West Brom 1-1 Liverpool: In game and Post Match *****

Still having nightmares of Kolo's attempted pass.

I'm gonna admit it and say when Anichibe was waiting to come on, I had the worst gut feeling that this c**t would score. An ex Bitter who hasn't scored against us in his previous 10 matches. The f**king writing was on the wall. 

Why does sh*t like that always haunt US. 

Still sickened by that performance and result. West Brom were so poor and it was such a big chance for us to put breathing space from 4th to the rest that it could really haunt us by the end of the season.  Our away form is average but it was the poor attitude of the team from the first minute that was most frustrating. They should have grabbed West Brom by the throat, but instead were lethargic for 90 mins.

Without Suarez carrying the team, we'll struggle to hold on to 4th. Yesterday showed how poor we can be when he's not performing a one man show up front.

I'm no BR but what I can clearly see in the match is; time and again WBA aimed at their target man just outside our arc, a backpass to another player and to their winger and sped down our flanks. I've lost count of the number of times they did that and yet we did nothing. Our midfield is so so porous. had we intercepted some of these passes we could well be on our way for a counter-attack

It's very Arsenal like, except Arsenal's final ball is to a player inside our box. If our midfield don't put in those early tackles, we'll be asking for trouble.

Our defence took ages to get the bloody ball out of our half to allow the opposition to re-organise and made them looked so well organise. Most of the time our defenders stared so far up the pitch with a windscreen wiper like vision but ended up with the simple side or backpases.

Mig and  Sterling gave a good performance, the senior players should be ashamed of themselves. To be fair Cissokho did well eventhouh I've pounded him in previous matches.

Toure is simply too casual in the match and paid the price. 

Regardless of the outcome must be accepted, we must appreciate those who have already tried the maximum, remains progressive persist .... YNWA (the RED's forever)

Is that you AVB?

Mignolet should never have passed to Toure in the first place, but as his distribition and kicking is awful he does. Toure is not Agger - disaster waiting to happen....this will happen again before the end of the season

A very flat and disappointing day after the derby euphoria. A draw was probably a fair result, and certainly we didn't do enough to merit a win.

Mignolet (6). He made a couple of very good saves, but that's only part of the job for a top-class goalkeeper. Sadly lacking in the communication and distribution aspects, both of which have and will cost us dearly. We need better.

Flanno (6). Usual workrate, but didn't make as much good use of the ball and offered little attacking threat.

Skrtel (6). Not quite as dominant as he has been larely, some nervy moments but still our best defender

Toure (4). A comically awful mistake for the goal. The return of Agger cannot come quickly enough because Toure is nowhere near good enough. Why did we sign him? Because he was free is the main reason, but I've also heard that Rodgers wanted some "Carra"-esque experience in the squad. Yeah, fine, but Carragher was a miles better defender. And probably still is.

Cissokho (6). Decent display from the uch-maligned Aly. Obviously he won't be here next season, but he never gives less than his version of 100%

Henderson (5). Average. Ordinary. OK - ish. Lots of running. Not much of any note to affect the football match though.

Coutinho (5). One or two nice passes and dribbles, but totally anonymous apart from that.

Gerrard (7). Another powerful, disciplined display. Played too deep at times, but greta rnage of passes and some good interceptions and tackling.

Sterling (7). Not as effective as he has been lately, but never gave up and made several surging runs. Lacked the end product at times, but always a danger.

Suarez (6). Not at his best and didn't threaten as much as he usually does. Looked a bit tired. Created the goal, because he can't go abn entire game without doing something magical.

Sturridge (7). Scored again. Some very good runs and worked hard to break down the West Brom defence.

Forget the result, forget the mistake, the most worrying thing was the performance. We have the most threadbare squad of those challenging for the top four and it's beginning to show with several players looking in desperate need of a rest. We've played a lot of Football since Christmas in a very short time and it's not going to get any easier as we move closer to the business end of the season.

Our boys certainly did look tired. They'll have a nice rest until Saturday though, but yes, having a threadbare squad is starting to show. Raheem and Daniel look most fresh, being they've not played nearly every game.

Mignolet should never have passed to Toure in the first place, but as his distribition and kicking is awful he does. Toure is not Agger - disaster waiting to happen....this will happen again before the end of the season

 Agree 100% with this,but when your defenders are under pressure from opponents( toure had 2 WBA players pressing him) just kick the ball even on the stands, goalies have to play safe first,
 to be honest for the WBA goal the mistake came from both toure and Mignolet, Many times in every game we keep passing the ball between the 2 CB and the keeper, thus inviting pressure and mistakes
  yes mistakes happen but play safe first and you will probably most times avoid such situations
 
 now for me enough said on this, lets move on , A great game is upraoching, just concentrate on that one

For all people saying Toure was criminal but Gerrard had an excellent game, you should remember that, after a solid display especially in first half, Gerrard also misplaced a pass from the back in the last 10 minutes, which could have ended as bad (except this time it wasn't Anichebe who did the interception, and Skrtel who was a little deeper succeeded to get the ball back).

It can just happen to anyone, when you try playing from the back with tired players against an opposition pressuring your defenders.

For all people saying Toure was criminal but Gerrard had an excellent game, you should remember that, after a solid display especially in first half, Gerrard also misplaced a pass from the back in the last 10 minutes, which could have ended as bad (except this time it wasn't Anichebe who did the interception, and Skrtel who was a little deeper succeeded to get the ball back).

It can just happen to anyone, when you try playing from the back with tired players against an opposition pressuring your defenders.

Gerrard had a good game, Toure was sh*t.

Still very frustraiting that we didn't capitalize while the likes of  Manscum und Spurs droped some points...  but "at least" we got one point and the gap didn't become closer! We are still in a very good position to make the top 4! But three points aginst Arsenal are absolutly necessary and vital! If we manage to win this match and boss them, the two lost points of the WBA match a completely forgotten!

And please trash this F***ing Arsenal side, I just hate it that Wenger is still on top with his sh*t team ...   

It amazes me how we can play with such a high tempo and determination against everton then look half hearted against in my opinion one of the worst teams in the league.

After Saturdays results it was a great opportunity to open a gap. If that doesn't get the lads up for the game then I don't know what will. It was as if they knew they could afford to drop points.

Never looked like scoring a second for me which was disappointing. One moment of Suarez magic were he should have bagged but I felt we didn't press or push for that vital goal.

West Broms goal was a blunder by Kolo but I think a result was fair anyway, neither team attacked the other one enough or went for it really.

Disappointing result. The Arsenal game is huge. 3 points minimum.

It amazes me how we can play with such a high tempo and determination against everton then look half hearted against in my opinion one of the worst teams in the league.

After Saturdays results it was a great opportunity to open a gap. If that doesn't get the lads up for the game then I don't know what will. It was as if they knew they could afford to drop points.

Never looked like scoring a second for me which was disappointing. One moment of Suarez magic were he should have bagged but I felt we didn't press or push for that vital goal.

West Broms goal was a blunder by Kolo but I think a result was fair anyway, neither team attacked the other one enough or went for it really.

Disappointing result. The Arsenal game is huge. 3 points minimum.

I know we're all incredibly disappointed, but let's give West Brom some credit. They fouled us out of the game and made us lose our momentum. They were dirty and made countless cynical challenges breaking up any potential of a counter attack. You could label them dirty bas**rds, which they were, but they obviously played to their strengths in the same manner West ham did against Chelsea the weekend before.

They also pressed us quite well, as many teams this season have enjoyed success against us when employing that strategy. Until we get players who are more composed in possession of the ball, then that's going to be something teams will try and exploit.

Without a doubt, we were sh*t, but let's not take anything away from West Brom.

The backpass from Toure was criminal and he generally had a poor game. He should be taken outside and shot...or at least I hope he was made to walk home. Joke aside, people make mistakes and have an off day occasionally. He was clearly not to blame for the dropped points, the whole team was to blame. Young Raheem worked his socks off but generally I thought we didn't spark as much as we normally do and looked a little lethargic.

We shouldn't get to a position where an equaliser against the likes of West Brom ruin our chances of a victory and champions league. We still had over 20 minutes of play after the goal to get back in front and we didn't create enough in my opinion. The whole team can take the flak for that one.

On a secondary note, our bench looked uninspiring - Moses, Alberto, Aspas are not game changers (yet) and I blame the management/owners entirely for spending a whole month in Jan to fail to sign a good player. F***ing ridicilous.

Also, I want to add what a dirty team of anti-football bunch West Brom were. 4 yellow cards for them did not do it justice. Constant deliberate blocking, shirt pulling, filthy fouls and generally using any means to stop us from playing apart from actual genuine tackles was disgusting. However, it is also a kind of compliment that they feel that was the only way to earn a draw at home. It's a testament to how far we have come in the past 2 years that other teams now see a dirtily fought draw at home as an achievemnt. We should expect it more and adapt our fighting spirit.

I know we're all incredibly disappointed, but let's give West Brom some credit. They fouled us out of the game and made us lose our momentum. They were dirty and made countless cynical challenges breaking up any potential of a counter attack. You could label them dirty bas**rds, which they were, but they obviously played to their strengths in the same manner West ham did against Chelsea the weekend before.

They also pressed us quite well, as many teams this season have enjoyed success against us when employing that strategy. Until we get players who are more composed in possession of the ball, then that's going to be something teams will try and exploit.

Without a doubt, we were sh*t, but let's not take anything away from West Brom.

Did West Brom play well? Or were we just poor? I thought both teams were poor which is why I thought a draw was probably fair despite us gifting them a goal.

We all know if we had played just half of what we are capable of then we would have put 4 or 5 past them with ease. (I put £20 on 4-0!). West Brom are a poor poor team in my opinion and im tipping them for the drop.

Saddens me to say it, but after the derby I said to my mate 'sh*t thing is, we will probably drop points at west brom now' it's just typical Liverpool. We will probably beat Arsenal and then draw at Fulham!

Ive seen worst games by skrtel, and disnt see him get half the stck Kolo has. Ive seen him make bigger and worse mistakes, some ended in goals, some didnt. Toure has been a welcome addition to the squad, he just isnt gifted at distributing the ball, and tbh , Agger is our only defender who is.

Playing neatly from the back is just not possible with our current keeper and back line. Why insist? Its cost us far too many points( im still pissed at the Aguero goal)

Change the players or change the way we play from the back. Cant continue like this ( dropping points we should be winning) because our defence gifts incredible goals.

Is that you AVB?

 

I can understand criticism of Toure, but people have gone way way over the top, OK he made a bad mistake and he didn't have a great game, but this guy always gives is best in every game and has been integral in us being in the position we are at the moment, so maybe a bit of respect for one of our players?. He knows better than anyone his mistake, time to move on and

Integral? We've conceded more goals than anyone else in the Top 10 apart from Spurs. So maybe, yes.
He is integral in us conceding shitloads of goals.

His "best" isn't good enough.

I can understand criticism of Toure, but people have gone way way over the top, OK he made a bad mistake and he didn't have a great game, but this guy always gives is best in every game and has been integral in us being in the position we are at the moment, so maybe a bit of respect for one of our players?. He knows better than anyone his mistake, time to move on and support him and the team. For what it's worth, my opinion was that the pitch was terrible for our playing style so it looked half baked most of the time, the ball was bobbling all over, they organised well and stopped Coutinho from playing, but they were lucky to get a draw. I tell you what, we will beat Arsenal in the cup and in the prem when we play em.

 


Good positive thinking. 

Brendan got it wrong again.  The 4-2-4 that we are trying to play is just not working.  It worked against Everton, but failed against Villa and WBA.  Only having 2 CM's means that Coutinho is asked to do much more defending, which takes away from his natural game.  BR needs to drop one of Sterling/Coutinho and put Allen into the CM for the game against Arsenal.  Having 3 in the midfield allows us to get more control of the game and gives us better balance. 

I'm not too upset about Kolo's mistake, as these things happen.  He just needs to bounce back quickly. 

The disappointing thing is that we could not capitalize on a weekend where many of our top 4 rivals dropped points.... 

Brendan got it wrong again.  The 4-2-4 that we are trying to play is just not working.  It worked against Everton, but failed against Villa and WBA.  Only having 2 CM's means that Coutinho is asked to do much more defending, which takes away from his natural game.  BR needs to drop one of Sterling/Coutinho and put Allen into the CM for the game against Arsenal.  Having 3 in the midfield allows us to get more control of the game and gives us better balance. 

I'm not too upset about Kolo's mistake, as these things happen.  He just needs to bounce back quickly. 

The disappointing thing is that we could not capitalize on a weekend where many of our top 4 rivals dropped points.... 

Spot mate Brendan is getting himself into a bit of a spot.He is playing Stevie in a new role and he is also saying he is playing Daniel and Luis together even though it leaves a hole to fill in.Isnt that hole bigger if Stevie plays even deeper.Some say 442 is dead but City seem to do well with it and being old fashioned I still like that formation providing the players are right for it.

Spot mate Brendan is getting himself into a bit of a spot.He is playing Stevie in a new role and he is also saying he is playing Daniel and Luis together even though it leaves a hole to fill in.Isnt that hole bigger if Stevie plays even deeper.Some say 442 is dead but City seem to do well with it and being old fashioned I still like that formation providing the players are right for it.

It's easier to play a nominal 4-4-2 when the 2 are massive, powerful beasts like Toure and Fernandinho. Plus they play with one or more players tucked right in, or dropping back,  which makes a three most of the time. Only Navas stays very wide.