Stoke (A): The Match

[Fosterbloke]

Nicely done from Lallana, ****ing off the apology from the Stoke player.

[McDermotX]

HT

Sluggish and disjointed.

Stoke gradually becoming the better side, but **** all in the way of quality attack from either team.

[Kenneth]

A game that wouldn't look out of place down the park. Utter garbage.

[ChesterDave]

Slow to get going. Think Ibe and/or Gomez are candidates to be replaced either at half time or soon after.

Think Firmino might get a run out later.

[Fosterbloke]

I think Lallana needs to go off and be replaced by Can, get Coutinho off and play Ings alongside Benteke.

[Keyser Soze]

HT
Slow, slow, slow.
No service to our striker - Coutinho and Lallana the main culprits.
Rodgers always starts the season with this 4-2-3-1 formation and then works out it's not working - looks like we're going to have to dance to that tune again.

[danperkins]

We need a DM so that Milner and Henderson can actually play their normal game. Everyone's so deep, whelan and Adam are getting so much of the ball.

[marcus50bucks]

I alluded to this a few weeks ago and that is we're no longer explosive on the counter attack. Miss Sturridge and Sterling. I hope Markovic will come good because we definitely lack real pace now.

[peekay]

5-0 reversal from our last game

Benteke has worked hard upfront. Much better than what I expected him to be. He needs support though. We are too slow in our passing. Taking too much time in building attacks.

Take of one of Coutinho/Lallana or both for Firmino.

[captainfog]

Turgid. Can't remember one attacking move where we threatened their goal.

[el matador]

Adam lallana needs to do more in this game. He's the senior attacker in this team and he isn't taking enough responsibility to create something. Coutinho isn't fit and Ibe is a kid.

[topscorer]

I wouldn't say Stoke are playing that well. Sure, they've had more of the ball but they're the home team. They haven't been threatening bar the odd defensive brain fart from ourselves.



It's a typical early season game with little tempo or continuity.

I think they've had several breaks that broke down because they couldn't get the shot away, due to rustiness. The Johnson shot for example.

They've looked far more comfortable with the ball and have pressed us very well when they don't have the ball. They get back behind the ball quickly when an attack breaks down.

I don't think they've made any mistakes defensively so far.

We, however, look slow and labored on the ball. Poor passing, poor defending and bad positioning. Have we even had a shot on goal in the first half? I don't remember one.

We are supposed to be a team challenging for the top 4 so our starting level should be higher than the starting level of Stoke.

And finally, considering the humiliation we suffered from them in the last game of last season, we should be 'up' for this game a lot more than Stoke. We've got something to prove, they have nothing to prove.

[Chris]

Need Firmino's class in the second half, Skrtel has made 6 or 7 little errors that thankfully havent cost us yet.

[baronvonskidmark]

Well that was a tough watch

Yeah everything was so so slow. I like the way Milner tried to push on though.

Coutinho was pretty ineffectual and didn't show his usual control and Benteke wasn't really involved as much as we'd like but was isolated.

The biggest problem seems to be linking the midfield and attack without just booting it long to Benteke or just switching it consistently to Ibe.

[tanner]

5-0 reversal from our last game

No Sakho this time