Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool -> Celtic -> Leicester)

Surely the match to confirm to Rodgers that a lone striker is NOT the way forward - two strikers up front and we were creating space and movement like it was last season. Two strikers up front - and it looked a solid shape for the first time since Tottenham..... whe we played two strikers up front.

It should not be seen as a stigma to start with two strikers - the lone striker system is overrated these days, and there is still a place for two strikers. This bizaare idea that it's out of date in the footballing world is insane.

Two strikers MUST start the next game.

When have we won competitions with lone strikers anyway?

completely agree, however our manager seems to be a stubborn old sod who at the moment is determined to not learn from mistakes
it must feel like groundhog day for him

Deserves every bit of stick that heads his way tonight:

Starting Balotelli.
Not starting Coutinho.

Both awful decisions and no doubt will say "positive is the clean-sheet" well f**k that a draw against Hull at home wont get us anywhere near top 4.

We are dire.

He must be aware people are now saying that Luis did get us to 2nd place last season.
I don't know how he left Couthino out its mindblowing

I'm trying hard not to blow my top with the Gaffer, but his tactics and player choices are baffling me recently

Sadly for us, it looks like Brendan is determined to prove he's right and anyone who has a different opinion to his is wrong. I like many things about the way Brendan has gone about his task here, he's won me over. However the longer he persists with Balotelli as a lone striker, the more damage he is doing to the team.
I hope the one thing he takes from today is that 2 up top, will serve us better!

I was a little more ambitious and wanted Neuer, Hummells, Fabregas, Lallana, Reus and Tevez

To be fair, we could have afforded Hummells, Cesc, Reus and probably Tevez. The only unrealistic one is Neuer and the fact I doubt Tevez would return to English football.

I'm trying hard not to blow my top with the Gaffer, but his tactics and player choices are baffling me recently

I think he is trying to prove that it was him and his tactics that made the difference last season not having Luis.
Good luck with that one my money is on Luis

I think he is trying to prove that it was him and his tactics that made the difference last season not having Luis.
Good luck with that one my money is on Luis

Suarez getting an assist 3mins into his Barca debut against Real Madrid of all teams, after a 4month ban makes me think you might be right putting your money on Suarez.

I think he is trying to prove that it was him and his tactics that made the difference last season not having Luis.
Good luck with that one my money is on Luis

My money's on Suarez as well. 4 months out of competitive football and he just carries on where he left off.
I have to say that I think the Red of Liverpool suits him much better than the red/ blue of Barcelona. It suits his colouring better. 

completely agree, however our manager seems to be a stubborn old sod who at the moment is determined to not learn from mistakes
it must feel like groundhog day for him

If we had a credible replacement for Studge the manager would have no reason to adopt the tactics you describe as ''stubborn''.
None of the strikers available are an automatic selection and all have been subject to varying degrees of criticism.
BR has little choice in the matter, he must adopt a cautious strategy with the lack of proven strikers at his disposal.

If we had a credible replacement for Studge the manager would have no reason to adopt the tactics you describe as ''stubborn''.
None of the strikers available are an automatic selection and all have been subject to varying degrees of criticism.
BR has little choice in the matter, he must adopt a cautious strategy with the lack of proven strikers at his disposal.

Well this begs the question of why didn't we bring in a proven striker or two over the summer when we knew Suarez was leaving and Danny is fairly injury-prone?

Awful tactics, we were so much better after Couts game on but shockingly it took our master tactician so long to see it!

Awful tactics, we were so much better after Couts game on but shockingly it took our master tactician so long to see it!

Inexcusable that decision. Astonished he wasn't playing and Brendan even admitted that "Mario might be surprised to be starting" yeah like the bloody rest of us.

We are so fortunate to be so close as we are to the top 4 with the crap we're serving up. I just don't think we have it in us to take advantage.

I knew as soon as I saw the formation what the result would be. 3 defensive mids in Gerrard, Can and Allen starting against the F***ing Tiggers at home.

Come on Brendan we have already played Real.................

Br will be delighted with that clean sheet. Did hull actually cross the halfway line?
I am beginning to lose faith - yes I am fickle buti cannot understand any of his decisions.

how have we gone so negative so soon. We have tried to hard to replace Luis instead of focusing what we were good at. Everything seems different and his team selections seem based on his stubbornness rather than players form.
In Brendans place I am not sure what I would do with Mario drop him and its hard to see him getting back in the side play him and we will have lots more results like today.
We have got ourselves in a mess but to get out of it you have to play your strongest team and playing players in form

The manager says we were outstanding today.

Well this begs the question of why didn't we bring in a proven striker or two over the summer when we knew Suarez was leaving and Danny is fairly injury-prone?

Proven strikers demand the fee that is associated with the mantle, the simple answer is the manager did not have those kind of funds available to him. 

how have we gone so negative so soon. We have tried to hard to replace Luis instead of focusing what we were good at. Everything seems different and his team selections seem based on his stubbornness rather than players form.
In Brendans place I am not sure what I would do with Mario drop him and its hard to see him getting back in the side play him and we will have lots more results like today.
We have got ourselves in a mess but to get out of it you have to play your strongest team and playing players in form

I don't think the team selection is based on stubbornness, rather a lack of any credible alternative. If we look at one of the problem areas - scoring goals. You drop Balotelli and put who in? Lambert? Borini? Neither of them are in form either right now. That said, when Lambert came on today, for the first time since he signed and Sturridge was injured,  we started to play to Balotelli's strengths and it was working to a large extent. We looked more dangerous in that final twenty minutes than we have in any other game since Spurs. We've tried changing the man to suit the system and it's failed. It's time to try changing the system to suit the man because we don't have any other real alternatives until Danny is back. We're paying for the mistakes made in the Summer by not securing a goal scorer who suits our style of play.

Our manager was fantastic last season but he has fooked it all up this year. We sold our best player and it seems the money has been wasted. Lallana is the only one there who looks like he will make any sort of contribution, the rest (for me) are stinking up the joint. Nearly 55 million spent on a couple of centre halves and a left back and we still can't defend and we spent 20 million on two centre-forwards with one unable to get a game and the other seemingly un-droppable.

There's no getting away from it, we have done a Spurs.

I don't think we stand a chance of top four unless Brendan can find another striker in the next window.

I don't think the team selection is based on stubbornness, rather a lack of any credible alternative. If we look at one of the problem areas - scoring goals. You drop Balotelli and put who in? Lambert? Borini? Neither of them are in form either right now. That said, when Lambert came on today, for the first time since he signed and Sturridge was injured,  we started to play to Balotelli's strengths and it was working to a large extent. We looked more dangerous in that final twenty minutes than we have in any other game since Spurs. We've tried changing the man to suit the system and it's failed. It's time to try changing the system to suit the man because we don't have any other real alternatives until Danny is back. We're paying for the mistakes made in the Summer by not securing a goal scorer who suits our style of play.

Sorry mate but have to disagree.

We looked our best against Madrid when Balotelli came off, Brendan even said so himself. That option was there for him but he chose to give Mario even more chances, while we're trying to play Mario into some semblance of form our top 4 hopes are taking an absolute battering.

Proven strikers demand the fee that is associated with the mantle, the simple answer is the manager did not have those kind of funds available to him.

We spent around £100m last summer, so the funds were definitely there.

Tbh Mario and Rickie are proven strikers in a sense, but they just don't fit our style at all IMO.

Tbh Mario and Rickie are proven strikers in a sense, but they just don't fit our style at all IMO.

Don't think Lambert is proven at all, he's had like 2 seasons in the league and fairly late on in his career he has started to become known. He's a decent squad player but nothing more for a team that is supposed to be competing on all fronts.

Agree with you about them not fitting our system though.

I don't think the team selection is based on stubbornness, rather a lack of any credible alternative. If we look at one of the problem areas - scoring goals. You drop Balotelli and put who in? Lambert? Borini? Neither of them are in form either right now. That said, when Lambert came on today, for the first time since he signed and Sturridge was injured,  we started to play to Balotelli's strengths and it was working to a large extent. We looked more dangerous in that final twenty minutes than we have in any other game since Spurs. We've tried changing the man to suit the system and it's failed. It's time to try changing the system to suit the man because we don't have any other real alternatives until Danny is back. We're paying for the mistakes made in the Summer by not securing a goal scorer who suits our style of play.

so don't you think playing Sterling in the middle with Lallana and Couthino behind them is better than playing Mario on his own. Play in form players which Mario is not one off