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

Terrible, predictable performance. What do we put this down to? Nerves? The team needing to gel more? 4-3-3? Strikers and midfielders not making runs?

That was a much more insipid display than on Saturday, but we managed to sneak away with all 3 points.  Personally, I think the lack of inspiration is 50/50 between formation and personnel.  Last year, we would play with a fluid front 3 of Studge, Suarez, and Sterling.  Teams had a terrible time keeping track of all of the runs and movement of that group.  With Balo in the lineup, the fluidity and movement isn't nearly as dynamic and teams have an easier time tracking runners and staying organized.  I do think we have looked better every time we put a 2nd striker up front this year, and I'd like to see us play that way on Saturday.  Playing the 4-4-2 diamond allows Raheem to play in the hole where I believe he is most dangerous -- he can drift out to either flank, or make direct runs beyond the front 2.  I thought Borini put in as good of a performance as anyone in a red shirt, and I think he did enough to earn a spot in the starting lineup against West Ham. 

Poor performance.  Good result.  Hopefully BR and his staff have seen what needs to be improved and have a better game plan going into the weekend!

Played sh*t, 3 points, bitters going mad, sorted.

Most disappointing thing? The crowd.

Me heart was doing a Scotty, 'She canny take it Captain'
Jesus, whatever about anything else, MAIN thing is we got 3 valuable points.
But man, we got out of jail.
Past the 90th minute, was it Manquillo who won the peno - fair fucks to the lad. And Stevie sticking it away, rock solid Stevie mate.
Thought Mario had won it, strong, cool finish. He has that.
But Sterling was robbed and like that they have chance and what was Migs doing out in no mans land, poor decision making. Still, even if he had stayed on the line the lads was 1 on 1 with him, carved open we were.
Coutinho had a mare of a first half, some really careless passing.
Anyway, don't feel up to calling players out, just RELIEVED we got the 3 pts. Hopefully we'll improve before the next one.
Champi-oo-nez, Champi-oo-nez, , are we, are we, are we...

I'm sorry, did you watch Lovren today?

Yup he was awfull.

Most disappointing thing? The crowd.

Cant agree more. The decibels are now history

Three points important but performance was piss poor. We cannot perform like that against West Ham or Madrid for that matter. Huge pressure on Brendan this year after all the money he spent. Don't want him doing an AVB

Seriously we need an African DMF someone like tiote who cut the ball , Gerrard need to be back as CMF . If you look at their goal our genius Lucas wasn't even there

We have Emre Can to do just that, if not more

Scholes didn't look that happy for us.

Agree.  He didn't cost us a goal tonight.  Second time this season I've seen Lovren bypassed like that.  Him and Mignolet dropped bollocks for that goal.

They really did, it was never a case of Lovren making that tackle succesfully, pen or goal. He was way out of position. Plus a lot of his passes are long and hoofed. I think he is better suited to LCB but do you drop Sakho? No. 10 games with these 2 and see if we get better.

At the end of the day every goal we are conceding is avoidable. Never do you see a goal and think, wow that was good play by the opposition. So they should be easy to rule out.

For instance: instead of playing the man on corners play the ball or allocate 1 CB to be a pure ball winner and he goes to the flight of the ball. 8/10 times if he is running and jumping to the ball he will clear it as opposed to following the attacker and jumping with regardless of were the ball is. Its a desperate way of defending set pieces.

true moreno didnt help bombing forward which sucked Sakho out to cover but Lovren got to cut that out although the lad who put it through had way to much space. Still lots of issues to sort but a win is a win got to learn quick . Seems everyone blueprinting chelseas style against us and if we are going to sling crosses in get lambo on although Borini did alright to be fair

Scholes didn't look that happy for us.

Don't think I've ever seen Scholes happy.  Hasn't got that type of face.

Balo up top on his own wont work, dont get me wrong he played well but he's better with Sturridge alongside him. We got out of jail, the result is all that matters but we wont get away with it against a better side week in week out.

Three points important but performance was piss poor. We cannot perform like that against West Ham or Madrid for that matter. Huge pressure on Brendan this year after all the money he spent. Don't want him doing an AVB

I remember last year we struggled against west ham
They are also known for parking the buss not easy , I don't expect too much against Madrid
Mentally prepared for loss our defence won't handle ronaldo and bale pace

By the way they weren't a bad side, I think they hold the key to this group. They will pick up points off someone! Cant believe some thought this would be a stroll

By the way they weren't a bad side, I think they hold the key to this group. They will pick up points off someone! Cant believe some thought this would be a stroll

Agree mate, think that's where people are being overly critical on our lads, I think they'll certainly finish ahead of Basel.

Yup he was awfull.

One lapse in concentration doesn't make him awful. He was at the heart of everything defensively today.

We don't half make it difficult for ourselves. 

No doubt the miseries will be out in force again, and there were some well below par performances (Sterling,  Coutinho, Stevie and  Hendo should have offered more)  but Ludogorets were a good team and played really well. we actually created a lot more (half) chances then against villa, which is better.

The 3 points is huge, the Balo goal will do a lot for his confidence and I'm pleased for the boys.

Wtf is Migno doing with his positioning? He did that against City for their goal. FFS we cant afford individual mistakes.

Welcome back Champs League

You could see a drastic performance when we had two up top. When Sturridge was up top alone it didn't work and it's the same with Balotelli.

Imo we need to nip that formation in the bud and have two up top in front of Sterling in the 10 role.
4-3-1-2.

Cant agree more. The decibels are now history

To be fair, the crowd was loud at the beginning but then we started looking like we did against Villa and they quietened down a LOT.

We need to get the quick passes, 1 or 2 touch, going again. When countering we need fast pace passes and all moving forward. We seem to have reverted to a slow build up and whipping crosses in. I have no issue with crosses but we need either Balo or Lambert in the 6yard box which he never was because he is coming deeper than you would expect.

We are trying to find our way when in fact we should of tried to continue our style regardless of who came in. Hopefully they will bed in quick and we will come good.

West Ham is going to be such a hard game. MUST WIN!

Hate loving football this much. It wasnt fun when we were winning well, even worse when we are winning sh*te, terrible when we are losing bad.

Head splitting.

One lapse in concentration doesn't make him awful. He was at the heart of everything defensively today.

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

Enjoying reading various posts for a while now, so getting involved.

Well well..Champions League is back and is back with all the roller coaster emotions we are famous for.

The plus, Balo getting his first goal, Moreno and Manquillo, Hendo getting in and Steve doing what he does best, getting us out of trouble again.
The minus, Mignolet..seriously..som eone tell him he is no Neuer!! Couthino, where is the magic gone?? Sahko, panic everytime the ball comes to him.

In all, 3 points on the board, the table looking pretty much how it should be by the end of the group stage, unless we do an other on Real who looked really solid.

Glad we won, they were decent so job done.

One thing I'd again highlight in the goal we conceded is the way in which Moreno (who was very good) bombs forward matching Sterling stride for stride. Fair enough doing this against Villa on the 90th min when we're chasing a goal but not when we're 1 up. It highlights a real naïvety in our approach and has to come from the manager. This isn't last season where if you score 3 we'll score 4, got to be more disciplined and mature