Topic: Re: RAWK Round Table FFC 2-3 LFC

[Timbo's Goals]

Some interesting insights and interpretations in there Steve.

The platform of self-belief is certainly apparent and has been for some time. And as you say it's growing game on game. Where it stems from is open to interpretation but I'm sure much of what you're deducing is the case with Rodgers very much the catalyst.

Also let's not forget the simplest and most obvious thing of all. The quality of players. Rodgers now has under his wing a rare assembly of very high quality footballers - particularly in attacking sense. Suarez, Sturridge, Coutinho, Sterling are arguably the four best attacking players both individually and collectively in the league, possibly Europe.

If you take the least acclaimed of that quartet and think of the giant improvement in his game these past few months to the point where defenders find it nigh impossible to dispossess him in one on ones or even two on ones. The balls into him are controlled in an instant and he wriggles one way or the other to lose his marker. Very very impressive. Another half season or so and he will hopefully have integrated into his game at this level the sort of finishing he was displaying effortlessly at the lower junior levels a few years back.

As food for thought, if you go back 45-50 years and think of the United of Best, Law and Charlton and how they carried what was otherwise a decent but nothing special United side to those 5 years of glory. Our quartet are very much up towards that level with a much more capable set of players around them.

Happy days.

 

[Gerrard#1]

Kickoff was 6am over here. Watched the first half live, then I had to leave to catch the bus to school. Followed the updates on my phone until just before the bus pulls up to school my phone updates around the 82min. Coutinho misses a chance. I stop following the match expecting the inevitable result. I get home and check the score optimistically.  I see the result Liverpool 3 Fulham 2 and I go nuts. I watch Gerrard's penalty on youtube and can't believe what I see. The Liverpool of old are back. We're in the title race don't go anywhere. 

What great team spirit to get us back into the match. Gerrard lifted his penalty top corner instead of bottom corner. I guess he tried something different under the pressure? Rodgers has really changed the team. I didn't think we played that bad in the first half and it was Kolo's fault it was level at half time. I don't think Fulham deserved a point we were clearly the better team from what I saw. They look a much better team now than pre-window Fulham so I'm glad we've played them twice. Fulham sat back defensively The one time they weren't deep Sturridge got in behind them off that beautiful Gerrard pass and well you know the rest.

[Timbo's Goals]

I'll still watch it again though just to be sure.

 

Finally watched it again.

What the fuck are the likes of LFCtv's Steve thingio and John Bradley and the Echo's James Pearce on about?

I don't mean to sound patronising in a David Moyesian sense but fuck me do these paid professional pundits actually understand what it is they're watching? Their dismissive, derogatory comments about Wednesday night's performance suggests they haven't a fucking clue. The fact is other than some occasional first half individual defensive shakiness, a brief spell of collective shakiness around the 35th minute and the inevitable occasional misplaced pass on the edge of the crowded white shirt infested Fulham box the performance was quite the opposite of what they were saying - being of a pretty high standard and for the most part very dominant, composed and impressive.

I think as Paul suggested on an earlier page, the majesty of the Arsenal home game performance, its chance creation and clinical goalscoring coupled with the degree to which we closed up shop at the back created an expectation level that has made even the pundits lose sight of the realities of the game about which they're being paid to espouse their 'expertise'.

Fuckin knobheads.

 

[Adamski LFC]

Actually, he probably saw this image:

What on earth are we doing in second on that table with more goals scored and a better goal difference. What gives?

[DanA]

I thought the game was a good example of Rodgers daring to be bold and getting a result because of it. Fulham deserve credit, they have become a strong defensive unit, play compact and were difficult to break down. The risk was there that we'd fall for the same pitfalls Man Utd. That we'd  eat up the space out wide and predictably pepper in crosses.

Instead though we took a different approach. We dominated possession, patiently recycling play, probing at their defence. Even late in the game while needing a goal we did not panic. Yes we still scored off a counter attack (Gerrard's ball) and were again dangerous from set pieces but it was the patient possession play that bore the most fruit. A number of chances created but Coutinho's goal and then the penalty were both fine bits of play from maintaining possession.

[DanA]

What on earth are we doing in second on that table with more goals scored and a better goal difference. What gives?

Alphabetic order

[didi shamone]

Some great reading here. Due to some shitheads breaking into my pad I haven't even seen highlights. This result saved me from having a thoroughly miserable day. Saw the peno mind you. The boy Gerrard doesn't half know how to take one under pressure. Any hows cheers for the reading folks. Do continue.

[Alan_X]

Magic - I love Fulham. I know a lot of folk hate that away, but I absolutely love it.

Indeed, there have been a few good ones in recent years. It was probably up there with Yossi or Maxi games but at the end we weren't singing 'we're going to win the league' or relishing a comprehensive demolition. It felt different to both of those games and the one word that seemed to be applicable was 'massive'. It was so important to build on the Arsenal win and maintain momentum. We knew it and the players knew it. At the end Brendan was on the pitch congratulating everyone of them as they walked off and a few threw their shirts into the crowd (Sissokho threw his undershirt as well for good measure).

I'm not big on detailed tactical analysis, others are far better, but there were a few things that struck me. The first and most obvious is the sheer quality we have going forward and that's combined with composure and strength on the ball. I never had any doubt that we would create chances throughout the game and knew that we had the players to put the chances away. When Kolo scored it didn't feel like a disaster because it was early enough for us to come back. Even when we were at 2-2 in the closing minutes I turned to archie and said we'd get at least three more chances.

It's an observation someone else made but I was looking at their corners and attacks as opportunities rather than threats. We are masters of the counter attack now and whenever a team commits men forward it gives us the space for Coutinho, Sterling, Sturridge and Suarez to weave their magic.

The difficulty for us is when a team sits back and presses. Fulham gave us more problems than Arsenal in that respect and I got the feeling that they thought they might sit on the one goal lead and see it out. But we have too many options (no reliance on getting to the byline and swinging in crosses) and there was nothing they could do about the ball to Sturridge or the quality of the finish. Eight in eight for Sturridge and they still say Rooney is England's best striker? Bizarre.

Someone earlier in the thread suggested that Fulham had the measure of Sterling but I can't agree with that. He was superb again - his strength on the ball is fantastic for a player of his stature - and he regularly had three of their defenders on him allowing space for others. That's going to be the case with every team we play now. They can take their choice on who they focus on but if you double up on any of the SASAS then one of the others will have that extra bit of freedom. And they don't need a lot of space to do the extraordinary.

Really pleased that Coutinho scored - hopefully that will be him getting his eye in and he'll start contributing with a few. He does enough already but a few goals would be the icing on the cake. On the other hand, gutted that Luis didn't get the goal he deserved from another great performance. Still we've got Norwich coming up so I'm sure he'll be back up there soon.

The downside was of course at the back where we had a bit of a shocker to say the least. Kolo looks tired and not happy playing on the left. He was never completely comfortable after the own goal but he did a job and it says a lot about the squad mentality that the rest of the team kept giving him the ball and we kept our shape. In a team without spirit and togetherness, Kolo would have been bypassed and we'd have been playing with ten. As it was we were playing with maybe ten and a half... but then our front players are worth double... and the whole thing breaks down.

And I thought Sissokho was also a bit off and it surprised me that Fulham's attacks mostly came down our right against Flanagan and Skrtel. That's probably because of the limited quality they have but it would be a concern to face a team that could pressurise the left side of our defence.

And there there's the penalty. We were on them in those final minutes and felt ridiculously relaxed that we would get the winner. Some pundits said that the defender shouldn't have given the penalty away but with Sturridge in the form he's in it's bound to fuck with their heads.

Stonewall penalty and who else would you want to take a penalty under pressure than our captain?...

Absolute fucking bedlam!

A massive win. I can't see us winning the title - I think it's Chelsea's to lose - and there's no guarantee of fourth, but we have made huge strides this season under Brendan. He has won nothing yet (we expect our managers to win trophies) and he has made some mistakes in tactics and team selection this year, but he's shown an ability to adapt and learn from those mistakes.

Roll on Sunday and a chance to move towards another trophy then back to the league and a series of winnable games. Winnable but each one will be as 'massive' as Fulham the other night.

[Alan_X]

What on earth are we doing in second on that table with more goals scored and a better goal difference. What gives?

Their goal difference is +24 and ours is +21 against those teams.

[Alan_X]

.

Spot on. Excellent post.

[exiledinyorkshire]

Their goal difference is +24 and ours is +21 against those teams.

no its not its + 20 and ours is + 21. unless I have lost it.

[John C]

Despite a couple of defensive errors and I honestly think short spells of unimaginative play it was a fantastic win illustrating a manager and a team that aren't prepared to except they can't score any more until the floodlights in the ground are turned off.

I admit having some concerns at 1-0 and even 1-1 but our attack minded mentality is  inexorable. Only a few weeks after questioning why Sterling doesn't take his man on he's now showing me his middle finger as he moves relentlessly and swiftly past players. The whole attacking combination of our front four must be the envy Europe with Sturridge doing well to ensure we had an opportunity to snatch a winner.

In the pub, as Stevie stepped up, the nervous energy exploded in to a bedlam of bodies, beer and boisterous behaviour - passers-by must have thought we'd won a cup.

I'd love an insight in to the timing and rationale of his subs, but kudos to our manager Mr Brendan Rodgers for ensuring his team are equipped to go away and secure those vital wins. Marvellous times.

[robgomm]

To me this was one of our more disjointed performances yet we managed a great result. Felt a little like beating West Ham 3-2 away. The biggest issue was taking a team who have been playing on the counter and switching tactics to keep the ball, which really underlined the importance of having a back four comfortable on the ball. Often they were in possession too far away from the forwards, making it difficult to build attacks. That's why, I think, a Villas Boas team will be compact and move up and down the pitch as a unit (though they don't have the freedom of movement within that that our team has). Defensively too that back four is much better sitting towards it's own area.

In our forward play, Sterling often ended up in central positions with Sturridge on the right which at times I thought was unhelpful and Suarez was for some spells not near enough to the penalty area, where he works best of all. In some ways most disappointing of all given the recent commitment to a holding role, we saw Gerrard depart that role and just bomb forward, turning into the box-to-box player he was in his prime but is struggling to be now. Henderson ended up anchoring when we could have used his good forward runs.

That said, the determination was huge and the attitude, led by Gerrard and Suarez, was spot on. Despite my criticisms, I thought we showed that even on what I'd consider to be a lesser display we have so much quality we can score several times. It was a difficult pitch, a difficult opponent who didn't want to come forward unless on the break (not sure who Richardson's responsibilty was, probably nobody's in particular, but he wasn't best dealt with) and we stayed true to our passing. It paid off in the end. Good shout of Texeira, who showed rather admirable confidence coming on in a difficult situation.

Great result, some doubts about the performance that will melt away when we have a back four of fit players. But let's not take from this back four than when we've played on the counter they've stood up brilliantly and been hard to score against.

[Alan_X]

no its not its + 20 and ours is + 21. unless I have lost it.

Sorry - massive brain fart there

[markedasred]

That's why, I think, a Villas Boas team will be compact and move up and down the pitch as a unit (though they don't have the freedom of movement within that that our team has).

Curious why the Villas Boas reference?

[robgomm]

Curious why the Villas Boas reference?

No agenda, just an easy comparison. I think our back four need to be closer to our front three when we're in possession.

[goalrushatgoodison]

A hard won three points in atrocious conditions. Not as much akin to a windy night in Stoke as a football match set against the backdrop of a hurricane.

For me it's hard to quantify the performance. On the one hand we managed to win a match in which we gifted the opposition the lead on two occaisions - this suggests an improving mentality and not a little ability. On the other hand our second and third goals were somewhat fortuitous - neither were of the it was coming variety.

The big positive for me performance wise was the 15 minutes before Fulham's second goal. We were excellent and if we had have scored in that period it was coming would have definitely been heard from the respective commentators.

The fact that we weren't as impressive after the concession was disappointing but understandable. We are a young team in every sense of the word and with this youth comes a natural propensity to be more affected by the slings and arrows.

Ultimately, this is one of those occaisions where the result being more important then the performance doesn't sound at all cliched. This was not just about the three points. Its a game that may be looked back on as a coming of age. Coming out on the right sides of games like these is huge for the confidence and belief of a team at our stage of development.

[Yorkykopite]

Sorry - massive brain fart there

Too late Alan. The building has been built. 

[Pepe Silvia]

One of my criticisms of Gerrard's recent performances in this holding role has been that he has dropped too far back between the centre halves too often, which has meant both Coutinho and Henderson have had to drop deeper to get the ball and our midfield play hasn't flowed as well as it could do. I'm not sure if this is down to design or to Gerrard not fully understanding the role but either way it's meant we've struggled to get more control of the middle to attacking third of games. With Henderson usually half covering either Suarez or Sturridge out wide, it's placed more onus on Coutinho to be individually creative. Against Everton and Arsenal it suited him because both teams came onto us and he could pick them off with neat dribbles and through balls to our pacey attackers. Against West Brom and Fulham it's been different with him being confined to a limited area of the pitch, having too many bodies infront to play through balls, struggling to match up against bigger midfield opponents, and not really working off anyone else either.

But at half time against Fulham, Rodgers switched things. He changed the shape of the team from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1, which gave both Gerrard and Coutinho more freedom - Gerrard to drive forward if he wanted knowing Henderson would hold his position, and Coutinho to drift across both sides of the pitch instead of being limited to just the right side. It helped us have better depth to our attacks as the likes of Coutinho and Sturridge were finding pockets of space between their midfield and defence more often with more targets to hit around them. I thought Gerrard actually dominated periods of that second half through his athleticism alone, which makes me think if shackling him for a certain amount of time before then releasing him might not be a useful tactic to employ in some of the games to come. Henderson continued his disciplined role from the first half but would make the odd dash into the box too. Overall, I thought it was an excellent performance, particularly in that second half which owed some to Rodgers' tactical tweaking at half time.

[PhaseOfPlay]

One of my criticisms of Gerrard's recent performances in this holding role has been that he has dropped too far back between the centre halves too often, which has meant both Coutinho and Henderson have had to drop deeper to get the ball and our midfield play hasn't flowed as well as it could do. I'm not sure if this is down to design or to Gerrard not fully understanding the role but either way it's meant we've struggled to get more control of the middle to attacking third of games. With Henderson usually half covering either Suarez or Sturridge out wide, it's placed more onus on Coutinho to be individually creative. Against Everton and Arsenal it suited him because both teams came onto us and he could pick them off with neat dribbles and through balls to our pacey attackers. Against West Brom and Fulham it's been different with him being confined to a limited area of the pitch, having too many bodies infront to play through balls, struggling to match up against bigger midfield opponents, and not really working off anyone else either.

But at half time against Fulham, Rodgers switched things. He changed the shape of the team from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1, which gave both Gerrard and Coutinho more freedom - Gerrard to drive forward if he wanted knowing Henderson would hold his position, and Coutinho to drift across both sides of the pitch instead of being limited to just the right side. It helped us have better depth to our attacks as the likes of Coutinho and Sturridge were finding pockets of space between their midfield and defence more often with more targets to hit around them. I thought Gerrard actually dominated periods of that second half through his athleticism alone, which makes me think if shackling him for a certain amount of time before then releasing him might not be a useful tactic to employ in some of the games to come. Henderson continued his disciplined role from the first half but would make the odd dash into the box too. Overall, I thought it was an excellent performance, particularly in that second half which owed some to Rodgers' tactical tweaking at half time.

He's playing the role exactly how Rodgers wants him to play it

[rickardinho1]

I distinctly remember watching Chelsea play a few seasons back at Stoke, and with the score tied 0-0 in the dying minutes Malouda scored after a nice passing move to win the game. What I remember most was that Chelsea deservedly got a lot of credit from commentators and pundits a like for their approach of keeping composed and passing the ball up until the final minutes instead of just lumping it into the box like so many teams regularly do, and at the time I wished we could have the same approach and composure as well.

We've often been in games heading for a draw late on under Brendan, but this game was the first time I can really say that I saw us remain calm in possession while recycling the ball to find an opening while not rushing the play at all. Putting on Teixeira was an astute move by Brendan as he's clearly very good in possession and would have signaled an intent to keep hold of the ball and remain calm.

I think that the way this game finished will be a really positive example for Brendan to use to emphasize that the approach he wants will indeed reap results  even in the dying embers of the game. As such I think late winners could become a more frequent occurence at Anfield from now on (well strictly speaking not at Anfield itself, where we will be battering teams well before the final whistle )

[googhead]

I distinctly remember watching Chelsea play a few seasons back at Stoke, and with the score tied 0-0 in the dying minutes Malouda scored after a nice passing move to win the game. What I remember most was that Chelsea deservedly got a lot of credit from commentators and pundits a like for their approach of keeping composed and passing the ball up until the final minutes instead of just lumping it into the box like so many teams regularly do, and at the time I wished we could have the same approach and composure as well.

We've often been in games heading for a draw late on under Brendan, but this game was the first time I can really say that I saw us remain calm in possession while recycling the ball to find an opening while not rushing the play at all. Putting on Teixeira was an astute move by Brendan as he's clearly very good in possession and would have signaled an intent to keep hold of the ball and remain calm.

I think that the way this game finished will be a really positive example for Brendan to use to emphasize that the approach he wants will indeed reap results  even in the dying embers of the game. As such I think late winners could become a more frequent occurence at Anfield from now on (well strictly speaking not at Anfield itself, where we will be battering teams well before the final whistle )

yep, especially when we can contrast that to say moyes at stoke or at ot against swansea they simply lost all shape, he threw on hernandez , welbeck, rvp, rooney and mata at the same time and then they preceeded to continually put straight crosses in for 15+ mins.suprise, suprise they get "unlucky".Someone should tell moyes you make your own luck in football, you can view the late penalty as a isolated mistake or you can consider the possiblity that we created the error by continuing to play our brand of football as opposed to complete mayhem and just hoping for stoke or swansea to give up.

[BabuYagu]

Finally watched it again.

What the fuck are the likes of LFCtv's Steve thingio and John Bradley and the Echo's James Pearce on about?

I don't mean to sound patronising in a David Moyesian sense but fuck me do these paid professional pundits actually understand what it is they're watching? Their dismissive, derogatory comments about Wednesday night's performance suggests they haven't a fucking clue. The fact is other than some occasional first half individual defensive shakiness, a brief spell of collective shakiness around the 35th minute and the inevitable occasional misplaced pass on the edge of the crowded white shirt infested Fulham box the performance was quite the opposite of what they were saying - being of a pretty high standard and for the most part very dominant, composed and impressive.

I think as Paul suggested on an earlier page, the majesty of the Arsenal home game performance, its chance creation and clinical goalscoring coupled with the degree to which we closed up shop at the back created an expectation level that has made even the pundits lose sight of the realities of the game about which they're being paid to espouse their 'expertise'.

Fuckin knobheads.

 

An explanation (not saying this is right or wrong) is that some people go into the game with an expectation of us v Spurs/Everton/Arsenal. What we get is a shite game in comparison. Doesn't mean we were shite.... it's just the bar has been set so high that anything other than a crushing machine performance is shite.

Also having lived in Brazil for about 6 years now, it has often been the case that I have waited 2 or 3 days to watch a game I knew the result of. You watch it back not understanding why people said we played badly or certain players were criticised. Another thing I noticed is, when I started contributing to the Round Tables as a scribe instead of taking part in emotathon that the post-match thread usually is, I would download and rewatch the game before commenting before the threads go live and often my opinions completely shifted in doing so. People focus so much on individual moments in the heat of a game that they loose the overall view.

I remember at the start of the season with our series of 1-0, in particular against United, being nervous as fuck, wanting them to push up instead of sitting deep and inviting pressure etc. It's a natural reaction to thinking your team might conceed. You watch that game back now though, knowing United won't score and really it was a fucking doddle. We could have played 180 minutes and they still wouldn´t have scored.

Likewise the recent Norwich game where Suárez realised the laws of physics were broken for one night only and he could shoot from anywhere and score. We were actually pretty average that first half. Suárez was ridiculous but everyone around him was a bit meh.

Emotions change your perception in the moment. Every chance for the opposition feels a certain goal, every minute under pressure feels like 20. Re-watching, calmly with the knowledge of how things will pan out, is the best way to properly record the match to memory. The Spurs 5-0 up until the Paulinho red card is another example. They had lots of great chances to score. Hmmmm, did they, or did they have 1. 2 if you a very generous. Both of those were at best 1/2 chances too. You rewatch that Spurs game and you will see they were absolutely no threat at all.

[Halcyon Lissome]

Also having lived in Brazil for about 6 years now, it has often been the case that I have waited 2 or 3 days to watch a game I knew the result of. You watch it back not understanding why people said we played badly or certain players were criticised. Another thing I noticed is, when I started contributing to the Round Tables as a scribe instead of taking part in emotathon that the post-match thread usually is, I would download and rewatch the game before commenting before the threads go live and often my opinions completely shifted in doing so. People focus so much on individual moments in the heat of a game that they loose the overall view.

It's precisely why judging a performance merely by your first impression of it is pretty flawed. If our game occurred in a different context; let's say we went ahead 3-0 and conceded 2 late goals by blunders; it would have a different complexion than what we had coming back from behind.

Overall, though, it was a completely dominant performance when you sit down and look at it again or the figures.

[rickardinho1]

An explanation (not saying this is right or wrong) is that some people go into the game with an expectation of us v Spurs/Everton/Arsenal. What we get is a shite game in comparison. Doesn't mean we were shite.... it's just the bar has been set so high that anything other than a crushing machine performance is shite.

Also having lived in Brazil for about 6 years now, it has often been the case that I have waited 2 or 3 days to watch a game I knew the result of. You watch it back not understanding why people said we played badly or certain players were criticised. Another thing I noticed is, when I started contributing to the Round Tables as a scribe instead of taking part in emotathon that the post-match thread usually is, I would download and rewatch the game before commenting before the threads go live and often my opinions completely shifted in doing so. People focus so much on individual moments in the heat of a game that they loose the overall view.

I remember at the start of the season with our series of 1-0, in particular against United, being nervous as fuck, wanting them to push up instead of sitting deep and inviting pressure etc. It's a natural reaction to thinking your team might conceed. You watch that game back now though, knowing United won't score and really it was a fucking doddle. We could have played 180 minutes and they still wouldn´t have scored.

Likewise the recent Norwich game where Suárez realised the laws of physics were broken for one night only and he could shoot from anywhere and score. We were actually pretty average that first half. Suárez was ridiculous but everyone around him was a bit meh.

Emotions change your perception in the moment. Every chance for the opposition feels a certain goal, every minute under pressure feels like 20. Re-watching, calmly with the knowledge of how things will pan out, is the best way to properly record the match to memory. The Spurs 5-0 up until the Paulinho red card is another example. They had lots of great chances to score. Hmmmm, did they, or did they have 1. 2 if you a very generous. Both of those were at best 1/2 chances too. You rewatch that Spurs game and you will see they were absolutely no threat at all.

Completely agree, the benefit of foresight when re-watching games often shows a different game. Most recently, when I was re-watching the first 25 mins of the Arsenal game I wouldn't say we were that amazing in the first 10 minutes, in fact the game was pretty even and slow paced. We just happened to score twice from 2 set-pieces to completely throw Arsenal off-guard. The next 5-10 mins though were great though, we pressed the ball really really well and they hardly got past the halfway line in possession without us dispossessing them immediately.

In the Fulham game, the thing I noticed most about the last 25 minutes after re-watching them was that we actually played very calmly in possession and created some good openings to score from. In the heat of the game itself at 2-2 with time running down I was stressing that things weren't going fast enough and we weren't creating enough, simply because the desperation of scoring was skewing my perception of what was really happening.

I will usually post in the "emotithon" post match thread due to the overwhelming delight of victory and the will to write whatever i'm thinking about, but will usually re-watch certain parts of the game and of course the goals and will always notice things that i hadn't noticed during the game, which i'll write about in the round table in a more sensible manner. One example of this was my dissection of the corner Skrtel scored from against Arsenal, in particular meticulous the runs in the box were to open up space for Skrtel to run into and head the ball. Another is how defensively solid Cissokho looked and how many tackles he made and crosses he blocked. During the game I often feel that he is sloppy and out of position, but that's just skewed because I'm frustrated that he doesn't have any creativity or final ball in the oppositions half.

PS. Nice that you live in Brazil, I'm actually born in Sao Paulo myself next to the Morumbi stadium (and as such Sao Paulo fc is a team ive supported since a young boy... you can imagine how fun the world club championship final in '05 was to watch!)

[Fluke]

Has anyone noticed coutinho seems to have a habit of shooting straight at the keeper? It seems his shots from open play are either straight at the keeper or off target. Even his goal here was straight at the keeper if it wasn't for the deflection.

I'm hoping its a confidence thing, and he will back himself to go either side going forward.

Or maybe I'm seeing something that isn't there...

[farawayred]

Does anyone know off the top of their head when was the last time when we won a game in overtime? It seems as if it was eons ago...

[Fluke]

Does anyone know off the top of their head when was the last time when we won a game in overtime? It seems as if it was eons ago...

Did it plenty in 09... Nothing really jumps to mind for me since then...

[John C]

He's playing the role exactly how Rodgers wants him to play it

And apart from WBA away its a neat set-up. At WBA Sturridge & Suarez were too far apart for large spells of the game and needed someone like SG to get up behind them and help 'force it'. I said after that game he was needlessly behind Skrtel & Toure when we needed his impetus, but otherwise his positioning there has been great to watch.

[robgomm]

I've no problem with Gerrard dropping in as the full backs push up and we've options across the field. I've more issue with rather than Henderson being the one entrusted to burst forward it was Gerrard, with Henderson sitting deep. To Jordan's credit though, he completed 93% of his passes and showed his versatility.

[Homo rubrum]

He got on the ball a fair bit and became an extra needle threading midfield to attack.

Reading back through to keep my pre-game nerves in check, and I just wanted to say that it's these little bits of quality in writing that make the round tables more than just good analysis. Like Luis's flick around Reither, it doesn't accomplish more than something simpler, but it makes the game worth watching.