Man United (A): Post Match

[danperkins]

We had to be right at least once in our lives

Serious note for me I have not had faith because his insistence on reverting to his 4-3-3 system and then constantly signing players that don't suit that system. He might have had the committee as an excuse previously but not this season

To compound this after failing to sign the right players he then plays players out of position to try and keep his system intact

Then there is Lovren playing that's another level of stupidity

[Ams12]

From kick off our plan was to be solid & defensive. No desire to get at them, just sit back and defend. That's ok but not from the start of a football match, against one of your biggest rivals, not having anything to defend! We should have pressed them and played football not treated it like some kind of training drill. Because that's what the first half felt like! They attacked us, moved the ball around, tried to dribble past our players, played quick passes, passes into space. They didn't really get anywhere or through us (unlike the arsenal goal that wasn't offside) as space was quite congested with us defending. The problem was when we got the ball 1 of 3 things happened: 1) it was given away from a poor/misplaced pass after a few passes between our defenders & CM's. 2) we got towards the halfway line and were tackled/ran into their player and they got onto the 2nd ball setting up another attack. 3) after a few passes at the back it was kicked long towards Benteke who either did well on occasion holding the ball up but then playing it back into midfield or was too isolated to make a pass forward to a team mate so possession lost again.
This is not playing football! We are Liverpool FC and should be turning up to games to play football not be scared of the opposition & sit back and defend...that's lower level club style!
The worst thing about losing is losing when you have no positives to take away eg- performance. We didnt create enough or even hit the bar! If we missed a handful of chances and played some football and looked like we knew how to use a ball i'd be less pissed off at BR. There is quite a lot wrong with us st the moment, no real leaders in the squad, no team identity or playing style, wrong type of players, formation swapping etc but the big one is Rodgers! It's been 3 full seasons and he doesn't have us playing in any distinctive way or bringing in any real quality through our transfer policy (whatever that is!) That is unacceptable. Now is the time to leave as i can only see the same scenarios coming up game after game! Get someone in who is going to stick to 1/2 distinct formations and bring in players who fit that. Need a change while points are still available!

[kemm1]

We had to be right at least once in our lives

Serious note for me I have not had faith because his insistence on reverting to his 4-3-3 system and then constantly signing players that don't suit that system. He might have had the committee as an excuse previously but not this season

To compound this after failing to sign the right players he then plays players out of position to try and keep his system intact

Then there is Lovren playing that's another level of stupidity

100% agree with this and hits the nail squarely on the head. There are good managers available and we have to grab the opportunity to get one of them. Rodgers is not good enough for us. We haven't had a top quality manager since Rafa and we desperately need one now to not only address tactics but also to the point that Lecter made in his post.

[BubbaZanetti]

Lovren is an insult to football fans. He's be the defensive equivalent to Jason Lee if Skinner & Baddiel were still peddling fantasy football. He makes Titus Bramble look like Lothar Matthaus

[vonk]

I've been a Rodgers defender, but that setup was shocking. To go there and sit back with no outball that stuck for 45 minutes was criminal. I'm not even going to try to defend what he tried to do. It was idiotic. It was only a matter of time before they scored. So the blame is squarely with him. I can't blame anyone for having a go at him for that.

Now to the players.... Firmino was powder-puff ****e and has to bury that chance. Can kept trying to beat too many men, Benteke and Ings were decent, and did their best, as did Clyne, Milner, Gomez for me.

One big problem is there are four players in the spine of the team who are not good enough. Lovren, who was alright today has a howler in him every other game. Lucas is too slow, gives away too many free kicks and gave the ball away constantly today. Mignolet doesn't do enough. He does the basics, barely and his distribution was appalling and put us under so much pressure. He hardly spreads confidence across the back. Skrtel was our worse player. He looked nervous, couldnt pass, and was a joke for that third goal. And he has been poor for a while.

Whoever is the manager in January and next summer, forget signing anyone other than top replacements for those 4. Nothing else. Just do that. Please.

[Fosterbloke]

I reckon Texiera could have done a job linking midfield and attack. I wish Lucas had gone, he's jumped the shark which is remarkable considering his legs are knackered.

Firmino is out of position badly, low on confidence already?

We have Henderson, Coutinho and Sturridge to come back which are brilliant players to have and may turn things round but unless you have the right manager, even they can be made to look ineffective.

I can't believe that I can already envisage another clear out, I'm pretty sure I'd guess the right players.

I think Rodgers needs to go and someone that's demonstrated success at a very high, if not the highest level to replace him.

How many more £100m transfer bukkake sessions can we realistically manage? We're not a revenue machine like Utd so will the next manager get £10m and that's it?

[baitman]

I reckon Texiera could have done a job linking midfield and attack.
I wish Lucas had gone, he's jumped the shark which is remarkable considering his legs are knackered.

Firmino is out of position badly, low on confidence already?

We have Henderson, Coutinho and Sturridge to come back which are brilliant players to have and may turn things round but unless you have the right manager, even they can be made to look ineffective.

I can't believe that I can already envisage another clear out, I'm pretty sure I'd guess the right players.

I think Rodgers needs to go and someone that's demonstrated success at a very high, if not the highest level to replace him.

How many more £100m transfer bukkake sessions can we realistically manage? We're not a revenue machine like Utd so will the next manager get £10m and that's it?

i had to google the shark jumping.

we could give brendan 100m every year but i doubt we would ever see us making a realistic challenge. i think the players have just lost their will to go and enjoy their football. their natural game has been rinsed out of them, he must show them 50,000 flip chart pages a day and they just cant be arsed.

[Exiled_red]

Thinking about the result in the cold light of day there are two ways of looking at it

1) We were given a hiding by a fairly average Man Utd side
2) We didn't play well and were beated by a team who scored two set piece goals and a 3rd on the counter when we were chasing the game.

To an extent both of these are true. IMO that Man Utd side is very average by their standards, but they were much the better / less **** side throughout and while I can't bring myself to say they deserved to win (it certainly wasn't a master class of football), we certainly deserved to lose. They way they scored their goals opens them up to accusations such as the 2nd comment there because their system of Fellani up top on his own first half made them look rather toothless. They aren't a good team, but they are a team, they have a system that works for them, it isn't going to win them the league but it gets a decent amount out of their squad.

The problem with us is that we aren't a team at all, we just looked like a shambles we don't really have a system of play that works for us. For me in the summer we did what we always do we bought what we thought were decent players and thought we'd figure out what to do with them later. The discussion on here all summer was about what system we would play and whether we would sign players who suited it and those questions haven't been resolved. For me we don't have the players to play any system effectively - we have no width and no pace it will be difficult for us to stretch teams and break down those who park the bus, this season is going to be frustrating. The only way I can see us playing and effective game with the squad balance we have is if we play a high energy pressing game and try to win the ball back high up the field, and force mistakes from the opposition. I think we have the midfielders to to this, but for some reason Arsenal aside we haven't do that.

[Vermilion]

tbh we got out of jail v Bournemouth and Arsenal too, both games could have easily been lost.

[kingfunk]

I'm still pissed off. I'm pissed off because for two summers in a row Rodgers has failed to address the obvious weakness in the team. Skrtel Lovern and Sakho.

[badpiggy]

On a positive note, despite being played ludicrously out of position, I was really impressed with Ings. He really put in a shift. He could be a Kuyt type player for us.

[Exiled_red]

tbh we got out of jail v Bournemouth and Arsenal too, both games could have easily been lost.

We have scored 3 goals in 5 games, the Stoke game looked like a 0-0 until Coutinho scored a worldie, Bournemouth the goal shouldn't have stood and after we scored we never looked like scoring again, West Ham we didn't look like we would have scored if we played them for a week. Yesterday we rarely threatened and Benteke scored a worldie. The only game we looked like scoring in was the first half at Arsenal and we didn't score then. We have no creativity our goals have come from individual brilliance rather than a cohesive system of play, which is very worrying

[Daniel 7]

We have scored 3 goals in 5 games, the Stoke game looked like a 0-0 until Coutinho scored a worldie, Bournemouth the goal shouldn't have stood and after we scored we never looked like scoring again, West Ham we didn't look like we would have scored if we played them for a week. Yesterday we rarely threatened and Benteke scored a worldie. The only game we looked like scoring in was the first half at Arsenal and we didn't score then. We have no creativity our goals have come from individual brilliance rather than a cohesive system of play, which is very worrying

Its been like that for along time as well, this isn't a new development - I'm thinking Coutinho v Bolton last winterin the cup for example. Previously, we were finding excuses for it, like Sterling is up top and out of position, or Balotelli doesn't make any effort - but the evidence of this season suggests the problem is more to do with the flaws of the ****ing manager's "philosophy" than anything else. He's set up tp score no goals, has a disjointed midfield, a weak defence and Mignolet - there isn't an area on the pitch that works properly. He has to go.

[Slinky Skills]

I've been a Rodgers defender, but that setup was shocking. To go there and sit back with no outball that stuck for 45 minutes was criminal. I'm not even going to try to defend what he tried to do. It was idiotic. It was only a matter of time before they scored. So the blame is squarely with him. I can't blame anyone for having a go at him for that.

Now to the players.... Firmino was powder-puff ****e and has to bury that chance. Can kept trying to beat too many men, Benteke and Ings were decent, and did their best, as did Clyne, Milner, Gomez for me.

One big problem is there are four players in the spine of the team who are not good enough. Lovren, who was alright today has a howler in him every other game. Lucas is too slow, gives away too many free kicks and gave the ball away constantly today. Mignolet doesn't do enough. He does the basics, barely and his distribution was appalling and put us under so much pressure. He hardly spreads confidence across the back. Skrtel was our worse player. He looked nervous, couldnt pass, and was a joke for that third goal. And he has been poor for a while.

Whoever is the manager in January and next summer, forget signing anyone other than top replacements for those 4. Nothing else. Just do that. Please.

Then you will know better than anyone about being played out of position.

[Fierce]

I didn't watch it live as was travelling, but I saw the team and was delighted, the diamond formation!!

But despite those players being exactly, perfectly suited to the diamond formation, he played 2 of them out of position?? Can anyone advise why that would be?

Benteke --- Ings
----Firminio
--Can----Milner
-----Lucas

How can those footballers be played elsewhere?