Liverpool FC Forum

Hey all

Well, all of of positives but also some negatives.
Playing some good football and creating some chances. Many players look to start where they left off last season.
But as seen from this half only Sturridge has any finishing capability. The rest of the shots have been pathetic no matter how good of looks they have got.
Henderson was just abysmal when he got that chance. Can't just look into the ground and hit it startaight at the goalie. that isn't bad luck, just inept finsihing.
Agger is alot of thing, but no leader of the back he is not. Like the team great with the ball but as soon as there is some defending to do, mayhem starts.

Good stuff from Coutinho... poor finishing from other players doesn't do him justice... I think with better finishing we should be up 3-0 now and Coutinho with 2 assists... Sturridge is special, he can score out of nowhere... and his swagger is great. Hopefully he continues to score goals consistently...

Thank God we survived that pressure at the end of the half. We needed to go into half-time with a lead.

Anyway, it's been an interesting half. We've done great going forward and Sturridge has been superb. Aspas and Coutinho look a bit lost, but that was expected. Lucas has done extremely well and even though we've been shaky at the back, I think Toure has been playing good. Knows how to hold a high line and reads the game well. Mignolet has been a bit nervous but had a fantastic save to keep us in the lead.

It's great that we're one up but we'll need one more. I don't have faith in our ability to defend a one goal lead.

How livid would millions of people be if Stoke would have scored off that corner that who knows how to f*ck Atkinson thought came off us.

Decent first half on the attacking front, tho I feel we really missed some good opportunities. Begovic is having a fantastic game and keeping them in it. They've got absolutely nothing on us, until they have a corner or a free kick in our half, then we're scrambling every time. This is pretty much what we expected, so we need to stop those stupid free kicks and keep the ball in their half for the remainder of the game, and there's really no danger.

Sturridge is taking a little too long with his decision making right now. Great goal, but I always feel a bit of luck when the ball goes between the defender's legs. Coutinho and Aspas have been really good up there together. Hendo has been decent defensively, but absolutely anonymous when we've got the ball other than the one great chance he had. Mignolet is looking really shaky with the ball, so hopefully he gets over those nerves. Clearly struggling against Stoke's height as any time the ball comes in he either leaves it, or flaps at it. Fantastic save from him tho.

Penguins » Sat Aug 17, 2013 12:36 pm wrote:Well, all of of positives but also some negatives.
Playing some good football and creating some chances. Many players look to start where they left off last season.
But as seen from this half only Sturridge has any finishing capability. The rest of the shots have been pathetic no matter how good of looks they have got.
Henderson was just abysmal when he got that chance. Can't just look into the ground and hit it startaight at the goalie. that isn't bad luck, just inept finsihing.
Agger is alot of thing, but no leader of the back he is not. Like the team great with the ball but as soon as there is some defending to do, mayhem starts.

A bit harsh, Henderson has given us some wonderful finishes in the past year and I think he does in fact have the quality to finish well. This time, yes, he should've scored.

Good first half overall... Looking a bit fragile at the back though and I'm sure Rodgers would have taken note of that... Good link-up play further up and if we can get the second before conceding it should make things easier at the back.

kartiek » Sat Aug 17, 2013 7:33 am wrote:I just, I can't take it - whenever we give away corners, I'm almost shitting myself. Whether it's the height disadvantage, idk, but Brendan hasn't done much it seems to sort it out.

That's Stoke for you though.  I was bricking it after the corner was awarded after it deflected off of Huth's head.  Great save by Mignolet, aside from that you could actually feel his nervousness through the TV screen. 

Happy enough so far.  Stoke are going to always be difficult to break down, but we've been creating chances.  Really like Aspas' movement.

Honestly I'm not even comfortable if it were 2-0. You can see how fast they could get a goal from us without even playing well, and we seemed to struggle last year once we were scored on. I have awful flash backs to that qpr game when we were up 2-0 with 15 minutes left two seasons ago. Last season we rarely were scored on once. It was either none, or we were scored on multiple times except for a few games.

It's all about our attack right now tho. They need to keep the ball in the Kop end for the rest of the game, and chip away until we can at least score one more, hopefully two. Just keep it out of our half.

I'm impressed with the first half. Lots of positives. I've been impressed with Aspas, Coutinho and Sturridge. The movement and energy has terrified Stoke, and knowing Enrique and Johnson will bomb forwards must be awful to defend against. We need to keep the pressure on and stay brave because Stoke are thuggish.

We should have had more goals. Sometimes we have so many chances that there's an attitude of "another will come soon" which perhaps effects things. I'd like to see that addressed.

Good stuff though.

Same display as first half we should net another couple of times

Should have finished them off by now.

damjan193 » Sat Aug 17, 2013 1:08 pm wrote:Should have finished them off by now.

Yes I wish that hendo shot had gone in, don't want us to get nervous last 10 min

Need to keep this momentum, tempt N'Zonzi into doing something stupid. Who's on the bench?

And as I was gonna type get Sterling on... 

Would have preferred Ibe for this one. Looks more suited.