I agree with your assessment hence why I posted on us looking more cautious and defending deeper than usual especially when we are looking for 3 points against a mid table side, with all due respect to Southampton of course. With the addition of Alberto, Moses and Aspas, I expected to see more of this. Aspas may be having a torrid time at the moment but he showed during pre-season that he linked up well with the other forwards. Now that he isn't up against pint sized Asians, he's struggling.

I really do hope we revert to a more positive brand of football when Johnson returns to the side but I suspect however, that it is also partially down to Lucas. His range of passing is limited and he hasn't been at his best for some time now. Maybe this is why Gerrard is playing deep. Been baying for a central midfielder who can pass from deep and here is the answer http://swol.co/former-liverpool-star-xabi-...-january/30255?. Instant fix. It will free Gerrard up once again.

This post has been edited by Duke Red: Sep 22 2013, 10:16 AM

Here's my frank assessment of yesterday, hope I don't tread on any toes with my opinions:

1. Selection: I think the selection was messed up from the beginning. We've debated it here a lot and I think we all agree the 4 centreback thing was not going to work. Probably should have played Enrique on the left, though on the right Toure may have been alright (other choice is Wisdom, so prob lesser of two evils). Though we could've gone with 3 - 5- 2 with Enrique and Henderson perhaps since Henderson did cover Toure a lot in the 2nd half. And I take back what I said about playing Aspas in the centre with Sturridge behind him, that clearly didn't work and Aspas seems to really be struggling (in fact, even Sturridge was struggling yesterday...injury?) But then, hindsight is 20-20, but I do feel the changes should've been made earlier.
2. Substitutions: Sterling for Aspas was positive, but even he couldn't change the tide. Perhaps bringing on Ibe on the right and pushing Henderson in might've been better. Enrique on should've been done earlier.
3. Players:
a. Mignolet: Good game, good saves; but as many mentioned, his long distribution is sorely poor. I remember the days when Reina would pick out Torres with a fantastic long throw and Torres would go on to score. Mignolet needs to improve on this and perhaps stop dribbling opposition strikers while in possession...that was seriously heart stopping.
. Sakho: Good as CB bad as LB, enough said.
b. Skrtel: Decent game, but another mistake costed us the game. Was it his fault or the pass to him?
c. Agger/Enrique: Both anonymous
d. Toure: Bad as RB, good covering back and one decent fullback run...that's about it.
e. Gerrard/Lucas: Uncharacteristically bad performance from both. Gerrard did good to track back to the line, but perhaps could've done more to stop the header.
f. Aspas/Alberto/Sterling: Anonymous
g. Sturridge - Looked like he was struggling wasn't he? When he's not playing centre he looks pretty poor. Will be good when Suarez is back and he plays more central.
h. Moses - Probably the brightest spark.

So what I think happened yesterday was a combination of losing Coutinho + poor selection. However, the reason this is happening ie because of new signings. We started the season strong because all our new signings had time to gel together over preseason + the first 3 games were played without many new faces. But the moment the new signings come in, our game plan changes to accomodate them and even though it's the same team, we suddenly look lke a different one. That's my 2 cents.

from yesterday match, you all could see how important is countinho and suarez in the team...

with BR tactics and strategies, the team must consist of at least 1 or 2 players with "happy feet"... this game could be the last game for aspas listed in starting eleven... but i really hope BR can source 1 more player similar like Coutinho... actually Suso can play like him but loaned out d...

At least we know that the next time N'Zonzi has a go at one of our lads, Sakho will snap him like a twig.

http://www.givemesport.com/382925-liverpoo...paghettiplay=on

This post has been edited by Duke Red: Sep 22 2013, 10:31 AM

A very good analysis bro. We shouldn't have that inferior attitude in Anfield. That strategy and mentality was all wrong.

We never got going from the start. Wrong tactical selection of choosing 4 CB. Let's hope the lads will recover and come back stronger. Gunners lost to Villa on their opening fixture and have now won 6 on the trot. Time to beef up on their mental strength.

Yea, I agree Gerrard sometimes lost the ball yesterday and gave up the possession...
Agreed. But at least he also got two really-really good shots-on-target compared to
our misfiring striker... Victor Moses did okay, except he was supposed to pass more
than trying to do anything on himself... Come on, sometimes we just cant dribble the
ball alone pass two / three opponent's defenders...

is suarez still injured or still banned? if they can fiel both suarez n coutinho liverpool gonna be a very handful team to fight against....

i don't know actually what to expect from our team.... yes it a long journey in this season and we only playing 4 games....
with formation BR playing last night, i think people like me more wiser than he last night.... you have how many weeks? 3 weeks to prepare the team... and its Southampton....
i don't mind we lose 1 game after 6 or 7 game... i don't mind we lose to top 4 team away.... and win all lower team...

but with this kind of situation, we will not go forward.... some more, with this attitude 'glad other team lose tonight'... arghhh dont know what to say lol

Can't brain last night's performance. So disjointed. Now everyone knows how to play against Liverpool..just press high up the pitch and force LFC to punt the ball upfield. This is BR's main weakness I feel. He's hell-bent on sticking to a certain playing style that he can't come up with an alternative solution. It was already evident since last season. Really poor performance by the midfielders yesterday, especially Stevie G. And playing Sakho at LB and Toure at RB yesterday was not the wisest move.

A good article that reflects what a lot of folks are thinking here:

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/liverpool/id/1636?cc=5901

"While results have been exemplary, Liverpool have not produced a good 90-minute performance all season. The closest to it was an impressive 75 minutes against Stoke on the opening day, but the football has gotten progressively worse week by week, culminating in that poor second half at the Liberty Stadium on Monday followed by this horror show against Southampton.

All of Liverpool's games this season have been on a knife edge; the wins could easily have been draws, and the draw could so easily have been a loss. The law of averages suggests that when you are involved in so many tight games, it will eventually catch up with you, and that's precisely what happened this afternoon at Anfield, as a well-drilled, confident Southampton side did a job on a disappointing Liverpool. "

3 weeks to prepare one game knowing ahead we won't be able to use Coutinho. You must be wondering what are they doing in training sessions.

Is BR is suffering from the new signing syndrome, where he felt obliged to start Aspas despite knowing he is still not EPL fit?

if BR had won with 4 centerbacks, everyone would be calling him a tactical genius.
but of cos he didnt win...but just saying...if

This post deserves a salute.

At this moment. At this juncture.

The winner takes it all, the loser has to fall.

It's easier to adore a winner just as it is easy to hate a loser.

Its just its really hard to hate Liverpool, my friend.

Stick with it to the death.

A lot have been said of rodgers being under 'mourino' tutelage & has lots of vigour & his own vision/potential tuck inside his football head.

I would respectfully say to my (close) friends, one rodgers is no mourino, or another next great mourino. zero. far from it. I think its easy to sell a story that hey we have potentially a great manager that will elevate us to hopefully win the league.

yes rodgers has potential, yes, brendan rodgers is young good manager, but he has a lot of..sorry to say this, some naivety in how he evaluates players/tactics. He over evaluate certain things, one might say rafa is worse but i think in the latter there is a (rafa) methodology. < this is not a put down this vs that manager but in rodgers case,..in simpler term for the rest, rodgers is not experience enough (yet).

Perhaps all good young(er) managers goes thru this. It's how they overcome those "shortcomings" in helping preparing the team tactics & squad. I'm sorry i cannot word some stuff as articulate as some of you guys, or sugar coat the situation for dear fellow kopites.

It's not all doom & gloom from here on. it's how Lfc recognise those shortcomings & overcome it.

It's a difficult position to be in i know. how should rodgers react or should he react to fans criticism after last night 4 centrebacks disaster? tinker again or play safe of back to square one in putting forth a game-plan of "tiki-taka"

Whatever it is I hope we are back to playing with confidence.



This post has been edited by koolspyda: Sep 22 2013, 01:16 PM

Quality post. Can't word this better. No need to sugarcoat for fear of backlash. Keep it real

Xabi as deep-lying playmaker with Stevie playing the holding role?