I just don't know what's wrong with our defense. Skrtle wasn't played so that's a huge positive, but we still sucked. Actually the whole team played with no motivation. I knew we we would lose as soon as I saw Villa park the whole train after that 1-0 lead. Rodgers has no answer for such defensive tactics. People were saying that this year we should not have problems with park-the-bus defenses with our new signings and his new line-up options, but so far, Rodgers has remained consistent with his inability to break through. If we couldn't do it with Suarez, we definitely cannot do it now. We need another solution. Nobody stood out in this game, at least not in the time that I watched the game. I think the new signings made us a little cocky, especially after our huge win 2 weeks ago. I like last year's mentality where we took it one game at a time and always looked to improve. Not sure how we'll do with 2 strikers up front with Sturridge out. Balo and Borini? Balo and Lambert? That doesn't sound intimidating at all.
I think we couldn't beat it cause it wasn't the right tactics, we are at our best when we are in a 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 Diamond,we score so much earlier in these formations then 4-2-3-1. Also he picked the wrong players and tacticsI would have started a 4-3-3 Lallana shouldn't have started Sterling should have started and got taken out at the 60 mark. Honestly I think we leak so many goals cause of Mignolet, not that he is a bad keeper he is solid and will get better in time, he just isn't vocal at all, the only time he speaks to his line is when they make a mistake,IMO thats now how a keeper should be, a keeper should be constantly talking to his line and be a leader, Lovren was suppose to be that, but the way our system plays our CBs have to be smarter with the way they play since they play so high. Hopefully if we get Valdes we can have a keeper who has been in that role and play the same system as he did in Barca. I also would love BR to be ambitious and go after Cech, he would be the great strong Keeper we could have in those crossing situations. As much as I love Simon he isn't the answer at keeper.
Ace, are you also afraid of this year for Feyenoord? We really lost a lot of talent, and we did not seem to have replaced it... For the Man U fans, it usually take some time before Van Gaals approach yield results. So do not worry about the slow start.
Not worried although I would ahve expected more from such a soft schedule to begin with irrespective of the approach. Having said that, yday was a solid performance albeit against QPR. Main thing is to keep this run going unitl late October when we face Chelsea, Man City and Arsenal in a space of 4 weeks.
I hadn't thought about Mignolet being the problem. However Reina is certainly the better keeper in his prime... he has cat-light reflexes and knows where to be during set pieces. It's true though, that we don't have a defensive leader that can be vocal, like Hyypia or Carra. Maybe Lovren can develop into one. I still believe Agger was our #1 choice, but Rodgers just doesn't like him for some reason. I had no problems with Rodgers sitting Sterling after a busy International break and introducing Lallana at Anfield. The problem wasn't that... the problem was that we have no answer for park-the-bus defenses once we're down 1-0. I doubt we would have broken through even with Sterling on the pitch since we couldn't even do that with Sturridge and Suarez on. It's something that Rodgers needs to think about. But maybe we would have scored first with Sterling and they wouldn't have parked, but it's a risk Rodgers was willing to take and I accept that. From now on if I'm playing against LFC and I score first, I would definitely park the bus... it's almost a guarantee 3 points. Rodgers has some homework to do.
On top of that you also had Senderoos and Huttle abusing Balotelli all game and the head referee just flat out ignoring it. The problem now is with this game you're pretty much guaranteed to see teams park the bus if they score first and you're guaranteed to see subtle and (like Villa, non-subtle) targeting of Balotelli. The referees screwed up, now teams know they can get away with it.
UCL is back fellas.. Of course I'm taking Barca to win it all, my favorites below. 1. Barca 2. Bayern 3. Chelsea 4. Madrid
I think the Balotelli situation can be fixed. Besides we have other options.. What bothers me is LFC's ability to break through a parked bus. It's just too impossible. The only team I think that can be broken through if they park the bus is Arsenal. But against a team like them, our worries would be to outscore them.
Gerrard converts to win the game. Liverpool lucky to take 3 points from this one though. Definitely need to improve if they want to make a run.
Drama Ludogretz gets a goal in the 90th minute via Mignolet coming out, simple tap in 2 minutes later Penalty won for Liverpool in the 93 Minute. Final 2-1 Liverpool wins. Watching Liverpool is like a Drama where the lead character could get written off at any minute.
Chance? Yes, but not a good one. I wouldn't say it's a 0% chance though. He's really important to Real right now, but during his tenure there they haven't won as much as they would have hoped. I guess it all really depends on if a viable replacement would be available for Real if they were ever going to consider letting him go.
If CR7 is unhappy at Real Madrid with the moves Perez has made there is nowhere else he can realistically go if not Man Utd. No team in Germany would pay his price. PSG could but with FFP they'd somewhat have to gut their team, they couldn't even afford Di Maria this year plus he's not going to Ligue 1. He's not going to Barcelona. I think there's a decent change Ronaldo returns, the question is when and what would he even have left when he does.
Damn... Liverpool with like 100 missed open chances. I'll chalk it up to nervousness and inexperience for the majority of the lads... but they better bring it next game. Glad Super Mario got his first goal, maybe he can feed off this energy and build up his confidence. Glad we have someone who can power his way through in the front line... our version of Drogba. So far I haven't been too impressed by the Southampton signings. Mid-table players playing like mid-tablers. Anyway, Ludogorets played well.
I watched what the Ludogorets goalie did against Liverpool, and I strongly think that the authorities should investigate his connections to the betting mafia. That was just too obvious.
