v West Brom (A): Post Match

[Fosterbloke]

I thought that's why we bought so many players with good close control and vision, Lallana, Markovic, ballotelli etc.

[baitman]

Most of our passing came from someone standing still, and went to someone else who was also standing still.

Pass and move... R.I.P

[little dave hedgehog]

strikers who can replace luis suarez, or even danny sturidge, don't exactly grow on trees. not sure how much we can blame the setup when you take 50 goals out of the side and the few players who could really add something up top for us don't want to come. we know one of them just wanted to live in london...it's not necessarily a wage issue. if you were a top tier player, what teams would you be holding out for? us, or chelsea, barca, real--the clubs who can guarantee success?

bottom line is you take 50 goals out of any side, and they are going to struggle. replacing them was never going to be an easy, straightforward process.

[Bender]

No but having spent £100+million plus and not really adding much quality is very dissapointing...plus the players look clueless and bemused

[RichC]

Two areas have really cost us this season a fit capable striker and a presence in midfield both of those positions have had knock on effects to the style and set up of how we've played this season. For me if we can get these two positions right this summer we'll see some of last seasons signings coming good.

[BG1973]

No its fine. What I'm saying is - we needed to go out today, and show fight after the poor loss last weekend. But all he's done is sat somewhere different to normal and drawn attention to himself. Its always about him. If not, then why do it? What is there to gain? It was purely about the focus on him- In my opinion

I think you're spouting A grade horse**** just to draw attention to yourself.

It's all about you.

Why else would you do it?

[Marvel]

Its a tough game to judge. West brom were happy to defend their 18 yard line and look for the odd counter. We had all the ball, but we never got through them. There wasn't any penetrations but that's not something we can beat Rodgers with. Tony pulis is a very good defensive coach and teams with better attackers than us will struggle too.

Its a lost opportunity but there was plenty of effort. Just very little quality.

The Rodgers sitting down thing was unusual and I felt sorry for him because something's obviously wrong. He looked forlorn.

[Vermilion]

If BR is dehydrating Slinky then he has to go, and go now!

[Exiled_red]

During the game yesterday a few things became more apparent to me about our style of play this season and last and where the problems lie. I think that everyone knows we are missing goals, the loss of Suarez and Sturridge has ruined this season.

The reason we were so effective last season (aside from the goals) was the high tempo, pressing and pace that the front line offered (and this was then backed up by the rest of the side). Our strikers were constantly looking to get in behind, and their pace meant that the opposition defence couldn't push up the field, similarly when they had the ball at the back there were these 2 or 3 fast forward players closing them down and keeping them forced back or making them clear long. Without all that pace defences can push up a bit denying our midfield more time on the ball, with less pressing they have more time. At the same time our strikers (Balotelli, Lambert and to a lesser extend Borini) don't look to run in behind which is really what our midfield are looking for. This is probably the reason Rodgers has tried to go with Sterling up top rather than one of the other strikers.

At the same time much of the season we have played with wingbacks which means we really have more players in central areas which makes it even more difficult to play though sides, and again doesn't help or suit the likes of Lambert of Balotelli.

For me going back to the same style of play that we had last year even if the players playing it aren't as good as Suarez, that would make a huge difference IMO. Because to be honest I don't think the squad that we have is bad, it is certainly capable of making the top 4 if we have the strikers.

IMO this summer we just go all out for a hard working striker who looks to get in behind defences and will get goals, if there is any money left we look at strengthening one or two other positions with players who should go into the side immediately, we don't need any more squad players.

[danperkins]

Most of our passing came from someone standing still, and went to someone else who was also standing still.

Pass and move... R.I.P

our movement is absolutely ****e & we are an average side in posession. Side to side, slow predictable football....affords teams time to get a shape behind the ball, in which inevitably we struggle to break down as we are toothless upfront. Rinse and repeat.

22 shots masks a poor offensive display. We only had 5 on target and rarely worked the keeper - in fact out best passage came in probably a 20mins period not long after the second half started, but we never looked like scoring, bar the Ibe effort against the bar and Henderson's followup after Cout's powder-puff shot.
Right from the first few mins it was clear we were going to be afforded lots of space and time by WBA, who were always going to make things tough in the final third, but our lack of movement and guile was always apparent, and our carelessness on a couple of occasions at the rear could have ended in defeat very easily.
Other than Countinho, who sparked into action every now and then in that final third, we had no-one looking for the intricate, no-one thinking outside the box and instead we followed an almost automatic pattern of losing momentum and allowing WBA to compress our space around the edge of the box. Mario playing in midfield, Sterling producing nothing, Ibe, not as bad, but still found it difficult to bring the ball inside. Less said about the midfield's dumbness the better.

But other than that, we were outstanding.

very little in the way of good chances, mostly bluster. We pushed and pressurised because they were happy to sit deep and counter or use the long ball over the top... Pulis 101. All bark and no bite from us. The passing was so slow and predictable & in possession we were ponderous and easy to play against.

We are not a quick fix or a few players away from turning things around... it's deeper than that IMO. The balance of the team is off, we have no idea what our best 11, we have no idea what our best formation is for that 11 or any 11 for that matter. We have no leaders or balls in the team & our transfer policy is absolutely baffling. What are we trying to do exactly?

Really trying to remain on the fence until the end of the season but we look a mess on and off the pitch. So many things have cost us this season.

- Terrible recruitment in the summer
- Injuries
- Trying to accommodate Gerrard
- Persisting with under performing players in the first 3 months.
- Naive tactics

4 of these unfortunately are down to Brendan. 3 years down the line & things look as up in the air as when he first arrived. There has to be some clear sign of intent or direction. Everything seems aimless at the moment & we fall right back into the second tier of the league again, which is a poxy place to get out of unless you have unlimited funds....which we don't.

[Leyton388]

I just get the feeling that not much is going to change in the summer. Rodgers will still be here, the committee will stay in place, there will be no mass exodus of the ****e signed last summer and our new striker will be £25m berahino.

Its hard to feel positive about LFC at the minute as we prove to be our own worst enemy. Even Andy Carroll would have been better than Mario this season.

Surely there's some young striker in the U21 team that we should give a chance to as they can't do any worse than no goals Mario.

[Shaggy]

I think there'll be some committee dismissals and Brendan will survive.

[RichC]

Dear lord

1. Recruitment I agree with it wasn't great but mainly due to two main positions not being adequately covered the central midfield area which allowed far too much exposure to our defensive unit so much so we've had to accommodate how poor they are with supplementing it with an extra CB due to any combo of Sakho, Skrtel, Lovren and Kolo not being up to doing their jobs properly. The striking issues are well documented losing one of the best players in the world alongside Sturridges well documented injury problems was always going to be a tough job but the players we ended up with have been nowhere near the standard or have the required characteristics for how we wanted to play.
2. injuries - problematic of course but again rolls back to not having the right recruitment and previous depth of squad to deal with them.
3. Gerrard - I'm not sure anyone could have seen just how far and quickly he'd fall in terms of performance but again it comes back to who else we have available.Lucas of course but another player that can't stay fit for any length of time
4. What other choice did we have, some could have been dropped but wholesale changes wouldn't have worked either the problems we had were down to a lack of movement and work rate up top putting more pressure on the midfield and defence which showed as it was wasn't up to it.
5. Naive tactics - not even sure what this means other than an easy sound byte to throw out there, the 4-3-3 didn't work due to the lack of movement up top and pressing leaving our midfield and defence exposed, 4-4-2 again we didn't get to see much of due to lack of options and the 3-4-3 was moved towards to help with the defensive issues we had whilst also recognising the lack of options for how we want to play up top. Problem with this is the centre of midfield gets congested and without runners in behind I.e Suarez and Sturridge breaking sides like West Brom down will be tough when they camp on their 18 yard box.

Two main areas need to be fixed this Summer the striker options that suit the way we want to play perhaps Origi will help to an extent with that but we will need to also bring in a real 15+ Goal scorer IMO to help cover off Sturridge and also someone to take control of the midfield that can offer both cover for our defence but also help link to our attacking options.

Essentially recuitmemt this Summer is key but really in those two areas if we get them right and allow us to move back to a front foot pressing game with movement up top we'll also see more from the likes of Lallana and others that signed last Summer

[dww]

I think there'll be some committee dismissals and Brendan will survive.

I wonder how much of it is down to the individuals though. Perhaps the details of the system need tweaking. I think the targets identified, with the exception of Lovren, last summer were quite good.

Balotelli was clearly a panic buy at the end and we should have had more options that were a natural fit. In the end we were possibly right not to go for another crock in Remy but he could still have contributed more than Mario.

[Boogs]

Also our pass and move to space seems to have stopped in the last few weeks. I didn't see yesterday's game but we are far to static and waiting for the ball and there is no movement so limits options so we go backwards. Other games after Christmas we found it again but now the players look lost for want of a better word.
It's odd.
The Gerrard issue to me looks like he put his body on the line last season and it's ****ed him.