Match Day Thread PL: Liverpool v West Ham United

Rodgers decision making during a match is baffling. I couldn't believe it when he subbed Can when we needed 2 goals at least. After spending more than £100m (mostly Suarez money) he hasn't got enough quality players to provide him with alternatives when plan B or plan C is needed.

The persistence with lovren is just incomprehensible. Just because he wasted a shedload of cash on him shouldn't get him to weaken our defence, just to prove his point. Is it about his ****ing ego or is it about this club?

It will be crunch time against the mancs. If we don't do well against them, he'll be under pressure again as they themselves have no firing power and are still looking for a CB.

 

I think the issues were clear yesterday:

- Sakho looks dodgy on the ball which leads to us conceding silly goals
- Balotelli provides no movement or doesn't work hard
- Moreno is a poor defender
- Markovic isn't suited to PL
- Sterling is too greedy

Hopefully we resolve these and we can get back on track.

 

Right - I've actually stopped laughing now at yesterdays performance.

Truth is - everything was wrong and NO-ONE came out looking good. It was shambolic.

A lot of fans were naive in thinking the first 3 games meant we had resolved our problems. The same issues/warning signs were there but a lot just didn't want to see it because it's 'negative to criticise when you win'.

Lovren and Skrtel made the SAME fundamental mistakes in those games as well - difference is, we weren't punished then.

Now why were the defence so horrific - Clyne and Gomez pushed on higher which meant Skrtel and Lovren weren't being babysat this time. And look what happens. Lucas is sh*t as well - he, along with Skrtel thrive when we play in a deeper line because they don't like having space in behind them which means they have less ground to cover. But against teams like West Ham where we are the aggressors, we play higher and Skrtel/Lucas have more space in behind them - they don't like it.

Gomez was awful but this lad is not a left back and he has to play alongside Lovren. No doubt this poor lad will be dropped before Lovren or Skrtel.

Can was poor by his own standards - made some great challenges but they were as a result of giving the ball away. Still, one of the few that looks to get on the ball and make things happen.

I've said so many times - Milner will run for the days and he certainly works hard. But what else does he do? He's not a central midfielder.

Coutinho and Firmino were ineffective - Firmino struggled to get in the game but still shows glimpses of what he can do. Played in Clyne a few times and hit the woodwork.

Normally, I would have defended Benteke because the lad was isolated. But after the **** I took from a lot of people over the past week, I will slate him. He was awful - wasn;t involved in the play at all and was physically bullied by two **** defenders. For all those who slated Mario, I expect the same criticism to now be aimed at Benteke who has actually done little in his first 4 games at the club.

 

Actually I lie - I haven't stopped laughing. Rodgers is a joke.

£300m spent, 3 years, no real football philosophy, same mistakes.

Fan base divided like never before.

£32.5m spent on a striker who thrives on crosses and we don't cross (I think he have crossed the least this season).

 

wonder if we would still have same defence issues if we had kept Agger and Coates instead of having Skrtel and Lovren, maybe Kelly as well(although injury with him the main issue)

 

Yes - because Rodgers is clueless in that respect. It would be marginally better though.

Biggest issue we have is personnel - Skrtel and Lovren are dogsh*t and Lucas is no DM. Change these 3 players and there will be improvement.

The fact he picks Lovren over Sakho just shows how stupid the man is. What is even funnier are the fans trying to justify it lol .

 

Jimmy is enjoying it more than the mancs

 

Too right - I took a lot of **** from a few on this board over the past week.

But in all seriousness - why is everyone angry? Surely we are used to this shower of sh*t by now? Same fundamental mistakes week in week out. People creaming themselves over the first 3 games but refused to see the warning signs because they refuse to see beyond the result and disregard performance.

 

Question for those who were at the game - what was Milner like as captain? Did he rally the troops before the game? Did he motivate the players when we fell 2-0 down?

 

You deserved it!

You've done the same this morning... no credit at all to west ham for applying a very simple tactic to benteke, you just slaughter him, no credit to their system which was designed to counter and be tight.

Just on your pet hates as per.


So by all means enjoy.

 

LOL we lost 3-0 at home to West Ham. I repeat - this is West Ham. So yes, you can focus on how good West Ham were but I rather focus on how poor we were.

And as I said, normally, I would have said Benteke was isolated and couldn't do much. But that performance was no different to what Mario had to endure but no one cared about that did they? So I expect the same level of objectivity to be applied.

Funny thing is that our free transfer (Ings) looked more cohesive than Benteke looool

 

In the last 11 matches, we have scored more than 1 goal in just 1 game - 2-1 against QPR.

 

long gone are the matches where we would score 3 or 4 goals a game

 

I feel your pain guys. United rarely look like scoring nowadays. It's turgid stuff!

 

For those who slate people who dare criticise Rodgers, has Rodgers improved or maintained the status quo or worsened the team since he arrived. Let's just put the information on the table and we can draw our own (subjective) conclusions:

Goalkeeper:

Pre Rodgers:, Reina, Jones, Doni.
Now: mignolet Bogdan

Defence

Pre Rodgers: Johnson, Enrique agger aurelio Coates Carragher Skertl Kelly Flanagan Robinson

Now: Lovren, Toure Skrtel Clyne Gomez Enrique sakho Moreno Ilori Flanagan (injured)

Midfield

Pre Rodgers:
Gerrard, Henderson Rodriguez Lucas downing Spearing Shelvey Sterling Adam

Now: Can Couthino Lallana Henderson Milner Firmino Lucas Allen Ibe rossiter

Attack

Pre Rodgers: Suarez Carroll kuyt Bellamy

Now: benteke origi Sturridge Ings Borini

 

Difficult to say, on balance its probably a better squad but a weaker first XI. The pre Rodgers squad had alot of journeymen hangers on, but also had a peak Gerrard and Suarez.
So probably maintained us to where we are (were), no real improvement

 

We have a talented squad. But rodgers picks the wrong players and sets them up incorrectly. The guy is a moron.

 

I would agree that we have more depth in the squad, that is the difference between the first 11 and the rest is not as big. But the reason for this is that the first teamers themselves are not that outstanding: the likes of Gerrard, Suarez, reina, Carragher have not been properly replaced.

The galling thing is that we actually spent a lot of the £300m replacing the likes of Shelvey Adam Downing Carroll with some of our current players. Are they really improvements?

 

Lol we replaced them with more mid table PL dross.

We had Alonso and Mascherano but fans are trying to convince themselves that Lucas, Henderson and Milner are on par.

 

we spent 20 mill on Lovren, necessary? not really, and was/is he better than what we lossed in Agger/Kelly/Coates, even Wisdom is prob no worst.

then there is markovic, another 20 mill spent, why?!!!

squad is better, but trouble is first team is a lot weaker than we should have, and brendan makes the wrong decisions too many times and replaces the wrong players.