the players are tired after hard fought Europa League game is indeed the best excuse... but it seems like complacent has been our main weakness again...

we need another defensive midfielder at least a quicker and more aggressive one cos I think Lucas need to be rotated more often.. looks tired and shows lack of determination... jogs around most of the time. we lost the midfield battle... full credit to West Ham, they deserve to win and all the goals.. No offense to all Lucas lover but every time I saw him, it'll end up with me saying "WTF?"

P/S -Is this considered as a bashing.. am I gonna be called a scapegoat hunter? whatever...

Don't know what match you guys were watching, but Lucas was the only central midfield we had trying to win the midfield battle. Meireles was outplayed and Gerrard was givign away possession and went sulking for large part of the game. Lucas was the only one who kept it tidy and cleaning up everyone else mess.

Exactly..

We didnt play like we wanted to win it. The only player that could be arsed was Suarez. as i mentioned earlier no point of blaming a single player when Gerrard didnt show up, Meireles was out of sorts and the constant hoof ball.

West Ham played it and they won congrats to them.

lucas struggle today because gerrard often left him alone to deal with west ham midfielder.

My observation:

Gerrard always need find back his form after injuries.

Lucas is not god, he play well when his teammates play average/above average. When his midfield partners no form, and so do him. He not Gerrard, cant do spectacular stuff, his strength is passing and if his teammates no form, what he can do? Stop bashing him!!

That is why i think we need few more addition to our midfield. Aqualani and Charlie Adam will help improve our midfield.

We don't have a good crosser/winger except kelly? :S Johnson/joe cole/ kuyt/maxi are all cut inside player where they dribble in and attack.
Why not give our youth winger a try? Gerrard perhaps? I still think Gerrard play best at right wing.

is it me or we just have a lot of excuses?

I was Noble,Parker,Hitzelsperger to handle Lucas ,while Gerrard was roaming and Meireles was replaced by an out of position Cole.

What do people expect?

Sorry buts that bs. Good central mids dont really have to run around - if you do, it's because you were caught out of position. If you play it smart, you dont have to run around like a headless chicken and throwing tackles. You just have to be at the right place at the right time to close players down.

that is his primary duty... to do the defensive works, closing down and tracking back opponent, win the ball, stop the attacking moves and to a link between defenders and attackers... meanwhile Meireles and Gerrard have different kind of job. in tactical setup, we call it 'individual instruction'...

Its not mainly our players sucked, West Ham's player are pretty energetic and hardworking from the back to the front...especially Scott Parker.

He worked his socks off today and closing down Gerrard like a shadow, which limited his influence in the game (not to mention his passes were short today. :/ )

Parker's shot was crazy and Demba Ba's finishing was pretty well done too. With finishes like that I don't think even Van Der Sar can do much bout it. Plus Rob Green had a good game, he denied Suarez a great goal which can put us back in the game. Reina's one was a mistake for letting Cole getting the 3rd goal, but oh well...all is over.

The combination of West Ham's determination, energy and desperation to stay up in the EPL + mistakes in our back four, lack of energy, and some bad luck with injuries cost us the game. I hope Meireles and Kelly is not out for long though.

my big bro whom a big hammers fan is trolling on my whatsapp now. demm.. what a great way to start a weekend

west ham played like their lives are at stake.. they needed more than us. lots of wasted pass and possession, suspect defending and lazyness to track back. suarez was criminally under utilized.. even pepe was demoralized after the second goal. maybe his intentions to leave got some truth in it after all *sigh*

btw, parker's goal was sublime.

so our main buy this summer will be a goalkeeper then?as Reina wants CL action too,there goes another great player

yes, but not for a defensive midfielder thou... defenders will be over exposed... when the defensive midfielder just too slow to cover and track back the opponents or caught ball watching...

One player can't win the entire midfield on his own. This is a team sport after all - look at how West Ham dominated us. It wasn't just Scott Parker alone doing the damage - all their midfield worked together to get into our box. But as you said, Lucas main duty is to mop up the loose end, but the reason why we lost is because the more creative and attacking mid failed to break down West Ham.

after this loss to WHU, i believe our lads will be more determine to beat MU in the next encounter,
trust KD , MU we will go for your blood

luckily for us, Sunderland also lose yesterday, thereby our position at 6th is still safe, sincerely if we finish the season at 6th is also good bearing in mind tat we touched our NINETEEN not too long ago

I think Liverpool seriously have to work on their finishing. Very disappointing.

perhaps the frustration has blinded me from seeing his contribution... or perhaps I was just asking too much.

For me, the most disappointing performance is Gerrard.. He give the ball so easy.. It is not like him.. But i really hope he can find his form back ASAP.. We really need that.. I'm please with Suarez & Kuyt today.. Wilson also is quite OK.. N'gog also OK, except for the wide shot.. Overall, 2nd half better..

I'm not saying Lucas was flawless tonight, it wasn't his best game - not even close. He was a bit poor by his own standards but it's not right to say he was the main reason we lost. The pitch at West Ham is small so winning the midfield was vital - I dont think Kenny should have gone with his usual 3-5-2 here. Was there a need to have a 3rd CB ? Surely an extra attacking player like Maxi would had been better for us tonight. Our best game under Kenny was when he deployed that 4-3-3 or something of that kind against Wolves and won 3-0. Not sure why we have deviated from that and now seem to use 3 CBs in every game.

Never said anything like that... never blame a single individual for any lost... Just single out one player performance doesn't mean to blame him for the the team overall performance, let alone the final result.