OK, so far we're not very good. What are the reasons and how do we fix it?

It's going to be difficult for any armchair fans to identify the root cause of our bad form of late. Is it down to poor player compatibility within the system? Has the dressing room atmosphere gone to sh*t? Are players losing respect for Brendan Rodgers?

That togetherness that was ever present in the squad all throughout last season is non-exsistent this season. There is no fight, no character, no team spirit. The players literally blank their gaffer when walking past him. It's much the contrary to Manchester United and "The Chosen One" last season. The players seemingly had respect for him - you could see that.. despite their bad results.

Again, I think this boils down to one thing - the departure of Luis Suarez. Good ol' Luis does not need to be playing to have an influence on his team mates. Even in training, he'll show that desire, that hunger, that passion (however you want describe it) and that is what the other players will pick up on. It'll rub off on them, and in turn they'll up their game.

In my opinion it's a lack of desire and passion which is most harmful to this team right now. Someone needs to pick them up, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Forget talent, it's character in which we are lacking.

It's going to be difficult for any armchair fans to identify the root cause of our bad form of late. Is it down to poor player compatibility within the system? Has the dressing room atmosphere gone to sh*t? Are players losing respect for Brendan Rodgers?

That togetherness that was ever present in the squad all throughout last season is non-exsistent this season. There is no fight, no character, no team spirit. The players literally blank their gaffer when walking past him. It's much the contrary to Manchester United and "The Chosen One" last season. The players seemingly had respect for him - you could see that.. despite their bad results.

Again, I think this boils down to one thing - the departure of Luis Suarez. Good ol' Luis does not need to be playing to have an influence on his team mates. Even in training, he'll show that desire, that hunger, that passion (however you want describe it) and that is what the other players will pick up on. It'll rub off on them, and in turn they'll up their game.

In my opinion it's a lack of desire and passion which is most harmful to this team right now. Someone needs to pick them up, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Forget talent, it's character in which we are lacking.

I thought BR's man handling was supposed to be good? What happened there?

How do we fix it? Get the fuckers out.
How dare these chancers try and con us into the idea that you can be a top team by selling all the decent players.

We're sh*t because we have young, inexperienced and low quality players.
Don't just look at what we signed. Look at what we had asset stripped.

As the Daily Fail bloke Samuel said "small club thinking".
So its small club results!

Sort out a new keeper I would plump for begovic.
Bin Johnson pronto he's truly crap.
Manquilo and Moreno as the full backs.
Get a defensive coach to work on our centre halfs sharpish.
Play Gerrard further forward as he isn't a defensive midfielder.
Get them owners to go out and buy reus and pogba no pissing about just do it.
Ditto get benzema,Jackson because let's face it ballottelli was a massive gamble that has backfired big time.
That'll do for starters.

How do we fix it? Get the fuckers out.
How dare these chancers try and con us into the idea that you can be a top team by selling all the decent players.

We're sh*t because we have young, inexperienced and low quality players.
Don't just look at what we signed. Look at what we had asset stripped.

As the Daily Fail bloke Samuel said "small club thinking".
So its small club results!

Yup, but our fans are too shy to urge the team on week in week out. Cannot see how they could force the owners to sell up. Doesn't matter who FSG hire as puppet manager either - too many restrictions for him to work under. Not great times here at LFC.

Sort out a new keeper I would plump for begovic.
Bin Johnson pronto he's truly crap.
Manquilo and Moreno as the full backs.
Get a defensive coach to work on our centre halfs sharpish.
Play Gerrard further forward as he isn't a defensive midfielder.
Get them owners to go out and buy reus and pogba no pissing about just do it.
Ditto get benzema,Jackson because let's face it ballottelli was a massive gamble that has backfired big time.
That'll do for starters.

All great signings but we would need another £150 million minimum to get them. Our budget is gone now I'm afraid. We'll be lucky to sign one player in January.

All great signings but we would need another £150 million minimum to get them. Our budget is gone now I'm afraid. We'll be lucky to sign one player in January.

Know what your saying mate but I'm saying the owners can't F**k about if the seasons going down the pan they need to show more.
but if the crowd start turning it could get ugly.

One of the problems we have is that when we buy European / foreign players it takes at least a season to adjust to the premiership . Some of the players we have bought I believe to be "potential " stars but they need time that we don't have . I think our coaching leaves a bit to be desired and new systems brought in to gauge if players are really fit and their mindset focused . Attack is no good without a sound defence and that is where we should start . We could do with Sami Hyppia to be a defence coach and help us

Simple BR needs to sit down with all his staff and say "right all of you on paper right down your formation and best starting 11 " that way he can see what everyone around him thinks rather than them all just going with BR and Pascoe.
it should be done annoymounus so that there not scared to completey pick a team and formation BR  has not. my guess would be that it would massivly differ to what BR picks week in week out.
and secondly stop tinkering with the side, have a team that you stick buy and then in the cup put your back ups out and rest your starting 11. prem and CL team should not change as much as it does only change for injuries, and cup games.

1.Practically the entire team is in poor form.
2.Practically the entire team is in poor form psychologically.
3.Most new players that came in are in poor form.
4.Defense is as bad as last year without goals to compensate.
5.Gerrard is being burnt out in defensive role that does not seem to work anymore for him.
6.We´re turning to a defensive strategy.
7.We´re turning to a defensive mentality.
8.We have not found a replacement to Suarez that will enable us to go back to that specific attacking style.
9.Our best striker is out.
10.We bought Balotelli (#Facepalm)

Singling out this or that player to be replaced is one thing,but when in general the entire team is poor barring some exceptions,it´s difficult to sort out.These are the same players,at least as far as the midfield and GK are concerned,that played great football last season.It´s not about showing anyone the door (Generally speaking.Allen is really testing it and I would say Lucas but we could use another defensive player to say the least,which shows what bad shape D is in),these players did not rot overnight,we need to get them back up.We all know what Gerrard is capable of,for example.Still capable of.He´s still got it in him,we just need to get it back.

The transfers are not to be blamed.All of the players except you-know-who were either coming from good form and seasons or were exciting promises.You can blame the club all day long for spending a single quid on Balotelli (#Misfire),but most if not all the other signings made sense,if they have all apparently for whatever reason dropped their level to becoming not worthy of starting against even the lowest teams is something no one could have foreseen.These players also have quality,we have to bring it out of them again,not go out on a spending spree and have it possibly happen all over again.

If we have to play Lucas again let´s do that,but we need our Captain in the mix again.Up where the action is.Allen should be covering for him but I don´t trust him to do anything relevant.We should not need a specialty CDM with a decent defense,but that´s where we are right now.If we can´t use Lucas and his yellow cards,we need someone now.

The defensive strategy and worse,defensive mentality has shown in these past 2 games.Let´s use Lambert and get back to attack, pulling back behind the midline and all in the box will not work,unless we want to turn into a mid-level mediocrity.It´s pathetic.

If we could find a striker with speed we could go back to last season SAS formation.If we don´t,we just switch strategy like when we didn´t have Suarez available and it still worked.Problem is,current form does not let us replicate anything from last season.We could have played Lambert or Borini last season and they would have managed,certainly Rickie.With current form and mindset,it´s a miracle he receives anything.

When Sturridge comes back he will have nil to do with the current team form.We need to get the entire machine back up before expecting one single component will fix all our issues.Least we can do is have midfield attack,stop starting Allen,put Gerrard up front, Lambert as target man and we´ll see how that goes.If defense doesn´t worsen we can just hope to get more goals than come in, same drill as last year.But that Crystal Palace Ludogorets show?Unsustainable.

Make no bones about it we've been sh*te most of the season,  we can all argue over what we can do about it and who else do we bring in,imo I don't think FSG would bank roll us to get us out of it,  it's their penny pinching that's part of the problem,

I don't think we're a bad bunch, we just haven't  found the right formula as yet, and confidence is rock bottom,  so, what do we do to change it,

Keeper ;
Not good enough not now, nor will ever be, plus he has no confidence and cant be trusted,
I'd give Brad a go, up until January at least,  he'd be no worse than Mignolet,  Simon is shot,  get him out of it for a spell,  you never know a fresh face between the sticks could work dividends,

Back four;

Manquillo, Toure, Skirtle, Moreno, with Sakho,Enrique, Flanagan, Lovren, backing up, drop Johnson altogether, he can go practice with Simon if he wants,

Midfield ;

Gerrard,  do we drop him or not, it's a massive no for me,he's the one that still has the vision and total commitment we need,  so ok, his legs have gone but not his brain, here's what I'd do, with alterations when required, 
Play Lucas as DM,  we then have options to play either Henderson / Can, Henderson /Gerrard, Gerrard/Can, in front, with wee Joe backing up, Gerrard would obviously play in behind the front two,

The front two,

This will depend who.plays in.the mids again plenty of combinations to opt for,

With either Gerrard, or coutinho playing as the ten, Lallana has to be in there, Sterling needs resting, he's low on confidence and just not himself right now,  Lazar for me needs a run of games,  play him lets see what he has got, one or two outings coming off the bench might not be enough,  so give him the game time, build his confidence up and you never know he could provide the spark we need,

Balo, BorinI, Lambert, hear no evil, see no evil and do not evil, doesn’t fill you with pride looking at those three does it?
However their all we got right now so use them best we can,  currently has to Lambert,  especially with Gerrard in behind, they two have a connection maybe a scouse one who knows but whatever it is,  it's there, ok it may not be a Kenny & Rushy or Suarez & Sturridge type thing but for me it looked like they were on the same wavelength against Ludo,

The Stoke match ;

                            Jones
     Manquillo Toure Skrtel Moreno
              Henderson     Lucas
                           Gerrard
             Markovic.          Lallana
                          Lambert 

Bench, Mignolet, Enrique, Lovren ,Can, Sterling, Coutinho, BorinI

Play Gerrard one hour, replace with coutinho, if Lazar performs well leave him on, if not Sterling gets on, Lambert by then will be fu**ed so I'd stick Fabio on, last 20 or so, could put Can in for Henderson or Lucas to freshen things up....


Something has to change,  we are desperate for points, even more desperate for confidence, I hate these stoke kunt's,
Can't be doing with them coming to Anfield and taking points from us,

We need to start winning now, if we drop further behind we won't be hearing that  Cl anthem next season,  at Anfield anyhows,



C'MON REDMEN, LET'S f***in DO THESE





YNWA
 

On the F***ing money there Billy lad.
Could not fault a word of that comment.

Sakho the man for me to lead the back four think people will disagree but think hes the best of the lot

On the f**king money there Billy lad.
Could not fault a word of that comment.

Cheers N Beers Stuey, 
Our season can't get any worse.....

....Can it?


We've hit the lowest we're going to go, the only way is up now,  get a couple of wins under our belt and we can start the climb,

We got scumchester on the horizon,  losing to chip van wrinkle would be a total humiliation after last season's double ecstasy,  we cannot allow that to happen so we need to get on that winning streak starting today,

C'mon Redmen,  a scrappy one nil will do, a win and a clean sheet,  that's all


YNWA

Sakho the man for me to lead the back four think people will disagree but think hes the best of the lot

You're not the only one who rates Sakho, bigger problem would be who partners him.  Don't think we have a partnership that has looked like it will work or had time to devolop and prove it will, as of yet.

You're not the only one who rates Sakho, bigger problem would be who partners him.  Don't think we have a partnership that has looked like it will work or had time to devolop and prove it will, as of yet.

Got to get the right combo one go and attack the other pick up the pieces and start a move flowing which would indicate Lo ren but he has been worst of lot at moment 

Real Madrid away and today against Stoke both showed some promising play.  Been dire in between.

Could just be coincidence of course.

Gerrard.

Can we win the league in the 2015/16 season? Thread is locked but all the negative threads are free for manic discussion. I don't agree with that. One game at a time cliche, forget that.
reopen that thread please moderators, it's causing no harm really.

Real Madrid away and today against Stoke both showed some promising play.  Been dire in between.

Could just be coincidence of course.

Gerrard.

First half vs Stoke was terrible. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't we too direct/long and mostly looking to play our balls into wide areas? 2nd half, we were much better because we played through the middle more often and actually passed it around? Having Sterling attack through the middle linking up with our midfielders and Lambert looked much better than him being stuck out wide.

I've only seen the game once, so can anyone confirm this, please

First half vs Stoke was terrible. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't we too direct/long and mostly looking to play our balls into wide areas? 2nd half, we were much better because we played through the middle more often and actually passed it around? Having Sterling attack through the middle linking up with our midfielders and Lambert looked much better than him being stuck out wide.

I've only seen the game once, so can anyone confirm this, please

Always expect a game in the epl but yeah you aren't mistaken, quite unsettling to watch, and at Anfield. the crowd portrayed this uneasiness.

I don't think Brendan has too long if things don't improve. Unless we win one of the Man Utd/Arsenal games and go through against Bournemouth I think the yanks might bin him off. So how does he achieve that and where are we currently going wrong?

Firstly a couple of positives. We are unbeaten in four matches, have seven out of the last nine available points in the league and are unquestionably defending a lot better than we were. In those four matches we've conceded two goals (an excellent one last night and a freak bounce off the post then rebound in off the keeper one). In many respects Brendan has done exactly what he needed to do, made us much harder to beat and to score against. Had those four matches been the first four of the season we'd all be saying by now that while it wasn't a glittering start by any means, it wasn't too bad either.
The problem of course is that these weren't the first four matches of the season, they have followed a period of absolute dross from the team. Similarly, while we didn't lose last night we didn't win either and were therefore eliminated, not so positive there really. Also, while the defence and goalkeeper are playing better we are absolutely dogshite going forward, so something has to give. How then do we go about turning it around?

One of the reasons we were so successful last season was we adapted our pattern and shape in order to accommodate our best players. We went from one up top to two up top because in Brendans words he "wanted to get his best players onto the pitch", while moving Gerrard deeper in order to feed them proved to be a masterstroke. This time though we can't do that as we haven't even got one good striker never mind two, so what is the solution?

Well the only position on the pitch for which we have any sort of quality and numbers IMHO is centre half. Skrtel, Lovren and Sakho are all very good players IMHO, and Toure ain't too shabby either. The starting point ought to be to play with three centre  halves, lets get three good players on the pitch. My preference would be for Lovren to sit centrally with Skrtel right and Sakho left, but whichever way the manager fancies would do fine. As always with football, this would produce a knock on effect in other areas, so lets look at that.

The first problem with our recent "solidity" is that it's partially been achieved as a result of pinning our own fullbacks and stopping them bombing. This though hasn't been ideal, as none of our fullbacks are actually good defenders with the possible exception of Manquillo. If I were playing against Johnson or Moreno, I'd be much more comfortable seeing them defending than I would attacking. The three centre halves though will free them up big style, lets get Moreno doing what he does best namely fizzing up and down the wing.

In front of the three centre halves I'd go with either Lucas or Can. I did think Lucas looked a bit rabbit in the headlightsy against Basle, but in fairness to him and them they are a bloody good team (far better than most realise I think). It's probably in Brendans mind that he may only have a couple of games left if it goes wrong though, and if I were in his shoes I'd really go balls out and play Can inn there, pace and power combined.

that leaves four slots, and here we can I think get a little inventive. Obviously Gerrard has to play either from the start or coming on (and I would have thought his last couple of performances have quietened the annual silliness probably until he goes to the USA or somewhere at the end of the season). Markovic is making a bold claim, Coutinho is quality in a side which is playing well, Henderson was better last night than he has been for a bit, Sterling has to play at the moment and Lallana if he's fit must go close. I don't see a spot for Allen in there, nor unfortunately for him do I see one for Lambert either. Balotelli if fit must be considered at least, equally Borini.

The main thing is though the three centre backs. I think this is the key to giving us a platform to play, time to study the Roy Evans team videos Brendan. If you're going to go down, may as well go down swinging.   

He could start by telling his CB's that death by football doesn't mean suicide. Involving Mignolet, Skertl, Toure or now Lovren in a game of keepings off usually accompanies a defeat. If PR had wanted to play keep ball like Barca then go and get a couple of cheap south American CB's who combine technique and aggression.

Playing keep ball with no defence nor attack and also NOT keeping possession is not the way forward. So play Borini, Sterling, Lallana, Coutinho, Moreno, Johnson. That is plenty of attacking flair. Make Skertl and Lovren either hit the width, empty it, or play to Lucas. Do not play More than two of Lucas, Henderson, Allen and Gerrard in any one game at anyone time.

Abandon death by football as it is only seems to be aiding in our death. Nothing wrong with being smart in possession but Tiki Taka took Barca 20 years to develop. English teams don't have it.

Get a style. So far we have seen Tiki Taka. We have played like Mourinho complete with Skertl (Terry up front.) We have switched to target man. I don't want to see PR's protracted demise played out live nor do I think he should live off his own soundbites or "adaptability" as it can come across as just PR.

We played well last year. Try aiming for that.

I think the FullofShiteGroup ARE actually thinking about Ted Rodger's future.
BUT that would mean a fairly hefty payoff to him and his (cough) esteemed team.

I wouldnt be sad to see him go. But I'd probably be sad to see his replacement.
PLus I'd like to see Rodgers give Johnny 4eyes some sh*t before he was booted out.
I doubt Rodgers will tho. He markets himself as a "chairman's manager", not a fans manager ie company man thro and thro.