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The Liverpool FC Thread XII

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Original post by jam278
You have Lovren, Sakho, Skrtel and Toure. Toure is a decent enough 4th choice CB, Skrtel is a decent backup CB. Sakho well tbh he's dodgy, gives his players dodgy passes, poor control of the ball and gets caught high up the pitch because he tries to go in for every single challenge. Lovren has played at RCB and Skrtel plays there at the very worst.

He's a physical presence, good at tackling but his positioning can be left suspect, same with David Luiz. Add to that he has a snail in Gerrard to cover, the fullbacks are usually high up the pitch and that Lovren also likes to be aggressive for balls it's a clear recipe for disaster.


Spot on with Lovren comment. He constantly chases down players (not necessarily a bad thing) but if he misses the challenge we're totally exposed on a counter. See Spurs game for examples.


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Shame about Sakho - always fancied him as a bit of a role model.
I think Sakho thought he would've progressed further by now. He was PSG captain at a young age and now he can't even get into Liverpool's first team.

I think Rodgers is trying to teach him to work harder by dropping him again. Hopefully he'll get his head down and work harder. Even if we end up selling him, we should get over £10mil for him so we won't make too much of a loss on him.

There's obviously something wrong with our defence considering how many brain farts we have. There's only so long you can blame the players when the current back 5 can all be made up of Rodgers' signings.
Original post by Zerforax
I think Sakho thought he would've progressed further by now. He was PSG captain at a young age and now he can't even get into Liverpool's first team.

I think Rodgers is trying to teach him to work harder by dropping him again. Hopefully he'll get his head down and work harder. Even if we end up selling him, we should get over £10mil for him so we won't make too much of a loss on him.

There's obviously something wrong with our defence considering how many brain farts we have. There's only so long you can blame the players when the current back 5 can all be made up of Rodgers' signings.


I think the most frustrating thing about our defence is that we have no "bad" players.
Our defenders have sufficient quality to be able to cope, yet we find ourselves conceding ridiculous goals anyway.

Mignolet isn't perfect but he showed what he could do at Sunderland.
Sakho shows consistently for France how good her can be.
Lovren in general is solid.
Moreno is an excellent fullback.
Manquillo is surprisingly good for this age.
Put 5 decent individuals together and get a defence as bad as ours? :/

At least United can say that they're playing inexperienced/low quality players but what excuse do we have?
The problem isn't our players, it's our tactics and defensive coaching and that is infuriating as a fan.
Rodgers' press-conference re. Sturridge and England has a lot of veiled digs at Hodgson's regime in my view. Rightly so, too. I'm glad he won't be fit for the qualifiers. Club > country every single time.
Original post by Mackay
Rodgers' press-conference re. Sturridge and England has a lot of veiled digs at Hodgson's regime in my view. Rightly so, too. I'm glad he won't be fit for the qualifiers. Club > country every single time.


what, does that mean he won't be fit for the west brom game?
considering how they were going on, i thought if he wasn't back tonight he'd be fine by saturday?
Original post by Lúcio
At least United can say that they're playing inexperienced/low quality players but what excuse do we have?
The problem isn't our players, it's our tactics and defensive coaching and that is infuriating as a fan.


None of your back 5 have more than 1 season of Premier League experience apart from Mignolet who is the weakest link in the team.

Your defence just needs a run of games to get used to each other and build an understanding, exact same situation as Man United are in. A back four works best together as a unit (see Chelsea or Palace under Pulis for proof of this) and if you're playing different players there every week it's no surprise that this is lacking. At least your defenders can stay fit and don't get injured every two games :pierre:

Original post by Mackay
Rodgers' press-conference re. Sturridge and England has a lot of veiled digs at Hodgson's regime in my view. Rightly so, too. I'm glad he won't be fit for the qualifiers. Club > country every single time.


He's spot on imo, I expect Van Gaal will say the same about Jones. You don't need to risk players in such a pointless game. I actually kind of want Brenton to play Sturridge for the full 90 minutes, then not let him go and play for England.
Original post by Lúcio
what, does that mean he won't be fit for the west brom game?
considering how they were going on, i thought if he wasn't back tonight he'd be fine by saturday?


Rodgers basically said even if Sturridge returns against West Brom, he will NOT be going on international duty. Haha.
Original post by sr90

He's spot on imo, I expect Van Gaal will say the same about Jones. You don't need to risk players in such a pointless game. I actually kind of want Brenton to play Sturridge for the full 90 minutes, then not let him go and play for England.


Completely agree - it would be hilarious.

We need to be careful tonight. Moreno and Manquillo are arguably our two standout players so far this term - and that's worrying, considering they are full-backs. We need Sterling to play in a consistent central role with Coutinho/Lallana driving forward and being positive. I'd be astounded if Markovic was given the nod.

Hopefully Balotelli can make it two from two in the CL. Basel will be tricky opposition, though. Just look at their record against English teams.
Original post by sr90
None of your back 5 have more than 1 season of Premier League experience apart from Mignolet who is the weakest link in the team.

Your defence just needs a run of games to get used to each other and build an understanding, exact same situation as Man United are in. A back four works best together as a unit (see Chelsea or Palace under Pulis for proof of this) and if you're playing different players there every week it's no surprise that this is lacking. At least your defenders can stay fit and don't get injured every two games :pierre:


true, our defence will only get better and i'm sure we'll replace mignolet fairly soon - even rodgers must know by now that migs just isn't good enough.
if he wants to sit on the bench, fair enough but i suspect he'd want a transfer instead which is fine by me.

i think if jagielka hadn't scored a wonder goal and we won 1-0 in the derby, things would be a lot different.
our defence really was excellent in that game - mignolet was barely tested though.
but since we didn't win the match and conceded a goal (albeit unstoppable), the strong defence we had in that game may be overshadowed.

i am extremely confident in 3/5 defensive places we have (LB/RB/LCB) with moreno, manquillo and lovren respectively.
we need a better keeper and a good CB partner for lovren.
with those i reckon we could have a really solid defence next season for instance.
but right now we just have no solidity, no understanding or communication at the back.
Original post by Mackay
Rodgers basically said even if Sturridge returns against West Brom, he will NOT be going on international duty. Haha.


that would be hilarious but i don't see why rodgers shouldn't be able to do that.
i hope he plays sturridge but he get's a "knock in training" before the internationals.
not saying we would've had better results if sturridge wasn't injured, but it has certainly disrupted us and with balotelli getting a slow start we just can't afford sturridge to be out any longer.

i'm able to watch the game tonight; there's a few players i will be keeping a very close eye on.
what is brendan on about
ridiculous press conference
With defenders its not even as if you have to be 'amazing' at what you do, sometimes 2 'average' players do well together, prime example is Roger Johnson and Scott Dann for Birmingham City in 2009/10, not many goals conceded, finished 9th in their first season back in the top flight. Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho are both better defenders than Dann and Johnson, but cant play together.
Next season they virtually never have both of them at the same time, get relegated, both go to new clubs, are pretty poor and their new clubs also get relegated.
Defence is all about partnerships, Arsenals best defender a few years ago was Vermaelen, but Wenger couldnt keep rotating him, Mertesacker and Koscielny, went with the latter, we're in a similar position now, Rodgers MUST decide which 2 he wants, and stick with it, for me it would be Lovren and Skrtel with Valdes as the goalie assuming he signs.
Mignolet; Manquillo, Skrtel, Lovren, Enrique; Gerrard, Henderson; Sterling, Coutinho, Markovic; Balotelli.

Subs: Jones, Toure Moreno, Lucas, Borini, Lambert, Lallana.
(edited 9 years ago)
Enrique over moreno
Markovic over lallana

:beard:

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Original post by TH3-FL45H
Enrique over moreno
Markovic over lallana

:beard:

Posted from TSR Mobile


Surprised with both of these as well. I guess Lallana is still getting to full fitness so he'd struggle to play twice in five days
Enrique over Moreno isn't that much of a surprise. I expected it.

Markovic is a nonsensical decision, though. I'd rather Coutinho and Henderson either side of Gerrard, with Sterling and Lallana tucked in behind Balotelli.
Original post by mr tim
Mignolet; Manquillo, Skrtel, Lovren, Enrique; Gerrard, Henderson; Sterling, Coutinho, Markovic; Balotelli.

Subs: Jones, Toure Moreno, Lucas, Borini, Lambert, Lallana.


meh.
most of the team is decent; glad coutinho is back in but markovic does not warrant a place.
enrique is okay but unless he's deliberately resting moreno, i don't see why he's starting...

Original post by Mackay
Enrique over Moreno isn't that much of a surprise. I expected it.

Markovic is a nonsensical decision, though. I'd rather Coutinho and Henderson either side of Gerrard, with Sterling and Lallana tucked in behind Balotelli.


why did you expect enrique?
i agree; what is he doing with markovic?
at what point does markovic deserve a start over lallana?
at least coutinho is back though

few weeks late but really excited!
didn't see the ludogorets game so this is my first champions eague liverpool match of the season!
although i shouldn't get my hopes up too high since we're away to our biggest qualification threat...
Original post by Lúcio


why did you expect enrique?
i agree; what is he doing with markovic?
at what point does markovic deserve a start over lallana?
at least coutinho is back though


Enrique featured more in the training exercises at St. Jakob Park yesterday apparently.
Original post by Mackay
Enrique featured more in the training exercises at St. Jakob Park yesterday apparently.


fair play, nice research :smile:

madrid losing
ronaldo penalty saved....
ludogorets not pushovers are they?
Lodo 1-0 up

Ronaldo penalty saved.

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