Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014 - Mod Note in OP, 1/09

"Just defend, don’t try and be clever, don’t try to play, just defend and don’t let them have the set-piece." - Brendan Rodgers.

Thanks be to f*ck he seems to be coming round to the idea of getting Sakho to defend first and play later. Calling for Mignolet to be more assetive as well which is no bad thing, he's a quiet as a church mouse and just as timid.

I can't talk about the game, was on a stag with Chelsea, United and Arsenal fans, so it was NOT pleasant.

On to tomorrow, the U19s on at 2pm tomorrow at St Helens. Oddly, you have to be born on or after Jan 1st 1996, which means that guys who are still 18 now (but 19 before year end) are not eligible.
But we could put out a very strong side, with the likes of O'Hanlon, Polgar, Sam Hart, Chirivella, Rossiter, Ojo, Brannagan, Kent, Sinclair, Wilson and Canos all eligible.

People are talking about formations like it's the be all and end all. I think there's a few issues here, and quite frankly, formation isn't high up on the list.

1. I hate to say it, but the Suarez factor is clearly impacting here. He was a player who created chances out of nothing and more often than not took them when he had them. With Danny crocked, all of a sudden you look and you wonder where the goals will come from. There will be huge, huge pressure on Mario to deliver in the next few weeks.
2. You also have the fact that a massive chunk of this team just have not played together. You can clearly see that in the attacking third of the pitch where before we had players who anticipated each others movements, now we have players who run down blind alleys or take up the wrong positions.
3. When our backs are against the wall like they have been, Gerrard has really disappointed. I am generally a big supporter of his, but with the rest of the team struggling on Saturday, he was trying to force things far too much. He needed to be settling things down a lot more, playing simple balls and allowing the players in front of him to create the chances rather than trying Hollywood passes.
4. Second season has kicked in. After last year, it was always going to be a struggle to maintain that level. It's going to be Rodgers job to try and gee the players up to try and attain that level, or something close to it again. This is easier said than done.

I really think we're going to need to give Rodgers some time in all this. With all that said though, there's one piece that absolutely has to work and it's something that Rodgers can only influence so much. That piece is Balotelli. If we're to get top 4 then we will need his goals.

Pyjamarama wrote: »

Think it's important to remember that we've been a team that starts seasons slowly under Brendan. It often a takes a while for the new players to grasp his ideas but when they do with the talent in the team it could be really exciting. There's no way we wanted to be jamming in 6 new players this early but injuries kind of forced our hand a bit on that front and it showed.

This, pretty much.


To be fair only Chelsea have hit the ground running. Everyone else has had hiccups, ours was just larger. Namely down to the fact that most of our players came off international duty and 2 of them had their first competitive start.

Hoping for a good result tomorrow night, then at West Ham.

Was disappointed with Markovic especially, that he wasnt prepared to take cissokho on on the outside. We saw against chelsea last year that we dont seem to be able to play through packed defences (even with suarez on the pitch) ... what we needed was the likes of markovic, sterling and the full backs getting round the back..it never really happened, so its disappointing to see we havent really learned from last season in that regard.

Ganymede Glow wrote: »

A professional 2-0 tomorrow night I reckon.

Yep. Gerrard pen from a trip on Sterling, and a Coutinho goal after a 1-2 with Lallana.

Nothing else makes sense.

Ganymede Glow wrote: »

Or FIFA 94. Two footed lunge then do a burner so the ref couldnt book you

Dcully wrote: »

Is tomorrows game broadcast live anywhere?

ITV/UTV are showing it Im sure.

rob316 wrote: »

Aye TV3 picture quality is like something out of the 90's. I have bad memories of watching Europa league games on it, not sure if it was the picture quality or hodge ball was more depressing. :pac:

ITV isn't great either but you can get UTV HD atleast on sky.

Frequency for ITV HD:

11097
V
23000
2/3

**** TV3. Seriously.