Liverpool vs Sunderland post match

[el matador]

That is Roys best team (well seen as he refuses to start Agger it is)

That side included 4 players Roy had signed plus 3 WORLD CLASS players. He cant hide behind Rafa Benitez imo

He played 4-4-2 AGAIN which is we dont have the personnel to play

He plays Meireles out of position in this 4-4-2

He plays Gerrard in midfield again a man who has scored nearly 60 goals in the previous 3 seasons from a position just off the striker

We were gifted a goal so this result was more fortunate than a hard won point

We lack discipline, organisation and commitment. We have absolutely no shape and we are playing far too deep

Sunderland had more possession than US

We looked to lump the ball constantly, we didnt pass the ball on the ground and when we did it lacked incisiveness

I just dont see it improving if anything you could argue we have gotten worse

i agree with this too, but its the use of meireles behind fernando that confuses me the most. He has scored 16 league goals for porto in about 5 seasons, his passing although decent isnt incisive enough to open up defences, and gerrard from that position just cannot help torres.

Its depressing to see us play so bad and winning 5 europa league fixtures isnt going to appease anyone.

[Shaggy]

End of story, Bruce, you hypocritical crony cunt.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/why-kuyt-goal-was-correct?

The Professional Game Match Officials have released a statement after reviewing Dirk Kuyt's opening goal in the 2-2 draw with Sunderland on Saturday afternoon.

The Dutch star's fifth minute strike came under media scrutiny after it was suggested Makems defender Michael Turner had not intended to take the free-kick in the lead up to the home side's goal.

However, the PGMO have responded by issuing the following statement: "PGMO has reviewed the first goal scored between Liverpool and Sunderland and believe that the correct decisions were made.

"According to the Laws of the Game, having stopped the game for any infringement the referee is required to "indicate the restart of the match".

"In practice, in the majority of cases, referees indicate for the re-start by gesturing to players to take the kick. These gestures can be minimal. For the more important 'ceremonial' free-kicks, which also involve control of the defensive wall, referees can indicate by using the whistle. However, there is no requirement by Law to use the whistle to make the indication.

"The ball is then in play when it is kicked and moves. So, in this case, the ball was in play as soon as it is kicked by a Sunderland player.

"Also, the Laws state that the free-kick must be taken from the place where the infringement occurred. Again, in this case, the referee correctly determined that the free-kick was played from the right place."

[Neil Young]

I saw it on MOTD and it was obvious the ball was in the right place. Once again the resident "analysts" entirely failed to fulfil their job description.

At least on Football First Dave Bassett used his brain. I know - who'd have thought?

[Shaggy]

I saw it on MOTD and it was obvious the ball was in the right place. Once again the resident "analysts" entirely failed to fulfil their job description.

At least on Football First Dave Bassett used his brain. I know - who'd have thought?

Didn't see that? What did Dave 'I don't ever know when to stop talking' Bassett say?

It was obvious the ball was in the right place by using the stripes on the pitch. Shearer and co's 'analysis', if I remember rightly, consisted of a bit of laughing and saying "we all know what Turner's trying to do there". Great stuff Alan, great stuff.

[Neil Young]

Didn't see that? What did Dave 'I don't ever know when to stop talking' Bassett say?

It was obvious the ball was in the right place by using the stripes on the pitch. Shearer and co's 'analysis', if I remember rightly, consisted of a bit of laughing and saying "we all know what Turner's trying to do there". Great stuff Alan, great stuff.

Shearer is woeful.

Bassett said he could see why the referee had allowed the goal. The ball was in the right place so there was no need for Turner to kick it if the keeper was going to take it, the mistake was Turner's, not the referee's, etc.

He then said it all again in about five slightly different ways before having to pause for breath.

[Shaggy]

Bassett's chronic verbal diarrhoea really makes me laugh sometimes

[Lecter]

i agree with this too, but its the use of meireles behind fernando that confuses me the most. He has scored 16 league goals for porto in about 5 seasons, his passing although decent isnt incisive enough to open up defences, and gerrard from that position just cannot help torres.

Its depressing to see us play so bad and winning 5 europa league fixtures isnt going to appease anyone.

He didnt play Meireles off Torres yesterday

He played him WIDE RIGHT!!!

It was straight 4-4-2

Meireles Gerrard Poulsen Cole
Kuyt Torres



We should be playing 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1

Meireles should be next to Poulsen who should be under strict instructions to HOLD

Meireles should be allowed more freedom (box to box maybe)

Kuyt on right, Cole on left and Gerrard playing off Torres

That to me is the minimum he should be doing

I'd actually go further, I'd play Agger alongside Carragher and I'd be tempted to start either one of Kelly or Aurelio (obviously fitness permitting) at leftback

[The_weatherman]

He didnt play Meireles off Torres yesterday

He played him WIDE RIGHT!!!

It was straight 4-4-2

Meireles Gerrard Poulsen Cole
Kuyt Torres



We should be playing 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1

Meireles should be next to Poulsen who should be under strict instructions to HOLD

Meireles should be allowed more freedom (box to box maybe)

Kuyt on right, Cole on left and Gerrard playing off Torres

That to me is the minimum he should be doing

I'd actually go further, I'd play Agger alongside Carragher and I'd be tempted to start either one of Kelly or Aurelio (obviously fitness permitting) at leftback

It's so frustrating because it's obviously our best team setup in the best way that suits everybody...........

[Roboklopp]

Aye, that's hardly rocket surgery.

[Arn]

I still don't know why he signed Meireles and Cole. None of them fit into the system Roy want to play and is now trying us to play.

The right signings would have been a big strong striker and a Cattermole type of midfielder.

I said a few days ago that I didn't knew what system Roy play. I think that he plays a hoof the ball and hope for the best type of system but I'm not really sure. When we sometimes keep the ball on the grass then we simply don't seem to have a clue how to play, not a clue at all.

The goals we score is not because of our system, it's down to some brilliant moves by our top class players. A brilliant pass from Agger, a clever move by Torres and so on.

In two games now Roy have acted like a baby that know that he got it wrong but don't care because he want to prove his point right. The game against City and yesterday against Sunderland. Two against three in the middle and at same time no pace on the wings.

That is the type of tactical mistakes that you almost never see a manager do. It's embarassing to see our manager make decisions like that. It's worse than schoolboy mistakes because even they know that the system Roy play simply won't work.

He must start to use a system that fits in with the players he got and not a system that we don't have players for.

[CJ]

I really dont understand how we are playing badly

sky have told us for years that we should get rid of this stupid zonal marking as it doesnt work

sky have told us that SG should play in CM as its by far his best position

so surely sky cant be wrong can they?

[Shaggy]

On the mark as ever.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-league/liverpool-sinking-towards-meltdown-as-fans-vent-fury-2353377.html

The corporate man at Anfield -- and there are a lot of them these days -- was getting worked up at half-time. He grabbed a minion on the stairs in the Main Stand.

"Of all the days to be showing a great game of Benitez's, today is not the f***ing time." Sky were showing Liverpool's Champions League victory against Olympiakos which started Liverpool's improbable journey to Istanbul and this was not a day for a history lesson.

When Steven Gerrard celebrated his equaliser against Sunderland at Anfield yesterday, he did so with almost the same passion he had shown when he scored the crucial goal that put Liverpool into the knock-out stages six years ago. Liverpool's priorities have changed.

Liverpool have one win in six Premier League games this season but that is not their crisis. Exiting the Carling Cup at home to Northampton is not their crisis either. Roy Hodgson might have been going too far when he said afterwards that "I cannot see the drama" of that defeat but, equally, winning the Carling Cup and the FA Cup wouldn't solve Liverpool's problems.

At the end of the game, the PA announcer at Anfield announced that the club was aware that "supporters were planning to peacefully demonstrate in respect of the ownership situation" and asked the crowd not to behave in an uncontrolled manner. This was astonishing: the club were sanctioning a protest against the owners of the club.

In the corporate boxes and in the stand they chanted and turned to the Kop where thousands remained and sang, "They just care about money, they don't care about the fans, Liverpool Football Club is in the wrong hands."

The Liverpool players, on the field to warm down, did not know what to do. They had dropped more points and they were in the middle of a club sinking in every possible way. Carragher and Gerrard applauded the Kop as they jogged by but they were entitled to be confused.

In the city centre yesterday morning, the supporters' group, Spirit of Shankly, met to discuss their options as Liverpool teeter on the brink. They will protest but also they will look for fan ownership in the club.

Within weeks, Liverpool could be owned by the British taxpayer, in the form of the Royal Bank of Scotland, and they may also enter administration and face a nine-point penalty, which would leave them on minus points. Most Liverpool fans would probably prefer that option to the continued involvement of Hicks and Gillett.

They are said to be exploring ways of avoiding that penalty which would surely lead to a legal challenge from Liverpool's rivals. At the moment, that challenge is more likely to come from a relegation candidate than a Champions League side.

Liverpool are now astonishing for many reasons, few of them good. The club that has won the European Cup five times is now weeks away from meltdown. The destruction of England's most successful club is not Hodgson's fault. But he is not the man to create the illusion on the field that it's not happening.

Benitez's achievement in keeping Liverpool competitive while Hicks and Gillett destroyed the club for all but his final season is now looking even more remarkable as things enter a vital endgame.

Sunderland were the better team yesterday. Until he scored, Gerrard had been just another anonymous player for Liverpool, out-thought and out-played by Jordan Henderson

Liverpool's opening goal was bizarre. Sunderland's Michael Turner rolled the ball back to his goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, intending that he would take a free-kick. Instead he had already taken it. Torres took the ball and set up Dirk Kuyt. Sunderland came back when the dreadful Christian Poulsen handled the ball and then took the lead before Gerrard's equaliser.

"We're not playing like a fourth or fifth place side at the moment," Hodgson conceded. He then pointed to the strange results across the league as some justification for what had happened yesterday at Anfield. The problem is there was nothing strange about Liverpool's result.

- DION FANNING at Anfield

Sunday Independent

[Roboklopp]

Aye, couldn't agree more. I wonder which "corporate man" that was.

[Arn]

Benitez's achievement in keeping Liverpool competitive while Hicks and Gillett destroyed the club for all but his final season is now looking even more remarkable as things enter a vital endgame.

Finally someone that admits how important the CL money was and why Rafa had to put the CL as priority one.

Without the CL money we could already been out of business.

[Pablo]

"We're not playing like a fourth or fifth place side at the moment," Hodgson conceded.

That's The Holy Grail for him isn't it? 4th or 5th place , he's small time, everything about him screams small time, this guy's not a winner.