Spurs 4-0 Liverpool: In game chat and post match finger-pointing

Got nothing much to say about the game but that we were outplayed from the start and the red cards killed us. Everyone was poor, from front to back. As to your point about ball playing centre backs I thought Coates certainly looked confident enough to bring it out of defence. Maybe he was a little too exuberant and over hit his first pass or two, but he certainly looked comfortable with the ball at his feet I thought.

Coates has nothing to answer for

It's simple. Our lads didn't turned up and we played like we didn't want to win.

1. Our midfield didn't connect with our attack. There was a huge gaping space between them that Spurs dominated the whole game. You could see that Suarez at times was too frustrated because he felt that there were not enough service from our midfield.

2. Our defenders were often caught napping. Beaten by superior pace and play from their strikeforce. Skrtel was a liability in right back (although he did what he could). It should have been Carra on that right side. We were too slow to clear the ball. Enrique even though being the best player in defense in that game were often got caught out because there was nobody that he could pass the ball to. Our players were often being too far or too narrow.

3. We let them dictate. That's the f**king problem. Often in away games we let our opponent roam free and play with their own pace and style. Often we see when we were going somewhere then they backtracked the ball and letting Spurs regroup. The pass and move philosophy was thrown out the window. We was being too defensive; either it was a direct order from Kenny I didn't know, but the expression on his face suggested that he never impose that kind of strategy.

4. Our shambolic display in that game was due to the fact that we got too many passing errors. We failed to read where our mates were and there was no continous flow in the game. It's like watching a car stucked on 2nd gear. We failed to utilize fully our wings eventhough we're playing with Carroll up front. We could change our style of play and looked like we were too one dimensional.

5. In not like I'm saying that some didn't fit to wear our shirt, but we're f**king Liverpool FC, not some angry mobs and I forgot we got one very happy ref. So easy to give away yellows.

We are still not out of the race but we need to beef up. We need to be f**king ruthless not too vicious. We need to install the fear inside every opponent with our style of play and never let anyone dictate us. We need to force opponent to play to our strength not the other way around. I know some might say that we're without our skipper but there's no if Gerrard this and that. Even if Gerrard didn't play, what's the f**king problem? We're still the Liverpool everyone know. We have to stop being too dependable on him and learn to be more trusting of our entire players. Even if with or without him, we have to continue doing what we know best;winning. A winning mentality doesn't lie on one single player but it's a collective effort from everyone.

We are still coping from a near fatal experience. Everybody have to pitch in and show more support towards our lads. It's no blame game now. You can easily put the blame on someone. You see I can easily said that Adam was too effing crazy and emotional but in truth our lads didn't even play football. Play to everybody's strength and inject more pace and creativity in it.

At the end of the day, even though we don't win the title (but hoping otherwise), at least showed them that we are moving towards the right direction. We are once again the Liverpool that once strike fear across Europe and made f**king meal out of every single team in England. Believe in Kenny and mostly believe in Liverpool.

Biggest mistake we made today was that we left Kuyt out, we were crying out for his work rate and he could of helped a piss poor stand in right back in Skrtel. Even then Tottenham wanted it more than us today, they beat us to every ball from start to finish. It looked as if we were the team that played midweek!

I don't think any blame should go to the referee, all the bookings were deserved imo. If they were the other way round we'd be shouting at the ref to book the player, had a solid game and people are just using the referee as an excuse for our terrible performance.

Kenny has to pick the team up now for Brighton and then get back to winning ways in the league, its still early days though and we are forgetting this team are still getting used to playing together. Just can't quite fit Carroll into the formation, he doesnt suit the way we play :/

Just got done watching the match again, the two red cards finished it, however I am not going to slate any particular individual. From the word go one team came to play the other one did not. Top to bottom team failure, I really did not see one of our players distinguish them self nor will I pin it on anyone. We played on our heels the entire match and got shown the door like the last few times we visited WHL.

Biggest mistake we made today was that we left Kuyt out, we were crying out for his work rate and he could of helped a piss poor stand in right back in Skrtel. Even then Tottenham wanted it more than us today, they beat us to every ball from start to finish. It looked as if we were the team that played midweek!

I don't think any blame should go to the referee, all the bookings were deserved imo. If they were the other way round we'd be shouting at the ref to book the player, had a solid game and people are just using the referee as an excuse for our terrible performance.

Kenny has to pick the team up now for Brighton and then get back to winning ways in the league, its still early days though and we are forgetting this team are still getting used to playing together. Just can't quite fit Carroll into the formation, he doesnt suit the way we play :/

Might me true on Kuyt, but to be honest he has been pretty dire this season so far.

Thought he was very good with Suarez against bolton

Where do you start?  Can't really have any complaints about the red cards - although Adam first yellow was a bit harsh - our bookings were generally deserved.  However when you look at the stats and see that they only got one yellow, you have to question the consistency of the refereeing.  Minutes before he was booked, Adebayor went in foot up, free kick but no card -just after consistency.

The Adam red came just when we seemed to getting a tiny foothold in the game and had rejigged to reduce the bale threat.  Skrtel is and always will be a liability as for an international defender he is an awful tackler and decision maker.  He is certainly not a fullback.  His red was bad judgement, and at the time I was thinking that with Spurs playing so well but not getting the second, we may just have had a chance of sneaking an equaliser (we have seen us not get the second often enough).

Carroll was once again fairly woeful and he is also becoming a liability - we play much better football when he is not playing, and Kuyt does play better with Suarez.

Hard to judge Coates in this display, but think he will need to get used to the speed of the English game fairly quickly as we cannot rely on Skrtel or Agger in the long term.

Just wanted to mention....I thought the travelling Kop were great again yesterday

Still think we would have drawn had we not got that second red.

We could have got the draw.  We'll never know.  We need to accept that football is a F***ing farce and move on now.  We need to focus on playing well enough to win every game 5-0, the ref can't F**k up a match so badly that we'd lose from that position.

Thought he was very good with Suarez against bolton

Should have had Kuyt on the right, instead of Henderson.

Where do you start?  Can't really have any complaints about the red cards - although Adam first yellow was a bit harsh - our bookings were generally deserved.  However when you look at the stats and see that they only got one yellow, you have to question the consistency of the refereeing.  Minutes before he was booked, Adebayor went in foot up, free kick but no card -just after consistency.

The Adam red came just when we seemed to getting a tiny foothold in the game and had rejigged to reduce the bale threat.  Skrtel is and always will be a liability as for an international defender he is an awful tackler and decision maker.  He is certainly not a fullback.  His red was bad judgement, and at the time I was thinking that with Spurs playing so well but not getting the second, we may just have had a chance of sneaking an equaliser (we have seen us not get the second often enough).

Carroll was once again fairly woeful and he is also becoming a liability - we play much better football when he is not playing, and Kuyt does play better with Suarez.

Hard to judge Coates in this display, but think he will need to get used to the speed of the English game fairly quickly as we cannot rely on Skrtel or Agger in the long term.

I think it is a bit harsh on Carroll,for one he never received much service due to the fact we were on the backfoot from the start.Our whole defence and midfield let us down and never really recovered from the opening 15 minutes onslaught.Having said that I believed we were in with a chance after Adam got sent off,but when Skrtel got a RED as well I am afraid it was curtains for us.Our 9 lads were buggered chasing Spurs and give them some credit they did keep trying.We just have to hope that this result is just a blip and hope Kenny can get confidence back in the squad and get us back to winning ways as I am sure he will.

I believe Carroll would benefit from a run in the team. I also think he's suffered (and Suarez) from a lack of support

We lost the midfield battle and some of our players were shocking. There wasnt alot of positives you can take out from a game like this and i feel for coates. A debut in a game like this. I can only hope that it didnt shatter his self confidence. We missed Kuyt and in my eyes, we cant afford to leave out Kuyt. Although he isnt the best player around but his work rate and energy do wonders for the team. If not offensively then defensively. In simple words he makes player around him look better.
I find comfort in that our target is to secure a CL spot and not to win the league. Arsenal are struggling and i honestly believe that we can top spuds, even though this result say otherwise.
Our supporters were great and i am proud of them, and the ref was a tw*t.

Good to see a lot more reasoned analysis today on the last two pages.

Hindsight.

The most beautiful of things.

I can understand why he opted for Adam/Henderson/Lucas - who were pretty much playing like a middle three.  Unfortunately not one of them performed.  It's tough to legislate for that.

I think it's fanciful to suggest that somehow playing Kuyt would have saved the day - and in any case Bale did not stick 4 in the net - although he did help win a fair few yellow cards.

The players simply did not put a shift in.  I don't think any formation change or even the change of one player on the right hand side would have changed the result of the game if they were going to play as poorly as that.

I want to apologise for my 'game over in 7 minutes' statement. Looking back, I can see it was a daft thing for me to say. It's bliss when we win, and it's murder when we lose.

Sorry lads.

Keep the faith

YNWA

I said it in Kenny's thread.

I do think Kuyt would have offered more protection for Skrtel.
That said I'm not sure what he would have done to stop Modric, who passed us out of the game at times.

One thing I hope and pray for is that Gerrard stays fit when he comes back.
We needed a leader out there. Even someone with the intelligence and calm of Alonso or sheer grit of Mascherano.
I don't buy the part where we needed Aquilani or Meireles back, but I do think two players we badly need back and fit for the season are Gerrard and Kelly.

Good point about Bale, last season I think we had at least 3 yellows for 'fouls' on him. The lad has got ability but seems to be developing a case of Rivaldo/Ronaldo-itis where you seem to easier to foul in free kick range. on top of that am I the only one who saw Parker in the build up to the fourth goal have a run and kick at one of boys. Apart from that it is arguable that we played a man down almost from the start, just look at Agger on the first goal. I honestly think it is unfair to say that anyone didn't work hard enough, that is a very easy and cheap thing to say after a defeat.

We were crap no use in making excuses we were no where near good enough in the middle of the park.
Modric & Parker had a stroll yesterday but it's about how you react in the next games that shows if your a team or not.
This could be the reality check that we needed 1 bad result doesnt make you s bad team.
Well done to the travelling support at spurs you made me feel proud

Parker covered Modric and he was well able to string passes together when needed.
Looking a good signing from Arry.
Adebayor also looks a key signing (loan) for them.

Skrtel was out of his depth, but playing Kuyt with him would have given more protection
Henderson & Adam are simply not good enough, but if thats the best we have & what we spent a large amount of money on then what option do we have atm?
Carroll also comes into this bracket. I think all 3 a very good squad players with Henderson & Carroll hopefully able to improve. Those 3 in the same team atm means we plod & dont have enough of anything much.

You have to ask would you rather Henderson & Carroll or Parker & Adebayor? Well you don't but when we play like that it makes you think! Personally you put Parker & Adebayor in instead of those 2 & then have £50M to spend & I don't think it's rocket science....

Parker is already 30 mate, I don't doubt he will prove a good signing for Spurs but he has had 10 years to reach that level. Henderson is 21 and has plenty of time to improve yet.

There is always more of a risk buying potential rather than the finished article, but the up side if you do get it right is that they can continue to be an important member of the team for 10 years.

 

Parker is already 30 mate, I don't doubt he will prove a good signing for Spurs but he has had 10 years to reach that level. Henderson is 21 and has plenty of time to improve yet.

There is always more of a risk buying potential rather than the finished article, but the up side if you do get it right is that they can continue to be an important member of the team for 10 years.

 

Yeah I get the age thing mate, I would say Parker will still have 4 years a a decent level though playing where & how he does. Would be good alongside Lucas & Gerrard IMO. Would even allow Lucas to do what he was best at as a youngster (how I remember him running the show for the Brazilian youth) & get forward sometimes.

Henderson is playing though & we need him at a certain level now if we want to challange. Its all good saying he will be OK in 3 or 4 years if he isnt playing alot of first team football & didnt cost £20M

The man of the match should go to the travelling supporters, they were great and still singing late into injury time. Well done to them.

The players were another story, we started badly and then conceded in the 7th minute to a wonder goal. The problem wasn't that we conceded the first goal it was that there was little to no positive reaction to it. The players seemed scared as soon as the match started and the goal seemed to wipe out their confidence completely. The passing was poor, the running was non-existent and Tottenham were just too fast for us. We couldn't catch them and therefore the tackling was often late which was why we got so many yellow cards.

For me there is just one man to point the finger at and it isn't going to be a popular one. The manager Kenny Dalglish. He must have known that starting Skrtel against the fastest left winger around in Bale was always going to be trouble. Martin did well against Bolton and was alright at Stoke but we all know from past experience that Skrtel can't play RB. Rafa tried it a few times and saw that he couldn't so never played him there again so why can't Kenny see that? When you have a huge liability at the back its never a good starting point to get going. The players might have been worried early on seeing Bale lose Skrtel so easily that they panicked, who knows? When going away from home the defense has to be solid and ours wasn't so who else is to blame? Its not like we had little time to prepare, we had a whole week. 7 days to come up with a game plan to beat Spurs instead we come away with out tails between our legs from a 4-0 whipping.
There is no way that I think that Kenny should not be the manager just that he messed up this time and he has to learn from it and make sure this doesn't happen again.

For me there is just one man to point the finger at and it isn't going to be a popular one. The manager Kenny Dalglish.

Can you blame KK for the weak performances from Adam and Henderson who left everything pass them by in midfield? Or can you blame KK for the error Reina made? Or the Adam sending off, the Suarez free kick that hit row Z? If KK's only fault was playing a defender in another defensive role, then I think it's harsh to point the finger 'at one man' as you put it. Personally I think it says more about Skrtel who can't play in a defensive role other than CD.

The team for the most part let everyone down.