Stoke City 3 - 1 Liverpool - post match boxing

10th place. Expect better than that, hope these lads can get their head's together and start playing together consistently as UNIT.

but they can we have seen it but they didnt seem to fancy it today and maybe it was a case of scoring too early in a game that made Stoke up their game.Its just a head scratching session these days.

The players we have are just not comfortable in this system.

Change the system to one they are comfortable in and see results and consistency improve.

Only the best in England can tame Stoke at the Britannia. We are far from the best team in England. It's no excuse and I honestly would have come out of this match happy with a draw but being beat this comfortably by any team is always horrid. The day we can play Stoke and beat them at the Britannia is the season we can become a comfortably top 4 team in the Premier League again, more so one of the best. But that's no reason to sweep this result under the carpet. It's every reason to step back and see with much clearer vision at what we NEED to do and improve upon with brutal honesty. The most irritating fact about tonight is that we could play this game 10 times over again with the same squad and we'd still lose. Yet again a horrible and unpleasant reminder of how much harder we must work.

We are currently a mid table team and have been for 3 and a half seasons now.

The sad thing about today's result is that there is a real chance the same thing will happen again v QPR at the weekend.

Does this mean dropping into the Championship if necessary ?

Do you see that happening? because I don't.

The players we have at our disposal are 5-8 finish to be honest...I am not fussed either way because to me finishing 5th is the same as finishing 8th.

Talking about going down to the Championship after this loss is about as knee jerk as saying we were top 4 after Saturday's fixture.

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

Says the most constructive poster in the forum

thanks I am glad you follow me so closely.

I'm surprised that anyone is surprised at losing tonight. The manager has the technical and tactical acumen of a lamppost and is obsessed by having the ball passed 30 times before it leaves our half. His overpassing strategy negates Pepe, who is one of the best distributors, through a long throw or kick out, in the game, and makes Gerrard look ordinary as he does not have outlets for his quick passes.

We constantly create chances for the opposition through being pressured while passing the ball out of defence, you have been worked out Rodgers. There is clearly no plan, the players look like headless chickens, and not just in this game, even when we have won it has had more to with Suarez's endeavour rather than the managers planning.

Anyone who thinks he'll come right are deluding themselves, firstly we will never sign Barcelonas players and secondly I fear that we will lose Suarez, Reina and Enrique at the end of the season, because even if some supporters won't see it, the players certainly will see that BR is well out of his depth.

The players we have are just not comfortable in this system.

Change the system to one they are comfortable in and see results and consistency improve.

what will give first pride or pressure.

Signing only strikers in January isn't going to change anything judging by this performance.
The midfield and defence have been woeful.
Not a good display at all.

This is the funny thing. All season, all of us, all the press, all the pundits and even BR have been saying we need another striker but our problem this season hasn't been scoring, it's been a leaky defence. One or both of our CB need a rest because their concentration levels are leaving a lot to be desired.

I'd say Suarez and Enrique played well, Pepe had some good saves as well and couldn't do anything about their goals. Suarez and Enrique worked hard all game. I like Shelvey but he was awful today and our center halves couldn't stand up to Stoke's physicality. I do think Sturridge and Ince would have helped us here. They've got bags of pace and would have allowed us to lift little balls in behind. Brendan has said before in an interview, can't remember which, that when teams pressed Swansea they'd just dink little balls in behind to Dyer and Sinclair. We should have done more of that today as we were caught in possession far too many times at the back. It's a frustrating loss but not the end of the world. On two next week and QPR.

That was genuinely sh*te. Nothing more or less than a shocker from us. Although hopefully we can keep up form and batter QPR.

The sad thing is I can see QPR getting their first win against us. Harry will have watched this with a big smile on his face , and he'll have them raring to go . I hope I'm wrong.

Like I said Walton he and the owners are playing the long game. Sure he would like to win every match, I am sure he hates to lose, but he is going to do it his way; he is not going to drastically change what he does, players will have to adapt or get shipped out.

Nobody wants to say it or believe it but BR & FSG are looking at next year and 3 years from now etc.....etc. Brendan's and the owners idea on how they want to do this constitutes a breaking down of the entire squad and rebuilding it, plans like that do not take 30 matches.

Short term inconsistency for better future results is what I see them doing.

Not saying I agree with it, but I can see it plain as day.

The most successful teams only look as far as the next game

I've said it on here a million times, we,re stuck in a vicious circle where we won't invest until we have success but you can't polish a turd.

We need serious investment to compete at the top, buying the odd 10m type player while losing proven quality as some kind of project hasn't worked for 4 years now, guess in the summer sack the manager and start again

The sad thing is I can see QPR getting their first win against us. Harry will have watched this with a big smile on his face , and he'll have them raring to go . I hope I'm wrong.

we don't do well when teams get in our faces.

The lack of fight was shocking, playing away at stoke you know what to expect! Skirtel and agger where awful and bullied for the whole game. Loved the pointless 5 a side football in our own half!

The sad thing about today's result is that there is a real chance the same thing will happen again v QPR at the weekend.

So true. I don't want to think about that right now. 

We were second best to everything tonight they pressed us into submission......going to need more than Sturridge to turn this team around to many weaknesses and not enough strengths.We look suicidal when passing it across the back and not much better without the ball,Downing hid for 70 odd minutes of that game like he has so many times before my nerves are shot to bits 

That was horrendous.

This is the funny thing. All season, all of us, all the press, all the pundits and even BR have been saying we need another striker but our problem this season hasn't been scoring, it's been a leaky defence. One or both of our CB need a rest because their concentration levels are leaving a lot to be desired.

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

On current playing skill, I'd take Suarez, Enrique, Lucas, Johnson, Agger and Reina. The rest can be shipped anywhere on the galaxy. We're several players short from having a strong squad.

Anyway, if BR says anything about us being outstanding or brilliant, I will shoot myself then nuke my house.

The two centre halves need a good look at themselves, nowhere near strong enough. Equally I think the coaching staff have to have a look as well. They pressed us high up last time and were always going to doth this, we totally failed to cope with it or to have an alternative plan. Must do better but we say that every time we go there.

Too many sh*te players to be honest.

Obviously tactics, system and all that should and must be discussed but after quite a few seasons of mediocrity, it does come to how good some of our players are.

Skrtel and Agger, are they as good as we seem to think they are? I'm starting to believe they're not. Seriously. They're bullied by some sh*t strikers and they're not as good in the air as they should be. I even thought maybe this was a game for Carragher because of that.

Henderson is a total waste of space. He is a brainless midfielder with some decent touches but nothing else to offer. Get rid as soon as possible.

Shelvey isn't good enough for the Premier League at the moment. He's too slow to make decisions and his accuracy leaves a lot to be desired, in pretty much everything he does - tackling, passing, finishing, creating. He's a good squad option but nothing more than that right now.

Downing is a bloody joke, I hope we won't get carried away because of one decent performance against Fulham.

Gerrard is still above a lot of our players due to his intelligence and technical ability but he's far from being the same player, and having him in central midfield isn't helping. People run across him all the time and he becomes only a passenger in the team. Play him further upfront where his flaws won't expose us so much, because it's time for us to accept Gerrard isn't Captain Fantastic no longer. He had a good midfield performance against a Fulham side who are poor in that area and missing important players, like with Downing I hope we won't overreacted based on that.

I'm probably being too harsh here after a defeat but that's how I feel right now.

We are currently a mid table team and have been for 3 and a half seasons now.

The day rafa was told our spend included wages was the beginning of the end really

Not spending wont fix this that's what we've learned the last 4 years