Liverpool FC Forum

As you say our defensive frailty is probably down to a combination of factors as opposed to one major flaw. To me it looks like -
1) the midfield doesn't offer enough protection
2) we defend too deep as a side (we don't engage the opposition high up the pitch, we retreat to the edge of our box)
3) our fullbacks don't do enough to block crosses
4) the keeper is poor at coming off his line and claiming the ball
5) our back 4 don't hold a line and try to push out, they retreat onto our keepers toes
6) we make a lot of careless individual errors
7) we sometimes overplay at the back which encourages teams to press us high up the pitch
8) we struggle to defend crosses

I'm not sure signing 1 center half is going to sort all that out, most of that needs to be sorted out on the training pitch IMO.

Totally agree with yakka and JC and I've been saying the same thing for months. Although I think that the CB position does need improvement, I don't think that it was the main reason for us conceding so many goals. For me, the problem was mostly tactical. At times, when the high pressure tactics failed, we seemed like we had no idea how to stop the opposition from advancing whatsoever. The midfield just stood there and didn't even try to contain them, the fullbacks weren't much better either. The 2 CB's were exposed from all sides and it's unfair to blame them for their mistakes since your bound to make mistakes with so much exposure. It wouldn't matter much if we had Kompany or Thiago Silva, we still would have had similar results.

I think that bringing in (or bringing back actually) someone like Steve Clarke would solve a lot of problems defensively. If we could somehow blend in his tactics and Rodger's tactics we would have a hell of a team. Signing an athletic midfielder is also a must, but I think we already did that with bringing in Can.

Reading some interviews from Rodgers and Agger today it looks that Agger won't be leaving after all. So maybe Rodgers has finally realized that the problem might be with him, rather than saying that "you can't coach" the mistakes that the defenders did last season.

damjan193 » Thu Jul 17, 2014 6:51 pm wrote:Reading some interviews from Rodgers and Agger today it looks that Agger won't be leaving after all. So maybe Rodgers has finally realized that the problem might be with him, rather than saying that "you can't coach" the mistakes that the defenders did last season.

Uh? The problem is Rodgers?

SouthCoastShankly » Thu Jul 17, 2014 7:55 pm wrote:

damjan193 » Thu Jul 17, 2014 6:51 pm wrote:Reading some interviews from Rodgers and Agger today it looks that Agger won't be leaving after all. So maybe Rodgers has finally realized that the problem might be with him, rather than saying that "you can't coach" the mistakes that the defenders did last season.

Uh? The problem is Rodgers?

As I said in my previous post, the defensive problem is mostly tactical. Don't try to put my words out of context, Rodgers is a fantastic coach and manager, just not so great for defensive set-ups.

SouthCoastShankly » Thu Jul 17, 2014 6:55 pm wrote:

damjan193 » Thu Jul 17, 2014 6:51 pm wrote:Reading some interviews from Rodgers and Agger today it looks that Agger won't be leaving after all. So maybe Rodgers has finally realized that the problem might be with him, rather than saying that "you can't coach" the mistakes that the defenders did last season.

Uh? The problem is Rodgers?

I think it's more of a case of fine tuning our playing style than putting the blame on anyone.

Agree with you guys here. Like I said, our defence problem is mostly tactical. Brendan needs to look into that and improve it rather than looking for the next 'great' centre back to sign.

the system does need tweaking but we still needed to sign another CH. its looking like its lovren who isnt all that bad and if he can bring a good voice to the back then it will work.
agger/toure/coates will probably be going so that leaves us with skrtel and sakho then llori and kelly. it will be a partnership of skrtel and lovren that will play most next season imo.

                                  johnson                 skrtel                 lovren            enrique.
that wouldnt be too bad with whats available atm.

Domestically we have got a lot of winnable games (and a lot of home games) coming up over the next couple of months -

September

Villa (h)
West Ham (a)
Boro  (h)  (League cup 3rd round)
Everton (h)

October

West Brom (h)
QPR (a)
Hull (h)
League cup 4th round

Apart from the Derby match we'll start every one of those games as strong favourites to win, and even against Everton as we are at home the bookies will have us down as marginal favourites. I think the next couple of months could be crucial, all our rivals have 2 or 3 tough games in that period and with a bit of luck we could find ourselves front running again.

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Thu Sep 04, 2014 3:31 pm wrote:Domestically we have got a lot of winnable games (and a lot of home games) coming up over the next couple of months -

September

Villa (h)
West Ham (a)
Boro  (h)  (League cup 3rd round)
Everton (h)

October

West Brom (h)
QPR (a)
Hull (h)
League cup 4th round

Apart from the Derby match we'll start every one of those games as strong favourites to win, and even against Everton as we are at home the bookies will have us down as marginal favourites. I think the next couple of months could be crucial, all our rivals have 2 or 3 tough games in that period and with a bit of luck we could find ourselves front running again.

FYI, quite a good website I look at (for FPL purposes - letting the secrets out now) has a section showing game difficulty for all teams. Worth a look.

http://fantasyfootballfirst.co.uk/team- ... checker-2/

SouthCoastShankly » Thu Sep 04, 2014 8:34 pm wrote:

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Thu Sep 04, 2014 3:31 pm wrote:Domestically we have got a lot of winnable games (and a lot of home games) coming up over the next couple of months -

September

Villa (h)
West Ham (a)
Boro  (h)  (League cup 3rd round)
Everton (h)

October

West Brom (h)
QPR (a)
Hull (h)
League cup 4th round

Apart from the Derby match we'll start every one of those games as strong favourites to win, and even against Everton as we are at home the bookies will have us down as marginal favourites. I think the next couple of months could be crucial, all our rivals have 2 or 3 tough games in that period and with a bit of luck we could find ourselves front running again.

FYI, quite a good website I look at (for FPL purposes - letting the secrets out now) has a section showing game difficulty for all teams. Worth a look.

http://fantasyfootballfirst.co.uk/team- ... checker-2/

Cheers SCS, that site seems to pretty much agree with my analysis.
Of course we all know we can't afford to be complacent, no doubt City fans regarded their recent game against Stoke as a home banker too but the opportunity is definitely there for us to rack up some points and make some headway in the table.

These international fixtures either need binning or moving to the end of the season or something.
Apparently there's another international break early next month and the same again in November so there's another few weeks of sheer boredom to look forward to.
Even the die hard England fans couldn't be @rsed turning up to watch them at Wembley. Far too much importance is put on the international game when quite frankly most international games are shyte.
I can't believe domestic football in this country has to grind to a halt just because England are playing the likes of San Marino and Slovenia.

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:12 pm wrote:These international fixtures either need binning or moving to the end of the season or something.
Apparently there's another international break early next month and the same again in November so there's another few weeks of sheer boredom to look forward to.
Even the die hard England fans couldn't be @rsed turning up to watch them at Wembley. Far too much importance is put on the international game when quite frankly most international games are shyte.
I can't believe domestic football in this country has to grind to a halt just because England are playing the likes of San Marino and Slovenia.

I could not agree more. Boring as f*ck. They don't even play the games at the weekend.

Yeah, I can't wait this long, I need my fix man!

The fixtures we have are definitely ones in which we could pick up points and put ourselves in a healthy position.
I think if we can do this we will make other teams start worrying a bit.
A lot of people are hoping we fall away this season due to losing Suarez. If we can put ourselves in a great position a couple of months in it will not only give us confidence but also show other sides that we are not going anywhere.

It starts with Villa, we have not beaten them at home under Rodgers losing 3-1 in his first season and then going 2-0 down last season before fighting back to 2-2.
I am hoping the fact that Villa have started so well will play into our hands as they can lose and still be in a healthy position.

The West Ham game wont be easy but if we can win that we then would go into the derby after 3 straight league wins and i'd fancy us.