7 Apr 2013

Confirmed LFC XI vs. West Ham: Striker dumped on the bench. Bad decision...?

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has stuck with the team that beat Aston Villa for this afternoon's crucial clash with West Ham, which means Daniel Sturridge is on the bench for the second game in a row.

FULL TEAM: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Enrique, Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson, Downing, Coutinho, Suarez

SUBS: Jones, Skrtel, Coates, Shelvey, Suso, Assaidi, Sturridge

WEST HAM XI: Jaaskelainen, Demel, O'Brien, Tomkins, Collins, Diame, O'Neil, Nolan (c), Jarvis, Vaz Te, C.Cole

SUBS: Henderson, Potts, Pogatetz, Taylor, Maiga, Collison, Chamakh

Considering Sturridge ended up as a bit-part player at Man City and Chelsea, I doubt he'll be happy about warming the bench again, especially after his impressive start to life at Anfield.

However, you can't really blame Rodgers for sticking with a winning team, and on paper, this XI is more than strong enough to beat the Hammers.

I personally would've started Sturridge ahead of Downing; the ex-Chelsea man is hungry to do well at Liverpool, and I have no doubt he feels massively disappointed right now.

His omission could be a precautionary measure due to recent injury problems, but if he's on the bench, then surely he's fit to play?

Predicting a 2-0 win for the Reds, Anfield legend Mark Lawrenson observed:

"They [West Ham] are not the force they are at Upton Park when they are on the road. After their defeat at Southampton last month, Liverpool are now playing for fifth or sixth place, because any higher looks impossible and I think they will finish sixth"



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


114 comments:

  1. Subs: Jones, Skrtel, Coates, Shelvey, Suso, Assaidi, Sturridge

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  2. liverpool4life56512:36 pm, April 07, 2013

    Never change a winning team! Good on Rodgers, also Sturridge needs to rest his thigh he always pulling it!:)

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  3. So it isnt that sturridge is injuried as we thought but its a new tactic from rodgers, Id prefer him to play as we dont really need lucas hendo and gerrard all three in the middle we are not playing a top team when you need to defend all the time not to concede but anyway its done, im just hoping to see assaidi once again I totally forgot his face now, hes been treated horribly

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  4. I think public opinion has forced him to play this team ( wisely i may add ) hendo gets massive support on all the lfc sites .....downing is playing consistently good.....im a big fan of sturridge ..but he has to look like he wants it when he plays ...maybe thats just his personna but im not a big fan of a sulking,petulant personality i like forwards to be buzzing ..the rest of the team picks itself but id like wisdom to get a shot at cb at some point

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  5. I'd accept it if Hendo or Downing were dropped for someone like Sturridge if Sturridge earned his place in the team (with goals or assists). So in one way it's a preferred line up but furthermore it's the 11 players that actually deserve their places. I'm sure he can make an impact from the bench though. Correct decision IMO

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  6. Sturridge needs to work harder to get in the team, simple as. There's a reason he failed to make it at the other clubs, and its down to himself to make sure it doesn't happen at anfield. But his recent performances where not as good as his first few, I'm glad Brendan isn't letting sturridge believe that to be acceptable.

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  7. Peanutbutter&jam12:43 pm, April 07, 2013

    Haha when he doesn't pick a team u like, he's clueless but when he does it's 'public opinion'. Some people really...

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  8. these are the form players so im happy to agree with BR for once...it shouldn't matter who the player is or how much they cost

    you need to earn the jersey ..otherwise where is the incentive to win and improve

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  9. If Sturridge is fully fit, and that's something we don't know, then the fact he's warming the bench sends out worrying messages that there are doubts about his attitude. Liverpool are at home and its a must win. The manager spent the first part of the season bemoaning the lack of a second striker. They should be going all out for a good win today. If there are doubts about him, then it simply raises more questions about Rogers' dealings in the transfer market, coming on the back of Joe Allen, Sahin, Assaidi and Borini. I don' think there are many fans around who think that any of these four were good business

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  10. im glad i bought a smile to your face but the fact is if Allen was fit he would probably be in for hendo...i still maintain rogers will try and sell hendo and downing in the summer regardless of what is said

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  11. Totally agree. Rodgers' transfer business has been poor overall, and if he has total confidence in Sturridge, he would've played him today.

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  12. You think the people/person who might have any say in what the starting 11 read the LFC sites (public opinion has forced him). Once again... to deep fella,you're reading way to deep!

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  13. Good choice by BR. Sturridge went of the boil in his last couple of games,body language wasn't great,more effort needed.

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  14. ... bad decision? personally I think we play better without Sturridge. its not that hes a bad player - not at all. I just feel that neither Downing or Coutinho deserved to be dropped and we need the midfielder thats going to run into the box and give West Ham something to think about - no one better in the team than Henderson for that at the moment. If things are going smoothly I'd say take of Lucas / Coutinho and bring Sturridge on then.

    Best possible lineup imo. Score predictions? I'm hoping for a riot. 3 - 0

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  15. not just websites newspapers ...ex players etc etc go on lfc official website every comment backs henderson if you think he isnt aware of this your crazy ...if you go to the match today and see the reception hendo gets ...trust me rogers is aware of fans of fans feeling to dismiss them would be to his own downfall

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  16. @maljames - How exactly does leaving a player on the bench send out messages that there are doubts about said players attitude?


    And does this mean that there are/were doubts about the attitudes of Carragher/Skrtel/Henderson/Borini and anybody else that spends any time on the bench??

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  17. We play better without Sturridge? Really?
    Because we scraped a victory against Aston Villa??

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  18. As usual, I go into the game expecting a win.


    I still believe we'd have a much better chance of a quality performance and positive result with Sturridge starting in a front 3 with Suarez though

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  19. I don't think he has been dumped. It's just the case of sticking with a winning team. You couldn't drop any of the forward players and the Henderson Lucas Gerard combination is the most solid midfield Liverpool has at the moment. Plus he is a great option to have on the bench. Sturridge knows that to stay in the team he has to improve on his work rate which in his last two games has dropped.

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  20. If we play better without Sturridge, what was the point of buying him in the first place? :-)

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  21. ?? because he did so much against Southampton. Sorry I forgot about that.

    Villa - lets be fair we were pretty comfortable that second half. there was one chance they had which Gerrard cleared off the line. whilst we had numerous chances to put it to bed ... we didnt scrape a victory - if we had drawn we'd have been robbed.

    So tell me - What did he do that means he should replace Coutinho, Henderson or Downing?

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  22. Generally, I do not rate West Ham away from home for many a year and this season is no different. So I expect us to win. A little bit disappointed that we haven't started with Sturridge, instead of Downing, especially as we are starting at ho

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  23. What did anybody contribute against Southampton? Sorry, I forgot that Sturridge was the only player to have a bad game that day!

    And if everything is based on a single performance, then Suarez should be ripe to be dropped by your logic then, as he didn't live up to his own standards in the last game right?

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  24. what? no no no. I think "we're playing" better without him currently. Maybe thats a better way to put it. We look more solid i think with a 4 - 3 - 3 and i dont think that any of the front 3 deserve to be dropped for him.

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  25. The good times are back1:32 pm, April 07, 2013

    Sturridge has been recovering from injury. It has nothing to do with him having to work harder to get into the team. He has shown in all his games that he is good enough to start matches.

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  26. All over 'em.

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  27. ...we're a bit rusty today.

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  28. got a feeling he might bring sturridge on for downing. scary when we dominate but don't put it away....

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  29. Diame, wow.

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  30. Aye, nearly paid the price there with Diame.

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  31. that was a very good feeling

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  32. Downing was doing ok but we need Sturridge's pace. Got another feeling if we don't put away a chance soon to open the game up then a certain Diame looks like he has a goal in him!

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  33. God, nothing is clicking in the final pass...

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  34. defending is still looking sloppy as ever.

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  35. sorry jaimie he has not been dumped as he did not start the last game

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  36. West Ham are doing their job. It's up to us to score that goal that will force them to open up a bit. As ever, like you say, our dodgy defence is worrying.

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  37. Theycallmemrburt2:10 pm, April 07, 2013

    Wow. West Ham really are playing with a back SIX. Never seen anything like it........

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  38. yeah its not the main defending which worries me, its the little passing mistakes which we have done all season

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  39. That's their plan....Stop us scoring and with our dodgy defence, who knows?? They will only open up if we force their hand by scoring....

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  40. while i love the attacking football we play, at times we arent balanced enough. We have a attack which loves to attack and a defense which loves to attack or push up. Its why we hardly ever have 0-0 results. We either score draw lose or win 4-0. No balance

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  41. Theycallmemrburt2:18 pm, April 07, 2013

    If cole pulls his finger out, or our team give Diame another free run with tackling i'd bet they could be our downfall.


    Like you say we need that goal

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  42. That last move sums us up.......We are literally all over them in attack.....What a lovely sight, if only the ball would go in the net.
    This is when the panic sets in as the longer it goes on we become more vulnerable at the back...

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  43. Despite the defensive formation, I don't think they have defended that well. They have to resort to quite a few blocks and last ditch sliding tackles. When a team has to do that, that isn't a sign of a rock solid defence. That is a sign of a somewhat desperate one or a defence that has a midfield that allows the opposition to get at the defence too easily. I just think we have been dodgy with the final pass/shot, which has made the West Ham's defending look "hollywood" a la Premier League style (last ditch tackles, blocks, etc). We have been able to get in behind them and get out wide or come in wide, so there are holes in that West Ham defensively but we haven't played that smart in the last third with that last piece of decision making.

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  44. Theycallmemrburt2:23 pm, April 07, 2013

    you're right we are swamping them. But we also have to remember that Carra literally bounced of Diame during that 1st half. Man V WALL!!

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  45. Agree totally. But if we don't break through their "Hollywood" defending soon then our own defence is more than capable of bagging it's own "Hollywood" comedy award.

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  46. When not in possession, Jarvis and Vaz Te are dropping very far back to form almost a back 6...With that many defenders it's proving extremely difficult to find a decent final ball. Additionally Suarez has been off the pace, it has not been our day so far. West Ham aren't doing that well, but IMO what they are doing is effective.

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  47. very frustrating, all over them in defence and midfield, had 80% possession at times in that half. incredibly sloppy in attack. Poor touches and poor passes it seems we have no ideas. Looks like another game where we need a lucky goal to open the floodgates.
    We have played better and lost: against west brom and villa we created chances and missed them, this game we havnt even created the chances.

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  48. Yep, they have got numbers back but they haven't defended that well. When you got Vaz Te resorting to a last ditch striker's tackle on Suarez on the penalty line, that is a sign of a desperate defence. Vas Te shouldn't be marking Suarez, that is just crazy. Should be the full back or the CBs. When you got O'Brien throwing his body to the floor when a ball comes in from wide, than you know they are getting stretched. Yep, it could be easier if they hadn't that many men getting back but I don't think they are executing the defensive formation all that well, imo, even if it is a little bit effective. A well drilled defensive formation doesn't resort to last ditch tackles and blocks in the number of times and manner that West Ham needed to do. But this is the PL, commentators get all gooey and lovey-dovey over Roy of the Rovers' tackles & blocks.

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  49. What worries me is I don't think they will need as many chances as us to make the break through as has so often been the case.
    The start of the second half is going to prove vital to us.

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  50. Overall yes, but he has said himself that his summer signings were hard as he had no scouting system in place so picked from players he knew. If you compare that to Jan`s window and I think you can see the difference now he has a scouting team.


    Continho and Sturridge are good signings IMO. I think the summer ones will be good too, my only regret is clearly he wasn`t confident in the summer on who to sign, so why spend so much? I understand that having no scouts didn`t help him but I don`t understand spending so much. I would have prefered that if he was unsure he saved a lot of that cash for a different window when it could have been better used. As it stands we could sell Borini, Allen and Assaidi and no one would ever notice. We wouldnt though get back that much money.

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  51. I still think we will win this but I do agree no team we play against needs that many chances to score

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  52. While I agree with you for the most part, a lot of their tackles haven't been last ditch efforts. Last ditch was Agger on Cole who could of scored. Even if you think their defence is a bit shaky, we have lacked quality in terms of touches, general passes and final balls. They came with a game plan and so far we haven't looked like overcoming it.

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  53. Theycallmemrburt2:35 pm, April 07, 2013

    There was a point in the first half after Diames beastly run when he picked it up again and Gerrard went in for the kill only to be skinned. We haven't got anyone on the pitch who can keep this bloke quiet for the next 45. Where is big Joe Allen when you need him?

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  54. Definitely.......

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  55. That is what I'm saying, we have made them look good with our own poor performance. I stand by my view that they haven't defended that well. Ok, maybe not last ditch but certainly desperate, very at times.. Desperate isn't what I would associate with a well drilled defensive team display.

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  56. Yep, can't trust our defence these days, although there is a decent chance of Diame not needing their help. The man is a beast.

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  57. The good times are back2:42 pm, April 07, 2013

    It does not matter what you say to gilstrap. His hatred towards Brendan Rodgers is as clear as day light. If Rodgers had to fart then you can be sure gilstrapm will have something to say about it.
    Unfortunately for gilstrap, Rodgers is here for the LONG TERM so gilstrap is going to be an unhappy fella for quite some time. Nothing that is typed from his keybord is positive.
    Best thing to do is ignore the likes of gilstrap and jason carr as all they can do is foam at the mouth. Both of them live in a sad,sad world. Shame...

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  58. A beast he is indeed. Just hope he goes home hungry today!!
    Collins is also playing well for them....

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  59. Ditto, done quite well on Suarez when he has got to mark him. Looks like he is wary of the Suarez nutmeg and slalom manouvere, as he hasn't opened up much with his defensive stance or gone diving in

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  60. Jesus Christ, this is absolutely ridiculous. HOW MANY FUCKING CHANCES DO THEY NEED? Any other team would have put one away by now!!!!!

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  61. JK, where did my post go in reply to this?

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  62. would love to see a stat list of how many goals we have scored from set plays?

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  63. Suarez attempt at backheel pass. My word, we are so wasteful and sloppy today.

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  64. Theycallmemrburt2:58 pm, April 07, 2013

    We've been terrible at set plays sonce Molby retired so....................

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  65. He rushes things too much sometimes. That's why he's not really on par with messi and ronaldo, his passes are pathetic sometimes.

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  66. I know everyone will hate me for saying this as he has scored loads but I have felt all season we may well win and score more without him as wastes so many chances by not passing or making the right one. I know he is a amazing player but still feel we could prob score a couple each game if he didn`t always try something fancy or passed it

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  67. i digress ill support Liverpool for a lot longer than rogers is manager a couple of years tops .....believe it or not im quite a happy soul...Liverpool win im happy ...Liverpool lose i get to slate rogers...its win win win lol

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  68. yea but we still used to score from them.

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  69. que jason carr and his anti rodgers dribble...

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  70. Penalty, Tomkins stuck his leg out!

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  71. not according to the slow-moe reply although he did play for it it werent a dive. If you get clipped and go to ground that isnt diving.

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  72. Yep, he has this gambling and impatient nature to his play, i.e., takes a lot of risk to force the issue. No harm in keeping the ball for a split second more, Luis. He was playing that ball totally blind and he does that a lot.

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  73. him and sturridge do silly things instead of simple passes sometimes and it costs us

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  74. for me its a clear penalty, he wouldnt have got to the ball but its still a late challenge

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  75. Theycallmemrburt3:07 pm, April 07, 2013

    We rarely score from them even when we have a 6ft 5 £35m striker in the box. Hypia, Carra and Agger and Skrtel have never been or never were as prolific as John Terry so that limits our ariel chances greatly unless the delivery is sublime, which it very rarely is.

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  76. got a feeling west ham will get one chance and score

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  77. a couple of years ago Stevie scored a lot from them, so did many of our other free kick takers.

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  78. Yep, now Sturridge was just at it now!

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  79. que nick1811 and his anti jason carr dribble lol

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  80. how could you think such a thing could happen? I mean surely that never happens to us.....

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  81. 89mins they will hoof it up and someone will head it in

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  82. what do we have to do to score?

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  83. west ham goal coming.

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  84. corner or freekick imo.

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  85. is was so nearly right.

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  86. The good times are back3:15 pm, April 07, 2013

    You are utterly pathetic LOL

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  87. we are so bad at counterattacks sometimes!

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  88. Don't know where my other post has gone but never mind. Funnily enough, think West Ham have done better in terms of defensive discipline this second half!

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  89. Ditto, we have had plenty of promising counter attacks this game but we don't seem to have a clue to exploit it.

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  90. I want to go to bed, it's 12:18 here. why couldnt they bloody finish the game ages ago...

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  91. 5 mins to do what we've struggled to do for 90!!

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  92. I will kill anyone who calls west ham's performance as brilliant or inspiring. any team could do what they've done today!!! what kind of football is not trying to score goals...

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  93. counter attacks are so slow! and forward passes are always overhit, pushing the player wide and wasting time. then we have to cross which is usefless with our attackers and their defenders

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  94. for gods sake johnson shoot

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  95. why oh why do we put high corners in the box when there is no one to attack them its pointless..we may as well take them short and work the ball

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  96. They came for the point I'm afraid and we weren't able to punish them for it....

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  97. slowest counter attck ive ever seen!

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  98. Me and my bloody high hopes.......

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  99. its clever play tbh. Even I know that we will push more and more forward as the game goes on. All you gotta do is sit back and then later in the game we will get sloppy as we always do and you can nick a goal. So while it may look like playing for a draw it is in fact using tatics to play for a win

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  100. surely whenever you have a cross or corner someone should be far post?! everytime its over-hit and wasted!

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  101. when it comes to liverpool players finding the box, i'm surprised players like sterling already have 3 children...

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  102. Poor decision making in the last third cost us!

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  103. You forgot that on page 108 or BR`s dossier that it states, in bold, that we can`t score a goal from a corner or freekick. It`s not allowed. To stop this we can`t plut players in positions which might score when taking them

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  104. can't be upset with liverpool west ham were embarrasing plsying with 10 in the back pathetic

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  105. thats how you break teams down tikka takka style rodgers i salute you your ahead of your time,total football

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  106. after calming down a bit, maybe you cant blame the players considering west ham had enough players back there to exhaust a bus's seating capacity.

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  107. I bet Sterling is also suprised by that as he only has 1...

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  108. i thought it was 3 or something?

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  109. Whatawasteofmoney3:29 pm, April 07, 2013

    We need to get our £70m back the King and brendan frittered away by selling carroll,borini and downing and buy Falcao and Cavani with the cash.

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  110. nope. He has one. Never listen to the media lies spun to make him sound worse than he is. He has one child, which is a daughter.

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  111. depressing game ...plus i cant even slag off rogers for his selection and subs...we either score for fun or couldn't score in a brothel ....as for sterling he must be turkey basting

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