NEIL ATKINSON was joined by Chris Maguire, Mike Nevin and Craig Rimmer in the aftermath of Liverpool’s 2-1 victory over AFC Wimbledon.
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A lot to ponder, but much I disagreed with.
Lambert was woeful, yet again, however excuses galore for him: he needs more games, his confidence is low or he isn’t a centre forward… the lad is simply not good enough, accept it.
Lucas was excellent last night. He was putting himself on the line to keep that team together when Wimbledon, yes Wimbledon, were all over us. He was putting a foot in, competing for headers and covering the wing backs and then trying to get play going. He couldn’t play many ‘vertical’ passes when there was nothing in front of him. His passing wasn’t great, but no worse than most, Saint Stevie and future captain Henderson included.
What surprises me is that the game was treated as a one off, a typical cup tie against plucky minnows. Liverpool’s good performances can be counted on one hand this season, last night’s disjointed and on occasion desperate display was the norm! Did you not see Leicester, Newcastle, Palace, Ludogorets, Basle and so on?
Rodgers has not performed well this season, in fact his management has been very poor. In his third season, tell me how do you expect Liverpool to play against Sunderland? I don’t know and neither does anybody, that is simply down to erratic management.
It’s really frightening. Our season has been so poor and everything goes back to the poor recruitment in the summer. I can understand the strategy of young players in the squad but 65 million was spent on Balotelli, Lambert, Lallana and Lovren and it’s just not good enough. Now there’s talk about there being no money this January transfer window and Liverpool having FFP problems.
If we don’t make 2 or 3 signings this January I see the slim chance we have of making top 4 slipping further and further away. We need someone who can finish chances like Shaqiri, Origi back and a confident keeper to replace Mignolet.
Markovic, Sterling, Coutinho and even Lallana to an extent just can’t find the back of the net. We waste chances and lose points because these young players can do all the intricate passing but no one can finish in this team bar Sturridge.
If we don’t make top 4 this year it will be even harder next year. Teams will now get 40 million from just group stage qualification which is an effective doubling of CL revenue. Those teams that don’t make Champions League for next season may find it takes years to break through, because of the massive financial gulf between them and those who qualify.
And then we are spending 160 million on a stadium expansion. How will we fund that properly without Champions League? John Henry will demand top 4 after the 120 million spent this summer so Rodgers will get sacked at the end of the season if we don’t make top 4. We hire a new manager, FFP restrictions means we can’t make the right signings to compete and we get stuck in a never ending cycle of transition.
I fear for the future of the club if we don’t make top 4.
top 4? You’re dreaming mate. We would have to go on a run better than the 2nd half of last season, ie break the PL record pretty much. We need something like 14 wins from 18. That’s just nonsense. 12 would be good going and we’re playing like crap right now. I give us 7 wins possibly 8 or 9 if things really pick up.
But BR has just made mistakes the whole way through this season, it’s been quite remarkable. Don’t judge it on Swansea who spread out all over the pitch and give us all the space to play in, Look at Wimbledon, Leicester, Burnley, Villa, WHU. Teams come and have a go at us and we have zero response to it.
Losing our strikers is one thing but FSG will have noticed the host of other problems that are festering away and aren’t being fixed and how despite the money spent we have a midfield made of tissue paper and a defense of a paper bag. It’s incredible and BR and his back room staff are looking like a bunch of con men.
BR is pinning his hope on Sturridge but rarely does one player make that much difference and he won’t stay fit anyhow.
Add in that we are losing Suso, the next David Silva, and the disaster just gets worse. Bring in Lovren , lose Suso, that’s a sacking offense right there.
Suso – the next David Silva or the next Dani Pacheco?
I like Suso and he has a sweet left foot, but I am not surprised or upset to see him leave. Sadly I think he lacks the pace, work rate and aggression needed to play in the current LFC setup. Long term he may turn out to be a better player than Alberto or Teixeira, but I suspect that neither of them will have a long furture at LFC either.
Gotta agree that a lot of our problems stem from our poor recruitment in the summer.
We’ve had to compromise our whole style of play in order to accommodate poor strikers all season long. It’s only since we’ve out Sterling up front we’ve looked a bit like our old selves again.
We’ve had to change to 3 at the back, we’ve had guys playing constantly out of position and a result everyone’s form has suffered.
If we had brought in a decent, mobile striker who prepared to put in a bit of work then I think our season would look a hell of a lot different. Remember we’re only a few points of 4th….with a decent centre forward I believe we’d be at least 6 points better off, 2 extra wins that’s all!!
If he didn’t have great hair, came from Scotland with a ginger lid, no one would give a shit about Suso.
Ha ha, cracking comment Paul but in their defence the Jocks have produced some decent ginger footballers.
Playing men in their most effective positions would be a start. I mean, deliberately, not because injury forces us to do so. I say again, nobody suggested Hodgson ‘deserved more time ‘, and Kenny Dalglish, who reminded us what ‘being Liverpool ‘ really means, was sent packing with nary a whimper from people who support a manager who is without a shred of tactical knowledge let alone personal dignity wholeheartedly
Yes, Kenny played everyone in their right positions – correct?
Like how Hendo and Meireles were constantly playing right mid in a 4-4-2 over players like Kuyt and Maxi?
Get over the Kenny sacking already. He was a legend before the sacking. He is still a legend. There’s no stigma attached with being sacked in football. Let it go.
Also, at least make valid arguments against BR’s management (there are some valid criticisms of him, you know). BR not having an shred of tactical knowledge is the funniest criticism of his Ive heard. If anything, that’s a strength of his.
Your criticism of him not having dignity is merely a personal attack on a man’s character without basis.
Your criticism of BR would be taken more seriously if you made some insightful arguments rather than personal attacks.
Enjoyed the show. Mike is always a good guest.
Can I just add something unrelated to anything.
I was driving to work this morning and had City Talk on the radio.
They had 2 fans in the studio discussing football as usual and I heard, we need a new keeper now. The defence is a joke, they can’t defend set pieces. We need a defensive coach. He’s not bothered about coaching the defenders. They clearly aren’t doing any work on set pieces in training. The problem is the manager is just so stubborn. The fans can see what’s going why can’t he? He got away with it last year. X has done well but will he be picked for Saturday? We’re relying on 21 year old kids. Just a standard start to the morning for me. Imagine my delight though when I found out they were talking about our neighbours. I was amazed. I genuinely didn’t know. I was sitting there nodding my head in agreement to all the points. Ok, when they mentioned x (Besic) I realised. Is there a lesson in there somewhere? Are we as smart as we think or are we all just sheep? Just a thought that crossed my mind.
Yeah it’s funny Robin – my mate (who’s a blue) decided our seasons and set ups were so similar that we’d try and have a conversation without mentioning any players’ or managers’ names but just general topics and we had a full 3 minute conversation which rang so true for both clubs!!
Great podcast as always, got to add to the love for Mike Nevin, great guest as always.
Are they true for both clubs though or are football fans a bit weird. Ok, appreciate there may be some truth in some of those statements but all this ‘the fans can see it, why can’t he’. I think I’ve said that myself back around the time of Newcastle away / Chelsea at home but then I’d probably say I am a bit weird and certainly clueless about football.
Thanks Robin and Paul. You’re too kind.
Just thought I’d take the time to acknowledge your appreciation and consistently insightful input.
Finally got round to buying Neil and John’s book with Crimbo money (which was boss but made me more gloom about this season and Gerrard) and no offense to them but my fav line was your ‘wake the bastards up, I say.’ Just thought I’d let you know apropos of not much.
Thanks Mike. Really appreciate that!