Stoke City 3 - 1 Liverpool - post match boxing

Top performance and against Stoke but like so many other times over the last couple of years the team have let themselves down again the following match. Not good enough and to be hammered 3-0 by West Brom and 3-1 by Stoke in the same season as well as being behind them all season so far is an embarrassment. The owners and BR need to get their ass' in gear and make sure they get some signings that will boost our season in very very quickly from next week and no hanging around.

Llorente sturridge alonso should help probably 25m for the lot

Happy Xmas and if we can't find 25m for that quality after the austerity we've suffered wages slashed experience sold and players loaned then we don't deserve to be dreaming of top 4 and il be jumping on the yanks out brigade one again enough is enough

These same players + any manager with some tactical nouse = at least giving Stoke a game.

In which F***ing parallel universe are we in where a Stoke side were the better passers of the football? I'm not talking about pass completion or number of passes, but incisive, threatening and meaningful passes.

Henderson or Cole thats a tough call.

Yeah so close it would be a travesty to seperate them. Let both the tw*ts go.

This was one game I would have expected the manager to do his homework on the opposition..... and addressed those gaping holes in our midfield.

Not a good day at the office.

BR said in pre-match that he almost only focussed on us, which if we are superb fair enough...but when you give the ball away all the time, it does leave you wondering what plan b is - i.e. if you are playing sh*te.....however I don't think any manager could have coped with how we played tonight. Shelvey, Suso constantly giving the ball away - Suarez not being able to hold the ball up, Gerrard looking for the hollywood ball all the time...Stoke had it easy tonight....

Well, that was painful to watch - and for me, personally, that was the worse defeat/game so far.

I am all for the philosophy of two steps forward, one step back, but I have to admit, for the first time since the gaffer took over, I'm starting to question whether or not he has a plan 'B'. Here's why I say that.

It wasn't so much that we were out jumped, or out fought, or were beaten to most if not every single 50-50 ball. It wasn't so much that Skrtel slipped, or how naive we were for our second goal. It's not so much that we still look totally short of imagination in the final third. And I'm all for passing the ball under pressure around our 18 yard line, if it means keeping the ball - even when we lost it now and then (stick to your guns and all that). It's not so much that we were shocking when we tried passing the ball from defence to midfield (the amount of times we gave short passes away was criminal), or that our final ball is non existent. It's not even that Agger, Johnson, and Skrtel look to have lost a yard of pace all of a sudden. None of that is my biggest worry.

My biggest worry, is that for the first time since Brendan took over, after the gaffer having drummed it into our players (experienced and young alike) for over six months, as to how he wants us to play, we really did look absolutely clueless out there. Seriously, I think we could have played until New Year's Day, and we still wouldn't have scored a goal from open play. And here's the kicker, we didn't look like we knew 'how' to go about carving out a second goal. We need to stop using Suarez as our only attack focus - and that means every single player in midfield and up front need to take on more attacking responsibilities. A lot more. Daniel Sturridge, you have your work cut out. For about 87 minutes, we seemed like we were being controlled in every department by a very limited Stoke side.

I know it's a work in progress, but we didn't look like we knew what we were doing tonight. That's hard to take, and not because I'm expecting us to be playing football out of this world (I know how this works), it's because tonight we looked like we had never played together before. We were all at sea, with no plan to speak of. That's the crux of my doubt; we had no plan, no shape, and as said, no clue what to do. It's as if they were told to just 'give it your best shot', and don't worry about strategies and/or tactics.

I hear tell the players did not have training yesterday - perhaps that was the reason.

Although there'll be a debate on here about tactics, for me this wasn't really the point today. Agger in particular was very poor, and it's difficult to get results at places like the Brittania if you don't defend properly. I remain extremely unconvinced about Lucas since his injury (sacrilage I know) and at places like this you need men not boys, leaving Suso, Sterling and Shelvey inadequate.

When the Mancs go there they'll have Ferdinand and Vidic winning everything in the air, Valencia offering threat out wide, Rooney up with Van Persie ensuring Stoke daren't press too high for fear of getting caught with a ball over the top. They'll compete and scrap and the youngest player in the team will be 23/24. they'll have Welbeck and Hernandez n the bench, and they'll probably win. That's what we need to be aiming to do at gaffs like this too, but we're some way off right now. it's not down to tactics tho IMHO.

Disgraceful performance tonight,jonjo shelvey is a complete joke,can't understand wot he brings to the team.. January can't come quick enough but to be honest unless we get 4 or 5 players in we're fu**ed.. Steward not good enough, Jordan doesn't look up to it, Suso isn't ready, Joe should be fu**ed out on jan 1st and jonjo is never goin to be a Liverpool type player.. Surely Sahin must be thinkin wot the F**k did I come here for when boys like that are in front of me

Your post history is impressive.

Impressive in that you haven't gone as far as topping yourself yet.

It's difficult for me to admit that Jonjo is simply not good enough for us as his first touch and shooting has been poor all along and no improvement at all. It's either he has the quality or he doesn't, sadly he doesn't.

I know what you mean mate, I've always had high hopes for Jonjo but at the moment he's nowhere near good enough.

He has the ideas, gets involved in the game, but his accuracy leaves a lot to be desired.

EVERYTHING about him is erratic. His tackling can be bloody awful at times, and the same can be said about his passing (so many opportunities he blows away due to poor passing) and finishing.

Differently to Henderson, however, I do think he has the brains to be a big player, he gets involved, his movement is good, he seems to have the good ideas... but technically he's just short of the quality necessary to be that player for us right now.

Use him as a squad player or maybe loan him out to gain experience but we really shouldn't be counting on him as a regular starter

Although there'll be a debate on here about tactics, for me this wasn't really the point today. Agger in particular was very poor, and it's difficult to get results at places like the Brittania if you don't defend properly. I remain extremely unconvinced about Lucas since his injury (sacrilage I know) and at places like this you need men not boys, leaving Suso, Sterling and Shelvey inadequate.

When the Mancs go there they'll have Ferdinand and Vidic winning everything in the air, Valencia offering threat out wide, Rooney up with Van Persie ensuring Stoke daren't press too high for fear of getting caught with a ball over the top. They'll compete and scrap and the youngest player in the team will be 23/24. they'll have Welbeck and Hernandez n the bench, and they'll probably win. That's what we need to be aiming to do at gaffs like this too, but we're some way off right now. it's not down to tactics tho IMHO.

Spot on mate

Our manager doesnt seem to do any homework on other teams we  just way the same way pass sideways back and then try to get get suarez in Ray Wilkins would be a star in BR reckoning we may have most possesion in nearly all games but 80% of passes are made by enrique/srktel/allen/agger very negative

Under Rogers there is no passion no guile and no fight, that's down to the manager to get them geed up for the game but we just laid down and let Stoke  do what they wanted. We are a mid table team with top wages being paid the owners have a lot to answer for in not bringing in Rafa when they had the chance, Rogers is still learning and it can take years for him to get his education.

I'm certain tactics play a role.  If we are pressed so high up the pitch and lose the ball frequently, we are exposed to counter attacks.  We have seen it on numerous occasions this year.  To hear the manager state he only concentrates on us (he may be fibbing a bit?) worries me.  A lot.

We've also recouped more than enough and slashed £50m off the wage bill in two years.

Its a good enough excuse for me.

We have spent close to £140 million on players and have Suarez to show for it

Nothing should ever excuse wasting so much money

It's a joke how much money the club has wasted on players over the years

Llorente sturridge alonso should help probably 25m for the lot

Happy Xmas and if we can't find 25m for that quality after the austerity we've suffered wages slashed experience sold and players loaned then we don't deserve to be dreaming of top 4 and il be jumping on the yanks out brigade one again enough is enough

They just won't spend that kind of money, they're most probably still recouping their investment in buying the club, so everything will have to be lean and mean to the extend we have to settle for average players.

Following the recent austerity program, the selling or loaning of players on high wages. The forthcoming sales of Downing, Cole and Henderson. It has been anounced that Brendan Rogers has been awarded a 'player purchasing kitty' of £450 mill. There will also be an additional sum of £ 300 mill for wages.....





OOOOWWWWW1   F**k !  Just rolled over and fell out of bed.    oooowww.


Oh well, perhaps dreams do come true.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL.

Your post history is impressive.

Impressive in that you haven't gone as far as topping yourself yet.

 

Center backs shouldn't need rest, just look at Stoke, Shawcross, Huth, and Begovic have played every game and they have the best defense in the league

Rest is just another way of saying drop them because they're playing crap. We cannot continue leaking goals the way we do. We just don't have the players to out score the opposition. Man U can get away with it having Hernadez, Rooney and Van Persie in the team. We've only Luis and as good as he is, he's only one man. Coates should be given a run out to see what he can do because right now he can't do any worse than who we're playing.

We were poor. If I was a Stoke City fan I would be delighted with the performance Liverpool gave..made a Championship side look inventive. Sky Sports were creaming their pants as usual.

We have spent close to £140 million on players and have Suarez to show for it

Nothing should ever excuse wasting so much money

It's a joke how much money the club has wasted on players over the years

You're doing it again, George. Inferring that our net spend is £140 million when it clearly isn't.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers: "We had a perfect start with our first penalty of the season. You couldn't ask for any more but we are very disappointed by how we defended. We have nobody to blame but ourselves, you have to defend better than that. We failed to control the game once we scored, we didn't deal with the first ball forward.

"To concede from a corner is bitterly disappointing. When you defend like that it's difficult to gain a result. It's disappointing.

"Stoke are really committed to the cause. You know you get a difficult game against them, but we never took a foothold in the game and that's really disappointing. Luis Suarez has been playing with a swollen ankle for the last few weeks so we will assess him and see how he is."

My thoughts exactly Brendan.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers: "We had a perfect start with our first penalty of the season. You couldn't ask for any more but we are very disappointed by how we defended. We have nobody to blame but ourselves, you have to defend better than that. We failed to control the game once we scored, we didn't deal with the first ball forward.

"To concede from a corner is bitterly disappointing. When you defend like that it's difficult to gain a result. It's disappointing.

"Stoke are really committed to the cause. You know you get a difficult game against them, but we never took a foothold in the game and that's really disappointing. Luis Suarez has been playing with a swollen ankle for the last few weeks so we will assess him and see how he is."

Spot on from the manager now let's see what he does about it. Very concerning about Luis, hopefully he's alright.