Liverpool FC Forum

We shelled out nearly £30m on defenders last summer!
Incidentally i think that £30m will turn out to be money well spent, Sakho and Ilori have the potential to be an excellent CB partnership.
The defence is copping a fair bit of flak over today but the midfield are just as culpable, Swansea passed through them like they weren't even there and in fairness to the back 4 they got very little protection.

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Feb 23rd, '14, 20:59 wrote:We shelled out nearly £30m on defenders last summer!
Incidentally i think that £30m will turn out to be money well spent, Sakho and Ilori have the potential to be an excellent CB partnership.
The defence is copping a fair bit of flak over today but the midfield are just as culpable, Swansea passed through them like they weren't even there and in fairness to the back 4 they got very little protection.

No one was picking Shelvey up, he was afforded so much space that he was able to run 15 yards forward and make some telling passes and crosses. He scored a very good goal btw.

Wonder if we will ever be a side that doesn't concede goals with a manager that clearly favours football played
with a free spirit.

Shame Sakho has been out injured and Lllori is a young kid for a few years time, but in January we where chasing
Konoplyanka not a defensive player nor shield with Lucas out.

I understand there is a large school of thought you cant win anything with a dodgy defence, and the media will
keep bringing that up, but we are winning games and doing very well and have been for some time now.

We are just going to keep going for it so buckle in, and if we beat Southampton and Cardiff (im not pinning hopes
on old Trafford as we usually get nothing there), but 6 points from 3 away games will be fine, and I am then
confident we will beat Spurs at home and pretty much secure a champs league play-off berth.

I would think the manager would be embarrassed to constantly field a team that is this shoddy in defence. But every time we go thru these games he talks about character in recovering. What about the character in stopping these errors in the 1st place?

Well, we did win, fella's. Errors only count if we lose. Skrtel was going to get called on it one day, and it was today and we still won. Maybe someone will have a word now and he'll cut it out. Sometimes games are just crazy and end 4-3. Someone has to score, and someone has to concede. Thankfully we got the 4 and they got the 3. All too often we'd have lost a game like today. Let's enjoy another 3 points.

Allen shored up the midfield when he came on and had a tonne of takeaways. But the midfield was soft before that.

RedAnt » Sun Feb 23, 2014 9:57 pm wrote:Well, we did win, fella's. Errors only count if we lose. Skrtel was going to get called on it one day, and it was today and we still won. Maybe someone will have a word now and he'll cut it out. Sometimes games are just crazy and end 4-3. Someone has to score, and someone has to concede. Thankfully we got the 4 and they got the 3. All too often we'd have lost a game like today. Let's enjoy another 3 points.

Errors are errors and they cannot be wished away, whether we choose to recognize them or not. We should not simply enjoy three points...Its the mentality of losers!

Id kind of like to see Allen, Gerrard, Hendo and Coutinho all start our next game. I think Allen has actually been pretty good the last few games he's played, but I don't think I'd like to drop any of the others… not really sure how you'd fit all four, it certainly wouldn't involved dropping any of our front 3.

At the moment, our defense is playing so bad I don't think it would matter if we only played with 3 in the back. We seemed way more effective when Allen was playing deep, as somebody else said he was making a lot of solid tackles that really helped solidify our midfield.

Well its was a shaby win but its still a win and even better Norwich has done us big favour against Spurs

I rather rejoice in our strengths then wallow in our weakness

Absofkglutely Lazza. Great weekend. Could have been better if Everton had held out for the draw but it is good to see the CL challenge faltering.

sgs » Sun Feb 23, 2014 9:41 pm wrote:I would think the manager would be embarrassed to constantly field a team that is this shoddy in defence. But every time we go thru these games he talks about character in recovering. What about the character in stopping these errors in the 1st place?

I know what your saying mate but are missed shots errors as well? I think they are to an extent. Our defence in the same way as our attack make mistakes. At the moment we just happen to have a phenomenal attack. We almost talk as if every goal scored against us is a mistake and I suppose technically it is. Somebody on the pitch was responsible for letting the opposition have the ball. It is never going to be perfect but yes it needs improving but just for the moment lets enjoy the ride. The defence is understandably nervous. Virtually nobody expected us to be in this position towards the end of February. The team and BR needs to be given massive credit.

ethanr » Mon Feb 24, 2014 2:02 am wrote:Id kind of like to see Allen, Gerrard, Hendo and Coutinho all start our next game. I think Allen has actually been pretty good the last few games he's played, but I don't think I'd like to drop any of the others… not really sure how you'd fit all four, it certainly wouldn't involved dropping any of our front 3.

At the moment, our defense is playing so bad I don't think it would matter if we only played with 3 in the back. We seemed way more effective when Allen was playing deep, as somebody else said he was making a lot of solid tackles that really helped solidify our midfield.

I was thinking what BR might do when Lucas is fit again. Maybe go to a 4-2-3-1 set up to make us more solid at the back? He could do it with Allen now. Someone has to be sacrificied though....

                 Mignolet

Flanagan  Skrtel  Agger  Johnson

          Gerrard     Allen/(Lucas)

  Sterling     Henderson    Suarez

                  Sturridge

On current form Henderson gets in ahead of Coutinho for me.

mkingdom » Mon Feb 24, 2014 12:17 pm wrote:

ethanr » Mon Feb 24, 2014 2:02 am wrote:Id kind of like to see Allen, Gerrard, Hendo and Coutinho all start our next game. I think Allen has actually been pretty good the last few games he's played, but I don't think I'd like to drop any of the others… not really sure how you'd fit all four, it certainly wouldn't involved dropping any of our front 3.

At the moment, our defense is playing so bad I don't think it would matter if we only played with 3 in the back. We seemed way more effective when Allen was playing deep, as somebody else said he was making a lot of solid tackles that really helped solidify our midfield.

I was thinking what BR might do when Lucas is fit again. Maybe go to a 4-2-3-1 set up to make us more solid at the back? He could do it with Allen now. Someone has to be sacrificied though....

                 Mignolet

Flanagan  Skrtel  Agger  Johnson

          Gerrard     Allen/(Lucas)

  Sterling     Henderson    Suarez

                  Sturridge

On current form Henderson gets in ahead of Coutinho for me.

Not a chance Coutinho will be dropped. You only have to see how poor our form was when he was out, everyone coudl see the dynamism he brings to the midfield. Henderson is a workhorse not the creative lynchpin. The way we are playing I cannot see Lucas coming back in to start. If Rodgers valued that defensive role so much he would play Allen - he doesn't.  The entire midfield and strikeforce are undroppable at the moment, Rodgers wont risk disrupting that.

Gerrard is now doing a lot of Lucas's work but far more effectively. I can't see him walking straight back into the team. He's a good lad but I can't see a place for him. Coutinho is a game changer so I don't think he should be dropped even if he is a bit in and out. Allen is very useful to bring on as a sub. The same will apply to Lucas.

I think Rodgers will stick to his normal game plan, the team that got battered last season at Southampton included the likes of Jones, Downing, Allen (when he was struggling for form in the second half of last season) and Skrtel who was low on confidence and playing his first game since the F.A cup debacle at Oldham.
The likes of Hendo and Lucas were on the bench.
Yes they beat us at Anfield earlier on in the season too but that was the game Rodgers tried the '4 Centre backs' experiment and Suarez was still banned, here's the team that lost to Southampton in September - Mingolet, Toure, Skrtel, Agger, Sakho, Gerrard, Henderson, Lucas, Aspas, Moses, Sturridge........not really a surprise looking at that line up.
For the first time in a while Southampton will be playing a proper Liverpool team next weekend, let's see how they do.