Liverpool v Sunderland post match thread

[Mostar]

Other than the mistake Flannagan made for the goal, he was pretty woeful in everything he did. Nowhere near ready for the first time. He gave the ball away countless times.

Worst game he played for the first team.

Need to get GJ or Kelly ready for Arsenal.

[destinydude]

They won't listen though

Agree with this.

A fitter XI would have finished the game in the first half. We still have Gerrard and Johnson coming back into the first team remember.

Andy C did all he could. Too many long balls to him in the second half.

[anfieldanfield]

I thought Carroll had a decent game.

[Skrtelmania]

Gutted - been looking forward to today for ****ing ages.

[Jimbob]

It didnt make any sense starting Flanagan over Kelly, Kelly is by far the better player. Adam looked good first half. Enrique looked very good also.

You have to remember that half of the team were new-ish...it takes time.

[Leyton388]

Agree with this.

A fitter XI would have finished the game in the first half. We still have Gerrard and Johnson coming back into the first team remember.

Andy C did all he could. Too many long balls to him in the second half.

Winds me up that as with 20 minutes to go our back four mainly carra just reverts to the long ball as our only option and it annoys the hell out of me.

[Arn]

The long balls are a result of fatigue. Players are too tired to run with the ball. It was obvious as ****.

The players are simply not match fit yet. I said that that will be a problem the first games of the season a couple of weeks ago and it looks like I got that one right

Kenny also didn't correct the two against three in the middle problem soon enough. Bruce moved Larsson more into a central position and they owned the central midfield after that.

Bruce won the tactical battle against Kenny today

[Exiled_red]

Carroll was a little disappointing, when Suarez is on his game and buzzing around he can afford to just be a man to hit in the box, but when Suarez is off the pitch or isn't having as much of an impact as he can we need Carroll to offer more.

[Zapater]

I'm so disappointed about this match. I'm not going to blame Flanagan though. He had a good first half and has a great future ahead of him. If we had put the game away in the first half as we should have this wouldn't have become an issue. Regardless of his error it was a fantastic finish that most players wouldn't be able to stick away. I'm not making excuses for him but he's a young player without experience at this level and these things happen.

Not judging but a few things to note about the new boys which I had feared. Downing was promising but went missing for long periods especially in the second half where we needed something extra, Charlie Adam has absolutely no defensive capacity and will give away free kicks in key positions and even though Carroll had a good game I'm not convinced that his positives outweigh the negatives. I.e. all of the hoofing at the end was horrendous, just because we have an option with his height it shouldn't be our only route of attack. It happened on a number of occasions last season and I fear we'll see it again in the future.

Plenty of positives, plenty to work on too. It's the first game of the season more times than not we lose/draw it so there's no way today will dictate the season. The new signings were pretty promising so plenty to look forward to. But ****, I'm down about not winning a very winnable game.

[Mostar]

We threw that away, should have been wrapped up in first half. We looked bolloxed in teh second half, Downing,Adam & Lucas disappeared. Flanagan clearly is not ready, why on earth Kelly didn't start or at least come on in the second half i don't know.

Perfect time for us to get the 3 points in our first game at Anfield and show a sign of intent, get the good vibes going but alas same old same old. Shocking delivery to Carroll all game, he was isolated and Brown (was immense)had him in his pocket.

Carra looked ropey, thought Enrique looked decent, although his passing wasn't great. All in all a very meh performance and IMO a really bad result, regardless if it's the first gam eof the season. Early doors but dissapointing.

Early days but I have concerns about Carroll.

Deeps balls will not help and for crossing to work he needs to find his way to the box on time and he is at least one step behind.

Also needs to work and improve his heading the ball skills. He always seems to jump to early and heads the ball on his way down.

Really need one more attacking option as we cannot throw all eggs in one basket.

[davegrady1]

I made the same point little bit earlier.

We'll need to do whatever it takes to keep Aquilani.

Unless he's sold I don't get why he wasn't at least on the bench.

Agreed mate, no idea why he wasn't at least on the bench, could have used his creativity and movement.

Just looked like headless chickens in the 2nd half.

Passes weren't connecting and lacked that pressure high up the pitch

We can take a bit out of first half if we can play like that for 90 mins I think we will do well. Charlie Adam should def have taken that pen and Richardson should have saw red.

[lickedlollipop]

I thought Carroll had a decent game.

actually, he was most dangerous man on the pitch.

[Pablo]

I thought Carroll had a decent game.

So did I

And there was **** all wrong with this disallowed goal IMO.

[danperkins]

The players are simply not match fit yet. I said that that will be a problem the first games of the season a couple of weeks ago and it looks like I got that one right

Kenny also didn't correct the two against three in the middle problem soon enough. Bruce moved Larsson more into a central position and they owned the central midfield after that.

Bruce won the tactical battle against Kenny today

midfield got bossed in second half, although fatigue looked like a major factor IMO, especially with Lucas.

[Mattshark]

I thought Carroll had a decent game.

He was ok, I still don't think he offers enough personally. I thought Adam and Downing did well first half, both were poor second half and I still can't figure out what Henderson actually does. I thought we were extremely 1 dimensional in attack for a the second half.