Liverpool FC Forum

Re Lucas + Gerrard in midfield, maybe we're selling Lucas so he was playing his last game for us? Can't think of anything else to be honest, it was a stupid decision to play those two together and since we've all known for some time now that that combo just doesn't work you'd expect the manager to be aware of this as well.

Good result sub-par performance ,if it wasn't for the heroics of our belittled Goal Keeper with just an unbelievable save we would be looking at a draw.
What's worrying to me isn't Glen ,nor Lucas and not even Gerrard ,it's the fact that BR for unknown reason keeps this blind belief that those players can bring any positive fruits. It's just a matter of cutting your loses with those guys but for whatever psychological reason they are still here...To BR defense he is to join a long list of misguided believers as King Kenny ,Rafa and Roy....

Positives - We Won ,our new RB looks promising ,Raheem might be our biggest "signing" this year and our most talented new lads haven't played yet.

I think one or two are being a bit overly harsh on Johnson, he wasn't great but he wasn't exactly a defensive liability either, in fact he saved a certain goal in the passage of play immediately after Mingolet made his miracle save, when he pushed the ball onto the bar it bounced up and Johnson just managed to do enough to put Long off, okay he didn't win the header but if he wasn't there Long would have just nodded it in no bother.
The performance of our two sitting midfielders was much more of a concern to me, midfield is the area where games are won and lost, not left back, and with Suarez no longer there to carry the team we just can't afford to have any weak links or passengers. Sport at the highest level is a cut throat business and there can't be any room for sentiment, not if you want to be successful anyway, we are already up against it trying to compete against clubs awash with petro dollars never mind having to carry players who can't run anymore.
It will be interesting to see what Rodgers does after that performance.

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Sun Aug 17, 2014 9:11 pm wrote:I think one or two are being a bit overly harsh on Johnson, he wasn't great but he wasn't exactly a defensive liability either, in fact he saved a certain goal in the passage of play immediately after Mingolet made his miracle save, when he pushed the ball onto the bar it bounced up and Johnson just managed to do enough to put Long off, okay he didn't win the header but if he wasn't there Long would have just nodded it in no bother.
The performance of our two sitting midfielders was much more of a concern to me, midfield is the area where games are won and lost, not left back, and with Suarez no longer there to carry the team we just can't afford to have any weak links or passengers. Sport at the highest level is a cut throat business and there can't be any room for sentiment, not if you want to be successful anyway, we are already up against it trying to compete against clubs awash with petro dollars never mind having to carry players who can't run anymore.
It will be interesting to see what Rodgers does after that performance.

Ykaa The Glen ship has sailed years ago ,he shouldn't be a mile near an LFC pitch nor bench. (Neither should Lucas). I really don't care how he played today ,that's the exact reasoning keeping this amateur in our midst.

only me » Sun Aug 17, 2014 9:21 pm wrote:

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Sun Aug 17, 2014 9:11 pm wrote:I think one or two are being a bit overly harsh on Johnson, he wasn't great but he wasn't exactly a defensive liability either, in fact he saved a certain goal in the passage of play immediately after Mingolet made his miracle save, when he pushed the ball onto the bar it bounced up and Johnson just managed to do enough to put Long off, okay he didn't win the header but if he wasn't there Long would have just nodded it in no bother.
The performance of our two sitting midfielders was much more of a concern to me, midfield is the area where games are won and lost, not left back, and with Suarez no longer there to carry the team we just can't afford to have any weak links or passengers. Sport at the highest level is a cut throat business and there can't be any room for sentiment, not if you want to be successful anyway, we are already up against it trying to compete against clubs awash with petro dollars never mind having to carry players who can't run anymore.
It will be interesting to see what Rodgers does after that performance.

Ykaa The Glen ship has sailed years ago ,he shouldn't be a mile near an LFC pitch nor bench. (Neither should Lucas). I really don't care how he played today ,that's the exact reasoning keeping this amateur in our midst.

Was Johnson any worse than Gerrard?

damjan193 » Sun Aug 17, 2014 8:40 pm wrote:

red till i die!! » Sun Aug 17, 2014 7:44 pm wrote:

damjan193 » Sun Aug 17, 2014 6:27 pm wrote:Wow we really saved our ***** in this one. But reading some of the posts on here someone would think we lost! "Picking up where we left off"?, "Not a lot has changed"? Jesus Christ lads we finished second last season, I'd be glad if we pick up where we left off! Sure we had to fight for the 3 points here but so did Arsenal and Spurs against much lesser sides. Man Utd weren't as lucky. That's the Premier League for you guys, thought you'd be used to it by now.   

Anyway, I'm surprised there is no mention of Skrtel, I thought he was a beast. Cleared his lines and made no mistakes, wave after wave after wave... He was my man of the match.

shame on you lad    shrek   :ghostface:   and as your captain 

  f*ck off, I still kicked everyone's ***** this gameweek

your a sell out nonetheless 

only me » Sun Aug 17, 2014 8:05 pm wrote:Good result sub-par performance ,if it wasn't for the heroics of our belittled Goal Keeper with just an unbelievable save we would be looking at a draw.
What's worrying to me isn't Glen ,nor Lucas and not even Gerrard ,it's the fact that BR for unknown reason keeps this blind belief that those players can bring any positive fruits. It's just a matter of cutting your loses with those guys but for whatever psychological reason they are still here...To BR defense he is to join a long list of misguided believers as King Kenny ,Rafa and Roy....

Positives - We Won ,our new RB looks promising ,Raheem might be our biggest "signing" this year and our most talented new lads haven't played yet.

It was probably too soon to bring in Moreno. I do agree with you regarding Lucas. It was baffling to me why we did not play Can. Let's just trust the manager, I guess.

No happy seeing Lucas in the starting line up.

Lucky to scrape a win really, still holes in our defence and they had plenty of chances.

But a win is a win none the less so I'm happy

I will take this win any day of the week.

Some really good signs from Lovren, Henderson and Sturridge!

Sterling will become an absolute monster of a player this season and we will need to strengthen our side to keep him beyond next season, otherwise he will be gooooooone!

OK on the downside, Johnson was rubbish again and I don't understand why he is still at this club. Get him out now!

Same goes for Lucas, his best years are well behind him and he has no future here.

Gerrard needs to play every 2nd or 3rd game or in a limited capacity as there is no way he will survive a 50+ season at his age.

That being said not sure who our next captain should be?

eds » Mon Aug 18, 2014 1:27 am wrote:I will take this win any day of the week.

That being said not sure who our next captain should be?

That's easy Lovren.

killerp » Mon Aug 18, 2014 2:09 am wrote:

eds » Mon Aug 18, 2014 1:27 am wrote:I will take this win any day of the week.

That being said not sure who our next captain should be?

That's easy Lovren.

It says a lot that the guy who has been here for 1 game is the best candidate to be our captain, doesn't it?

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Sun Aug 17, 2014 9:36 pm wrote:

only me » Sun Aug 17, 2014 9:21 pm wrote:

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Sun Aug 17, 2014 9:11 pm wrote:I think one or two are being a bit overly harsh on Johnson, he wasn't great but he wasn't exactly a defensive liability either, in fact he saved a certain goal in the passage of play immediately after Mingolet made his miracle save, when he pushed the ball onto the bar it bounced up and Johnson just managed to do enough to put Long off, okay he didn't win the header but if he wasn't there Long would have just nodded it in no bother.
The performance of our two sitting midfielders was much more of a concern to me, midfield is the area where games are won and lost, not left back, and with Suarez no longer there to carry the team we just can't afford to have any weak links or passengers. Sport at the highest level is a cut throat business and there can't be any room for sentiment, not if you want to be successful anyway, we are already up against it trying to compete against clubs awash with petro dollars never mind having to carry players who can't run anymore.
It will be interesting to see what Rodgers does after that performance.

Ykaa The Glen ship has sailed years ago ,he shouldn't be a mile near an LFC pitch nor bench. (Neither should Lucas). I really don't care how he played today ,that's the exact reasoning keeping this amateur in our midst.

Was Johnson any worse than Gerrard?

No he wasn't. But Glen is rubbish for years now and any minute he plays is an insult to my eyes. Stevie is going through a transition phase in which he will play less and be replaced ,Glen for some odd reason we just can't get rid off...

On game day I suspected that Southampton would be up for it, with a point to prove and they were. The midfield pairing of Schniederlin, Wanyama and also Davis were energetic and powerful in the tackle which snuffed out our midfield especially Coutinho. I thought Bertrand had a point to prove and was having a kick at Manquillo  (as was Tadic)in the first part of the game which seemed t rattle the Spanish fullback. Coutinho also took a few kicks early on which seemed to diminish his appetite for the game, I don't blame him I blame Gerrard and Lucas that did not step up and protect him. In the second half we came out looking a little leggy (no doubt all those two a days in preseason had something to do with it) and started to sit deep which led to their goal.  Taking off Lucas did not help matters as Allen looked bad also but taking off Coutinho and putting on Lambert changed things as there was finally someone strong enough to hold up the ball ( with strength rather than trickery) and it was desperately needed. I thought Sterling did well replacing Coutinho when Lambert came on.

In conclusion it was a hard fought win and I am happy with the three points especially the spirit to chase the win when momentum was on their side. I was happy enough with Manquillo as he HAS to keep Johnson ( who for me was woeful again) out of the team and this is very important. I think we'll do ok with a pairing of Manquillo and Moreno as full backs as they offer enough going forward to stretch the play which will give space to the forwards. I was disappointed with Lucas as he seemed to have his mind elsewhere and Gerrard who was anonymous apart from a couple of nice long passes. A special mention should go to Henderson who was the difference between us losing and us winning because without his energy we would have been f.ucked!


Edit - I kept hearing the pundits comparing yesterday's performance to the team that ripped apart Spurs and Arsenal but that was midway through the season when we were in groove. They should have compared that performance to our first match last year. In that respect I think we were better than this time last year as Southapmton were good yesterday and we showed good character to win that match.

Poor display but a win is a win.

stmichael » Mon Aug 18, 2014 7:39 am wrote:Poor display but a win is a win.

Last year against Stoke we played equally as bad, and we had Suarez.

I struggle to remember any opening day where we have played well. I mean look back at previous opening games of the season, they're riddled with draws and losses.

In fact a quick look at our last 10 seasons shows 3 wins, 2 losses and 5 draws. A nice little meaningless stat is each time we've won our opening game we've finished the season in a CL position. I'll take that little omen.