Echo the thoughts of many in the thread. Terrible performance from all, from management down to players, except for, once again Luis Suarez. If our players had half the desire of them Stoke lads, we would be much higher in the league, but instead you hear them talking about 'getting back into the CL'. How about living in the here and now and actually make it happen? A lot of it strikes me as players just taking it for granted that it will all come together because we're Liverpool and it doesn't work like that, just sick of it all now.
The performance itself was awful, the goals we conceded were a joke. Everyone knows how Stoke get at you, long balls and set pieces. All 3 goals conceded came from their basic tactics. First one noone was sticking with Walters, even though he was always looking to pick up the knock down. 2nd one, is it even worth going in to? No man on the post against F***ing Stoke City, whoever came up with that idea needs shooting. And the 3rd one, very good finish, but noone has got tight to him, when they know a long throw is going to be arriving. It's basic stuff that you learn in school, I could do a better F***ing job and that isn't an exaggeration!
The Centre Backs for us, never looked like winning a header and that's mostly because they allowed themselves to be backed into and went for half-hearted headers, almost as if they were afraid of having a clash of heads or something.
Shelvey was awful, giving away simple 5 yard passes, his accuracy is woeful and he's a very inconsistent player, turns up one week and produces a performance like that the next.
The manager, although his philosophy is admirable, the application seems to be missing. You've got to be able to change things up if plan A isn't working. And what he needs to change is what everyone has been saying all season, more bodies in the box, commit men forward and get the ball forward quicker, whilst Suarez is making his runs, dragging defenders all over the place. Instead, we keep possession for the sake of possession. Did anybody honestly feel at 3-1 we had a hope of getting back in to it? I certainly didn't.
January is going to be vital and it's going to take more than Daniel Sturridge and Tom Ince to get us competing in these types of games.
Logged