Topic: Hull City 1 - Liverpool 0

[Camarero25]

Going by the pretty much accepted fact that Rodgers has spunked a load of money on Lovren, Lallana, Allen, Borini and was against Sturridge and Sakho, I think the committee probably has a better track record.

Can't we just blame all of them?

Our transfer policy, whatever that actually may be, is fucking embarrassing.

I'd like someone to explain to me how you go from pursuing a forward like Sanchez to a forward like Balotelli? Should we not have had better options lined up? What the fuck is it the committee/ Brendan do to come up with a list of players like that?

It's like going to a restaurant that's out of coke and instead of settling for pepsi I decide to order a pint of piss.

[RK7]

We don`t have bigger issues because it`s natural for your confidence to erode if you can`t score which is accentuated in the last few games not so much since mid-December to mid-March when we at least had 1 goal in us per game if not two. Goals give you confidence, make you play with more freedom to express yourself, it was no coincidence that around SAS almost every single player was playing out of their skin. It`s one thing when they score 52 goals but to go the very opposite end of the spectrum is tough - had we at least one consistent striker to open up games we might have reached our goals this season. Not two , just one freaking striker worthy of our club, but no...

A good manager finds solutions, he doesn't keep pointing out the problems.

We could adapt our game to suit the players we have, we can play on the front foot and attack sides which would be a start, a way of gaining confidence. We seemingly found a short term solution when we played 3 at the back but instead of making that better we ditched it at the first sign of trouble.

Look at our last 3 fixtures and tell me what we did to change what wasn't working? We did nothing, we just seem to accept we haven't got a goalscorer and there isn't any point, We may as well hand the points over and have an extended break now.

[creed111]

Maybe rather than alienating Agger and spending £20m on Lovren, he could have kept him, put that £20m with the £16m for Balotelli and bought Higuain instead....

As I mentioned in my post a page or two ago, it would have been 17.5 and 16. Keeping Agger means no 2.5 from Brondby. But as I posted, combine that 17.5 and 16 into 33.5 and you could have easily gotten Lacazette. Hell we probably could have gotten Lacazette (for us ambitious fans) AND Delph (for the unambitious out there) for the 33.5 [18-20 for Lacazette and 15ish for Delph]

[doles83]

Rodgers talk about needing a striker now pisses me off.

Any half wit could see this situation after luis left and we were left with utter muck
And injury prone ds. As it is we've wasted a season and 16 million...and now he says we need a striker??no shit.....how about we need a reliable spine to our football team? After 3 years in charge I think it's reasonable to expect our manager would at this stage have developed/signed the players to at least form the spine of the side. As it is we have no reliable gk,no reliable/leader cb, no reliable defensive mid and effectively zero strikers 

[alonsoisared]

with Suarez in the side me Uncle Eddie could have got us a top 4 finish....and he's been dead for 10 years

Kenny?

[Alonso_The_Assassin]

lol, no? I would like to see this, though. In recent games Coutinho has looked to the bench and seemed quite bemused as well.

Markovic looked stoned on the bench - spaced out, toque on the top of his head, guzzling an energy drink of some sort. 

With Glen Johnson ahead of him in the pecking order, I'd give him a leave pass for the greenery.

Seriously though, I can't understand how the kid hasn't been given a consistent run in our team, given the way we've been playing. When he does play, he's usually hooked at half time, not to mention being played out of position most the year. Honestly think there's a player in there.

[The Infamous_LFC]

Say for a second that was true then judging on what Rodgers did last season surely we can make some tweaks so that Rodgers stays away from transfers? We wanted a DOF initially maybe then we make that change and just let Rodgers coach?

But then he could get fired based on someone else's decisions. I don't see how that would be productive for us or the manager.

[Le_Mot_Juste]

The Balotelli apologists will tell you that he's simply a scapegoat but that 'simply' isn't the case - the fact of the matter is that this player just isn't what Liverpool FC needed at the time he was signed nor has he been all season. The signing has been an utter, utter disaster. He's scored ONE league goal. ONE.

If you lose a hardworking, mobile striker then a good idea would be to find a hardworking, mobile striker to replace him with. You may not find one of the same level but to instead sign a static, clueless, arm-waving, sulking primadonna is absolutely baffling.

I agree with the sentiment about this so called 'talent' - I haven't seen it. What Balotelli can do well is hit a ball quite hard from the penalty spot - that's your lot. You get no passion and no commitment to the shirt, which explains his happiness to swap shirts when we were losing at Anfield to Real Madrid. You're lucky if he breaks into a jog half the time.

The guy quite clearly does NOT understand the offside rule either, but he is very immature and obviously just CBA paying attention.

If the stories are true and the committee presented Rodgers with a choice of either Balotelli or Eto'o (going into a CL season) then the lot of them should be relieved of their jobs. It's pathetic. Would this happen at United? City? Chelsea? Arsenal?

Think it's Rodgers' and the committee's fault more so than Balotelli himself. Everyone on the fucking planet knew he didn't fit our system whatsoever. In fact, he was the EXACT polar opposite of the player we needed up front...but we bought him anyway...It wasn't his fault... Kid's the most abused person in football...We all know he's essentially wank, as are all of our non sick-note strikers, but the guys that spunked 16 mill on him should be the focus of outrage, in my opinion...Legitimately feel a bit bad for him, in spite of his obvious shiteness.

[macca888]

Rodgers talk about needing a striker now pisses me off.

Any half wit could see this situation after luis left and we were left with utter muck
And injury prone ds. As it is we've wasted a season and 16 million...and now he says we need a striker??no shit.....how about we need a reliable spine to our football team? After 3 years in charge I think it's reasonable to expect our manager would at this stage have developed/signed the players to at least form the spine of the side. As it is we have no reliable gk,no reliable/leader cb, no reliable defensive mid and effectively zero strikers 

Damn fucking right. You saw it and so did Fordy. That's one full wit right there.

[Zoomers]

Kenny?

[creed111]

Rodgers talk about needing a striker now pisses me off.

Any half wit could see this situation after luis left and we were left with utter muck
And injury prone ds. As it is we've wasted a season and 16 million...and now he says we need a striker??no shit.....how about we need a reliable spine to our football team? After 3 years in charge I think it's reasonable to expect our manager would at this stage have developed/signed the players to at least form the spine of the side. As it is we have no reliable gk,no reliable/leader cb, no reliable defensive mid and effectively zero strikers

Whoa, whoa whoa. With the way Mignolet has been playing since that New Years ball dropped he is the ONE player at this club that was previously under heavy fire that deserves none.

Honestly at this stage if all clubs in world football had to start over and do a draft, the only ones I'd want to keep at Liverpool are Simon Mignolet, Martin Skrtel and Phillipe Coutinho

[killer-heels]

But then he could get fired based on someone else's decisions. I don't see how that would be productive for us or the manager.

My point was that we need to get to the root of the cause to why we signed the wrong players. I was responding to a post that suggests that there is evidence that Rodgers has pushed through several of the underperformers.

Regardless, if Rodgers was responsible then we shouldn't let him touch transfers. Same with the committee. Whatever it is we can still make the changes to ensure we don't waste as much money again.

Of course we could still sign shit players. But there is no way we can do the same thing this summer. We are not rich enough to just keep writing off millions on some ideal.

[Marko B]

We don`t have bigger issues because it`s natural for your confidence to erode if you can`t score which is accentuated in the last few games not so much since mid-December to mid-March when we at least had 1 goal in us per game if not two. Goals give you confidence, make you play with more freedom to express yourself, it was no coincidence that around SAS almost every single player was playing out of their skin. It`s one thing when they score 52 goals but to go the very opposite end of the spectrum is tough - had we at least one consistent striker to open up games we might have reached our goals this season. Not two , just one freaking striker worthy of our club, but no...

This is Liverpool mate. A club aspiring to compete on numerous fronts. To do well on numerous fronts despite fatigue, form and injuries getting in the way.

The stikers we have (Sturridge aside) are no worse than strikers that have filled our 2nd/3rd striker positions in recent times (barring Suarez/Sturridge together times) yet we were able to get goals from them then.

Other managers have been able to get goals and meaningful contributions towards goals from these players. Not earth shattering totals but enough goals for them to have been considered useful players.

Why can't we? Other teams and other managers have found ways to use these players, quite frankly it's not good enough that we haven't.

You take the tools at your disposal and make the best of them. It can be done, it has been done, but currently it's hard to see us making any worse use of them.

[rawcusk8]

Meanwhile over in Barcelona.... cant wait for the season to end, unlike many on here i dont want Brendan gone, really believe he will get it right. Mistakes have been made by owners, Ayre and Rodgers,I think they will get it right next season in terms of signings and not leave us so desperately short.

[keyo]

Just a point about the lack of 'goalscorers', whilst I agree that the trio of lambert, balotelli and borini are not good enough, we have singularly failed to get anything out of them this season and tonight was another example

balotelli was poor, little movement, etc but playing with a slow build up does nothing to help that.....stretch the game and get players running beyond him

bring lambert on for balotelli, and what do we do?  start playing narrower....lambert actually is the point of an attack, and so wide play would be much more useful to him

they are not ideal cards to hold, but sometimes - like last season in fact - you have to work out the best way to play your cards.....and we haven't...they have not even played all of the games between them, so given sturridge's long term absence shows that (a) Rodgers has not trusted them at all and (b) we have done nothing on working on getting the best out of players whose task is the most important on the pitch.

we have no leaders, we have shown no purpose tonight, and confidence is low....this season's car crash is made only the more galling as it includes an excellent run of results, imagine if out form had been more even throughout the season

[The Infamous_LFC]

My point was that we need to get to the root of the cause to why we signed the wrong players. I was responding to a post that suggests that there is evidence that Rodgers has pushed through several of the underperformers.

Regardless, if Rodgers was responsible then we shouldn't let him touch transfers. Same with the committee. Whatever it is we can still make the changes to ensure we don't waste as much money again.

Of course we could still sign shit players. But there is no way we can do the same thing this summer. We are not rich enough to just keep writing off millions on some ideal.

Yeah that I agree with. I suspect its the TC but the club needs to sort it out regardless.

[Mumm-Ra]

Whoa, whoa whoa. With the way Mignolet has been playing since that New Years ball dropped he is the ONE player at this club that was previously under heavy fire that deserves none.

Honestly at this stage if all clubs in world football had to start over and do a draft, the only ones I'd want to keep at Liverpool are Simon Mignolet, Martin Skrtel and Phillipe Coutinho

True, Mignolet's comeback was amazing.

[redmark]

It can be done, it has been done but currently it's hard to see us making any worse use of them.

I see no coaching, tactical or man-management issue to explain how Balotelli can not move his foot forward, as the ball comes across a foot off an open goal.

[RK7]

I see no coaching, tactical or man-management issue to explain how Balotelli can not move his foot forward, as the ball comes across a foot off an open goal.

He needs a good shake.

[please, I have my reasons for it but...]

Is it a coincidence that all of our signings are having their worst season to date in their career this season?

[SquirrelandGman]

KLIP KLOP KLIP KLOP

[QC]

Is it a coincidence that all of our signings are having their worst season to date in their career this season?

No goal scorers, mate.

[kkjellquist]

FFS I'm scared to death at the realization Balotelli has four years on his contract!  I want him gone yesterday.

[creed111]

I see no coaching, tactical or man-management issue to explain how Balotelli can not move his foot forward, as the ball comes across a foot off an open goal.

I can. Think about his winner vs Tottenham. It required a further stretch to get his foot on than the one today would have required. The difference is vs Tottenham he had been involved and contributed, albeit indirectly, to the winner in the game prior. Confidence was high, so subconsciously there was a trigger in his synapses of his brain to want to reach Lallana's cross. Today, after being dropped entirely from the team after his productive week in February, he was short on confidence. He was short on synchronization. He didn't have that impulse trigger a muscular reaction.


---Now I'm not defending Balotelli as a whole and never wanted him bought. But you can definitely see how sports psychology can yield concrete, tangible results

[Skidder.]

[Xxavi]

How bad is Mario Balotelli btw?

I keep hearing pundits say things like "there's no doubt he's got the talent". Is there no doubt? Because I've barely seen a shred of this apparently very clear "talent" all fucking season.

All I've seen is a static lump hoofing the ball over the bar from 40 yards out now and again.

Mate, it is a cliche that has been accepted as a fact for a long, long while. Ever since the Italian media declared him as a talent of Messi proportions, the myth has continued. I have watched footie games with commentaries from different countries, and all keep repeating it like zombies. Even if the guy is having a terrible, terrible game.

Having Raiola as your agent, and Italian media as your supporter, it seems, you are guaranteed to be a millionaire footballer even if you are totally crap. But people get fooled, when I was writing here that it is a bad move, there were a lot of people on here saying that I am blind who cannot see a talent And the same people are now calling Balotelli names. It is not his fault that he is crap, but professionals like Rodgers and the transfer committee should know better.

In general though, it is best to avoid Serie A as a footballing market. The presidents are crazy, they manage to sell absolute dross for top dollars. How on earth a limited player like Kolarov could cost 16 million pounds? Or Aquilani? Or Balotelli? I know there is a huge competition in the market, but there are cheap leagues like the Dutch league, and there are expensive leagues like the English, Italian and Portuguese leagues. No matter who you buy, in the latter leagues, they sell it for really really high price.

[Michel]

Oh god I think I saw Emery being mentioned as a possible manager for LFC.I'm out of this thread.

[Zoomers]

Hahhaah that one takes the fucking cake.

[Kopenhagen]

Oh god I think I saw Emery being mentioned as a possible manager for LFC.I'm out of this thread.

Crazy shout, can you imagine winning something?

[Marko B]

I see no coaching, tactical or man-management issue to explain how Balotelli can not move his foot forward, as the ball comes across a foot off an open goal.

Poor, granted.

But as a bigger picture I see no reason why two internationals who scored 27 combined goals last season could only manage 3 this year in this team. Feel free to deduct penalties from those totals as you will, but it's still a total a hell of a lot greater than 3.

[Skidder.]

Hahhaah that one takes the fucking cake.

No less through though... 

[Snail]

Season's been over for me since Villa. Shrug.

[harryc]

Then eventually he goes. I want Rodgers to stay but every manager gets to the end at some point. At the moment we need to worry about beating the shit teams before we worry about the big games.

That's the worry we can't beat the shit teams, fuck is is it QPR next............

[Mutton Geoff]

Fuck Spurs, irrelevant.

Is that self harming or masochism?

[The Infamous_LFC]

Oh god I think I saw Emery being mentioned as a possible manager for LFC.I'm out of this thread.

You a fan of Emery or not?

[rickythered]

Hate seeing the fans so divided yet again. It is begining to look ever more increasingly that last season was the perfect storm for Rodgers and the unstoppable enigma of Suarez totally papered over his many failings. I just feel a fresh start would be better for all concerned now. A total rethink and reorganisation and a return to FSG's original plan of a director of football at the club. The thought of going into this summers transfer window under the current circumstances fills me with dread. We need to go into next season with a renewed sense of optimism and belief.

[Walk On]

they are not ideal cards to hold, but sometimes - like last season in fact - you have to work out the best way to play your cards.....and we haven't...they have not even played all of the games between them, so given sturridge's long term absence shows that (a) Rodgers has not trusted them at all and (b) we have done nothing on working on getting the best out of players whose task is the most important on the pitch.

This is going to be key in terms of our approach next season.  It's strange that keeping two up front was not considered as an option.  What's the point in consolidating the middle of the park instead of having more options upfront.  They might not work well but why not give it a go, at least give the opposition defenders something else to think about.

I'm not for making changes in the management as I don't think the focus should be on another project/5 year plan/etc.  What I would like to see is more trust in the players that have been recruited and more risk taking especially in games like this that we needed to win.

I feared the rest of the season would whimper out, and that's what is happening.  At this rate, we might be lucky to finish in the top 7.  And with no world-class players on the books, a total revamp of the squad being needed, we're going to struggle to recruit anyone to make a difference and probably miss out on those we've been linked with.  Next season is going to be one of struggle.

[johnw]

Meanwhile over in Barcelona.... cant wait for the season to end, unlike many on here i dont want Brendan gone, really believe he will get it right. Mistakes have been made by owners, Ayre and Rodgers,I think they will get it right next season in terms of signings and not leave us so desperately short.

Or the season after that..............or the next one......

[alvaro]

Was playing devils advocate. I'm just saying I was reading those articles criticising Klopp with the exact points you used to discredit Bielsa   When Dortmund were in the relegation zone earlier in the season, journalists and fans were saying Klopp ran his players into the ground after years of pressing etc. Thus the sounds kinda like Klopp post

I will take one shit season if I get two league titles and a CL final the previous years. In fact even in their supposed shit season they still managed to last longer than us  in the CL and they defeated Bayern in the cup semis.

[Peabee]

My point was that we need to get to the root of the cause to why we signed the wrong players. I was responding to a post that suggests that there is evidence that Rodgers has pushed through several of the underperformers.

Regardless, if Rodgers was responsible then we shouldn't let him touch transfers. Same with the committee. Whatever it is we can still make the changes to ensure we don't waste as much money again.

Of course we could still sign shit players. But there is no way we can do the same thing this summer. We are not rich enough to just keep writing off millions on some ideal.

It may not be the wrong players, that could just be an excuse.  It's the coaching, I think.   If we were shite all season, then yes, it's the players, but we weren't.  So something may be wrong in how we prepare for games.