Basel 1 - 0 Liverpool: In Game & Post Game Wonderings (again).

There were 10 other players on the pitch with him.

None of them were half as bad though.. 

We have a mixed bag in this squad and with the amount we have spent we should be able to put out 11 men to challenge Basle

Well it seems Sterling isn't Mr consistency, Gerrard as we know is ineffectual from deep for most of the time. Marcovic isn't the player we thought he was. Enrique clearly isn't ready to return. Balloteli was in effect a last minute panic buy and just doesn't suit our usual playing style.
Without Louis we have lost an intensity and urgency about our game, and due to that, our manager doesn't seem to have any answers and selects individuals who's natural game doesn't compliment each other.
In a nutshell,.... No balance, cohesion, fluidity, urgency or the ability to change things when it's all going tits up in front of your very eyes.
Funny old game aint it ?
 Only thing that really concerns me now is... What the F**k are we doing on the training ground, when our performances are getting more and more consistently like tonight ?

Absolute sh*te.

Exactly, no one covered themselves in glory tonight. Raheem, according to Brendan needs protecting, he then proceeds to play him in every game! Raheem Sterling is NOT the problem, tonight or any other night.

Thing is though mate he is playing with the big boys and some of those chances tonight my nan would have put away.

I also think he is getting a bit greedy too.

Someone said 'Mario learn to stay onside', very, very difficult when the player strolls about like John Wayne with piles.

Don't know what game some people were watching if they were saying Mario was our best player tonight. We were outplayed and Sterling displayed some very poor touches tonight. I would actually say one of our best attacking players tonight was Manquillo who kept getting himself in space. Had Mario not have taken on one of the balls meant for Manquillo we could have maybe salvaged a point.

Honestly think we are lacking that creativity up front that Luis did give us, but I think it can be offered from elsewhere, sadly the players that may do this are injured. When Lambert came on Basel put more men behind the ball, maybe we should have brought him on earlier than 10 mins to go.

Just have to make our home game against them count, and hope we can play well and salvage something from the game against Madrid.

Balotelli "tried", "got out of the box"... and? Instead of simply getting out of the box and coming to get the ball deep to try ridiculously long shots, he could be getting into good positions and making runs for the passes the likes of Coutinho could play. But he doesn't do any of that, his movement is ridiculous and so is his work rate and team play.

Obviously he was not the only disappointing performer today, but these are not characteristics of his play against Basel only, it sums up his entire career.

Making good runs where, if the team can't create? If he stood there waiting for us to create him a good chance, we would be complaining on how he just watched the game, instead of trying something.

In fact, one of the few good plays we had happened with him trying to get involved, passed to Lallana and he passed to Sterling, the one that, somehow is not being blamed for this result, to miss a great chance.

Blame Mario when he have chances and misses, like against Everton. But today, even tough he wasn't great he was one of the few that I can't be mad with.

We are all pissed.

But please, Balo was the only good thing today. He is a target for the opposition to cause to bag a red. He controlled himself. He played well. So chill.

Oh sweet jesus mate. Sorry but F**k me did you just use him not reacting to opposition taunts as a plus? I like most your posts mate and respect you.... He did no play well. He is a striker, no assists, no shots on target bar 1 40yard shot. No clear cut chances. No NOTHING.

ou can say Balo tried, or Sterling's got pace, but you'd be utterly kidding yourself. That was a f**king shambles and millions saw it. Such an inept way of playing, it was no exaggeration to say we were embarrassing.

You said what I was thinking, I just couldn't be arsed typing 4 paragraphs....

Gerrard telling it like it is... We were crap!

we need him further up the pitch and scoring goals.

Basle are a good side FFS. It's not 'weak opposition beat us', it's a sh*t performance.

We were under almost no pressure. Our defense had almost nothing to do (tho as usual coughed one up from a set piece). Not the sign of a  strong CL side at home.

We were under almost no pressure. Our defense had almost nothing to do (tho as usual coughed one up from a set piece). Not the sign of a  strong CL side at home.

as 5 times winners if we are in awe of Basle we are in trouble aren't we

what happened to Lallana I know we are searching for the right team but that was a poor team selection. 2000 fans made that trip and the effort they put in to get there has just showed up the millionaires in RED. We want passion back in this team

Well the away fans certainly put the effort in, pity the same cannot be said about the team, and I have to say Brendan.
I really haven't seen much passion this season, a real worry!

ok there is going to be a fair amount of knee jerking so you are forwarned


the season is young, many games to play still.... we have injured... blah blah blah

1) truth of the matter is, losing suarez is a much tougher loss than what we could've imagined.  We have more quality players but we have a weaker XI that can play the BR style.  balotelli is trying.  you can see he is trying... anyone that says otherwise is blind.  But you can not get a player that plays a certain style for his entire life to adopt another in like 1 month.    We do not play the hold up style play of football.  we play the super fast and direct style that balo doesn't play.  it is not because he doesn't have the skill... but his mentality for this type of football isn't there.  Hence he makes the wrong runs.. or doesn't run.. or misses on passes.  so lets get off his back... the lad needs time to adapt to our system.  if sturridge was fit, balo's transition would have been much easier

2) sturridge's injuries.  Forget allen.  I like allen but we have decent midfield cover.  lets talk sturridge.  we scored a crap load of goals last year.  suarez and sturridge. we lost suarez to barca.. and sturridge is now injured.  basically what this means is that our scoring output of last year has come to a F***ing screeching halt.  the word is out on sterling, and without sturridge and suarez around he is so exposed.. he wont have the same amount of time and space now.  BR should've bought the same style players as sturridge and suarez.  instead we have lambert and balo.  the closest one to BR's play style is borini but BR like him as a bench warmer.   

3) team selection.  so what happens when the results are sh*te and you have lots of games back to back.  the manager gets all anxious and over plays the players.  you can see that in sterling.  even lovren.  they are starting to tire.  i hope our weekend result improves but we should all start to worry.  a good team can have it's off days.  but if you are consistently on an off day.... the team really isn't that good

4) Liverpool needs to realize cheap = cheap.   many members are already saying this.  we have spent a sh*te load of money over the years.  lets see... i can buy this player for 10mil, that for 15mil, that for 10mil for the same position.. great potential... maybe.  or i could've bought a tried and tested super player for 25mil.  Liverpool tends to do option 1 over multiple windows.  for example, our style of play requires a midfield that can own the field and spray passes all over the place.   what we have right now is... lallana that is playing better but not a free flow spray passer, hendo our machine.. gerrard way back.. cou that has flashes of brilliance, markovic as a potential amongst others... like allen who is injured.  instead, imagine we have a fabregas in our midfield.  i would put money on saying that we would dominate the midfield so much more with him.   This is the same with falcao.  he actually plays a similar style as we do.  there should be a factor in the discussion process for this.  balo seems like a good lad... has potential but doesn't play our style naturally.  how many games can we wait till he starts to gel?


look at our scoring rate this year vs last.  night and day.

Well the away fans certainly put the effort in, pity the same cannot be said about the team, and I have to say Brendan.
I really haven't seen much passion this season, a real worry!

without passion we have nothing

Basel are sh*te. On par with Villa. We have been beaten twice in as many weeks by that calibre.

No real need for a poll on that garbage performance.

Don't know why Brendan talks so much nonesense. He is full of bullshit excuses.

as 5 times winners if we are in awe of Basle we are in trouble aren't we

Really thought it was just a matter of time before we got the equalizer. Still can't understand how we came away without a score. Going forward we looked like a young lad fumbling with his first bra strap.

Souness and Carra just pointing out how much Skrtel is obsessed with the man as opposed to the flight of the ball. This is the same EVERY game and EVERY set piece.

Just feels like last season never happened and everything has returned to the way it was before last season with our performances.

Need to get a few wins quickly to boost our confidence or this could turn into another poor season. 

No real need for a poll on that garbage performance.

Don't vote then .

Don't know why Brendan talks so much nonesense. He is full of bullshit excuses.

I was thinking that earlier actually, before the game. Had a moment where I was thinking how if we continue our poor form tonight and lose then I reckon it will be the same old comments from him. I'm not Brendan bashing here, it's just that no matter how bad we play he just wont come out and say we simply weren't good enough, end of.