27 Sept 2014

'Frustrating': Reds legends demand 'more' from £36m LFC duo after 'disappointing' draw

Liverpool are down to 12th place in the Premier League table tonight after a disappointing 1-1 draw with Everton at Anfield, and it could get even worse tomorrow if West Brom beat Burnley.

Post match reaction:

Brendan Rodgers

"I never felt in any danger during the game. I think the organisation of the players was very good.

"They had good concentration. I always felt that with the ball we were a real threat going forward.

"But when you conceded so late on like that, into injury-time, it's a little bit frustrating."


Ray Clemence

"Two great goals in merseyside derby. LFC need to create more. Need more from Balotelli"

Patrik Berger

"I would like to see Stevie further forward to influence the game even more"

John Scales

"Liverpool have got to get back to getting in behind defences. Better movement in final third to stretch/disrupt opposition. Henderson too".

Michael Owen

"Picking MOM was a tough choice today. No real standout performer. Moreno, Gerrard, Lallana, and Jagielka all candidates"

Jamie Carragher

"Enjoyed the game thought Stones was outstanding and Lallana getting better every game".

A couple of small points:

* Suso ignored or playing time once again, despite scoring in midweek? What does he have to do to be given a chance? On Thursday, Rodgers praised Suso's contribution; his application in training; and suggested that he'd 'come into the reckoning' for the Everton game, but putting him on the bench was (IMO) merely a token gesture.

* £20m for Lazar Markovic continues to look like a massive rip-off.

* Daniel Sturridge is a key player for LFC, but the team should not miss him as much as this. Rodgers' attacking signings should be able to compensate for his absence, but so far, they have failed miserably.

* 4231 is clearly not working for Liverpool, especially with the current personnel. With Sturridge in the team, it might work better, but with Balotelli - who is far more static than Sturridge - it should be a non-starter.

* In my view, Clemence and Scales are right to demand more from Henderson and Balotelli. In the absence of Sturridge, Hendo should be stepping up to the plate to fill the void, but after seven games, he still hasn't scored a goal this season.

A win for West Brom tomorrow will see the Reds slide down to 13th place in the league, the club's worst position since the early stages of Brendan Rodgers' first season, when Liverpool languished in 14th place at the end of September.

That year, LFC ended the season in 7th place, 28 points off the league champions. Hopefully, history is not repeating itself (!), but the signs are ominous.

The worst thing is that Manchester United - a team in disarray, with a worse defence than Liverpool - have also pulled ahead in the league table (!)

That said, the Reds are only 3 points off 4th place right now, so although things look bleak, it's by no means an insurmountable gap.





Author:


23 comments:

  1. suso suso suso, Rodgers pls give him a chance for goodness sake

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  2. Need to kill games off when chance arrives worried things will get worse before they get better- did Sakho Storm out? If so no big loss- another waste of money- what does Suso need to do to get a game.

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  3. What's this story about Sakho? What happened?

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  4. Apparently stormed out after being told he wouldn't be playing today

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  5. Check out Origi goal v Bastia that's 3 in 4 game-can we get him back in Jan.

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  6. Re Balotelli; I actually thought he grew into the game today; he put himself about, held up the ball well and was involved in some decent link up play. He had a smart volley touched onto the bar by Howard, so that goes down as a great save. Immediately after he was hooked for Lambert Liverpool couldn't get the ball back - it seemed to me to be a fairly pointless substitution by Rodgers. I hope he will be much more effective when he has the movement of both Sterling and Sturridge to play off.


    It shouldn't all be gloom and doom. We've been playing badly, so anyone who thought that we were going to suddenly hit last season's form today was kidding themselves. But, it was a better performance (bar the Spurs game) than we've seen so far this term. Defenders looked more in tune with each other. Moreno impressive, Lallana better each game and full of running. The signs are there that we will continue to improve. Although we invited trouble by sitting too deep in the final minutes, Jagielka's goal was a screamer, an absolute thunderbastard; in all fairness there's not too much anyone could have done about that. Anyway, when it comes to the Merseyside derby I'm just happy to get our players out a) alive and b) not red-carded.

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  7. I'm no clairvoyant, but just maybe Rodgers decided that the volatile atmosphere of the Merseyside derby wasn't the best time to give Suso his first premier league start in God-knows-how-long. I can see the reasoning for that. Next weeks game against West Brom seems more appropriate, and I hope that Rodger's sees fit to give him a shot then.

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  8. I agree Ash i thought balo while not brilliant was okay and with a bit more luck would score.Hes not an out an out Cf and likes to drop deep but hes 20 times better than Lambert or borini .I knew taking balo off would heap pressure on us because lamberts lack of pace meant everton could defend high .....schoolboy tactics by rogers coupled with buying players he doesnt need and playing them in the wrong positions

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  9. I feel a bit sorry for sako im not his biggest fan but hes been dropped and made an apparent scapegoat for no real reason by rogers.Thats another 17m down the swanny add that to lazer at 20m ( crazy fee for a very pooor player ) and rogers if he carries on will make kenny look like a spend thrift bank manager.

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  10. will he want to come back

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  11. We need a Simeone type of manager just tore Turan a new one for a wayward pass. It's like his life is at stake we need some passion like that

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  12. Bollocking your players in public is hardly the be all and end all. Rodgers is a young, still relatively inexperienced manager in charge of a huge club. He is prone to making the occasional gaffe both on the pitch and in the transfer market, but has proved himself to be forward thinking, tactically astute and has had his team playing some of the prettiest football Anfield has seen in many a year. It astounds me when I hear people calling for his head after a small handful of sub-par performances.

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  13. U got your opinion I got mine the thing is Simeone is a winner against might of Madrid and Barca. We will see when we play Madrid how BR stands up

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  14. Gilstrap are you suggesting Lazar Markovic is a waste of money? Sorry you can't say that according to the site moderators.It's far to early.Only when more time has elapsed and he's stamped by most fans and the media as being garbage can you make such statements.
    I agree with you.Markovic looks like £20m down the swanny.Those who have trouble seeing that need to be shot in the backside with a reality tranquilizer!

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  15. What are you on about re site mods? Anyone can say anything they want, including that Markovic is a waste of money. I suggested the same thing in this post.

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  16. Look at the comments on the thread titled Brendan Rodgers wants to sign £15m star who 'followed Liverpool as a child' and it should make sense.JK i wasn't literally talking about the site moderators.I was just taking a cheap swipe at the sensitive brigade who get their knickers in a twist when someone thinks we've wasted money in the transfer market.

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  17. thexcuriousxwanderer2:58 am, September 28, 2014

    Am I the only one who felt giving Markovic some game time is good? (not sure about this stage, but hey, game time is game time, and since BR is the one with access to how they trained ...) He seemed very low on confidence, and that time he was in front of goal he opted to pass (!) Maybe not in the league games, but he should be given a run in the cup to build him up to the league games maybe? This kid's got potential but he has to realise it (judging from our table position, sooner rather than later!)

    As for Suso, that's interesting. The problem is he is very similar to Coutinho, and right now Coutinho is better. I thought the side looked a lot more mobile after Cou was introduced.

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  18. He's been horrific since the beginning of the season and our defence for once looked assured without him yesterday. I fully understand Rodgers.

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  19. Simon Mignolet is not a hero for liverpool.Suso is good player who never yet sign new contract with others clubs but why need to keep him on the bench ?

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  20. The irony lies in the fact that YOU'RE the one who's actually getting sensitive. You're entitled to your opinion, but others are entitled to disagree without you ridiculing them.

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  21. Shmack92 it's never personal with me bud.I come on here to share and take other peoples views on board.When someone has a different view, i like going back and forth.Which you will see if you look at my other comments.We had a debate but you thought i was attacking every post you made.I was simply putting my views across not looking to dilute your posts.
    I threw a cheap shot in response and i apologise.Now let's throw the playground sensitivity talk on the bonfire and move on!

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  22. You were trying to dilute my posts, because instead of addressing the logic or reasoning of my views, you persistently claimed they were influenced by emotion, which they blatantly weren't. Happy to move on though, apology accepted!

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  23. There was no stopping that Jagielka strike....
    There is no need to start panicking yet. 3 points from top 4 is nothing.

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