Our Soft Team

[dww]

I think Milner has always been a player who was good at continuity. He's been asked to be more risky with his passing and it'snot his natural game. The problem for me has been that a) the forwards haven't in general been playing well and b) we haven't been playing the right areas - partly due to an unbalanced midfield and partly as a reaction to a defense who seem to somehow concede as soon as a shot is available to the opposition.

If we had a forward causing panic in the opposition then perhaps we could simplify our play. It is hard when you aren't keeping cleansheets or scoring bucketloads to change the style of a team as Klopp is trying to do.

I think anyone expecting Milner to be a vocal leader on the pitch was always mistaken. His was always going to be by example - the problem is that at the minute we are getting little reward for the things we do well.

[danperkins]

I am not denouncing the need for leadership. But from reading your posts, I get the impression that we have good technical players who lack leadership and heart. I really dont think we have a lot of good technical players, atleast not at the level we need. Technique does not mean ball control and making nice turns. That is one aspect of it. But we definitely lack players who can make things when spaces are tight, opposition is more compact in defense, and know how to pressure us.

I should have been more specific alright. I think we have special players that can make things happen in Coutinho & Sturridge. Thing is Sturridge is perma injured and Coutinho is inconsistent.

I absolutely agree we need more quality and players who can make something happen out of nothing. I did think Firmino would be like that but so far it hasn't happened for him. We've been extremely unlucky with injuries to key players & IMO that has shown up the lack of overall quality alright but we do lack a hard edge to the side. Too many players hiding at the moment and no leaders.

[danperkins]

I find Milner an odd one, he seems to work hard, and run alot but all his best work seems to come off the ball and he doesn't seem to have much of an influence on the game when he does have the ball. Which was not what I was expecting when we signed him.

Also as a vice captain / captain I would like him to be a bit more vocal on the pitch, our team is very quiet, we need more people who are prepared to tell their team mates things that they probably don't want to hear but need to be said.

Yeah I really thought Milner would be a great signing for us and have an instant impact. Been hugely disappointed with his performances so far. He's just there. Most of the time I notice him by the amount of times he falls over.

[Nicey]

I think Milner has always been a player who was good at continuity. He's been asked to be more risky with his passing and it'snot his natural game. The problem for me has been that a) the forwards haven't in general been playing well and b) we haven't been playing the right areas - partly due to an unbalanced midfield and partly as a reaction to a defense who seem to somehow concede as soon as a shot is available to the opposition.

If we had a forward causing panic in the opposition then perhaps we could simplify our play. It is hard when you aren't keeping cleansheets or scoring bucketloads to change the style of a team as Klopp is trying to do.

I think anyone expecting Milner to be a vocal leader on the pitch was always mistaken. His was always going to be by example - the problem is that at the minute we are getting little reward for the things we do well.

I have no doubt we will get there under Jurgen and actually I think a lot of these players are good enough, but we do need a couple key additions ... I think a CB obviously and a GK even just to give both of those positions real competition at the very least

[Phoenix07]

Speaking as part of Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Jamie Carragher said that Liverpool need to sign physically capable players this January.

Carragher was asked which was the most important position for Liverpool to look to strengthen in the January transfer window.

This came after Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat away to Watford on Sunday afternoon, and drawing on his experience of former Reds managers Rafa Benitez and Gerard Houllier, the club legend outlined a number of key positions that Jurgen Klopp will want to reinforce.

“I think yesterday’s performance and result will be in his mind for the rest of the season,” he said.

“It reminds me of Houllier and Benitez in their first season.

“The teams they inherited weren’t able to cope, physically, with the Premier League, and this Liverpool team isn’t.

“What they did was both bought a ‘keeper, both bought a holding midfield player, Benitez got [Peter] Crouch—6’7″—up front and Houllier bought two centre-backs.

“If I was Klopp, I’d be thinking goalkeeper, two centre-backs and a holding midfield player.

“Forget the City and Chelsea results—you play the top teams once a month.

“Newcastle and Watford, they’re the teams you play week in, week out, and I think they’ll be a major shock to Jurgen Klopp.

“This is what the Premier League’s like, and Liverpool haven’t got the players to cope in those games.”

Carragher’s point is an important one, with Houllier’s additions of Sander Westerveld, Stephane Henchoz, Sami Hyypia and Dietmar Hamann in his first full season in sole charge at Liverpool proving hugely influential.

In his second season on Merseyside, Benitez brought in Pepe Reina and Momo Sissoko alongside Crouch, while he was key to moving Carragher into the central role that saw him thrive.

These were players who, largely without Premier League experience, were built to withstand its rigours.

This is a reality that Klopp must get to grips with, and as Carragher attests, he would be wise to look to his predecessors for inspiration.

http://www.thisisanfield.com/2015/12...ransfer-needs/

[Nicey]

Currently we are Number 1 team in the Lg for Defensive errors ranking at 18 Swansea is No. 3 with 11
And number 2 with Errors leading to goals ... 8 ... 8 goals directly from plain old **** ups .. from one of the best football teams in Europe

Time to ****ing gut this team

[baitman]

carra knows we need beef

[Paul12]

We need brilliant, ugly cunts

I remember some graffiti from the 80s. Someone wrote "Ian Rush phone home" (the implication for those too young being that Rushie looked more like an alien than a humanoid), and someone replied "It's about winning, not swanning around Goodison in a tutu"

[peekay]

I think that the main problem with our side is a lack of leadership and the key players that make up the spine of the side. If you compare to the 2008-09 side that finished 2nd that side had a strong spine: Reina, Carragher, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard, Torres all of whom were players who influenced the game either by organisation or by controlling the game, the rest of that side was made up of players such as Kuyt, Agger, Skrtel, Riera, Benayoun, Arbeloa, Lucas, Babel, Dossena, Aurelio, Keane, Ngog, El Zhar, Insua - some good players (and some not so good), the thing with that list of players is that IMO none of them were players who could take it upon themselves to to change a game. The players from that 2nd list who were successful at influencing the game in an attacking sense (Kuyt, Benayoun etc) were able to do so because they benefited from the work done by the spine of the team. If you look at that period and the games we struggled in the majority of the players on the second list were still playing but the likes of Gerrard, Torres and Alonso had been rested which made them much less effective.

IMO that is what we are seeing now, for me the players we have in the squad are as good as (if not better than) many of the players on that 2nd list from 2008-09, the problem is the spine of the team isn't there. If we can bring in those players who can organise and control the game and dictate a pattern of play we will IMO see the performance level of almost every player in the squad rise. The likes of Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana are players that are capable of making things happen, the problem at the moment is the lack of the players in midfield to dominate, the game and dictate the play getting the ball to them in the right areas.

Bingo. Great Post.

[peekay]

I should have been more specific alright. I think we have special players that can make things happen in Coutinho & Sturridge. Thing is Sturridge is perma injured and Coutinho is inconsistent.

I absolutely agree we need more quality and players who can make something happen out of nothing. I did think Firmino would be like that but so far it hasn't happened for him. We've been extremely unlucky with injuries to key players & IMO that has shown up the lack of overall quality alright but we do lack a hard edge to the side. Too many players hiding at the moment and no leaders.

[emoji106]

[wongers]

Top and bottom is we have no leaders on the pitch when things are going against there's nobody to scream and shout or even lead by example we just roll over, we go on about the wins against city and chavski but lots of teams are turning them over this season so as good as they were on the day they have to be put in perspective, hopefully this was a wake up call for the manager and he can begin the process of sorting it out in january i'm sick to death of watching spineless coonts representing this club

[danperkins]

I remember some graffiti from the 80s. Someone wrote "Ian Rush phone home" (the implication for those too young being that Rushie looked more like an alien than a humanoid), and someone replied "It's about winning, not swanning around Goodison in a tutu"

[Bender]

Mark Lawrenson ''After Watford debacle, I'm reliably informed that as Liverpool traipsed back into the bowels of the stadium
''Some of the Senior Players took it upon themselves to declare one thing,
That simply CANNOT happen again.
''They simply can't allow teams to run over them and knock them out of their stride.''The older players realise that's a problem. And it has been a problem for a while.

[RichC]

Fair play to the team for yesterday's efforts after that horror show with Watford, reallly showed some character and we played some bloody good football.

Having mobility in midfield I thought reallly helped us, Lucas whilst a great reader of the game has looked reallly leggy the past few games and having him drop out really helped with the energy in there.

[G]

It was a very good response against a team that showed no ambition much like some of the other teams we've lost to or dropped points to recently, we set the tone from the start and kept at them all the way through, got our reward.

As I said pre game, I hope Watford will be the turning point for us and we could use it to push on. Good start.