Stoke: Post Match.

[Riche]

That's what ****s me off the most as well, above all other things.

[kemm1]

I was saying exactly the same a week ago, but it's not as of we're playing a new style of football but not executing brilliantly. We have decent players, players who should be able to at least do it partially successfully. We don't make runs and space for passes, we don't close down as a team and we don't keep any kind of tempo. There was no evidence of any new kind of football today, just us doing everything badly.

I see your point, however I think many of our players are below the level of decent. I think our midfield very is poor, bottom 10 in the League level. Our fullbacks, Suarez and Sterling are the only players who consistently display the attributes that you're referring to. Henderson, Downing, Allen, Shlevey, Sahin, Gerrard have all been poor in my opinion. Apart from playing poor I think Gerrard aside the natural ability just isn't there in our midfield. Don't know about Sahin didn't really see much of him before he arrived.

[CAD]

henderson, cole - yes i agree with.
shelvey - has shown he has got something to build on.
gerrard - correct although he can be used for another few years IMO
sahin - biggest disappointment for me. watched him at dortmund couple years back and expected more from him but he looks softer than hendo which is some going
lucas - he's a beast and will come good when fit again after a year out
allen - needs time to show what he can do further up field

We are talking about what's needed to get in top 4. Maybe Lucas could rise to the occasion with superb quality around him but let's look at what the other teams has. There is no doubt we are in trouble with the midfield.

If we have Johnson, Skertel, Agger and Luis fit that should be ok.

Suarez is quality.

The immediate issue is the midfield. We are thin and will never get consistency with the current material. No leadership, no strength, no real ability and no direction.

PS: I think calling for Rodgers at this stage is COMPLETE and UTTER kneejerk. Imo you are clueless if you think that.

[Mattshark]

We are talking about what's needed to get in top 4. Maybe Lucas could rise to the occasion with superb quality around him but let's look at what the other teams has. There is no doubt we are in trouble with the midfield.

If we have Johnson, Skertel, Agger and Luis fit that should be ok.

Suarez is quality.

The immediate issue is the midfield. We are thin and will never get consistency with the current material. No leadership, no strength, no real ability and no direction.

PS: I think calling for Rodgers at this stage is COMPLETE and UTTER kneejerk. Imo you are clueless if you think that.

[CAD]

Hi Matt - good to see you. Even on a night as painful as this.

[Fredo]

We should move on to the next match. Stoke is in the past now.

[TheElephantMan]

We should move on to the next match. Stoke is in the past now.

Yeah - close the thread!

[CAD]

We should move on to the next match. Stoke is in the past now.

Couldnt we just move in to mid August 2013 after a really good summer window??

[Mattshark]

Hi Matt - good to see you. Even on a night as painful as this.

You too mate, nice to see some thought put into posts.

I think people let the defeat get to them too much, we are a long way off the squad we want right now and we need to accept that as fans and acknowledge we will lose more games than we would like right now.

[the rev leeroy brown]

We are talking about what's needed to get in top 4. Maybe Lucas could rise to the occasion with superb quality around him but let's look at what the other teams has. There is no doubt we are in trouble with the midfield.

If we have Johnson, Skertel, Agger and Luis fit that should be ok.

Suarez is quality.

The immediate issue is the midfield. We are thin and will never get consistency with the current material. No leadership, no strength, no real ability and no direction.

PS: I think calling for Rodgers at this stage is COMPLETE and UTTER kneejerk. Imo you are clueless if you think that.

have i said that?

[CAD]

You too mate, nice to see some thought put into posts.

I think people let the defeat get to them too much, we are a long way off the squad we want right now and we need to accept that as fans and acknowledge we will lose more games than we would like right now.

Precisely! This will take time and then some more time. BR needs that time - we need it as well. Spot on

[BigChief]

Nice to see lots of old faces come back to the forum in this thread. Hello.

As soon as I saw Suso and Shelvey's names I knew we'd started with 9 men and so it transpired throughout the game. Can't beat an engine that is Stoke with only 9 men. On the flip side, we were never going to win this game at this point in our re-evolution so playing these two youngsters was good to give them a taste of real hard man's football.

As for the game today, a Liverpool under Rodgers in exactly a year's time will bum-r**e Stoke, at Stoke. Mark my words.

[el matador]

I was saying exactly the same a week ago, but it's not as of we're playing a new style of football but not executing brilliantly. We have decent players, players who should be able to at least do it partially successfully. We don't make runs and space for passes, we don't close down as a team and we don't keep any kind of tempo. There was no evidence of any new kind of football today, just us doing everything badly.

There's no solidity in midfield, he's supposed to be the pressing guru but all we do is drop off when the opposition have the ball.

There's nothing innovative to speak of that we could be positive about. If we were drawing most games you could justifiably say that forward players would make a big difference.

We're getting out battled and out thought in most matches and we've lost the appetite for the fight.

[Mattshark]

There's no solidity in midfield, he's supposed to be the pressing guru but all we do is drop off when the opposition have the ball.

There's nothing innovative to speak of that we could be positive about. If we were drawing most games you could justifiably say that forward players would make a big difference.

We're getting out battled and out thought in most matches and we've lost the appetite for the fight.

Bollocks are we. And we are drawing more games than anything.

We also know we only have one holding midfielder and he has barely played this year.

[Fredo]

There's no solidity in midfield, he's supposed to be the pressing guru but all we do is drop off when the opposition have the ball.

There's nothing innovative to speak of that we could be positive about. If we were drawing most games you could justifiably say that forward players would make a big difference.

We're getting out battled and out thought in most matches and we've lost the appetite for the fight.

Nope, we aren't getting out battled and out thought in most matches. That is not true.