Brendan Rodgers

[I, Ravel Morrison]

Who's at fault? Carra and Neville pointed out that Johnson and Skrtel dropped back while Lovren and Moreno stepped up. This left us with a horrible line which was exposed. The goals came from the left but was it because the two boys stepped up or because the other two dropped back and played them onside.

IMO Skrtel and Johnson were at fault there; they should have stepped up as well. Playing a tight and compact defensive line compressing upwards seemed to be the game plan in the first 40 minutes before we conceded the first goal.

[badpiggy]

I agree. Positionally he's just not good enough. To many lapses, letting runners go, stepping out and not realising the danger behind him. A constant liability. The odd crunching slidey tackle (usually having let his man go walkies) doesn't hide that. He's alright but not a top, top, top centre half which is what we need.

That said having Johnson on that side probably doesn't help him

So what you're saying, basically, is that Skrtel is a top, top centrehalf?

[RedRum]

I've felt this way about Skrtel a while and now having seen those stats with him out of the team, just reinforces the feeling he is not good enough

[McDermotX]

Who's at fault? Carra and Neville pointed out that Johnson and Skrtel dropped back while Lovren and Moreno stepped up. This left us with a horrible line which was exposed. The goals came from the left but was it because the two boys stepped up or because the other two dropped back and played them onside.

Definitely Lovren and Moreno......the whole cluster**** of the second goal was a shocking indictment of that left side, plus the level of support from midfield was little more than numbers rather than actual protection. Moreno had a baptism of fire, so it's hard to be critical of him, but even so, the mistake for the first goal was amateur.
For the second goal, City had the ball for an unacceptable length of time over that side, and Moreno did allow himself to get pulled about too much, but he was clearly fired up. Lovren should have more cop on, but he was having a bit of a mare last night positionally and was frequently neglecting his own duties, while at the same time suffering because of the new lad's debut. Cannot be playing offside in those positions IMO.....too high, too many bodies, FB having to run towards his own area etc. Just a complete mess all round.
Third goal was an exceptional pass, but certainly Lovren should have anticipated the run earlier, and was caught for pace which was a bit surprising for me. Other blame to go round of course, Mig for starters.

Hopefully a learning process, and maybe we'll look back at this as a good thing, but it is understandably worrying that given the amount of money chucked at the defence by Rodgers, we're still to see the improvement. Sakho had a very mixed level of quality last season, interrupted by injury, Lovren is only in, but hardly an inexperienced defender (despite evidence to the contrary last night), and the FB situation is a work in progress. I think the raw materials are mostly there, but it may need time and more pain to come together.

[danperkins]

Definitely Lovren and Moreno......the whole cluster**** of the second goal was a shocking indictment of that left side, plus the level of support from midfield was little more than numbers rather than actual protection. Moreno had a baptism of fire, so it's hard to be critical of him, but even so, the mistake for the first goal was amateur.
For the second goal, City had the ball for an unacceptable length of time over that side, and Moreno did allow himself to get pulled about too much, but he was clearly fired up. Lovren should have more cop on, but he was having a bit of a mare last night positionally and was frequently neglecting his own duties, while at the same time suffering because of the new lad's debut. Cannot be playing offside in those positions IMO.....too high, too many bodies, FB having to run towards his own area etc. Just a complete mess all round.
Third goal was an exceptional pass, but certainly Lovren should have anticipated the run earlier, and was caught for pace which was a bit surprising for me. Other blame to go round of course, Mig for starters.

Hopefully a learning process, and maybe we'll look back at this as a good thing, but it is understandably worrying that given the amount of money chucked at the defence by Rodgers, we're still to see the improvement. Sakho had a very mixed level of quality last season, interrupted by injury, Lovren is only in, but hardly an inexperienced defender (despite evidence to the contrary last night), and the FB situation is a work in progress. I think the raw materials are mostly there, but it may need time and more pain to come together.

This post is absolutely bang on the money.

[Rowan]

So what you're saying, basically, is that Skrtel is a top, top centrehalf?

He's a top, to centre half at best. He just doesn't have the kahunas needed to acquire the extra p, top he needs to play at our level.

[Chris]

Wasn't aware of those stats. Quite surprising. How long was Skrtel out of the team in this period?

Was 17 games, 15 he didnt start towards the end of Rodgers first season when he bombed him out for Carra. And 2 at the start of last season (and we kept clean sheets in both games)

Who's at fault? Carra and Neville pointed out that Johnson and Skrtel dropped back while Lovren and Moreno stepped up. This left us with a horrible line which was exposed. The goals came from the left but was it because the two boys stepped up or because the other two dropped back and played them onside.

I dont think anyones at fault as such, they're just doing whats natural to them, Lovren wants to go at players to get the ball, Skrtel wants to go and hug the goalkeeper. So to me anyway it makes sense to play the players who want to defend on the front foot which would be the Spaniards and Lovren/Sakho. Otherwise it looks a mess like it is at the moment, it's not just Skrtel Lovren, Skrtel Sakho was the same and we had calamity's like the Cardiff free kick where Skrtel played their whole team onside. Lovren can do all the organising he wants or Rodgers all the coaching he wants but on the pitch when it gets tough players are going to revert to whats natural to them and we'll keep end up looking like last night.

I agree. Positionally he's just not good enough. To many lapses, letting runners go, stepping out and not realising the danger behind him. A constant liability. The odd crunching slidey tackle (usually having let his man go walkies) doesn't hide that. He's alright but not a top, top, top centre half which is what we need.

That said having Johnson on that side probably doesn't help him

Agreed, saw comments on how supposedly excellent he was v Southampton yet in the first half when Mignolet tipped that shot over the bar it was because he misjudged the ball. And he was utterly horrendous on Southamptons chance where Mignolet once again bailed him out at the end. You cant keep carrying that and it's evidently not working so lets try something different.

[danperkins]

Once we sort the fullbacks out & get a settled back line our defence we look much better. Hard one for Rodgers, does he stay with the same back line and try to get some continuity or keep changing up to find his best line up?

Another issue IMO is that space between Stevie and the CB's gets worryingly bigger as games wear on, doesn't do the CB's any favours. Stevie's production from set pieces and crosses was incredible last season but the position he is playing in at the moment IMO he isn't good enough defensively, positionally nor mobile enough to really excel in that role.

Really don't like criticising my favourite LFC payer of all time, but it really does make life so difficult for Henderson and Allen. Accommodating Stevie means Allen and Hendo are so busy cleaning up that it's very difficult for either to make any inroads offensively or even remotely supporting our offensive players. When Gerrard plays in the deep lying role, it seems our formation,team selection or the way we want to set up.. is a bit more limited. No doubts i'll take some flack for saying that but sure that's ok

Ideally you would like one of Hendo or Allen to be busting a gut making several forward runs throughout the 90 mins... but sure their not machines & tiredness is bound to take its toll. With Allen & Henderson running around like greyhounds trying to cover that space.. the knock on effect & trade off from that was a complete lack of support for the attacking players. A bit of a break down between the lines if you will.

I didn't think Coutinho played particularly well last night but he did have a lack of runners to aim for to be fair. Henderson & Sterling are the only ones that come to mind that attempted any sort of creative or penetrating run. Henderson usually makes such good runs but his role had to be so rigid last night to compensate defensively beside Stevie... that it was impossible for him to do that. I would really hate to be in Rodgers shoes making a decision on Gerrard...whenever that may be. Doesn't feel right criticising a man that has carried the club for so long.

Hopefully Balotelli will be good for Sturridge. Sturridge was so isolated at times in the last two games dropping deep IMO to get the ball & get into the game, when we really need him in the box. He has been isolated & unfortunately with him dropping so deep & nobody making enough runs beyond opposition back line.. means there's **** all to aim at in the box.

Lambert hasn't been great since arriving, seems to be a man under pressure but he is a target man especially in the penalty area. I know he's only a bit part player but our style of play really isn't suited to his game. Seeing him trudge around trying to play our game high tempo pressing game pre season was a bit painful to watch.

He came on when we were pushing last night & sat right at the penalty area. IMO it wasn't a coincidence he got two brilliant chances.. kinda scored one & really should have scored another, i'm sure that would have been in the top corner in his Southampton days. We need options in the box & we just didn't have them until Lambert came on. Someone like Balotelli who is similar to Lambert in the fact he won't do much running, but he is a much more gifted player than Lambert and cold be great foil for Sturridge.

With so many new faces coming in & Rodgers trying to find the personnel to suit a certain system, the City game just came too soon IMO. They really have a good ****ing side. An established & settled quality against a side with a Luis Suarez hangover.. trying to bed in new players. Absolutely no doubts we'll improve both offensively and defensively.. just really hope it's sooner rather than later.

[~LFCHistory~]

Sturridge up top on his own doesn't really work, we looked blunt going forward last night and against Southampton with one striker. I'd start Lambert and Sturridge against Spurs.

[Lecter]

The Gerrard issue is a difficult one for me and to be honest I'm not certain that the TV view explains it fully as I am convinced you get a better idea of positioning when you are actually watching it live played out on the pitch before you

I went to the Southampton game and watching that there was a few things that concerned me greatly in relation to Gerrard and the centrebacks

Southampton players were coming off the forward line and dropping into pockets either side of Gerrard now this is where it becomes difficult to me to apportion blame

Do you blame Gerrard for noticing this, bearing in mind that he is facing the play and is generally unaware of what players behind are doing until they pop up in positions either side of him or do you blame the centrehalves for not stepping out with the players until they hand off to Gerrard

This happened a lot against Southampton particularly second half and they did it everytime they broke and there was little reaction from either Gerrard or the centrehavles

That needs addressing for me

That said the opposite was true last night, I thought at times Lovren & Skrtel went with players they shouldnt have which left us susceptible to a ball played between the fullbacks and centrehalves

Its a difficult thing to manage but that to me is a microcosm of where our problems lie, our defenders seem to be in the incorrect positions and they are stepping out when they shouldnt and not when they are should

That doesnt absolve Gerrard entirely I think a better holding player can mitigate some of the problems behind him but that doesnt totally eradicate the problem

[The_weatherman]

Sturridge up top on his own doesn't really work, we looked blunt going forward last night and against Southampton with one striker. I'd start Lambert and Sturridge against Spurs.

I'd take a chance and start Balotelli and Sturridge. Play a diamond with Gerrard - Henderson - Allen and Sterling in midfield.

[BootRoom]

He's clearly not a defensively minded coach. His formations mean that there's significant pressure on our defence to perform at an optimal level. Not only does he want his fullbacks to attack like wingers but he doesn't want to employ a dedicated defensive midfielder or two. It's a blitz tactic designed to out gun the opposition, worked a treat last season too. The fact is you don't attack as well as we do if your midfield is geared up to protect the defence, unless you've got a Messi-type player in his pomp.

Brendan just needs to hold his nerve, stick with the same 5 defenders for as long as possible to see if they can form a cohesive unit and reduce the number of individual mistakes.

Generally we aren't a difficult team to break down because the midfield gives up so much space to the opposition. Compare this, to say, the highly regimented Benitez teams where the opposition had to fight tooth and nail to get at a deep-lying defence - these tactics were very good at choking off enemy attacks, but an unfortunate side effect was that it very often stymied our own attacking ambitions.

[I, Ravel Morrison]

I'd take a chance and start Balotelli and Sturridge. Play a diamond with Gerrard - Henderson - Allen and Sterling in midfield.

I'd take the chance too. As I said before, reverting to the diamond might be the best bet to get our groove going.

[Buzzo]

This is Brendan Rodgers's 100th match in charge of Liverpool in all competitions - victory on Sunday would match Bill Shankly and Rafa Benitez's records of 56 victories in their first 100 fixtures, Only Kenny Dalglish (62) has won more.

[Daffy Duck]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcGSVn13cc4"]Brendan Rodgers Joke About Ricky Gervais & Raheem Sterling [31.08.2014] - YouTube[/ame]

Hahaha this guy loves himself so much look at how he looks at the camera after making the joke