Southampton (H) - Post Match

[little dave hedgehog]

2nd in the Prem after 5 games.. without Suarez..
Sunderland, Palace, Newcastle and West Brom to follow..

Everyone on here would've taken that at the start of the season..

Chill yer beans, It's all good.

i certainly would've taken it with "and looking stronger in each match", but if you include "and looking worse every week" then it looks less impressive.

[Kenneth]

The points are a positive and the fact that they have been largely gained somewhat fortunately could also be seen as such, but we've played well in one of those games and our manager has really struggled to overcome the problems of missing personnel. More of the same will not be good enough to stay on par with our competitors for fourth.

[Shanks]

Centre midfield, on the other hand, is a real issue. The imbalance of the Gerrard-Lucas-Henderson trio is the core of team's instability.

Eh?

They have played in every league game of which we were unbeaten up until today..
Didn't hear anyone complaining when we beat United with the three of them playing..

I'd be looking at injuries to Johnson/Coutinho and new additions blending in, as to reasons why we may have come unstuck today..
Not laying the blame at those three..

[Shanks]

Shanks!

Timing of the post

Mine was a general one, not aimed...

[Shanks]

i certainly would've taken it with "and looking stronger in each match", but if you include "and looking worse every week" then it looks less impressive.

Worse every week until we have Suarez, Johnson and Coutinho back..
It does show our lack of strength in depth with that though..

Frustrating when you see the likes of Mata and Willian not even playing for Chelsea today.

[Arn]

Eh?

They have played in every league game of which we were unbeaten up until today..
Didn't hear anyone complaining when we beat United with the three of them playing..

I'd be looking at injuries to Johnson/Coutinho and new additions blending in, as to reasons why we may have come unstuck today..
Not laying the blame at those three..

How many of those games have they won the midfield battle? I would say one, against Stoke.

We have the best defensive mid in the league, Lucas. We have Gerrard, excellent player. Something is clearly wrong when you lose the midfield in game after game with players like that.

We have our strongest midfield since Masch and Xabi and we still lose the midfield in game after game.

IMO it is down to that they got more or less no help at all from our attacking players. Aspas stinks when it comes down to the defensive bit and so do Sturridge and Coutinho. Only Henderson is good tracking back and help out.

Moses also isn't exactly great at the defensive bit.

I think that one point that isn't mentioned that often is how good Suarez is tracking back and help out getting the ball back and press high up the pitch.

Not a single attacking player that played for us this season is good doing that. Not a single one.

Getting Suarez back will also help Lucas and Gerrard a lot. They will get a lot more help thanks to Suarez hard and clever work.

[The_weatherman]

2nd in the Prem after 5 games.. without Suarez..
Sunderland, Palace, Newcastle and West Brom to follow..

Everyone on here would've taken that at the start of the season..

Chill yer beans, It's all good.

But we are not really second are we. Two of Spurs, Arsenal, United and City are most likely to overtake us by at least two points. Then there is Stoke as well who can level us.

[Chazza]

But we are not really second are we. Two of Spurs, Arsenal, United and City are most likely to overtake us by at least two points. Then there is Stoke as well who can level us.

Regardless of that would you have taken this position at the start of the season?

[The_weatherman]

Regardless of that would you have taken this position at the start of the season?

Yes, but not two games ago, doesn't mean I´m unhappy with BR overall just unhappy we have lost 4 winnable points over thw last two games.

[Arn]

Before the season I would say that most of us expected us to beat Stoke and Southampton, that is six points.

At least a draw against United, 1-3 points.

Then get 1-4 points Swansea and Villa away.

So minimum eight points and max 13.

Two points better off than minimum. Better than expected but not by much. Our play is worse than expected.

[Shanks]

Yes, but not two games ago, doesn't mean I´m unhappy with BR overall just unhappy we have lost 4 winnable points over thw last two games.

Look upon it as gaining and extra 5 points over the Stoke/Villa games..
We drew with Stoke and lost to Villa, both at Anfield last season..

[Shanks]

Two points better off than minimum. Better than expected but not by much. Our play is worse than expected.

Depends on your Expectations I suppose..

I didn't Expect us to be second after 5 games, so for me that's better than Expected..

[Arn]

Look upon it as gaining and extra 5 points over the Stoke/Villa games..
We drew with Stoke and lost to Villa, both at Anfield last season..

That wasn't good enough then and isn't good enough this season.

If we want to get a top four place then that is the type of games we must win.

If we drop points in games like that then we must win other more difficult games instead.

[Chazza]

Before the season I would say that most of us expected us to beat Stoke and Southampton, that is six points.

At least a draw against United, 1-3 points.

Then get 1-4 points Swansea and Villa away.

So minimum eight points and max 13.

Two points better off than minimum. Better than expected but not by much. Our play is worse than expected.

Arn I don't think you can predict results early in the season and especially not this year with so many managerial changes.

Does the fact that we have not picked up points and not played well be a bit of an encouragement?

United have started seasons badly many a year and ended up as champions (not that I expect us to be challenging for the title)

We have Suarez, Johnson and Coutinho to come back and we will get better.

[Arn]

Depends on your Expectations I suppose..

I didn't Expect us to be second after 5 games, so for me that's better than Expected..

We will probably not be second after five games.