West Ham 3 - 1 Liverpool: In Game & Post Game Shambles.

This game was lost in midfield. No cover for the defence, no support for the forward line.

Doom and gloom? No, yes we played sh*t today and we deserve bad press, but we will get it right, come on you Red Men.

This game was lost in midfield. No cover for the defence, no support for the forward line.

or no midfield to talk of.

Doom and gloom? No, yes we played sh*t today and we deserve bad press, but we will get it right, come on you Red Men.

just realism mate we should be able to put out a team at West Ham that doesn't get dominated and turned over.If we have aspirations of winning the league West Ham away is 3 points nothing less will do.

Man, head into some cold water after that.

Tactics/formations aside - last year we let in a lot of goals, but had S&S to outscore the opposition.  Imo, man for man, we have better defenders than last season. They need to be better organized.  Hendo fu**ed up for the first goal, didn't even try to win the ball in, just tried obstructing. 2nd was a cross to the far post that F***ing went in. 2-0 and boots barely dirty, unreal.

But the worry for me is were the goals are gonna come from, after raining down last year. Have seen nothing from Lallana and Markovic, big investment in them, no return yet. Coutinho form is unfortunate, but we know what he can do. And up front, the fact that BR looks at Borini, and his 'movement', and this is our best option -and btw given who's available/other guys form/how Mario plays, I couldn't disagree with him today - and that's a concern. Studge being out is huge.

Looking at the first XI that lined out today, after all the cash spent, it's not as good as the first XI most of last year, and that's painful.

Doom and gloom? No, yes we played sh*t today and we deserve bad press, but we will get it right, come on you Red Men.

No doom and gloom because our chief rivals for 3rd or 4th haven't opened up any gap, yet. Plus Sturridge alongside Balotelli and Sterling will improve our team no end.

But 3 defeats in our first 5 is as bad a start as I can remember so the manager and team definitely need to pull the finger out immediately.

Feel sick.

It's not as if West Ham have a few classy Internationals who can slick it about and cut you open, they just had an Alardyce bruise em and get stuck in attitude then defend like the last Alamo and we just couldn't cope..all the goals we're avoidable and should've been avoided..
Our lack of creativity is what really worries me.. Apart from Sterling we have NO ONE or at least as far as I can see who is capable of supplying Balotelli and even Studge when he's back..Coutinho maybe.. but even today he would have been flattened in midfield...Henderson took Lucas's place today not Lallana and just f**ked about with it across the back line..

Take it from one who gets kicked in the balls every time he turns a corner these days, this is just a blip. to me it's blatantly obvious that we're in transition with players learning the curve of how we are supposed to play and when the jigsaw falls into place then we'll be formidable. I flatly refuse to judge us on an early season stutter.

I said the early part of his first season and I also said we'll be better than last season so no it isn't two steps back to me.

Despite our form and results this season we still have more points than we did from the first 5 games in 2012 so we shouldn't fall as far behind before we get our arse in gear.  Once we do get it into gear, as Brendan did in 2012, we are capable of being far more deadly than than the second half of that season, so we're more likely to finish nearer to our 13/14 points total than our 12/13 season.

In the first five games of last season we got three wins, one draw and one defeat. In the first five games of this season we have two wins and three defeats. That means we're four points worse off. That's more defeats than at this stage last season and half the defeats we suffered in the entire campaign. That's two steps back in my book. I don't disagree that once we get in to gear we're capable of being far more deadly but the point is we shouldn't need to be waiting to get in gear, we should have been in gear from match one and you can't blame the influx of new players nor the Champions league because we where unconvincing against Saints in that first match, and we only played two new players on the pitch and they where both in defence. This season our problems are stemming from a lack of urgency and accuracy in our passing in midfield. Teams have figured us out and we're not adapting to them and that's a criticism that has to be tabled at Rodgers door.

Studge being out is huge.

It's killing us at the moment when we have to deal with our defensive woes aswell. Against Spurs we looked very good in attack and weren't really missing Suarez because Sturridge, Balotelli and Sterling all linked up really well together but now Sturridge is out it's suddenly made Balotelli very isolated IMO. Sturridge will draw players out and create space for others as well as being an absolute handful for the defence. It's typical though, we get a really good performance under our belts and then a poxy International break where they don't look after the players properly has really cost us. I can't help but be optimistic that we will see a similar display to what we did at Spurs when Sturridge is back and dare I say even Allen. I have never really rated Allen but all throughout the last few games and today especially I couldn't help but feel that we were missing him in the midfield and although we haven't seen a lot of Can, I also think we will be a lot stronger when he is back.

Today wasn't acceptable, we know that and the team knows that. The important thing is we start addressing these issues quickly, and bounce back next time out. It's about time we start dominating games again, getting the 3 points and keeping clean sheets. We have had a sh*t start to the season but last year the Chavs lost 3 in a row didn't they against the likes of Palace etc? but still finished just off the top.

The main issue I have with today is that as soon as we went 1-0 down our heads dropped, normally we see the team go all out for a goal if we fall behind but today we didn't, it wasn't until just before Sterling scored that we started getting anywhere, for a heck of a long time in the game we were unable to even get out of our half and seemed as though the team had already accepted the defeat, there was no fight and desire there to turn it around. Everytime the camera zoomed in on one of our players they didn't look fired up or anything to change things, they looked bored and fed up, as if they were just going through the motions, especially Gerrard.

In the first five games of last season we got three wins, one draw and one defeat. In the first five games of this season we have two wins and three defeats. That means we're four points worse off. That's more defeats than at this stage last season and half the defeats we suffered in the entire campaign. That's two steps back in my book. I don't disagree that once we get in to gear we're capable of being far more deadly but the point is we shouldn't need to be waiting to get in gear, we should have been in gear from match one and you can't blame the influx of new players nor the Champions league because we where unconvincing against Saints in that first match, and we only played two new players on the pitch and they where both in defence. This season our problems are stemming from a lack of urgency and accuracy in our passing in midfield. Teams have figured us out and we're not adapting to them and that's a criticism that has to be tabled at Rodgers door.

Try reading what I posted.  I wasn't talking about last season, I was talking about Brendans 1st season.

Raheem MOTM for me on a piss poor day, some encouraging touches from Balotelli as well.
Apart from that a bag of sh*te although it is very early days, it's like watching a team of strangers sometimes.

In the first five games of last season we got three wins, one draw and one defeat. In the first five games of this season we have two wins and three defeats. That means we're four points worse off. That's more defeats than at this stage last season and half the defeats we suffered in the entire campaign. That's two steps back in my book. I don't disagree that once we get in to gear we're capable of being far more deadly but the point is we shouldn't need to be waiting to get in gear, we should have been in gear from match one and you can't blame the influx of new players nor the Champions league because we where unconvincing against Saints in that first match, and we only played two new players on the pitch and they where both in defence. This season our problems are stemming from a lack of urgency and accuracy in our passing in midfield. Teams have figured us out and we're not adapting to them and that's a criticism that has to be tabled at Rodgers door.

We always used to say lets look at were we are after the first 6 games. well we have played 6 and have been good in 1 against Spurs.
Is that the players?,  well we have just spent £100mil on improving the squad. lets hope we don't do a spurs from last season after selling Bale.
The spine of the team is always a good indicator of how good it is.Mignolet has been poor for sometime now our CB pairings are no better than anytime under Brendan despite spending £40mil or so on them and Stevie is a year older and slower and we have lost Luis.
That isn't good news and I don't see how we will improve dramatically this side of the new Year.

Raheem MOTM for me on a piss poor day, some encouraging touches from Balotelli as well.
Apart from that a bag of sh*te although it is very early days, it's like watching a team of strangers sometimes.

what is really bothering me is apart from Spurs this has been our level of performance so far this year and it doesn't make any sense.

Part of me thinks this is just a blip and we will carry on from where we left off last season. The other part of me is VERY Worried that this is the start of a serious dark patch. Teams know how to set up against us now. We lack imagination and the skills to unlock the most basic of defenses. Lambert borini Gerrard lucas and mignolet have all regressed on last season and they are big players for us.

Top 4 is going to be tough so we need to sort it out and start grinding out results. Win ugly. How do we do that if we can't defend? Play them at their own game. Play ugly until we get our rhythm. Tight back 4 with full backs not belting on as much? Midfield drop 10 yards? It's all ugly but we aren't doing the sexy stuff right.

Keep a few clean sheets and grind out 1-0 wins. Mignolet and the two cbs are now our most important positions to fix. Gerrard needs to be replaced as DM. Emre to do the job as soon as he is fit and able. Gerrard can play 30min in advance roles if needed.

It's all fu**ed and we need to strip it back and play them at their own game until we fix it.

I don't think we have made sufficient allowance for just how awesome Luis was. The whole team needs to give more and up the tempo which was pedestrian at times. Lambert scored 12 last season in the PL and made a similar amount so how in the name of God does Borini get the nod .

what is really bothering me is apart from Spurs this has been our level of performance so far this year and it doesn't make any sense.

Worrying thing mate is that it's not our level of performances as such, we are getting worse with each game. Last week I couldn't believe what I was watching against Villa, then to have been the second best team to Ludogorets (all be it we did still win...just) and now this performance.

Said it and still saying it, we should have spent a sh*t load of our money on a DM, no, BR did not see that as a priority as he takes it that Stevie will be the one. This has come back to haunt us and haunt us big time and I saw it coming. Let's be honest, Stevie is no DM, he simply doesn't has the legs to defend the back four. Some said it takes less energy to be a DM than an AM, then people are simply believing what others tells them, it doesn't work that way in modern football. Some said Stevie can't attack anymore, so is playing Stevie as a DM or AM going to benefit us more, or putting it in a negative manner; doing us less damage? I'm still consistent with my belief that Stevie should be pushed further forward, he'll do us less harm as an AM. But sadly, there's no DM to do the covering.

Don't get me wrong, Stevie has been one of the most loyal servant to the club and he has done more than enough to end up in the hall of fame but BR must have the guts to change things.

Some said, BR got it wrong playing Stevie and Lucas, does BR has a choice? he doesn't , he knew he is screwed, he has no world class DM in his ranks and he only has Lucas while Can is out injured. Yes the defence has been piss poor but when you open the floodgates in midfield to allow waves after waves of attack without much resistance, any world class defence will crumble. No I'm not defending our back for but the problems started in midfield and compounded with poor defensive mistakes.

Hendo, can do some useful defending in front of that back four but again he's not a DM, playing Lucas which is at best a pedestrian is simply asking for trouble. A slow Stevie plus a slower Lucas makes it a perfect recipe for West Ham to control the midfield.

Funnily, I've come to accept this defeat in a calmer manner when you see Stevie and Lucas together and we all know what is the outcome.

BR has a mountain to climb as he has no engine room at the moment,

Worrying thing mate is that it's not our level of performances as such, we are getting worse with each game. Last week I couldn't believe what I was watching against Villa, then to have been the second best team to Ludogorets (all be it we did still win...just) and now this performance.

Something is fundamentally wrong at Melwood we have a better overall squad than last season but if we play any worse than today Everton will rip us apart.

Something is fundamentally wrong at Melwood we have a better overall squad than last season but if we play any worse than today Everton will rip us apart.

Basing it on there 4 goal rout in the week, they will crucify us if we play like this again.

Mignolet - 5.5 - .5 added for a couple of decent saves, still not at his best.

Manquillo - N/A - Taken off early for Sakho - Tactical switch.
Skrtel - 5 - Poor - First game back from injury.
Lovren - 5 - Poor - Struggling to pick up any form at the moment.
Moreno - 6.5 - Tried hard, got forward well, energetic.

Henderson - 5 - Couldn't get into the game.
Gerrard (c) - 5 - Kept quiet by Downing all game, looked better towards the end when he was released forward.
Lucas - 5 - Same as Henderson.

Sterling - 6.5 - Great finish, tried his best and played in various positions today.

Borini - 6 - Tried hard, had a few good chances.
Balotelli - 6 - Same as Borini.

Subs:

Sakho - 5 - Didn't communicate well (again) with our other defenders, at fault for the third goal.
Lallana - 6 - Offered something different.
Lambert - 5 - Couldn't get into the game, needs longer than 5-15 minutes a game to make an impact.

Overall a frustrating game.

Every Player below 5 i'm afraid..

I wanna see 8's,9's and 10's against Everton next week !!