I'll say it now, we have regressed from when we were under Kenny. Last season we were dominating games, making chances and failing to finish. Now we've stopped making chances, and we're still failing to finish what little we do make. This was a deserved loss - not an unlucky one, for a reserve team maybe, but there isn't much of an improvement in the first team either. It's there for all to see what Rodgers is trying to do, but you have to wonder when exactly we'll see an improvement in the play. The problem is that we don't get enough people forward on the buildup. The result: fewer options, no players between the lines, few - if any, diagonal runs, and thus no chance for any defence splitting passes that are the trademark of the Barcelona system. Add to that the fact that the speed of our passing is tremendously slow. Each player seems to take about 2-3 seconds to get the ball under control, another second or so to make a decision, and by then all the threatening passing lanes are comfortably closed. Joe Cole may have missed on that last shot before he was taken out, but atleast he showed up for the shot. We didn't have a single player consistently making threatening runs into the box, and even in the first team games so far, Suarez is the only one doing so. I realize that Rodgers has been handicapped by the events of the transfer window, regardless of whose fault that was, but I would have expected to see some measure of improvement from the beginning of the season. I'm not asking for a top 4 or a top 6 or even a top half finish. Also, I'm not calling for Rodgers' head. I can accept it if we are to become a mid-table club for a few seasons. But I have had enough of seeing this shitty version of Liverpool that just keeps the ball in the middle of the park and gives it away at both ends. Regardless, on to the next match. YNWA.
If Benitez had lost/tied this game with starters, people would have clamored for him to just "play the kids" instead.
I agree. 12 v 11 certainly would have been more productive. On a serious note, what was the shape in the back? It seemed odd but not really a 3-5-2 either.
Like I stated above I would have played more kids and seen if they can play the Rodgers Professed System. Instead we saw some king of Football Manager 3-7-0 that wouldn't make any side look good. But again I never saw the 100 page PowerPoint so I am sure this is all part of the three year plan.
Bottom line in he looked at the schedule and said 'lets not worry about today we can still get through if we lose today but I don't want to lose to Chelski'.
Well he is more optimistic about Sunday than our performances would warrant. Or is a loss there to be expected as well?
You must have been watching a different team than me last season if you thought we were dominating games. I think our performances are far better than they were last season. At times we have played outstanding football this season, and we are clearly making progress. The results have not been good, but we are seeing progress. We are dominating games. And it will take more time before we are firing on all cylinders. This was the wrong game for you to make this post. You are going to judge our progress based on a performance made by our reserve team in a a game played in Russia? If so, then I agree with you. Cole, Downing, Henderson, Coates, and Carragher have made no progress under Rodgers. Luckily, none of those players will be involved over the weekend. With the entire first team left home, I expect a great performance against Chelsea. Hopefully we finally get the result that our performance deserves.
Well it's a different reality now unfortunately. I know its a tough pill to swallow but we're not in a position to have "those" expectations at the moment. That's just how far we've fallen. To rebuild you sometimes have to destroy.
As I have already said, my judgements are not based solely on this game. The only progress I have seen under Rodgers is that of our youth players, which while being very encouraging, is simply not enough to build a consistent league side. I'm not calling for Rodgers' head I'm willing to give him another 2 or 3 transfer windows. But so far, our season has to be considered below par, if not a failure. The root of my frustration comes from the fact that this had the potential to be our year for getting back in the top 4. Arsenal has been very poor, while Tottenham and Newcastle were never likely to be as consistent as the other teams in the league. So with 2-3 quality acquisitions, we could have made a real push for it. It is still possible of course, but we have seen no strong indications of that so far.
On the field, I thought we played just about all the kids minus Downing, Cole, and Carra. Remember, Seba Coates turned 22 last month also. The subs who came on were young also.
I'm not sure what gave you that optimism. We changed managers, changed system, got a year older, and brought in 1 real transfer. And, we finished about as poor as any team did in the last half of the previous season. Even Benitez couldn't get into the top 4 his first year. In Houllier's first year, where he split duties with Evans, we finished 7th. The next year, we were fourth behind Leeds ffs and only qualified for the UEFA Cup. As we've all been reliably telling people, we need to exercise patience, because it takes time to learn the system.
.. well Young Boys won 3-2 away at Udinese which tightens the group even more. Anzi has 7 We have 6 Youngs boys on 6 Udinese on 4 Next match is Young Boys at home -- win that and almost certainly be through
We're right in the middle of advancing and not advancing - which is about normal. I'd like to see us beat YB at home and put it to bed.
Oh, I definitely didn't have that optimism at the start of the season. It's only looking at the league now, that I get the feeling of a missed opportunity if that makes any sense. And yeah, like I said, I'm really not caring so much about the league position right now as much as I am about the performances which haven't really been too consistent or satisfactory. But, I'm not going to call for heads till the end of the season, unless of course we were to head into relegation territory.
Awful match wasn't it? Anji at home were no better than us either. They could have had four but the guy with the yellow skunk on his head was clueless as well. He got a lucky break and a nice first touch for his goal but sucked on the rest. You guys have just about said it all. With the team "we" put on the field, we couldn't have gone there with 'Win' on our minds. Good ol' Cole didn't disappoint did he. I thought he'd gone off at the half then in the 60th minute he pops up when our first shot of any pace bounced of their keeper right to him, so he hits it back at the keeper. Perhaps he shouldn't have drawn attention to himself because in the next minute he was off. There were players there who had no business in a Liverpool shirt, I'm just hoping he's trying to save the better players, trying to work at a better league position. Then we get the worst two comms that Fox could put out there. Surely there were comms from other TV feeds on the field that we could have patched into. Disappointed, absolutely crap from both teams and they ran off with all the points.
Missed this one, thought it would be a 3pm game. oops. All I can say is that going in i was thinking, hmm, we are playing Morgan and they are playing Etoo. We dont need to go on from there, really, do we? It was all about could our u-21 team travel to russia and get a 0-0 against a good side. answer, not quite. How bout them swiss doing the double on the Italians. Page 64. All part of the plan.