West Brom (h) post match thread

[captainfog]

'kinell Nigey, it's not so black and white that you can say we only conceded one goal therefore our defenders had a good game. Lovren got away with it today a couple of times. What about when he wandered away from his man giving away a free header that they should have scored from? He did a few other crap things as well.

He's not playing very well at all.

[Mark79]

Did we concede at a set piece today (well obviously we conceded a penalty but I'm talking about corners)?

Not today, no. So problem solved you think?

Still conceded a lot of soft goals from them lately.

[Glenn Hysen]

Disaster As if we're shipping 5 goals each game. I'd say Man Utd's defence is a disaster, not ours.

We'll always concede the odd stupid goal with the way we play. That won't change as it's symptomatic of the risks we take in playing at a high tempo and committing men forward.

[danperkins]

Lovren & Skrtel seem to be Rodgers preferred pairing so we're going to have to deal with it. They were decent vs Southampton it was the midfield that got over run Gerrard & Hendo where poor, vs City with Moreno's non clearance & Lovren at fault for the other goals, vs West Ham granted both were ****, both were solid vs Everton and Jagielka scored a wonder goal(Lovren's weak header out to Jagielka wasn't great if nit picking) & vs West Brom Skrtel was solid & Lovren had mare.

It's not a disaster but it's not ****ing good that's for sure. Mignolet not being dominant enough in the box doesn't help & Gerrard leaving gaps ahead of the CB's also doesn't help. Lovren seems to feel the need to vacate his position and he seems to find himself way outside the box leaving us exposed at the back. Either it's nerves/rush of blood/pressure etc & seems to feel the need to push out into areas where Stevie is or should be. He was running around like a man man yesterday, miskicking balls & letting runners get in behind him.

When we signed Lovren, he was bigged up a bit too much as the leader,organiser etc when most had rarely even seen him play! Previous i had seen him play some games for Lyon, some live games for Southampton, highlights MOTD & the World Cup. From the little i'd seen of him he was never stand out & nowhere near as good as some have made out 'but' he certainly isn't as bad as he showed so far... not a chance. He's looked mediocre and to be fair to him he's isn't.. he has looked a decent enough CB from what i've seen of him previously. Maybe he isn't dealing with the pressure so well, like Ricky Lambert who also looks like a lost boy out there.

He has been awful, has it got to the stage where we drop him Or stick with what seems is Rodgers preferred choice of CB's? I can see why we would drop him but switching the CB's pairing again is a dangerous game & sooner rather than later we need some continuity back there.

[rodo]

leaving 2 up at there corners might have helped not concede from one

[RedRum]

Players should be dropped if they aren't performing. I'd be tempted to play Sakho and Toure to see how that plays out.

[rodo]

swansea in the cup would be good to see that for a laugh

[frank the tank]

Do you still think that Lallana is the next Stewart Downing who will be with Sam Allardyce in a couple years time though? I know its early days but that's two solid performances from Lallana which is two more than good old Stewie offered in his first few games for us. Plus a goal which Downing took a long time to manage.

He cost £25m.....that is about 10 to 12m too much for the player he is.....he cost slightly less than fabregas.....more than rakitic........more than blind.......more than Kroos........£20m more than xabi alonso........

Of course I want Lallana to do well......but I know we could have got a better player for the money we spent. And anyone who spouts the "the fee doesn't matter once it's spent" line is a fool - because when we can't find the extra dough when someone like hummels or Reus becomes available then it is the team that suffers...

[Roboklopp]

If we paid £25m for Lallana we probably overpaid by maybe £5m, but then there's the English mark-up.

I'd have liked fabregas too but I imagine his wages wouldve been pretty huge- especially once Chelsea got involved.

Lallana has aleady shown more for lfc than Downs did in his entire time here.

[Roboklopp]

Much more concerned with the £20m we spent on Lovren or that whilst Markovich might become worthwhile given time, we needed someone to bit the ground running.

[frank the tank]

If we paid £25m for Lallana we probably overpaid by maybe £5m, but then there's the English mark-up.

I'd have liked fabregas too but I imagine his wages wouldve been pretty huge- especially once Chelsea got involved.

Lallana has aleady shown more for lfc than Downs did in his entire time here.

Why pay the "english mark up" then??? Thats stupid...

Downing was ****e alright. If lallana or lovren dont work out though, we will be hoping that allardyce or pulis or bruce or hughes takes a 5m gamble that they can get a song out of them. If moreno or balotelli or origi or can dont work out, then we are likely to get back 70% of the fee paid......just like we did with aspas.

[RichC]

The thing is the club seemed comfortable with what they've paid for him and so far he's showing himself to be a good signing for us offering more options and creativity in the final 3rd of the pitch.

[Roboklopp]

We paid the English mark-up cos we deemed it worth it. I don't agree with it for some players- Downing & Carroll for example, but Lallana clearly seems to be hitting the ground running- which is part if what you pay that premium for.

[frank the tank]

Much more concerned with the £20m we spent on Lovren or that whilst Markovich might become worthwhile given time, we needed someone to bit the ground running.

agree big time on lovren. When you consider the fee on sakho a year beforehand as well, then that could be a problem for BR and the committee....they will find it hard to go back for another 25m or so when they decide we dont have one top class centre back at the club. I suspect one of the next big signings will be a top defensive midfielder that can help out the defense big time (maybe emre can could end up doing that?)

Getting back to lovren though, i think the attributes that BR thought he would bring to the team (leadership, organisation and no-nonsense defending) are all lacking. Im hoping be settles but i think we are potentially going to be in a position in 18 months where we are still giving out about him and skrtel!! Hummels would have been dreamland but if he wasnt available then i think someone like shawcross at stoke would have been a better fit.....pljs he ticks the boxes of a typical BR signing - a guy who probably was unlucky not to make it at a top club and internationally (sturridge, coutinho)

[Fierce]

He cost £25m.....that is about 10 to 12m too much for the player he is.....he cost slightly less than fabregas.....more than rakitic........more than blind.......more than Kroos........£20m more than xabi alonso........

Honestly, are you really this ****ing stupid?