Arsenal 2-0 Liverpool: In game and Post Match Analysis

Agreed.

When we see the likes of Cissokho and Aspas, I have to say I worry about our scouting outfit

its a committee now .How could they get it so wrong

Needed a lamp shade but got a sofa instead, sounds familiar though.

simple we good in most areas, lt be midfield for while let us down,lf we can buy in january get one good midfield with pace and score few goals, then we match for most teams

plus we too slow in midfield, my granny run faster

I'll sleep better when Enrique is back in the first 11

We need to add a bit of flair to the midfield. We have three good midfielders; Gerrard, Lucas and Henderson.

Fact is, Gerrard has to go back to being Gerrard the attacking midfielder, Lucas is the defensive midfielder, Henderson is neither a Gerrard nor an Alonso. He is okay, got strength, but he offers very little in attacking options. We need a lot more for a Champions League side.

Big problem.

I cannot believe that some people are still advocating Steven Gerrard as being an attacking midfielder? He is clearly not in possession of the legs to get up and down the pitch on a consistent basis, so the obvious and sensible solution is to play as a deep lying playmaker sitting in front of the back four. He is the best holding midfielder we have by an absolute country mile, but he is no longer the best attacking midfielder we have (Coutinho is).

Lets get real, and play our captain where he doesn't have to rampage up and down the pitch, where he can dictate the flow of the game and ping long passes everywhere. It surprises me that nobody has referred to Mr Benitez's article last week when he talked about Stevies long range passing and how his game is now suited to playing back there.

I cannot believe that some people are still advocating Steven Gerrard as being an attacking midfielder? He is clearly not in possession of the legs to get up and down the pitch on a consistent basis, so the obvious and sensible solution is to play as a deep lying playmaker sitting in front of the back four. He is the best holding midfielder we have by an absolute country mile, but he is no longer the best attacking midfielder we have (Coutinho is).

I don't see him having the legs to be the only holding or sitting midfielder either Mick. Countless times players just drift past him and he is definitely not our 'best holding midfielder by an absolute country mile'.

I don't see him having the legs to be the only holding or sitting midfielder either Mick. Countless times players just drift past him and he is definitely not our 'best holding midfielder by an absolute country mile'.

4.4.2
Gerrard wide right Lucas and Allen in the middle and Couthino on the left we have to try something different.

Two players -Johnston / Enrique who play the wing back roles were both injured . Should of played 4-4-2

BR infuriates me with his formation and team selections. Why on earth we played 3-5-2 against Arsenal, I'll never know. Why did we need 3 CB's to mark Giroud? Flanagan and Cissokho effectively playing in midfield?
Kelly should have started in place of Flanagan and Allen should have been given a chance in place of one of the CB's (or even use Sakho as LB, because Cissokho is woeful).
It seems to me that BR does not know how to adapt to the opposition and that is very worrying.

I cannot believe that some people are still advocating Steven Gerrard as being an attacking midfielder? He is clearly not in possession of the legs to get up and down the pitch on a consistent basis, so the obvious and sensible solution is to play as a deep lying playmaker sitting in front of the back four. He is the best holding midfielder we have by an absolute country mile, but he is no longer the best attacking midfielder we have (Coutinho is).

Lets get real, and play our captain where he doesn't have to rampage up and down the pitch, where he can dictate the flow of the game and ping long passes everywhere. It surprises me that nobody has referred to Mr Benitez's article last week when he talked about Stevies long range passing and how his game is now suited to playing back there.

It's a decent shout mate, he has been doing a great job for England in that role so is steno reason why he can't do it for LFC. I'd like to see him in the role and see how we go although I'm still not sure we have the right blend of midfielders to play ahead of him. certainly in home games I wonder if this might be worth a look


Moses               Suarez            Sturridge             

          Coutinho           Allen

                      Gerrard


You could just as easily play Henderson ahead of Allen or Coutinho could play left side for Moses with Henderson playing the AMF role he occupied against West Brom.

I must admit, having watched us get outclassed and out passed by Arsenal's midfield (despite no Jack Wilshere) I would love to see us get back to Rodgers principles of keeping the bloody ball and controlling the game. From a pure passing and attacking perspective a Gerrard, Allen, Coutinho partnership is the best we've got, certainly the most technically gifted trio we can put out.


 

Spot on Scott. Kind of a 4-1-3-2 formation works for me, with Gerrard sitting in behind a midfield three of Moses, Allen and Coutinho. With Johnson and Enrique pushing on as well, we'd create loads of problems for teams.

Two players -Johnston / Enrique who play the wing back roles were both injured . Should of played 4-4-2

We would have been even more overrun in a 4-4-2

We would have been even more overrun in a 4-4-2

Of course we would. We looked better in the second half principally because Arsenal started getting 10 men behind the ball and gave us the midfield to pass around in. Previous to that we were chasing shadows lets be honest, and not chasing them very quickly either.

Spot on Scott. Kind of a 4-1-3-2 formation works for me, with Gerrard sitting in behind a midfield three of Moses, Allen and Coutinho. With Johnson and Enrique pushing on as well, we'd create loads of problems for teams.

I'm not sure we could keep Suarez and Sturridge together as an out an out two up top, in fact the formation we have been playing recently is pretty Much the only one that realistically allows us to play them as a two BUT it simply means a asking Sturridge to have some defensive responsibilities on the right when we lose the ball or alternatively you can ask Suarez to do the same on the left. Either way they will still link up plenty and have the freedom to interchange in a fluid 4-3-3.

I'm not sure we could keep Suarez and Sturridge together as an out an out two up top, in fact the formation we have been playing recently is pretty Much the only one that realistically allows us to play them as a two BUT it simply means a asking Sturridge to have some defensive responsibilities on the right when we lose the ball or alternatively you can ask Suarez to do the same on the left. Either way they will still link up plenty and have the freedom to interchange in a fluid 4-3-3.

two things form yesterday stand out.
1 our midfield trio needs breaking up
2 can you have a front two away from home against a team like ~Arsenal

two things form yesterday stand out.
1 our midfield trio needs breaking up
2 can you have a front two away from home against a team like ~Arsenal

Like most on here I don't think there was any reason to change the formation and team that started the 4-1 win over West Brom. It was a good test to see if we could play our own game. The conclusion from yesterdays match was - no we can't play our own game and expect to win at places like Arsenal and you make a good second point there - in hindsight it probably wasn't best to play two strikers in there.

In short term Brendan should perhaps shift game plans by stopping the opposition rather than looking after our own game although in the long term that is dangerous because in loss you can learn a lot more when playing your own game than a draw (or even a win) when merely trying to stop your opponent from playing.

Needed a lamp shade but got a sofa instead, sounds familiar though.

Needed an engine.
Bought a rear diff.

 The manager is short of options.
We can suggest varying formations all F***ing day, the fact is he shuffles under-performing players to whatever position and they will still under-perform.
We have been scraping through for the most part while missing some of our more reliable number, as mentioned Johnson, Enrique and a fully fit Coutinho could have made the difference. It was tempting to venture that playing Coutinho from the off also could have changed things but watching him in the second half put that statement to bed - the lad isn't 100% match fit.
We were found out by a team performing well, nothing exceptional but to a standard befitting their league standing.
As predicted squad economies are taking their toll, a little earlier than expected but as sure as eggs is eggs it was going to bite our arse.
Who gets the stick for not conjuring up victory from a threadbare squad riddled with two injured first team players?
Not the root cause of the squad depletion but the scapegoat installed to take the flak.
 
January transfer window?
Don't hold your F***ing breath.     

Amazingly after the weekend results if Arsenal lose next weekend to manure and we pick up the 3 points at home we'll only be 2 points behind the leaders. A draw between them next weekend will be ideal for us.

Needed an engine.
Bought a rear diff.

.....while the owner distracted himself with a Harley-Davidson.

I cannot believe that some people are still advocating Steven Gerrard as being an attacking midfielder? He is clearly not in possession of the legs to get up and down the pitch on a consistent basis, so the obvious and sensible solution is to play as a deep lying playmaker sitting in front of the back four. He is the best holding midfielder we have by an absolute country mile, but he is no longer the best attacking midfielder we have (Coutinho is).

Lets get real, and play our captain where he doesn't have to rampage up and down the pitch, where he can dictate the flow of the game and ping long passes everywhere. It surprises me that nobody has referred to Mr Benitez's article last week when he talked about Stevies long range passing and how his game is now suited to playing back there.

How many midfielders in our team right now move faster than Gerrard? He is at his best when linking up with the attackers. That deep role, he is not really suited for. He is better than that.


I didn't read the Benitez article, but that is one opinion. He will not play Gerrard in a DM role. He is also busy with Napoli, a CL side, and we are talking about Liverpool FC and Gerrard

Like most on here I don't think there was any reason to change the formation and team that started the 4-1 win over West Brom.

The reason to change the formation was that we didn't have the players available for selection that the 3-5-2 formation compliments. With both Enrique and Johnson out, we needed four at the back because neither Cissokho or Flanagan share the attacking prowess of our first choice fullbacks, nor do they share their pace.