Funny thing is most posters figured we added to squad depth before the season began. In addition to Alberto, Sakho, Toure, Aspas, Ilori, we have Jordan Ibe promoted to the first team. We lost Downing and loaned out Borrini. Won't mention Mignolet coz Pepe left. Also, Spearing and Carroll were already out on loan. In a sense we did add to squad depth but not in the area I'm most concerned about, central midfield and in particular a deep lying midfielder to challenge Lucas for a starting berth.

I don't think the issue was about squad depth as much as it was about wrong tactics and underperforming players.mi mean people talk about Sterling but Gerrard and Sturridge were equally unimpressive. It wasn't that we didn't have cover for Johnson as we had Wisdom and Kelly on the bench.

I agreed on this part, the manager need to shoulder a lot of responsibility in this issue.
Until so far, personally I still do not see much tactically superiority over the opponent most of the time under BR.

I do not see how the team pawned opponent team due to superiority in tactical wise, as well as do not see game changing substitute and personnel/formation changing that result in change of face of the match.
Good tactically wise is important to bring up the player game as well.

May be need manager to "hair-dry" the underperforming players.

In the world today, there are many spoilt b1tchy millionaires sportsmen who put money on top of everything. You cane them, they will bite back and leave. Between Brendan Rodgers and Daniel sturridge plus Luis Suarez, who is the one the fans are desperate to keep?

The superstar players no question. Managing a team is difficult. for example, Jose mourinho in his duel against iker casillas. Player power is very strong these day.

This post has been edited by dillonyong: Sep 22 2013, 04:01 PM

No need to look far. Some of our own players played their part in ousting Rafa. Maybe that's why BR is afraid to even sub Gerrard, let alone dropping him for much needed rest.

Teams like that are dangerous, their players will be desperate to win.

Hence, I'm afraid we'll play cautious again next match.
This is, however, never a title challenging or top four teams mentality.
Hopefully they won't play like that again.

It's frustrating, really.

My bad

Then it's br fault,, between 11 player since he bought 1st season only 3 who will seal the place in 1st team, 1 will have room of improvement while the other is just average garbage ,,

br is diff compare to liv prev manager coz of his philosphy.. the way he handle suarez is a huge success coz he dunt use that "no player bigger than a club" crap kind of ideology.. but he is not exceptance like any liverpool previous manager with buying guantity over quality which is another crap

less we forget, the idea BR wanted to implement a 'system' that takes precedence over the reliance on players, ala barcelonafc. That's alright, we need to find a balance (senior team vs grooming the squad).

It's always difficult but while I would hope there is no abandonment of what was seeded (which is i suppose why FSG got BR) at ground zero. One think i hope Brendan is to wise up (talking to media) in a certain way. No need to educate the press/media on how/what's tiki-taka or why it is important to instil belief within (unity, nice brotherly (hugs) love, good man management, death-by football etc etc. It's not as if football began the last decade....(self mumbling grrr) i digress.

Maybe BR had hoped that he can blueprint that into all lfc playing, system > (reliance on) players. Truth is as much as in that seems very good on paper. we have seen barcelona system falls-into-pieces once 3 main ingredient player(s) have a below average game (i.e. messi, xavi, puyol) esp against good teams.

There's a need to have balance where system-of-play & getting the 'right' players to work it well and working with players to their strength


[edited for clarity]

This post has been edited by koolspyda: Sep 22 2013, 08:47 PM

2 players do 1 player job.
Neither effective nor efficient.
It's like 10 players VS 11 players on the field.

Might as well sell off 1 of them and replace them with 1 capable player that can do the job.

This time BR has to shoulder the blame...no BUTs about it. Questionable tactics at home. No penetration at all..Outplayed and outfoxed by Pochetino.

Oh i agree about the system being more important than the players. But what i meant earlier is that any player regardless of their skillset has to be in good form in order to thrive in any system. The trick with any team is to get them to operate at say 80% of their ability. I feel the likes of Gerrard and Lucas are operating at maybe 60% or less. They're not anywhere near their best and if the other team can operate at higher level despite having an inferior squad (tho that Southamton team was pretty strong) than we are always going to struggle against them.

Yup. John Barnes said it's our fault. Us fans created the Luis Suarez, the Wayne Rooney by sticking to them hence encouraging them to lose their heads and think that they are bigger than the club.

As for Gerrard and Lucas, I believe they will hit to peak soon but not yet. Maybe another 5 to 6 matches of mediocre or average displays.

It has alot to do with BR's conditioning and training method. This is really what I truly believe. It is why Gerrard, Agger and Johnson who are injury prone in the past have been so fit all season.

Be patience all Red fans. We may benefit from this when all the other teams have major injury problems going into 2nd half of the season.


PS - Dont forget (barring Agger) Gerrard, Lucas and Johnson have been criticized down to the rock bottom when we first started last season. Remember? They were all so off form. It will take time. And at the end, Johnson was superb and Gerrard and Lucas have a fine season.

This post has been edited by dillonyong: Sep 22 2013, 08:23 PM

Sensible talk from a winning mentality type of player
This is what I like to see. Move on and redeem yourself. That is how winners are built.

"It was a tough game. We didn't start well and we couldn't pass the ball and make the ball quick and we conceded a goal on a set-piece," he said.

"It is a setback but the season is long. You are going to have ups and downs,

wins, losses and draws. The most important thing is how you react.

"We will learn from the mistakes we did and focus on the next game. That is important for us and we need to realise that.

"The game against United comes at the right time because after a setback like that the one thing you want to do is come back and win."

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11669/8935831?

After three wins, expectations went sky high with most people praising whatever BR is doing and describing the various world-beaters in our squad. Now, after one defeat, BR is clueless, has no tactical awareness and the players are useless, old, etc..

Haihzzz..wait lah, its only 5 games. We are definitely not championship material yet and is just hoping to break into the top 4. So, getting down from the perch is not a bad thing. It's getting back the realistic perspective for everybody!

I lament just two things : having to keep Sakho on to justify his transfer fee and losing at home.

Oh, Sakho did make one wonderful tackle and I think he will do ok as the season progresses but I felt that he should have been taken off in the second half. Kelly should be brought on to play RB, Toure restored to CB with Enrique replacing Agger (had a problem according to BR - well..).

Overall, it was really a bad day at the office.

To be fair, out performance haven't really been all that the last 3 games. Winning 1-0 is nothing much. and we had to defend like mad and depended on Mignolet to save our ass in case you forgot.

"It's better lucky than good" - Shane Falco

Then comes the point where your luck run out. That's when you realized you're fuked in the arse

I think br has not much choice.I dont get why people criticisw him for 4cb.do you want him to play wisdom?he was also right in dropping enrique.He was piss poor.
The midfield of gerrard lucas and henderson was the culprit yesterday.No one pushed up to support sturridge.Henderson is a squad player at best.He works hard,runs everywhere,works his socks and suspander off bull shit doesn't work for me.That's supposed to be lucas' job.2 players are doing 1 player's job.

The issue here is squad depth in particular our midfield and to a lesser extent forwards.

oops...

This post has been edited by Rotuham: Sep 22 2013, 10:12 PM

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This post has been edited by Rotuham: Sep 22 2013, 10:13 PM