Liverpool Banter Archive April 29 2014

29 Apr 2014 23:12:56
Ed I know this topic is done to death, but soo many players slip in games do you think players should think of wearing good old fashioned studs, as the pitches are so well watered with either rain or sprinklers in the good weather.

{Ed002's Note - Or wellington boots.}

Or Stevie G slippers lol

29 Apr 2014 21:15:02
Do you think Liverpool will look to make signing(s) before the World Cup, or are we going to wait until after? Or does it depend on the player (if he's going to the WC)?
Logical the sooner the club signal a player, the better ad the player would be at the club training etc.

Thanks in advance!

{Ed002's Note - I cannot answer questions about timescales.}

I think and hope after the experiences lately with Salah and Konoplyanka that the club will have prioritised targets already and would want to get most, if not all signed and done early in the window to avoid missing out. Obviously the World Cup could hinder progress. I don't anticipate that many signings tbh as the season has really established Flanagan, Sterling and Henderson. We maybe need 3/4 players in, I would like to see Suso back, Borini has had a great season as has Assaidi, but he may be surplus and moved on.

29 Apr 2014 21:07:21
By reading some of the posts you'd think City have won the title already.
It's not over yet people!
Have we not learnt, especially this season, that you cannot take any game for granted. Any team can beat another on any given day, even Everton.
Man City have to win all three.
I think there's another twist yet in this title race.
Lets hope so

Let's hope so indeed mate. Devasted and had all but given up on our title after Sunday's result, but was reminded of Jimmy Greaves' "It's a funny old game" quote from back in the day. Anything can happen between now and May 11th. Who knows?

As long as there are games left and we`re still in the box seat, there is still hope because City haven`t won those games yet and the pressure will be immense because they have been handed the title by all and sundry and we all know how they struggled against QPR in the last game of the season in 2012. We go again and keep on keeping on. #Believe!

I am loving these kind of posts. Double contradiction!

"Have we not learnt, especially this season, that you cannot take any game for granted. Any team can beat another on any given day"

So Palace or Newcastle could not take points from US?

Lets take care of Palace and Newcastle. Forget what City are doing and see where were at on May 11th.

I think that was the point vrcomp, if we win our 2 we are not out of it, must admit it does feel a bit like we've just lost the league around here!

29 Apr 2014 20:33:46
gutted for alonso really gutted. why don't they scrap this rule?!?!

It's his own fault really though mate.

He's experienced enough not to go needlessly sliding around 1 yellow away from a ban when the games already won

I don't they were 3-0 up and he wasn't in a dangerous position. The tackle was a deliberate foul and if it was in a different position it would have been a red!

Of what benefits the rule though? don't we want to see the best players play in the final?

Thought he slipped myself tryed to pull out of the tackle if you ask me

It would've been a red? Seriously?

Take away the rule and you will see injuries and really dangerous tackles when players get desperate.

29 Apr 2014 18:19:45
It would a shame if we loose the title on good with City, After outscoring every other team in Europe and bagging goals for fun, Shows we need a Good defense precisely full Backs.
That being said, Goals wins u matches, Defense wins u Titles.

That last sentence made no sense. Surely it's winning games that wins you points, which ultimately wins you titles. A combination of the 2 would surely be best practice.

Chill man you're just having a go at him because it's Harry. That statement does make sense, a lot of people say it.

Heres a question has a team ever won the premier league or old first division on goal difference I tried googling it couldn't find a answer

{Ed002's Note - Yes - certainly in the mid 60s (64-65 I think).}

Harry? I'm sorry but that really doesn't make sense. If defense wins you titles then Stoke should have won a premier league title now. A combination of the 2 is what win titles: Barca, Bayern, United, City. Stoke were one of the best defending sides in the EPL era, consistently low goals conceded, but they haven't won a title. Chelsea are not normally a defensive side to that degree, they're in the position now because their midfield is second to none and their defense is solid, if they had a proper striker to convert the plethora of chances they get they'd have won the league by now.

Giblet - Michael Thomas '89 (Tragic!)

Of course 89 my mind was blank cheers

Didnt city win it on goal difference before?

Sorry if I am being stupid here but, didn't city win the prem on goal difference two seasons ago? .

City won on Goal Diff in 2012.

I know it certainly applies to basketball. You can have a terrible night offensively, but defense comes down to will and effort. You can always do your part on the defensive end.

29 Apr 2014 16:14:33
I think Brendan shown abit of “Naivete” (in a French accent on Sunday).
A draw was suffice.
Its like my mate Nick would say, if you go into the ASDA and you can get your shopping for the week for £75, you don’t try and get it for £95 do you.
A draw would have made us favourites and £75 gets you your scran. You don’t need a win and you don’t want your shopping for £95

Play for a draw in front of 45,000 fans who have paid at least 50 quid a ticket? no thanks

29 Apr 2014 17:20:22
It wasn't naivety Rodgers wanted to massage his ego and try show the world he's as good as mourinho either way it didn't work

No idea what you're talking about, to be honest. We didn't start chasing the game and looking desperate until the 2nd half when we were already losing so a bit difficult to play for a draw then. In the first half we were reasonably composed and created a few decent chances while keeping Ba (and Chelsea in general) largely out of the game offensively.

Easy to say that in hindsight, if we had drawn then drew with palace people would be saying why didn't we go for the win against a weakened Chelsea side

I agree with RDL. A barmy analogy, if I may say. I reckon, if we hadn't conceded when we did, as the game panned out we may have been a tad more cautious than usual, with a draw in mind. All in the past now and we move on.

At no time did we expose ourselves until we needed the goal, yes we could have sat back and played for a 0-0, but that's not us! Ba's goal was an uncontrollable error, nothing could be done!

It wasn't naive. Chelsea would never have scored against us if it wasn't for an accidental slip at the wrong time in the wrong part of the pitch. If the slip hadn't of occurred then we would have gone in 0-0 at half time. BR would then have assessed his options, but instead was left with one option, we had to commit to attack in the 2nd half to get back on level terms, and another error led to their 2nd goal. They defended well, we played ok but couldn't get through, one slip changed the entire game, that's all, a split second, a slip and the goal was scored.

I agree with Meltham; a draw for Chelsea would've meant a probable 3rd place finish.

If at half time / 60 mins gone Mourinho would've probably tried to change it - unfortunately it was us chasing the game and he could keep to the tactics he wanted.

I think Rodgers was right to do what he and the team were comfortable doing and that was attacking; it also probably gave him (Rodgers) a lot to consider for next season when more teams are likely to part the bus when playing us.

Here's hoping he learns from this in time for the last two games / next season.

29 Apr 2014 22:27:18
I don't see our tactics in that game as Naiive at all. I think that although we were very attacking as always we were not quite as open as we have been recently.
I also look and think we were safe defensively until an unfortunate and costly mistake meant we had to be more adventurous in the second half, because were going for the draw.
Thats football and the irony is that Everton could do us a favour. Fourth is not entirely out of their reach. Just unfortunate that they have Distin, Jagielka, Barry and possibly Baines unavailable for the match against City! Not good to have 4 of your 5 starting defensive players out.

If you can, look at the game again on the LFC channel, we made some basic mistakes, and were very unlucky, but at 44/45 mins on the clock, I want the ball in their goalmouth, not ours, get that ball forward to a red shirt in space, Bill Shankly said Football is a simple game .

Hope Everton will have two of those players on the field for the City game, though you would have to think that City will prob get the 3 points, as Everton seem to have lost momentem .

29 Apr 2014 13:18:48
Phew! The poll of the day is a bloody tough one to answer isn't it?

The choice of silverware over style?

I thought I would automatically choose silverware, but then I was thinking about watching Gerard Houllier's and Rafa Benitez's teams when they finished runner-up.

Compared to this season's league campaign I would not want to go back, but to win the Premier League title would be incredible.

I will need more time before I can answer

Jose or fat sam over Brendan???

After watching how chelsea played on sunday I would rather poke my eyes out than watch that crap football on a regular basis. I thoroughly enjoy watching our flowing attack, absolutely brillant.

I would watch any football as long as it wins my team things.

Give Chelsea and Mourinho credit, they respected the football that our side played but sneaked out with three points.

Tbh, it is a hard one, as I'd love something in between, if that's possible that is! For the odd game a year, I would love to be able to play slightly different to get the result we need, but that would be hard with a squad of players we need to play our style over a course of a season in all tournaments!

Basically like fergie then! Attacking football scores goals, but wins the tough games too! Brendan can break down the smaller teams, maybe a change in tactics for big away games and ones in Europe and we could get best of both!

I'd choose the attacking football all day long. It entertains, it excites - just look at our season thus far, it has been exhilarating. It would be quality if we won the league but if not I don't think many fans could complain about the football we've been treated to. I've always liked and respected good football - I hope we continue to play it, league title or not.

29 Apr 2014 12:28:54
Picture this:

Last day of the season - Liverpool and City both sit on 83 points and City have the superior goal difference.

City are winning 1-0 with 5 minutes to go when Andy Carroll scores a bullet header to draw the game level at 1-1.

Meanwhile at Anfield Newcastle are proving a stubborn test under the pressue. The score is still 0-0 on the 90th minute and news filter through that West Ham have held City to a draw! We know that all we need is one goal to win not only the game, but the league title. Deep into the added time we score and send Anfield into delirium.

Who would be the player you'd love to see score it fellow reds? (Ed001?)

My pick has to be a 30 yard screamer from Stevie.

Remember lads, impossible is nothing.

{Ed001's Note - I would like it to be either Lucas, because he is such a lovely lad and gone through hell for the club, or the latest whipping boy for everyone's hate, Aspas. Stevie already has a hundred of those moments in various competitions for us, it would be enough that he captained us to our first league title in over 20 years, in my opinion.}

Mingolet header 93rd min header after rodgers gives him all clear to go up for final corner. or kolo putting the ball in the right net!

Very good answer Ed. I must admit, Flanagan crossed my mind, and so did Aspas. Didn't really think of Lucas. I suppose that's part of what makes him a great choice. Even people like me who rate him highly can sometimes forget about him. Perhaps he deserves some spotlight!

{Ed001's Note - the first one that came to mind for me was Flanno, but then I just remembered when Lucas was sat in the dressing room a broken lad because of the abuse he received from Liverpool fans during a game. I just think he deserves it more than anyone, he has put his heart into the club, gone through abuse and ridicule, and never once let it stop him from trying. Most people would have put two fingers up to the crowd mentally and given no effort for the cause. Lucas just worked harder in training and made himself a fixture in the side through his own efforts and won the majority of the doubters over.}

Great question. 1 an old style agger pile driver or Flanagan with a class finish like against spurs.

29 Apr 2014 13:31:30
Joe Allen, Lucas assist, One hell of a moment

Mignolet haha or Henderson to see his celebration haha

Sturridge has a simple tap in but instead squares it to an oncoming Suarez who scores instead to break the PL record for goals scored. No one ever calls Sturridge greedy again.

Alternatively, Henderson. Love the kid.

Yep, Lucas for sure. Then Hendo then Flanagan. Give me the fairytail ending for sure, not sure my heart could take it though.

Lucas or Hendo for me

Gerrard, just so that the legend doesn't ever feel like he has let the club down.

I would love to see Kolo, Lucas or Hendo win it for us.

Penalty. Gerrard steps up to take it - we all know we are in safe hands - oh no, it looks like he slips, scuffs his shot but sends the goaly the wrong way and it rolls into the back of the net! A moment of brilliance as he is the best football player in the world - yes he is!

Kolo toure

Mignolet scores a 93rd min volley and Anfield goes crazy. But wait a min the ref assistants flag goes up, our hearts are being broken ref Howard Webb runs over and after what seems a lifetime he overrules his assistant and the goal stands.

Krul, would nt give a rubbish as long as it stood, but dreams don't come true mate I'm affraid . We've only got our selfs to blame .maybe one day

The chances are Lucas wouldn't be on at that stage of the game at 0-0, haha.
Me, I'd go for Gerrard so he could put the songs about him to bed in style. There might be a few more tears, as well.
Maybe Vic Moses to rub it in with 'them lot' and their manager?

Aspas all day long with the amount of stick he gets from the fans he really need that moment

Henderson overhead kick, I can see it already!

For me Skrtle deserves it more he's took loads of crap from fans, and he's mor likely to score than Lucas.

Gerrard walks up to Krul with 4 minutes to go, slips him a cheque, 2 minutes later Krul inexplicably drops the ball into his own net, gerrard breaks down into tears as he lifts the trophy!

Aspas. Deserves more time, it's frustrating that he doesn't get it.

An Aspas corner hits the referee on the edge of the box, it wrong foots the keeper and goes in.
Anfield delirious
Etihad gutted
Mourinho, congratulating the official?
Carlsberg season endings, probably the best in the world
YNWA

It's the last minute the ball goes out for a throw Liverpool keen to get the game back on and Pardew keeps hold of the ball; Skrtel wrestles it from him causing Pardew to fall over.

Skrtel throws to Sakho and run's forward; Sakho holds it and then launches it as Skrtel reaches the 18 yard line; he goes for the header but Pardew chasing him pulls him back; the ball hits pardew on the back of the head and spins into the far corner.

It's got to happen hasn't it? lol

I go back to EMS original thought. Stevie pile driver. Not a dry eye in the house as he looks up to the skies and dedicates it the 96. The trophy is coming home and we are back on our perch. Bring in the clowns to celebrate because there's going to be a party!

Easy

back after suspension.

Sunderland man.

against Newcastle.

Henderson!

29 Apr 2014 10:32:53
Ed001 what do you think of Sundays game do you feel we got our tatics wrong I personally don't but I no you hat the center halves splitting like that and we now no why

{Ed001's Note - tactically wrong? No. That was a mistake, but the overall tactics were fine, to take control of the ball and attack them. It was more the pressure of a title run getting to people and they were making silly errors, not just Gerrard. Skrtel and Sakho should have dropped off when the ball was played in to Gerrard, that should be automatic, to provide cover when the ball is central. Then there were all the shots from long range and the hopeful crosses to no one in particular. They were the sign of a team trying to force a goal due to feeling the pressure, rather than staying calm and playing another pass. Hopefully the players will learn from this and come back stronger. At the end of the day, you have to have setbacks to become mentally stronger. If everything comes easy day after day, the moment you do have a little bump in the road you fall apart. So this could be the making of our team.}

Read many comments about tactics being the reason we lost. we lost because of a bad touch that lead to a slip. I thought tactically we looked superior all over the park. we just lacked that bit of patience in the final third and dare I say it a bit of luck. what was glaringly abvious sunday was our lack of attacking options on the bench.

It was Sakho, from the LB position, who had played it to Gerrard ed.
Skrtel was over by the RB area.
If you've noticed from re-starts, BR often gesticulates to the players for both CBs to go wide and leave the middle of the pitch free?

And a glaring lack of penetration down the wings.

I have read this board and so many of the posts from Sunday/Monday.

The tactics were not wrong in the slightest. We dominated possession and were not trying to force the win in the early stages. it was a poor touch that cost us the game, nothing to do with how we set about the formation and passing style etc. The large criticism is that we panicked and struggled to break chelsea down when we were chasing. All this has been explained by nev and carra though. I don't think you can blame BR and the way Liverpool set up. It's just one of those tough life lessons you learn from.

Think of it like working out. To build your muscles you have to tear the fibres. Its grueling and causes you pain. However when the muscle heals it is stronger than it ever was before.

We will be better because of this and Rodgers will now realise that we have become a team to fear. Teams will come to Anfield to spoil and it's now up to Brendan to reinvent his philosophy so why are not so easily stifled.

That's what Elton John once said East Midlands Scouser.

{Ed001's Note - to The Juicer, yes but both should drop back as soon as the ball is played across there. In fact, for me Skrtel would have dropped deeper before hand, then Sakho dropped straight on playing the ball. It was what I was always told, the centre backs drop off to create an option for a pass, to draw out the opposition and to cover in case of a slip. The deepest man should never be the central one, as that is asking for trouble. It is different when the opposition have the ball, but when you have it, the wide defenders (used to be one full back and one centre half while the other full back advanced, when I was a kid, nowadays it is the centre backs splitting) cover and make angles to receive the pass. I know times have changed a little, but the basics are still there, the last line of defence should always be a little behind the ball. If a centre back has it, his partner should be dropping off slightly to receive it. If you are on your own 18 yard line, you should never be receiving the ball square, it always goes forwards, otherwise your cover won't have time to get across before the opportunity can be taken. It is a common error amongst defenders that are not being put under pressure and their team is dominating. They get over confident and gradually inch forward as the half wears on, stop dropping off to cover, and usually they get away with it. These things happen, but when a mistake happens, it is important to learn from it to stop it happening again. Stevie slipped, but the fault was not really his, no matter how bad he feels about it.}

Stevie slipped after letting the ball roll under his foot. He may have got back to hack Ba down outside the box if he hadn't slipped though.

Cant help but agree with Ed, that maybe this is the learning curve we needed to help build our team to become mentally stronger and comeback from setbacks in games

We will be better for this experience, no let's look towards Palace and do what WE CAN DO; which is beat them as heavily as possible.

29 Apr 2014 08:13:48
Liverpool Played Fantastic, they won more matches in a row, than I have remembered in quite sometime! Finish! You only can worry about what is in front of you! Get 6 pts out of the 6 remaining. And if anyone does us a favor vs City, I will gladly buy a Pint for a fan of their team!
BR had the right tactics, Chelsea also had the right ones. I Guarantee and so do a few CFC fans that I call 'really bad friends' but they somehow thought they were brilliant. But I think they were more lucky than skilled. Without a doubt, If Gerrard even plays the ball and kicks it out, the final would have been 0-0. The 2nd half might have actually been 1-0 LFC since CFC would not have been maybe so much in a tight shell on D. Only reason the 2nd Goal came along was LFC had 10 men forward.
Match was, what it was. Now go get 6 more pts, and maybe even West Ham can give us a Championship day miracle? I will hug a Everton fan too if they gift us it as well. To all Everton Fans, Do it for Merseyside!
YNWA, C-Mon, Heads up and focus!

The Everton "fans" want their team to lose so that LFC don't win the league.

thankfully, their manager and players are professional.

His tactics failed tbh, we should have approached this game like we did against westham, be patient keep moving the ball to suarez in dangerous areas but we didn't do that and kept crossing aimlessly and shooting which was exactly what chlesea wanted

The pressure got to the team on sunday and what brendan should have told them at half time was not to panic and keep playing our football.We have suarez sterling coutinho who aren't the tallest players, so who were we crossing for?How many times did suarez have the ball at his feet in their penalty box

Jessie, 2 things, West Ham are a different kettle of fish to chelsea and please direct me to your post telling Rodgers what tactics to use BEFORE the game. Once again Hindsight!

29 Apr 2014 06:15:00
"If Chelsea were playing at the bottom of my garden, I'd shut the curtains"

And turn the sprinkler on

And have the most beautiful produce!

Pape, beautiful? Na!

{Ed001's Note - I think he means because there would be a lot of sh....erm fertilizer on it.}

Thank goodness for Ed001.

{Ed001's Note - just glad I read it right, very difficult sometimes on the net to figure out meanings.}

29 Apr 2014 02:41:38
Say all clubs below the top 6 or 7(no offence) go to the Bridge and resort to the same tactics as Chelsea how pi55ed would Mourinho be! Just for banter thanks.

He was quite pi55ed when West Ham did it earlier this season.

28 Apr 2014 23:51:31
Bad day at the office yesterday lads but we must keep the faith, have a feeling there is one more twist to come hopefully in our favour.Anyway reading an interview over here in Ireland with Roy Keane who was saying that a lot of the blame with the first goal must go to the two centre halves yesterday.He reckons that when you play that system the two centre backs must always be ready to react to a slip or a mistake like Stevie's and not get too far ahead of the deep lying midfielder.I have to say when watching us play when Stevie has the ball in that position the nerves jangle especially with our back 4 pushed up so far.Keane also backed Stevie to come back as good as ever and said"that can happen to anybody but he's a top top player", wonder who he's getting at there?

That`s the way we`ve been playing the whole year and have smashed teams doing that (11 in a row for that matter) so for keane and even Carra to start blaming that for the reason is quite naive and smacks of pettiness. The bottom line was Stevie took his eye of the ball and slipped in a moment of desperation to retrieve his mistake. End of story. These things happen. Terry slipped while taking a penalty that could have won Chelsea nd Avram Grant the CL in 2008 and was inconsolable BUT bounced back. SG will too because he will NEVER allow this to define his season and legacy. We are still top and City have to do their part and catch us and they will be under a lot more pressure than us because everyone has handed them the title so we`ll see what happens. #Wegoagain.

Completely agree Redohio, it had little to do with genuine football tactics by Mourinho, unless you can regard constant time wasting in keeping the ball out of play 'tactics'. The ref was at fault for not booking Chelsea's players, and in so doing allowed them to keep doing it for the entire match. Stevie's unfortunate slip right on half-time changed everything. We were doing fine and if we had gone in half-time 0-0 I believe the second half would have followed a similar pattern - we would not have chased the game as anxiously as we did. Football did not smile on us on Sunday. We go again and walk on with hope in our hearts. If City slip up let's hope we take advantage. JFT96.

Spot on jeffinho

28 Apr 2014 23:11:28
Everton fan here, what is it with you lot?.You think we are going to rollover for City?.Not a chance, they will need to be amazing to beat us on Sunday.We still want fifth place, it's the final home game of the season and we have beat City the last five times they've been here.Pains me to say it but Liverpool have been the best team in the league this season and deserve to win it.

Thankyou very much non bitter blue, I applaud you for your sportsmanship. I would personally like to see both merseyside clubs get in europer this year, you definately deserve it, getting tired of the gunners scraping the 'arsenal cup' every year

Paul, I have been saying the same thing through out. The Everton players and staff are professionals and couldn`t be bothered about what becomes of LFC`s title hopes. Some fans must be really stupid to think pro players give two ffs about crap like that. Majority of Everton fans want their team to finish strong and sign off with a win on the last home game of a season where they have made great strides and Martinez has revolutionized Everton`s style and long may it continue. If their win helps us in any way, good on us and them BUT only stupid fans would think the players and the true fans like urself would let the players just roll over and let City step on them. City will have to bring their A-game in order to beat everton come Sat. Here`s to hoping.

Paul, we got that idea from some of the so called Everton fans, Daveyboy and someone else, posting here that they hope Everton lose to City so that LFC don't win.

Take this back to your page and ask mate.

Beat city your 3 points of 4th still must fight