sure bout it, would you bet your house on it? Cause it almost certain that you are not man enough to apologize, IF rodgers not taking us to new depths next season.. You said that you cannot be bothered with people like us.. And what about you.. Just keep on moaning bout everything.. And jump in every opportunity you can find to share your hatred to rodgers and everyone that sacked or replace kd and his players.. As i said both kd and br had their own postives and negatives.. Get over it.. Support your team.. Applaud them when they do something great, and give them some constructive critics when they do something wrong.. This season we had ups and downs.. But i noticed you didnt support them in the ups, you just slated them in the downs.. And on the other hand, you just wanted to talk all the good thing bout kenny. No negatives for him at all.. What kind of fan are you then?..

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  109. we had some success last season the manager got sacked

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  110. i have said well done when they have done well but i have also said people need to get a grip every time we win a game the amount of posters on here singing about rodgers working miricles is sickening

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  111. exactly. 1 goal which came on borinis debut against a lowly side says that 1st. he got a goal on his debut which shows no excuse for low confidence 2.hes much too fragile, weak cant make impacts on games. coutinho may be weak but he has ability, which borini dont 3.this pretty much sums up his ability. hear ppl say he makes good movement and space for suarez but suarez scores even when hes not on the pitch. borini is useless to our cause, just as is allen. and the are not liverpool type players. at all

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  112. Fair enough.. That one, i agree with you.. Although i support rodgers and the team, i do think that sometimes its better if they do the work on the pitch and not brag bout it in front of the media

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  113. I totally agree about Rodger's gross overpraise of the most minor good play and his insistence on perpetuating what you so aptly call the 'backslapping trend of excessive public ego massage', which continues to dull the team's competitive edge, hunger, desire and focus. The utter 'reverence' Rodgers seeks to give Liverpool (following directly in the vein of the great KD, I have to say) is nauseating. It must be much less of an 'honour' and 'a privilege' playing for an over-hyped and image-obsessed group of players who are out of all cup competitions and struggling for 7th place in the league, than it is to play for a workmanlike team, such as Tottenham, who are, generally speaking, managing to perform. As long as Rodgers builds up hype and is sycophantic to the fans and the owners to an insulting degree (who gives a toss whether 'Liverpool fans are intelligent' or not? and deserve praise), he is completely off song and will fail to deliver. He needs to shed the icon he has made for himself of being Liverpool manager and start getting down to brass tacks and forging the kind of consistent discipline and mental stamina that do less nice talking and more delivering on the pitch, week in week out with no fuss, no trace of hype and zero tolerance of vain egos.

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  114. Then stop complaining about how much fsg are going to spend in the summer. If you have a better idea maybe you should coach or own the team. Summer is not here yet. You can always support Man City or Chelsea.

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  115. who the f"ck are you to tell anyone who to support

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  116. lol and you are a f"cking comical genius

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