Topic: Everton 0 - 0 Liverpool Full time meh

[GreatEx]

I wasn't really after him coming out and saying we were crap. You can be measured without being overly critical or highlighting flaws. But he's pushing the limits of credibility saying we were "outstanding" and it doesn't really say much for our aspirations, imo.

exactly,  just say they were brave, having worked so hard over the past few weeks, and solid. That would be somewhat consistent with the evidence.

[lionel_messias]

I just hope when it comes to the end of the season it isn't lack of goals on our epitaph.

[PhaseOfPlay]

Allen was in no way dire today, but bloody hell, he does get thrown about like a rag doll against physical teams. He gets bullied so badly sometimes that you'd expect someone to call the Department of Health on his behalf.

[jillcwhomever]

Unbelievable that Coutinho was taken off instead of Gerrard.  Other than the bicycle kick he was completely anonymous on the ball.  In fact, all 10 of the rest of the players had made better contributions up until the bicycle.  And Coutinho didn't really look that tired....a minute before he had made an excellent through ball to Sterling.

Taking out Coutinho also eliminated the dangerous threat of the Coutinho-Sturridge partnership.  Gerrard later had a nice flick to Lambert but really, he was of minimal threat, and his continued lion share of minutes is worrying and will effect our chances at 4th place.  He should be used like Giggs was, and like Lampard is currently utilized by City.

So it was mad to take off a play who had been in the wrong end of two maybe three bad tackles, and had twisted his knee at one point? I would much rather we'd have taken him off and given him ample time to recover for the next game against Spurs which is far more important.

[Solomon Grundy]

Because its fucking true!

Dreamers need to wake the fuck up.

Every win its like 'only 4 points behind now'. Even today people are like 'If we beat spurs and Southampton then we'll be back in it' even though if that did happen we'd be behind both of them still!

We blew our chances of top 4 with our home draw to Leicester. Everything from now on is just set up for disappointment. Its too big a gap with too many teams to overtake. You either get it or you don't.

Yes I  know we'll still be behind Southampton and Spurs even if we beat them. I'm not a bloody simpleton.

You and others talk as if the likes of Southampton Spurs and Arsenal won't slip up, wont take points off each other from now until the end of the season. They will. That's why 4 points with 14 games to play is nothing IF we can get our act together.

People didn't think Swansea would beat Southampton last week but, they did. And results like that will continue to happen to happen from now until the end of the season. Hopefully more to them then us.

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

I'm sure no one will agree with me but I wished we had Mario on the bench to provide some unpredictability in the final minutes.

I agree. He should be on the pitch or on the bench every game (if fit). Can only hope Rodgers is trying to do what he successfully did with Mignolet.

[riismeister]

Most boring derby in years.

[lindylou100]

I wasn't really after him coming out and saying we were crap. You can be measured without being overly critical or highlighting flaws. But he's pushing the limits of credibility saying we were "outstanding" and it doesn't really say much for our aspirations, imo.

Perhaps but imo he doesn't do measured, it's either overwhelmingly positive or it needlessly over critical of certain individuals. Given that situation it's best to accept overwhelmingly positive.

[Jake]

Allen's weak.

He made a hundred sideways little passes in his first few games, so some people think he "keeps it ticking over".

[Number 7]

Because its fucking true!

Dreamers need to wake the fuck up.

Every win its like 'only 4 points behind now'. Even today people are like 'If we beat spurs and Southampton then we'll be back in it' even though if that did happen we'd be behind both of them still!

We blew our chances of top 4 with our home draw to Leicester. Everything from now on is just set up for disappointment. Its too big a gap with too many teams to overtake. You either get it or you don't.

A lot of the top 6 teams still need to play each other though. Everyone will drop points. Arsenal dropped 3 points today. Southampton lost last week. You make it sound like we're 8-10 points behind.

We dropped 2 points today, but if you think about it we rarely lose now, in fact we don't even concede goals. We haven't conceded a goal in 4 PL games. The team is different now. We're capable of closing that gap. There is a lot of football to be played yet. There will be a lot of 6-pointers.

Win against Spurs and a few of the other teams lose and you'd feel better again. We can say it because it's a possibility it will happen so why refrain from saying it.

[Always_A_Red]

You'd think we have lost reading some of these comments

You don't get it mate. A draw is as good as a loss in terms of top 4. They were 14th in the league. The are fucking shite. We needed to win. You either understand or you don't. At the end of the season you will.

[redprodigal]

I agree that Allen wasn't dire, but he didn't even come near to what Lucas does. Lucas is completely aware of his surrounding players and can turn and fire a pass quickly and move into space.
Allen seemed slow to turn, looked to pass back or sideways nearly every time and rolled a lot of passes instead of pinging them.

The fact that he can't get in the side in place of a player Brendan has been trying to get rid of says it all. Anyway, the worse thing about tonight is that our next 3 games are very difficult and tonight they were there for the taking and we didn't take the chance to go into these games on a high. Still expect good things the coming month though.

[jillcwhomever]

You don't get it mate. A draw is as good as a loss in terms of top 4. They were 14th in the league. The are fucking shite. We needed to win. You either understand or you don't. At the end of the season you will.

Great so we'll fly the white flag will that make you happy?

[WelshMike]

This is just post-game noise.

So many positives over the past month.

I don't dispute that, but it'll be too little too late. Also it's unclear as to whether this 3-4-3 is a long-term strategy or not because it has a few of our players out of position currently.

I notice that you didn't comment on the substitutions or Rodgers' in-game management, or our weak mentality, or the indisputable fact that we're yet to beat a top team this season?

As for the tiredness explanation given by a few, it might well be correct but if so it's extremely worrying. We shouldn't have needed a full team and two games to beat Bolton, but we did, and arguably it's just cost us in the league. We need to see more of Allen, Lovren, Johnson, Manquillo, Lallana (I know he was unavailable today but we've paid £25m for him to play every other game!) and so on. Something's gotta give, because we have another big game in three days and we need to either rotate or prioritise a competition.

[nevoo36]

You don't get it mate. A draw is as good as a loss in terms of top 4. They were 14th in the league. The are fucking shite. We needed to win. You either understand or you don't. At the end of the season you will.

We get it, you think top 4 is gone. Give it a fucking rest.

[L666KOP]

Martinez sent them out in the second half with a completely different gameplan, and I think it threw us.

First half they wanted to play, second half, they had no interest whatsoever. Had they come out in the 2nd like they did the 1st I think we'd have had enough, but instead of a 90 minute game we played 2 45 minute ones.

[Twelfth Man]

Hate to say it, but I don't think Gerrard warrants starting a match based on current form. He has been poor since the end of last season. Poor WC and been off the pace all season so far.

[Pistolero]

Unbelievable that Coutinho was taken off instead of Gerrard.  Other than the bicycle kick he was completely anonymous on the ball.  In fact, all 10 of the rest of the players had made better contributions up until the bicycle.  And Coutinho didn't really look that tired....a minute before he had made an excellent through ball to Sterling.

Taking out Coutinho also eliminated the dangerous threat of the Coutinho-Sturridge partnership.  Gerrard later had a nice flick to Lambert but really, he was of minimal threat, and his continued lion share of minutes is worrying and will effect our chances at 4th place.  He should be used like Giggs was, and like Lampard is currently utilized by City.

one-eyed fuckin nonsense

[The G in Gerrard]

You don't get it mate. A draw is as good as a loss in terms of top 4. They were 14th in the league. The are fucking shite. We needed to win. You either understand or you don't. At the end of the season you will.

Its a point gained actually. Win Tuesday and things look a lot better. Sure Everton were rubbish but like I said a lot rubbish being posted.

[Fordy]

You have to take almost EVERYTHING a manager says post-match with a large dose of salt, because they don't want to say anything stupid in the emotion of the post-game comedown, but a comment like that would suggest to me that we DID actually play not to lose, more than we played to win. When we play not to lose, we get performances like that. When we play to win, we get performances like Chelsea in the semi final games recently. Rodgers just doesn't have the "feel" for containment and playing for the result. It will never be his forte.

Fully agree with this.

He is more hooked on performances. Not s born winner and that's why I doubt we will win anything under him.

Football is a results business. Forget performances it's the results that count.

[harryc]

Sadly the best worked chance of the game fell to moreno in the second half but fuck knows what he was trying to do with his legs.  Just hit it with your right.

He does not have one.

[Coolie High]

Yes I  know we'll still be behind Southampton and Spurs even if we beat them. I'm not a bloody simpleton.

You and others talk as if the likes of Southampton Spurs and Arsenal won't slip up, wont take points off each other from now until the end of the season. They will. That's why 4 points with 14 games to play is nothing IF we can get our act together.

People didn't think Swansea would beat Southampton last week but, they did. And results like that will continue to happen to happen from now until the end of the season. Hopefully more to them then us.

Its best just ignoring these type of posts, the posters who post them never change.

We've been in great form the last 6 weeks, with our best striker coming back, yet he can't see any way for us to crack top 4.

With only 4 points behind, and the rest of the season still to play.

Its a bit bemusing.

Since we've moved to 3 at the back, we've looked solid and the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea have failed to contain us only thing lacking was a clinical striker which we now have back, one average game and we are back to being average in some peoples eyes.

[Jake]

We need to see more of Allen, Lovren, Johnson

No we fucking don't Mike

[swoopy]

We had the better chances, game was poor, need to be more clinical. Fourth place is fading ...

[JackWard33]

Ahh it's Allen's fault. Brilliant

Can't be Lovren's fault or Balotelli's fault

(I mean we hardly conceeded a shot or a chance all game and he came on as an unplanned sub) ... So so clearly Allen's fault

[Floydy]

Watching the game there they all seemed sluggish and knackered, you could tell it with their passing and pressing  or lack of pressing.  Sterling had  no zip about him and generally slowed our attacks down.

[KiNki]

Only problem is that all season we've never look close to getting into the top 4.

All that matters is the maths now. 

Until its not mathematically possible.  Is when its not possible. 

[SamAteTheRedAcid]

You don't get it mate. A draw is as good as a loss in terms of top 4. They were 14th in the league. The are fucking shite. We needed to win. You either understand or you don't. At the end of the season you will.

Top 4 isn't a trophy.

I'd say go and support Arsenal, as top 4 is a trophy for them.

But then they won the FA cup last year the spoilsports. But if we win it this year, and/or the Europa, I won't care too much if we do fall short of top 4 to be honest.

[El Lobo]

Wouldn't mind seeing Markovic on the left with Ibe on the right. Moreno again providing naff all.

[redprodigal]

one-eyed fuckin nonsense

He's right.

[PhaseOfPlay]

You don't get it mate. A draw is as good as a loss in terms of top 4. They were 14th in the league. The are fucking shite. We needed to win. You either understand or you don't. At the end of the season you will.

We were 8 points behind leaders Arsenal at this exact juncture last season.

How did that work out?

[Pistolero]

He's right.

Two eyed fuckin nonsense...

[SamAteTheRedAcid]

So so clearly Allen's fault
[/quote]

Must be someone's FAULT, there must be BLAME and much WRINGING of hands...otherwise...erm...oh wait, fuck all will happen because of whinging gits on the internet.

[gwalk]

That was fucking horrific to be honest....

Also Sakho had a bit of a mare, need to turn it on against spurs and make a drive towards 4th

[Always_A_Red]

Great so we'll fly the white flag will that make you happy?

I've already said that the white flag isn't out. There's 14 games left so there is always a chance but people saying 'we'll still get top 4' or 'A draw isn't a bad result' are wrong imo.

Its a point gained actually. Win Tuesday and things look a lot better. Sure Everton were rubbish but like I said a lot rubbish being posted.

Sorry mate but how is it a point gained? Did you expect a loss or something?

[jillcwhomever]

Watching the game there they all seemed sluggish and knackered, you could tell it with their passing and pressing  or lack of pressing.  Sterling had  no zip about him and generally slowed our attacks down.

Sterling looked quite leggy all game in truth. It has been our bad luck that we have played three really physical sides in our last three games. It takes its out of the players with Everton's approach to the game I suspect we'll have a few knocks among the squad.

[007.lankyguy]

Wouldn't mind seeing Markovic on the left with Ibe on the right. Moreno again providing naff all.

Markovic would offer more from the left than he does from the right (though neither really suit him). Allows him to cut in, play a pass, have a shot if it's there, link with Coutinho, who likes to move to the left anyway, in which case you can get a nice interchange going.

[Solomon Grundy]

Its best just ignoring these type of posts, the posters who post them never change.

We've been in great form the last 6 weeks, with our best striker coming back, yet he can't see any way for us to crack top 4.

With only 4 points behind, and the rest of the season still to play.

Its a bit bemusing.

Since we've moved to 3 at the back, we've looked solid and the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea have failed to contain us only thing lacking was a clinical striker which we now have back, one average game and we are back to being average in some peoples eyes.

Your right mate. I shouldn't bite so much. I'll leave them to their pessimism. I'm out of here.

[Fitzy.]

Fully agree with this.

He is more hooked on performances. Not s born winner and that's why I doubt we will win anything under him.

Football is a results business. Forget performances it's the results that count.

We were a mistake away from winning the frickin league.

The reason winning stuff is so difficult these days is because football is distorted by money to a huge degree. Getting to simi finals and within a whisker of the league suggests Rodgers can win things.

[lindylou100]

You think Gerrard had played well up until that point?  What's the big deal to substitute him at 60-70 minutes?  Only saw one bicycle kick.  He is not contributing much to our attack, yet he is neither substituted, nor starting from the bench (when he'd be more likely to give a quality 20-30 minutes against a tired defense)

You can't substitute him during his last merseyside derby even if he isn't contributing much.