Southampton (H) - Post Match

[Arn]

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.

Not really because we have played worse for every game.

Our attacking play seem to come down to great individual skill and not team play. That is a big worry.

We are either great or we stink. Nothing in between. We should have a basic system to fall back to by now but we don't. Stinks must be upgraded to bad if you know what I mean.

[Chazza]

Maybe we are slow starters?

I know I would rather be involved at the business end of the season than worry about performances in the first few games especially when we have won 3 of them without our best player.

[Shanks]

We will probably not be second after five games.

But we are..

[SB]

I was worried when i saw 4 CB's in the starting X1. Playing Sturridge out wide right was a strange desicion too.

[Arn]

But we are..

Every club hasn't played five games yet. We could be sixth if Arsenal, Tottenham and one of the two Manchester teams take three points.

[RichC]

Does the table matter at the moment ? Effectively we'd be 2 points off the top and level on points with Chelsea and one of the Manc sides after 5 games.

Pretty sure most would take that before the season started

[Arn]

A problem yesterday was that we had to many defensive minded players on the pitch.

We started the game with three attacking minded players, Aspas, Sturridge and Moses. Four after Alberto replaced Skrtel with 20 minutes or so left.

No wonder that you can't dominate a game if you don't have more attacking minded players on the pitch.

Southampton knew what they had to do to win the tactical battle, many teams do, and Rodgers didn't had a clue how to correct what he did wrong from the start. That is another worry, that we can't get back into a game after the opposition get on top of us and take over the game.

[Arn]

Does the table matter at the moment ? Effectively we'd be 2 points off the top and level on points with Chelsea and one of the Manc sides after 5 games.

Pretty sure most would take that before the season started

I would have taken 10 points if someone offered us that before the season but only just.

The thing that worries me most is that we don't have a basic tactic or system to fall back on when things get wrong. We totally fall apart in game after game.

We should be able to control a game at home against Southampton even if miss a few players. The system and tactic should take care of that.

As other have said, we lack a backbone in the side, fighting spirit etc.

We should at least not be out battled in the games but it is very easy to out battle us.

I do wonder why the players look so tired out there? Did we get the pre-season training wrong?

[The_weatherman]

I think it's entirely reasonable to be worried about the performances and the dropped points from very winnable games, losing at home to Southampton is not OK by any standards. I'm not anti Rodgers or anti FSG, I am just worried about what I see, and I think we are maybe overestimating our good start.

[SB]

A problem yesterday was that we had to many defensive minded players on the pitch.

We started the game with three attacking minded players, Aspas, Sturridge and Moses. Four after Alberto replaced Skrtel with 20 minutes or so left.

No wonder that you can't dominate a game if you don't have more attacking minded players on the pitch.

Southampton knew what they had to do to win the tactical battle, many teams do, and Rodgers didn't had a clue how to correct what he did wrong from the start. That is another worry, that we can't get back into a game after the opposition get on top of us and take over the game.

have to agree with that. I think we got it wrong selection wise & 2 deep lying CM's at home is odd IMO.

[lickedlollipop]

the fact i didn't watch that game until the end says it all. it's not i'm the "bad fan", it's just we played so **** that it was really unwatchable. in fact, back to the same old story. lfc lost winning mentality and i'm afraid rodgers isn't the right man for this job.

[baronvonskidmark]

It's only our first defeat of the season, so not the end of the world. We are in a good position 10 points from our first 5 games is a decent return, especially with Suarez to return.

Not scoring yesterday was always possible. Personally I think that we should not look at the opposition as 'just Southampton' but one of the best defensive teams in the league so far - better than Arsenal, United and Chelsea (off the top of my head). We have 2 of our best 3 attacking players out for differing reasons (you could also arguably include Johnson in this), one of whom is one of the best players in Europe. I think that if you stick Coutinho in to link play and Suarez in to create/score and combine with Sturridge, then the attacking threat is massively improved.

For me the most disappointing aspect of the game yesterday was that we conceded from a corner - with Toure, Skrtel, Agger and Sahko on the pitch. This really should not have happened. But 10 points so far - including an away win at Villa and beating United - and the return of Suarez leaves us in a decent position imo.

[RichC]

the fact i didn't watch that game until the end says it all. it's not i'm the "bad fan", it's just we played so **** that it was really unwatchable. in fact, back to the same old story. lfc lost winning mentality and i'm afraid rodgers isn't the right man for this job.

First loss in 13 games and he's lost us our winning mentality and isn't the right man for the job

Priceless

[wiw]

3-1-1 record so far which equals Chelsea and we all wouldve taken at the start of the season I think.

Today proved to me that we may have a good first team but our squad isn't quite there yet, especially with 3 key players out.

3 things worry me from it..first the obvious 4 CBs that just did not work but I can at least understand given Johnson is out, Enrique wasn't 100%, Cissokho out and Kelly isnt ready yet.
The second was our tempo though and this has happened 2 games running. Where the **** is it? Its disappeared.
Thirdly Sturridge clearly cannot run properly or shoot with any force yet he has started every game so far. Lets just let him recover ffs

[lickedlollipop]

First loss in 13 games and he's lost us our winning mentality and isn't the right man for the job

Priceless

wait and see, that's all. goodbye