1.) 19 Jan 2016
18 Jan 2016 23:11:43
Great podcast guys. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Benny I actually agree with you about Benteke, the amount of times he's been in position and the ball just hasn't arrived. He must get sick, he then comes short to try and play the ball with people and he gets stick again. One touch quick passing football is not Benteke way unless there is a cross on the end. Lallana I don't agree with you about, like Milner there is a lot of effort and a lot of running about but very little end product. We need a spine of players that have the effort AND the quality. We can then build the team around them. I also agree with the guys regarding Migs, there goal should of been a moot point because the game should of been dead and buried. Going back to Benteke, he has the best strike rate out of all our strikers I think so why is he not playing? Whether you like him or not if he's scoring he should be playing in my opinion.


2.) 19 Jan 2016
19 Jan 2016 01:15:38
Poolie I disagree about Llalana, he adds plenty in both attack and defence and creates a lot of opportunities with his runs and clever movement/ passing. He's a natural pick for our current style and I think he can actually finish (even though seems his confidence is down) . Milner is something else though, all the industry and probably our best crosser of the ball but no finishing at all.

For me Llalana should definitely be kept and the problem is actually not any one individual but the balance. We struggle to get enough goals from midfield between the likes of him, Coutinho (not as prolific as everyone thinks), Milner and Ibe and we have no-one to call on who's got obvious goals in them in those positions.

{Ed001's Note - what clever movement and passing? What opportunities has he created? He is adding nothing but work rate.}


3.) 19 Jan 2016
19 Jan 2016 03:38:05
Good podcast, but I completely disagreed with Benny on Benteke.

I also disagree with you, Natural Poolie, on Benteke.

I'm not sure how many times Ed001, myself, and others have to explain at length why Benteke isn't playing, why he shouldn't be playing, why he isn't good enough, and why he should be sold.

Or as Macca said recently: Benteke must be seen as a major mistake. He is. Period.

First, Benteke is largely one dimensional-- a target man in the Carroll tradition-- and thus requires us to transform our entire attack in order to accommodate his uselessness. This means crosses and long balls, which neutralize are most creative attackers in Coutinho and Firmino, but also our other better players like Hendo and Can in the middle. This is why when Benteke plays, Liverpool look awful. His presence undercuts our entire attack. He scores goals-- because we normally do throw tonnes of long balls and crosses at him-- but it's usually in course of losing badly, because our attack, shape, and form dip terrifically with Benteke on the pitch.

Second, I strongly reject the idea that Benteke hasn't been getting "great deliveries" or "proper service". Against West Ham and Sunderland, we threw countless crosses at him (I believe 29 vs WHU) and he did nothing with them. He's even useless in aerial battles around the box, because he doesn't attack the crosses, but stands around.

Third, Benteke is lazy, bad on its own, but is particularly bad in Klopp's team because it means he's useless at pressing, so he completely undermines our pressing tactics (which let us dominate United for most of the game) .

Fourth, Benteke does not understand how to do creative runs, so he completely dumbfounds our best and most creative attackers in Coutinho and Firmino. Neither seem to have any idea what to do when the Lamp post is standing there in front of them. Coutinho, I think, has almost given up trying to pass to Benteke (who is usually standing in traffic, marked by two or three CBs) .

Finally, if we transform our side to "play to Benteke's strengths" and thus just play boring LvG ball of possession plus throwing in long balls and crosses, Benteke will score more, yes. He will do well. But we will lose and lose and lose and look awful doing it. Just look at our record -- if he starts, we lose!

Klopp is absolutely right to marginalize and bench Benteke.

Keep the faith in Klopp. We lost to United, but we bullied and bossed them all game. They got lucky and fluked a win. Period.


4.) 19 Jan 2016
19 Jan 2016 06:44:14
Great post FRP. Liverpool were not unlucky, because considering the amount of chances we created for ourselves, the fate of the match laid in our hands and we blew it. Luck didn't prevent us from scoring, only our own deficiencies. But United were lucky, because after being split open by Liverpool again and again again, they relied on us to miss the goal time after time so they could stay in the contest.

The team needs a striker that runs off the shoulder of defenders. Benteke stands there waiting for a pass with his back facing the goal.


5.) 19 Jan 2016
19 Jan 2016 08:01:45
I'm thinking of the Stoke goal (by Allen) which was made by Llalana making the run, likewise the run Llalana should have scored off rather than heading it at De Gea, or the close one-twos around the box.

He's not perfect by any stretch but he is probably one of the better players at 'pass and move' we have, which is critical to disrupting the oppositions defensive patterns.

{Ed001's Note - but he isn't because as soon as he gets the ball he holds on to it. To play pass and move, it needs to move quickly, but he takes an extra 4 or 5 touches too many. At one point against United, he got the ball in space in midfield with an easy quick pass to Lucas on, which would then have allowed him to get forward for a return quickly before they had time to get their defence set up. Instead he took 4 or 5 touches then played that exact same ball, but by that time it was too late and our chance of a quick attack was gone. This is not an isolated incident, this is what he does every time. He is completely useless for the kind of attacking style Klopp wants to play.}


6.) 19 Jan 2016
19 Jan 2016 08:06:49
Sadly, my United supporting mate hit the nail on the head when we bought Benteke:

He's not able to fit into the way we want to play and that the rest of our squad are suitable of playing. And he is not good enough or reliably fit enough to justify us changing everything else about our game to focus on supplying him.


7.) 19 Jan 2016
19 Jan 2016 08:12:02
Completely agree on Benteke and Lallana.

I just don't understand purchase of Benteke as he suits our style of play no more than past transfer gaffs Carroll and Balotelli! With the style of football we play he is just the wrong striker and I feel a bit for him as this isn't helping his career either. I just struggle to understand how the committee can make such a glaring mistake. It's not as if he suited BRs style but doesn't suit Klopp I don't think he suited BRs style either. I know good strikers are hard to find, but I think blowing £30m just because you can't get anyone else is poor business (but I rather think they targeted him which makes it far worse) .

On Lallana, I like his effort and he does some things quite well, but he never pulls off the final ball, he never quite beats the last man, and he never quite gets it on target/ scores. He never quite . And at £25m I think you need to be getting someone who turns games. I would have been happy paying £10-15m for him as a squad player, but he is not good enough to start for top 4 teams in my mind and our desperation to get him at any cost is another sign of an endemic problem we have had for years. We overpay for good players but never manage to land more than one very good player at a time (the word great is overused in my opinion) . When I put aside my obvious bias and look at our team honestly we have too many players starting who are good solid players, and not enough true match winners. A front 3 of firmino, lallana and Milner would hardly have struck fear into United.

I know it is hard when we have 3 strikers out injured, but if we can't rely on Sturridge then we need to improve our starting front 3 (which might just be a new striker as I could settle for coutinho firmino plus one but I think we should move on lallana and bring in another option there - which might be markovic) and then workout how to sort out our back 5!


8.) 19 Jan 2016
19 Jan 2016 09:29:08
I was happy when we bought lallana after seeing him at Southampton. However realized very quickly that he is bang average. He offers zilch and at 25m we were ripped off.

Benteke will not suit the type of game we are trying to implement. Not sure whoose mistake was it to buy him.

But would not critisize him for we have Ibe, Moreno, Clyne crossing balls and I bet they can't hit a given target on the move once in 25 or 50 chances.


9.) 19 Jan 2016
19 Jan 2016 13:54:34
If Lallana is that good and productive how come his goals and assists are so poor? We always look our best when we play quick counter attack football with one touch passing and movement but this just never happens with Lallana in the team. He suits possession football, like Allen, they would be good in passing opposition to death but offer very little threat.


10.) 19 Jan 2016
19 Jan 2016 14:15:51
This may be difficult to do due to bentekes price tag and a massive lack of patience.
But do we not have coaches?
Who coach players?
And train players?
To play in a specific way and to make certain runs?


11.) 19 Jan 2016
19 Jan 2016 14:25:42
I agree on the too many touches point but to say we can't play Klopps style when he's in the team isn't exactly true. Our wins over Chelsea, Man City and three goals against Arsenal were all with him in the team and they were some of our best performances in the last season and a half. I even rated our ability to create chances vs Man Utd but we just failed miserably at putting them away - a collective failing.

Can he improve. of course, but even if not the at least one world class talent we are clearly lacking, there are many others I'd sell before losing Llalana. I also like the fact he can play in a midfield 3, in attacking mids and on the wing, something not many others can do.


12.) 19 Jan 2016
19 Jan 2016 14:47:50
The other great point made during the Podcast, was the few comments on Rodgers' silly interview.

E. g., the idea that Rodgers was fully expecting Sanchez to come, and when he didn't, he was left with no option but Balotelli.

Absolute nonsense as Ed001 pointed out -- it was known (and written about on here by Ed001 and Ed002. I was only a lurker then, not a poster :) ), that Sanchez wanted to be in London. We wasn't coming here.

How Rodgers could pretend to be "shocked" by the eventuality is cringe-inducing.

Fact is, he bottled player acquisitions to replace Suarez TWICE! First, he brought in Lambert and Balotelli. FAIL. Second, this past summer, he brought in Benteke. FAIL AGAIN.

I can't tell if Rodgers is just plain incompetent on identifying good players who fit his own attack, or that he's been lying all along about centering his attack on Suarez/ pressing/ pace, and secretly, wanted to play for of a game comparable to LvG-- possession, boring, with crosses into a target man (Rooney / Fellaini) . Not the high pressing, predatory, counter-attack in 2013/ 14, that played due to Suarez's raving success.

That's the only way I can explain him bringing Benteke. Or gross incompetence, that's the other explanation. Probably more likely.