West Ham post-match

[Lecter]

An all round ****e fest basically. Ah just when you get the glimmer of hope that LFC are making a push, clank!!! Straight back down to earth.

I've expected this you cant turn things around overnight

The best you can hope for is a steady improvement with the occasional dip in form

Provided the general trend of the curve is upward then thats about as good as should be expected

Worrying thing is now the injuries are mounting and we look dreadfully short

[el matador]

i think the 3 centre backs compensates for a few failings in our squad.

skrtel is a disaster waiting to happen and will give at least one chance away per game. carras legs have gone and he cant play in a centre back pairing. our best centre back is agger and he cannot be relied on.

we dont have a wide player worthy of the name so having 2 wingbacks offers some width.

neither two of lucas meireles and gerrard is good enough to dominate any game.

given we have serious problems at centre back, centre midfield and out wide the 352 seems to be the best option by offering 3 centre backs, 3 midfield players and 2 wingbacks.

unfortunately today west ham showed the way to play against us. when our defenders have the ball press them and man to man mark our central midfield. our only option left is the long ball and centrebacks arent gonna lose headers against suarez or kuyt.

west ham win the second balls and dominate the game. they win the midfield battle.

with no bite in midfield they played through us everytime. andy carroll will make a difference but no idea when he's gonna make an appearance.

i think thats the best

[inijjer]

I think today we learnt:

Our defence needs sorting, I've had my doubts about Skrtel, he makes too many mistakes for me he is always likely to make a mistake like we did for the 3rd goal today. We need a couple of good centre backs who have decent pace and can play the ball from the back.

People are saying he had a bad game. I don't see it myself. That 3rd goal was a result of us being 2-1 down with a few minutes to go, committing everyone forwards and leaving 1 v 1 at the back.

We lost the game in midfield in the first half.

[Lecter]

Johnson was abysmal today Matt. Fair play to him for getting the goal but he was useless throughtout, actually what does he do? As was Skrtel whom you constantly defend, car wreck of a defender.

Suarez was our best player today.

Skrtel was ****ing ****e today, thought Johnson was ok nothing more nothing less

[RichC]

As regards Skrtel, been saying it for so long now, he is a complete pussy. All the tattoos and the skin head means **** all. He is a CB thats does not win headers and gets constantly pushed off the ball, he is terrible of the ground and terrible in possession.

Summer time IMO he should be shipped out, complete liability. I actually prefer Soto

I agree in terms of Skrtel, he for me is just not good enough and there are far too many mistakes on far too a regular basis

At least with Soto you know what you're getting, he'd have been a better bet today.

[calvoboy]

Biggest problems today was tactics. We were outnumbered and overrun in cm for most of the game. But this was partly because gerrard and cole in midfield were off the pace and unable to impose themselves. When they attacked, Wilson and skrtel were not up to it defensively.

Ultimately though we just couldn't match their intensity. They were playing like their lives depended on it, too many on our side were playing at half pace either due to ability or fitness.

[danperkins]

Your constant attacks on Johnson are tiresome at best

I bet your the type of person who goes to a game and abuses a player for most of it until they score then you are jumping around celebrating like a mentalist

Find me my post attacking Johnson mate

I said he was a crap defender in which he is and i think most LFc fans will agree, and also said i'd like to see him played further forward, which most LIverpool fans will also agree. Make sure you have the right username before you post pal

[PaddyPool]

Most worryingly is that Reina hasn't looked at the races recently.

Worried re that meself mate- prelude to something else ??

[Mostar]

I say abysmal as he had no defense responsibility today and had a role in which he should thrive on, i much prefer him away from the defense but just a squad player IMO for next season, or sell.

He didn't play on the right but on the left until Kelly's injury and even though that is not his preferred side he was biggest threat we had in the first half.

Imo we should keep him as we need to have players compete for each and every position.

Today was a prime example of that where for example Kuyt and Lucas played terrible and we just don't have anybody to properly replace them.

[RichC]

Biggest problems today was tactics. We were outnumbered and overrun in cm for most of the game. But this was partly because gerrard and cole in midfield were off the pace and unable to impose themselves, and Wilson and skrtel were not up to it defensively.

Ultimately though we just couldn't match their intensity. They were playing like their lives depended on it, too many on our side were playing at half pace either due to ability or fitness.

Good post, sums the game up pretty well I think

[Lecter]

We (IMO) have 4 average CB's plus Agger. Cramming as many of them onto the pitch at once is not the way forwad imo

352 is fine when you dominate the ball, but we were deep and flat as ****

We looked much better when we changed shape but it was far too late. Wilson is not ready by a long shot

We played 4-4-2 the whole of the second half!!!

3-5-2 like most formations works when you do the basics (put pressure on the ball!!!)

When you dont do that you struggle

first half there was zero pressure on the ball

Second half it was an improvement but not by much really

[danperkins]

Skrtel was ****ing ****e today, thought Johnson was ok nothing more nothing less

Johnson was average IMO, very dissapointed as i expected much more form Johnson getting forward. Much prefer him with less defensive responsibility though

[kemm1]

I worry for Gerrard long term nothing to do with performance wise today but think about formations

He cant play central midfield in a 4-4-2 because he vacates the midfield space too often which puts pressure on your other central midfield player to be outstanding defensively

We dont look like we will play a system where he can play off the front man

When we play 4-3-3 we give Raul licence to push on which again means you have the same problem as you would in 4-4-2

Agreed, but the media and many fans absolutely REFUSE to accept that argument with Gerrard.

Gerrard is not a centre mid IMO, he should play off a main striker that is easily his best position. Centre mid is not all about drive and being a great athlete it's about controlling and dicatating the game like Xabi, Fabregas, Scholes, Xavi and Pirlo does; Gerrard is a great player but he's not that type of player.

[danperkins]

He didn't play on the right but on the left until Kelly's injury and even though that is not his preferred side he was biggest threat we had in the first half.

Imo we should keep him as we need to have players compete for each and every position.

Today was a prime example of that where for example Kuyt and Lucas played terrible and we just don't have anybody to properly replace them.

Fair points mate

[Exiled_red]

Now Kelly is out - probably for a while I worry about the left back slot (presumably Johnson will switch to RB). Wilson was out of his depth today, Aurelio I am unconvinced by also I don't think Kenny has played him there at all yet (and he's injury prone). I don't want to see Agger back out there (when he's fit again). What do we do? Recall Konchesky?