Jordan Henderson

[Rich]

Makes no sense that we would use him as the deepest lying midfielder. Does Brendan not watch how that works out for Hodgson, Henderson and England? He's a shadow of himself when he's not allowed to drive forward. I don't get it. Rather Lucas anchoring and let whoever do their stuff ahead of him. I know we've had a good start but wins like those two can paper over cracks, and it can unravel quite quickly, and I'm afraid that's where I'm at. Some of Brendan's decisions - selections, substitutions and use of certain players - are baffling me.

I agree. Playing him there is stifling his natural game. What a waste.

[RedReet]

Makes no sense that we would use him as the deepest lying midfielder. Does Brendan not watch how that works out for Hodgson, Henderson and England? He's a shadow of himself when he's not allowed to drive forward. I don't get it. Rather Lucas anchoring and let whoever do their stuff ahead of him. I know we've had a good start but wins like those two can paper over cracks, and it can unravel quite quickly, and I'm afraid that's where I'm at. Some of Brendan's decisions - selections, substitutions and use of certain players - are baffling me.

It's not as if he's being asked to play as an orthodox DM though, he's still expected to get forward and support the attack when in possession, then take up the deeper role when we're defending. Obviously he may get caught up field a few times, but that's when Milner is supposed to step in and cover. We've only played two games so far, but he's probably created as many, if not more chances than any other player in our squad, got one assist and was unlucky not to score last night and that's without leaving the defence overly exposed. IMO, the role isn't that far removed from what he'd normally play, except there is obviously more emphasis placed on defence and the fact that he is expected to get forward and support the attack is why he's favoured to Lucas.

Personally I'd still prefer to start with Lucas there, but I can understand the logic in Rodger's thinking. It's only early days yet, but I think Henderson has had two good games (was very good last night before injury IMO) and we've had two wins, so I'm willing to give it time to see how the midfield looks once everyone gets used to their new roles.

[The_weatherman]

Makes no sense that we would use him as the deepest lying midfielder. Does Brendan not watch how that works out for Hodgson, Henderson and England? He's a shadow of himself when he's not allowed to drive forward. I don't get it. Rather Lucas anchoring and let whoever do their stuff ahead of him. I know we've had a good start but wins like those two can paper over cracks, and it can unravel quite quickly, and I'm afraid that's where I'm at. Some of Brendan's decisions - selections, substitutions and use of certain players - are baffling me.

It's a bit like last season, he seems intent on not using Lucas or Sakho and rather playing bombscare at any cost or Henderson a little bit out of position limiting his effectiveness. A midfield of

Lucas
Milner Henderson

would be very good with Emre coming in there as well, but with Lucas out of the picture we're short, again, in midfield. These two points will be the undoing of Rodgers IMO, sooner rather than later.

[Shaggy]

It's a bit like last season, he seems intent on not using Lucas or Sakho and rather playing bombscare at any cost or Henderson a little bit out of position limiting his effectiveness. A midfield of

Lucas
Milner Henderson

would be very good with Emre coming in there as well, but with Lucas out of the picture we're short, again, in midfield. These two points will be the undoing of Rodgers IMO, sooner rather than later.

I agree but obviously hope we're wrong.

[Rich]

It's a bit like last season, he seems intent on not using Lucas or Sakho and rather playing bombscare at any cost or Henderson a little bit out of position limiting his effectiveness. A midfield of

Lucas
Milner Henderson

would be very good with Emre coming in there as well, but with Lucas out of the picture we're short, again, in midfield. These two points will be the undoing of Rodgers IMO, sooner rather than later.

I agree with you, I'd prefer to see Lucas in there and unleashing Henderson. I can only think he wants the hard running of Henderson deeper to help against counters. He's wasted as the "water carrier" though.

[RedReet]

It's a bit like last season, he seems intent on not using Lucas or Sakho and rather playing bombscare at any cost or Henderson a little bit out of position limiting his effectiveness. A midfield of

Lucas
Milner Henderson

would be very good with Emre coming in there as well, but with Lucas out of the picture we're short, again, in midfield. These two points will be the undoing of Rodgers IMO, sooner rather than later.

I thought we'd have maybe seen that trio for away matches (certainly away to Stoke last week) and maybe Coutinho for Lucas at home. Lets be honest though, if he played that midfield at home to Bournemouth and the match went like it did last night, the Rodgers thread would be red hot today with fans moaning.

[Daffy Duck]

Brendan Rodgers revealed that Jordan Henderson was withdrawn during Liverpool's 1-0 victory over Bournemouth at Anfield on Monday evening due to a foot problem.

The captain was replaced by fellow midfielder Emre Can in the 52nd minute of the Reds' win against Eddie Howe's side, but did not appear to be in discomfort as he left the field.

However, Rodgers explained after the game that his skipper had done well even to make it into the starting line-up against the Cherries, having struggled with a foot issue during the build-up to the fixture.

"He's had a problem with the bottom of his foot," the manager told reporters in his post-match press conference.

"He hadn't trained for part of the week, he was taking some painkillers with it. He did ever so well to even be out on the field.

"He wanted to try it, he wanted to give it a go, but you could see he was limited in his running.

"He did great for us in the period of time that he was on but it's important that we get victories and it's important that we have fit players on the field and unfortunately for him he was just in too much pain."

Doesn't say anything about missing more matches...

[The_weatherman]

I thought we'd have maybe seen that trio for away matches (certainly away to Stoke last week) and maybe Coutinho for Lucas at home. Lets be honest though, if he played that midfield at home to Bournemouth and the match went like it did last night, the Rodgers thread would be red hot today with fans moaning.

I actually hoped to see Can, Hendo and Milner. Bournemouth completed almost 500 passes against Villa and they are good with the ball, we needed three in the middle to control the game IMO.

We need more than just three good central mids and that's a real worry for the season.

[RedReet]

I actually hoped to see Can, Hendo and Milner. Bournemouth completed almost 500 passes against Villa and they are good with the ball, we needed three in the middle to control the game IMO.

We need more than just three good central mids and that's a real worry for the season.

When Can's fully fit, that's probably how we will line up when we play 3, but similar to the Henderon argument I don't want to see Can restricted in the holding position either.

[Lecter]

When Can's fully fit, that's probably how we will line up when we play 3, but similar to the Henderon argument I don't want to see Can restricted in the holding position either.

I still think thats going to be an issue

There was a suggestion we wont go with a dedicated holding / deeper player but rather rely on game intelligence and them filling in when needed

Not convinced thats the way to go, it creates too much uncertainty imo

One thing that did impress me last night was Milners work second half and also him talking players and telling them to move into certain positions

[RedReet]

I still think thats going to be an issue

There was a suggestion we wont go with a dedicated holding / deeper player but rather rely on game intelligence and them filling in when needed

Not convinced thats the way to go, it creates too much uncertainty imo

One thing that did impress me last night was Milners work second half and also him talking players and telling them to move into certain positions

He did that a lot in the first match too, particularly organising the defence on set-pieces. Was encouraging to see and certainly shows he's going to contribute a lot more than goals and assist.

I do share your concerns about setting our midfield up that way, but I’d be curious to know what Rodgers preferred midfield line-up is and I’d like to see them given a consistent run of games together to see how it pans out. Obviously there will be some teething problems to begin with, but if we can keep scraping wins and picking up points, then hopefully at some stage it will click into gear.

[Lecter]

He did that a lot in the first match too, particularly organising the defence on set-pieces. Was encouraging to see and certainly shows he's going to contribute a lot more than goals and assist.

I do share your concerns about setting our midfield up that way, but I’d be curious to know what Rodgers preferred midfield line-up is and I’d like to see them given a consistent run of games together to see how it pans out. Obviously there will be some teething problems to begin with, but if we can keep scraping wins and picking up points, then hopefully at some stage it will click into gear.

It wont just be teething problems imo

Its hugely difficult to do that role without nominating one man to take responsibility

IMO when you leave it to players game intelligence to decide who fills in that that leads to indecision and more often than not arguments and finger pointing when it goes wrong

IMO you get what it says on the tin when you nominate / dedicate a holding / deeper player

Theres no excuses then, its easy to apportion blame and rectify issues

[vlahka]

What exactly is wrong with Can regarding injury/fitness? Surely it cant be worse then a player who only played 50min and was on painkillers.

[ronanm]

Who was he screaming "Eff off" to as he was coming off the pitch? The crowd or just the fact he was frustarted to have to come off?

[RedReet]

It wont just be teething problems imo

Its hugely difficult to do that role without nominating one man to take responsibility

IMO when you leave it to players game intelligence to decide who fills in that that leads to indecision and more often than not arguments and finger pointing when it goes wrong

IMO you get what it says on the tin when you nominate / dedicate a holding / deeper player

Theres no excuses then, its easy to apportion blame and rectify issues

It appears though that Henderson is the designated holding player, so that's his role. Obviously he isn't playing the role in the traditional sense, but that's why Milner is there to offer further protection.

Maybe Rodgers has got too cocky after the Gerrard experiment and maybe I'm showing too much faith after I (like everybody else) was proven wrong on that front, but as I responded to Shaggy earlier, I can see the logic in what Rodgers is trying to do, even if I do have my concerns that it will leave us too exposed. So far though, I've been quite encouraged with what I've seen, certainly defensively anyway.