Topic: Liverpool 1 - 1 Sunderland, (Suarez, Larsson) - Post Match

[aoaaron]

I loved Adam's run at the end with his cross across goal. That really impressed me. Shows hes got the stuff to at times grab the game by the scruff of its neck and try to provide some kind of magic.

Sadly Carroll lacked the anticipation/foresight to be anywhere near the ball and was immobile at the time.

Enrique was really really solid.

[Spanish Fan]

Dissapointed with what I saw. Liverpool were far too defensive and a midfield of Lucas, Adam and Henderson it is not going to get it done at the highest level. The defense sat too deep.

The bright spots were Suarez and Downing. Don't know why Suarez was subbed or Mireilles did not start.

Flanagan looks too inexperienced.

[BazC]

Hopefully the reason Aquilani was nowhere near the starting 11 today is because we were playing a team like Sunderland. And hopefully he's in next week and helping Lucas and Adam dismantle Arsenal.

The passing quality in the first was ok, just needed some more tempo and discipline. In the second it was non-existent- every other ball was pumped long, and the rest were just inaccurate. The latter performance definitely needs to be stamped out, whereas the first half showed promise.

It's to be expected I guess. A completely overhauled team which is still trying to work itself out. As long as it doesn't take too long for that to happen, we'll be fine.

Onwards!

[Jellies]

So why aren't you blaming Kenny then eh? Stop hiding behind having a go at a very young lad who had a tough game and say what you mean.

This. Poor performance, but he's a kid being thrown out there. However much we love Kenny, it was on him.

[Suareznumber7]

Such a disappointing second half.  Thought we were very poor in possession and we looked dead on our feet.  Was really wondering why Flanagan played over Kelly before the match and my god did he have a poor second half.  Gave the ball away time and again and was at fault for the goal.

On the plus side, we looked really good in the first half.  Once we gel as a unit and get going we are going to be something to watch.

[Discipline]

I'm not sure we bottled it, but your comment about composure and the lack of discipline in the second half meant that I had to quote you! We had effectively seven new faces in that starting line up. We should have won at a canter really, but the pieces are in place to ensure we don't throw games like that away through the season.

And Dowd made two big early decisions, and he got both of them wrong.

We could hardly pass the ball around. We went back to playing Hodge-ball. 

Sure, we had new signings, and the chemistry is not there yet, but smacking the ball forward to Andy's head is NOT the answer.

[Juan Loco]

This match certainly lived up to my fears.

Henderson, Downing, Adam, looking very average.

Because sometimes there aren't the words.

[TheGhost]

I dont understand why Kelly and Kuyt didn't start. And we're still too one-dimensional without Luis

[Mouseboy11]

Not sure why Kelly wasn't chosen.

[sowellred]

37 more starts in the league for Enrique then.

[Nonex]

Considering the outlay, who thinks Caroll will turn out to be the biggest flop in Liverpool history? I for one do.  Never a Liverpool player.

I just don't know what to say to that...

[Breitner]

[rednich85]

Or Suarez scores the pen, its not a problem.

What the fuck are you on about?

Suarez didn't score the pen. We still conceded with a schoolboy error.

It is a problem. We look like we'll concede in every game.

[Gerrard[LFC]]

Disappointing result but I liked the new look Liverpool. very confident of our chances this season 

really? I am the opposite, we looked good in first half then in the second we looked different, whether it was tactic or players being tired we looked very poor which is a worry in the long run, I am hoping it was just match fitness and tiredness that made us play that way. Flanno shouldnt have started this match, we have Kelly who has much more experience and skills, I thought he did ok in the first half but looked really poor after the goal. Has to toughen up better then that as we are always going to concede goals. 2 points dropped and 4 or 5 yellow picked up, very poor start I am afraid.

[Libertine]

new season, old problems.

one positive is that this may reign in some ridiculous expectations. we've got a LOOOOOOONG way to go still and this summers business certainly was no magic wand.

again though, if there's a proper reason why aquilani has no role in this time, it's one i cannot fathom.

[Ambrosia]

What the fuck? They were two of our better performers today.

Up your standards cos if they were good today we'll be finishing midtable.

[-Daws-]

We need a new scapegoat. Lucas and Kuyt have done their shifts, who is it going to be this season?

My bet is Adam. Or Carra.

[ewok-red]

That's it. We're Shit, I knew we were.  Will never win anything with this lot - I'm going back to the knitting :-)

[freedom]

Why are people over reacting?

[C@mry]

I am very disappointed.

Apologize to HeIsBigAndRed. He told me that there were no signs for pass and move and I couldn´t believe it. We are looking more than Tottenham now than anything else, just without the class.

Without Suarez and Lucas, who both couldn´t even walk anymore in the second half as he had no holiday and no preseason there is really not much than kick and rush. We couldn´t replace them but that was clear before the game.

On our new signings I feel not much has changed so far to convince me that Adam and Carroll are anything else thanaverage players. Downing needs to play the ball on the ground, he and Henderson will be alright.

I couldn´t really figure out what Adam was doing other than hitting the long ball and crossing. The invisible man with very little work in defense and proper movement or passing.

But I forgot, it´s not about pass and move anymore... obviously.

I am very dissapointed. It was Sunderland at home.

Agree...

[MassDriver]

Yeah , blame it all on Flanagan while most of the side was terrible in the second half.

No control in the midfield at all , Lucas was the only one who seemed to actually.  Too many hopeful punts and aimless crosses towards Carrol. Why not play into his feet and use his ability on the ball as opposed to lumping up to him all the time.

Cannot read too much into the result though. Only the first game with many new signings still getting used to the change in style. We also have the likes of Gerrard , Johnson and Skrtel injured. I am sure we'll rectify our mistakes in the match.

[Need_a_bevvy]

Enrique was great considering he's been here for 2 days. Superb performance

I agree about Enrique.  One of the positives to take home from this game.  Hopefully we will get to see his offensive capabilities as the season goes on.

[shelovesyou]

First of all lets give Sunderland some credit for closing us down well in the second half, their goal was well taken but a massive error leaving him in that much space, Flanagan will get hung out to dry on that but he is a young lad he will make mistakes so we either accept that or we kick him back into the reserves!
I can only think Kelly wasnt well or something as he didnt get the nod, first half most things working well,second half nothing working well, was it lack of fitness ?

It is the first game this can happen!

In the end we should not look for too many scapegoats (although many will) we should put this behind us and move onto the next game!

Remember "the League is a marathon and not a sprint" as some genius once said!

Absafuckingloutely mate.

Calm down.

Bolton are top of the league FFS!

We are 3rd.

[CallumLFC]

Dissapointed with what I saw. Liverpool were far too defensive and a midfield of Lucas, Adam and Henderson it is not going to get it done at the highest level. The defense sat too deep.

The bright spots were Suarez and Downing. Don't know why Suarez was subbed or Mireilles did not start.

Flanagan looks too inexperienced.

Suarez was knackered.

[PIPA23]

we needed creativityaquilani....

[bretc]

We played too deep and allowed Sunderland to play - whatever happened to the closing down high up the pitch deployed by Rafa? It was effective and should be retained. Carra & Agger lost most of the aerial duels and were outplayed by the 2 strikers. Massive improvement needed in our defensive setup. We didn't manage to control the midfield and we were never in control of the match or the tempo. Charlie Adam is not Alonso and never will be Alonso! In summary, we didn't really play as a team, we were flat and lack creativity. Kenny & Clarke need to work things out asap as the next match is against Arsenal.

I'm not trying to panic but we certainly need to improve!

[Crackerjack Sam]

Flanno poor. Should noy have been picked. Was suprised to see Henderson in team.  Dirk did more in the short time he was on than Henderson.

Lucas strangely had a poor game too.

Positeves - Adam, Downing


Carroll better on the deck than I thought

Yeah Lucas was absent in the 2nd, agree with Downing and Adam good show from both. Flanno should've have done better but the lad is still learning. Dirk would've put that pen away.

[Snoopy29]

Why are people over reacting?

3-0 liverpool.... .  7-0 liverpool

carra
agger
carrol

loool, that's why!!

[Mizerooskie]

I didn't see anything wrong with Carroll's performance. I don't know where that's coming from.

I'm sure if you went back and tracked the match film, you'd find that he dominated in the air.  Took his goal well (and it was a goal, no reason for it to be disallowed), and generally was excellent in his link-up play.

I realize, that on FIFA, when you've got Zlatan up top, it's easy enough to hold up every ball and dribble through the defence for a goal, but that's not reality.

[aoaaron]

This. Poor performance, but he's a kid being thrown out there. However much we love Kenny, it was on him.

QFE. As my first pose in the thread said at the start: "KENNY GOT IT WRONG".

It would be different if flanno was a 25yo first teamer but hes still a young guy who has his future and development in Kenny's hands. Kenny had options and chose all the wrong ones today apart from starting Suarez.

[shafticus]

FFS! 

Henderson looks pathetic. What a terrible waste of money.

lolol whatever you say man.

poor flanno had a rough time in the second half.  carroll played fairly well.  hopefully downing stays on the left mostly from now on.  also dirk looked lively and enrique looked good and henderson did as well; his play was understated but efficient

[Butcher Knife Roberto]

So I see we've got a new scapegoat in Flannagan then have we.

I actually thought he was great first half, just that he had the appearance of someone who knew he should have been closer to Larsson when he scored and let it get the better of him. I can see why Kenny kept him on to try and build his confidence back up, but he certainly wasn't the reason we were shite in the second half. We'd been on the slide for a good 10 minutes before the equaliser.

I just hope the lad learns from the game and understands that he wasn't the reason our passing game was shot to pieces 2nd half, there were other culprits there...

[kelevra]

Our fitness levels were shocking. What do they do during pre-season? Still a weeks worth of training should help and a sharper Lucas and Suarez will obviously help even more. Yet again worried though that without Suarez we are lacking that cutting edge and because of this i still think we need another forward.

[Zelnaga]

Calm down lads, its the first game of the season ffs. We ran out of puff in the second half but the first half showed what we have to look forward to this season.

Run out of puff at the start of the second half ... not the end. The bloody start. Like i said, the way we started 2nd half was inexcusable, after our first half performance. Its like we completely collapsed and another team was brought out.

[ewok-red]

My god, now nobody's allowed to have a pop at Flanagan either.

It's the first game of the season and in theory we are 'supporters'

[Yorkykopite]

I don't think he can be scapegoated but he was poor today Pheeny. He was at fault for the equaliser because of his positioning.

After that, his confidence was shoot and he just got progressively worse as the game went on.

Hope it doesn't have any long term confidence issue for the lad because he looked bright in the first half

The problem originated on the other side. As soon as they got the throw-in our midfield went too deep. They stayed deep as well and we ended up with three men marking the same player. All three then made the same the futile move to close down the lad who put in the cross. It was disgraceful defending.

[Snail]

Some poor decisions in the game but really, we only have ourselves to blame for not getting the three points.

Not really sure why Flanagan was started ahead of Kelly, but I hope the lad doesn't feel too disheartened. Just a lack of experience showing at times.

On the plus side, Enrique was impressive, as was Downing.

Onwards and upwards!

[hoonin]

This match certainly lived up to my fears.

Henderson, Downing, Adam, looking very average. Carragher looking like the relic he is, Kenny's tactics and choice of players, all poor. Hoof after hoof in the second half, no composure or brains. Also much to reliant on Suarez.

And Dowd is a fat fuck who lost us the game, how ever poor we were. Hope Kenny lays into him.

You are utterly clueless at the best of times, but you've taken it to an Olympic level with that nonsense.

[Alex Raisbeck]

We missed a penalty,the Referee bottled out of an obvious sending off,we had a goal disallowed,there were four new players starting and we hit the crossbar-the end is nigh! Bring back Hodgson!!

[firing squad]

Enrique, Downing and Adam impressed me.

Suarez, Carroll, and to a point Lucas and Henderson disappointed me.

What happened at half time?!

how the fuck did Suarez disappoint you?? The man earned a pen and scored a goal. Yes,he missed a pen but it was him who earned it in the first place.