Liverpool FC Forum

sgs » Sun Mar 08, 2015 9:54 am wrote:The Balotelli sub made zero sense. Even the reshaping of the team made less sense!

When Balo came on, we took complete control of the game offensively. From that moment on, we had position almost the entire time and looked more likely to score than we had all game. A lot of that was from Balo.

Oh well, at least we didn't concede a late one. The reply in the same week as we play Man U. Just what we needed. NOT!!!

Another shut out by a Championship team who seem to have our number at Anfield.

A million passes but no end product today with Lallana again flattering to deceive in a wider role.

Never scoring today that was obvious after 30 mins though I suspect we will progress again via the replay.

one day we will start to beat teams that start with "B" in cup games more easily

Incredibly hard work !! It will be easier away from home I hope 

Bad day at the office for all concerned.

Fair play to Blackburn, they made themselves hard to beat.

We'll still go through at their place.

I think the changes disrupted our fluency today, Can is a superb player but I think our system works best when we have 2 high energy presser's in CM like Lucas/Hendo or Hendo/Allen. The likes of Coutinho and Lallana are more effective when they get turn over ball to work with and having a couple of terriers in the middle of the park gives us that.
Besides we missed Can and Sakho's passing from the back which often sets us on our way.
Today was an off day but we are still in the cup and as we are away from home in the replay I think Brendan will put out a full strength side at Ewood which should be enough to see us through.

ethanr » Sun Mar 08, 2015 5:59 pm wrote:

sgs » Sun Mar 08, 2015 9:54 am wrote:The Balotelli sub made zero sense. Even the reshaping of the team made less sense!

When Balo came on, we took complete control of the game offensively. From that moment on, we had position almost the entire time and looked more likely to score than we had all game. A lot of that was from Balo.

We ALWAYS had control, save for a few moments here and there. The issue was we were creating next to nothing, esp from the wide areas.

Its almost as if the manager determined Lalana would play 90mins regardless of how he was playing. The fluidity wasn't there and we had our best attacking player marooned at left wing back...and our best left wing back on the bench!

It just didn't make any sense!

We've got Swansea on the Monday and Utd on the following weekend.  As it stands, replay will be sandwiched between those games. Any chance of the swansea game being rearranged or is that a no go as it will be televised?

fivecups » Sun Mar 08, 2015 6:08 pm wrote:Bad day at the office for all concerned.

Fair play to Blackburn, they made themselves hard to beat.

We'll still go through at their place.

Poor linup led to this ״bad day at the office " ,playing Johnson with Lovern rattled the whole defense, Hendo spend too much time covering the backend while Allen was absent and went missing on the pressing game...one thing led to the other and voila we earned another game to our long season.

We should have beat them today and be done with it    They had a game plan but we just could not break them down which is poor for us seeing as we have the better quality players and were at home. It isn't an easy tactic to play against but I'd have thought we would have learned how to deal with that by now.

The replay is scheduled for the 16th march the same day we are down to play swansea in the prem. Moving that game to saturday might be the best option and then we can play the replay on tuesday before playing manure at the weekend. After that its an international break so the FA will want this sorted before then. If they do move the game then I think the premier league will have to compensate swansea for it, Close on 500k I believe.

Frustrating ,drab and we looked completely clueless when we got anywhere near Blackburn's penalty box. Completely mystified why the only player who was direct
and causing them problems was withdrawn ,we looked even more dependant on Sterling weaving some magic when Markovic was removed.

Lallana was awful and I cant believe he was afforded 90 mins ,as for Johnson I really cant get my head around why he was selected ,there was one point in the game
he was backing off the runner to such an extent that Markovic had to race back and intercept. So after listening to Rodgers little speech on Gerrard stating he's renowned
for playing players solely on merit and not their status in the game or how much they're paid ,I'm left wondering how Johnson strolled back into the first team 

Can should have played the deeper and let Henderson dip into the attack ,rather than the reversed roles they were given ,Balotelli should have been a direct replacement
for Lallana ,some of his crossing from that side was phenomenal against Besiktas ,as opposed to Lallana's weak contribution.

Coutinho was marked out of the game and with Sterling having to consistently drop back to protect Lovren it stifled the Brazilians inventive passing to familiar outlets.

Blackburn defended resolutely ,but surely that was expected 

Oh and as for the referee ,I have never known such a scant amount of time being afforded ,surely its 30 seconds per substitution alone ,and the missing minutes from
the injury to Skrtel will probably evolve into a conspiracy theory along side the second gunman .....At least Mariners performance was familiar !

RED BEERGOGGLES » Sun Mar 08, 2015 8:29 pm wrote:Frustrating ,drab and we looked completely clueless when we got anywhere near Blackburn's penalty box. Completely mystified why the only player who was direct
and causing them problems was withdrawn ,we looked even more dependant on Sterling weaving some magic when Markovic was removed.

Lallana was awful and I cant believe he was afforded 90 mins ,as for Johnson I really cant get my head around why he was selected ,there was one point in the game
he was backing off the runner to such an extent that Markovic had to race back and intercept. So after listening to Rodgers little speech on Gerrard stating he's renowned
for playing players solely on merit and not their status in the game or how much they're paid ,I'm left wondering how Johnson strolled back into the first team 

Can should have played the deeper and let Henderson dip into the attack ,rather than the reversed roles they were given ,Balotelli should have been a direct replacement
for Lallana ,some of his crossing from that side was phenomenal against Besiktas ,as opposed to Lallana's weak contribution.

Coutinho was marked out of the game and with Sterling having to consistently drop back to protect Lovren it stifled the Brazilians inventive passing to familiar outlets.

Blackburn defended resolutely ,but surely that was expected 

Oh and as for the referee ,I have never known such a scant amount of time being afforded ,surely its 30 seconds per substitution alone ,and the missing minutes from
the injury to Skrtel will probably evolve into a conspiracy theory along side the second gunman .....At least Mariners performance was familiar !

Other than that, you enjoyed it?

No one played well. It wasn't good.
Brendan should have just gone back to the tried and trusted with Moreno at left back and Stirling in the middle. That's all it would have taken, plus a bit of impetus. Why mess about now that he has finally found a winning formula? Can will play in midfield for a long period but he just did not shine at all today. Still think we will win the tie - I hope.

RED BEERGOGGLES » Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:29 wrote:Oh and as for the referee ,I have never known such a scant amount of time being afforded ,surely its 30 seconds per substitution alone ,and the missing minutes from
the injury to Skrtel will probably evolve into a conspiracy theory along side the second gunman .....At least Mariners performance was familiar !

After leaving 8 minutes of extra time in the first half I would say it would be harsh to also give it in the second.