Liverpool vs West Ham Post Match Thread

[Lecter]

The Lucas inclusion was certainly unnecessary.

I've seen far worse Liverpool teams though

Does anyone think excluding Lucas would have stopped us conceding those goals??

Equally Lucas didn't play against Bournemouth and Stoke and we created very little in those games

[RichC]

No, the game plan went out of the window after the first round of mistakes for the opening goal.

All 3 goals were piss poor and through errors rather than system

[fidget]

No, the game plan went out of the window after the first round of mistakes for the opening goal.

All 3 goals were piss poor and through errors rather than system

Was the lack of chances created also down to individual errors ?

[Muddled]

I'd say it was a very resolute West Ham side who will cause teams problems on their travels. They deserve some credit for making us look ordinary.

However, Rodgers has problems breaking teams down that are set up defensively and has done for some time. Perhaps when we see the Sturridge, Benteke partnership we'll see a variety to our attacking game that is currently missing.

[RichC]

Was the lack of chances created also down to individual errors ?

Nope what's your point

* don't answer I can guess

[RichC]

I'd say it was a very resolute West Ham side who will cause teams problems on their travels. They deserve some credit for making us look ordinary.

However, Rodgers has problems breaking teams down that are set up defensively and has done for some time. Perhaps when we see the Sturridge, Benteke partnership we'll see a variety to our attacking game that is currently missing.

We were too predictable on Saturday, without improvements going forwards we'll struggle this season, simple as that

[Exiled_red]

While West Ham deserve alot of credit for the way they played a team with our supposed quality should at least be able to create chances against a side such as them. The fact that we created nothing does also show that we played poorly. Regardless of how good they were, we were terrible and we didn't look like a team, there was something very wrong with the system we played.

[BootRoom]

What's all this "it should have been a towering header" bollocks re Skrtel's header? He couldn't get much distance because:

a) He had to jump straight up to reach the ball, thus couldn't use forward momentum to generate power

b) The initial cross didn't have much pace on it that could be re-directed

He did what he was supposed to do - stopped the attacker from nodding the ball into the waiting net by clearing it away from the dangerzone. It was more bad luck than anything else that clearance went straight to a West Ham player. And when it did reach that West Ham player on the edge of the area, we had SEVEN men back in the box to defend against the next attack.

Even on the Lovren ****-up for the second goal (I'm not defending him as I don't think he should be anywhere near the first team), it still required a mix-up between two of our players in the box to allow West Ham to get the ball in the net.

The hysterical bed-wetters should be more concerned about our overall form: 2 goals (an outside the box screamer and an offside effort that should have been disallowed) in 4 games, and one decent half that can be plausibly explained away by Arsenal having a dip in home form. It's looking more and more like a continuation of last season - a poorly prepared team with little idea how to go about the business of winning matches, despite significant expenditure and a shiny new coaching staff.

[McDermotX]

Some of the Skrtel backlash is just the usual ****e. You just have to filter it out from the justified criticism - I certainly don't directly blame the first goal on him, granted it was a defensive header, but there has to be a measure of responsibility, and in hindsight, although contrary to all usual defensive common sense, he would probably have wished to knock down the header centrally to one of the midfielders.
The role of the right side and our apparent slackness in winning second balls is more of an issue with that particular goal, especially Clyne's positioning (though he's not alone), and Gomez was slow to react, but it happens. Even for the second and third, the Dejan ****up and Dejan charge were instrumental in conceding - though there was an element of misfortune with the bounce off Moreno. Skrtel, for his part, done what probably most CBs would have done - move across and try to hold up the shot.
But it was a poor defensive display from all four the other day IMO, introducing a nervousness that was not apparent in the other opening games,
Even a casual glance at our other games has yielded an average 7-7.5/10 defensive performances from all, but the West Ham defeat was reflected like so..



Garbage all round. Midfield was terrible, attack was non-existent, but apart from perhaps liking to see Sakho introduced to see how he shapes up in a proper back four with the two new FBs, I wouldn't be rushing into major changes based on the other day - don't think Brendan will be changing Lovren for the ManU game though, though something could happen between now and then.

[frank the tank]

I'd say it was a very resolute West Ham side who will cause teams problems on their travels. They deserve some credit for making us look ordinary.

However, Rodgers has problems breaking teams down that are set up defensively and has done for some time. Perhaps when we see the Sturridge, Benteke partnership we'll see a variety to our attacking game that is currently missing.

I think we all hope that Sturridge and Benteke can form a partnership that leads to **** loads of goals and therefore wins. I think Sturridge will flourish with a strike partner as well. However, this is all a bit deja-vu. Last season we were waiting for Sturridge to come back and link up with Balotelli.... for me, when Brendan bought Benteke, Ings and Origi, then he was basically saying that he needed 4 strikers but that Lambert, Borini and Balotelli were not good enough. The club accepted that and allowed him to bring in a new batch of strikers....

I hope that Benteke and Sturridge play as a two man strike force in a diamond formation..... what i struggle with is the fact that Brendan isn't playing 2 strikers up front yet this season. We have the squad that should be able to withstand an injury (even to a first teamer like Sturridge) so why the **** Benteke isn't playing with a strike partner is beyond me.

[SB]

Totally agree Frank. If Brendan won't change & go with 2 strikers I hope we don't give him too long & that we get Klopp in ASAP before the dream for top 4 is blown away.

[wiw]

Pretty sure Klopp plays with 1 striker though

[Fosterbloke]

Pretty sure Klopp plays with 1 striker though

Reus and Aubemayang?

[wiw]

Reus and Aubemayang?

Doesn't he prefer 4-2-3-1? I thought he always played with a 3 behind the 1

[Mark79]

Doesn't he prefer 4-2-3-1? I thought he always played with a 3 behind the 1

Yeah for the most part I believe. With Reus on the left of the 3.

Reus and Aubemayang?

Happened on occasions last season, with pretty mixed results though.
Reus is still mainly an AM/winger who cuts in type of attacker rather than one of a front 2 though.