The Liverpool FC Thread XII

Is it just me or did the Champions League lose it's former (2004-2007) glory?

So many mickey mouse names in these groups, gives me a Europa league flavor.

[video="youtube;U7cDIQIIDxM"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7cDIQIIDxM[/video]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/aug/28/bafetimbi-gomis-football-manager-computer-game-swansea-city-lyon

Lool, wth, lol.

what a guy.

Apparently Madrid are going to sign Radamel Falcao for just 20m?! Lol.

Are you being serious here?

So many top teams in the competition now. Up to 8 teams can win it. If not 9 or 10 depending on if Liverpool and Arsenal have a good campaign.

Surely it would be a 20m loan inc. add ons?
No way it would be an outright sale for only 20m.

It said it in BBC, lol.

that doesn't answer my query in any way...

Arsenal, winning the CL? Expect them to flop against the first good team they play, as usual.

Liverpool are an unknown quantity though. Remains to be if Rodgers will be a bit naive or whether we'll just not be quite penetrating enough going forwards, like we saw against City on Monday night. I don't think that there's much doubt that our defence will struggle against better teams but if we can score goals at the other end then it won't matter too much.

I don't think Madrid are too far removed in terms of quality from City, who we regularly go toe to toe with, and Chelsea, who if we repeated both matches from last season, it could well have ended up as two Liverpool wins. But obviously stylistically we haven't played a team like Madrid yet, and we could well end up getting thrashed if we're not careful. Moreno should be able to handle Bale quite well but Cristiano on the other side will be a hell of a task for whoever it is. And against Madrid, Rodgers truly would be naive if he asked our team to go out and try and impose themselves. Attacking football is all well and good but we simply don't have the ball retention and penetration to trouble Madrid and they'd just annihilate us in midfield, beating/ slipping away from the first man and then playing the pass for the counter. Henderson, Coutinho, Gerrard vs Modric, Kroos, James, that's a horror show waiting to happen.

But Madrid are one of the three/four strongest teams in the groups. If we were to play a two-legged tie against Chelsea or City or PSG or Dortmund or Arsenal I'd be more confident than against Madrid. A lot depends on Can and if he and Gerrard can become a defensively secure midfield duo.

I used Arsenal because quality wise if they get their tactics right can beat anyone, It goes top 8 then Liverpool and Arsenal as darkhorses. Liverpool are an unknown quantity like Atlético and Dortmund were before so can easily spring a few surprises.

Tbh only at the bridge were you unlucky and by the balance of things(the first half where you were dominated after the goal) we were better. At Anfield we could have gone for a day defending and still won the game. Won't go into detail for this.

Madrid are essentially Liverpool with a better midfield. They're a bit slower now with Kroos in midfield so will focus a bit more on possession play as he slows it down. Could be possible that you'll hit on the counter with Sterling on the side that Ronaldo is which means that the fullback for Madrid will be regularly without protection one on one with Sterling.

Gerrard, Can and Henderson seems good though and not a midfield I'd want to face, pace, power and good passing ability. Easily capable of controlling a game vs most CL sides(bar the big 3) I genuinely think that Coutinho shouldn't play in the big games. I don't think you have the attacking quality without Suarez to play such an attacking style so he should be a bit more pragmatic. There's the diamond ofc or using Henderson wide right with Coutinho and Sterling as the other AMs in the 4-2-3-1 but then that will just expose Gerrard. Squad depth is interesting.

If we won the CL in 2005, Arsenal are more than capable of winning it in 2015 imho.

Like I've said many times, Arsenal's issue is their manager and the mentality that he's put in place around the club. Until they get rid of him, they will fail abysmally tactically and mentally against any club on their level or better than them. They've marginally improved in recent times but I reckon that's just down to having a better group of players. Wenger is still the biggest limiting factor.

Well, you were marginally the better team at the Bridge (based on your response to our early goal, and your ability to neutralise the game in the second half), but we were denied that Eto'o penalty, we missed a few decent chances, Eto'o should have been sent off for his tackle on Henderson. Play that game again and it could easily be a draw or a Liverpool win. As for at Anfield, again, play it again and this time, a Suarez longshot or a set piece from us goes better, and Gerrard doesn't slip.
edit: the point is not to say that football isn't about luck, it's just that we didn't look out of our depth playing you.
Better attack, better midfield and better defense too. And a better keeper. And capable of more styles of play. Better manager and better players all round. The only player of ours that I'd swap into their team is Sturridge for Benzema, and even then maybe Karim fitted their style better last year. Rodgers played very counterattacking vs Everton last year, and Arsenal to an extent, so it's in our portfolio, lets hope he does it again.

Can hasn't proved anything yet though. We haven't seen enough of him yet but some say he's still just a great prospect and not ready to be trusted. Rodgers might think the same, or he might just be slowly bedding him in, not wanting to change the team too much too quickly.

Coutinho is poorer away from home and his possession play isn't quite good enough in some big games, yeah. But he has undoubted quality. He's always ****e off the wing so he needs to be moved centrally really. We'll see who Rodgers chooses out of Markovic, Lallana and Coutinho because really there's probably only space for one of them in the big games.

Our main issue in defence is tracking runners, whether that be runners in between the lines or runners behind the defence. The best examples of this are Ki and Silva, both of whom at the back end of last year tore us a ****ing new one because our midfielders were just abysmal at following them. Lucas failing to track Clyne, Henderson (I think) failing to track Jovetic for the second goal. So Rodgers needs to sort this out before even thinking of which personnel he'll choose and how they'd gel.

Teams weren't as strong then.
Only teams I'd say were pretty OP in 2005 were Chelsea, Milan(although tbh their fullbacks were way too old and past it by then) and Barca and you have many teams today who are capable of winning it compared to then.

I guess so. He has 2 months from now to get his way into the team for that Madrid match, so it's enough time for him to be drafted into the madrid team, considering Coutinho and Joe Allen are the people he's competing with against Madrid who will have more possession of the ball so will require energy and strength to bully them.

Coutinho I think would benefit from a change in system, it probably was in Rodgers thinking to change to the diamond to get the best out of him, then Sterling did very well there so it made sense.

so then guys, how do you think we'll set up against spurs?

we have a few defensive injuries (johnson, moreno, flanagan), but i have no worries having enrique and manquillo as full backs for this match.

i'm not sure how we could incorperate balotelli and still play a decent style unless it was a diamond formation.
my main worry about that though is gerrard being a sole DM.
i know we have a stronger defence now, but would our wide players track back enough to help out in midfield?
i suppose with two strikers up front we could afford to be a little more defensive at times?

we can't be too naive; spurs have looked very fluid going forward, not to mention their danger from set pieces.
since we spanked them 9-0 overall last season, i'm worried that some of the players will see this game as a banker - it most certainly isn't.