LFC 2-1 Ludogorets Razgrad: In game and Post Match Discussion

He is a good link up player but you still would not have considered him as the ideal replacement for Luis Suarez. You'd choose someone more dynamic. It's what we were about last season, and Balo is not that. He's trying nonetheless.

How to make a comment appear instantly dismissable.

My player ratings:

Mignolet: I like him, but there's only so long you can excuse poor decision making. Awful for their goal, must do a lot better than that. 5/10.

Moreno: Generally very good, with one superb covering tackle. Only he will know though why he was rampaging forward in the build up to their goal with 90 seconds to go and us 1-0 up. 7/10.

Sakho: Thought he did well other than his trademark mis-control in the build up to them hitting the post. 7/10

Lovren: Let down a bit and exposed for the goal, otherwise was good. 7/10

Manquillo: My MOM. Defended stoutly, was sensible in attack and won us the game. 8/10.

Gerrard: Was again double marked and again didn't influence the game because of it. Must also defend better than he did on occasions. Brilliant penalty under pressure. 7/10

Henderson: Poor in my view. Too safe with his passing, lots of which were over/underhit and lacked subtlety. He really is going to need to begin to assume more responsibility if we are to prosper. There's more to doing that than tearing up and down the pitch to close someone down. His is THE problem spot in the team at the moment IMHO. 5/10. (I know this puts me in the minority).

Lallana: Way off the pace and I thought poor on the night. At the moment he looks overawed by his surroundings. 5/10

Coutinho: Nothing went for him at all. 5/10.

Sterling: Looked better in the 10 and caused them some problems. 7/10

Balotelli: Took his goal very well but is still settling IMHO. Looked better with a partner. 6/10

Lucas: Can't believe that some are slating him, I thought he was excellent when he came on and we looked a much better team. Admittedly that was not all because of him, the change of shape really helped us, but Henderson in particular would do well to look at the way he took responsibility, made himself available and sped up the play. 7/10.

Borini: Love him or loathe him, we did look a better side with two up top. I think he did enough to get a start at West Ham. 7/10.   

My player ratings:

Mignolet: I like him, but there's only so long you can excuse poor decision making. Awful for their goal, must do a lot better than that. 5/10.

Moreno: Generally very good, with one superb covering tackle. Only he will know though why he was rampaging forward in the build up to their goal with 90 seconds to go and us 1-0 up. 7/10.

Sakho: Thought he did well other than his trademark mis-control in the build up to them hitting the post. 7/10

Lovren: Let down a bit and exposed for the goal, otherwise was good. 7/10

Manquillo: My MOM. Defended stoutly, was sensible in attack and won us the game. 8/10.

Gerrard: Was again double marked and again didn't influence the game because of it. Must also defend better than he did on occasions. Brilliant penalty under pressure. 7/10

Henderson: Poor in my view. Too safe with his passing, lots of which were over/underhit and lacked subtlety. He really is going to need to begin to assume more responsibility if we are to prosper. There's more to doing that than tearing up and down the pitch to close someone down. His is THE problem spot in the team at the moment IMHO. 5/10. (I know this puts me in the minority).

Lallana: Way off the pace and I thought poor on the night. At the moment he looks overawed by his surroundings. 5/10

Coutinho: Nothing went for him at all. 5/10.

Sterling: Looked better in the 10 and caused them some problems. 7/10

Balotelli: Took his goal very well but is still settling IMHO. Looked better with a partner. 6/10

Lucas: Can't believe that some are slating him, I thought he was excellent when he came on and we looked a much better team. Admittedly that was not all because of him, the change of shape really helped us, but Henderson in particular would do well to look at the way he took responsibility, made himself available and sped up the play. 7/10.

Borini: Love him or loathe him, we did look a better side with two up top. I think he did enough to get a start at West Ham. 7/10.   

Agree with pretty much all of that apart from Stevie, he certainly was not double or single marked up and didnt really influence the game much apart from his penalty, which fair enough he is the ice man. The fact he had played on the weekend by the 60-70 min mark he was really showing his age. No surprise as the game went on they were breaking at will through our midfield, thats not to say Stevie was the only one to blame but Brendan should have seen that. By playing him in so many games in a row esp when he was shattered we are risking losing for a long stretch.

How to make a comment appear instantly dismissable.

Good for you stuey!

I would ask why it appears that way but I really cannot be bothered to hear your wise, superior views on it all.

Gotta say, yday was pretty much everything I hoped WOULDNT happen this season.

Mignolet - vg shot stopper. But the rest of his game can lack a fair bit.
Back 4 - ok will concede less than last yr.. we hope. But how much less? Remember we have less of a forward threat this yr. I like our new fullbacks but they are VERY young. I do like Lovren tho.
Gerrard - physically a shadow of his former self.
Hendo - good player, no more than good.
Midfield- its the midfield that causes our defensive jitters, just as much as its the defence.
Coutinho- yes he can be beautiful to watch. But I'm beginning to feel I'm watching some sort of modern day Garcia, Benayoun or Smicer. Skilled but lacks the array of skills, which is somehow confused with "inconsistency". Budding Luis he ain't so far.
Lallana - I didn't want the signing in the 1st place. I saw him as an expensive "half star" ie a squad player and false economy, if u think Diego Costa only cost 5m more!!
Sterling - fantastic talent, but Christ, don't expect him to carry us thro FOUR competitions, thats insanity (and no I dont mean that silly workout DVD!) Yes he has skill to burn, but let the player have the necessary rest, and let him still learn from .. oh that ship's sailed.. 
Balotelli - terrific goal yes, but other than that, much of his performance was really disappointing. Esp the cross from the left and it just bounced off his left foot.

Re Balotelli, his talents are undoubted. But I get the feeling his control and pace and powerful shot were things he developed from 14 to 19 or so. To make the final steps you need the awareness, the continual hunger, the intelligence and flexibility etc, stuff u do each yr at the training ground and during matches. A worst case scenario, he could end up like Anelka. Anelka at Arsenal was about the most phenonmenal young striker for his age I think the world has ever seen. But by mid/late 20s, he was a nothing player. I just wonder whether Balotelli, like say Collymore (who had nowhere near his talent) really wants it enough. I dont just mean movement on the pitch, I mean in training.

There IS some work the rest of the team need to do. For instance, Balotelli shoots from far out, because he has one of the most phenomenal shots in football. But similarly, Balotelli MUST move around more.
So far, he has MASSES of work to do to be considered even a fraction of a LUis replacement. And I never thought he could fill that role in the 1st place.

Overall, the problem as I see it, is that you need 11 players each match performing to a particular level. Yes we have some more depth than last yr. But thats no good at all, if the 11 on the pitch are a deterioration from last yr.

Suarez and Sturridge are fine strikers, that is why Balotelli wouldn't get picked. Not hard to figure out mate. If you've spent time watching Balotelli, you will know once he's settled, he can be considered with those 2. He's one of the best link up strikers in the world, and shouldn't be playing alone up front. Wait until we pair him with Sturridge on a good run, and you'll see the rewards.

People are quick to judge Balotelli, but they seem to be ignoring the fact that the Italian season started a few weeks after the Premier League.
Balo is not match sharp yet but already you can see he will be quality.

Thought he was second only to Moreno last night.
Worked hard, and with a partner up top (Sturridge) we'll see better results.

Oh, and how nice is to have a proper powerful forward. Drogba-esque goal.

I think he has more natural skill than Drogba.
But Drogba(when he wasn't rolling on the ground!) was constantly working, forcing errors etc.

Skill alone just isn't enough to be a top, top player. Suarez worked harder than the biggest 1980s midfield donkey for a Howard Wilkinson team. Even tho he had Messi-esque skills to match. And it was *intelligent* hard work too.

Baloteli's question mark is hunger and focus. And indeed, compatibility with what we already have.
I always maintain that without Suarez, and additionally before Sterling made his step up, weren't a particularly special team last yr vs Man C,Chelsea etc. And this yr, our rivals have already stepped up sunstantially.

Gotta say, yday was pretty much everything I hoped WOULDNT happen this season.

Mignolet - vg shot stopper. But the rest of his game can lack a fair bit.
Back 4 - ok will concede less than last yr.. we hope. But how much less? Remember we have less of a forward threat this yr. I like our new fullbacks but they are VERY young. I do like Lovren tho.
Gerrard - physically a shadow of his former self.
Hendo - good player, no more than good.
Midfield- its the midfield that causes our defensive jitters, just as much as its the defence.
Coutinho- yes he can be beautiful to watch. But I'm beginning to feel I'm watching some sort of modern day Garcia, Benayoun or Smicer. Skilled but lacks the array of skills, which is somehow confused with "inconsistency". Budding Luis he ain't so far.
Lallana - I didn't want the signing in the 1st place. I saw him as an expensive "half star" ie a squad player and false economy, if u think Diego Costa only cost 5m more!!
Sterling - fantastic talent, but Christ, don't expect him to carry us thro FOUR competitions, thats insanity (and no I dont mean that silly workout DVD!) Yes he has skill to burn, but let the player have the necessary rest, and let him still learn from .. oh that ship's sailed.. 
Balotelli - terrific goal yes, but other than that, much of his performance was really disappointing. Esp the cross from the left and it just bounced off his left foot.

Re Balotelli, his talents are undoubted. But I get the feeling his control and pace and powerful shot were things he developed from 14 to 19 or so. To make the final steps you need the awareness, the continual hunger, the intelligence and flexibility etc, stuff u do each yr at the training ground and during matches. A worst case scenario, he could end up like Anelka. Anelka at Arsenal was about the most phenonmenal young striker for his age I think the world has ever seen. But by mid/late 20s, he was a nothing player. I just wonder whether Balotelli, like say Collymore (who had nowhere near his talent) really wants it enough. I dont just mean movement on the pitch, I mean in training.

There IS some work the rest of the team need to do. For instance, Balotelli shoots from far out, because he has one of the most phenomenal shots in football. But similarly, Balotelli MUST move around more.
So far, he has MASSES of work to do to be considered even a fraction of a LUis replacement. And I never thought he could fill that role in the 1st place.

Overall, the problem as I see it, is that you need 11 players each match performing to a particular level. Yes we have some more depth than last yr. But thats no good at all, if the 11 on the pitch are a deterioration from last yr.

Another one who thinks Balotelli was Luis replacement. FFS there is no replacement, what last night and other games have shown Balotelli does not have the movement like Sturridge and yes Luis he has other skill sets like holding the ball up, great feet and control and hence needs another partner up front and crucially the wide men making the runs into the box when he drops deep. What ever anyone thinks of Borini it was no suprise as soon as he came on we looked a lot more dangerous.

Agree with pretty much all of that apart from Stevie, he certainly was not double or single marked up and didnt really influence the game much apart from his penalty, which fair enough he is the ice man. The fact he had played on the weekend by the 60-70 min mark he was really showing his age. No surprise as the game went on they were breaking at will through our midfield, thats not to say Stevie was the only one to blame but Brendan should have seen that. By playing him in so many games in a row esp when he was shattered we are risking losing for a long stretch.

It does really go without saying that SG's remaining seasons should be very carefully monitored and his time on the pitch apportioned with regard to his longevity and best advantage to the club.
BR is caught between a rock and a hard place in his decision, as it stands he is forced to field what some would say is an unacceptable number of players unfamiliar with each other's traits and styles of play. A good portion of experience is a vital ingredient in such set up and there lies the crux of the matter.
We have injuries, we have players whose skills have to be carefully utilised according to perceived priorities, we have players past their first flush of youth whose vital skill and experience are a cornerstone of the team...............

It's giving me a F***ing headache contemplating the though process involved and that's apart from that fit lady he's gotta sort out. 

I think he has more natural skill than Drogba.
But Drogba(when he wasn't rolling on the ground!) was constantly working, forcing errors etc.

Skill alone just isn't enough to be a top, top player. Suarez worked harder than the biggest 1980s midfield donkey for a Howard Wilkinson team. Even tho he had Messi-esque skills to match. And it was *intelligent* hard work too.

Baloteli's question mark is hunger and focus. And indeed, compatibility with what we already have.
I always maintain that without Suarez, and additionally before Sterling made his step up, weren't a particularly special team last yr vs Man C,Chelsea etc. And this yr, our rivals have already stepped up sunstantially.

I think the latter part of last season was determined by teams shitting themselves with the whole "SAS" thing.
Then we face a few games with neither of those players involved.
Never mind Suarez, Sturridge is a massive blow.
Suddenly you risk the psychology in the opponent changing. No "Fear Factor" immediately puts them on a more positive footing.
Maybe yesterday gave us a glimpse of something else. A sharp Balotelli playing alongside Sturridge and we could have been 2 or 3 up at half time.

Please suggest someone we could of purchased for Suarez as a like for like? There is no such thing.

Balotelli was a very good buy and he will be a smashing hit here.

In my opinion, Falcao. He has more of a dynamic nature than Balotelli, a true predator in front of goal and generally possesses that intelligence to make the correct run. He is also very elusive and can link up well with his team mates. Whilst Balotelli can do the latter (we've seen it many a times), he doesn't move around the pitch enough. Whilst he is clearly working on it, you can tell it's not his natural game. At City and Milan, he spent most of the time walking about - an accusation most of you made about him last night (until he scored, that is).

My opinion is that Balotelli is not the ideal forward for our system, whereas your opinion is that he'll be the ideal forward and thus a success here. Difference of opinions mate. Let's respect that.

Another one who thinks Balotelli was Luis replacement. FFS there is no replacement, what last night and other games have shown Balotelli does not have the movement like Sturridge and yes Luis he has other skill sets like holding the ball up, great feet and control and hence needs another partner up front and crucially the wide men making the runs into the box when he drops deep. What ever anyone thinks of Borini it was no suprise as soon as he came on we looked a lot more dangerous.

Front 6 last yr:-
Hendo, Gerrard, Coutinho, Sturridge, SUAREZ Sterling.

This yr
Hendo, Gerrard, Coutinho(or Markovich/Lallana etc), Sturridge, BALOTELLI, Sterling.

Yes he's a different type of player. But look at the list, he's the big difference from last yr.
So by that definition, he IS the Luis replacement. Which is pretty disheartening (bearing in mind he cost nearly SIXTY MILLION LESS)
And Balotelli HAS been played as a 10, a 9.5 and wide. Problem is, his fball intelligence and workrate and even vision so far have looked a pale shadow.

I think Ludogorets ran out of steam. Borini isn't some wonderful superstar in the making. As shown by BR's desire to boot him out.

I agree that BR's tactic was a little weird, alto it was forced on him to some extent.. But I dont think the loss of Sturridge can defend the poorness of the performance. Balotelli should show more flexibility.

In my opinion, Falcao. He has more of a dynamic nature than Balotelli, a true predator in front of goal and generally possesses that intelligence to make the correct run. He is also very elusive and can link up well with his team mates. Whilst Balotelli can do the latter (we've seen it many a times), he doesn't move around the pitch enough. Whilst he is clearly working on it, you can tell it's not his natural game. At City and Milan, he spent most of the time walking about - an accusation most of you made about him last night (until he scored, that is).

My opinion is that Balotelli is not the ideal forward for our system, whereas your opinion is that he'll be the ideal forward and thus a success here. Difference of opinions mate. Let's respect that.

Falcao of the two dodgy knees for £40M? Maybe from his Atletico days but the jury on him well and truly out.

Front 6 last yr:-
Hendo, Gerrard, Coutinho, Sturridge, SUAREZ Sterling.

This yr
Hendo, Gerrard, Coutinho(or Markovich/Lallana etc), Sturridge, BALOTELLI, Sterling.

Yes he's a different type of player. But look at the list, he's the big difference from last yr.
So by that definition, he IS the Luis replacement. Which is pretty disheartening (bearing in mind he cost nearly SIXTY MILLION LESS)
And Balotelli HAS been played as a 10, a 9.5 and wide. Problem is, his fball intelligence and workrate and even vision so far have looked a pale shadow.

I think Ludogorets ran out of steam. Borini isn't some wonderful superstar in the making. As shown by BR's desire to boot him out.

I agree that BR's tactic was a little weird, alto it was forced on him to some extent.. But I dont think the loss of Sturridge can defend the poorness of the performance. Balotelli should show more flexibility.

Balotelli often dropped deep, looking for the ball last night.
There was no problem with his workrate.

There may have been a problem with those around him.
Coutinho and Lallana had games to forget. Lallana should have scored.
Sturridge and Allen play instead and we win that comfortably.

Patience needed though as Lallana is only back from injury,
so I expect him to recover last season's form.

Biggest worry for me has been Lovren, who seems to be exposed or just too rash.

Good for you stuey!

I would ask why it appears that way but I really cannot be bothered to hear your wise, superior views on it all.

Never mind the bullshit, you start that comment with an unbelievably naïve statement about ''replacing Suarez'' which in itself is a totally unrealistic proposition and everyone knows it.
So like most of your comments a base negativity dazzles slightly dimmed by some peripheral bullshit.
Have a word lad.

I think the latter part of last season was determined by teams shitting themselves with the whole "SAS" thing.
Then we face a few games with neither of those players involved.
Never mind Suarez, Sturridge is a massive blow.
Suddenly you risk the psychology in the opponent changing. No "Fear Factor" immediately puts them on a more positive footing.
Maybe yesterday gave us a glimpse of something else. A sharp Balotelli playing alongside Sturridge and we could have been 2 or 3 up at half time.

Ultimately, I think if Balotelli wants it enough then we could step back up.. to some level, with him.
But therein lies the risk, the big unknown.

In my opinion, Falcao. He has more of a dynamic nature than Balotelli, a true predator in front of goal and generally possesses that intelligence to make the correct run. He is also very elusive and can link up well with his team mates. Whilst Balotelli can do the latter (we've seen it many a times), he doesn't move around the pitch enough. Whilst he is clearly working on it, you can tell it's not his natural game. At City and Milan, he spent most of the time walking about - an accusation most of you made about him last night (until he scored, that is).

My opinion is that Balotelli is not the ideal forward for our system, whereas your opinion is that he'll be the ideal forward and thus a success here. Difference of opinions mate. Let's respect that.

I agree with you. This is the fundamental of it all. Balo for Luis is effectively a rebuild. Falcao would be more of a"component swap".

Last yr it was "oh we cant get them, we dont have champs lge football". Whats the excuse now from em? Bearing in mind where Falcao went.

I do like Balo, esp for 16m. A great alternative to Remy, but to replace Luis... nope!
Mario is like "a nice option", not the heart and soul of a team wanting to challenge for the title. But... til Jan atleast, its all upto Mario. And BR. And Raheem, Sturr and maybe even Markovich a little. My eyes will be focussed on Mario a fair bit.

Balotelli often dropped deep, looking for the ball last night.
There was no problem with his workrate.

There may have been a problem with those around him.
Coutinho and Lallana had games to forget. Lallana should have scored.
Sturridge and Allen play instead and we win that comfortably.

Patience needed though as Lallana is only back from injury,
so I expect him to recover last season's form.

Biggest worry for me has been Lovren, who seems to be exposed or just too rash.

I dont think Lovren was particularly exposed more the system. The goal they score Sterling loses the ball and Moreno is far up the pitch with him so Sakho moves over to cover him which means Lovren has to move over to cover but just doesnt make it in time. Should not have been that easy for them to waltz through our midfield without laying a glove on them.

Anyone who was expecting us to carry on where we left of last season post Suarez and with so many new players is either kidding themselves or deluded. As soon as the lads get to understand each others positions and where they are and are expected to be on the pitch it'll fall into place nicely.

Oops. I guess I'm going to have to hold my hands up to being deluded then.   

However, deluded and all as it appears I am, I have to say that we have played only five games; winning three and losing two - lost one to last season's champions, in their own patch and the other to a team who seem to have the Indian sign over us anyhow (pre or post Suarez).

Deluded or not, unlike others (the less deluded, it appears), I am not writing off our season because of those two results. I am not looking for excuses. I am not looking to 'blame' anyone or anything. I am not analysing every F***ing kick of the ball.

Brendan hand-picked these players. He picked them because they fitted the profile. He picked them because of their quality. He picked them because they would improve the team. I know all this because he told us. Let's also remember that Brendan made a conscious decision to buy this many players.

So, because he told us and because I trust him; I am happy enough to believe that these players will take less time to "settle" and "gel" that most of you 'less deluded'.

Let's look at the vague, open-ended 'excuses': "time to settle" and "time to gel" - how long do 'we' [the less deluded] reckon this 'time' will be: five games, seven games, ten games, twenty?

What about this [remembering that we have only lost two games]: what if, come Saturday, we tank West Ham and go on a ten game, unbeaten, run: will the players have "settled", will they have "gelled"? Will those who believe that we need time to settle change tack?

C'mon lads - don't leave it open-ended; don't leave the deluded guessing: how long do you believe it will be before the players "settle"? [they seemed to have settled quite well at Spurs btw]. Which brings me on to this...

I didn't think we played well either. I don't massively care though if I'm honest, the main thing is we put the ball in the back of their net more often than they did into ours. Sometimes how you play is really important, sometimes it isn't as long as you win.

Given the fickleness already of the season (and the odd fan) - I've made a conscious decision to go all school-boy on this season. I'm going to regress to those years where I was happy as F**k when we won. The years when I never analysed or cared how we won; just that we won. As a schoolboy I heard or read results and was either sad or happy accordingly; I had faith in the team and the manager and never once thought I knew better.

For my own sanity (as hard as it might be)... this season there'll be no more 'analysis' - just support of the players and the manager and school-boy joy when we win.

Last night? Last minute winning penalty kick,  by Stevie, on our return to the European Cup? Get. In. To. F**k. 

Falcao of the two dodgy knees for £40M? Maybe from his Atletico days but the jury on him well and truly out.

Ofcourse none of us saw the med records. But I think what people mean is a Falcao "type". I mean we knew Luis was unsettledfor a VERY long time. A 16m replacement was a poor show of committment.
I mean we could have signed Balo AND Pogba/Reus and still have millions spare with that Luis money.
Convincing players to sign is a key part of the game. As is actually signing the cheques.

Balotelli often dropped deep, looking for the ball last night.
There was no problem with his workrate.

There may have been a problem with those around him.
Coutinho and Lallana had games to forget. Lallana should have scored.
Sturridge and Allen play instead and we win that comfortably.

Patience needed though as Lallana is only back from injury,
so I expect him to recover last season's form.

Biggest worry for me has been Lovren, who seems to be exposed or just too rash.

Didnt Stevie make a pt? Sthh about Balo's workrate in the 2nd half?(I cant remember) I just wonder if Balo was told to step it up, at half time. I thought he was very static, and one of the reasons we looked so disjointed. Yes there are other problems eg midfield, but regardless this was all previously considered a weak spot to Balo's game.

I think Cou and Lallana are good players. But they arent top top players. So thats relevant to our expectations. It translates as *perhaps* "we wont do as well as Man C, Chelsea or even maybe the Mancs". So I think "who will carry us, and win us games like last yr".

Yes Sturr can help us a fair bit. But I do think "how much did we suffer without Sturr last yr" - not that much.

I really like Lovren and think our problems are caused more by the def midfield, the coaches and, a little bit by the fact Mignolet isnt dominant as a keeper.

There is still time for things to develop and improve. How much we can improve.. only time will tell.
Lot of pressure on young Raheem I think.

Front 6 last yr:-
Hendo, Gerrard, Coutinho, Sturridge, SUAREZ Sterling.

This yr
Hendo, Gerrard, Coutinho(or Markovich/Lallana etc), Sturridge, BALOTELLI, Sterling.

Yes he's a different type of player. But look at the list, he's the big difference from last yr.
So by that definition, he IS the Luis replacement. Which is pretty disheartening (bearing in mind he cost nearly SIXTY MILLION LESS)
And Balotelli HAS been played as a 10, a 9.5 and wide. Problem is, his fball intelligence and workrate and even vision so far have looked a pale shadow.

I think Ludogorets ran out of steam. Borini isn't some wonderful superstar in the making. As shown by BR's desire to boot him out.

I agree that BR's tactic was a little weird, alto it was forced on him to some extent.. But I dont think the loss of Sturridge can defend the poorness of the performance. Balotelli should show more flexibility.

Absolutely agree. To assume he isn't Luis' replacement is a dire attempt to play down just how much we've weakened up top. The team against the Spuds saw us go two up top, reinforced by that so called polished diamond. If we had Luis Suarez still, I'm pretty sure we would have deployed pretty much the same team and the same formation.

-----

I've emphasised this many times - I'm a firm believer in bringing in no more than 3 maybe 4 players into the team. I think it unsettles the balance of the team and you have to start again. Let's consider the XI out against Villa - Lovren, Manquillo, Moreno, Lallana, Markovic, Balotelli. £93m worth of new talent in our team.

Banned or not. I would not have sold Suarez.. not until someone of a similar quality came available. And for FSG to claim that they wanted to keep him is complete nonsense. They wanted to cash in and get those hefty wages off the book, just like they have done with Reina and Agger.

I think the funds came available and Brendan tried to over emphasise on squad depth. Effectively we are now going through a transition phase.

We look so void of ideas sometimes it's scary.

Balotelli’s lack of movement off the ball must be so easy to defend against.  Borini changed the game, you could see him making the runs and drawing the defenders in.  Something Mario did not do.

At one point, and I’m not sure if the cameras picked up on this….  It was around 60 minutes – they had the ball for a minute without us being arsed.  Henderson was screaming at Mario to press the centre backs, so he did reluctantly and that caused them to get nervous and give it away.

It’s going to take some time getting used to Mario upfront, especially with Sturridge out for a couple of weeks.  At the moment, and I feel like a tosser for saying it, Malotelli just reminds me of Andy Carroll.

Front 6 last yr:-
Hendo, Gerrard, Coutinho, Sturridge, SUAREZ Sterling.

This yr
Hendo, Gerrard, Coutinho(or Markovich/Lallana etc), Sturridge, BALOTELLI, Sterling.

Yes he's a different type of player. But look at the list, he's the big difference from last yr.
So by that definition, he IS the Luis replacement. Which is pretty disheartening (bearing in mind he cost nearly SIXTY MILLION LESS)
And Balotelli HAS been played as a 10, a 9.5 and wide. Problem is, his fball intelligence and workrate and even vision so far have looked a pale shadow.

I think Ludogorets ran out of steam. Borini isn't some wonderful superstar in the making. As shown by BR's desire to boot him out.

I agree that BR's tactic was a little weird, alto it was forced on him to some extent.. But I dont think the loss of Sturridge can defend the poorness of the performance. Balotelli should show more flexibility.

It's clear you ARE clueless when you bang on about HOW much less he cost us to BUY.

Loven? In my opinion he was ok overall. Worrying though that he made the same error as he did v City, though Stevies positioning also didn't help

He wasn't the best but not the worst mate. He could have done better for that goal...but I would blame Moreno leaving that space to bomb up front needlessly, Stevie's positioning and Migno's unnecessary vacation of his line more than Lovren for it. Lovren put in a few top notch tackles and wasn't that bad I thought.