Remember the rules, take a breath and look at all aspects of the game good and bad. Any wums should be ignored and posts will be deleted but it's Saturday night so be patient I'm not sitting on here all night. My positive from the game is Coutinho, if he'd been fit and playing his range would have been better and we may have grabbed a goal. His vision and creativity is brilliant, hopefully we'll have a run of games with Suarez, Sturridge and Coutinho in the side and that can only be a good thing. It's clear that there are aspects of the team that need improving but we're doing well and hopefully this is just a small blip in what could be a very good season. Heads up lads. Finally well done to Arsenal they were better on the day and seem to have a good squad of players that may well challenge for the title.
Lacked the killer ball today, we looked better when Coutinho came on but you could see he was rusty. With everything taken in to account, it wasn't a terrible performance. Sometimes you just have to take your hat off and say the other team were the better team. Arsenal were brilliant, but I'm not going to get all depressed about it, it's a tricky away game of the list and we have a home fixture against a struggling Fulham to bounce back with.
I think that if today's performance proves anything, it's that we shouldn't use 3-5-2 against the top sides unless Glen Johnson is available. Flanno and Cissokho did see a fair bit of the ball in wide areas going forward, but didn't do much with it. Midfield had an off day. It happens. We didn't seem to press as a team today, which I think was our downfall. Agree that Coutinho was positive. Not at his best but the signs are promising.
Just didn't take our chances. There is a discussion about whether we can afford to accomodate 2 strikers against the bigger teams away from home as with the 3-4-1-2/3-5-2 we get exposed down the flanks and with the 4-4-2 we get overrun in midfield. I think it works quite well against the more defensive teams at home but against top 4 rivals I think we might be better off switching back to a 4-2-3-1 and dropping Sturridge or Suarez. In Hindsight I think something like a back four consisting of Toure, Skrtel, Sakho & Cissokho with Allen, Lucas & Henderson in centre mid would've worked better. Then Moses and Sterling on the wings with Sturridge leading the line.
And that, Ladies and Gentlemen is why we don't mention the T word, and why we shouldn't take for granted our lofty position. This was the first real challenge we have faced this season and we got a slap. Could not get near them, Arsenal were very silky on the ball and had time all day, fair play to them today. I know he has only played a few games but Cissokho has been mediocre, I can't see what he offers. I missed the first 20mins, what was the reason for Flanno playing tonight? Really tough game for him to be thrown into.
two even teams in my opinion where one team took their chances and the other one did'nt. The home crowd gave them that little bit extra to go on and win the game. I enjoyed and will watch again tonight on MOD. you cant win them all..
Not sure why Rodgers felt like playing Flanno today - not a good player and our toughest match of the season whilst having no game time in a long time for the first team. Bizarre. Gerrard was awful. His lack of pace showed. He's brilliant against the poorer teams when he gets lots of the ball and time on it to pass it around, but he was shocking when we need to sit back and defend for long periods. For that matter, our whole midfield just never looked involved and never took control. Tough game, I expected a loss, but our performance wasn't good at all. Fair play to Arsenal, they've got a cracking midfield.
Shouldn't be too surprised that we lost as we have a poor record against arsenal away from home but you have to admit arsenal look a good team and they played well. It also shows where we are lacking. We need a stronger presence in midfield and we rely to much on SAS to score/create goals. When they have an off day then we look ordinary and you can't see from where the goals come from. Not the end of the world, we would all have took this position after 10 games and still think we have a real shot at top 4. Need to keep courthino fit and stop playing 3-5-2. Get Agger back in the team too. At least we lost to ,IMHO,the best team in the league at the moment and not to a bunch of mid table Geordies.
I just want to make one point. 3-5-2 relies heavily on Johnson and Enrique, yes? Well if they're out injured why on earth are we still playing it? With all due respect to Cissikho and Flanagan, they're not wing backs, and the odds were always stacked against them today. Arsenal pushed Gibbs and Sagna forward and both fullback positions got absolutely torn to shreds. We didn't play to our strengths today which is the most disappointing thing for me.
I think that if today's performance proves anything, it's that we shouldn't use 3-5-2 against the top sides unless Glen Johnson is available. Flanno and Cissokho did see a fair bit of the ball in wide areas going forward in the first half, but didn't do much with it. Flanno did a decent job under the circumstances, but 3-5-2 asks a lot of your fullbacks. Too much for a youngster like Flanagan. Midfield had an off day. It happens. We didn't seem to press as a team today, which I think was our downfall. Agree that Coutinho was positive. Not at his best but the signs are promising.
I think BR really has to make some big calls after this game. He has to realize Gerrard can no longer boss the midfield like in his heydays. He's good when he's given space and time on the ball, but when you need to up the tempo he's left wanting. He was really poor today. I think Alberto should be given a run in his position, he looked very composed on his brief appearance so far, and he's a very good passer aswell. Lucas was probably the worst player on the pitch along with Cissokho. He has zero positional sense. Wanders around like a headless chicken. Both goals were down to his mistakes. Didn't mark his player. Ramsey had all the ****ing time to take a shot, while he was nowhere in the scene. And the formation really has to change. Atleast when we play the top sides, You can't always satisfy the forwards. Suarez is our best player, so play him upfront and move Sturidge to the wings. BR has to make the ****ing call, He's got to grow some ****ing balls and drop Gerrard or sub him off early and move one of the forwards out wide.
Lucas was not, he was constantly overrun. he made one or two mistakes but otherwise they flooded his area and all I seen were players coming back to help him when it was too late, Lucas was covering Midfield and also the 18 yard box to help out the defenders, he was way way too overworked today, he had to cover several areas we were lacking in. No way is he to blame for the showing today Horses for courses, before kickoff I feared for 352 and without Enrique and Johnson it was always going to be a disaster in terms of attacking, so much of BRs hope was on getting the ball to Sturridge and Suarez. For me Henderson was very poor, received the ball in a few decent positions and just kicked it right back to whomever passed it to him instead of turning, he had space at times. The missing Enrique who can battle and Johnson left the centre even more exposed and easy to pull out of position. Suarez and Sturridge had to come deeper and deeper as we could not move the ball forward with a passing game. said it 50 times, 352 is ****ing useless if you cant keep the ball against a decent side
Thought we outplayed you for most of the game to be honest. It was only at the end when we took off our creative players that Liverpool saw some of the ball. If we'd have had Walcott and Oxo or Podolski available for this game I think we would have murdered you down the wings. BR is a chancer, Suarez and Sturridge aren't going to get you out of trouble all season long, although Coutinho did look good when he came on tonight.
Better team won, simple as that really. We looked tired and out of ideas in the second but I guess that happens when.chasing shadows. BR didn't keep faith with the 352 which is both worrying (does he trust his own methods?) and encouraging (willing to change if its not working). IMO we were a bit naive to go to The Emirates with two upfront. I've said all week that the 352 system would invite pressure too.
[video]http://s3.amazonaws.com/br-cdn/temp_images/2013/11/02/Ramsey1.gif[/video] Watch Lucas' positioning, he was supposed to be marking Ramsey, what was he doing wandering out wide. His marking was poor for the 1st goal aswell. He did nothing but ball watch. Didn't bother to mark Cazorla, and allowed him all the time to fetch on to the rebound. Especially with Gerrard next to him, we are utterly exposed and left wanting. BR has to address this, that's his damn duty. You can't just write it off as a poor game and then stick with the same routine. This will happen against all the top sides we'd face, and could get worse. -The formation is rubbish -the midfield is awul -and two at the front is definitely not the way to go forward He's got to make the calls.
You did ni midfield and down the sides, a point being made is that we were there for the taking in the way we approached it. Your lads did play well but you also did not effectively cut us up in the final third going by the amount of clear chances. ye deserved the win no doubt and were the better side but even the blindest fan can't ignore that we literally conceded the pitch in how we were set up. Before a ball was kicked I feared for 352 especially with who we had out wide and how Gerrard was positioned, for me this needed a 442 451 and ball retention. We never effectively progressed into your half of the pitch all game because of the numbers in midfield and we totally failed on the flanks when we worked the ball out there. Most if not all of your team performed well but i think we had 3 to 4 ineffective players today.
