Liverpool Banter Archive September 13 2016

13 Sep 2016 23:34:23
A few late thoughts on the Leicester game

1) movement of the front three was superb
- Sturridge pulled wide left to create space for the first, ran off the defenders shoulder for the second and cut in from the right wing for the third
- Manes cut in from right wing for his goal, ran from central misfield to left wing for Firminos second
- Firmino was everywhere
Wouldn't want to have been Leicestershire back 4

2) midfield worked and Wij/ Llalana gave Hendo decent cover tackling back but also good runs going forward. I'm still not convinced it's solid enough against the likes of City but well best I've seen from those 2

3) Hendo was outstanding, great balls for Sturridge's assist and Mane's break and kept it very neat at the back

4) well played to he back 4.will ignore Lucas's error as a slip but other than that looked excellent and marshalled Vardy well

Coutinho could have a problem getting back into the side if he's not careful, his movement at left wing isn't nearly as good as Firminos. i'd like to see him in midfield next game.

13 Sep 2016 23:45:06
Its a good problem to have all the same Zimbo. Nice to see good players on the bench if Liverpool need them.

14 Sep 2016 00:18:53
How times have changed, we've gone from Jovanovic and Poulsen under Hodgson, to debating whether Coutinho should be benched or not under Klopp. It is a very nice problem to have and shows the progress we've made as a club.

14 Sep 2016 00:40:48
Coutinho LCM

Firmino_Sturridge_Mane
Coutinho-Henderson-Lallana.

14 Sep 2016 01:38:48
I think that would work against the weaker sides Haych but against the stronger sides where we might face periods of sustained pressure we might struggle a bit defensively. I'd be tempted for a bit more strength in midfield and play Can, Hendo and Coutinho.

Can is still developing as a deeper lying midfielder but with Hendo alongside him to direct play, cover his runs and help his defensive positioning I think we'll be a bit more solid than with Llalana.

That leaves Origi, Ings, and Llalana to sub on upfront and Wijnaldum, Grujic, Stewart for the midfield, all good options to be able to call on.

I think Klopps done a fantastic job this window to give us this sort of competition for places without spending a fortune.

14 Sep 2016 03:33:17
agree lil magician, there was even someone on here after the Burnley game stating that's this is the worst Liverpool team they had seen in 20 years. we have for the first time in years a very strong bench and have the flexibility to adapt if needed.

14 Sep 2016 06:24:30
Drop Wij and replace with Coutinho all day long. Henderson is starting to look good again, me personally, would go 4-4-2. Not seeing enough of Origi though for my liking.

14 Sep 2016 01:18:53
I think Wiz offers us a lot where he is and shouldn't be brought out of the side to accommodate another playerror playing out of position. None of the players deserve to be yanked after the last match. i'm counting on Coutinho to give us his best whether he starts on the bench or not this weekend.

14 Sep 2016 16:13:34
Klopp is building a squad that even when changes are made, there will be no drop off in team performance. We spent hundreds of millions on squads where only two or three playes where stand outs. that is not what Klopp is doing. There will be standouts no question BUT the they stand out because they work within the team setup and not for their individual brilliance. It will be the team working as a unit that will make them stand out, not the other way around.

13 Sep 2016 19:29:04
I somehow recall with a fit Lucas in midfield we rarely lost.

13 Sep 2016 20:29:00
A bit of a myth. Someone found a streak of games he played in with better results then before but it didn't last for that long. He played in most of the last 10 games in 2014-2015 season when we were really poor including those 5 goals we conceded from Stoke if i remember correctly. Not his fault necessarily but there arrcalso limits to how much he could claim sole owenership of our wins.

{Ed001's Note - it is not a myth nor is it a 'streak of games', it was over his entire Liverpool career. Not as much of an improvement as Xabi Alonso, who has made a major improvement to each team he played for.}

14 Sep 2016 00:16:10
Fanobip, I think you're forgetting just how good a prime Lucas was, he was single-handedly dominating matches at that point, certain Man City and Chelsea games come to mind, where he would stop everything and anything that came into our half, up until his serious injury he was the first name on the team sheet. So I believe that with a fit Lucas we rarely lost.

14 Sep 2016 01:26:12
I think that Klopp made a great decision pulling the plug on any move Lucas could have made. Given early injuries to all three of our center defenders I think he will show himself to be a valuable part of the team once again and far better than taking a risk on Gomez so quickly after his injury.

14 Sep 2016 07:52:51
Lucas is ok, He is slow which will always hurt a team that contestant runs through out 90mts. Hence he doesn't get into the midfield nor Stewart.

13 Sep 2016 18:03:28
All this talk of "we need strength against Chelsea" I agree in some respect but strength is not how big you its how brave you are . I think that the team that won on Saturday have plenty of that. Add to that the pace, power and intelligence of Mane, Lallana, Firmino and Sturridge had in there link up play then I think we will be just fine. Pace, power and intelligence beats strength all day long.

13 Sep 2016 19:07:15
Are strength and power not the same thing? 😉.

13 Sep 2016 19:08:23
I think Man City proved that technique is better than tenacity.

Silva and De Bruyne made Pogba and Fellaini look like shadows, chasing them all over the pitch to no avail.

Speaking of shadows, Matic is no more than a shadow of the guy who led them to the title 2 years ago, and Kante hasn't exactly had the best of starts. Terry, Luiz, Cahill and Ivanovic has to be the worst set of centre backs Chelsea have had in about 15 years. Courtois seems to let in every good shot that goes near his goal.

I honestly think Hazard, Costa and Azpilicueta are their only top class players. Which is worrying for them considering Hazard clearly isn't fully committed, Costa is a red card waiting to happen, and Azpilicueta is still playing out of position!

Chelsea have had an easy start to the season in terms of fixtures and faltered against the first semi-decent team they have faced. Not to mention Costa has surely ran out of lives by now!

I reckon we will win 3-1 this Friday. If Chelsea prove me wrong and suddenly turn it on this Friday, I'll eat my words and admit on here I was wrong. But I really don't see the fuss with them.

13 Sep 2016 19:21:57
Whats the difference between power and strength in that context? In the past when we came against aggresive opposition sometimes we came out a bit soft and struggled to keep the ball under pressure ans losing many 50/ 50s. I am optimistic about this aspect for Friday but can still be an issue. And i am sure there will be many cards, maybe one or two reds.

13 Sep 2016 21:05:52
Power is speed x strength. Much more important in football than strength alone.

13 Sep 2016 21:13:58
Strength is someone who out muscles and opponent. Power is someone who can step in with the ball, drive and take the game to the opposition.

13 Sep 2016 22:12:10
MK is spot on. We played there last season and simply out played and out thought them, leaving Mou reeling battered and bruised. Now, they have beaten teams they were meant to beat and choked vs a Swansea team way worse than its predecessors in the past yet who showed some fight in them. What does that say? It says that they may struggle against us if we turn it on like we did vs Spurs, Arsenal and LC. We shall see come Friday. By the way, I wouldn't touch those old overpaid CB's in Cahill, Luiz, Ivanovic and Terry. Awful bunch.

14 Sep 2016 00:51:03
Strength is being physically strong and being able to exert great force upon an opponent. Where as power has the capacity to defy one's own physical strength and is made up of tenacity, aggression, persistence when winning a ball. Power when in possession of the ball is defined by the speed at which something is going, if moving in a straight line plus physical strength. Speed would make up the difference between two individuals' physical strength if one was standing still or moving slower than the other and the other was moving at a fast enough rate to make the difference in force exertion.

14 Sep 2016 06:10:29
What's the difference between power and strength? Strength is the ability to put your power to the maximum☺ One can easily have underutilized power.

13 Sep 2016 08:18:16
Morning eds
I realise grujic is a young lad and adapting to a new country and new league and also had a few fitness issues disrupting pre season so being eased in. However, I was just wondering ahat kind of percentage or number o games would he need to play in to make sure he was not in danger of losing his work permit for next season? I know they said first team player so was wondering how they judged if e had met that over the course of the season?
Cheers.

{Ed002's Note - It wasn't defined. THey are going by what was said to them and it will only become an issue if they feel what was said isn't true.}

13 Sep 2016 19:22:52
I am sure his father is not impressed.

13 Sep 2016 20:00:19
Given the interview today, I'm willing to bet he is patiently waiting for his chance. He hinted that next year is the going to be his year, or something like that. I don't remember. We are only a few weeks into the season, games will pick up, injuries will happen, and he will get playing time.

13 Sep 2016 21:46:24
It is strange seeing Stewart getting more games than him. Maybe strange is the wrong word.

13 Sep 2016 23:22:57
Stewart is a more experienced DM so not too surprising to see him close out games against key opposition. I'd imagine Grujic's first games would be more of a Wijnaldum sub than at DM, playing further forward like we saw vs Burnley.

14 Sep 2016 00:57:52
He'll get game time, when he does i'm sure he'll continue to get game time.

13 Sep 2016 11:04:06
Nice gesture from the blues donating to the fund for the little lad fighting cancer. Hope it makes a big difference to his life. Well done to them.

13 Sep 2016 11:37:10
Are you on about bradley from up hear? It's absaloutly heartbreaking I think they need to raise a million dollars if I had the link to donate I would post it I hope they find the money to at least give him a chance wouldn't wish that horrible disease on anyone especially not a child I would be heartbroken if it was my child.

13 Sep 2016 11:41:02
To donate, just text “BRAD02£1” to 70070

Ed there is what they have to do if they wish to donate doesn't have to be a pound however much you wish just at the end change the amount every little bit helps.

13 Sep 2016 13:09:24
I don't know about the blue but every club should just spit the 700k that's needed between them, it's peanuts for them. That poor little kid its absolutely heart breaking it really is. If act if every one of the multimionare players and clubs spit it it would be even less.

13 Sep 2016 14:09:50
His own clubs senior players could donate about half a weeks salary each and the kid would have enough change left over to stay in a five star hotel. It's a shame we dont.

13 Sep 2016 14:36:44
They have reached the £700k he needed for his op in America, fair play to Everton and everyone else who donated. Good luck to the little fella.

13 Sep 2016 15:59:51
Oh have they scarface that is good to know! Over the moon for him and his family!