My biggest problem with Balotteli is he came on fresher than most but wasn't bothered to put in a shift. That turn in the second half to leave Fabregas for dead was brilliant. One thing he should take a leaf from Hazard is when players try to hold him back he should fall over or ensure the referee gives yellow cards. Hazard got Lucas booked twice, Gerrard and Henderson once over the tie. It allowed for him to attack with our midfield scared to tackle. That said he can also try and shoot like Hazard.
The hate around Balo is embarrassing. He's been out for a number of games and constantly been mentioned abiut him trying to adapt to our style of play. Instead of people giving him a chance we see him slated for the most pointless things. He will never work out because fans don't want him to work out. If he was to score v West Ham and get goals up as soon as he would hit a dry spell he would then be slated, never gonna win. Anyone thing Costa will get any punishment for the stamps? The one on Can was as clear as day light.
It's not hate. It's not even directed at Mario. He is what he is. As is Lambert. Most of what I see on this forum is frustration that he came on and Lallana stayed off!
Simply put - we don't have enough snides in our team. Suarez was a master of winning free kicks out of nothing. Not only do you win the free kick, but you rile up the opposition. Too many choirboys in this team.
Agreed. A lot of what he does gets exaggerated. Then you have clueless pundits have a go at him for the goal but no one asks the question as to why he had to deal with 2 players (Costa and Ivanovic).
He was at fault for the goal in terms of his marking but the pundits that I watched were basically saying that organisationally, he shouldn't be the guy in the middle at all. That comes down to a lack of defensive planning (BR & Coaches) or leadership on the pitch. Fact is, we conceded from yet another set play and until we stop doing so, I'll be sniping at the manager and the coaching set up. Not individual players.
Happens all the time - we often see Henderson marking the biggest guy on the park. There is no sense. And we mark zonally at set pieces - Costa had entered into his zone and Mario picked him up instead.
Yup. Defensively, we've been very poor since BR's arrival. Under Kenny, we had shored up at the back, with a proper defensive coach.....but we did suffer creatively. Rafa built from the back too. Roy didn't have a clue at the front or back I can understand losing goals from mistakes because we play a more expansive game than before. I even accept that we get caught on the break with players out of position, we can have it all....right? But consistently losing daft goals to set pieces? There's simply no excuse for that. None whatsoever.
Not relevant. You can't absolve someone of bad behaviour by pointing to the bad behaviour of someone else (unless it's direct provocation). A turd in a bucket of turds is still a turd.
So when Costa stamps another team's players, then we can all start demanding the FA do something? No problem, I can wait another 3 days
I agree thought we played well, as for the Johnson ,,I have a spare chocolate teapot that I can lend to LFC if they need a defensive sub.
I wonder if "some" will be quite so understanding if he does those things to their players? Anyway, I don't want to get into tit-for-tat schoolboy argument techniques. Referring to the acts of others has no bearing on the judgement of one. The most you can accuse me of is hypocrisy in defending Suarez. I'd deny it, but even if it was hypocritical it doesn't stop it being correct.
I never absolved his bad behaviour. I have even gone as far as calling it nasty. What I have done is dispute your version that Suarez wasn't out to hurt anyone and also to highlight the hypocrisy from Liverpool fans who loved it when Suarez was winding up opposition fans and players and defended him to the hilt and felt he was mistreated (we all know he is a great teammate to whoever team he is part of but an absolute bellend on the pitch) who now at the same time absolutely think Costa is the biggest numpty in the world and needs to be executed
I didn't accuse you of anything and nor would I. I was merely pointing out that many (me included) might have a wry smile at reds moaning about the behaviour of Costa (who was bang out of order mind) when they idolised a player who was cut from the same cloth. There's a delicious irony about it.....
We loved Luis, others hated him.. Chelsea love Costa, others hate him.. **** happens, didn't condone what Luis did, don't condone what Costa did.. Back to the game, our issue was three fold.. 1 Didn't put them away at Anfield in the 1st leg 2 Related to point 1, we don't have a clinical finisher, and 3 Their goalie is prob. #2 in the world, lads a bit special! We maintain that performance level for the most of the remainder of the seasin and finish the odd attempt, we'll be fine Oh, would like to add a final point.. 4 Rodgers made the wrong sub, should have taken Gerrard off for Lallana not Markovic for Baloteli, Markovic may not have been effect going forward but he was doing a reasonable defensive job against Hazard.
These are good points. If this progress is maintained (and Sturridge starts firing on his return), 4th is not beyond us, as far as I'm concerned.
