BEFORE the game the Supporters Committee held an open forum with Liverpool fans, as they always do before their meetings with the club, to make sure the things they are saying to club officials are as close to a reflection of the supporter base as possible.
In attendance were a group of young fans many will know as Spion Kop 1906. If you don’t know the name, you will know their banners and witnessed the meetings of the team bus they organised and promoted towards the end of last season. Fans like these are used by the club to market the ‘brand’, and are asked to pay extortionate prices to support their team as a thank you. And all for what? So we can overspend on a load of footballers the manager doesn’t want to play.
They’ve had enough. Enough of being used but not appreciated. Enough of being valued only by the pounds they are willing to pump into the club. So they announced at the Supporters Committee meeting that they wouldn’t take any of their banners on The Kop anymore, until the football club were willing to speak to fans about the amount they were asking working class people to pay. This wasn’t technically true, of course, because there was a solitary banner belonging to them on The Kop after all.
Ticket pricing isn’t just an issue because it prices out a high number of people in the local area that the football club is supposed to represent. It also changes the behaviour of those who do attend. We turn up with resentment of how much we are being asked to pay, and this manifests itself into abuse of the footballers we blame. Most frequently they are told they don’t care enough. Or that they aren’t allowed to make mistakes. A cauldron of bitterness footballers are somehow expected to excel in.
Those whose stock position is anger at Liverpool Football Club players had a point first half, of course. The early exchanges took on a now familiar pattern of the team coming onto the pitch and looking like they were trying to work out what they were meant to be doing. It took 25 minutes for the first shot of note, and that was a free kick that Rickie Lambert skied into the Anny Road end from too far out in the first place. Those who seem to have decided everything was Steven Gerrard’s fault must have been chocker with the whole thing.
It got slightly better as the half wore on, but only really because it couldn’t have got much worse. But what was frustrating was the individually they were all doing alright. Lucas had a fine game, Allen grew into it, Henderson captained well and looked to get forward, Lambert, finishing aside, probably had his best 90 for the club so far and Coutinho and Sterling were frequently a whisker away from doing something great. Even Enrique put in a great cross. He did, I saw it. But as a collective we didn’t seem to have a clue of what we were supposed to be about. It was all too easy for Stoke.Too slow. Too disjointed.
But second half something changed. Not an outbreak of fast flowing football, but a growing determination that Liverpool were somehow going to win the game. I think it’s called character. The crowd joined in, rallying behind the lads who clearly gave a shit and appealing for decisions we all knew we didn’t deserve. I think everyone just decided they were sick of not winning games of football. It was actually fun.
And then the winner. No-one gets told he doesn’t give a shit more than Glen Johnson. No-one is more likely to be told he’s shit before he’s even had the nerve to do anything wrong. At one point he played a lovely reverse pass under pressure to Joe Allen, but half the crowd were too busy shouting at him for running towards his own goal to notice. When the ball drops off the cross bar he looks to be approximately 14th favourite for the ball, but he decides he’s going to head it in anyway, no matter how many feet are flying towards his face. Maybe he does give a shit after all. They probably all do you know.
People might say the substitute after the goal invited pressure, but it was probably inevitable anyway. During the longest seven minutes since Chelsea 05 it seemed impossible they wouldn’t score from a corner, but they didn’t. Mignolet caught one. It was celebrated like a winner. It will hopefully do him good. It will hopefully do them all good. They weren’t great, but they won.
When Liverpool win we all win. Have a brilliant Saturday night.
Haven’t enjoyed a game like that for a long time! Article nails it!
It’s funny John, but I wrote my comment before I read your match review (strange behaviour, I know). I saw it a little different though.
I looked on Twitter after the game and it was all ‘not pretty but 3 points’, ‘3 points papers over the cracks’. You can’t win. I bet these were the same idiots on the Black Friday video’s fighting over TV’s. I worry about mankind sometimes. I may be equally stupid because I’m feeling like we’ve just won the cup. I’m really on a high after that. So many positives (in relation to where we are).
My mate said Toure was man of the match. It was a fair point but for me it was the industrious Joe Allen. He battled well (especially for his size), he passed the ball well and he got us moving every time. Him and Toure have to retain their places after today. There’s also a case for Lucas to keep his, he had a good game. I wasn’t too bothered at half time. It could be construed as an awful first half and there’d be no denying that but Stoke didn’t threaten once. One thing we didn’t want was to go behind in that first half. Our confidence couldn’t take it. As it was we grew into the game.
Second half was much better. We threw men forward and should have scored 3 in five minutes. Lucas was able to get back though straight after. Sterling came alive. We pressed well, but the thing that pleased me most was our spells of quick passing. Allen to Coutinho to Sterling. Worked for me. Not always a good end product but we know why that is. Lambert put himself about and his header for the goal was excellent. Fair play to Johnson too, had a poor game but saved his skin (and John Gibbon’s reputation, after he inexplicably said he’d start Johnson on last night’s podcast) with a really brave header but he also did well to be there for it. I felt more comfortable with Gerrard playing that role too. I think that’s how we can get the best out of him. Mignolet did well today too apart from his 2 errors. Difficult to say the first is an error as he made a good save but she be coming for them. The second error, the missed punch from the corner, was poor but he did ok overall. So, if we’re happy to try and take some positives from the Ludogorets game then we can definitely take something from today. Excellent second half but better balance in the side I thought. A clean sheet too. You could say as Stoke haven’t scored from a set piece all season that it was a guaranteed clean sheet today but before the game I’d have been happier betting that duck would end today than continue. Anyway, the plan is to beat Leicester, Sunderland next (easy), followed by wins against Utd and Arsenal and come Christmas Day we’re in the knock stage of the CL, the semi final of the League Cup and top 4 in the league. What can go wrong?
P.s Was I the only one having ‘dark’ thoughts in that added 7 mins? I’ll bet everyone else knew we’d see it out and wasn’t worried in the slightest, lol. I went one thought darker and convinced myself Lovren was gonna get an own goal.
Great result, better (second half) performance, we actually looked a threat going forward and some lovely inter-play by Sterling/Coutinho , with a bit more luck/composure that would have been a more convincing scoreline. Looks like BR has balls after all given his team selection (does he read TAW??), anyway it appeared to give everyone a boost having the captain come on.
Good on Spion Kop 1906, the club love to promote the “matchday experience” using the banners and flags provided by these lads as a selling point, there’s better picture on RAWK with the banner displayed and LFC Hospitality for sale on the advertising boards below, perfect timing!
@Robin, yeah as you, was thinking all sorts when Lovren came on and then couldn’t believe 7 added minutes! I honestly didn’t think we would hold out for that long, but was delighted to be proved wrong.
Good that.
Funnily enough, got back from the game and enjoying that cold beer that is especially enjoyable after a win, I tweeted “Clean sheet, Johnson scored, Mignolet came for a corner and caught the ball, LFC won and I have a cold beer. Happy days”
Only had 140 characters, but if I had more, I’d say that Lucas was great, back four and keeper looked more comfortable (is there a connection here?), Sterling is looking more like himself week on week, Lambert can never be bettered by Mario in a straight comparison (Rickie has heart, gives his all, nice touches and lay offs, was responsible for the goal with a fantastic leap and header and he gives a shit….which Mario doesn’t ostensibly seem to do), the crowd second half took the players belief and spurred them on and it was a fighting performance from the Reds.
Must say, I was expecting the worst when Coutinho was replaced by Lovren, Crouchie came on and the fourth official held up the board saying 7 minutes! But the players were determined and this could be a springboard to take us into the new year on three fronts….
YNWA
I said a few days ago was getting tired of all the ragging on Johnson and still rate him higher than most people do (although I was apoplectic after his non-closing down during (the second goal?) Crystal Palace 3-3. The momentum of criticism against him these last years has been almost unstoppable. He’s not as sh1te as everyone suggests, nor as slow as some have been saying. He’s half the player he used to be but still more than useful. Barring one classic cul-de-sac moment he had a decent game, even without the goal.
Lucas, Toure, Allen all have to play most of our games. They get the job done. They’re not pretty but we have enough creative players to afford them space in the team. We looked a lot more solid today than we have all season, in fact I didn’t think we looked that vulnerable v Ludogorets either apart from the two goals…meaning, in some other matches we’ve looked like conceding whenever a team has the ball and is running at us, but not these last 180/190 minutes.
Plus, Ricky looks like he belongs: and the more game time he has, the fitter those ageing legs will get, and the quicker/better he’ll become. As Howard says, he definitely gives a shit.
Progress.
Has Adam got a hotline to Rodgers Mansions?
Good win today. really pleased for everyone at the club. Who’d have thought we’d keep a clean sheet with Kolo and Lucas in the team. Oh……
Good things: the back 6, the second-half performance, a centre forward that knows what he’s about and delivers, Brendan’s half-time team talk.
Bad things: more craven substitutions, poor team selection: play Lallana with Lambert ffs, give them both a run in the team. Emre Can: what does he have to do to get a game? Even if he doesn’t start he should be coming on as the impact sub ahead of a 34 year old.
Next game: Stick with the back 6 and Rickie Lambert. Start with Lallana for Coutinho (he’s great from the bench when the game’s stretched) and bring in Can, either from the start or from the bench. Don’t pick Lovren or Gerrard*
* He will.
I have been dismissive of Joe Allen, but he has excelled in recent games, so I take it back. And what he has shown is that given the right mix in mid-field he can be a real asset. I was especially pleased to see Lucas get kudos.
It would be churlish to criticise Rodgers after finally getting a win, and a clean sheet. But his love affair with Lovren is puzzling.
People have been too quick to forget the midfield from the game at Spurs last season:
Lucas, Allen, Henderson, Coutinho and Sterling.
We weren’t bad that day were we?
Amen, can’t believe how it gets overlooked, especially in combination with how they took it to city at he Etihad the following week too.
Lucas, man of the match for me, probably because we have been desperate need for what he brings for such a long time. Thought it killed our momentum once he went off, and we got stuck passing between our centre backs again. Think what he offers with the ball is hugely underrated, I would like a stat on how often he got the ball into coutinho’s feet on the edge of the box, and he and Allen seem to work really well together and were instrumental in setting the tempo of the midfield, something falls away sharply when Gerrard comes on despite the goal.
Agreed, Lucas uses the ball really well and is great in tight situations, his technique and vision are much underrated.
Absolutely agreed, we were much less compact and fluid after Lucas went off. Ironic, really, as he’s a spoiler, but it just shows the component parts that make up a good team don’t always need to be the prettiest.
Paul, you have just done it yourself!
Drop PC for Lallana!!?
Keep it the same for me – played decently, clean sheet, won.
I know! But I think Coutinho’s better with a striker making forward runs whereas Lallana knows Lambert’s game inside out.
I watched the game on a Setanta feed. The first half was as bad as we’ve been all season – and there’s been a lot of completion for that ‘bad’. Second was much better, but not as great as some are saying here. A cleansheet in the current circumstances is great, but ‘solid’ is not the word I would use to describe how we looked. Stoke had some great chances and I’m still watching games between my fingers.
I’m sure we’ll have all week to dissect this, so for tonight I’m gonna have a few drinks and allow myself to watch MOTD for the first time in a month.
Not solid, Brownie, but more solid.
Well we played 4-2-3-1, two holding against a team not that interested in attack for the first hour. So I should expect so.
I completely understand why Rodgers would go like that given the recent experiences, but we’re not going to start with two holding in too many home games against mid-table sides in future months, or at least I hope we don’t.
This issue isn’t can we put out a team that looks more solid – we could choose to play like Sunderland did tonight a look “more solid” all season. Looking “more solid” when you’re trying to take the game to the opposition is the trick.
This wasn’t about all season it was about putting a team out and getting the win. We did it without conceding. I was happy for us to keep it tight until half time and we did. I thought it was vital we didn’t concede in that first half. In the second half it wasn’t unusual to see one of Lucas or Allen on the edge of the box. They had the ‘legs’ to get back though, haha. Obviously at 0-0 you’re gonna be watching through your fingers, that’s a cert given our recent form. There was only one nervous moment from a corner when Sterling cleared off the line. The one where either Gerrard or probably Enrique just stood and watched him. You’re normally more positive than this. I just hope you’re not going down the route of putting a filter on how you see things because you said the other way was better. Considering how low we’ve been it was a brilliant win. In the second half of last season it would have gone down as a nervy win or an off day. This season it goes down as very good win. Gerrard was never starting today, the 3rd game in 7 days but for Leicester both Toure and Lucas have given Rodgers something to think about.
Robin, you’ll know I called Gerrard on the bench for Stoke days ago, basically as soon as I found out he was starting against Ludo on Tuesday. There was no way he was starting 3 games in 7 days and I fully supported and understood Gerrard being benched yesterday. That’s not an issue. There are no “filters” over here, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to agree with any of the comments that exaggerate the level of performance yesterday or suggest it was transformative in any way. We analyse and dissect every game Liverpool play, week in, week out, so why is it any different this week just because we won? And yes, winning – however ugly – was the most important thing yesterday. BY A MILE. It sometimes takes a scrappy win like that to turn things around for a team and we all hope that’s the case. But if people are going to use yesterday as a basis for asserting how it shows they’ve been right about team selections up to this point, I’m going to point things like:
the first half was as poor we’ve played all season
Mignolet had to make two great saves to get us the points
Stoke had more possession, the same number of attempts on target and the same number of corners
and stuff like that. Not because I’ve got filters on, but because I haven’t.
There are comments on here that I don’t recognize based on what I saw. Such as your statement about that the only dangerous moment was Sterling’s goal-line clearance. Really? Or that we “controlled” the game. With less than 50% possession?
There are lots of people mentioning that yesterday’s midfield was the same as that which beat Spurs 5-0 away last season. Almost as if we should ignore the much more recent 3-0 victory away that was achieved without the 3rd best player in the world up front and without the benefit of playing against 10 men for a third of the game. You don’t suppose the fact that Gerrard played in the 3-0 has anything to do with some punters’ refusal to point that as the blueprint, do you? Perish the thought! For what’s it worth, I believe the major difference in the 3-0 Spurs victory versus our other performances this season was the two up top i.e. I’m not trying to claim it was because of Gerrard, but I do think it’s revealing that no-one wants to talk about that midfield combination as opposed to the one from a year ago.
All of this is before we even get to the fact that it was, you know, still 0-0 at the time Rodgers made the changes yesterday. There are people on here still giving it to Rodgers for making his changes even though we went on to win the game. Normally when a manager makes changes late on and the team goes on to win, the manager gets some credit. But not on here, and the main reason for that is he brought on players the majority didn’t want to see playing.
It’s almost as if people don’t want to acknowledge that we won the game with Lovren and Gerrard on the pitch. Who’d a thunk it?
There’s no shortage of “filters”, alright.
obviously, Lovren came on after we were 1-0 up.
So, despite overlooking the obvious, that the 5-0 win was both a blueprint for a post-Gerrard world and transformative, in that it transformed our season (rather than a solitary victory amongst a series of defeats) , despite the fact that no-one’s arguing that the performance yesterday was anything special, you still seem to be on your Gerrard hobbyhorse. Why is that?
You’re critique of yesterday’s first half performance is perfectly reasonable but consider: we didn’t concede. In that context, it wasn’t quite as poor as some of our recent performances. The question is Brownie, would you disrupt a winning team against Leicester? Would you pick Stevie, if so where and why?
Let me just say, at no time did I say we controlled the game. I was buzzing yesterday after the win and may have gone over the top a bit but not far enough to think we controlled the game. If you mean my opinion that we had a plan to keep it tight in the first half and open up a bit in the second (which if true, you could say worked well) then I stand by that but I definitely don’t think we controlled the game in the sense of how it’s used nowadays. Another thing, I can see how you’ve misinterpreted my sentence about only being under pressure from one set piece – it wasn’t clear. What I actually meant was only one set piece troubled us. There were other worrying moments for sure. It was in relation to how shambolic we’ve been from corners which in many ways Lovren and Skrtel have to take the bulk of responsibility for. Like I said, contrary to belief (I’m guessing) Stoke haven’t scored from a set piece all season so that may have been the reason we were comfortable. Either way, there appeared a tad more confidence yesterday. Also, look at our recent games, QPR and Palace scored 5 between them. To reduce the opposition into 3, possibly 4 decent chances, whilst defending everyone of them very well (except the one that hit the near post) is an improvement at the minute whether home or away.
I don’t want to be down on Gerrard, it’s not my scene but I’m certainly gonna reiterate that Lucas and Allen both showed enough yesterday for the ‘naysayers’ to have a valid point, when they kick off, next time Rodgers automatically selects Gerrard. I think, where I’m at is – if Gerrard isn’t CLEARLY showing he’s the right man for the position then drop him and play someone who’ll be able to play there next season. I did say yesterday wasn’t about the future, it was about winning but I’m gonna contradict that with ‘lets to start thinking about the future in that position’.
Gerrard doesn’t offer more in that position to warrant the automatic start. Lovren needed pulling out the team. Gerrard would be better used as an impact sub. We saw it all yesterday and I for one feel fully vindicated that I’ve complained when we didn’t see those things in the last few games. Regardless of how the game went we looked better than we have for a while. That same team could build on that against Leicester.
“Mignolet had to make two great saves to get us the points”……….and what???!!
That’s his job!!
That’s like saying the striker had to score to get us the points.
Bizarre!!!
Paul, the point about the 5-0 last season versus the 3-0 this season is that all the players who played in the 3-0 are still at the club. That’s a pretty important detail when we’re discussing which, if any, should be the blueprint for how we move forward this season (not 15/16, or 16/17, but *this* season). I just think it’s curious that the 3-0 display has been wiped from the memory bank. It’s true that we’ve played poorly either side of that game, but it’s also true that fate has conspired to ensure we haven’t been able to put that team back out on the pitch.
“Nobody’s arguing that the performance yesterday was anything special”
You’re right, they’re not. But despite the fact the performance wasn’t that special and no-one is claiming it was, there now seems to be a prevailing belief that we’ve got a clearly established first choice midfield and that if the manager were to deviate from that he’d be committing a cardinal sin. Which doesn’t make sense if, as you seem to agree, the performance yesterday was nothing special.
“You’re critique of yesterday’s first half performance is perfectly reasonable but consider: we didn’t concede.”
Completely get that and I think there’s something in the point you/Robin make that it looks like there was a gameplan to keep things tight in the first half and be a bit more progressive in the second. But that’s precisely the point: yesterday was probably the first time this season at home where we’ve adopted that tactic, if that’s indeed what we did. Against Stoke. For the avoidance of doubt, I’m not criticizing that decision (given lack of confidence, etc.). But I am saying that assuming that was the gameplan, there should be an expectation we would look a bit more solid. Especially given the team selected, too. You won’t get an argument from me that the team selected yesterday probably gives us our best chance of keeping a cleansheet out of any other selected so far this season. And right now there’s a decent argument that keeping a cleansheet should be the priority. Again, I would have benched Gerrard yesterday, too, if for no other reason than 3 games in 7 days is asking for trouble. The team Rodgers sent out is more or less what I would have selected myself. I hope this is coming through: I’m not criticizing the midfield Rodgers selected yesterday or the performance of any of the individual players. But equally, I didn’t see anything transformative, I didn’t see anything to suggest we stumbled across a blueprint for the future, and whilst yesterday’s team is currently our most solid defensively, I don’t think it longer term it will deliver enough victories against the teams we need to beat to make top 4. It is, after all, a fairly conservative selection.
Sorry if you think that means I have a Gerrard hobbyhorse. I only have that hobbyhorse to the extent that some of you seem to be prepared to over-accentuate the positives from a game he didn’t play.
Michael, I’m not writing this stuff in a vacuum. Try looking at my comments within the context of the thread and the points made by the commenters I’m responding to. I do get that it’s a goalkeeper’s job to make saves. I’m pointing out that the victory was in no sense comfortable and I didn’t notice the control that others claim we exerted over the game. That’s all.
FWIW, I thought we just did enough to win, even though the stats have it more or less even.
Robin, the comment about controlling the game came from someone else (Frank?) and I didn’t mean to imply that it came from you. I also now get what you meant by the Sterling goal-line clearance comment.
Yesterday was basically a re-run of the Hull game, except we knicked a goal at the end. The overall performance was neither worse nor better (although the stats say against Hull we had significantly more possession and created more chances, whilst limiting the opposition to fewer). Just so we’re clear: it was all about winning yesterday, and win we did. Job done. But we do, don’t we, have these discussions about performance after every game. If you say you saw something in the performance yesterday that vindicates what you’ve been saying about selection prior to now, then good for you, but I’m not being argumentative just for the sake of it when I say – performance wise – you must have watched a different game to the one I watched. Can you explain to me in what way, performance wise (rather than result wise), yesterday was better than Hull, for example?
And I don’t know who has been arguing that Gerrard should be an automatic start. I certainly haven’t. I wouldn’t have picked him yesterday and I’d possibly consider omitting him from the starting line-up Tuesday. But if I did, it would be because I’d start him the following Saturday at home to Sunderland.
There are two groups of people commenting on this blog:
1 – Those who think Gerrard should start some games
2 – Those who don’t think Gerrard should start any games
I don’t believe there is a third group of people claiming Gerrard should start all games. I’m in the first group, by the way.
An example of a game in which I’d definitely start Gerrard would be Basel. A game where looking solid and keeping a clean-sheet gets us nothing.
Brownie, It wasn’t a dig at any set of fans. I change from week to week depending on the last game. I like being like that. Not really bothered whether I’m right or wrong. The point I was insinuating was – I don’t like criticising Rodgers but the last few weeks I have. I’ve not understood his thinking. It’s actually ridiculous that any of us feel we have any grounds to say Rodgers is wrong and we’re right so if it turns out the fans are proved right over this one then I’ll take some solace that it wasn’t just us fans being dickheads or having knee jerk reactions, or at least we were being dickheads with a valid point. Lovren can’t come back in until the team is solid again. It’s common sense. I think you’re definitely right about the scapegoat thing. It’s not down to Gerrard but then he is a piece in the pie and the question needs resolving. It’s as impact sub for me now.
One step at a time, eh Brownie?
Thought our midfield got better as the game wore on and they got used to playing with each other again. First game back for this formation and I reckon it was very promising.
That’s a fair point, too. They definitely improved. And I totally get the one step at a time thing. Longer term, though, I don’t think this formation *at home* is going to cause enough trouble to teams of Stoke’s stature and better. It doesn’t pose enough questions. We’ll lose fewer with this formation, but the points difference between winning and drawing is greater than it is between drawing and losing. Given our start, we’ve going to have to win the vast majority of our home games to get top 4 and I’m not sure this formation will deliver that.
But yesterday, that didn’t matter. It was about winning on the day – totally get that, and no-one is happier than me that we did that.
I’m fairly sure that this setup is not our long term, or even a medium term solution Brownie. We’ve seen enough of Rodgers to understand what his preferred elements of play are. This is clearly a gameplan to ensure we concede less, especially, in a period when our attacking combinations are yet to click.
You can rest easy. This is definitely not our plan to deal with teams of Stoke’s calibre over the long term. BR has not suddenly turned into Paul Lambert, you know!
Still want Sakho, Moreno, and Manquillo. But we showed the way forward with handling Gerrard. Go all out for Petr Cech and we might actually salvage something from the season.
Yes. And I think Lallana deserves a proper spell. But right now I’m happy to win – Sunderland-style if necessary – to stabilise our defence. You can only have exciting forwards if they know that turning the ball over doesn’t mean you are going to risk conceding a goal. I also think that Markovic has great promise but his hurried disposals smacks of fear of being criticised. During Lucas’ first troubled season or so he played safe by dinking little passes sideways because he came to expect groans when he got the ball. Downing, too, to a lesser extent was diminished by the crowd. Balo is heading that way too, although his problem is of the square peg variety.
One of the earlier posters mentioned nice passing movements this time, as opposed to rolling it along the edge of the box ten or fifteen times befit panicking and giving it back to Mignolet to bloot upfield or into touch because he’s under pressure.
I listened to Sandor Westerveld on the BBC yesterday. He said what we all knew, that last season we conceded goals like relegation candidates and didn’t address that. I was also very impressed to hear him constantly referring to LFC as ‘we’.
Yeah, there was much less passing it around at the back yesterday. Coincidence?
Well, who’d a fuckin’ thunk it? Lovren benched, Gerrard used as a sub, Johnson passing through puberty in the space of a minute, growing a gigantic pair of balls and bleeding for the shirt and the winning goal… Still amazed. Enjoyed that win more than the one against Spurs, funny enough.
That midfield against Spurs away last year is a good shout,
I really do hope we see more of it,
Bringing my six year old boy over for his first game next week and it was great to hear Anfield almost demand a much needed morale lift,
Even gonna watch the football league show let alone motd!
All I wanted today was a win!
Didn’t care how ugly it was, as long as it was a win!
Not only did I get a win today but I also got a clean sheet!!!!
Over the f**king moon!!
Was it the best performance we’ve ever put in?!
Fuck no!!
But there was fight, there was perseverance and there was character!!
Fuck me, there was a Glen Johnson goal!
Bring on Leicester!
Made it tight at the back in the first half, both fullbacks stayed back rather than overlap forward. Worked pretty well against Stoke. But the second half, oh boy, what a transformation. I wonder what was said in the dressing room but I want to guess it was ‘FFS! Go out there an attack!’ Which we did. Left, right, through the middle. That must have confused Stoke quickly.
Keep playing Lucas in that position. It steadies the midfield. Bring in Gerrard only when it is warranted. It worried me last night when Henderson was pushed back, lost the strength both in defense and forward.
Johnson redeemed himself massively with that goal. And what a goal it was too! That one decision he made could be the turning point of the season. We won, on top of the clean sheet, crucial 3 points, higher confidence now, and much needed breathing space away from the negatives.
Cant wait for the next game now.
First time since Spurs when we’ve had a game plan that we actually implemented, although I doubt Brendan expected Stoke to open up as much as they did 2nd half. Maybe that was thanks to Mr Adam’s introduction.
Also felt like a day when collectively the club shook off its post-Suarez hangover. We are where we are and we go from here with the players we have.
I’ve been calling for Steven to start on the bench but he showed how tough it is to come on for 20 and make an impact. But Lucas also showed why he must be first choice defensive midfielder. Allen & Hendo were both great alongside him too. Not a midfield that’s full of goals, but really helped us control the game and grind out the win. That’s where we are until Sturridge gets back and a few more one nils is fine with me.
I wondered why the banners weren’t out pre-game. To be honest I thought they were something to do with the club (and maybe they should be). Fully agree with the sentiments, but I hope they’re back soon because they deffo add a lot to the match experience.
We won! That it was only at home against Stoke is irrelevant. With Utd & Arsenal (West Ham too) winning more difficult games, 3 points was vital.
So, as Rob says above, the first time Rodgers drops Lovren & uses Gerrard as he should results in a win. It’s as if I’ve been talking sense for months.
The performance itself was nowhere near the level required to get anywhere near the 70 points that might (might) bring 4th place. But it was better than anything we’ve done in the last month.
The first half was turgid. Rafa at his absolute worst. Nothing happened. Long gone are the days of flying at poor/average teams at home in the opening 20 minutes. The second half was better. Im not really buying into that we showed more character or desire (johnson wouldnt have got out of Anfield alive had he not thrown himself at that ball to win it). We were simply better than we have been. Our passing & interplay was a bit sharper. Movement was a bit smarter & more threatening. I do have to stress “a bit” and say its lightyears behind what we were doing 8 months ago, but it’s a start.
Team selection was just ok again with question marks about full backs. Putting Lovren on was a mistake & added to the anxiety. Hardly reassuring when you see him come on & you’re defending a clean sheet.
But we won!
Now We need to make sure this is the start of something. A run of 12 undefeated or something.
Good article. I agree the club don’t show enough appreciation towards the supporters. Well done to the Spion Kop 1906 lads for taking a stand. I saw a post on RAWK yesterday which referenced a statement from a German CEO. He basically said that the revenue from ticket sales in the modern game is so insignificant to the running of clubs nowadays that there’s literally no point in having high ticket prices. Sure they may loose out on £2m per yer, but what’s £2m in the grand scheme of things (one agent fee perhaps?). It’s time the club made the first move, slash ticket prices, make the supporters happy and lets get a rocking atmosphere going every week. Ultimately changes need to be made by the FA and Premiere League but someone has to move first. We should lead the way. It’s done German football a world of good.
As for the game…
Now call me perverse but it was so satisfying to out-Stoke, Stoke. I especially liked hearing Mark Hughes cry about the fact they were only undone by a long ball into the box. Yeah Mark, it’s f*ckin sh*t isn’t it. Have that you clay nailed cretin. As a fan I’d be quite happy to see us continue in this way until January. Hopefully one or two reinforcements during the window will allow us to be a bit more expansive but until then we just need to grind out a few wins.
Looking ahead to Leicester, I hope Brendan goes with the same team. The only changes I can see him making are possibly Johnson if he has a head injury, and Gerrard further up the pitch (I can’t see him sitting on the bench two games on the bounce). Of those that played I think Lucas, Kolo and Allen deserve to keep their places, so we might see Sterling or Coutinho dropped (I’d do neither by the way). Other than that… We go again! Another 1-0 will do nicely thank you very much. YNWA
Blame the players for our ticket prices. The difference between the PL and other top leagues comes down to our players getting vast sums of money from the increased ticket prices.
There’s nothing clubs can do about it unless they all work together. That will never happen because those at the top of the pile do not care.
Those of us old enough to remember the start of S*y usurping the English game will remember them stating that should the fans stop going, they’ll employ people to sit and make noise. A crowd and chanting can be done live with VFX these days. The fans do not matter one iota, our sole purpose is to pay players’ inflated wages. And the rot goes all the way down the pyramid to the feeder leagues for the conference.
This is a great article btw, for fans of a certain vintage:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/nov/28/golden-goal-terry-mcdermott-liverpool-aberdeen
Good write up, John. First half was like a game of park footy but we decided to be a professional football team in the second. A good one as well, albeit one that couldn’t take the chances it carved out. Their understandable lack of confidence showed most when they caught Adam on the ball but just didn’t have the composure to punish him for it. Lambert was MoM just doing the basics really well and I thought Allen was really clever when he was the deepest midfielder. He’s never going to win headers per se but he just leans in to these bigger lads to keep the ball alive.
Everyone upped their game though. Little things like Johnson getting loads for giving it away when Henderson didn’t give him the angle and screaming at Mignolet to hurry up on his kicks (he *needs* to take his time so fucking let him) were jettisoned for getting behind the entire team. Glad you mentioned Mignolet’s catches because they felt great when everyone’s nerves were gone. Rodgers would have got down the banks if we’d have conceded after that substitution.
Thought Bojan looked decent for them trying to create his own chances. Going from Barcelona to Stoke is just mad/brilliant in terms of football and surroundings. Their atrocious fans were singing the Gerrard song even though he wasn’t even on the pitch. Yeah, good shout you whappers.
I’m gonna be honest Tom, I was astounded to read that one of the TV channels gave Lambert MOM too. I thought he did well but actually there were a lot of times yesterday where he was sloppy in his passing and touch. No biggie, but I just didn’t see that. Like I said above, for me it was Allen all day.
It could have been anyone of ’em in the second half. Johnson, Kolok Lambert, Lucas, Allen or Sterling. When was the last time more than one player played well? Shit even Enrique played well for the first time in ages. I’ve criticised the substitutions, which were wrong on any number of levels, but credit where it’s due, I reckon Brendan gave them a right rollocking at half-time. The difference in the the two halves was night and day.
I’d agree with Enrique raising his game with the rest of the team. Takes him a while to get into games though, and he played some frustrating nothings balls that were never on first half. Think he got the nod over Moreno solely for his height.
His non-movement doesn’t help Sterling or Coutinho’s game at all but he was (free kick aside) just about the best Rickie Lambert he could be yesterday. Didn’t win every header but made a nuisance of himself and out-Stoked Stoke which was nice. Although knocking it up to a big fella probably wasn’t were Rodgers saw his Liverpool team being going into 2015 back when he first walked in and bounced Carroll out.
With the lack of confidence in the team and in particular the defence and goalkeeper, just allowing them the out ball rather than passing it about to draw teams onto us was the way to go for the win and clean sheet. Rodgers showing he can be pragmatic and forgo his ideals for results will hopefully shut a few people up.
Don’t know about that mate, Sterling’s confidence has increased visibly since Lambert’s started. He knows where he’ll be and what he’s likely to do with the ball so is confident to make runs again. Coutinho’s a different matter, and I’m minded to agree with you. I’d be playing Lallana for that very reason. Coutinho needs runners, but those runners could be Henderson and Sterling. They just need time to get used to Rickie’s game, I think they’re getting there, but like I say, play Lallana with Coutinho to come from the bench when the game’s stretched.
I thought the fans shouting at Mignolet every time he was going to kick the ball simply astounding. Even at goal kicks. The guy clearly has a problem with his kicking, an aspect of his game he’s not confident with so shouting at him each time he’s going to kick it isn’t gonna fucking help him.
Supporter. The clue is in the name!
I had to drop my daughter off last night so I got in the car and excitedly put 606 on. The very first thing I heard was one of those messages fans leave. They have 20 seconds to say what they want then hang up. He said, it’s Liverpool’s own fault they’re where they are. They bought Mignolet when they already had Reina. I just thought – what a bell. A totally misplaced comment. Talk about it today, fine, but not in the after match phone in. Irrelevant to anything yesterday.
I’m not convinced about the rollicking. Who knows? My interpretation was it was a deliberate plan. A number of things support this. Firstly that Lucas and Allen were noticeably further forward in the second half but definitely weren’t in the first half. The other thing is the games against Hull and Newcastle had similar patterns. We didn’t start to play until the 60th minute in those games and nearly / should of won the Hull one in the same manner as yesterday. In the Newcastle one it could just as easily have gone to us than them. Although I wasn’t in favour of it one wonders what would have happened if Lambert had started instead of Balotelli.
You may be right Robin, but the transformation took place from the 45th minute yesterday.
Well, my biggest criticism of the Hull game was we didn’t leave ourselves long enough to score. 60th / 65th minute only left us 25 /30 mins against Hull. Another 10 mins that day and we’d won. Maybe he recognised that and adapted his plan slightly or maybe he just reads my comments and changes things accordingly, haha.
You might be on to something there Robin!
Completely agree that yesterday was basically a re-run of Hull. I mentioned this above in my responses.
FWIW, we had one more attempt on goal with one more on target in the Hull game, and gave up one fewer of each, despite leaving it longer to start playing.
Last season we thought we could beat ANY other team, and, importantly, so did they. Remember that Chelsea were so apprehensive they ‘parked the bus’.
In recent weeks – months – ANY other team has felt they could beat us, and, importantly, so did WE.
One win at home against moderate opposition is nothing to brag about, but it gives our opponents pause, and that may be all it takes. A couple more wins, even if 1-0 and ugly, could see us buoyant and them afraid. But the price of stability will be eternal vigilance – no more passing back and forth across the box and claiming we won the possession.