Oldham 3-2 Liverpool: In-game & post-match debating

I am angry and embarrassed this evening.  Why did we have no tactical answer to Oldham's direct tactics?  Did the boss think his passing game would see us all right?  Did he learn anything from the Stoke debacle?

So, so many questions and one right royal feck up.

hope the boss tells robinson to stop talking back to senior players. Luis is perhaps hard to play with time to time but if every young player start doing what robinson did today, it would really F**k the whole club up.

hope the boss tells robinson to stop talking back to senior players. Luis is perhaps hard to play with time to time but if every young player start doing what robinson did today, it would really F**k the whole club up.

That goes without saying mate and he should be disciplined for doing it, it's offensive to the player and the supporters who get behind the team.

The irony behind Robinsons outburst was that Luis was 100% correct to pull him up for a ridiculous decision to shoot from an angle. Then he compounded it with trying to do a daft turn with seconds left.

That goes without saying mate and he should be disciplined for doing it, it's offensive to the player and the supporters who get behind the team.

This absolutely, and to do it to Luis, who is the reason we are in as good a position as we are is unforgivable.
He gets enough flak from the meda and opposition fans without his fellow player having a go.

Funny because when he shot it was me shouting F**k off at him. Awful decision making, and yes compounded by that comical attempt to turn seconds later which raced out for a throw. Looking forward to seeing Johnson back there.

F***ing shattered and angry, Thought only 2 players, Suarez and Henderson, turned up to play today. The rest were sh*t and looked like they didn't give a F**k.

Out of the FA Cup already to some hack team in the 1st Division. Not good enough. For me Sterling was absolutely horrendous today and I'm going to give Sturridge a bit of leeway as he's new to our Club but to me, he thought he was better than everyone else on the pitch He had a shocker, hope we don't see a performance like that from him again.

Gutted and once again, cu*ts from all over the world will be laughing at us. 

I have to admit I sometimes struggle to understand Brendan's thinking. Just been reading that he has blasted the young players for their performance. He is apparently disappointed that they were given a chance to prove themselves but they didn't take it.
Now to my mind, he picked the team, he chose to give them a chance in a make or break cup tie at Oldham. That they weren't up for the job is apparent, but surely a good manager deflects the blame, especially from his younger players, and takes responsibility himself.
I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed in Brendan tonight.

Really pissed off about this game.

Sterling for me needs a few games out just to bring him back down to earth a bit. He doesn't have to try and beat everyone sometimes its better to pass the ball rather than lose possession attempting to dribble past him every time.

I like Coates but that was shocking.

Henderson for me was Motm.

Matt Smith for the opposition was incredible at doing what big Andy should of been doing for us last season.

Sterling is very poor and doesn't deserve to start. Been saying it for months, and no, I've not got an axe to grind or anything. Although I've defended the gaffer today, I don't agree when Sterling starts. Haven't for a long time. Sooner he's back in the reserves learning the game, the better for us and more importantly the better for Sterling. Either that happens or the kid will be burned out and disillusioned before he's 19.

In hindsight, it's easy to say we should have been more physical at the back. But apart from Sturridge, every player in red out there today has been here long enough to know what's expected of them when they go out on the pitch.

Our team went out there with the wrong attitude today. When Suarez got that goal, we should have stepped up the pressure on them and got another one or two goals. But instead, we coasted. Then, when they scored at crucial moments in the game, I was looking to the team to show some balls. Instead, we reverted to bringing Gerrard on and just let him do all the clawing back. Not to mention the un-wizardry of Downing down the right wing, causing absolutely no threat or danger apart from kicking the ball against an opposing player and give the ball away.

Terry Mac made a valid point earlier on Twitter though. If you think of Kenny winning a cup trophy last season and getting us to the final of the FA Cup, yet still getting binned off. Then you have to accept that cup competitions don't really mean anything to our owners and they will not be losing too much sleep tonight whilst they're kicking back in Boston.

Personally I'm really pissed off and always am when something like today happens. I'll still be like this tomorrow.

We've got a striker who looks like he's just here to make up the numbers, a handful of young players who look like they think they've done enough for the season and a stand in keeper who was supposedly playing with an injury. Take one or two key players out of our team and it's scary how average we appear. Today was confirmation of that.

Let's just hope we don't see a repeat performance of today in the league.

This for me. Good summary of a miserable day.

Does BR know his best team? IMO we should play the same team every game unless people play sh*t.
No one gets dropped these days there rested in 1978/79 we used 16 players and pissed the league, i know things have changed but if your gonna rest Gerrard why have him on bench.
We should win games then sub players to rest them, we are not good enough to rotate so why do it, we nearly lost to Mansfield and lose to Oldham, Tranmere beat them a couple of weeks ago they have won once in 8 games.
BR is arrogant beyond belief if he thinks this can carry on.

This is a naive post for me. The game has changed massively since 1979. The game is played at break neck speed compared to those days, players are more athletic, there's no more back pass to the keeper to slow things down and 16 players wouldn't last the season in modern day football. And as for playing your best team and then subbing them off, what if your losing the game, do you still sub them off? Just about every prem manager in the league has rotated a weaker side out for the FA Cup this weekend, are they all being arrogant beyond belief? Priorities have changed. Kenny got to both domestic cup finals last season and still lost his job. With this in mind, why would he prioritise the Cup over the League?

Not gonna go into too much detail about the match as I'm sure it's already been done and it's the Royal Rumble night so I don't wanna depress meself again over the match.

What I will say is though, that in future we should start with our best XI available, get the game won and then bring players off if we want to "rest" them.

Feels like an absolute low point in our recent history.  It's totally not acceptable. 

Feels like an absolute low point in our recent history.  It's totally not acceptable.

I agree. But I still think you are overreacting

I agree. But I still think you are overreacting

Agree in the over reaction.

We've been here before, will be here again and many other clubs will be here as well.

Just to add I am pissed off we are out of the cup as I love to win trophies but sometimes these days happen.

This is a naive post for me. The game has changed massively since 1979.

My point being we don't have a squad strong enough to rotate so why do it, if your gonna rest players rest them don't keep as sub incase the replacements F**k up.

BR is the naive one thinking he can play one style of football against all teams ie Stoke/Mansfield and now Oldham he the one who needs to wise up, winning breeds confidence and we have struggled against this type of team.

Think we might do better against Arsenal and the Chavs as they will let us play BR pretty football but IMHO we need to adapt and so does Mr Rodgers

Thank F**k we are playing midweek - so depressed right now.

Thank f**k we are playing midweek - so depressed right now.

Exactly mate, gutted and depressed. Hopefully we're ready mentally and physically to take on the Gunners on Wednesday.

My point being we don't have a squad strong enough to rotate so why do it, if your gonna rest players rest them don't keep as sub incase the replacements f**k up.

An I'll go back to my point that Kenny kicked ass in the cups and still lost his job. If your BR and your bosses are FSG and all they care about is getting back in the top 4 would you play your strongest team in an FA Cup match against league 1 opposition knowing you've got away trips to Arsenal and the champions in the following 7 days?

I wouldn't.

This is a naive post for me. The game has changed massively since 1979. The game is played at break neck speed compared to those days, players are more athletic, there's no more back pass to the keeper to slow things down and 16 players wouldn't last the season in modern day football. And as for playing your best team and then subbing them off, what if your losing the game, do you still sub them off? Just about every prem manager in the league has rotated a weaker side out for the FA Cup this weekend, are they all being arrogant beyond belief? Priorities have changed.

This is a rubbish post for me.

Football hasn't changed. We played in 4 competitions in 1979, we play in 4 competitions now. We played 60-odd games in 1979, we play 60-odd games now. We played 42 league games in 1979, we play 38 now. We entered the FA Cup in Round 3 in 1979, we enter it in Round 3 now.

A coach's priority is to win the next game, regardless of opposition or status. We haven't played for 8 days, how much longer do you want players to rest? They are footballers, their job is to play for this club on demand, until such time as they leave.

What other clubs do is their business, what our players do for us is our concern. This was always going to be a banana skin, and we needed to field a full strength side and take no chances. But we did, and when it went wrong as it usually does, Gerrard had to be sent on to try and rescue it. The prioritising policy has gone on at this club for over 10 years. It has repeatedly failed, and unlike other clubs, we can't afford to prioritise. We need to send out our full strength side at the time, and win the game in question. 

Much has been said about the match and it sounded pretty consistent where the faults were in this game. But one thing I'm disturbed is the LACK OF FIGHT in many of the players in this match. All players that puts on the shirt must give nothing less than 110%, it doesn't matter whether they are junior or senior players.  50-50 tackles must be won most if not every time, we must outrun the opposing players, we have to pressure the opponents and not the other way round, we have to win all the headers, we have to get to the ball first, we have to move faster than the opponents etc. For a change I would like to see BR team to play like big bullies combine with some pretty football and I'm sure not too many teams would fancy playing against us, starting with Stoke. They would be mentally defeated even before the match.

But, the big question is does BR posseses players of such quality? Such quality and mentality is either you have it or you don't, sadly I could see most of the players don't, hope I'm wrong here. I can only identify 4-players with such quality in the team in Stevie, Suarez, Jamie  and Enrique. Feel free to add on.

Gone were the days where we had Smith, Souness, McMahon, Case, Kenny, Rush Toshack, Keegan  etc (too many to mention).....  the thoughts of playing against them were terrifying.  One went off next came eg. Fairclough which will pour greater misery on the opponents. Can't say about the team now, except I suspect opponents only scared of 2-players in our team; Suarez and Stevie.

We need 11-fighters and winners in the team. Stevies and Suarez sounded pretty grumpy and demanding on the pitch but these are the qualities of a winner while Enrique got more complaints on his mistakes than his fighting spirit.

The winning mentality is what BR has to drum into the minds of the younger and average players, until we get better players in, otherwise,  we can expect the Stokes and Oldhams to come round and bully us. Besides that, I believe BR must show the brutal side of him, no sentiments for a poor display. Players will be dropped for a poor display while players with a consistent run of poor display will be on a shorlist for transfer, with that I'm pretty sure they'll be on their toes in every game.

One thing I like about Rafa is after a good display, he was never lavish with his praises but BR is doing the opposite that could breed complacency in players for the next game. Even after a good display, it was never good enough for Rafa.

This is a rubbish post for me.

That's fine. I'll discuss your excellent response.

Football hasn't changed. We played in 4 competitions in 1979, we play in 4 competitions now. We played 60-odd games in 1979, we play 60-odd games now. We played 42 league games in 1979, we play 38 now. We entered the FA Cup in Round 3 in 1979 and played 2 semi final replays, we enter it in Round 3 now.

The game has changed. The players have changed. Of course we didn't have prozone back then but i'll guarantee players run further, sprint faster and more often in the modern game than they did back in 1979. I know the pitches are better as is nutrtion and sport science etc BUT for me, the modern game is very different and places greater demands on players.

 

A coach's priority is to win the next game, regardless of opposition or status. We haven't played for 8 days, how much longer do you want players to rest? They are footballers, their job is to play for this club on demand, until such time as they leave.

So you say, again, i'll direct you to last season's sacking of a manager that reached both domestic cup finals and still lost his job. I don't know about your interpretation but that said to me "we don't give a sh*t about the cups, we care about getting back into the top 4 above all else." Is anyone (other than yourself) surprised BR prioritised the two big league matches coming up this week? And yes, 8 days is plenty of rest of rest but I suspect Rodgers was looking ahead to the 2 games in the next 7.