Think you're overstating things a bit, only thing to be worked out is how to break down sturdy sides like Stoke, which has been a real issue for us. The flow of the game was better, our link up and passing has improved and we have more quality in depth in the squad. Things are coming together, albeit slower than most of us would desire. Agree about Carra of course, think he will continue to be a liability for us but you may be exaggerating just a tad.
A bit unfair, I must say. He's on his last legs, I admit. A mistake he made, yes. Hoof possession away, he also constantly did. But there was nothing he could do about Henderson being so uncomposed in front of goal. Neither could he do anything about Suarez missing what was pretty much a regulation chance. Nor could he stop Kuijt and Adam being so woeful. We win as a team and lose as one, too.
Too Many. He's served the club well, an all-timer, but it's time for Grandpa to take a seat. It's been obvious for quite awhile, he no longer has the pace or strength to handle youthful offensive players, like Walters, one on one.
Sounds like the international break got the better of the team. We'll get better and better the more consistently they train together. Just one of those days.
Like the man said: You put 1 or 2 of those "Chances" (and they were chances) into the net. That way the forwards don't go back and say, "the defence let us down." I got sick of that last year. Blaming Cara is an asinine, knee jerk reaction. How many times have you counted him throwing his body into the way of shots or breaking up attacks stopping the danger? Forgotten already huh? Need a scapegoat? Then blame the guys at the pointy end who get huge amounts of money just to score goals.
We had them under a ton of pressure and they defended resolutely. you cant argue that. They were defending like we were in extra time and there was still 15 minutes on the clock. Suarez should have put that away but there were too many could've,woulld've shouldve today.
We knew Stoke were going to be tough to beat, especially at home, and while I'm disappointed in the result the fact is we didn't play all that badly. We just didn't put our chances away. It probably should have been a draw but we were unlucky today.
Just back from the local and some errands Stoke play rugby and we let them Kuyt looked tired and slow Henderson was absent, or slow of thought well before the f'ed chance(s) in the second half. Adam was probably not fully fit but he had a very poor match Lucas can tackle and he will try to get forward at the end but his passing and shooting is mediocre at best Downing tried as did Enrique but nothing broke for them Skirtel is NOT a fullback. Johnson is not fit, why not Flanangan? Agger did his job Now Carra has made that play in the box 500 times without a penalty given. Is it arguably a foul? Perhaps but the way Clatenberg called the rest of the game it wouldn't have been a foul any time else. I, for one, won't slag Carra Suarez. How can one criticize him for the late miss. He was our only offense for long stretches. I thought Bellamy brought desire and piss and vinegar to the match. He will be helpful later. Carroll should have started. Now we have no one but ourselves to blame really but there were two stone handball penalties denied to us. By the way the Scum are currently beating Bolton 5-0
It's called a brick wall that Stoke formed all match. Every pass and shot near or in Stoke's box had a Stoke leg/body/arm attached to the end. Ferocious display of defense, that. Doesn't help that Adam gave the ball away at every opportunity. Henderson disappointed today, should've scored on the one-on-one. Bellamy looked good in his limited minutes. Carroll was OK. Suarez worked hard all match and couldn't get past the brick wall. Can't blame him.
We definitely looked hungover from the international break. Adam was likely still bothered by his hip injury because his passing was woeful apart from 2-3 excellent passes. I also don't like how long it took KK to make the subs. Should have occuredat 60mins. Apart from that we really just got unlucky.
"We are very disappointed with the result but we are delighted with the effort and the commitment of the players," the boss told his post-match press conference. "On another day we could have scored three or four - I don't think there was anything wrong with our performance. Although the passing wasn't as good as what it has been, it was still good enough to have scored three or four goals in the game. "There was not much more we could have done other than have that little bit of luck in front of goal." Dalglish admitted his**dismay at some of the decisions which went against his side at Stoke**and feels Liverpool**have had reason to feel hard done by in all four of the Barclays Premier League matches so far this term. He added: "I think it's a wee bit of an understatement to say we deserved something out of the game. We can only do what we do ourselves and sometimes other things are taken out of your jurisdiction. "If we continue to play like that with the same attitude and the commitment then we will be okay this season, but if we continually get battered with things that are outside our control then we are not going to have much chance. "Our first four league games have all had a contentious decision in them and every one of them has gone against us. "We would like to be respectful towards referees. I think I have been respectful to referees, but more importantly than being respectful to referees in their campaign it's about having respect for my football club, Liverpool Football Club. "If I feel they (Liverpool FC) are suffering in any shape of form then maybe I need to go down the same route as some other people go and see if we can get some benefit from that. I'll speak to the owners first and see what they say because the last thing I want is for**my behaviour to infringe on the club's success in any way, shape or form. "We don't have any complaint, for want of a better word, about Stoke City. They played very, very hard, they played well. They got their goal, they defended well and courageously at times, and maybe occasionally they got a bit of luck. "We don't have anything but appreciation for the way that they played, the way they held on and went on to win the game. So I've only got complimentary things to say about Tony (Pulis) and Stoke. "But I just can't see how it was a penalty kick." Despite seeing penalty appeals waved away, Liverpool could have salvaged a point deep into injury time when Luis Suarez steered a chance just wide of the goal. "You think it's an easy chance but it's not when you see it on television," reflected Dalglish. "The goalkeeper has got a good angle on it and it was a difficult chance to take. On another day one of our chances would have gone in."
Amen. I'll take a team of Carraghers any day. We ship one goal away at Stoke and can't take a point. Don't be blaming the center backs.
Bad loss.....damm I thought we had the equalizer when it fell to Craig B but he F'd it up. Brittania is a hard place to play, the big teams will all loose points here. Looking at their team, they can easily contend with anyone When should we expect our captan back 100%
I get tired of hearing people bitch at the team when they have a game not go their way. Carra deserves more respect that calling him Grandpa and telling him to sit it out. I agree with LB and US, give me a Carra any day and twice on Saturdays. Some players didn't have a great game, Adam and Henderson just struggled but FFS relax and show a little loyalty. Quit bitching. So the game didn't go our way, we played a team that defends with 10 men behind the ball and with more passion at home than most teams. I could complain about the ref but I think Dalglish has put it perfectly. I wish we had won but given the effort from most of the team I won't curl up in a ball tonight over this game.
lol looking through this thread it's as if there's some people here who legitimately thought that we'd go undefeated. Stoke's a good side and we played them away. There's still 34 more games to go.
While I agree that we shouldn't exaggerate or blow Carra's mistake up it is obvious that he has become more prone to moments like that and in tight matches and with some of our wasteful finishing in matches like this they are very very costly. Nothing wrong with pointing out that Cara is in decline and the reality is that he should be slowly transitioned out of the starting line up, don't you think?
Actually i'm exactly in between on Cara. You can see now how its gonna be. Speaking frankly in this new look, young legs dynamism even kuyt looks a little slow. those 2 are heroes of mine and yours but they are over 30 in a fsg team. Cara started slowly last year too but dug in hard and finished as strong as ever. The guys so determined, fit and smart that imo his decline will be arrested multiple times before the axe falls. Suppose hes off a bit his top, is he still not better than dearly departed soto for example? and the team plays tougher with him around. I propose that in his aging hes just starting a bit slow but remains Quite Formidable, Really. So instead of falling off a cliff he will probably pull a Sami, usefull in all ways including at melwood, and teach Coates the works from a-z for a couple of years. As to the game my god what a dominating loss. I dont even mind it. i was given entertainment and great hope if not sadly the 3 points. Bellamy/Carroll what a frickin double bill. kuyt hendo buzz saw buzz saw choppin down wood by the acre, oops you need a goal bam take that. Sure it didnt work today but it never works every time does it. Sweet option though. Man we lost and drew a lot we deserved to win under Rafa but not too many had that kind of fuse-burning-towards-a-tinderbox feeling like this one. Early days, early days. Cant believe we wasted a Warm wind at Stoke . Maybe contrary to opinion but i gotta say , Henderson's growing on me. I know and accept that hes an extremely rough edged gem and hes gonna look very average at times, at times in every game even, but he pulls some very good stuff (for his age and period ) out too and i love his work rate and engine. imo this kid is kuyt mark 2 his potential is vast. hes an eager beaver for the work. But its clearly, clearly a work just begun. I liked Lucas right from the start, but mind you i like em all if they wear red. Hendo strikes me as he could be much better than that in the end. Next level. but not next sat i suppose.
Either Johnson really wasn't fit or I'm going to throw a fit Does anyone remember the moment, late in the game, when they had a player in on goal down the left side? This is not the time that Charlie Adam hustled like a madman back, but later than that. I think someone was running at Carra, and Johnson might have been at fault/dispossed/near a bad pass What got me infuriated, the only time the entire game, was that Johnson jogged back on defense. He didn't sprint, he didn't exactly run, he jogged. He'd been substituted on in the 81st minute, he couldn't have been playing longer than 5 minutes, he was fresh, ungassed, ready to play and run. And he didn't even ********ing bother sprinting back to defense. To me, that was just the most infuriating thing I'd seen all game. The fact that someone could come on that late and not give any less than 110% knowing that the game would be over in a matter of minutes anyways. Nearly threw my pint at the wall. Just abysmal effort.
Carragher's not going to be around forever, but he's made a career out of playing on the edge like that and coming out on top of marginal calls. This one went against him, but it's certainly not his fault that we lost. Like Kenny said, we should have scored goals today and more than anything we were just unlucky against a team who are very difficult to break down.