Just watched my recording as I missed the live match.
This was so freaking frustrating. Here are my observations/questions:
1) Lucas was outstanding, broke up so much play and protected the defense while he was on, never felt we were in danger while he was on.
2) Sakho was outstanding, only saw maybe one poor play/pass from him, but otherwise there's absolutely no reason that Lovren should ever start ahead of Sakho barring injury.
3) Moreno really responded with his start, I thought he played very well and really was our most threatening offensive player for the most part.
4) Coutinho? WTF? Trying too hard maybe but really when he gets as many looks as he had today, he has to bury at least one of them, especially the one on one with the keeper
5) Sturridge looked ok, but rusty as expected. Made it out injury free, he'll only get better
6) Benteke...hoepfully not an injury issue but they said that he had a slight hamstring concern...didn't really trouble them but did look like he and Sturridge could work well with each other but only if we play through the middle more, playing wide with Sturridge and Benteke doesn't appear to offer us much.
7) WTF did Brendan take off Lucas instead of Milner? Other than the assist, I thought Milner was basically terrible today. Lost the ball too much, too many misplaced passes and he can't take a corner to save his life. Firmino should have been starting ahead of Milner and should be going forward in this formation.
Danny Ings...I'm liking him, he needs to play more often as a compliment. I loved his effort and loved how he wasn't taking any crap from anyone including the stupid officials.
9) Lallana and Firmino looked good coming on and really had they been on earlier I feel like we might have gotten more. Play Firmino centrally and more forward and watch good things happen, he's talented.
10) Mignolet?
Can we trade him straight up for Ruddy?
11) Clyne is so solid you almost forget about him which is good, nothing exceptional, but you never worry about him, he just does his job, well.
12) Skrtel....eh....he was ok, but I think he benefits from the back three and also from Sakho and Can doing so well to play the ball.
13) Can is hot and cold for me, some moments he looks unstoppable, some moments he looks brain dead, I will say when he marauded through the middle we looked a lot more dangerous.
Overall I can't believe we didn't win that game. Defensively I thought we were good if not very good offensively I just don't understand how we were able to squander possession and so many opportunites.
Brendan remains on the hot seat until he can figure out how to get these creative players scoring goals.