They were penalties and a red card by the book. Both were technically fouls in the penalty area- but they were the kind that most referees look the other way 9 times out of 10 and give the defender the benefit of the doubt... By the book- a few minutes later- Kelly got fouled in the penalty area for an equally minor infraction as that which Skrtel gave... there was no penalty (as there shouldn't have been- unless being consistently overly harsh). Suarez was fouled a couple times in the first half during a goal scoring opportunity and no card was given to WBA... yet how many soft cards did we get that game? Agger and Skrtel both fouled the opposition in the penalty area- both fouls were minor and would normally be overlooked- by it wasn't technically a wrong call. Agger was last man- so if it was a foul there was no choice but for the ref to send him off. I've no problem with a ref being strict by the book... as always it's the consistency issue. Nonetheless, the excuse doesn't really hold... we wern't good enough in the second half... and you need to be good enough to deal with the days you get the short straw of the refereeing decisions if you want to be successful. We were not good enough and we must improve. Still just the first game though.
Yea this. Get a grip ffs - it's one game! Or if we beat City at home is everything then all rosy!? Strap yourselves in and enjoy the season !
So we lost the first game and did not perform well with Lucas clearly not match fit and Gerrard having a bad day, plus a ref who was a clear homer. But it is the first game. We have a tough start but if at the end of September we are in the top 6 and no more than 6 points off top I would be happy, especially as we have a new system/manager and may have at least one more new signing.................hopefully someone with the scoring ability of Arthur Rowley. I met him when he was in his early seventies a grumpy old sod but scored 434 goals in 619 appearances still an English league record. He also found time to play cricket for Shropshire.
Brendan made a couple of glaring errors, but at least he made them early and he will learn from them. Unlike AVB who still hasn't learnt from the cock-ups he made at Chelsea and Arsene Whinger is still making the same mistakes he's made in the last 6-7 years. To be honest, I was worried about the away form, we could have a reverse here. The home form may be excellent and the away form may be average to below average. The signs weren't good against Gomel away, but we were lucky to get the win.
Why should you be beating them ? It's as if you are just expecting Liverpool to beat teams just because you are Liverpool. This isn't the 80's anymore.
I am worried. I have been following the team since the days of Lawlwler, smith, lawerence and I have to say I am really worried now. This is not the Liverpool way, we do not expect to start a season like this. I am sickened and I will give it until October, it needs to be a lot better than this. No dissrespect to west brom but we are liverpool, liverpool means a degree of pride. Where was our fuking pride today? Not happy at all
Did you wake up from a coma recently? Don't meant to be rude but either you used examples that were overly dramatic to make quite a small point that everyone is making or you were, in fact, in a coma; woke up & you're genuinely shocked at the change in Liverpool play from 20-25 yrs ago Just asking like....
we should have kept Dalglish, i guess what the Mancunians say is true as we were all deluded in thinking that Brendan Rogers would have employed barca tactics to our ordinary Liverpool side. YNWA
Absolutely but to be fair wba looked rubbish too until they had a man advantage... Still point remains... can't read anything from first game... no one is at their best.
I think liverpool fans have to lower their expectations a hell of a lot this season. you cant expect things to change at an instant, Its going to take at least a season for rodgers to get liverpool to play the rodgers way. If you finish mid table then thats a good start and anything higher is a bonus.....I thought joe allen fitted in very well in his first game so thats a positive....rome was not built in a day so keep calm and be patient and eventually rodgers will get it right....
"Ref wasn't technically wrong but seemed much harsher on us..." I dunno. Despite hansen's craven support of Dowd last night (though he WAS right over Clarke being a great tactician). Let's analyse the two penalties: the first was comfortably outside the box, but was technically a sending-off. We had one exactly the same on Adam last season at Fulham and the ref gave a free kick outside the box and booked the Fulham player! The second - NO INTENT! The worst it was an uncontrolled tackle because he didn't know where the attacker was, but every game you see a defender 'accidentally' back into a player in the box, often smashing a flailing arm into someone behind them too and nothing is given. But, big decisions as they were, what epitomised Dowd for me was the Lucas and Carroll bookings. Lucas did precisely what a WBA player did in the first half and got away with, Olsen was at LEAST as at fault as carroll, but Dowd played to the home crowd. I'd say he's a homer, but when the fat t@rd comes to Anfield he makes a point of showing he won't be intimidated by the Kop. All of which is, rant aside, irrelevant. We did nothing in that first half that we didn't under kenny, and we collapsed in the second half like we did under Roy. It was wrong to get rid of kenny too early, it will be criminal to get rid of Brendan for at least three seasons. Long haul everyone, and for those who are saying "We're Liverpool, we should..." remember we were hours from administration two years ago. What we did in the 70's and 80's doesn't count now. Well, except in the mind of tw@ts like Dowd trying to get a name for themselves.
