Topic: Liverpool 0-0 Stoke: Full time....

[Lenstar]

Games at Anfield, not enough threat, lots of possession, come away with a draw. Rinse and repeat.

Was going to right simular

[plasterered]

Hate saying this but we have too many of what you might call "reliable" palyers = dirk, downing, adam, hendo (although he is still fresh) no creativity going into the final third/box

we will never break a stoke down with "reliable" or score loads against anyone.

that said I thought Adam had a better game today with some good passing and few "bull in china shop" barges 

[zip]

1) Kuyt is past it. He's as bad as Carroll. Why did he start as our only striker? It's actually hard to call him a striker to be honest...
2) The Carroll substitution made no sense. Why take of Downing when you want crosses to be put in the box for Carroll?
3) Why did we start with 5 at the back at home?
4) Why leave all of the 5 defenders on the pitch and take off Downing and Henderson to replace them with Bellamy and Carroll?
5) No creativity at all. Like headless chickens in the final third.

The tactics cost us another 2 points.

[Upinsmoke]

I'm calm, composed.

Had a right twatish rant lined up but it didnt do my frustration justice.  Just want to express my dissapointment in everyone on the field today and kenny Dalglish, for not doing a good enough job today.

I am slightly worried about the future right now, sure we dont have the cancers no more, but FSG have backed Kenny and allowed him to assemble a team that should be competing better than that today. The problem now is that FSG have to further back Kenny because they cant or wont do the opposite, which is get rid of him.

Unfortunately if Hodgson did what kenny did today, if hodgson spent 20 million on downing and 35 on carroll, backed a player in the press and then didnt play him he wouldnt be here anymore, at the very least, not wanted here.

[JLStretton]

Shocking tactics I must say.

Shame to see Kuyt play so badly nowadays but I think it's time he moved on, either Carroll needs to start more or we might as well sell him.

[stevensr123]

What should Kenny have done with the players available?

Players available? was it not his decision to buy carrol, downing etc?

Simple fact is , he got it wrong in every possible way today, 5 defenders against stoke? at home? with a striker that is out of form and hasn't scored a goal in god knows long, and he plays that striker in pure isolation? Truly bizarre.

I have a headache now after watching that utter shite. Hats off to skrtel, johnson and Enrique , they were the only ones who had the balls to try something different. oh and adam because his long ranged passing was fuckin' superb to watch.

[sonnyred]

Sad thing was absolutely no urgency at all, until we get to the last 5 mins. I don't think the team has the desire to get into the top four after that performance, they should be trying to blaze on all cylinders from the first whistle to try and get an early goal against these sides. One clear cut chance in the whole match (Kuyt header) and that came from a deflected cross. Stoke parked the bus and we had no answers. Hugely disappointed.

[XabiArt]

It was so flat. I understand why we chose the formation, and to be honest, before the game I thought we would score 2 or 3 goals quite easily. But you could see we had nothing in the box, one of the centre backs needed to come off for Bellamy, Jordan was doing well. Also, where was Glen playing? How many times was Skrtel on the right wing and I was looking for the overlap, only to realise that Glen was near central midfield.

And I'm sorry, I love Dirk for his endeavour, but I dont want to see him play for us again, it sounds harsh, but we need to be, something has got to happen so we can kick on and get this draws turned into wins.

Where was Maxi? Why didnt Shelvey come on? What did Downing contribute? AGAIN.

Oh and Howard Webb is a first class c*nt who clearly had no intention of even considering a worthy penalty appeal.

Sorry Kenny, you have to take the blame for this one. Most of the other home draws we at least seemed unlucky not to score, we could be playing now and nothing wouldve changed.

[buzzing]

How can Carroll start on the bench he should be playing everything game till Luis returns to see if he can show why we paid all that money for him.

Becayuse we have shown faith, but he's been shocking. To the poitn where his lack of goals is costing us. Kuyt didn't do much today, but at least his passes attempt to bring others into play. Carroll, unfortunatley isn't doing that

[Discipline]

This is the first game all season we havn't created enough chances. Calm the fuck down. Bad game, move on.

[Wembley 78]

What should Kenny have done with the players available?

You can not be serious,can you?

If you still haven't realised yet you're talking about his sumer signings,they all played today...never mind them.

Before the game you could have seen from the moon that Stoke were going to park the bus.The boys should have practiced some tricks to cut their defence but...I felt they were a bit tired.

Roll on to the Bolton.

[astowell1]

If we don't sign some genuine quality I worry about us.

[Rococo]

I know people will moan about the formation, but for me that wasn't the main problem. the formation allowed Johnson and Enrique to get into attacking positions for much of the match, and Gerrard and Adam's distribution from the centre was decent, but we lacked any quality in the attacking positions to make the most of both those things. we needed better movement, control and invention from our attacking players. It didn't happen. Of the games we've played so far witout Suarez, this is the one where we've missed him the most..

Completely agree with that mate.  The formation actually made sense in theory - get round the back of them with our full backs as Stoke prefer to defend through the middle.

Your point about Suarez is right but I don't think that even when he's playing he should carry the whole burden of getting past the defenders.

Just think we need another option in the last third

[PowderKeg]

I find it suprising people are blaming stoke for parking the bus...

what exactly did we do against City?

Why wouldn't they park the bus? A point for them away to Liverpool is massive result!

They got what they played for.

Ironically, so did we.

The only difference is, we think we're a top 4 side now...and they know they're not.

[adlad]

I don't understand why most of our attacks were aerial against a team like Stoke. Our best chance of scoring is always going to involve getting behind their back line with through balls on the ground, but this never happened. Stevie had the right idea and attempted these, but I feel we didn't have enough movement up front to capitalise on this (Suarez would have been perfect today).

On another day we might have got a penalty and Kuyt would have buried his header, but I don't think we did enough to deserve a win. Disappointing but unsurprising result when analysing the performance in hindsight.

[-Q-]

Does Carroll have toes? Cause seriously he falls over too much.

Not sure being hauled to the ground counts as falling over.

[Lo Pan]

I think it's clear we need to make changes in management,

Yep, sack the manager and start all over again, we'll get far like that. I mean, Kenny's had all of a year, that's surely enough. Sounds like a great idea.

[xavidub]

Copy and paste just about any thread from numerous home games.

Well, minus the chances to score.

It's even hard to get too upset about this any more since it's so utterly predictable. And we could have Gerd Muller up front but until our midfield come out of their persistent vegetative state it won't make a lot of difference.

[gypsymoth]

Piss poor, and Kenny's tactics and formation were to blame today. Stop trying to make out he's blameless every time we drop points just because of who he is.

The formation was dog shit for playing a side who were parking the bus, especially at Anfield, and he didn't once try to change it during the game. You can't beat a 5 or 6 man defence with one fucking player up there on his own.

He got it wrong, it backfired tremendously, and that's that. The double standards from some, based solely on who the manager is, are cringeworthy.

WORD

[rafathegaffa]

Blinkers off: what is the point of Adam, Gerrard and especially Henderson in midfield if they NEVER get into the box or get ahead of the ball??

For me, Downing and Henderson represent the most frightening waste of money for the linear, tentative, predictable brand of conservative midtable football they bring to the side. Don'y get me wrong - Andy Carroll was overpriced by about £25M and that was a knee-jerk from the club losing Torres on the last day of the transfer window... but we had time to think about those other two and we moved on Meirelles to accommodate Henderson. It feels like we're playing with 8 men.

We looked like Everton today.

[mat106]

The team selection today held little hope for a positive result, even the commentators were baffled. Five at the back for Stoke? As for Kuyt and Carroll, it has to be said my apologies, but my Gran who passed on 11 years ago has more chance of scoring ( bless her)!!! I can't help but feel Carling Cup is the best we can hope for this year. Forget top 4 finish. The only other joy I wish for is Chelsea to not make top 4. So so bitterly disappointing!

[UntouchableLuis]

Oh how we miss Suarez. Fuck me, we miss him.

[arnaldo]

Kenny has been great for us since taking over, but he has to take responsibility for that. 3 central defenders marking one man up front, why?

[Brooksey1973]

Always try and find a positive after a game but that was toothless.  Glen Johnson was the most dangerous going forward??

2 points lost on Chelsea and now Newcastle creeping up again.  Where was Bellamy?  Why no Maxi? and Carra in midfield was a strange one. 

Roll on Bolton.

[thejbs]

Where is the faith in youth we thought we'd see? Why not try out Sterling etc?

Let that stoke defense kick one of our brightest young hopes to bits??? No thanks.

It was the same old story.  I get the 5 man defense as it was really designed to be a 3 man defense with Enrique and Johnson free to attack (and they certainly had a go).  We were slow to get into the box.  No chances were created.  And as frustrating as Carroll was at times he was given little to work with.

From about 20mins into the game I'd have bet a lung on it ending as 0-0.  We didn't look like scoring.  My only hope was for a set piece or penalty and that's not the way it should be for Liverpool FC against Stoke at Anfield.

[Roslagen]

Not even angry. Just drained and sad. This can't go on. This can't go on.

We don't need any new players?

HARE KRISHNA!

[firing squad]

We'll fucking batter someone soon.

we battered Oldham, their fault they're not in the PL. 

Now we're back to being boring and ineffective.

[rowan_d]

Why exactly were Carragher andCoates in the team? I can't think of a single justification, and didn't see anything to vindicate it during the match

[schmev]

Badly lacking quality in our front 6..bar Gerrard.

Need a Silva-like AM to make telling passes, because our final balls are fucking woeful.

Need more than that as Silva has 'finishers' to pass to.

[rafathegaffa83]

I thought Downing and Henderson and poor but they both also made their own half chances today. Hardly worth writing home about, but in the context of the game I thought they were infinitely better than Kuyt.

Kuyt has been a really good player for us but I think he's done myself. The ball goes into him and if - and it's by no means guarenteed to happen - he gets it under control, it comes straight back out.

Our lack of movement into the box is fucking horrendous at times, but by the same token you can't throw 3 or 4 players in the box when you've got to give Kuyt the option to go back to the midfield every time the ball is played into him. It was horrible to watch.

Agree on all those points. Henderson and Downing should have stayed on. The former is one of the few players we have who looks to move forward into space once the ball is released.

[buzzing]

The 5 defenders thing isn't a bad thing - We used that last time against them and it worked well (we won 2-0)

BUT

After the game pattern was set we should have changed it much earlier

[Danny_]

The formation and tactics were very poor today...looks like will drop to seventh tomorrow 5 points from fourth which is starting to look very unlikely.

How can Carroll start on the bench he should be playing everything game till Luis returns to see if he can show why we paid all that money for him.

Another poor game from Downing we could probably find a winger from a sunday pub team which offers more...worst signing this season in the whole league.

I thought the formation could have worked.  I mean, what formation would you have gone with?  Stoke are great at defending high balls - when Carroll came on, he was ineffective.  I don't think the result would have been different if we had gone with another formation.

[Zelnaga]

Piss poor, and Kenny's tactics and formation were to blame today. Stop trying to make out he's blameless every time we drop points just because of who he is.

The formation was dog shit for playing a side who were parking the bus, especially at Anfield, and he didn't once try to change it during the game. You can't beat a 5 or 6 man defence with one fucking player up there on his own.

He got it wrong, it backfired tremendously, and that's that. The double standards from some, based solely on who the manager is, are cringeworthy.

[rob1408]

Well done Stoke, doing everything they can to earn a goalless draw right from kick off, anti-football at it's best. Also a special mention to Mr Webb, with all the dispute against refs at least he remains consistent... consistently biased & consistent at being an utter twat, congrats.

& to fit in yes I'll berate the team a little too... we can't score against open teams though, so what chance have we got against shite like Stoke?

Oh fuck off with that.  Stoke came to get a point and deserved one, what are they supposed to do play into our hands ?  Pullis sets his team out to play to their strengths, he's doing a superb job for them.

It's up to us to counter-act his tactics, we were incapable of doing that.

[RedRaj]

We did have about 65% of the possession, and Johnson and Enrique were playing as attacking wing-backs rather than defenders. I understand that people are frustrated, but in no way did Stoke dictate our play when they spent the majority of the game defending.

Unfortunately we are incapable of breaking teams down, and we have been for years, but that doesn't mean we were 'scared' of Stoke or playing defensively.

We haven't had that much problem in creating chances this season (we lead the league table on shots) but 5 defenders against a defensive team like Stoke is acting scared by the King.  Poor, poor tactics.

[PhlegmJehst]

shows how much we do rely on Luis really, his guile and skill in the final third is exactly what we missed, the point is though with all the money spent   after the sale of Torres are we really any better up top?? dont think so myself.......

[Exiled109er]

Sack Rafa and sell Lucas or we'll never win the league.

[buzzing]

Not even angry. Just drained and sad. This can't go on. This can't go on.

We don't need any new players?

HARE KRISHNA!

ahahaha that made me lol

[Syntexity]

Dont know what annoyed me the most, that we finished with 3 CB, or that we startet with it. Cant believe that the people in charge want us to play like that at home. Embarrassed is one word. Pis*ed off another.

Had we had a manager who's not KD alot of people would be screaming for the axe. This is Liverpool Football Club, Stoke is a game where 3 ponts are expected every season without even breaking a sweat.

I dont believe there is any club in the world who is as bad at finding players as we are. £35 Mill for Carroll!! £20 Mill for Downing!!

Last 15 minutes of the game, a song was going through my head: "We're shit and we know it! "

Writing this season off, not a chance this team is gonna get anywhere near that CL spot, that would actually require players with quality to perform every game. We dont have that and we are not going to get it.

Gonna go find some booze!

[Didi_ram]

We'll fucking batter someone soon.

We've been saying that since August the 13th.