21 Sept 2014

'Gutted': Aldo, Hamann et al 'concerned by 'awful' West Ham debacle. £46m wasting away on the bench. Why?

Over the summer, I predicted a 5th place finish for Liverpool this year, and after losing 3-1 to West Ham - LFC's third defeat in five league games - it seems like the Reds are going to struggle to achieve a top four place this season. Writing the Reds off at this stage is nonsense, though, and despite the inevitable doom and gloom, there's still more than enough time to turn things around.

Post Match Reaction:

John Aldridge

"Gutted!! What an awful defensive display. 2-0 down start, what chance have you got. I'm very concerned about getting in the top 4".

Dietmar Hamann

"Another disappointing result for LFC ... No reason to panic but will have a fight on to finish top 4. The way they concede is a worry".

Michael Owen

"Liverpool looking a shadow of the team they were last season. Need to find some form before The Merseyside Derby"

A few points:

* Why was Coutinho dumped from the match-day squad? Yes, his form is middling right now, but that's no reason to exclude him from the team. This is typical Rodgers' though - On Thursday, he hailed Coutinho as 'brilliant' and 'fantastic', and insisted he has 'absolutely no doubts about the Brazilian, then two days later he's out of the squad. This has happened several times before (with different players), and it makes no sense.

* Lucas and Gerrard in the same team again? It really defies belief. In his post-match interview, Rodgers complained about a lack of intensity in the team, but what does he expect with those two playing together?

* Rodgers spent £20m on Markovic, yet Fabio Borini - a player LFC desperately tried to flog in the summer - gets the nod ahead of him? Why?! What is the point in signing Markovic if he's not going to be utilised? The same applies to Lallana: £26m spent, and he's on the bench, despite the fact Coutinho and Sturridge were not even in the squad. It's a mystery to me.

* For me, Mignolet is Liverpool's biggest defensive liability. It's futile to expect defensive improvement without a strong, commanding presence between the sticks. A good defence begins with a great goalkeeper, and Mignolet is simply not the long term solution. He needs to be replaced ASAP.

* The league season is only 5 games old, but Rodgers has already utilised several different formations, including 352 (vs. West Ham). After two years in charge, Rodgers should know his best formation by now, and he should stick to it as much as possible. He spent over £100m in the summer on players who - according to him - are capable of seamlessly fitting in the team. If that's the case, why does he keep changing the formation?

I could analyse every detail of the game, but to be honest, with Sturridge out, and new players still settling-in, the result is not a major surprise. Yes, it's a setback, but the main goal (again) this season is simply to finish in the top four, and that is still eminently achievable.

Losing three of the first five league games appears to be damaging, but what's the difference if the team loses 3 out of 5 games, or 3 out 25 games? Sometimes the defeats will be spread out across the season; other times, they'll happen in quick succession, which is the case right now.

Typically, the team that finishes fourth in the Premier League averages 8-9 defeats a season, so there's a long way to go before Liverpool are out of the race.

That said, Rodgers has to take the blame for the poor start the season, but that's another article. For now, it's (arguably) best to take the long view; irrespective of the mistake so far, knee-jerk short-termism is pointless, and after last season's superb performance, LFC's manager deserves time to work on getting things right.

Author:


231 comments:

  1. Get Steve Clarke or Tony Pulis in to work as a defensive coach or BR will get sacked very soon.

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  2. Rodgers should be sacked. Buying so many poor players, selling/loaning away young good players, and not having any tactical nous. Frankly, if not for Suarez, Rodgers and Pool would not have looked so good last season. He was concealing all the cracks in the team.

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  3. What is strange is when some want to make Sakho a scapegoat. We conceded 2 goals yesterday within 7 minutes with Skrtel and Lovren at the heart of our defence. The reason = lack of communication. Vs City we again conceded 3 with Skrtel and Lovren as our CB pair. No communication was present in that match either.Sakho is not the problem as many would like to think.


    All defenders will have bad moments but if you have a defence that does not communicate then it does not matter who your goalkeeper is!!!


    It is no secret that Stevie and Lucas in the same team make us struggle. i have been repeating myself about this point for ages. Playing midfield three of Gerrard holding with Hendo and Coutinho ahead of him or Lallana and Hendo as the 2 should be what Rodgers go with at the moment. Experimenting is not going to help us at all right now but hopefully now Rodgers has seen that whatever he has experimented with is not working and returns to his pressing game which has been nowhere to be seen other than the Spurs match this season.


    We also need to go two up top. So whether it be 4-3-1-2 or 4-1-2-1-2 just play two up top and do not start with both Gerrard and Lucas EVER AGAIN!

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  4. MIgnolet is a problem, and that was obvious for most of last season. Yet Reina was allowed to leave for a dance and a song.


    Never mind 48m on the bench, what is worse are the 46m spent on Sakho, Illori, and Lovren, and now we have arguably the worst defence in over a decade, while Agger and Kelly were sold for next to nothing and Illori is spending the second year of his contract out on loan.


    I agree with the other poster that Rodgers could be found out and get into trouble soon if he does not quickly bring in a competent defensive coach. And whoever made some of the transfer decisions this summer should get a public flogging.

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  5. I just don't understand what Rodgers is trying to achieve with all these team tinkerings. Did he think that playing Gerrard and Lucas together would make him a genius or something? It's just absurd. They say that insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result. Well, I would also say that it's completely ignoring what's proven to work for you again and again, while expecting a different result. However, picking Gerrard/Lucas again does perfectly fit the first standard definition of insanity, no doubt...

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  6. This team is rotting. Just look at Roger's lousy buys:
    Mignolet
    Lovern
    Sakho
    Coutinho
    Assaidi
    Alberto
    Borini
    Markovic
    Lallana
    Bartotelli (debatable)
    Lambert (who may nvr score a Liverpool goal).
    Moreno (debatable)
    There is just so much money wasted here! If everyone berated Dalglish for spending 35mil on Andy Carroll, what about all these amount of money lost here. He should be sacked by end of this season.
    Rodgers has not won any trophies at all as a Liverpool coach and may never will!

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  7. Moreno debateable has just got here and probably our best player this season.

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  8. Forgot to add the "Welsh Xavi" Joe Allen as one of the lousy buys. Clearly not being Savvy enough.

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  9. Why is it that the overwhelmingly common theme with you doom and gloomers is that you literally live in one particular blog article and post comment after comment after comment of unfounded, attention-seeking negativity?

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  10. Liverpool died a sudden death yesterday. Anfield is up for sale now. Best to go support Everton.

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  11. Nick the doom and gloomers are as important as the supreme optimists and the inbetweeners who call themselves realists.
    It makes it that much more interesting.

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  12. Was in the pub last night with a gooner, a Villa fan and a chelski supporter. It was their contention that nowhere on any Liverpool fan-site would I be able to find a single comment of recognition of West Ham's fine display of football. "It will all be about the ref or how 'Pool threw it away", they said. I disagreed. How wrong I was.

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  13. I just don't see the point in being that way though. The whole point of following a team is for enjoyment purposes, and I don't see how acting unnecessarily depressed makes it enjoyable.

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  14. Rodgers team selection was diabolical and I have serious doubts about him. He seems to think he can turn Lucas into Xabi Alonso. I think he was a very lucky man last season to have Luis handed to him. While people point out the defensive problems we are making zero chances to score, but yesterday started with his absurd selections. Also much to easy to blame the goalkeeper.

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  15. But let's be honest though, Liverpool were f**king shithouse and shouldn't lose to West Ham. I'm sure that every other fan site for every other team is the same.

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  16. It does not but it makes for good debate and some entertaining reading i just need to laugh sometimes.

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  17. He's not trying to turn Lucas into Alonso if he was considerably close to selling him a few weeks ago.

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  18. West Ham are below average side as Villa are, see Arsenal yesterday, and will find their level again next week. Liverpool would have beaten nobody yesterday

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  19. Doom and gloom is never good debate Greg!

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  20. 'Fraid not. Many other supporters give credit where it's due.

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  21. No but a bit of shadenfreude is good for the soul.

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  22. Defence is not only the job of defenders. As a team, liverpool left too many gaps in midfield.Lucas is unable to justify his presence in the team(no offensive abilities and so poor at ball recovery and slow pace). Gerrard no longer have legs to be a proper DM.

    Our weakness in defence is that we concede goals from set pieces(poor defensive organisation.) A lot of work should be done in training to address that. We should recruit a specialist coach for this. Our keeper is also not good at dealing with aerial balls.

    Offensively we are missing Sturridge runs and more directness instead of constantly passing the ball around.

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  23. Said it all last season and he's getting worse from what I've seen so far this year, Mignolet is shocking over 90 minutes. Reflex saves: he's one of the best, but positionally and his decision making is woeful........if we do sign Valdes he won't get a look in.

    The issue last year was the terrible defence so I just don't get why we spend so much on average attacking players, and only bring in a couple young defenders who still have a lot to learn...not even mentioning Lovren, who's had a very shaky start for someone who cost £20m by the way)

    YNWA

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  24. Add Mignolet and Aspas to the list...

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  25. Should of gave that 100mill to charity, well spent Bren give urself a pay rise

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  26. It never does work but BR is the man who says it does??.

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  27. You get into them Loges i am a big Sakho fan.

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  28. Bullsh!t. No other team gives credit to the opposition when they lose. It is part and parcel of being a fan.

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  29. Thank you. Case proven.

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  30. Last season Suarez saved B.R arse to many times,now he's gone there's no where to hide for B.R .He boasted last season he didn't want squad players,but that is how the recruits are playing.Yes they need to adapt but this is the premier league you make it quick or you get your arse kicked quick.B.R the question marks above your head are shinning,do something or pay the price.

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  31. Our players are not that bad. We have been unlucky with injuries and ome of our new players need some time to settle. I believe that the fault lies with Brendan Rodgers tactics and team setup.

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  32. Maybe BR was too bz with his tactical on his other half.

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  33. You are saying that if we gazumped Everton next week, then Martinez would come and praise how well Liverpool played or the Everton fans will congratulate us. I do not think so..

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  34. Mignolet is so bad for us at the back he's making David James look like a liverpool legend right now. If possible, get Peter Cech in Jan transfer window to stop the rot and then re-assess in the summer.

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  35. Would like to say JK i agree with most of that especially Markovic bit spent 20 mill which at present looks wasted hope i am wrong.
    Although i dont think Mignolet is our biggest concern its Lovren some say trying too hard i dont know but he has made mistakes galore.
    On a positive note Moreno and Manquillo look good especially Moreno we got a real good one there.

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  36. Mate, wait until he has a bad game and then see the internet vultures scavenge him.

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  37. Coutinho, one of our best players last season has become a worthless buy I see. The signings made this season cannot be classified as worthless. The same man who got us back into the CL after 5 years should be sacked. Who will replace him? Answer that and then come back..

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  38. Name me one occasion where Suarez saved BR..

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  39. lol i laugh how the manager gets the blame , i laugh how its rogers fault his defenders lose concentration , i laugh how its rogers fault that his players are not passing and moving the ball fast enough ,not pressing high on the pitch , gee you would think Rogers was coaching an under 10 side where he needs to hold their hand while they play . like seriously , these players are on mega dollars , they are proven professionals , not children , maybe they should start to use their brains a bit more for them selves , the same as when we go to our work , our boss trusts us to use our skills and go out and do the job he doesn't hold our hands while we do it , and if we mess up and don't perform to what were payed for . then we are heading for the dole ques , get off Rogers back will you not his fault his players are not playing to their pay packets , they need to wake up to themselves and the minute they step on that pitch play the way they know they can ,

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  40. Jaimie, I have a question for you. Could you compile a stat of the number of comments on articles after wins and after losses.

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  41. That's a really narrow opinion.

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  42. Zat is z problm wen u appoint small manager.their thinking are small aswell.liverpool its time for hiddink or bilick or even diego simeone.

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  43. All depends on Man Utd form now. lo!

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  44. I think the league has four squads clearly better than Liverpool. (Arse, Chel, City, Utd).

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  45. Liverpool played 7-2-1 without Suarez after his biting incident in 2012.

    And I'd say last season's start wasn't that much better. Some very close wins. Could have easily been 6 points like now.

    I think the only way is up and we have to believe. I think our squad is good. It's better in whole than last season. There is lot of work to do but we can do better. And we will! I'm sure of it.

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  46. Yeah. Sack Rodgers. And replace with...........?

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  47. David Moyes. lo!

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  48. This is over the top. Moreno, Balotelli, Coutinho and Lovren are all good signings. Mignolet, Lambert and Manquillo are ok ones too. Sturridge is his best one though.

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  49. not sure if they will accept "coaching roles" anymore

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  50. Buying quite a few average players is BR's only fault.

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  51. Yeah ya right Sid i like to keep my opinions based on what i see and try to forgive occasional baddies as they all have them.

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  52. Mignolet was not at fault for any of the goals yesterday, but was left totally exposed by poor defending. A keeper is often only as good as the defence infront of him. Take Marshall for Cardiff last year. Was considered keeper of the year but he still conceded a mountain of goals cos of the defence infront of him. Contrast that with ,suitably here, Valdes, who is an awful keeper but conceded few goals cos he played for the best possession side of modern times.

    Now, formations. Every team needs to be tactically flexible. Yesterday had nothing to do with "not knowing our best formation". We started with the diamond (which was recommended by most) and it clearly wasn't working on the day so BR switched to 3-5-2 n from there in, we owned the ball. Unfortunately we'd already left ourselves too much to do. My favourite thing about BR though since he came in is his ability to spot tactical flaws n his willingness to react to them rather than stubbornly sticking to one system no matter the outcome. It went a long way to getting us to withintouching distance of the league.

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  53. weren't you around when we lost to villa? everyone in here was lining up to praise villa for the win. i can't speak for all Liverpool fans but the majority of the regulars on this site do give credit where it is deserved. west ham deserved every bit of the win but they were not as good as the scoreline suggests. it was more of a case of us being crap that crap craps. its like we were given explicit instructions not to defend and lose the ball at every turn. so yeah congratulations to west ham on the thoroughly deserved win but it fades in the face of the incompetence we displayed yesterday.

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  54. BR is on borrowed time, he's got probably 3 games or he will face the sack. We need Italian manager, at least they start building from the back.

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  55. Nevergonnacrackthecode10:47 am, September 21, 2014

    I want to apologies for giving up last week after villa


    even if this seasons aim is to just stay in the league i am 100% behind the team maybe and will always be a lfc fan even if they were in league 2

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  56. Nevergonnacrackthecode10:48 am, September 21, 2014

    maybe look at villa vs us
    hutton,cissoko and sendersos are massive laughing stocks
    but he got them playing in a compact defense

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  57. Borrowed Time!!! Have you forgotten what we did last season. Have you forgotten how fearful teams were when coming to Anfield.

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  58. Nevergonnacrackthecode10:50 am, September 21, 2014

    sorry
    he did nothing last season
    suarez was the main man


    think about it last season we had the worlds best player

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  59. Nevergonnacrackthecode10:50 am, September 21, 2014

    we need johnson back you dont know how important he is until he is gone
    never understood why atleti let manquillo go now i do he is just not good enough


    allen needs to play even if it is ahead of gerrard
    sturridge is our most important player
    #

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  60. Nevergonnacrackthecode10:52 am, September 21, 2014

    .....................................mignolet
    johnson...........skrtel...............sakho.............moreno


    .......................................allen
    .....................henderson...................lallana
    .....................................sterling
    .......................balotelli...............sturridge


    we should get back to that team

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  61. And?? Is that all. I was expecting more about how great Suarez was and how he did so well for all the seasons he was in Liverpool. Oh Wait...

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  62. Nevergonnacrackthecode10:54 am, September 21, 2014

    he hit his peak it is natural
    he needed a few season to adapt to the pl


    he is our yohan cabaye
    look at newcastle since he left everything fell apart for them

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  63. So you gave him a few seasons to adapt but you are castigating all the other signings from just two-three games I see.

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  64. Nevergonnacrackthecode10:57 am, September 21, 2014

    i apologies for that
    like i said i will support all the players
    right now i will just be happy with staying in the league
    i think all fans should change their expectation as well
    the challenge of top 4 is not helping the players

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  65. What did Manquillo do? How did we miss GJ?

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  66. Nevergonnacrackthecode11:01 am, September 21, 2014

    liek i said to sid i will support him


    but he so far has shown no first touch and no attacking quality so many moves have broken through him
    and defensively he is not great
    flanagan should regain his place when back though

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  67. I disagree. He has IMO been our best player so far this season along with Sterling and Moreno. He has a great appetite and is strong defensively. He is being made a scapegoat for no reason.

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  68. We still did very well last season without Suarez please explain?

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  69. Nevergonnacrackthecode11:08 am, September 21, 2014

    rafa benitez
    he will sort out the defense
    he is a man of miracles

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  70. If players cannot handle the pressure of expectation maybe they should not be at Liverpool we have high expectations and make no apologies.

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  71. Nevergonnacrackthecode11:10 am, September 21, 2014

    in the first 5 games
    our chance creation was poor we had only a few chances and danny took them , tegn suarez came and we started carving teams up


    now apart from sterling no one looks like scoring and the defense is horrible agger is a bigg misss as well
    when he used to play we got a lot of cs

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  72. Nevergonnacrackthecode11:12 am, September 21, 2014

    that is the wrong attitude
    truth is our team is not good enough and our manager is struggling
    and if we can finish top half it will be a top season


    because from what i ahve seen againts villa and west ham and if we manatin the same performance levels we will get relegated

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  73. 3 points ive stated all season and longer ....Gerrard is finished lucas is finished mingo is rubbish as is borini ..as long a we persist with Gerrard in midfield we will get beat or struggle hate to say i told you so

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  74. Sterling will burn out soon if he is to be made the sole runner in games, here Lucas / Gerrard = no mobility....plus no forward moment + Super Mario keeps dropping midfield (cause he gets no service), Lallana in too late, Maquillo sub?, Marko not given game time, people crowding Gerrard, slow moment...! ugghh bad result, bad match, poor times! Let me take a cold shower now...:(((((

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  75. Nevergonnacrackthecode11:14 am, September 21, 2014

    I was thinking about rafa benitez
    maybe he is the man who can change our fortunes
    what rafa was good at is keeping a good defense and scoring enough goals
    i reckon he would pay his way too come back he loves liverpool

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  76. I am starting to agree with you because teams seem to have realized he is our weakness and are tackling that by surrounding him. But the problem is we have no readymade replacement. The one we should have go was sadly playing on the other side.

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  77. Nevergonnacrackthecode11:19 am, September 21, 2014

    morgan schniderlin is perfect
    he can tackle score goals , pass, press
    i mentioned his name all summer ong saying gerrard cant do it in that position


    will be as good as alonso for us


    the southampton player we should ahve got


    it is a sad day when a fan like me is right na dteh manager of liverpool is wrong

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  78. ok so we should be happy just avoiding relegation with the hundreds of millions of talent we have thats absolute hogwash.

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  79. Maybe we need Danny you got it wrong.

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  80. its tactical suicide by rogers he tries to compensate for Gerrard frailties by supporting him with lucas the end result is a midfield with no movement or attacking prowess

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  81. what was that sharath i just cracked the egg thought it was you.

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  82. Nevergonnacrackthecode11:24 am, September 21, 2014

    .................................allen
    ...................henderson...............lallana




    till january then morgan schniderlin bought in


    ...............................schniderlin
    ...............henderson...................allen
    ..................sterling..........................lallana
    .................................sturridge

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  83. Your right. Sakho was in the team With Mignolet when he had his worst run of Form last season with many errors leading to goals from the keeper yet Sakho who made no errors that led to goals some how gets the blame, yet when Skrtel should take some criticism for the first goal it is now only Mignolet's fault? Seems awfully unfair and inconsistent. Also Lovren had Made more mistakes this season than the other two.

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  84. staying in the top four and a good cup run was always the target for this season

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  85. Nevergonnacrackthecode11:29 am, September 21, 2014

    look if we could easily get relagted
    its not impossible it will be hard season

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  86. rogers wont drop Gerrard though..its amazing he has been poor for several months in fact i cant recall the last good game he had but rogers like to pick on easy targets in the squad who haven't the kudos to fight back like tino and sako its been a feature of rogers tenure in charge

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  87. Nevergonnacrackthecode11:31 am, September 21, 2014

    top 4 is impossible
    city and chelsea will play for the title
    arsenal will be there always




    and utd have rooney,rvp,falcao,di maria,mata

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  88. I do not know how valid this is but our best play of the season and our best defence happened when Gerrard got injured.

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  89. we wont get top 4 this season im pretty sure of that we concede way to may goals

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  90. West Ham deserved to win. Sam told us in advance that they were going to hit us hard early and hope for a reaction to the mid week match and for some reason the management/team were unable to take note and cope with the expected onslaught.


    Whilst you should give due credit to West Ham, you concede 2 goals in the first seven minutes having been warned what to expect you have to also question your own team's performance. Especially so if you are a top 4 team which has spent a lot of money playing what is at best a mid table team.


    BR's comments about playing too many long balls were interesting. I can only assume that comment must at least in part be directed at Gerrard.

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  91. I am not so convinced it makes good debate. I have read some reticulum posts and I now just skipping their names. Of someone was wearing a tin foil hat on the bus I wouldn't go out of my way to converse with them. Same principle applies.

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  92. Nevergonnacrackthecode11:34 am, September 21, 2014

    i dont like the man
    he needs to leave
    why could we never sign a winner manger ?


    arsenal wenger won the ligue 1 and japaneese league
    but i think they can do better


    chelsea mourinho 3 cls , leagues in 4 countries


    man city pellegrini won the south american leagues


    man utd van gaal won two different legaues in countires and a cl


    liverpool rodgers n power championship paly off


    not good enough

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  93. our midfield has always played better without gerrad for a long time but there are fans who think there is only him who can pass a ball it really is quite deluded

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  94. Are you sure? What about BR's comment about too many long balls. Perhaps he will give SG a rest when Can is fit again.

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  95. You will find that as well mate. Look at a couple of other sites. Problem was also how poor we were which is of a bigger significance to us as pool fans than how good WH looked.

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  96. The thing I liked about Gerrard was his composure on the ball and his set piece ability but both have gone missing in the past few games. It is tough to accept but our legendary captain might just have to give way.

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  97. Were they all not good enough then before they won something?

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  98. Nevergonnacrackthecode11:37 am, September 21, 2014

    why should liverpool have a manger thats still learning ?


    its about finished products thats what we need


    no other major buisness has ever taken such a gamble

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  99. That's a much nicer and fairer way of expressing it when viewed against some of the comments I have seen about him

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  100. Wasn't you going to stop posting? Sounds good to me.

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  101. i doubt it .....rogers has made a rod for his own back with Gerrard...as Jk pointed out its quite amazing that he has dropped lazer sako and tino and played borini who ( lets be honest ) is rubbish ....this to me says hes lost his head and hes lost faith ...any team that presses us in midfield has a 70% chance of getting a result

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  102. Villa have a bug affecting their team which could explain their poor performance yesterday.

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  103. Wenger was a huge gamble when he came, so was Ferguson and what exactly did Pellegrini win at a major level. Also, we have not taken a gamble, we took a gamble that paid off. People are acting like we just hired Rodgers a few days back. HELLO!!! He was there last season and took us to our best season in 25 years. How can people just forget that is baffling?

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  104. Nevergonnacrackthecode11:42 am, September 21, 2014

    2008/09
    rafa benitez 86 points and a cl quarter final
    2013/2014
    rodgers 84 points


    best season in 25 years?

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  105. it is what it is stuart its the nature of the beast players are payed big money and your only as good as your last game

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  106. but what does that say about rogers when two players he was trying to offload started

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  107. Utd- 4 points behind
    City - 2 points behind
    From a league perspective only...

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  108. it truly is a sad sad day...

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  109. Jay summed it up well. The concern is not how good WH were, it's about bad we were. We are here to discuss why the hell Liverpool are playing so badly right now. It'd be different it we were just outclassed by City.

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  110. Nevergonnacrackthecode11:48 am, September 21, 2014

    i would argue that man utd were way better then city
    pellegrini was new
    man utd had ronaldo,tevez,rooney and scholes and the best defense at that time

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  111. I don't know, that's a different argument.

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  112. it says hes wasted a lot of money

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  113. Nevergonnacrackthecode11:50 am, September 21, 2014

    every single game suarze has played under him
    apart from arsenal that was all about sterling

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  114. You are also forgetting how good our team was from that season. Compare Gerrard(2008), Alonso, Mascherano to Gerrard (2014), Henderson and Lucas/Allen. It is obvious who wins there. We had Reina at his prime, a brilliant defense with Carragher in it and a firing Torres added to a reliable and industrious Kuyt. What Rodgers did with the team from last year was amazing.

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  115. For all those of u who were happy to see Suarez leave, always criticising him for not being an altar boy and thinking the team would be better off without him like you jaimie kanwar, now u r starting to realise how ridiculous it was to even think about this...We lost the best player in the world and are now back to roy hodgson era once more. 3 defeats in 5 matches is a travesty for a team who, at the start of the season had aspirations to go one step further than last season. We were all laughing at man utd calamitous start of this season but now look who is becoming the laughing stock. Last season, suarez carried us. He covered all the cracks in the team by making us score more than what we conceded and making all the players around him look better than what they actually are. he almost single handedly gave us the title. if it was not for the incompetence of the players around him like mignolet gerrard, toure who made so many capital mistakes, we would hv won the EPL last year. Now without suarez, we are back to being a mediocre team. We kept the same defensive frailties as last year but lost this magical ability to outscore our opponents every time. Let's enjoy the cl this season as much as we can cause next year we won't be there for sure...

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  116. he took a hiatus from enlightening the LFC faithful. now he's back with a vengeance!!

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  117. Nevergonnacrackthecode11:53 am, September 21, 2014

    torres was injured a lot
    rodgers had suarez for teh majority who argubly was way better


    i think you dont rate suarez highly because his effect is massive


    look at uruguay vs costa rica without suarez then italy and england with suarez then colombuia with suarez
    he can win games on hsi own

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  118. Yes- Suarez had a remote in his hand that automatically made the ball go in the net right..

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  119. I rate him very highly but Suarez never had the same effect on me as Torres did.There were times when I was totally relaxed as Torres would come out of nowhere and score. I never had the same feeling with Suarez. If you saw, you would see that Suarez would score in high scoring games but would never get those scruffy goals that Torres did. He hardly ever scored in a 1-0 or a 2-1.

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  120. LS wanted to go - nothing you can do to keep him thereafter.

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  121. We need to find the balance between attack and defence.

    But we're also being found out by teams who park the bus, and we can't break them down.

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  122. You are right...It was not thanks to Suarez. But rather because of the likes of genius fullbacks like Johnson and flannagan who never ever got beaten by any wingers, stonewall cetral defenders kole toure, daniel agger and sakho who stroke fear in every centre forward they faced or maybe our super keeper simon mignolet in the goal who is so accurate with his feet and is so imposing against crosses in the box...right? Or was it because of our awesome midfield including xaxi-like players like henderson and allen or pirloesque players like gerrard that we almost won the league? Please enligten me more with ur wisdom...

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  123. What if you have a really good first half and a terrible second half to your last game?

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  124. I think it is fair to say that our title challenge has gone. We simply cannot afford to give up 3 defeats in the first 5 matches when we are trying to compete with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City, I didn't have high hopes of a title challenge going into the season: after all, we the team who finished second seemed to think it wise to 'strengthen' by bulk-buying the players of the team who finished 8th (Southampton). Since when is that a recipe for a title challenge? Last season part of our strength was the fact that we were forced to play pretty much the same team week in, week out. This year we are tinkering every game: too many team changes….

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  125. Because of the bad results, BR needs to work out what's not working. For me it's actually NOT working up top which is causing more pressure on the defence.

    Point 1. Last year we had four players who made regular runs breaking into space (DS, LS, RS and JH) allowing our quick pasing game. At the moment, DS/LS are not in the team, and JH is being played in a deep lying role alongside SG. This means we only have one outlet RS, which is not enough. MB is a different player to both LS and DS, and hence we CAN'T play the same way with him in the team as we did last year without DS in the team. Hence our passing is slow and side-ways, allowing the opposition to park the bus and us not breakdown the opposition.

    Point 2 - As a direct result of point 1, the other little maestros (PC and AL) have not been able to settle and provide cute passes to open up defences. Hence we need to have a front 3 who are pacey and look to occupy space up the pitch and NOT drop deep to pick up the ball, to provide SG/PC/AL the space - ie stretch the play.

    Point 3 - Because we've not clicked upfront, it's caused more pressure on our defence. Our only decent game (Spurs) and the defence was reasonably stable. I am hoping the defence will come good, as it has the basic building blocks - it just needs time to gel and function as one UNIT.

    Lastly, we need to aim at 4th and a few good cup runs. With the acquisitions of ManU, it would seem we are fighting with Arsenal for 4th.

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  126. Don't think Manu is much stronger than us... Agree with the rest, Chelsea city and arsenal are all well ahead of us! We will probably be fighting for the 4th place with manunited, it will be tough, but we have a good chance to finish in the top 4

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  127. At some point we will need to debate are we going to follow Spurs this year, and spend £100m and go backwards.

    ManU spent more but on 4 players. That would have been my preference. The argument is those players would not come to Liverpool. I would tend to disagree - if you splash the cash, any fickle money hungry football star can be bought.

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  128. god i was hoping no one brought that up. been busy drinking and trying not to think in those terms.

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  129. It is only so long you can put your head in the sand.

    Reality come back to bite you eventually.

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  130. This is our best squad since 08/09 and its only going to get better we have a young team/manager who are learning while treading new waters. I never listen to the pundits as its easy to knock a team from the cosy studio settings.

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  131. One of our qualities last was we out-worked other teams. For some reason we seem to have lost that work ethic.

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  132. Still need to fix the issues to get better :-)

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  133. Jaimie: Can we get rid of this guy? Quite clearly a troll?

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  134. But wasn't that the same last season remember when we got our ass kicked by arsenal 2-0 last November fast forward three months later we destroyed them 5-1. At some point it will click.

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  135. The people on this forum calling for BR's head need to get a grip. I didn't see you complaining when we were riding high last season.

    The team played poorly and the selection of Lucas and Gerrard was a no doubt mistake IMO.

    With 9 new players coming in what did you expect?

    BR is not immune to criticism but if some of you "fans" jump ship now please don't come jump in when we pick up form.

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  136. not if i keep running away from it. i have not been on any other footy sites, twitter or turned on espn since last night :)

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  137. Just been on football 365 and in their mail.section there is a pool fan who bemoans Liverpool and hails West Ham. Turns out your eclectic mates were wrong.

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  138. For the record I am not call for BR's head.

    I may have been previously. But last years success (although I may believe it to be a fluke based on one outstanding player) gives BR the right to keep going for now.

    Additionally, I'm not foolish to think by spending £100m we should be challenging for the title. But I think to expect/demand 4th after spending £100m is fair, and if we fail that target, then he should go.

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  139. How many games did we win because of Suarez?

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  140. For me two issues:


    1. Gerrard is not an automatic starter. Rodgers should be strong and bench him. Yes we have injuries now, but I'd go with Can/Allen/Henderson as our standard midfield three. If Scholes and Lampard can be benched at the club level, so can Gerrard.


    2. Why is the defense being rotated? Pick a central defense pairing and stick with them over 10 games.

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  141. So is Fabregas, who I was calling out for. Neither wanted to join LFC.

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  142. Saurez was excellent in defending from the front, he forced lots of long balls therefore protecting our midfield. Nevertheless the signs were there that Stevie G could not cope with DM role & that Leiva is now in the latter stages of his career! Yet we ignored the DM position, Emre was never enough!
    Now we bought a lot of youngsters with no proven quality, I've just seen Di Maria score a sublime goal & Falcoa put an amazing cross for RVP! These players will eventually halt man utd decline, unfortunately. We ought to have pushed the boat out for Cavani or Falcoa.
    BR doesn't know his best team & will squeeze Gerrard in at all costs! I hope BR figures out his first 11 & a system to play.

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  143. United are going to be a real threat in this top 4 race. Their defence might be shit, their filthy attack just can't be ignored and they'll get away with it against teams like Leicester.

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  144. Actually like the new lad Blackett at the back for Utd - potential to play for England.

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  145. tisk tisk tisk caught out there batman never gunna crack an egg again are ya.

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  146. Yep he's very composed & athletic!

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  147. i sincerely hope that one day i'll be able to understand what you are saying .

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  148. Blackett and I both have the colour black in our last names. The difference is that he's actually black while I'm just a fraud.

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  149. Falcao looks a bit slow to be honest. Could be a bit rusty but it really does not look like he is going to beat defenders this season.


    Leicester have done ok in the match despite conceding two goals. They are not being dominated by UTD.

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  150. The problem is and has been the club need 1 or 2 specialised Mobile Defensive Enforcers at the club who offer the club some protection to the back four.
    S Gerrard(34) should be used off the bench after 65-70mins, he should no longer be a guaranteed starter and he is the weak link in team as DM.
    Whether Lucas(27) or S Gerrard(34) plays the DM role, neither have the energy, legs, mobility, pace or speed to nullify and break up plays and stop opposition teams regularly getting at our back 4.
    Sakho(24) may not look like shakey, but he is an awesome defender and he has made less mistakes this season than Lovren(25), so why Sakho(24) is always being made the scapegoat is comical.
    Our biggest flaws: is we concede too many goals due to average GK, No mobile tough tackling defensive midfielder in squad, we do not have more than 2 people in squad who can score over 20 goals a season.
    We are now over reliant on D Sturridge(25):
    In January: 4 players need to be shipped out to bring in 32M in sales:
    RB: G Johnson(29) DM: L Leiva(27) AM: Suso(20) FD: F Borini(24)
    And then these 4 players need to be brought in if we are to have any real chance of getting back in top 4 and winning trophy or two this season:
    1 and 2: DM and RW: Lars Bender(25) and K Bellarabi(24) Of Bayern Leverkusen for combined total of : £30-£32M
    3: LW: Y Konoplyanka(25) Of Dnipro for £10-£12M
    4: FD: P Aubamayeng(25) Of B Dortmund for £15-£20M
    1 Of the players would come and offer class, energy, mobility, pace and be good at breaking up play and getting things ticking over. ( L Bender)
    3 of the players would bring class, creativity, goals, mobility, pace and speed in behind teams to squad.( Aubamayeng, Bellarabi and Konoplyanka)

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  151. its not the defeats its the manner of them ...we are being completely out played....truth be told we should have lost to the saints as well as they also completely out played us....we look like a team of square pegs in round holes and thats down to Rogers...who has bought players for positions we had covered while ignored obvious frailties in the team.Like ive stated over and over we keep playing Gerrard and we will keep getting beat

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  152. how is a midfield with Gerrard ever going to out work the opposite midfield .......all as the opposition coaches need to do is give Gerrard no room at the back downing played the role superb yesterday

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  153. These are new challenges for Rogers and so far I see no evidences to suggest that he will not resolve them over the season. Anybody feeling like this is all doom and gloom just think back to that night at anfield at the end of 2010 when Hodgsons Liverpool lost 1-0 to wolves.

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  154. Worth £60m and massive wages?


    Let's see what UTD do if they fail to qualify for the CL this season...

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  155. its not doom and gloom it is what it is....we carry on losing games like this and we wont get top 4

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  156. But Di Maria though...

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  157. It says he is totally CONFUSED

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  158. The problem is the players he should have offloaded he has kept( L Leiva(27) and F Borin(23), but none of them have done anything to suggest keeping them was good idea.
    It just shows in January they should be told they need to go and they are no longer part of his future plans.
    The fact E Can(21) and J Allen(24) are out injured has effected some of B Rodgers thinking as I am no fan of J Allen(24) but away from home he offers protection, hussles, bussles and keeps things ticking over in centre of park nicely.
    J Allen(24) offers the defence and team more cover and protection in centre of park than S Gerrard(34) and L Leiva(27).

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  159. everyone shut up and watch leicester vs man utd now !!!

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  160. Panic stations for UTD. Their attack is not going to save them this season.

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  161. this run of form is to be blamed on all rodgers and only rodges.


    1) He experiment a lot..i still dont know y we revert to 3 5 2..6 games till now and 4 formations used.what is happening???
    2) he played a 34 year old man for 90 mins in 3 games a week and to make things worst started lucas alongside him.
    3) He had lallana , markovic and coutinho available and he goes with lucas and borini.
    4) talks about pressing game he wants to see with lots of intensity which clearly contradicts with his selection.
    5) transfer policy : you knew it was hard work of SAS that made everything work (those long balls of gerrard works only when someone is available in space) and when you lose the main guy you replace it with two rhino like characters (lambert and ballotelli) FAIL.
    6)trying to convert gerrard into something which he is not and lucas into which he is not.
    7) doing the same with Can.
    8) Cant believe till now we were so close to getting Costa and shaquiri and blew it up.
    9) song was desperate to come to anfield and we required a good DM but i think rodgers wants to play gerrard there for 60 matches for full 90 minutes.
    10) Last but not the least this guy does not learn at all from mistakes and i am very doubtful that he ever will.

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  162. If Liverpool don't finish in the top four then they don't deserve to be in the top four. The fans and the media need to be realistic. This was a team that over achieved last season and if they leave it to the last game of the season to scrap into the CL places it will be a great achievement.

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  163. Spurs 0-1 WBA. it gets better and better. Come on Leicester!!!

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  164. Leicester 4-3 UTD.



    Love it!

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  165. hope every weekend stays this crazy all through out the season !

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  166. Told you it is not only us who is struggling. Nothing is over yet and nothing is decided. It is a marathon, not a race.

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  167. 5-3 wow. Welcome to the EPL Van Gaal.

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  168. Mate, I still believe we will finish top 4. Rodgers just needs to stick with what is best. That is all.

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  169. Did I not say their attack is not going to save them this season :-)

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  170. they were just looking so invincible at 2-0!

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  171. Suddenly, everyone is more positive about our chances. Now for City and Chelsea to draw..

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  172. I do not think they were looking invincible at 2-0. They had two good chances and took them. They have not dominated Leicester at all.

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  173. The thing is the likes of Di Maria can just cut you open at any time.

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  174. Incredible game. Spuds currently down too. Gotta love the Premier league. Maybe it won't be such a bad weekend after all.

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  175. Di Maria is only useful for UTD on the counter attack. Ask him to do anything else and then it explains why they overpaid on a massive sale for him.

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  176. even after taking a 5-3 lead against utd they still seem hungry for more goals. here's to hoping we get a brand new top 4 this season :)

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  177. Nobody is safe in the Premier League. You will be comitting career suicide as a betting man. Never count teams out.

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  178. Tottenham Full Time. We are still ahead of Utd and only one point behind City and Spurs and only 2 behind Arsenal. Nothing is finalised.

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  179. So UTD beat QPR convincingly and get totally trashed vs Leicester.


    Anyone still want Falcao who quite honestly looked like a passenger in this match. That knee problem has got the better of him. He just does not seem to have any pace.

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  180. Leicester is quiet a team. Very impressed with them. I would like to know how good the club was historically because their fans were absolutely buzzing. In all the matches they have an amazing atmosphere.

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  181. They say you have a problem if you cannot knee-jerk but I think it is the opposite.

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  182. Simple stop Di Maria stop United .....

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  183. You'll find that a quite a lot of smaller teams. The underdog mentality works a charm.

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  184. But sometimes you don't need to worry if LVG does that for you.

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  185. We think Liverpool have defensive problems United are much worse.

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  186. Good article Jaimie. Some of the bile I've been reading from some fans is absolutely disgraceful. It's my opinion that we're having some teething problems and badly missing our main striker. I have every faith that at Christmas people will be singin a different tune

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  187. 3 behind Arsenal I think, but yeah I totally agree with that sentiment. However, we do need to improve and improve quickly. Two home games now and we need at least 4 points to stay in touch; usually I would say 6 but one of those is the derby in which I'm always satisfied just to get our players out alive. I'll be relieved to see the names of Sturridge and Allen back on the teamsheet.

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  188. Dear God, United's pub team style of defending is even worse than our own.

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  189. So...somehow...Liverpool stay above United after this week.

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  190. Prescient for things to come...

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  191. Yet everyone wants to take a stab at Gerrard? Blind is very mobile as well as Herrera and were totally run over by Leicester...

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  192. Hopefully Rodgers takes this divine intervention as extra incentive to improve the team because we won't get too many more like that.

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  193. When you play Gerrard and Lucas, you are asking for trouble. Gerrard is not the only issue but he is slowly losing touch and should slowly be eased out of the team.

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  194. Man Utd has better squad than us. Much better.

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  195. Spurs loss at home to west brom helps a bit too.

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