Didn't think Cole was quite the awesome player tonight that people are suggesting... I thought he was rather hot and cold, some good play, some poor play. No clue why BR took off Suso either, he'd have linked up fantastically with Suarez. If you're going for a win, why bring off the most creative player on the pitch for another? Oh well, at least we didn't lose.
Its like a game of rock, paper scissors. Liverpool beat Young Boys, Young Boys beat Udinese, Udinese beat Liverpool.
If we lose v Udinese we are defo out. If we beat Udinese we defo thru. If we draw v Udinese we have 2 hope Young Boys dont beat Anzhi
Just back from pub. Cole had easily the best game I've ever seen him play in a 'pool shirt. Suso, Shelvey and Skrtel had great games but, for me, Cole was the MOTM. He set stuff up, had shots, kept possession and scored a goal! If he can build on this performance then he might (rather unbelievably!) be able to rescue his LFC career. I've given the boy some stick but tonight he played very well. Massively overdue, but credit where credit is due. He really needs to play well in the next game, though. The scrutiny starts here. Another game where he goes missing and it's curtains I feel. A few more games like this and he might warrant a reprieve of sorts. As far as the game goes, we should have won, really. Oh, well. We need to now go and beat Udinese, which we've had problems doing previously. COYR! We can do this.
Was there tonight CCC and tbh Cole was giving out orders like a captain and getting stuck in goodstyle(but hes still lightweight)he had a good game though with the assist and goal. Downing again done my head in and BR ****ed up putting Hendo in defence when he had other options. Fair play to YBB and their fantastic support.
Yeah, they had quality support. JC was good tonight. It doesn't excuse his poor prior play but I'll be fascinated to see if he can maintain the intensity he showed tonight -- Shelvey played a through ball and he beat one of their defenders for pace! If I read BR's post match interview correctly, his good performance is moot, and he's not long with this club, but I hope he can play that well for us a few more times before he does go. Downing was his usual frustrating self. He looked good when he put his head down and drove to the line, but frustratingly he passed it back far too much after good initial wing-work.
Cole... As I said above, he played well but one game is one game. Plus it was against Young Boys. Lets see how he does in the next game, and then the one after that, etc. I'm certainly not expecting but I do hope he can produce that kind of performance again.
Fair play to Cole - thought he was very good but I still want him out. He's not worth the money we're paying him and I think he picked up a slight injury as well. Suso, Sahin and Shelvey played well also. Very lazy performance IMO and we missed some big chances. I expected better from our 3 subs - they should have showed more intelligence in the last 10 mins. How can we build confidence and build an atmosphere at Anfield when we struggle to see games through?
The atmosphere is so tense at Anfield and you can sense the fear and pessimism around the ground. The only time we cheered was when he scored or when applauding the Young Boys for their classy tribute to the victims of Hillsboro. I'm afraid to say but I think we have lost the fear factor. Teams play Liverpool and they think they can get 3 points. Reason why teams like Chelsea, City and Utd win so many games is because teams are scared to attack them or if they are leading, they get nervous and then concede late on. Need to keep winning and get a run going - this was a perfect chance to win again but we failed. Same old.
For me a number of things became very clear last night. Obviously, the lack of a striker. This has been discussed so many times that I'll not try and re-start the debate here. Enough to say that it cost us dearly last night. The second is our inability to see a match out. This has little to do with Rodgers and any formation that we play. I believe that it has become systemic within the club. Even going back to the Houllier days we conspired in our own downfall by falling back into a defensive mode for the last 10 and even 15 minutes of a match. Cole played perhaps his best game but I still don't see a long term future for him. I hope Hendo isn't made the whipping-boy as a RB is certainly not his role.
This was really annoying but I don't think it was a case of being too defensive. I think the more experienced players like Suarez and Gerrard should have done better up the pitch and kept the ball. Sterling was also guilty of trying to beat his man rather than keeping the ball. Once we lost the ball, we were extremely slow closing down. There is a lot of work required to be done, especially off the ball. THe midfield looks extremely open and we are vulnerable on the counter.
If you want to break it down then there's 2 problems. Yes we are vulnerable to the counter and that won't improve until we have a fully fit Lucas back. All the time that we have had Gerrard and Carra in the side we have attempted to 'close up shop' - often not successfully. I truly believe that it has become a state of mind.
Not sure about the second point - we were trying to close the game by scoring again which we didn't need to do. Young Boys from the first 10 seconds showed that they could cut through us if we wern't organised and that is what happened in the final few minutes because we were naive in not just slowing things down and keeping the ball.
Cole was better than Assaidi last night. Assaidi was quieter thn usual. I was very impressed with Shelvey in the F9 role. Especially that little back heel. Its good to see we have another striker option if we need it. Henderson done very well to. Deserves a start in the league.
The two goals from Young Boys were pretty impressive. Wish we were that clinical given the lack of clear chances they had.
They took the goals well but we made it too easy. Henderson caught out for the first one (not surprising when he's playing out of position) and the second goal I thought the centre backs could have got out quicker to make a block + I know it was shifting but I thought Reina could have saved it.
