before this game start, how many of you can predict that we will lose by a minimum of 3 goals ?



we played like shit after the first half, we should not have used Cole and Carra, its a KNOWN FACT

BR got his tactics wrong, why is it so hard to accept that he made some wrong moves?

Sterling and Robinson should have been the bench much earlier, then Sterling should be in , not Cole and Robinson should have replaced Agger

Regarding Cole, it's worrying though isn't it? How long was he on the pitch? Less than 15 minutes? Either he's rushed back into the squad or he's as fragile as a wine glass. If it's the former, questions need to be asked about our medical team and the manager. If it's the latter, he's pretty much sitting on a big wages without contributing.

yeah, experienced player that played 701 matches for LFC, Carra the slow old horse that lose out on the back track on WBA fast running forwards/midfielders , experienced players that gets injured easily , the Old Joe Cole that broke his hamstring while positioning to shoot over the bar with is experience

then is BR a bozo using only a defender in the bench ?

why does he name Carra on the bench when we have younger player , like Robinson and Coates?

you still wan to defend BR?

I blame BR for Cole's sub/injury. Like I said before the match even started, he wasnt even fit to play. The injury is not surprising really...

I would personally prefer Sterling but he lacks experience. If he lacks experience, we could easily put in Henderson on wide, Suarez on wide with Carrol on pitch. It's all about twit and change.You dont risk your player when you know he isn't fit enough.

Look at it this way, Agger purposely got sent off because he dun wan to be sold to Barca , any possibilities?



Actually the refree was too harsh, a red card was not needed, penalty okay, as it was a 50 50 situation, Ronaldo and Nani does it most of the time too

The moment we have Johnson on the left and Downing on the right we are simply asking to be beaten, it should have been the other way round. The moment I saw the teamsheet I wasn't comfortable at all. Johnson and Downing are right and left footers respectively and putting them on the opposite sides just doesn't help things. I'd say Johnson put in some useful crosses and he has done his utmost. Downing? He is just not trying hard enough or not trying at all, time for him to move on, he bolted himself at the byline throughout the game, doesn't seems to or bothered to drag defenders into the final third or into the box with him. Defenders love that and just have to make sure they keep him quiet and us away from their box, as a result we see the side and backpasses from Downing. Downing scored a wonder goal from the same position against Gomel, doesn't mean that the same trick will work as WBA and others will not give him the time to do that.

Borini also did not try hard enough, I don't remember seeing him involved much in the game. At least when we put him on the right wing, he fared much better than Downing. Shelvey should have started, at least he'll give the Broom defender's a torrid time. We pass the ball around too much, should have been route one, make it simple and as fast not to geve Broom's defence chance to regroup and re-act.

Shelvey would have been better and I hope to see him start the next game instead of Downing.

If BR is bold enough, he should not start Gerrard in the next game. I was really disappointed with our captain last night. The sending off of Agger was cause by Gerrard giving the ball away. Apart from that, he didn't really show up much. Suarez was doing everything on his own. Borini was also very quiet.
The only positive thing is Joe Allen prove to be a much better passer than the captain last night.

For heaven sake, whatever happened to Enrique/ Robinson?! Johnson has been linking up very well with downing on the right during pre-season, why change that?

And please BR, I beg you not to start Carra against Man City speedy forwards. Coates should be given the chance.

There's a lot to learn from this defeat. A whole lot..

I don't think being bold and make drastic choice or leaving season players out is not gonna solve the problem.  who did Rafa play to win CL?

we don't hv a prolific striker yet, Rafa manage to take us to 2 CL final.  the last 2 season we been spending a whole loads of money yet result dun match the investment.  BR need to find a way to get the team to play together and finish our chances..

The way I sees it, Downing is much more effective on the left, he's a natural left footer and a left footer winger is expected to swing in effective crosses from the left with his left foot. We put Downing on the right and expects him to swing in crosses with his left foot, not effective, but when he tried to do it with his right foot it ended up horribly wrong and at the stands and its embarassing and obviously he can't do it effectively. Steve McMahon sums it up nicely..... "trying to put a square peg into a round hole".

Yes. you're right to say that Downing can cut in and swing in the crosses or shoot but that will be the secondary priority as a winger while the WBA defender has restricted his movement. We could see in the match that it's very obvious the defender sticked to him and make sure that Downing doesn't cut in. Downing's primary objective should be to take the ball to the touch line beat the defender or swing in the crosses, and that he has failed miserably. As for Kelly, I believe the tactic deployed is such that he's not expected to provide the width and support as much as I could see in the match and Downng is expected to do that all by himself. Can't remember seeing Kelly bombing down the touchlne, i could be wrong though. What I failed to see is that Downing has taken the initiative to take on defenders as a winger as what he is paid to do while we don't need anymore of his side and backpasses which is truly unproductive.

No, no Oussama is on the left. Yes, yes I mean, putting Shelvey on the right would have yielded  better results,  unless we have an  Adam Johnson or Walcott on our side now, while  Downing has failed miserably to execute what he is paid for to do . Shelvey being Shelvey he will do what he is instructed to do eventhough he does get too excited and too commited at times, that's good we need more of that from the team. Borini went to the right during the last bit of the game and took on the defender? I was getting all excited and told myself - well at least Borini made the WBA defender earn his week's wages and made some useful contributions from the right. And I could see the WBA defender shitting himself in the pants for the first time in the game.

To be honest. I've seen Downing being more effective on the left, being his natural position, of course it could be better where his crosses ended up everywhere except the target man. Does it mean that you believe Downing will be more of a natural right winger than a left winger in the long run? Let's see whether BR does continue to put Downing on the right and see what happens next, and I hope Downing can prove me wrong  and we come back and debate another day. I couldn't think of any useful crosses Downing made in the game against WBA, that I could have missed? With due respect to Gomel and Leverkusen, they're different opposition and a friendly game respectively, in the EPL let's not expect the WBA defenders to give Downing an inch to do that, they do study video recorded games of ours and they're no mugs.

Ok, if you want my opinion it's simple and I'll be blunt ..... Shelvey has got more guts or balls to take on defenders on the wings and he may run through brick walls if asked upon,  that's what I believe. The same argument can be used here, why did Johnson on the left? At least now we know Johnson can be effective on the left as oppose to Downing on the right. Downing has shown time and again he doesn't take on defenders enough, whether on the left or right but consistently and conveniently making those those side and back passes. It embarasses me to say that Johnson looks more like a natural left winger to me than Downing. Of course you have now asked how will Shelvey adapt, but if we don't try Shelvey out how would we know, not that we have other options and it's evident that Downing has failed on the right more than on the left.

I do agreed the whole team played badly, not only Downing.

Can certainly understand why BR wants Downing on the right. Let's not forget we are now playing 4-3-3, its not a winger position, its a wide forward role. You can think of him as Barcelona's Pedro. His role is to cut in from wide positions to make penetrating through balls or take a shot not make crosses. I believe the crossing and width job now belong to our full backs which Johnson particularly excels at. The problem was Enrique's last minute injury, Kelly isn't quite the adventurous type and the same goes to Robinson regardless of whether or not he is ready for the first team, they are certainly better at defensive duties than offense. Glen Johnson on the other hand does better a offensive job than any of our full backs even when playing on the left.

Saying BR not making any changes to our style of play is too extreme. If you look back at our first half I can see us trying to play how BR's Swansea played last season albeit not quite getting it. Too many stray passes even for our captain fantastic. It can be down to understanding and the team need to be given time to gel and learn, its only the first game after all. From what I've seen I think that the players are often standing too far away from each other instead of constantly moving which is needed to play this passing style. Barca's tiki-taka utilizes players' constant movement to form little triangles to make quick short passes and one-twos when moving the ball around while we were being too static and holding the ground looking and waiting for the ball. It would have worked if we were Barca but our players weren't good enough technically to thread accurate long on the ground passes which led to too many interceptions by Mulumbu and Yacob who were leading the counter attacks. When you play a possession game and a high defensive line, every counter attack opportunity by the opponent can be lethal. That, I believe was our downfall. Of course it doesn't help when Suarez is wasting chances left and right.

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?

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.

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.