Liverpool Banter Archive September 26 2013

26 Sep 2013 21:54:31
Hi all not a rumour but a question, are we looking at a striker in Jan? Can we get another loanee in?

I am worried that our only two strikers started last night and our back up striker is aspas who is clearly struggling to adapt. With Borini out on loan we don't look strong enough

Daniellambretta

Aspas for me is struggling because he is being played out of positon. if he gets the chance to play with suarez he would score goals. sturridge selfishness isn't helping aspas

Sturridge has 4 league goals in 14 shots (28% non-penalty conversion rate) with 50% on target. That is not exactly selfish play by a striker by any stretch.

Trust me aspas will look a hell of a better player on the shoulder of the last man.

27 Sep 2013 07:51:35
I have been pleading from months, Aspas is a striker and should play as a striker. He isn't a wide attacker like Sanchez or turan.

Well ahead and suarez and Sturridge he will have to adapt his game

Don't think we need another striker per say, but definitely a world class forward. who? I don't know, anyone available and a possibility ed001? {Ed001's Note - world class? Not sure, it depends on your definition of world class, but the forward that could be available, and has plenty of quality, is Alexis Sanchez. He has no chance at Barca with Messi there, they would sell him, so why not try for him? He is a lot better than he has been able to be there, with Messi on the pitch, a player with his dribbling skills is wasted in the Barca system.}

Aspas was brought in because of his versatility. Unless Sturridge and Suarez are unavailable, I don't see Aspas starting as the furthest forward.

Aspas will come on when eather suarez or sturridge need to be replaced, but that will change soon ibe will be the firts to come on.
aspas was a waste of money and all of us watch football all our lives.
no pace no ball controll, and he looks lost and the reason is that you need certain qualities to play for Liverpool and he has none

He's what Rodgers calls an Inside Forward. He wasn't brought to play wide. Johnson provides width on that side (when fit) or Sterling if we want to play with pace out wide.

26 Sep 2013 21:24:35
Prophets of Doom and Gloom never give up, do they?
I am a doomer and gloomer myself but must admit we played well last night. It has been ages since we felt we played well enough to say we should've won at the Mancs. The team looked relaxed and passed it with attitude. Suarez poses a threat and puts the shivers into defenders. A little more clinical finishing in front of goal would have marked a famous victory. NEVER MIND, I'm not saying we're the finished product but we're getting there. Top4 must be the minimum, no excuses. Sterling, Ibe, Illori and Alberto must be given chances otherwise it will be a waste of time and effort keeping them on the bench watching games. Aspas is a better player than most fans give him credit for and he would have done well with his movement last night.
Anyway, when the injured return we could mount a challenge. A win at Sunderland and we'll be in the top3 again. be positive, support BR and the team YNWA

Couldn't agree more!

We said all this last year and finished 7th.rodgers signed 7 players this window and he is already talking about january when things are not going to plan
Last night we played our best team available and we still couldn't score against a united team who weren't all full strenght.he is the manager and needs to stop giving excuses
Rodgers has spent over 100million and needs to get top4 this year or be shown the door by fsg
He keeps buying players for the future where there are no gurantees he would be part of it

I know it's not as simple as math. But in reality is our squads are definitely not as good as ManC, Chelsea and Spurs if we add individual ability (Player Rating) together. Set aside there are ManU, Arsenal and Everton that arguably have the same if not better squads. Top4 is more like a wish if we have luck rather than a must. I think Roger is doing his best but it’s all down to players on the field. We as a team need to play 120% to beat the other 6 teams (or 7 if include Everton). Are we realistic enough about our target? I hope we can play as a team and that’s the only way to beat individual performance. The problem is our “teamwork” doesn’t seems to established enough under our captain. I always think it will be a good “culture” if the team get together in a circle before the game start and reminds each other how important is team work. There are so many occasions during last few games which I see player put themselves in front of the team. Moses during Southampton game where he should have passed to Aspas but he decided to shoot in difficult angle. Suarez shot from almost the base line etc. Look at what Michu does for Swansea. I hope our team spirit can get better then we can actually challenge top4 for sure.

We still look no better than a top 6 side- we will need to address RB and AM in January if we are to get anywhere near top 4

Well Rogers bought Alberto and sold shelvey Alberto doesn't look ready to come in whilst shelvey looks stronger at this moment he let suso on loan and borini sold downing got in aspas and loaned in moses so he could have made better decisions himself our squad is week our fully fit starting 11 is pretty good so if everyone stays fit from now on we have a chance

26 Sep 2013 17:05:26
Lots of people slaggin hendo sayin he does not offer anythin
He was the only player who was closin down yesterday he won ball back for us soo many times yes he missed a chance but he was really good yeaterday!

Sturridge had a chance in 1 st half when smallin handballed it but sturridge should of shot when he had chance he takes the mik most of the time he's tooo frustratin
He has everythin to be one of the best but his mentality is beat the man before u score instead of just ahoot when the shot is on would love ed 002 opinion on him recently I feel sturridge will onli becum a top top player if his decision making is improved

Abbas lfc

Sturridge had a poor first touch yesterday - if he had better control he would've been in on goal at least twice

Sturridge is too greedy and lazy imo.his work off the ball isn't good enough.and keeps waiting for the perfect ball to run unto. aspas could have scored some goals if sturridge didn't care about only himself

Read an interesting stat tonight regarding hendo! According to reliable stats he is involved in a goal every 142 minutes for Liverpool bettered only by mata, coutinho and lampard! So better than the gerrards, toures, carzolas, silvas, milners, wilsheres, ramsey's, carricks and cleverleys of this world! Add to that his work rate, never say die attitude and you have a hell of a player who currently is being played out of position! He wasn't receiving critisism when he bagged a brace against newcastle last season or got us back in the game against villa and scored that unforgettable goal at the emirates! Some folk are so short sighted its ridiculous! Henderson is a good player and for me is worthy of a starting position in the middle of the park, maybe in gerrards position who is struggling at the moment!

Ian the red

26 Sep 2013 18:28:00
Liverpool were poor, no cohesion or fluidity in the team. Need players to come and get the ball, Henderson and Moses
Seemed to run away. I really don't understand the criticism
Of Enrique. Yes he makes mistakes, but he is so fast and strong we didn't really get caught in the counter. Same goes for sakho.
Also, Enrique has a lovely touch. It's our midfield that is poor, I remember all of you saying not to get ericksom becuse we have coutiniho. How can you rely on a 21 yr old for the whole season. You need options. Look how many ballers arsenal have, not all will play every game, but all with contribute. Aspas looks okay, same with Alberto, but neither will be ready this season. Our first team is good, but we still need to get a center mid. Lucas has been one of our best players, him and gerrard are good in the middle, but with our formation and style of football you need other players to drift in and come and get the ball.

26 Sep 2013 16:00:43
Hi Ed why do u think Rodgers had changed the formation this season? In the second half of last year we played a 4-2-3-1 consistently and we really did well and ripped some teams apart in the process. Downing right Suarez left coutinho central sturridge up top. It was dangerous! Hoping to see that again soon. {Ed002's Note - Folks read way too much in to formations.}

26 Sep 2013 15:38:12
Let's remember we were playing Manchester United away who were severely wounded from the weekend. Not many teams go there and actually do win. We played well overall with a higher possession stat with 17 shots, albeit only 4 on target. It was Luis first game and give it time he will get sharper. Sakho grew better and better as the game went on and he has potential. Moses should have also scored with that bullet header.
I think people on here are right to critize though the summer signings. I am thinking aspas and alberto could have been erikson. Sakho and Llori even though I rate both I don't think centre defence was a prime fix when we had already secured 3 clean sheets without these 2 joining. That money could have been better spent on a decent attacking midfielder. Only time will tell but we are lacking the depth and quality in the top half of the pitch when injuries/suspensions prevail.

Erikson didn't want to join Liverpool

26 Sep 2013 17:13:23
Liverpool didn't want ericksen, he has a good game against norwich and everyone is saying what a great player he is, let's see how he does this weekend r more importantly over the season football has got very fickle even the people saying r own countinho is great need to hold back a bit let the lad develop into the player we all hope he will be and don't put unnecessary pressure on him.on the other scale of fickle the likes of aspas r getting wrote off after 1 r 2 games that is also very annoying for me.

26 Sep 2013 13:38:03
The problem as I see it at the moment guys is that we do not have have midfield players who are creative apart from Courtinho and sometimes Gerrard, also our mids very seldom make them forward runs to help the forwards like McDermott, Case, Kennedy and Souness use to.

IMO we are too static off the ball, we need to go forward as a unit and defend as a unit, I just thing the forwards are too isolated at times

alan50

26 Sep 2013 14:01:47
luis alberto, allen, both were bought to solve this. nothing happened.

Allen is not a attack midfielder you plonker

Harry, why don't you give Alberto more than a month and a half before grabbing your pitchfork? I cannot comprehend how remarkably stupid some of our fans are judging a lad after literally less than two months. Absolutely and utterly pathetic.

Shame on you.

JFT 96

JP

Totally agree with you JFT96. Overall yes we are lacking some creativity in midfield and lack of good accurate passing but can we please realize that our team is only at 60% instead of 100%. We have cissokho, Johnson, agger, coutinho, and Allen injured! I believe all of these players would make the difference in the game no doubt about it. You can't say we played with our best squad yesterday against manu because we didn't, far from it. And even with the squad we put out we pushed them into a corner and almost made some stunning goals. Keep faith and remember our squad is far from complete. When all our players return from injury we'll see how we'll fire on all cylinders dominating games like we can.

I don't know, JFT96JP, Alberto has played 24 minutes for us in the league, so clearly more than enough time to judge the kid.

It's plane to see Albertos crap.

Makes no sense, Ozone. He's crap after 24 minutes of playing time?

You really should look into a career as a scout since clearly you're able to make snapshot judgements of a player's ability even though you've hardly seen them.

11 goals, 18 assists for Barca B in Segunda is not 'crap'. It's a very good return- honestly how many of our players (particularly those at the U-21 level which is what he is) do you think could rack up similar numbers over 38 games in Segunda?

His only full 90 he's played for us at the U-21 level he got a hat trick. Crap indeed. No one is claiming he is Messi or the finished article. He's a promising kid who has showed much potential and is capable of playing a number of positions.

26 Sep 2013 11:18:29
think last night we was a bit unlucky, could of scored a few really. couple of things bugged me about the performance though. firstly is the greed of sturridge and suarez.im well aware that if they don't shoot they don't score but nearly everytime they had the ball they just shot on sight wether at a tight angle or near the corner flag it seamed. secondly is the insistance on playing out from the back. I do like the way we play but sometimes we play out when marked and under pressure and putting ourselves in trouble
, no need to do it every single time the keeper has the ball

Really I was annoyed at the lack of shots taken. At times we were in the box and playing a pass to many on a few occasions. That sai there were a few low percentage shots taken.

I disagree with you because actually they were not selfish at all in my eyes. I can recall at Least once where Suarez was coming in from right flank and instead of shorting towards goal he gave a good pass to Gerard. Sturbridge also instead of shooting towards goal was looking for the pass outwide. I think in this instance they should have been a little more selfish and shoot, maybe we could have got a goal. It's about balance I suppose of knowing when to make the pass and when to shoot. Let's leave it to them who are the professionals.

26 Sep 2013 10:31:18
I think, As usual we are again coming up with stuppid excuse of this Injured players.
Johnson is a good player going forward,, But every on the in tha planet agree, he is a terrible defender.
Agger is missed, But didm we buy 2 CB for him?
countinho is missed, But did we buy Alberto for him.
Allen anyways isn't starting a game.
So wer does the point goes?. we have scored just 6 goals in last 5 matches.
We are paying a heavy price in missing out HM, Errikson or a LW. Instaed we bought 2 CB and now we have 5 CB.

I wouldn't say Johnson is a terrible defender but admitedly he is stronger going forward. He was one of our best performers at the start of the season and defended really well against United before his injury.
Agger was missed but the of the three CB'S we bought this summer, Toure was to replace Carra, Sakho was to replace Coates (who let's be honest has no future at the club despite his injury) and Llori was one for the future anyway.
I think we looked pretty strong defensivley last night apart from the one lapse in concentration from the corner.
Alberto was to replace Shelvey and let's not open up the Erikson debate again.

I agree we are short in defensive midfield and this should have been adressed in the window. I personally wouldn't have sold Shelvey as he can play the holding role and I wouldn't have loaned out Coady without a replacement.

However we have been unfortunate with injuries, to lose Coutinho, Agger, Cissokho, Allen and Johnson, as well as Sturridge not having a preseason due to injury would effect any team. Add to that missing Suarez for the first 6 games and any squad would be stretched.
I hope Sterling and Ibe step up in the next few weeks because we need more from the bench and Aspas needs time to adapt and get some confidence.

26 Sep 2013 14:06:30
Countinho is the only Loss, Agger have 2 decent replacement. Cisshokho was replaced by Enrique. Allen wasnt starting anyways, Kelly was availble to start at RB.
Common let's not talk about suarez, We knew he woulndt be availble for the first 6 games, and we were about sell him.

@Jay - Ilori to replace Coates yes, Sakho to replace Coates you must be joking.

Harry - we had our full team out and we lost to a mix and match of 1st team and squad players for Utd. We beat their 1st team in the league already so ya on paper we should be winning these games I agree.

We're being overrun in the middle of the park Lucas & Gerrard haven't been great of late. I haven't seen enough of Alberto but last night is exactly the kind of game we should be playing him to get him experience in England and we should have brought Kelly in from the start at RB

I also agree with your point on the injuries being a terrible excuse. Cissokho hasn't even started a game for us yet so how could he be a loss? Sakho cost like £17m so Agger missing isn't an excuse, Allen hardly never starts so the only player left is Coutinho - one of our best but he hasn't performed anywhere near as well as he did in pre-season.

Harry really like, your asking alberto to be a like for like replacement for coutinho, and Sakho to immediately come in and be effective cover for Agger. Your also overlooking the fact that Southampton and United are F***n hard games, I admit that Southampton was disappointing but to be on the attack after losing at old trafford is delusional.

26 Sep 2013 08:58:02
Thought last nights game was a return to the big game clashes of old, tight without much either way.
I can understand what people are saying about our play, but I thought we played quite well. Controlled midfield for the majority if the game, with Lucas being the pick out performer for me. Gerrard bossed by pulling the strings. I thought Henderson was a little below par, but must be the first game in months that's been the case.
Really think we should have made more of Buttner playing LB by getting Moses/Sterling/Suarez running at him.
One bit of tactics that I thought was a terrible idea was to play short corners, Vidic and Rio were both out and Sakho, Skrtel or Toure could have bossed from corners if we had put the ball straight in.
We need to remain focused here though fellow fans, the League Cup was never going to be a main focus, all it gives is constant Thursday-Sunday nightmares to Turkey/Ukraine/Russia, which would mean we would struggle in the League. We also now miss a couple of extra midweek fixtures from this seasons League Cup.

26 Sep 2013 07:45:17
In regards to yesterdays game I thought we played pretty well actually.
I also think being out of the cup could be a blessing. I know that's a little contraversial but we do not have a huge squad of 1st team players and have players injured (likely to be more) so for me concentrating on the league will hopefully mean we are fitter then teams all both domestic cups and championsh league etc

I think we played OK, actually a bit better than when we beat the Mancs at Anfield.

My concern about the squad is not the size, but the balance. As a result of signings on transfer deadline day, we now have 9 regular first team defenders - Johnson, Kelly, Wisdom, Toure, Agger, Skrtel, Sakho, Enrique, Cissokho - plus emerging talent such as McLaughlin, Ilori etc. This covers every defensive position comfortably but we still can't seem to defend corners! The problem I think is the lack of game-changing, match-winning creativity. For the last few months we have largely relied on Coutinho who is injured at present. Having Suarez back last night and seeing his touch and intelligence was great, but I feel we missed a trick in spending a lot of money to create a surplus of defenders when we should have splashed the cash on someone who could turn a game on its head. Eriksen comes to mind as an example. Our squad looks strong on paper and in numbers but once we lose our main creative talent the ability to carve out chances seems to dry up. We have only conceded 2 goals in the last 2 games (both from corners) but our problem is we haven't scored, and I think this is where we might come up short. Let's hope we put this right against Sunderland on Sunday.

26 Sep 2013 07:38:56
What shows last night is the size of Utds first team squad and ours. I hope we can go back to winning 1-0 & winning ugly. Sometimed you don't get what you deserve when you play well. I have to say we were very wasteful up front. We had enough good chances to bury Utd but didn't take one. A little bit of shooting practice required and the pressure is not turned up another notch for the weekend game. Good teams don't lose 2 in a row, they certainly won't want to lose 3.

26 Sep 2013 05:33:01
what is it with us and 1-0 socreline this season! after hitting the crossbars infinite times and unlucky attackers, seems to be the new vodoo with Liverpool!

for last game, against the defence of evans buttner rafael and smalling, jones(arguably the worst defence in epl) we should have scored atleast 2 goals.

26 Sep 2013 01:22:45
After tonight, not sure if Suarez/Sturrage is going to work as well as we'd hoped. There were signs of indecision with both of them when it came to "do I shoot or do I pass". There were a couple of occasions were Sturrage as a lone striker would recently have had no hesitation and gone for goal early but he tried to pass and vice versa with Suarez.

We need them both on the pitch, hopefully it's just work in progress

I thought the linked up very well mate

You watched a different game. Far more movement and invention from our front two than Uniteds. The final touch was often poor and Suarez clearly rusty. But we have two of the best strikers in the PL so please stop spouting nonsense.

26 Sep 2013 14:12:13
Suarez would score 20 goals this season.