I really expected more from Markovic because the kid is special. He has been poor but he was bought in as a youngster who will develop over the years. LAllana was brought in as a first teamer who was expected to take us to the next level. He has failed. And its not that he lacks pace - it's overall intelligence. Plays the wrong ball on several occasions, dwells on it. He can beat a man but then he'll stop, wait for the player, do a pointless turn to show everyone he's an Englishman with a bit of skill. I think he's more style than substance. Don't get me wrong - he's a decent player. But Rodgers should have brought in someone with far more ability and potential for that price.
Lallana's game is about playing quick one-twos in a fluid mobile team. Its no surprise he's done better since Lambert has been in the team because there is someone there on the same wave length. Gerrard links up well with both too but he's usually playing a deeper role.
At the rate we are going will be fighting to stay in the Premier League. How much longer must we put up with this?
Lallana has no pace, therefore he has to rely on tricks and turns to beat a man - he nearly always does. Is it his fault there's **** all up top to pass to? Our biggest problem in the final third is that we're relying on an old Lambert to lead the line on his own, for several games in a row, because there's no other choice. I'm not criticising Rickie either, but he's clearly not able to play so many games in a row. It's not Lallana's fault and imo he's looked good. He'll look better with a proper forward up there to link up with.
Not being funny but your "kick start to the season" looks a lot more like Del Boy's spluttering Reliant Robin
Which is why the summer signing situation is so criminal. Most of those mid table teams work on a fraction we do yet are competing with us. We seem to have forgotten that investing in the future is one thing, but you cannot ignore the present.
Why is so f**ing hard to make decent signings? There are two f**ing tactics, only TWO - pay LITTLE for unproven potential (pelle, tadic etc etc) - Pay a LOT for proven quality from great teams (Sanchez, ozil, etc etc) We seem to pay a lot for players that other teams would only consider spending half on! Do you all realise Chelsea had an option in the summer to buy Markovich for £13m? surely them turning that down was a big f**ing sign that Rodgers shouldnt go and splash £20m for a player that even in the Portuguese league looks like average joe
Liverpool's Brendan Rogers has admitted scouting players using Championship Manager. "I picked up this fascinating game over the summer, called Championship Manager. It was me to a 'T', because I am a Championship level manager and had to give it a go. It's where I found young Lazar, in the game he has a 20 pace stat and thought he would be perfect for the team. I paid £1m for every pace figure he had to secure his services but he looks a bit slow to be honest. I can't believe Championship Manager lied to me, it is always spot on with player attributes - I remember playing as Liverpool 10 years ago on CM 03/04 and it correctly predicted that Pongolle and Le Tallec were wonderkids that would become world class talents. ... Oh... "
There isn't a point if you're not going to give them a run of games. I don't know what you lot watched but Markovic wasn't bad for his 15 minutes. Certainly no worse than anyone else. He made a good pass into the box, laid it off for attacking players when he had the ball, which wasn't often (and that's not his fault - Sterling basically took every opportunity). I don't know what you all expect. He hasn't played in ages and when he does he gets a cameo playing with Johnson as his support behind him. What was annoying was that Sterling refused to stick to a side and instead took any opportunity left or right. That's fine when you've got no other options and you need a player with attacking freedom but Markovic would have been another option had we needed it. Instead it was all Sterling and it ended up with us losing possession time and time again. I stick by my prediction that Markovic is one of the worlds top talents. Rodgers has just backed himself into a corner where he can't play his talented youth regularly because he needs results and he needs results because he persisted with the old guard at the beginning of the season. Now its too critical of a point to bed in Can and Manquillo and Markovic and Moreno. That's why you see Johnson being wheeled out. Anyone who knows a thing about the worlds top players knows that they developed because they were bedded in to a team that had a mix of youth and experience. They weren't given 15 minute cameos 10 times a season and told to "rescue the 0-0 draw against Sunderland". They shouldn't have to bear the brunt of the fans ire- that's pressure that only the too 20 players in the world could fulfill week in week out. Ignore the fact that Lambert was useless today for the entire 90, let's blame it all on a 20 year old kid who played his 8th game or whatever for a brief spell surrounded by utter ****e ! Is it any wonder why he doesn't look good? Ronaldo would struggle to score with the service our team provides. Zidane would struggle to rack up assists to our strikeforce. As for his game today I saw nothing wrong with it. He linked up and didn't take the safe option, saw little of the ball because it was either hoofed up, given away, or passed to Sterling. He's not Suarez yet, he's not Sturridge. And if we expect our youngsters to emulate him and score and dazzle when they come on we will be seriously disappointed.
But of course you've all chosen to scapegoat him. Fickle is the word I use. If you seriously think he was the reason we drew at home to Sunderland then you're all blinded by your need for a target to blame. I'll give you a list of things to moan about: Johnson. Johnson's insistence on ruining any attacking play. Gerrard. Rickie Lambert being a glorified training dummy. Sterling falling over at every gust of wind. Sterling thinking he is Messi and dribbling himself into dead ends before blazing it over. Kolo and Skrtel choosing the "keep possession" option when the rest of the team are trying to speed up tempo. Mignolet having distribution skills on par with mine. Rodgers' insistence on choosing Johnson and his usual suspects week in week out. Rodgers not changing things unless its gambling on Gerrard bailing us out. Rodgers' strange team selections. But no. Let's moan about how **** a 20 year old is because he gets 15 minutes to do it all himself vs. Sunderland.
Great post. I thought he was decent and he made more of an impact than Stevie. I maintain that he has higher potential than Sterling. Lambert was shocking but in his defence, he simply hasn't got the fitness to be playing so many minutes.
and with Lambert in the team, we're just crossing all the time. It's not our style and it's so ineffective.
nothing unexpected in this result. the supposed 3 in stelring, lallana and coutinho are far far too similar and light weight. they cann hold or carry a threat and lambert is as mobile as a birck. for me we needed henderson on the right and let the other 3 fight for 2 spots.... at least get pressing and abilit yto hold it in there. but ok we got 0-0.... that makes this block 7 points now so thats par for the course this season. we are scrapping for anything until jan 1 but believe me if nothing happens in january for lfc I think heads should roll big time. the entire transfer committee and rodgers should go for balotelli call IMO roll on basel now...
