Stoke (A): Post Match

[kingfunk]

As in...if he was another clubs assistant manager you would instantly hate him, but because he's our assistant manager he is no less punchable, but you let him off.

[vonk]

What?....I never mentioned anything apart from Ings replacing Coutinho who scored the goal. You're putting words in my mouth. I would of started with Can on the field and Lallana on the bench. Not a big fan of his.

You picked on Rodgers almost subbing Coutinho to bash him, yet conveniently ignore the Can one, which almost no-one called, which changed the game. But you have your agenda, so carry on.

[baitman]

the singing when coutinho scored was amazing.
it was like the shackles of frustrations from last season were thrown off and the travelling support could finally shout out.
we need flares

no Dom, not the pants

[SK]

Paper over cracks that win. No real progess from last year. Same amount of stupid defensive mistakes, we were just lucky Adam and Johnson did not finish them off.

Midfield pairing of Hendo and Milner is not good. There has to be another holding player in there, so their running abilities are utilized.

Attack hardly threatened their makeshift defence, but with Benteke, Phil, Bob and Ibe thats the area with the least issues.

Not confident about the season, but we should have too much for Bournemouth

[Fierce]

That's the ****ing spirit son!!

[Chris]

That's the ****ing spirit son!!

Even when winning away to nil at tough venues we are still in absolute crisis.

[Bender]

Paper over cracks that win. No real progess from last year. Same amount of stupid defensive mistakes, we were just lucky Adam and Johnson did not finish them off.

Midfield pairing of Hendo and Milner is not good. There has to be another holding player in there, so their running abilities are utilized.

Attack hardly threatened their makeshift defence, but with Benteke, Phil, Bob and Ibe thats the area with the least issues.

Not confident about the season, but we should have too much for Bournemouth

Was always going to be difficult against Stoke and always is,thought we did ok considering.Early season still have Firmino,Can and eventually Sturridge to come on,Partnership between Philly and Firmino will be key to our strikers.

[vlahka]

You picked on Rodgers almost subbing Coutinho to bash him, yet conveniently ignore the Can one, which almost no-one called, which changed the game. But you have your agenda, so carry on.

You're an idiot. If I had an agenda I would of had plenty to say in the match thread during the game like many others did, which I dont see you harping at them over it. I didnt mention Can because I was talking about Coutinho. But for your peace of mind I was pretty annoyed at seeing Can on the subs bench and not on the field. He's an excellent player and should be on. Stupid not to. I also wanted Lallana off from the start. I dont find him useful half the time and would be better as a sub. He also gets muscled off the ball way too easily, as it was mentioned many times in the match thread. Not the sort of player you put on during a game with Stoke. But yes, Rodgers master stroke by fixing his own mistake.

[Lecter]

Even when winning away to nil at tough venues we are still in absolute crisis.

Flipside of that is that some are claiming this as a real statement of intent when the reality it is neither crisis nor some guiding beacon of our brilliance

That game told us nothing imo, neither side performed well enough to make any informed judgement

[Angryred]

FFS, a win at Stoke is always welcome!...one of the toughest away venues outside the other big clubs...even them big clubs know that away to Stoke is a battleground!

A marked improvement from last year so it's a step in the right direction...onwards & upwards with another 3 points at home to Bournemouth before heading to the Emirates with confidence...Arsenal's next game is away to Stoke so are they certain to get 3 points there?...hell, no!...Stoke don't lose easily at home & certainly not two in a row!
Hopefully Arsenal will be under pressure from their fans when we meet them...

[wiw]

Even when winning away to nil at tough venues we are still in absolute crisis.

Flipside of that is that some are claiming this as a real statement of intent when the reality it is neither crisis nor some guiding beacon of our brilliance

That game told us nothing imo, neither side performed well enough to make any informed judgement

Surely the attitude and determination of the players is the most important/telling part of it? Teams rarely hit their stride in the first game and given we had new players in the team and played quite compact it didn't surprise me that we looked a bit blunt in attack. The most pleasing thing was seeing us contest every ball, give Stoke some kicks and looked determined to win and turn the screw near the end.

After seeing us aimlessly run around at times last season with no apparent team shape to speak of I was quite encouraged

[Lecter]

Surely the attitude and determination of the players is the most important/telling part of it? Teams rarely hit their stride in the first game and given we had new players in the team and played quite compact it didn't surprise me that we looked a bit blunt in attack. The most pleasing thing was seeing us contest every ball, give Stoke some kicks and looked determined to win and turn the screw near the end.

After seeing us aimlessly run around at times last season with no apparent team shape to speak of I was quite encouraged

I'm not sure it showed even that

Stoke didnt look up for it either physically

Far too early to make any judgement calls based on that

We won thats it

[The Birdman]

Flipside of that is that some are claiming this as a real statement of intent when the reality it is neither crisis nor some guiding beacon of our brilliance

That game told us nothing imo, neither side performed well enough to make any informed judgement

The game told us nothing?
Honestly Lec? you're turning into someone driving an agenda. All summer you've said Rodgers will try and fail to implement his 4-3-3.
Well the 4231 we started with was functional at best, what it did do though was protect us, we were boring but we were also still in the game and rarely in any trouble.

His substitutions changed the game, Can into the holding role and switching to a 4-3-3 with Henderson and Milner pressing changed the game, for the last 25-30 minutes we controlled the game and played much better.
Also after scoring we were more of a 451 out of possession, again something we didn't always do, our game management was much better, more pragmatic and less idealistic.

No we weren't amazing, yes it took a wonder goal to win it but if anyone else had done that they would be lauded, because it's us and Rodgers people try to find fault.
An away win, keeping a clean sheet is a great result in any league.

When Can and Firmino are fit/sharp enough to start we'll be much better, good enough for top 4? who knows but only Liverpool fans can moan about an away win at Stoke keeping a clean sheet.

It's only one game, what did it tell me? that Rodgers is learning and adapting or he's listening to O'Driscoll and Gary Mac, either way it's progress.

[Lecter]

The game told us nothing?
Honestly Lec? you're turning into someone driving an agenda. All summer you've said Rodgers will try and fail to implement his 4-3-3.
Well the 4231 we started with was functional at best, what it did do though was protect us, we were boring but we were also still in the game and rarely in any trouble.

His substitutions changed the game, Can into the holding role and switching to a 4-3-3 with Henderson and Milner pressing changed the game, for the last 25-30 minutes we controlled the game and played much better.
Also after scoring we were more of a 451 out of possession, again something we didn't always do, our game management was much better, more pragmatic and less idealistic.

No we weren't amazing, yes it took a wonder goal to win it but if anyone else had done that they would be lauded, because it's us and Rodgers people try to find fault.
An away win, keeping a clean sheet is a great result in any league.

When Can and Firmino are fit/sharp enough to start we'll be much better, good enough for top 4? who knows but only Liverpool fans can moan about an away win at Stoke keeping a clean sheet.

It's only one game, what did it tell me? that Rodgers is learning and adapting or he's listening to O'Driscoll and Gary Mac, either way it's progress.

Oh ok

I thought we were poor as were Stoke, shades of last season again in terms of possession and play

Its hard to say how functional we were because Stoke did nothing to threaten

[Chris]

I'm not sure it showed even that

Stoke didnt look up for it either physically

Far too early to make any judgement calls based on that

We won thats it

So theres no positives to be drawn from winning at one of the toughest venues outside of the obvious like Chelsea etc? Well apart from the 3 points but they dont really count anyway as Stoke were **** and not up for it!

This place is mad.