Liverpool - Post Match.....

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

What is so unbearably frustrating to see is that both Saturday and tonight, we've flattered sides through simple, basic, individual errors - red cards, own goals, poor clearances, bad goalkeeping.

 

Tonight was not a 3-1 game whatsoever; you could argue that Liverpool deserved to win but we are gifting these shower of shite sides goals and that simply has to stop. I think Nige deserves the season, I believe he's earnt it, he's taken us from our lowest ebb to English football's top dining table - but lose at Villa on Saturday and I'm afraid it could be curtains and unfortunately I think the owners could be justified in doing so (from their perspective).

 

I'm not one for scapegoating or any of that nonsense but Kasper has to be dropped now, he has to. He seems to have regressed if anything.

[jimmeh]

Sterling and henderson had great games

[MC Prussian]

And then it'll be too late and we'll be down with the next manager regardless. I'd rather Pearson than anybody else in the Championship but I'd much rather us give ourselves the best chance to stay up. It's not working, people complain about his tactics every week and then say that he should be given until January despite that. January's too late. 

Which is what exactly...?

 

There is no recipe for survival in this division, only hopes and opinions. We currently have a manager at the helm of this club who's earned the right to manage us in the Premier League, now he shall find a way to keep us in this division., as well That is his job.

[jimmeh]

Players look slow. Lethargic. Unfit

[Gubbins]

You can't fault the effort but we lack PL quality all over the pitch. Whilst we were fairly decent tonight we never really looked like we would come out winners and this against a team with one of the weakest defences in the league. The Burnley game apart (maybe), we've not really looked like winning any game during this run and other than the cambiasso OG vs West Brom on I don't really think you can blame luck for our predicament. We simply have too many players who haven't made the grade at this level. Barring some inspired transfer activity in January this squad can't keep us in the division.

[cjslcfc]

 

This something I've just seen on Twitter. Interesting to see a more neutral view on us.

[peach0000]

For me we were a lot better than we have been and between this game and QPR I have renewed faith that we can get results. We were playing Liverpool who are a decent side and we didn't role over and we gave them a good game, which is all we can expect to do against top teams.

[Dan]

10/10 Effort

 

1/10 Ability

 

In a nutshell.

 

January will make or break this season for us. Our lack of quality is telling. Even last season we missed a fair few chances, we just made so many of them.

 

All well and good saying Liverpool are a team of internationals - no-one is convincing me they were anything other than average. What an absolute genius Suarez really is to have nearly carried that lot to a title. Lets not forget Palace recently beat them by the same scoreline.

 

We are every single inch relegation fodder at the minute.

[Guest ttfn]

I fear the damage was done v West Brom, Burnley, Newcastle, etc...

It was exactly those three games where the damage was done.

If they had been approached properly I've got no doubt that we'd be at least out if the bottom 3. That is definitely Pearson's fault.

[StanSP]

I'm actually getting berated on Twitter by a Liverpool fan for going to the game and not having highlights on TV to rely on. Typical.

[iancognito]

Tonight was a classic example of it being more an issue with the players than the manager.

I don't think I could have put out a much better team or formation from the squad available. Maybe Drinkwater for James or Albrighton being given a run out but I just don't think the quality is there and certainly not the confidence. Ulloa desperately needs face goal and stop playing with his back to it. He's not a target man and definitely not a Premier League standard one.

I think the defence is reasonably solid and it was De Laet's best game of the season (apart from a one heart attack back pass) but the front 7 needs seriously adjusting in January. Two QUALITY midfielders to help Cambiasso and at least one striker. Whilst Ulloa is getting flak for his contribution, the spotlight has got to be on Vardy to produce something too. He runs into blind alleys, doesn't get his head up quick enough and he's allowing himself to be marked out of the game. Our strikers tonight made Kolo Toure look world class. Mahrez has had a couple of storming games for us but it needs to be week in-week out. He got the full 90 tonight but could have been justifiably subbed at half time.

And please please, Nigel, for the love of God, give the corners and free kicks to someone else. James cannot strike a dead ball for love nor money. First man, every time, never finds a Leicester head or boot, totally wasteful, for about the 29th game in a row.

[Dan]

I could post my thoughts, but it would need about 5 pages.

 

The sad thing for me is, Its almost whatever we do, whatever we try, it still leaves a weakness in some area that is always ruthlessly exposed, and were just not good enough.

 

I kind of agree with Michael Owen really. His early comments about going long, i thought that might be the way forward tonight, Knock it long, get bodies around the 2nd ball, almost bypass the midfield and activate them on the loose ball. But im just deflated about the fact that our quality isnt there

 

I agree. There are gaps in every single thing we do. We just aren't good enough. We're a confidence side. We played with freedom and belief last season, carried it over to this year yet have absolutely shot it for now. When we next win it'll be down to another side making the kind of errors we make. I don't think anyone makes more than us though.

 

I just cannot fathom how we've managed to end up below Burnley. Evidence enough that we have gone backwards.

[cjslcfc]

My own views on the game:

 

Well, where to start?

 

First of all, I was thoroughly unimpressed with Liverpool, which makes the manner of the defeat all the more frustrating and disappointing because we really could have beaten them tonight with a little more quality and fewer errors. Credit to them they took their chances when they came but they created very little and looked pretty average right the way through. Sterling disappointed me with his constant whining and diving. He's talented but cut that BS out please Raheem. 

 

Moving on to us. It's sad but it's the same old story. I cannot for one second fault the players' effort and commitment to this club and the manager (that is apart from Schlupp but I don't think he deliberately does it, he's just too stupid to realise what he is supposed to do - what was that jog to keep the ball in about?!?!). The more I see this team and the more we huff and puff but still get beaten, the more I am convinced we just don't have the quality right now. Who's to blame? It's hard to say. Did the manager refuse to buy players? I don't know. Did he place too much faith in this squad? Probably. Were we able to attract the players we wanted in the summer? It doesn't look like it. Without knowing the details it's really hard to place the responsibility on an individual. The only people who really know are Pearson, Terry Robinson and the owners/board. With that in mind I will leave it to them to decide whether the current regime in place is the right one. I have my own view that we missed out on several targets but also thought our players would step up a lot better than they have. Most fans were probably guilty of this as well. After all, who wouldn't believe the players that stormed the Championship could improve further and relish the challenge of a better league? So overall, another game where we showed effort, commitment, application (whatever you want to call it) but ultimately fell short. It's continually frustrating but I'm not sure where the next step is, bar getting some players in Jan (easier said than done).

 

In terms of player performance. Schlupp seemed like he was playing a different football match in his own head. Either that or he has regular amnesia. He gets the ball, runs with it a while and seems to forget why he was running in the first place. I've slated De Laet recently but credit where it is due, he kept Sterling quiet and certainly had a much better game tonight. Maybe I am too quick to criticise him at times. On the other side Konchesky was again poor with his distribution. It causes us so many problems. Although, it doesn't help that Morgan insists on passing to him even if he has a man nearby. That moves me on to the captain. His worst game this season by a country mile, topped off by a red card caused by his own failure to correctly pass it back to the keeper. A weak defensive header towards the danger area caused the first goal. A weak clearance to the edge of the box causes the second. It's not solely his fault though. Defending is a team task. Why is it that we never get the second ball, attacking or defending? It was the same at QPR, Fer and Austin scored from the second ball. Tonight STEVEN GERRARD (YES STEVEN GERRARD) is effectively given the keys to the city with the amount of space he was afforded for his goal. Added to that Lallana finds himself unmarked in the middle of the box to tuck away the first. The midfield have got to defend better, even if the ball shouldn't be falling to these players in the first place. Two weak clearances and a red card from Morgan have really shafted us. 

 

Wasilewski was pretty solid but nothing more. Mahrez was frustrating on the ball but I felt he defended and tracked a bit better. He's had better games but he caused problems and effectively created the first goal. James seemed to give the ball away a lot but he ran his socks off and I thought he had a solid game. Cambiasso. Apart from the miss (HOW?!) I thought he had a good game. Impressed with his passing and his defending was better at times. I don't think we can rely on him to track attacking midfielders, though, which is a problem. Ulloa did OK but again, bar the goal and a second half shot, he barely got into it. Playing much too deep (which is probably the manager's fault). Vardy caused problems but his touch and decision making were poor. I can't help but think we are carrying him. The Nugent/Ulloa axis did work much better earlier in the season. It's not that I think Nugent is the solution but it appears that trying to accommodate Vardy has caused us problems.

 

Some positives, a fair few negatives. It's getting to a stage where I'm tired of seeing how unlucky and close we are to taking points. We need points now. Looking at our run of fixtures and the way it's going, we could be in real shit come the end of this month. Maybe even beyond the point of no return. Would a new manager save us? I don't think so. I'm just going to see how it all goes. This is the key month. None of this "we're getting closer or we're getting better" business anymore. Points are the be all and end all. 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

My own views on the game:

 

Well, where to start?

 

First of all, I was thoroughly unimpressed with Liverpool, which makes the manner of the defeat all the more frustrating and disappointing because we really could have beaten them tonight with a little more quality and fewer errors. Credit to them they took their chances when they came but they created very little and looked pretty average right the way through. Sterling disappointed me with his constant whining and diving. He's talented but cut that BS out please Raheem. 

 

Moving on to us. It's sad but it's the same old story. I cannot for one second fault the players' effort and commitment to this club and the manager (that is apart from Schlupp but I don't think he deliberately does it, he's just too stupid to realise what he is supposed to do - what was that jog to keep the ball in about?!?!). The more I see this team and the more we huff and puff but still get beaten, the more I am convinced we just don't have the quality right now. Who's to blame? It's hard to say. Did the manager refuse to buy players? I don't know. Did he place too much faith in this squad? Probably. Were we able to attract the players we wanted in the summer? It doesn't look like it. Without knowing the details it's really hard to place the responsibility on an individual. The only people who really know are Pearson, Terry Robinson and the owners/board. With that in mind I will leave it to them to decide whether the current regime in place is the right one. I have my own view that we missed out on several targets but also thought our players would step up a lot better than they have. Most fans were probably guilty of this as well. After all, who wouldn't believe the players that stormed the Championship could improve further and relish the challenge of a better league? So overall, another game where we showed effort, commitment, application (whatever you want to call it) but ultimately fell short. It's continually frustrating but I'm not sure where the next step is, bar getting some players in Jan (easier said than done).

 

In terms of player performance. Schlupp seemed like he was playing a different football match in his own head. Either that or he has regular amnesia. He gets the ball, runs with it a while and seems to forget why he was running in the first place. I've slated De Laet recently but credit where it is due, he kept Sterling quiet and certainly had a much better game tonight. Maybe I am too quick to criticise him at times. On the other side Konchesky was again poor with his distribution. It causes us so many problems. Although, it doesn't help that Morgan insists on passing to him even if he has a man nearby. That moves me on to the captain. His worst game this season by a country mile, topped off by a red card caused by his own failure to correctly pass it back to the keeper. A weak defensive header towards the danger area caused the first goal. A weak clearance to the edge of the box causes the second. It's not solely his fault though. Defending is a team task. Why is it that we never get the second ball, attacking or defending? It was the same at QPR, Fer and Austin scored from the second ball. Tonight STEVEN GERRARD (YES STEVEN GERRARD) is effectively given the keys to the city with the amount of space he was afforded for his goal. Added to that Lallana finds himself unmarked in the middle of the box to tuck away the first. The midfield have got to defend better, even if the ball shouldn't be falling to these players in the first place. Two weak clearances and a red card from Morgan have really shafted us. 

 

Wasilewski was pretty solid but nothing more. Mahrez was frustrating on the ball but I felt he defended and tracked a bit better. He's had better games but he caused problems and effectively created the first goal. James seemed to give the ball away a lot but he ran his socks off and I thought he had a solid game. Cambiasso. Apart from the miss (HOW?!) I thought he had a good game. Impressed with his passing and his defending was better at times. I don't think we can rely on him to track attacking midfielders, though, which is a problem. Ulloa did OK but again, bar the goal and a second half shot, he barely got into it. Playing much too deep (which is probably the manager's fault). Vardy caused problems but his touch and decision making were poor. I can't help but think we are carrying him. The Nugent/Ulloa axis did work much better earlier in the season. It's not that I think Nugent is the solution but it appears that trying to accommodate Vardy has caused us problems.

 

Some positives, a fair few negatives. It's getting to a stage where I'm tired of seeing how unlucky and close we are to taking points. We need points now. Looking at our run of fixtures and the way it's going, we could be in real shit come the end of this month. Maybe even beyond the point of no return. Would a new manager save us? I don't think so. I'm just going to see how it all goes. This is the key month. None of this "we're getting closer or we're getting better" business anymore. Points are the be all and end all. 

 

link??

[Unabomber]

link??

dying here.

[Freesolo]

Why does it always seem that  Morgan gets the the last chance to clear and ends up setting up a opposition goal?

[Guest seanfox778]

To be honest, I thought we played a lot better then recent weeks, Konchesky was really frustrating and we definitely need a new LB. I'm getting more and more annoyed with our set pieces, it's like they don't practise them at all, I know we're not a big team height wise but we haven't looked a threat from them all season and it really needs to be sorted. I hope we play a similar sort of tempo against Villa instead of going into defend mode from the off. I felt we still could've claimed a draw with how we were pressing up until Kaspers howler which killed the game. I was glad to see us go for it after the sending off too, I was very surprised at NP for doing that.

[roblcfc84]

That post match interview was a disgrace. Stringer may get under his skin, but he is paid to to ask certain questions. NP has to learn he is now part of a global product, the PL more than ever bridges that gap between sport and entertainment, born out the huge sums of money and mass exposure. Having a conversation with the media is part of his job.

It sounds like the fan in the stands was also a disgrace, and we cannot condone behaviour of that nature. But opening the debate up to all fans, who if they don't like it shouldn't come down is a poor attitude. As a fan such interviews offer a little insight into club, and there will be national if not global interest in the club. If the owners want to promote KP through the club and develop us into something bigger then this type of interview is not good enough. I know that doesn't happen through radio leicester bug he's the same regardless.

[Crinklyfox]

The pain goes on.

I've seen some great Liverpool teams over the years but last night's XI wasn't one of them. So before the match I thought we had a chance of a result if all the players played to their potential. Sadly that didn't happen.

The effort was there for the most part, unfortunately the confidence appears to have gone. I saw an interview with Wes Morgan before the match and his general demeanour and body language made me think that he was expecting City to have a hard time. Certainly a lot different from last season when he looked like he expected a win most weeks. Lack of confidence breeds errors and there were plenty of those on show last night.

We desperately need to break the cycle of losses. A scrappy win potentially against a team that mentally doesn't turn up would do fine. Regained confidence would improve performances and improve our situation. Without it I fear for the rest of the season.

[Daveaway]

Don't you see it, he is building a squad for the future and getting ready for Championship football

[Dickov22]

I'm actually getting berated on Twitter by a Liverpool fan for going to the game and not having highlights on TV to rely on. Typical.

You never go do you?

[Foxylady64]

Pearson spoke to Stringer like a man who knows his job is on the line! He needs to get back on the touch line, stop being so arrogant and bring in some of the youngsters. If we don't get a win against Villa he needs to go!

[Carlos88LCFC]

I think its hard to blame just Morgan, the first goal when he layed it off to Lallana yes, he should of headed for a corner if he didn't know what was around him but the one he laid off to Gerrard, Cambiasso seemed to watch Gerrard run past him... Even a bit of pressure on the ball could have put Gerrard off but he had all the time in the world and hes probably in the top 10 in the world in that situation.

 

Morgan did have a poor game though but he works his bollocks off for the club and has earnt us a fair few points at the start of the season.

 

De Laet had a good game but playing him and Mahrez on the right leaves us far too exposed as it seems Mahrez doesn't know how to hold position when De Laet pushes forward, he cuts inside in a sort of RF position instead of reading the game.

 

I was one at the start of the season who said "We don't need Prem experience blah blah blah" but I think it is evident now that I was wrong. We need some Premiership experience all over the field.

 

Sacking Pearson will result in a downward spiral. If we go down, hes the man to get us back up the following season and he would have learnt from this season and I'm expecting us to go down now. We shouldn't forget what he has done for the club.

[Raj]

We're not a million miles off.

plenty of effort BUT individual mistakes are ruining it for us.

We are making chances now where weeks ago we werent even doing that.

BUT we cant finish...why Ulloa is running around all over the pitch and not just sticking upfront i dont know....we cant keep waiting for that one bit of luck though....

[Babylon]

Players look slow. Lethargic. Unfit

Well they didn't look that to me, the energy and drive was all there, we got ourselves into good positions and surrendered it with mistakes. Ditto at the back.

 

Whether that's due to confidence, pressure, trying to hard, a lack of quality, or a bit of everything.