MUCH of the talk before the game was of Olympiakos and the Road to Istanbul. That team too had stumbled through the group and early season consistencies to see the season explode into life with a swing of Gerrard’s right boot.
I’m not sure how the night started back in 2004, it’s hard to remember, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t start with half the crowd with a cob on. Despite Borini not being on the bench for two league wins last week and no-one noticing, since the Sunderland draw it was now a hot topic. For Basel he was out again and it was deemed a further sign that the manager had lost the plot. Even his missus was fuming on Twitter. And you don’t cross a Scouse girl, Brendan.
On top of this you had lads who were keen to tell you how Manquillo/Moreno/Lallana/Coutinho/Markovic and even the injured Toure were being treated like a dog, to the extent that you started to wonder who on earth he had picked. Best of luck to those who did.
Once the game had started the players did little to overcome the discontent. In fact they were the worst at it. A tough crowd became an unrelenting one as players misplaced passes and went into their shell. Even when something broke for Sterling out of a mistake he seemed scared witless to shoot. Basel passed it round with no such worries. Maybe they think their fans like them.
They opened scoring through a passage that was neat play if you are watching as a neutral, but all rather too easy if you are on the receiving end. The rest of the half disintegrates into crowd moans, poor movement and players bickering. At one point Gerrard knocks a ball over the top and shouted at Rickie Lambert for not being Fernando Torres. Even I felt for Rickie at the point. Towards the end it started lashing down and I was quite pleased because I thought it might mean something mad happened and we might score from it. I’m not sure where that ranks on the scale of desperation, but it felt pretty high.
At half time there is a double sub. Moreno for Enrique felt a good one as we were getting no joy down the left flank whatsoever. Markovic for Lambert was an interesting one in that we now had no strikers on the pitch. What we did have was 11 good players, and just by having good players who seemed to trust each other and move for each other things improved dramatically. Admittedly it was dramatically to just alright, but it felt like a good start.
And then the red. Don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t a ridiculous decision from a Community Support Officer of a referee. The ‘well he gave the ref a decision to make’ brigade ignore the fact that when players challenge for the ball or just move about on the football pitch, parts of their body can sometimes brush vaguely near another player. It’s not a harsh decision, it’s just wrong. He was wrong a lot.
Markovic was stupid, yes – but journos need to stop it with their own interpretations of law – not a red http://t.co/6vkZixqNnv via @YouTube
— Mike Wilson (@Redsmail) December 10, 2014
Ten men feels the end of the game. But remarkably a group of players who had shown no confidence whatsoever suddenly decide out of nowhere they might as well have a go. The crowd reacts and suddenly we are all mates again. Gerrard’s free kick is perfect and it feels on. Basel rattled, Kop in full flow. I want to win it for them, for us, for Brendan, but especially for the three awful lads who were sat behind me who got off on 75. But it wasn’t to be. Despite a wonderful Martin Skrtel cameo which suggested he could be a 9 AND a 10 if he wanted to reinvent himself. A scandalously low amount of injury time saw lots of tired lads doing tired things and then Basel celebrated like they’d won the thing. Good on them. It’s meant to be a laugh.
It would be wrong to allow the last 10 minutes to cloud the issues of the first 80, of course. There are loads of problems. With confidence, squad balance, and in some cases just plain ability. Where do we go from here? Old Trafford. On Sunday. Maybe with no “strikers”. And always with a shotgun on my knee
It just hurts now mate
So we were shit (again) and the crowd got on the players backs. Then we decided to have a go and the crowd got behind the players.
Imagine that, eh? It’s almost as if a quick start would have had the crowd up from the start and Basel would have shit themselves, as they did after it went 1-1.
There is more of a hint of “this is all the moaning crowds fault” in this review. Which couldnt possibly be your opinion Gibbo. Not after what we’ve put up with since August. Not after the shit performances. Not after the shit results. Not after the shit transfers. Not after the shit team selections. Not after the shit tactics. Not after the shit substitutions. Not after the amount of bollocks spouted by one Brendan Rodgers during the week and after every poor result, of which there has been far too many.
David Moyes first 5 months at Man Utd made him a joke figure. Someone everyone took the piss out of. Mass debate. Hysterical reactions. Rodgers is performing to a much lower standard than Moyes did. Much much lower. 7 points and 12 goals in the leagI am reliably informed Utd fans have put together a “BRENDAN RODGERS IS A FOOTBALL GENIUS” banner for the weekend.
How the fuck did it come to this so soon after May?
David Moyes’ Manchester Utd 2013/14
League – Played 19 Won 10 Lost 5 Drew 4 Points 34 Goal Difference +12
Champions League – QUALIFIED TOP OF GROUP – Played 6 Won 4 Lost 0 Drew 2 Goal Difference +9
League Cup – Reached Semi Final
Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool 2014/15
League – Played 15 Won 6 Lost 6 Drew 3 Points 21 Goal Difference 0
Champions League – ELIMINATED FROM COMPETITION – Played 6 Won 1 Lost 3 Drew 2 Goal Difference -4
League Cup – Reached Quarter Final (still to come)
Last season was clearly a blip. We all believed the club was on the rise, but we’re back to where we’ve been under four managers: mid-table. The club cannot attract top tier players, that’s pretty clear now. We have to scrape around for fringe players and hope they come good, or gamble on mid-table sides’ players hoping they can step up a level or two.
Until FSG start paying top tier wages, the club will remain making up the pack fighting for the last European spot.
You can blame the ref, the timekeeping, or anything else, but the reality is this is Rodgers’ third season, he’s spent way over £200 million, and we’re where Hodgson left us.
It’s not my opinion that it was “all the moaning crowds fault” no. Lines like “There are loads of problems. With confidence, squad balance, and in some cases just plain ability” should ‘hint’ at that.
Just thought the atmosphere before a ball had even been kicked last night was mad.
I know it has been painful, especially with the high expectations coming into this season – but PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEEEEEEEASE don’t let what United fans are doing effect how supportive you are of Brendan Rodgers and his team!
Spirited comeback, harsh red, appalling referee. All true but how do end up having no strikers befitting the occasion tonight having spent over a 100 million pound this summer. Fair enough we have two injured strikers. Sturridge was always likely to miss games and I’d argue that Balotelli wouldn’t merit a start even if fit. How has it come to that? Appalling stuff
Apologies, posted this on the podcast page too as I thought there might not be a match review.
I never try and guess the team for matches. It’s just something I’ve never done. This afternoon though my lad asked what I thought the team would be and after thinking about it I said, surprisingly, after all the stick I’ve given them, I’d start Johnson and Enrique for this match. When the team was announced I thought ‘fuckin hell, I must be good at this, I’m on the same level as Rodgers’. It wasn’t long before I realised it was more of a case of we’re both fuckin clueless. The whole team selection was baffling. As they’d been so horrendous I was watching Allen and Lucas closely in the first half and even if we were attacking they both went back to their defensive positions. This was a game we had to win. It was at Anfield. We’re a team who finds it hard to score. Basel aren’t that good. Well, we built a rod for our own backs. Ok, I got the idea from the TAW podcast but I wanted to see Markovic start for Lambert. He was clearly fucked on Saturday. I knew he’d do nothing tonight. We looked better with Markovic for the short spell he was on.
I want to make a point about the goal. I blame Mignolet if I’m honest. Twice in two minutes he put the defence under pressure rolling it out to them. The second led to a hurried clearance and a goal when it came back. He just panics whenever he’s got the ball whether at his feet or in his hands. He did ok tonight with his punch and his save but his lack of confidence is infectious. From where we were in May and what we had I just can’t believe we need to strengthen about 5 positions in the first 11 and will probably need a new manager. I don’t want change before the end of the season if at all but my belief in Rodgers waned drastically after the Newcastle game and it’s getting to the point where I’m more bemused than angry. I get like that when my fire is out. When I feel the only thing to play for is pride. I still want Rodgers to succeed and I still put our failures down to having no strikers but that aside there’s absolutely nothing to cling to. It’s heart breaking to see what we’ve become. There are obvious questions to ask.
Agreed Robin. I was cursing Mignolet as soon as the goal went in. I thought he’d been told to ‘simplify his game’.
Not forgetting the goal kicks that put Skrtel under so much pressure he daren’t allow the ball to leave the penalty area so touches it inside the box so it can be ‘re-taken’….but Mignolet doesn’t learn his lesson and repeats the trick time after time. Complete liability putting an already fragile defence under more pressure. Add to this his ‘chipped’ kicks that stay in the air long enough for the opponent to close down the intended recipient, the ever-so-slowly rolled out ball to the defender/Defensive Midfielder that hardly reaches him, makes him hurry his clearance or lose possession and you have the basis for disaster after disaster emanating from Mignolet’s dithering and dallying. That’s how Basle scored last night. Mignolet had the ball. Suicide ‘pass’ out to Lucas, hurried ball out to Skrtel & then Johnson, lose possession with the ball never getting more than 20 yards outside the LFC penalty area and they score.
Mignolet Has to be replaced. End of…
All our troubles, including tonight, originate from poor transfers in the summer.
How can we find ourselves going into a must win game to qualify for the knock out stages of the CL with 1 striker in the squad?? That 1 striker is a 32yr old 4th choice striker who just started his 6th game in 16 days.
The only decent attacking threat we had in the first half was Sterling…..that’s it!!!
Our purchases were so bad in the summer that Rodgers has had to complete ignore his philosophy of football in order to get some results. That bad!!
We have very little attacking pace, creativity or know how. We had an absolutely abysmal summer (older purchases havnt been too hot either) and now it’s starting to really hurt us.
We lose against Utd and Arsenal and I fear that’s our season finished!
Can someone try and explain what Moreno and Lallana have done wrong please? Or what the players in their positions do better.
And the Thursday/Sunday purgatory of the Europa League as well. Balls
On the positive side let’s not forget that this is the first year the Europa League winners qualify for the Champions League if I’m not mistaken – can anybody confirm this please?
Yeah, correct mate. It’s a tough competition though
I wouldn’t know mate but I’d guess it was quite a high priority to not concede tonight. Same as in the recent league games. Moreno is probably better in a more attacking side and has the odd defensive lapse. My thinking pre match was both the Spanish full backs could leave us exposed.
I’d say Lallana has shown some good signs since he came in. He’s obviously a brilliant player. Who would you drop for him though? Truth is, I’m worried about how he fits into our team. He seems quite lightweight too. Maybe a bit harsh on him as I have been really impressed by him at times.
Moreno’s done a fair bit wrong. Can’s omission, however, is frankly baffling. He looked a real powerhouse in the Chelsea game.
Just so we’re clear, this is a different Chris.
Im a fan of Moreno but his confidence is shot to pieces. Not that much of a fan of Lallana in all honesty. Good player, quick feet, quick brain but not athletic enough for a top club. Like Mata these days.
Don’t understand the bombing out of Can. And the decision to not have Borini on the bench was a disgrace.
Maybe start using the letter that starts your surname mate. It’s funny but I find it important to build up a profile in my head of the person commenting. Be nice to distinguish between you both.
Yea I agree, was going to do it but this other Chris doesnt post as much as I do. From now on I’ll be Chris Mc.
there’s a third of us (and probably more) on here, hence the Chris03…
Now I’m confused which one the twat is, haha, only joking!
Chris = Chris03 = ChrisL
I don’t believe I’m the twat (at least on this forum), but I am not the Chris that posts the rather lengthy, cutting comments which at times I do agree with.
Yeah, Chris always makes good points.
Me too. Moreno will come good.
3 of us!
And yes, Im the twat with the lengthy posts and cutting remarks!
I certainly don’t think that but it’s good we know who’s who now
Worst European campaign I can remember in my 40 years. A joyless experience. Tonight’s game was putrid. Do they train together these lads. So poor and I’m so disheartened
British managers have been outclassed in European football for years now. Rodgers regards it as a great achievement just getting there and if you consider how few British managers even compete in the Champions League, he is right. Unfortunately he looked out of his depth.
He’s clearly not the right manager for this Liverpool to really compete at the top. He has far too much to learn and even if we gave him years, he would most likely not be good enough given that he can’t organize a defence and isn’t a good judge of player.
I’d be making plans now for a change of manager in the summer. Senor Benitez is probably the best we can get, unless Simeone could be attracted.
I
Really? Please no! :-(
That’s what really worries me now, is how badly Rodgers looked out of his depth.
I mean, he looks years away from being able to compete at champions league level.
Giving young managers a go sounds all well and good in principle, but LFC is not finishing school for inexperienced managers, they really need to hit the ground running at this level.
FSG are going to have a tough decision come the end of the season.
If they do replace him, I also hope we go for an experienced pro, and not another ‘young manager’, because I’ve seen the pitfalls of that strategy and don’t care much for making the same mistakes all over again.
There’s a reason top clubs appoint managers with proven track records of winning trophies… and FSG are learning that lesson now.
Whiter teeth?
‘…three awful lads who were sat behind me who got off on 75.’ Should be banned for life…
Thinking on there was some really idiotic decision making even when we were having a go. It took us an illogically long time to knock a ball up for Skrtel. Could’ve killed Johnson at the point near the end where Mignolet plays it short to him and he elects to play it out to the wing where it goes out rather than down the middle.
Was the crowd to blame to the degree that’s hinted at in this article and previously on the podcasts?
It’s the age old conundrum of the chicken and the egg.
Which comes first? A team good enough that the crowd feels that if it gets behind them that they have the nouse and ability to go on and win? Or the crowd that roars a lackluster, confidence drained team on to achieve the seemingly impossible?
The former appears to have been the case tonight but with a crowd that had no confidence in a team that looks a pale shadow of what it ought to be and therefore offered it little support. We waited for a spark of ingenuity or brilliance to set the crowd alight and once again it never came. The Basel fans, it appeared to me, sang from kick-off to final whistle and fair play to them. Theirs was a team that harried and hustled and had a modicum of self-belief. Bottom line is that the best sides went through to the next stage, no disputing it.
The problem for Brendan now is that every game is becoming more important, more ‘must win’ – the dreaded cycle of pressure that perpetuates itself when a team is going through a bad patch. Tough times. Brendan is going to have to start getting results toot feckin’ sweet and a game against Man U next is pretty much as pressured as it gets. Arsenal won 4-1. A few days ago Arsenal fans / supporters were baying for blood – off with his head. Newcastle are currently 7th with everything in the garden seemingly rosy. How long ago was it that Pardew was being berated by his own fans / supporters? This is modern football. Ces’t la vie.
My heart dropped when I watched Rodgers as TV cameras showed him seemingly at a loss looking for a hand to shake or a back to pat before he found neither as he made his way down the tunnel on his own at the end of the match. He suddenly seemed a perplexed and lonely figure. I want to believe in Brendan because I believe in Liverpool. Come on Brendan, don’t let us down.
Yeah, that was a poignant moment. It looked like the last walk…
Positives?
Easily Lovren’s best game for us (okay, that’s faint praise indeed, but he did well tonight I thought)
Markovic showed signs of the player we thought we’d bought in the summer. Seems to me he played with an attitude of “fuck this, I’m just going to have a go” and it worked for him.
I’d be tempted to start with Markovic up top with Sterling on Sunday. Pace and movement against a defence every bit as bad as ours.
Good stuff Brrownie! :-)
I find it incredible that, John aside, no one has mentioned the ridiculous decision that possibly lost us the game, or meant we couldn’t get back in it at least. Imagine if that decision had gone against us last season. The internet would have exploded with anger. As it is, it hardly seemed to matter. We were deflated long before that. Like I said above, I know things are bad for me when I get to the stage where incidents like that don’t fill me with rage.
We should be just as annoyed with Markovic, he gave the ref a decision to make. It wasn’t the flailing arm so much, as the look: it was clearly pre-meditated, and very, very dumb.
Exactly, though minor to no contact, it was clear he lashed out intentionally right in front of the official… harsh red or not just a silly, silly move on so many levels.
It filled me with rage while I was in the stadium, but I got home, saw it on the TV and, you know what, Markovic looks at his opponent, twice, then flicks his arm out towards his face. Player goes down like he’s been hit by Muhammed Ali (professionally yet disgracefully) and the ref produces the red. But what I saw in the ground didn’t make me half as angry as what I saw on the TV – Markovic having the best 10 mins of his LFC career and then ballsing it up by inexplicably flicking out an arm. FFS
I may be reading this totally wrong (and it wouldnt be the first time) but basically it was all the crowd’s fault for not giving 100% support to a team that when picked looked dodgy with some bemusing decisions. Nothing to do with the selection, players, tictacs, manager etc etc. Just the crowd!??? 10 mins of hit and hope seems to almost mask a multitude of sins too!.
Probably just reading it wrong.
Oh I’ve just seen the game stats on The Grauniad website
Possesion: LFC 40% – Basel 60%
Shots OnTrgt: LFC 7 – BAsel 8
Shots OffTrgt: LFC 7 – Basel 6
Still probably was the crowd’s fault.
I noticed this earlier. The BBC report shows we had 63% possession, and that would seem to move accurately reflect the numbers they put up during the game. Think the Guardian stats guy is pissed.
Well it is early or maybe they had to have a drink or 3 to get through it!! ;)
I didn’t catch Rodgers’ post-match speech. Whose fault was it? Balotelli’s again?
Can somebody tell me why Stevie takes all the frees and corners? Okay, he scored a blinding free kick but most of this and other games he seems to find the defenders. And given his trade mark thunderbolts from outside the box surely it should be him who is lying in wait fur a corner kick to be cleared or deflected. Just for once I am prepared to accept that it’s not Rodgers’ fault…
What WAS his fault was sending off promising players like Ibe out on loan, and not even having a striker on the bench. I believe there is no way he will get a shitload to spend in the January window. And dies anybody REALLY believe that Sturridge is the answer? The team
has no spirit.
The first half was no better than Sunderland. We are not making any progress whatsoever. How many shots on target in the first half?!
Not putting Borini at least on the bench was criminal.
The author cannot logically imply any of this was the crowd’s fault. The fans have been alienated via clueless tactics, appalling press comments and unwatchable football. Many of the fans will have seen more top flight football in the flesh than BR – we are nobody’s fool.
Under Benitez there was always hope, even with below par players.
BR has reached the tipping point where he may soon lose the respect of the crowd. That will be terminal.
A tepid performance, who expected different when that’s how the side has been all season? Rodgers down to 4/1 for the sack, down from over 20/1 a month ago. Don’t forget a lot of these players are on bigger contracts than they were last season.
It’s looking like Gerrard will once again outlast his manager.
It seemed to me that the crowd were getting on players’ backs because they weren’t helping out their team mates. The amount of time a player received the ball, looked up only to find a) no-one near him to offer a pass and b) no-one wanting the ball merited disquiet.
Reminds me of the frog in a pot over a stove, feeling comfortable in the slow heating water, oblivious to the fact that when the water gets to the boiling point, it would die!
Like the song, “we’re so shit it’s fucking unbelievable”
I see Gerry Francis is available!
I think the stats comparing Moyes at Utd last season to Brendan this season says it all. I know Brendan hasn’t done very well this season but I didn’t think it was as bad as the stats show. The win percentages are: Moyes after 19 league games – 52%. Rodgers after 15 league games 40%. Moyes at end of champions league group stage – 66%. Rodgers at end of champions league group stage 16%! These are truly shocking stats. A few games ago after we had lost 4 games in a row I said that Rodgers should be given a few more games up till Xmas to see if he is going to change anything as he’d been stubbornly picking Lovren every game and Gerrard in a defensive role every playing 90 minutes every game. To my amazement he then dropped Lovren and moved Gerrard to a more advanced role and even benched him for some games. It was no surprise then to see our defending improve and I then thought Brendan has finally come to his senses and then hope returned that maybe he might get us back on track. How wrong was i. Last night Brendan went back to picking his baffling team selections and I blame him entirely for getting us eliminated from the champions league. I thought that being a must win game that Brendan would have picked a more attacking team to try and win the game. It’s baffling why he picked 2 holding midfielders in Lucas and Allen and virtually no flair or creativity further forward. Out of the 6 midfielders/forwards in Lucas, Allen, Henderson, Gerrard, Sterling and Lambert only Sterling has any pace but not much end product, and no one else is really noted for their creativity or flair. I can’t believe Coutinho, Lallana and Markovic were all on the bench. Also just as baffling is having no striker on the bench when we only started with one striker in Lambert. It was no surprise that our play lacked creativity. It was only in the second half when Markovic came on that we saw a bit more creativity up front but still to my amazement no Coutinho or Lallana. I can’t believe Coutinho came on with about 20 mins to go as he’s been one of our better players this season. It beggers belief that we played the whole second half with no strikers on the pitch when we have to score 2 goals to win the game. This is not acceptable.
How much longer do we have to put up with his poor team selections which are costing us dearly? What annoys me is when people keep saying that he’s a young manager and still learning and that he needs time. That’s all well and good if you are a mid table team who doesn’t have ambitions to win league titles and champions leagues but this is Liverpool. We’re not some sort of training centre for young managers to learn their trade making mistake after mistake. If Rodgers wants to learn his trade as a manager then he should do it at a club that’s not expected to win anything. How many costly mistakes in transfers and team selections do we have to put up with until Rodgers becomes a top manager? This could go on and on for years and in the meantime Liverpoool win nothing and become a perennial mid table team year after year. This is not good enough. I think we should wait till the end of the season to see where we finish but if we don’t finish any higher than in Kenny’s last season then Rodgers has to go. If a club legend like Kenny can get the boot after finishing 7th and actually playing better football and creating a lot more chances and defending better then we are now then Rodgers hasn’t got a chance of keeping his job.
Kenny finished 8th in his last season! When you look at it objectively we didn’t lose the game and we’re unbeaten in 4 now. I’m just saying like. Anyway just as Gerrard said last night – it wasn’t the Basel draw that knocked us out, it was the previous matches.
Why is no one questioning Rodgers tougher on decisions like bombing out Borini. I know he said the other day something along the lines of “It’s a decision the manager has to make”. Completely wishy washy answer!! Every selection decision the manager has to make but why is he not included in the squad, brought in Rodgers may I add, when we have extremely limited striker options? The only reason I can think of is that he’s trying to force the lad out in Jan to finance new deals but hurts us now!
That then opens up the bigger question of why have so many players bought under his tenure fail to make any sort of impact whatsoever on the team?? Aspas, Assaidi, Alberto, Borini, Sakho, Ilori with others being sub standard such as Allen, Mignolet, Lovren and every loan signing has been a failure bar possibly Manquillo. Why do we bring a cluster of 20yr olds in and then loan out another cluster of 20yr olds frequently who play in the same position??
There are so many unanswered questions surrounding our failed transfer strategy/committee and no one seems to asking Rodgers/the club for answers.
Once again we’ve revisited history and bought poorly after a successful season to then fuck up our future.
Frankly, it’s embarrassing!!
Piss poor for 80 minutes then we decided to have a go. Blame the manager for conservative selection and cautious approach – why not throw the kitchen sink at them from the start, get the stadium rocking?!
Blame the players for being shit, especially Gerrard who again goes missing most of the game and then runs around like a headless Viking for the last 10 after scoring a world class free kick. We need to move on from Stevie, in ANY position. Maybe we need a manager with bigger balls to do that.
The Borini thing is a nonsense. He’s a shit striker, decent playing wide of a front 3 but we’ve far better players in those positions. The manager wanted to get rid and use the money for a proper striker. That didn’t happen and despite trying the best we could get with what money we had was injured last night, as was our first choice striker (this is for those asking incredulously how we ended up with no strikers).
Now the manager has the rest of the season to show he’s not a one hit wonder. There’s really no point in not giving him that long at least – what are the mid season alternatives (pls nobody say Rafa or Kenny)?
I hope he can prove the growing numbers of doubters wrong, I’m not fully convinced he can.
The club did not need the Borini money to finance a new striker!
We spent £120mil in the summer, at least £65mil of that came from the Suarez sale so there was plenty of money available to bring in a replacement. The transfer committee just happened to completely fuck up the summer transfer window.
Borini is fit and available and suits our style of play better than Lambert does but we choose not to use him, either in last nights match or in previous matches in order to rest Lambert. Whether he’s good enough to play for a club wanting to challenge for the top is besides the point, it’s who we’ve got available right now. (I would happily argue Borini, Lambert & Balotelli are all not good enough to play for a club wanting to challenge for honours)
Stop making excuses. The club completely fucked up our summer spend, and previous spendings, and now we’re paying for it. Was only a matter of time before the birds came home to roost.
My god, reading all these comments just makes me wanna cry. I feel seriously low about it all. I can’t believe the confidence and unity we had a few months ago and where we are now. The days of Suarez bringing shame on the club every week seem like the happiest of times now. Right or wrong, I remember them as good times when we all put tribal allegiances before what was morally correct. We all stood as one. I’m not even sure what I feel about anything anymore. There are still a lot of unrealistic solutions being put forward which grates on me but what’s worse is I can’t even think of one realistic solution. I’m lost with it all. Baffled. How’s it come to this? In fact, don’t answer.
The false 9 is an interesting solution to this problem we’ve got of grosse incompetence in the transfer market and what we can only assume cutting nose off to etc with Borini of the club.
Was Gerrard having an inverted dig a Rodgers defending Lambert in the after match press conference saying he’d run himself into the ground in the last 5 matches and this was just one too many.
Lambert presents us with this sole figure to try and hit and play off which more or less put’s the whole game through the middle. When it fails which is practically all the time now we look bereft of ideas and maybe the false 9 could be the solution. With no central figure to hit can we not get back to the front 5 closing down en masse quick, re start playing our interplay.
For all the free flowing football we played last year we still conceded a shit load than any other top half table team so I get shoring up the back, making us a tighter unit.
Worryingly tho we don’t look fit and the team is clearly mentally fucked. I wonder how many sessions Steve Peters is doing now. I bet it’s all fkin “I’ve got to put all the cans of soup the right way round in cupboard” shite when it’s you’re of the league. Not “That bastard monkey is turning me into a meth addict, every cunt in the street wants to kill me, I don’t want to leave the house.”
Quick quiz
Players in
Players Out
Since Rodgers arrived:
Season 12/13
Fabio Borini £10,000,000 MISS
Joe Allen £15,000,000 MEH
Oussama Assaidi £2,300,000 MISS
Samed Yesil £1,000,000 MISS
Daniel Sturridge £12,000,000 HIT
Philippe Coutinho £8,500,000 HIT
Jordan Ibe £500,000 MISS
Luis Alberto £6,800,000 MISS
Iago Aspas £7,000,000 MISS
Kolo Toure Free MEH
Simon Mignoley £10,000,000 MISS
Tiago Ilori £7,000,000 MISS
Mamadou Sakho £18,000,000 MISS
Emre Can £10,000,000 MISS
Rickie Lambert £4,000,000 MISS
Adam Lallana £25,000,000 MISS
Lazar Marković £20,000,000 MISS
Dejan Lovren £20,000,000 MISS
Divock Origi £10,000,000 ?????
Alberto Moreno £12,000,000 MEH
Mario Balotelli £16,000,000 MISS
So I’m getting £156,600,000 worth of shite and players who can’t get a game. I reckon the number crunchers will be reporting in soon. IMO he’s signed 2.5 to 3 what you may call top players the other 19,20 are IMO FSG money ball bollocks.
What’s the quiz?
Too early on some of those. And calling Jordan Ibe a £500,000 miss is very harsh
Gotta agree with Gibbo here that you are being extremely harsh on some of the new signings and the likes of Ibe. Personally i think given a run of games Sakho could be very good but hes never had a run of games since hes arrived, thats a problem on its on!
Your point stands though, we are wasting far far too much money on the wrong signings. The transfer strategy/committee DOES NOT work. It has massively hurt our season and our future. To be honest I dont trust Rodgers choice of players either.
How do any of you know which players are Rodgers’ players?
We don’t that’s the problem. At an educated guess I’d say Borini, Allen, Lallana, Lovren are his signings with Sakho, Assaidi, Aspas, Alberto being committee signings.
Hi John,
Clearly some of those are squad players and yep too early on some, agreed on Ibe, he looks like he’s gona do well in the game. My point was how many of those new players have added to the previous squad & have hit the ground running, none of them really. I really like the look of Lallana but he’s being played out of position and not doing himself any favours or justice in doing so. Markovic looks bright and there has been moments from Can but I can only see 2 or 3 on that list and go “That’s a bloody player” like I did when I first saw Alonso, you just knew from the off that lad was class, Torres, the same, raw, strong, arrogant. You’re always gonna sign a few duffers, a few squad players, every manager does but we have just done a Spurs in signing 9 lads from the middle shelf instead of 3 or 4 from the top. The % hit ratio for me is low for the numbers of players he’s signed.
Ok if we take into account inflation of transfers in the last 4 years or so have FSG been tight in the market maybe not, looking at the net spend compared to the previous 4-5 years it’ still £30 -£40m a year. From the board they’ll be looking at we’ve given this fella £150M is this looking like year 3 of a 5 year plan, it looks more like year 1 or 2.
I remember in 08/09 thinking jesus we’re a couple of players from being a serious team here. Now I’m thinking christ it’s at least 6 or 7 and if this mess isn’t sorted soon there’s nothing to stop the few dragging the team on from slapping a transfer request in.
We can’t have it both ways mate. Some are complaining we didn’t get adequate strikers and people like you are complaining we should have got 3 or 4 from the top shelf. I’m convinced we haven’t got the strikers because we aimed too high. We had Champions League football to entice them and looked for some of the top strikers. They turned us down and the window was running out. No one wanted the likes of Bony as Suarez’s replacement so we kept looking for better and right or wrong we ended up with Mario. As a side note I remember the jubilation when we signed him. So, my point is we simply can’t sign players from the top shelf. It was our belief that we could that led to us having no decent strikers. Whether that is down to wages or where we are as a club is debatable. I’d go for the latter though I’d concede both played a part. I can’t stand this kid in a sweet shop mentality – we should have got him and we should have got him. Wasn’t possible.
Nothing wrong with targeting the likes of Sanchez. I think we could have done more to get him. Arsenal are only 2 points better off than us with him in their team and he’s won them a good few games on his own. Where would we be with him in our team?
The problem comes when our second choice striker is Remy and then we panic and have to buy Balotelli. Why wasn’t Bony second choice?? He scored 25 goals last season. We were poorly prepared if we didn’t get Sanchez. Plenty of people were asking about Bony and even more had reservations about Balotelli.
Another transfer window fuck up and is hurting us bad!! When will we learn?M
One thing we can agree on is Sanchez would have been brilliant for us. It sounded pretty comprehensive that he didn’t want to come though. Apparently he begged them to let him join Arsenal for less money. Doesn’t sound like there was that much we could do.
Remy’s a good player but if you’d have asked me who I preferred between Remy and Balotelli I’d have said Balotelli. In hindsight Remy may have been the better option but I don’t know the circumstances of the failed medical so it’s difficult to say.
If we had got Sanchez we would be in the top 4 now. I believe we could have done more to convince him to join us but I’ve been over that before.
The problem is, it wasn’t a either/or situation between Remy and Balotelli. Bony was in the mix at one stage but we baulked at his wage demands. Bet we regret that now. There were plenty of other strikers out there who either did move in the summer or could have been persuaded to move.
We were simply piss poor in our scouting and recruiting. Surely the 2 guys on the transfer committee who are in charge of scouting and recruitment should be held accountable.
Well, as long as it wasn’t me that had to walk in the room and tell the fans Bony was Suarez’s replacement.
Woeful first half, but I still think we would have won that, had it not been for that ludicrous red card. I expect Marko to start proving all the doubters and moaners wrong soon. We have a proper player there.
I strongly agree with you there mate – Markovic did look much better last night than he ever has! Isn’t it so ironic that he then gets sent off!? :-(
The crowd had nothing to do with the result, the first 80 minutes of the match epitomised our entire season so far and the reaction from the club is the most depressing side of things.
Basically it’s a shoulder shrug and a “well, we’re trying our best” – even though it’s clear from the last 10 minutes that individually and collectively everyone at the club is capable of offering more.
In general it seems we’ve rolled over and accepted our fate this season, which is a top 8 finish, maybe the January transfer window will turn out to be an opportunity to avoid that.
Last night was a must win – we drew.
Two more must wins against Man Utd and Arsenal are following in quick succession.
Fail to pass the test in those games and by the time we kick off on boxing day we could be 8 behind Arsenal and 13 behind Utd, with the trend being that the gap will continue to increase rather than diminish.
Don’t forget that Europa League winners in 2015 qualify for the Champions League – am I right?!
Lets agree to disagree but think the club should be attracting top talent , think he’s on the cusp of losing the crowd and once they go the writings on the wall, Another 5 year plan, another £200M on players.
Excuse me if I am wrong, but didn’t BR work with Borini at both Chelsea and Swansea? Therefore, (and I have said this before) why would you spend 10 million on him, only to almost immediately discard him as surplus? Whether you consider him good enough for Liverpool or not, BR has effectively pissed away two? years of this young mans life. Meanwhile, Joe Allen is not exactly pulling up trees, but has been given more than enough opportunity to prove his worth. All the bullshit we have had to put up with and listen to, take the Sakho incident where he left the ground for instance, only makes me wonder if the manager is capable of cultivating young players. Is Sakho the scapegoat for the Chelsea slip? Sakho is a regular in the French squad, surely with A DECENT DEFENSIVE COACH, he is a viable option? Instead Lovren is purchased on the basis of one season with Southampton? I have no desire to see BR sacked. But, we are not morons, and Liverpool fans deserve better than this fucking soap opera. I sincerely hope BR can accept some help, go see Mr Peters and reflect. I can’t see FSG giving him any money in January, and how much will Sunderland give LFC for Borini? Gus is no mug, and BR has made it painfully obvious Borini is no longer wanted, strange marketing ploy there committee! I think we are all in somewhat of a confused funk now, can’t wait for Sunday, just to see what team is rolled out at old trafford, and poor old Lambert will have to be physically rolled out. Anyone who says Borini could not have done a better job than this poor sod on Tuesday, is mental.
Completely agree Bill. Rodgers convinced Borini to leave Rome to come join him at Liverpool after having worked with him previously. Borini was injured 4/5 months of his first season, went out on loan during his second and now this is his third. Whether he’s good enough or not, Rodgers hasn’t gave him a chance.
Sakho is one of the mainstays of the French defence. He starts ahead of Mangala and Kocielny both of which play for rivals of ours. He’s never been given a run of games although admittedly he’s been hampered with a coupla of injuries. The story going is Sakho was bought by committee because PSG needed to offload someone for financial reasons. The guys big, strong, deceptively quick, excellent passer, dominant in the air and likes a tackle although sometimes can be a little rash. Rodgers has never gave him a chance which is a joke considering how much he backs other players.
I don’t want to see Rodgers sacked either. I loved how we played for the previous 18 months but he’s making mightily difficult to defend him any more.
I know I’m a lot older than some of you but does anyone remember back 15 weeks ago?
Remember our conversations on here? They were great times.
I wasn’t sure about Rodgers when he joined but yeah, he’s proved me wrong. That was the best football I’ve ever seen at Anfield and I remember Billy Liddell.
Tell ya what, we may have lost Suarez but he had too much baggage anyway. With those 8 players we’ve signed on top of what we have we’re gonna win the Champions League never mind the league. We’re back. We’ve got all those brilliant kids coming through too. Happy days!
Those games in the second half of the season were some of the best ever at Anfield. The crowd was rocking. The flags and the greeting the bus – best fans in the world bar none.
Balotelli – if Rodgers can tame him which is very possible then we’ve got a diamond for a measly £16m. A gamble but certainly one worth taking. Well done to the club.
Lovren – At last! Someone to command the area and marshall the defence. The reason Southampton were so tight last season. Maybe we’ve replaced Carra.
Lallana – One of the Prem’s player of the year nominees. Imagine what he’ll be like in our team. Get in there.
Lambert – Shrewd business. A scouser who’s gonna give 100% every limited minute he plays. Knows where the net is. Gives us that option off the bench too. Excellent 4th choice striker.
Can – Wow, Bayern made sure they put a release clause in his sale that they could have 1st choice but he wanted to come to us. £10m could prove to be a good bit of business by the club.
Moreno – Don’t know much about him but he sounds good. Already played for the Spanish national side and they won’t even accept £12m for him – a Spanish defender. They obviously rate him. Excited about him.
Markovic – Again, good business. Everyone in Europe is monitoring him but we’ve gone out and paid top whack before he’s ready because next year we won’t be able to attract him. sound.
Origi – Now we’re being smart. We don’t need him this season but by loaning him we’ve guaranteed we’ve got him. Looks fuckin good too. Get in!
Listen, can we stop all this ‘top pundit’ shit. I was there. I’m older than I look.
None of the players we signed this window are ‘poor’ players. It’s just that they plugged no gaps. Lovren might have, but his confidence is shot to buggery. Why Can isn’t used more often – or at all, for that matter – is the biggest puzzle, and I think Markovic is a terrific player and will prove to be so. But the problems we had stemmed, in my opinion, wholely and solely from the GK. I couldn’t believe us letting Reina go, especially as we’d had a full season to see how shaky our defence was on front of Simon. A holding mid-fielder would have been good, and if Balotelli had buried the easy chances that were presented to him we’d be ecstatic about his purchase. He got in position, after all. He was certainly a gamble but maybe worth taking under the circumstances. I do not like anything about Rodgers and probably never will, but if LFC succeed under him, fair enough. I don’t think his demeanour enhances the club and his preparedness to lay blame on players and elsewhere is not what I want my club manager to be doing.
That’s all fair enough. All good points and I agree about the keeper. There were certainly two camps over Reina. He hadn’t been the same for a few seasons though and there was a feeling he’d lost his appetite. I don’t want to go into that one though as for some reason I didn’t really think about it too much. Agger too, I don’t think I was that bothered about either. If you remember back to the summer a lot of people had suspicions about Mignolet but the talk was – we should be looking for a strong back up keeper. Not many mentioned replacing him. With the holding midfielder, Gerrard had just had a brilliant half season there. We had Lucas. Allen can play there. Can and Henderson could play the role if we had calamitous injuries. We all thought the defence was strong (and expensive), we had loads of midfielders, we just needed some strikers. That was the talk mate. Believe me if people were questioning Gerrard I’d have known. My mates were seriously taking the piss because I’d slaughtered him pre Christmas. I had to admit I was a knob. I don’t do that easily. Any talk of his legs going or he couldn’t play the role I’d have been straight on it and using it in my defence to my mates. It wasn’t there. Point being mate, a lot of the pundits on here are claiming our whole summer was like the last days of Rome but it wasn’t.
For what it’s worth, I feel, as fans it’s acceptable that we all get carried away by new signings. We’re not paid to know how good anyone is or anticipate the role they’ll play for us. If he looks good on You Tube then that’s enough for me. On the other hand, the transfer committee are paid for that task and I’m disappointed with them. Hindsight suggests they’re not that good. So, thinking back to the vibe in the summer these points people are making seemed less of a priority to most people. Circumstances have changed now and actually, it doesn’t look too clever. I think we’ve been very unlucky more than incompetent.
A couple of us argued that the skipper’s legs had gone and that we should have signed signed Alex Song and/or Cabaye in the summer. Or maybe it was just me, can’t remember now…….The keeper was a no-brainer, but I think we’d all convinced ourselves that Valdes was on his way.
You’re right about the rest, Robin, but we did need a couple of players to step right up.
Re: Gerrard. It started very early in the season but it didn’t start pre-season or even pre window closing. Definitely not. You may have thought that but it wasn’t a general consensus, far from it after last season. It started to gather pace after the defeat to Villa at Anfield when MOTD analysed how Villa had pressed us and particularly how Agbonlahor had pressed Gerrard and stopped him playing. After the next game when West Ham pressed us like lunatics for 10 minutes and went 2-0 up in that time the cat was out of the bag and the chorus got louder. I can’t speak for you mate but I remember what people were saying in the summer, even if they wouldn’t say it now.
I’m not sure there’s ever a general consensus about Gerrard, Robin! He’s divided opinion for as long as i can remember. I knew last season, Villa did the same in his second game in the position and I was surprised no-one followed suit, but was shouted down on other sites. I was also impressed as the season developed by his contributions from the deeper position and hoped he’d push on, but it wasn’t to be.
Nevertheless, the signing or non-signing of Song shouldn’t have been dependent on whether the skipper was playing well or not. We have to plan for the future and a quality player with a skill set were not blessed with was made available for peanuts; that doesn’t happen often. We should have signed him because he could have stepped right up: CL and Premiership experience and a good passer to boot. I was posting about this while the window was open and a couple of others agreed. I’d still push the boat out for him and/or Cabaye but we won’t get such good value now.
Oh, and the Europa league? Go to the Uefa standings chart and take a look at the teams in it. Not counting the losers from the champs league. Yeah we could win the Europa league, but not with Tuesday’s lineup.
This talk of Rodgers players and committee players is puzzling. He boasted that he had the final ‘signing off’ say, so they are all his.
And the passion for youth ?! Has nobody told FSG about Garry McAllister?
Why, in a match that going in we knew we needed a goal, would you have defensive fullbacks and a DM? Last season, it was a manic, all out attack and that produced great scoring and wins. Even without Suarez and Sturridge, this side has enough attackers to score. BR is lost, and keep doing the same shite week in and week out. Go for the attack mate, just go bananas and let the boys attack. You concede when you try to play defensively as it is, just attack and keep Mignolet from touching it as often as possible.
Kevin B,
Tuesday we had Johnson, 30 years old. Enrique 29 next month, Gerrard, Lambert, Lucas 28 (jan) Skrtel 30.
Seems we have lost that luvin feeling for youth. Trouble is, with the exception of Stevie, who I agree was average until the last ten minutes, combined they could not match the guile commitment and skill of McAllister, in fact hardly anyone on the team seemed to give a rats arse until Markovic went off.
But we only buy youth. And I see going ‘out on loan’ as a bad policy. I. And don’t recall any of our players who came back from a loan spell improved or even to a regular place. I also note that Orrigi was very poor against Everton and may find the EPL a tough ask. So as it stands right now we have only Lambert as a genuine striker (depending upon what we do with Balo – pisspoor if we sell him on). If we push for Benzema you can bet your balls RM make Sterling part of the deal. I think Ibe should have been kept and not loaned out. Transfer policy notwthstanding, the squad has been very poorly managed.
Half time report:
itv /fowler criticise sterling for no end prpduct, but he has no one to hit.
We are playing with 10 men, Lambo can’t even win the headers f Migs KO’s.
Gerrard poor, Hendo terrible.
Lovren goes missing leading to two of their clear cut chances
Skrtel poor.
Rodgers, no strikers on the bench, ffs
most players dont know to stick or twist.
We are horrible to watch.
Marko on for Lambo at HT. We need something.
Their fans are great, our lot are resigned even b4 they score.
They are a tidy team, but no world beaters. They are Swiss ffs.
I wouldn’t blame some of them heading home early due to the horrible
weather coming of the Irish Sea.
The podcasts will be heavy listening this week.
Good rousng YNWA before second half.
There you go. Marko makes something happen in 46thmin, good run.
Lucas booked, hope he only gets one, treading on ice
Crowd go quiet again after 55mins (after our brief period of pressure)
60mi Marko looks good, but they look more likely to score on the break
then he gets sent off, stupid by him, spineless by Safari.
Crowd try the S.G. song, but Basel fans outsing us. 63min
Hope we dont lose the cool and get another red….
It feels like we are SO out.
Finally they get a yellow on 65.
Moreno looks game eating up the yards, but no end product. Has Hendo
touched it yet in the second half? He does on 68mins.
Then Skrtel nearly scores the best goal ever seen at Anfield….
Basel fans still great, our fans clutch onto sarcastic barbs at the ref
SG nealy gets a pen, but their keeper gets there first.
We look like we COULD score one, but not TWO.
SG again, but sliced. Coutinho on soon. 73m.
Coutinho begins to get on the ball. Releases left wing, but cross claimed
by keeper. To be fair we haven’t worked him much at all. Story of our season,
Are you listening Sturrdige? Moreno challenge more of a RED than Marko’s. 77min,
running out of time. our goose is cooked nice and early for Xmas, in fact so early
our season is winding down at least 3.5months early (in terms of ‘par’).
Lovren lucky not to get 2nd red. Still the Basel fans pout and boom.
Allen looks not like the Welsh Xavi, just Welsh, small and lost like a Valleys choir boy.
nice FK for us on their pen edge. score now and they might shite themselves.
dont “slip”. 80min
Stevie doesn’t 1-1. not from open play but we’ll take it.
game on, maybe. Lovren again lucky not to get a yellow,
Basel fans quiet now, ours not.
Corner now……84min. so bad, went straight out, banner says “never,never,never give up.”
great save migs. TV pans to Balotelli who looks like an idiot in the stands. 85min. basel fans re-pipe up.
Hendo nearly scores with a deflected header. inches. will we get one more chance??
Will we take it? 87min.
Sterling nearly gets in. fuck. there’ll be extra time for sure, will we get another
chance? corner 89min. Put it in the 6y area! another corner off of @sushi@
Hendo looks fucked. They nearly score….Fuck, Hendo almost scores with an out-bender
keeper amazingly save it. its almost over now, ynwa starts…
sterling hits lamely and then FT. we are out. the inquests will begin now.
fair play to our look, sodden, exhausted, still singing and kind applause to their lot.
good night.
That thunderous tackle by Stevie G that goes for our throw (just after the red) really gave us a lift. We needed that strength of spirit from the start of the game from everyone, but it just seemed everyone felt beaten from the off. Maybe it’s a bit Neanderthal, but I hope we go at Manure with thunderous tackles from the off. Build that strength of belief and fans and players will be up for the challenge!!
Welsh rugby used to think like this during the 90’s – pride and passion will see you through. It didn’t.