Liverpool FC Forum

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

What would you consider an impressive start to the season Benny?

How may points from our first four games (knowing the difficulty of 2,3 & 4) would you consider to be a positive start?

Yep, it was only (no disrespect meant to Gomel) no more than a pub time, however, I have not witnessed us playing with such freedom for a long time and there seemed to be near telepathic connections when the ball was laid off on many occasions.

Totally agree lets not get carried away but I for one feel more optimistic going into the new season than I did a matter of days ago.

Well i saw us play like that numeorus times last season withoout putting the ball in the fecking net.

No idea what we can call a good start - I think 6-7 points from the first 4 would be a decent start.

Very long way to go yet.

exactly, we often played even better than we did last night like when we played arsenal at anfield (a game we somehow lost 2-0).
lets not try to make out we were playing ale house footy under kenny, we played some great stuff, fulham away in his first season is another example.
as you say last season we just didnt convert our chances, and then because of our faliure to capitalise when we had teams under the hammer  we`d become nervous as games wore on and then usually fall for a sucker punch late on.
the problem we had last season wasnt a poor style of footy or lack of creativity or even a defensive frailty, the problem we had last season was the biggest problem of all - we just couldnt win games.

[RED BEERGOGGLES]

exactly, we often played even better than we did last night like when we played arsenal at anfield (a game we somehow lost 2-0).
lets not try to make out we were playing ale house footy under kenny, we played some great stuff, fulham away in his first season is another example.
as you say last season we just didnt convert our chances, and then because of our faliure to capitalise when we had teams under the hammer  we`d become nervous as games wore on and then usually fall for a sucker punch late on.
the problem we had last season wasnt a poor style of footy or lack of creativity or even a defensive frailty, the problem we had last season was the biggest problem of all - we just couldnt win games.

I don't for one minute believe any one is undermining Kenny mate ,sure at times we played great football and our overall luck in front of goal was unbelievable
but our ridiculous profligacy can not be solely blamed on luck ,more the fact that we lost our way far more times than was comfortable .

Lets face it mate ,in a good percentage of games we virtualy capitulated ,and completely lost our shape along with our discipline ... I just think Rodgers
will insist on keeping this team playing passing football for 90 minutes .

Kenny Dalglish is a legend ,but sadly he never stood a chance as soon as the media jumped all over his case ,couple that with the players outrageous knack
for missing the onion bag and it was always going to be an uphill struggle .

I just have a really good feeling about Rodgers ..I think he will be a strong no nonsense manager driven by the intent to make this team successful again .

[bunglemark2]

For me, the jury will be out on the manager until 10-15 games into the season. I think the signing of Allen is odd, seeing the plethora of midfield players have. We STILL have Henderson, Adam, Spearing and now he adds Allen. Oh, and Aquaman, Lucas and SG.
We STILL have Carroll despite the undisguised attempts to flog him so wgat's he gonna do with him?
Not convinced by Rodger's actions so far...

[damjan193]

For me, the jury will be out on the manager until 10-15 games into the season. I think the signing of Allen is odd, seeing the plethora of midfield players have. We STILL have Henderson, Adam, Spearing and now he adds Allen. Oh, and Aquaman, Lucas and SG.
We STILL have Carroll despite the undisguised attempts to flog him so wgat's he gonna do with him?
Not convinced by Rodger's actions so far...

We don't have Aquillani anymore, and Adam looks like will be gone soon. That leaves us with 6 midfielders, like we had last season and we still seemed short. Keep in mind, we'll probably be playing with 3 midfielders trough most of the season.
As for Carroll, I don't think it would have been a smart move to sell him cos we would have been short on strikers. We currently have 3 and 2 of them are starters. If we sold Carroll we wouldn't have any replacements.

[Kenny Kan]

nothing like getting carried away after a couple of games

I actually have to agree with ycycyacsyncusyyhcbuiuccghhukdbcksdhckwhc on this because last year Kenny's side did play great attacking football, especially in the first part of the season. The pressure IMO built up after not scoring and killing teams off and this IMO  affected the team's play from expansive to nervous football.

Let's not come in and make out that these lads have never played football like they have before the Gomel match. They have, and re-writing this to make out Rodgers' short stint is one of magical genius is unfair on Dalglish and the players themselves.

Like St.Mike said, the pressing looked as though it's improved and we'll only see small steps being made by Rodgers over the duration of the season, because as I've said many of these players are capable of the basics (Downing apart  ) and have played good footie before. For me, it will be interesting to see how we break down teams in the final third, create and kill teams off in games, this has been a bit of an achillies heel for us recently. If Rodgers can sort this out - we'll have a darn  good team.

[Kharhaz]

Kennys reign for me can be put down to three things.

1: Kenny meeting with Mike Riley. From this meeting he asked for a level playing field. No favouritism towards Liverpool, no favouritsim anywhere. Good to see that went well. The match against Aston Villa summed up how this meeting went when Liverpool should have had a penalty and the refs reasoning was he thought the Villa lad was unlucky, so he let it go. Throughout the season after that meeting, Liverpool were screwed constantly when it came to decisions, which leads me to number 2.

2: Luis Suarez. We all know what happened here.

3: Our inability to put the ball in the net. If we were not firing the ball over the bar from 4 yards, we were making the keeper man of the match or breaking records for the most times we hit the post.

[Reg]

Kenny's subborn refusal to change the formation when it became patently obvious it wasn't working.
His unwillingness to criticise his players.
His over perserverence with Caroll, Henderson and Downing.
Apart fromt that, he's a cracker.

[Simari]

nothing like getting carried away after a couple of games

I actually have to agree with ycycyacsyncusyyhcbuiuccghhukdbcksdhckwhc on this because last year Kenny's side did play great attacking football, especially in the first part of the season. The pressure IMO built up after not scoring and killing teams off and this IMO  affected the team's play from expansive to nervous football.

Let's not come in and make out that these lads have never played football like they have before the Gomel match. They have, and re-writing this to make out Rodgers' short stint is one of magical genius is unfair on Dalglish and the players themselves.

Like St.Mike said, the pressing looked as though it's improved and we'll only see small steps being made by Rodgers over the duration of the season, because as I've said many of these players are capable of the basics (Downing apart  ) and have played good footie before. For me, it will be interesting to see how we break down teams in the final third, create and kill teams off in games, this has been a bit of an achillies heel for us recently. If Rodgers can sort this out - we'll have a darn  good team.

Purely in terms of statistics for the 2nd half of last season, had Luis been available and assuming we won the games he missed (except for Man C away), our performance would be comparable to Swansea (23/24 pts).

Now BR definitely has a higher quality of players at his disposal and in theory should be able to get better results. For me, it's mostly about whether these players have the determination to adapt to his style.

For the record, Swansea posted 5 0-0's in the first half of the season. So I agree, let's not get ahead of ourselves 

[Ben Patrick]

Kenny's subborn refusal to change the formation when it became patently obvious it wasn't working.
His unwillingness to criticise his players.
His over perserverence with Caroll, Henderson and Downing.
Apart fromt that, he's a cracker.

Reg he didnt play Carroll week in week out mate.

That was one of my main gripes, Carroll didnt play enough for me.

[Simari]

Kenny's subborn refusal to change the formation when it became patently obvious it wasn't working.
His unwillingness to criticise his players.
His over perserverence with Caroll, Henderson and Downing.
Apart fromt that, he's a cracker.

Reg he didnt play Carroll week in week out mate.

That was one of my main gripes, Carroll didnt play enough for me.

Kenny can't win, can he?

Some of us were unhappy that he persevered with Carroll, others felt he didn't play Carroll enough 

[jacdaniel]

Its strange, he has only been here for about 2 months and I think Rodgers already knows his best 11 and preferred formation / tactics etc.   
Thats something we never really achieved under Roy or Kenny and I think it will do us well to stick with a system.

I fully expect us to line up like this against West Brom:  (assuming everyone is fit)

                       Reina
             Skrtel           Agger     
Johnson                               Enrique
               Lucas     Allen
                   Gerrard
Downing                               Borini
                    Suarez

[LFC1990]

I personally dont think Allen will start as he hasnt played for Liverpool yet so i think he may get a couple of substitute apps first.

But think the same 10/11 but Henderson instead of Allen

[Calum]

I'm happy Brendan Rodgers is the manager, but does he have a stronger squad than the one that ended last season? I don't think so. We've sold a few players and bought very little. Outside of the first 11 - whatever that may be - we don't have a great strength in depth. Unless Brendan has a couple of new players lined up. What's happened to Clint Dempsey?

[heimdall]

What would you consider an impressive start to the season Benny?

How may points from our first four games (knowing the difficulty of 2,3 & 4) would you consider to be a positive start?

Yep, it was only (no disrespect meant to Gomel) no more than a pub time, however, I have not witnessed us playing with such freedom for a long time and there seemed to be near telepathic connections when the ball was laid off on many occasions.

Totally agree lets not get carried away but I for one feel more optimistic going into the new season than I did a matter of days ago.

Well i saw us play like that numeorus times last season withoout putting the ball in the fecking net.

No idea what we can call a good start - I think 6-7 points from the first 4 would be a decent start.

Very long way to go yet.

Sorry but b0ll0cks, we never played like that last season, we were completely one-dimensional and predictable last season. Brendan has brought a completely new level to Liverpool already and we are actually playing exciting football again, and yes I know it's just preseason but Gommel And Bayer Leverkusen are not exactly ***** teams yet we still ran rings round them.

bring on the season, I can't wait, I think we we'll be in the chase for 4th this season, I really do. And yes as long as we continue playing attractive football and keep improving I will give Brendan plenty of time becuase it will take more than 1-2 season before we can challenge for the title but in Shelvey and Sterling we have 2 fatastic talents wo will be worth £30 million plus in a few years time.

[LFC1990]

I'm happy Brendan Rodgers is the manager, but does he have a stronger squad than the one that ended last season? I don't think so. We've sold a few players and bought very little. Outside of the first 11 - whatever that may be - we don't have a great strength in depth. Unless Brendan has a couple of new players lined up. What's happened to Clint Dempsey?

Defence        Johnson Skrtel Agger Enrique Kelly Carragher and Coates.
Midfield        Gerrard Allen Henderson Lucas Shelvey
Wide/Attack  Suarez Carroll Downing Borini

Quite happy with the options there.

Question marks about Adam if he is good enough and Sterling does he need a loan spell. I hope there are more signings to come. Maybe Ramirez, Walcott, Dempsey.

Also i reckon we need cover at left back. Jack Robinsons okay but think we need a stronger cover.