Liverpool FC Forum

[Ben Patrick]

they where never ever, ever, ever going to come and make a game of it    not in a million years. they where well schooled and had been practicing that all week. they were at it from the get go.
gerrard might have made a howler but we still had plenty of time to get back in to it, but all we could collectively muster was a limp. the tripe they served up is so hard to play against and polar a opposite to what we have been accustomed to all season. we dont play that way and im happy with that but also understand that sometimes you have to do it and if anything proves that we need an alternative style.
not having a big squad and a poor bench meant we have pretty much flogged the same horse all season and still were on the verge of a 12 game winning streak, we have blitzed some good sides with a bunch of kids and tore up the scoring charts while making anfield feared again. we have our main objective which was C.L and the sweetner was that it was automatic. we still have an outside shot of lifting the title if we can win our next 2 so as disappointing as yesterday was im still happy enough with the season we've had and feel we have loads to be proud of.
the players have given it all this season and some look shattered, after the manner of that defeat rodgers will have his work cut out picking them up and its important he does. we need to avoid a meltdown

Totally agree.

When I look back at this season it will be with great memories regardless of how it ends.
I do still beleive we can do it but if we fall just short we have still had an unbelievable season. To win 11 games on the bounce is unheard of for Liverpool fans of this generation.
We all only need to look at the where will we finish thread to see how far we have exceeded our expectations by.
We did come up short yesterday and we do not appear to have a plan B. That is something that our exciting young manager will need to look at but I trust him to find a solution, he usually does.

[devaney]

Conn - do you think by stating that this is not the time to be pointing the finger at anybody remotely associated with the club then gives you the right to criticise BR for being naive. I'm not sure what you're pointing Conn but it reads like a finger of substantial proportions to me.

Our captain slipped and they got a lucky goal. End of. 

Sorry mate, generally I like your stuff but that post comes across as very harsh.

[kartiek]

I still haven't recovered from that loss, but I don't want to be harsh on any player right now. I'm very proud of being a Liverpool fan for the past 10 or so years. This season has really just given me so much joy that I can't thank Brendan and our team enough. Whatever happens, will happen.

In other news, I'm totally happy that BR said these things - "They parked two buses, rather than one," Rodgers said.

"From the first minute they had 10 men behind the ball." "Just putting 10 players right on your 18-yard box is not difficult to coach, but it is obviously much harder to try and break through it."

"Jose is happy to work that way and he will probably shove his CV in front of me and say it works, but it is not my way of working. I like to take the initiative in games, to try to dominate them and let my players express themselves.If a defensive style gets results, great. Jose has got his result here and he will be happy with that. But it is the polar opposite to how we work and hopefully over time our offensive mentality and aggression will get us long-term results."

I CANNOT BELIEVE that at some point I wanted Mourinho as our coach. I wouldn't want that vermin anywhere near our club, ever.

[damjan193]

Conn - do you think by stating that this is not the time to be pointing the finger at anybody remotely associated with the club then gives you the right to criticise BR for being naive. I'm not sure what you're pointing Conn but it reads like a finger of substantial proportions to me.

Our captain slipped and they got a lucky goal. End of. 

Sorry mate, generally I like your stuff but that post comes across as very harsh.

I don't think that anyone is pointing fingers dev, but did we really need to go at this game so aggressively? I'm not saying that we should have done what Chelsea did, but maybe our last line of defense shouldn't have been at the half way line through out the whole game you know, considering that a draw wouldn't have been a bad result for us.

[sgs]

You have to believe in something, and then have the courage of ur convictions. Its a tough loss, but I'll hate to be a Liverpool fan glowing wit pride at such a cynical approach.

We need to forget this loss. We move on...

[Thommo's perm]

The thing is, its not as simple as forget it and move on. We were badly wounded yesterday, maybe not mortally, but bad enough to need intensive care.
I wanted us to go out and tw@t them yesterday with all of my heart. To put them to the sword and humiliate them, but my head knew what was going to happen.
I know it was an uncharacteristic mistake from the man who has single-handedly dragged us to victories over the years. And, as someone has said, imagine if it was  Lucas or Johnson or Allan who had fu'cked up? On second thoughts, dont.
Right now I am disappointed that we played the way we did and yet Im proud that we did play that way. The thing is we were exposed yesterday and other teams, especially in Europe, will see how to frustrate and potentially beat us. Brendan knew what he was up against and still persisted with the philosophy that has got us where we are. Surely he knew that this approach wouldnt work? Yet he was honour bound to attack, even though it was increasingly obvious that we didnt have the guile or ability to beak them down. I really hope that we learn from this, because although I am proud that we had the balls to go for it, I am also gutted that we werent wise enough to find a way of not losing at home.
Two buses, two schmusses, lets not let this happen again...

[killerp]

imagine if it was  Lucas or Johnson or Allan who had fu'cked up?

It would be easier to accept if one of the hacks messed up and not our captain fantastic. He is human after all. Still so gutted for him.

On the other hand Suarez, Sturridge, Sterling and co could have stepped up but did not.

Coutinho for the love of god needs to practice his shooting skills.

[maguskwt]

Well, like some have already pointed out, Chelsea didn't look like scoring, we were attacking and defending relatively well. It was a mistake, an accident, from which.we conceded. After that the rest of the game was chelsea's advantage due to their tactics. After conceding, we had to go at them to get a draw, there was no turning back. We needed magical moments like the sturridge backheel to Suarez to break them down. That didn't happen. The team is young, the manager is young. We do not have the mentality of lose the battle and Win the war yet. I think credit must go to Mourinho, but the ugly time wasting and celebrations could do without. I think only a manager like Rafa could go toe to toe with Mourinho in terms of tactics... Then again Rafa couldn't make the team as impressive I'm the league as this season...so no shame for BR, he has his philosophy and stuck to his guns and let others worry about us...

[sgs]

The thing is, its not as simple as forget it and move on. We were badly wounded yesterday, maybe not mortally, but bad enough to need intensive care.
I wanted us to go out and tw@t them yesterday with all of my heart. To put them to the sword and humiliate them, but my head knew what was going to happen.
I know it was an uncharacteristic mistake from the man who has single-handedly dragged us to victories over the years. And, as someone has said, imagine if it was  Lucas or Johnson or Allan who had fu'cked up? On second thoughts, dont.
Right now I am disappointed that we played the way we did and yet Im proud that we did play that way. The thing is we were exposed yesterday and other teams, especially in Europe, will see how to frustrate and potentially beat us. Brendan knew what he was up against and still persisted with the philosophy that has got us where we are. Surely he knew that this approach wouldnt work? Yet he was honour bound to attack, even though it was increasingly obvious that we didnt have the guile or ability to beak them down. I really hope that we learn from this, because although I am proud that we had the balls to go for it, I am also gutted that we werent wise enough to find a way of not losing at home.
Two buses, two schmusses, lets not let this happen again...

Teams with much higher quality players have similarly failed to break down a deep seating cynical team as Chelsea presented. Its not the first time, nor will it be the last time. For me there is no drama to it. We move on...

In the end it wasn't a failure of tactics. It came down to an individual error that meant we had only one option- to go forward. I have no regrets about the way we played, not one! The easiest thing to do in football is sit back and show no initiative. Managers like this have always existed in the game. Difference is this one has been given a lot of resources. In the end, history puts them in the scrap heap...

I've always felt that Everton will win this for us if we win it...Not based on anything rational; just a feeling...we move on...

[Stu the Red]

In the end it wasn't a failure of tactics. It came down to an individual error that meant we had only one option- to go forward. I have no regrets about the way we played, not one!

Are you for real? No regrets about the way we played? We lost 2-0 lad, at home and played right into Mourinho's hands. It was naive and completely stupid in all honesty. The Chelsea game at the bridge told us everything we needed to know about them and no lessons were learnt from it.

Its not about hindsight, its about knowing what the opposition had come to do. We all knew exactly what was going to happen before the game, if most us knew it, Rodgers should have as well. He should have set us up to mirror Chelsea, especially when Sturridge wasn't named in the starting eleven. Towards the end of the game, it would have had to see them come out and attack, thats when the space would have opened up. Had they have stayed in tight and narrow, we could have hit them on the break.

You maybe able to "move on", you may find it easy that we've quite possibly blown our best title chance in 20 odd years... most of us can't.

[devaney]

Stu I really can't be bothered going into massive detail because your opinionated nonsense is just so fkg pathetic. We were doing fine with little or no threat from Chelsea and Gerrard has an incredibly unfortunate slip and the game inevitably changes. If you can't see that to be honest you really are clueless. To suggest that BR was naive is simply idiotic. Just what was so bad about his tactics for 45 minutes? We failed to break Chelsea down. Just maybe their hideous kunt of a manager deserves some credit for that. Hindsight is an exact science and it is very simple to be a critic after the event. WHAT REALLY SURPRISES ME IS THAT YOU DIDN'T BLAME MIGNOLET FOR ALLOWING BA TO PUT THE BALL THROUGH HIS LEGS !! Stick to golf lad.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

Amid all the disappointment it's worth reminding ourselves that we are punching well above our weight here, we haven't finished in the top 4 for 5 years and our last 3 finishes have been 6th, 8th and 7th.
There's only one club slugging it out toe-to-toe with the 2 financially doped oil behemoths at the top of the league and that's us, plus if we win our last 2 games even those 2 can't accumulate more points than us, they can only beat us on goal difference.
Of course our chins are on the floor after last weekend but we need a reality check, people blaming the managers tactics or certain players need to look at some of the sums of money the teams below us have spent on players, Arsenal spent £42m on 1 player and they are scraping into the top 4, our biggest signing last summer was less than half of that! United broke their transfer record in January and will be lucky to make the Europa league.

[lakes10]

I was so shocked to hear on the radio that some fans has posted tweets after us getting beat asking if Rodgers should be replaced at the end of the season by a manager who has one things, how do fans like this sleep at night.

[Thommo's perm]

I dont think it was naivety at all. He knew what was happening and expected the players to make a break through, which they didnt.
Like has been said by sgs "Teams with much higher quality players have similarly failed to break down a deep seating cynical team as Chelsea presented." I remember the mighty Barcelona being thwarted by chelsea playing this way, who went on to win the CL. That was under Di Matteo, so its obviously in the chelsea handbook. Barcelona had 72% possession in both legs, which counted for nothing in the end.
We need to scrutinise and analyse the match and work out a way to combat this style of play. Again, I agree it was basically down to an error, but the way in which a match is played has an effect psychologically on players and the desperation after that goal was there for all to see.
Yes, we move on, but we remember....

[devaney]

Thommo I was in Barcelona 13 years ago when we managed to get a draw at the Nou Camp. Our tactics were similar to Chelsea's and I came away from the game a very happy man. It was an incredible achievement. To some extent we should regard Chelsea's mind games and spoiling tactics as a huge compliment.They were frightened to death of what our attacking players can do !!!