We were so embarrassing against West Brom that I was literally lost for words for few days. This is worse than losing to Chelsea 0-4 at Anfield in 2006. The scoreline could have been harsher if not the poor finishing by West Brom.

Gerrard was completely lost, Borini was awful in his ball distribution, Downing as usual keeps losing possession while trying his usual antics, Joe Cole again managed to get himself injured and the look at Pepe's face sums it up that he has done everything for the team but the team has done nothing for him.

West Brom was bossing the midfield which was supposed to be our strongest area. Poor Suarez and Reina. They dont deserve to be on the losing team.

Hope that Assadi can make a big difference in bringing thunderous pace to our wing which was awfully slow in counter attacking situation. Above all, hope that BR gets the formation working as soon as possible. I am going to die of disappointment if this continues.

whats your opinion on selling agger now? and didnt i tell you skrtel+carra = disaster? if you dont want this to continue, we have to continue with the continuity, that is the keep our best cb pairing, while nurture the likes of coates, like you said.

Oh God! You are still with this topic? LOL. Get it over your head, ok?
If BR needs crazy amount of money, he sells. Period. Plus Agger is not going anywhere now. So relax. The whole team barring Joe Allen, Pepe Reina and Luis Suarez was disastrous, especially our captain Gerrard. So why blame Carra alone? The team was in despair.

yeah, i do agree if crazy money comes, why not. like... 50m. much like barca wont ever sell messi unless for i think... 200m.
so unfortunate that we need such disastrous result to get my point through. there are things you cant buy with money, and you never get my point that CBs are pairings...

so let this issue to rest... kelly should start alongside skrtel in the next match, flanagan into LB slot, put johnson back to his rb slot... what you think?

One of the keys to unlocking the Reds' prospect of doing well this season, IMO, is managing Luis Suarez.

I agree with Gary Mac's assessment that Suarez is not a natural scorer and should therrefore not be relied upon to bring goals. So, put him on the bench - he'll throw a tantrum. Getting him to play a creative role and enable others (Borini, Caroll, Gerrard) to finish is a better option.

Having said that, it will not be easy for BR to manage him, and most South Americans are like that.

The other key, obviously, is having a natural (I used the word 'prolific') goalscorer. Do we have one? Can we cultivate one? Is it still possible and affordable to buy one?

Our finishing (or rather the lack of it) was the other key to that dreadful result on Saturday. For that matter, it was arguably the main contributor to our doing poorly last season.

I was kind of hoping that Man City would sell Dzeko and that we would try and get him. He's quite a natural although the big money buys have pushed him aside. See how he could still come on against Southampton and score the equalizer?

Morgan!!!

Speaking of which, I dont know what's on BR's mind. Pacheco did so well during pre season and he didnt even make to the bench for the last 3 games.(2 EL league+ 1 PL)

Instead of having Pacheco as our creative outlet, we resort to having 3 midfielders on bench and an injury-prone, clearly not fit Joe Cole on the bench? What the hell man???


Unleash the spaniard please... Golden boot winner for spain u21 and we talking about lacking profilic striker, seriously?

What's the latest news on Dempsey btw?

Nothing much but Sunderland just joins in the fun....

Ideally, I hope John Henry would open his eyes after Saturday's game and gives more financial support to BR. Let's wait and see before the transfer window closes. But he's a meanie. I dont think he will spend money like nobody business. I hope I am wrong.

Kelly was awfully lack of pace and concentration on Saturday. West Brom was attacking his side more than Johnson's side. He was also missing when West Brom score the 3rd goal courtesy of a cross on the left which annoyed me to the max. So hopefully, Enrique can come back in and Johnson moves back to the right. That will hopefully provide more pace to the defence and protect our old man, Carra (since Agger is suspended), when we play City although I dont know how they are going to defend against the quartet of Aguero, Tevez, Nasri and Silva.

If Jay Spearing combines with Lucas (without Gerrard) can give us a miracle 3 - 1 win against Man Utd last time in Anfield in a game where Luis was superb and Dirk scored hattrick, let's pray that miracle happen again in the next game against City.

But for now, let's hope they get a good result against Hearts first to inspire more good results coming.

I hope we can appeal for the red card..If not, perhaps Coates or Kelly should slot in with Skrtel in CB. Carragher isn't going to be able to cope with those ManC forwards..I duno why Coates isn't given much chance. seems like he is forgotten.

But the thing is we can't always judge players on how they perform on paper. Perhaps the team selection was based on training performance and maybe Cole was performing a lot better than Pacheco. We don't know half the story in the selection process, maybe there are bunch of criterias that BR go through when selecting his players.

The word is out. They are not appealing. http://www.thisisanfield.com/2012/08/reds-...agger-red-card/?

put suarez as left side attacker borini/carrol as center attacker and downing can go to hell...put adam johnson on the right side coz he's leaving citeh...im seriously disappointed with downing...0 creativity 0 flair 0 vision

Going by your formation, it will look like this:

Suarez Caroll Borini


<------- Allen Gerrard------>
Lucas
|
|
v


Enrique Skrtel Kelly Johnson

Reina



Potential danger:
Yaya Toure bossing the midfield, cutting in and finishing us off or provide telling passes to Aguero/Tevez as Allen, Gerrard and Lucas will be taken away by Nasri and Silva who are both tricky and pacy with the support from Clichy and Zabaleta

It looks like suicidal to play 4-3-3 against Man City. We need extra cover for defensive midfield.

He was only good at blackpool.

Just go with 4-2-3-1. Lucas and Allen anchoring the middle. The 3 AM (Borini, Gerrard, Suarez) to support Carroll. Alternatively, swap Suarez with Carroll and have Oussama be one of three AM.

You got a good point there! If Pacheco is such a natural scorer, the least we can do is to start grooming him to be our main PL finisher. In fact, even Sterling seems to have a nose for goal.

If I were BR, I will get an assurance in writing from Henry & co that they won't sack (or even threaten to sack) me for two seasons and then re-build decisively, but not necessarily expensively. Recoup some money by selling off Adam, Henderson and even Downing, and unleash the likes of Pacheco and Sterling.

Sorry but what kind of midfielder Joe Allen is? Is he a natural DM or AM?

It seems that we're lack of creative mid that can made through passes. The closest I recall was Aquaman but not worth reminiscing.

We should have one for Rodger's tiki-taka though. Regardless of age as long he can delivers. Youngsters can learn and play with him and be next one.

I don't understand why Joe Cole is still in the team.

Agree. This would make more sense. Stable on the midfield cover as well as pacy on the counter attack although I would prefer Borini, Gerrard, Assadi as AM supporting Suarez upfront. That would be all round pace in attack.

Whatever Joe Allen may be, at least he looks much better than Adam and Henderson in midfield.

Got a bad feeling that Cole will eventually be released cos I don't think any PL team will want to pay such high wages for an aging player who may be prone to injury i.e. very low returns or probably a liability...sigh!