Newcastle 2 - 2 Liverpool - post match frustration

At the end of the day BR can only do so much, he will motivate the team pretty much the same way week in week out but it's ultimately down to the players as they are the ones stepping out on to the pitch and not doing good enough, they cant pick and choose what games they are up for and what games they can't be bothered. Its not BR making the errors on pitch that cost us goals, it's not BR playing with no desire and giving the ball away and going into the challenge half arsed.

Isn't that the time the manager is supposed to drop them ?   One bad apple as they say.

I expect somebody will be dropped, BR has never been unprepared to drop somebody who wasn't pulling his weight, look at Skrtel last season.

I think Brendan got it wrong in a few areas today:

Firstly he filled the bench with defenders, in fact 2 right backs and ended up bringing on Sterling in place of our RB, so essentially 3 options for 1 place on the pitch. If people say this was his only option, well he left Ibe out and claimed in the presser that this was his strongest matchday squad.

Secondly he left Moses struggling for too long out of position for too long.

Third, he didn't switch formation when they went down to 10, keeping 3 central defenders on the pitch for as long as he did was baffling to me, seemingly thinking we had enough as it was.

He's earned credit this season but this match wasn't a good reflection on Brendan in my opinion.

Firstly he filled the bench with defenders

Who else is there though mate? There is only defenders, Allen and youngsters to choose from, we hardly have a lot of options to bring on in attack, especially when Lucas (though not an attacker), Aspas and Coutinho are missing.

Didn't see the game, but from the posts, sounds like we didn't wake up until 2nd half of 2nd half.
I don't understand how players can be tired after an international break, physically anyway. I'd imagine the Arse (Ozil was a great buy) and Shitski had a lot of players on duty too and they can still stroll it today. Imo it's an just excuse when you don't do well the week after, which you don't need if you do well.
2-2 away is not a disaster, coming from behind twice. And we didn't get beat, while apparently not playing well. But it's really disappointing that we had 45 mins against 10 men and couldn't make that count With S&S up front, I'd have put a few bob on coming away with 3 points. So that's a bit of a shi**er. Sounds like we put some pressure on near the end, and might have nicked it, looking forward to seeing the highlights later.

Who else is there though mate? There is only defenders, Allen and youngsters to choose from, we hardly have a lot of options to bring on in attack, especially when Lucas (though not an attacker), Aspas and Coutinho are missing.

That was part of my point mate, Brendan saying this is his strongest matchday squad, either he was taking the piss or he was wrong, not sure which I believe at the moment. But including Flanagan ahead of Morgan or Ibe when we also have Agger and Kelly on the bench and no striker just seems odd management to me.

That was part of my point mate, Brendan saying this is his strongest matchday squad, either he was taking the piss or he was wrong, not sure which I believe at the moment. But including Flanagan ahead of Morgan or Ibe when we also have Agger and Kelly on the bench and no striker just seems odd management to me.

Agree.

I hate to see a lot of defenders on the bench.

Even more so when there are five starting.

Nice to see Jonno back and Cissokho made an ok debut. I think Moses looks lost in that CAM role and when Alberto came on he looked more the part IMO. I think Henderson worked really hard today and (dare I say it) deserves his place in midfield more than our captain at the moment. I think Stevie looks tired and he has done for a while and deserves a rest TBH. I'm sure he wants to keep himself fit for the world cup but he,ll not do himself any favours by playing so many games. The game itself I think we should of won in the 2nd half but that's what you get after internationals.

Nice to see Jonno back and Cissokho made an ok debut. I think Moses looks lost in that CAM role and when Alberto came on he looked more the part IMO. I think Henderson worked really hard today and (dare I say it) deserves his place in midfield more than our captain at the moment. I think Stevie looks tired and he has done for a while and deserves a rest TBH. I'm sure he wants to keep himself fit for the world cup but he,ll not do himself any favours by playing so many games. The game itself I think we should of won in the 2nd half but that's what you get after internationals.

Yeah, I agree about Moses, he's not really a centre midfielder. You need to have a killer ball in you and he doesn't. Henderson doesn't either. Apart from Coutinho at the moment, our midfield is really short on creativity. Gerrard can give us that, but we can't rely on it like we used to.

Perhaps start Allen in a more advanced role? He needs a run of games, and unfortunately he hasn't had that, but given the fact that is his natural position, perhaps we should opt for him.

Alberto looked good, I also like having Moses out there, just don't like the position he was playing today. I thought we missed Lucas today personally.

Can't see us finishing higher than 4th as chelsea,city and arsenal look stronger. United and spurs are there for the taking so should be interesting. 4th would be acceptable.
In terms of formation I think our squad lends itself to 3 at the back. Perhaps today proves after all that agger, Lucas and Enrique get the nod over skrtel, Henderson and cissokho (albeit the latter needs to be given more time) in our starting 11 when everyone is fit. Still, a bench of jones, Kelly, skrtel, Moses, sterling Alberto and Henderson is not shabby at all when you also have Allen aspas ilori and Cissokho at your disposal ...

if you really want to see this club win the league look at Arsenal buying Ozil and theres the bench mark.


Been saying this for ages now,  WESLEY SCHNIEDER !

I am sure I posted this earlier but you are so right you cant buy quality on the cheap

. if you really want to see this club win the league look at Arsenal buying Ozil and theres the bench mark.

I hate it when people just copy other peoples posts.But I love Henderson I love Lucas but come on they are not ready for Real Madrid or Barca or Bayern and that is the measure of this club.Well it was under Rafa .

I hate it when people just copy other peoples posts.But I love Henderson I love Lucas but come on they are not ready for Real Madrid or Barca or Bayern and that is the measure of this club.Well it was under Rafa .

Until we get like for like back up we are not ready for CL opposition, a couple of injuries we are fu**ed, some international hangovers we are fu**ed.
As well as the ever present wide conundrum, it appears the manager will have to continue to work miracles in the face of financial constriction.

Missed the game really busy of late, but my worst fears came true, dropping points after the International break, bummer.

Hopefully Coutinho will be back to play some part against W.B.A. in preparation for the crunch game at Arsenal. Win our next two games and to some extent we will have made up for the silly points lost today.

Down but not out.

I don't think 3 at the back worked at all today. Might be time for a change now Johnson is back. 

Until we get like for like back up we are not ready for CL opposition, a couple of injuries we are fu**ed, some international hangovers we are fu**ed.
As well as the ever present wide conundrum, it appears the manager will have to continue to work miracles in the face of financial constriction.

Yeah totally agree. Thought the manager was brave today, didn't quite pull off but he has to try something different to keep the opposition guessing and to work around a squad that is still lacking in that crucial depth and world class talent. But as long as we can keep the table ticking over with a point here and three points here then I'll be satisfied with that.

We could still be arguing for many more pages to come whether are we happy or are we not with our performance and for where we are in the league position now. But for now, let's accept the fact that for where we are now, the fault lies with our midfield and this is one area that's never gonna get us to top 4, let alone first, we'll most probably finish sixth.

Henderson is not the answer, he'll even struggle to get into Southampton 11 at the moment, Stevie is winding down but is still better than many while Lucas is good at what he's doing but speed is not one of his strong points. Spending almost 1/2 the game in possesion knocking the ball outside the oppposition box not knowing what to do with the ball, plus playing against 10 men for 50 mins tells us that we're void of ideas how to break down defences. Yes, Coutinho is out so we're weakened but I'd expect others to have the quality to step up to do the job, but we have none at the moment, only too many average Joes in midfield at the moment.

I was switching between channels during and after the game and presenters said the same thing, we lacked creativity from midfield and I won;t disagree. 

Yes, I'm the strongest critic of Moses in this game, but in hindsight I don't blame him fully, why is he at the flank, he's the most dangerous behind the 2 strikers where his speed and thrust will see him go past defenders as what he used to do with Chelsea, Johnson was doing really fine on the right flank but no one complimented his efforts from midfield.

To me, BR got a few things wrong today, why try out somethig alien and sexy  to players, just play to the players strength. He was naive to say the least, Newcastle threw players forward pounding our defence non-stop from the first whistle to mask their weakened defence and we allowed them to do just that for a big part of the first half and it was truly embarassing. We should have bombed their defence while Collicini is out and their defence will be at sixes and sevens and we saw that towards the end of the game but it was too late. If BR had perfected the art of counter attack, Newscastle would have been buried in the first 45 mins.

In fact, the 2 goals were created by Suarez himself, nothing coming from midfield and this is very very scary. We truly needed a total revamp of our midfield, we were dominated  in midfield, we needed a Schneider, as someone has mentioned to torment opposition defence and a speedy and burly DM ala Masch comes Jan.

With our strange tactics and an average midfield I’m happy with the draw.

We could still be arguing for many more pages to come whether are we happy or are we not with our performance and for where we are in the league position now. But for now, let's accept the fact that for where we are now, the fault lies with our midfield and this is one area that's never gonna get us to top 4, let alone first, we'll most probably finish sixth.

Henderson is not the answer, he'll even struggle to get into Southampton 11 at the moment, Stevie is winding down but is still better than many while Lucas is good at what he's doing but speed is not one of his strong points. Spending almost 1/2 the game in possesion knocking the ball outside the oppposition box not knowing what to do with the ball, plus playing against 10 men for 50 mins tells us that we're void of ideas how to break down defences. Yes, Coutinho is out so we're weakened but I'd expect others to have the quality to step up to do the job, but we have none at the moment, only too many average Joes in midfield at the moment.

I was switching between channels during and after the game and presenters said the same thing, we lacked creativity from midfield and I won;t disagree. 

Yes, I'm the strongest critic of Moses in this game, but in hindsight I don't blame him fully, why is he at the flank, he's the most dangerous behind the 2 strikers where his speed and thrust will see him go past defenders as what he used to do with Chelsea, Johnson was doing really fine on the right flank but no one complimented his efforts from midfield.

To me, BR got a few things wrong today, why try out somethig alien and sexy  to players, just play to the players strength. He was naive to say the least, Newcastle threw players forward pounding our defence non-stop from the first whistle to mask their weakened defence and we allowed them to do just that for a big part of the first half and it was truly embarassing. We should have bombed their defence while Collicini is out and their defence will be at sixes and sevens and we saw that towards the end of the game but it was too late. If BR had perfected the art of counter attack, Newscastle would have been buried in the first 45 mins.

In fact, the 2 goals were created by Suarez himself, nothing coming from midfield and this is very very scary. We truly needed a total revamp of our midfield, we were dominated  in midfield, we needed a Schneider, as someone has mentioned to torment opposition defence and a speedy and burly DM ala Masch comes Jan.

With our strange tactics and an average midfield I’m happy with the draw.

Pretty much summed it up for me.

Pretty much summed it up for me.

Some may not be happy with what I've said but that's an honest opinion from me.

Like the idea that FSG don't want to spend out on decent players, and will be happy just to achieve a CL place, Surely they realise that there's not too much money to be had, unless you get out of the group stages. With our current squad, don't think that's gonna happen even if we do get in the top 4.

I was disappointed with the lack of urgency in the second half.  I found the switch of Johnson and Sterling very strange, because if you are going to bring Sterling on why then play him at RB - I was expecting Hendo to drop there, and allow Sterling to be higher up the pitch.  Players did look a bit off the pace after the internationals, but only Luis really had any serious travelling, so no real excuses for me.

I think that Enrique will be a better bet at LWB - I think it was Chris Waddle said in summary that Cissokho seems too one dimensional, and I think Enrique just offers more going forward.

I was disappointed with the lack of urgency in the second half.  I found the switch of Johnson and Sterling very strange, because if you are going to bring Sterling on why then play him at RB - I was expecting Hendo to drop there, and allow Sterling to be higher up the pitch.  Players did look a bit off the pace after the internationals, but only Luis really had any serious travelling, so no real excuses for me.

I think that Enrique will be a better bet at LWB - I think it was Chris Waddle said in summary that Cissokho seems too one dimensional, and I think Enrique just offers more going forward.

Toons were down to 10, Johnson was literally playing a winger with Alberto slotting in, BR assumes that there is no threat down the right back hence instead of a defender like flanno or kelly, Sterling was brought in to bring the attacking impetus.