Basel 1 - 0 Liverpool: In Game & Post Game Wonderings (again).

surprised anyone has mate. Nobody wants to be negative but how can you say someone deserves MOTM after that performance

Because the others were worse naturally (voted Mignollet by the way, as field players looked the main problem).

Players don't create chances by taking them out of their arses, attacking movement is a huge part of it, and it's why we find so much easier to create with someone like Sturridge rather than Balotelli.

That's exactly the only type of situation when Balotelli actually passes the ball - with his back to the goal. He does a good job controlling the ball and laying it off to others around him in that situation but that alone isn't good enough. By the way, it was only a chance because Sterling made a cracking run through the middle which Lallana spotted. It was a terrible miss and it was one of Sterling's worst games, but as I say again, people criticizing Balotelli are not talking about this particular game only, he's been the same for his whole career.

for me if you play Balotelli he has to play further up the pitch and he has to have Sterling playing off him or it just doesn't make sense

Cant vote for any Man Of The Match.

Neither can I, it would be a travesty to pick anyone as MOM, not one of them deserved it.

From earlier:

Danger man - Marco Streller.

Last season they beat Valencia 3-0 at home in the QF of the EL but lost 2nd leg 3-0. Had 2 sent off in ET and conceded another 2 in ET to lose 5-3 on agg.

Basel beat Chelsea twice in 2013/14. Knocked out Zenit and Spurs in the EL in 2012/13.

In 2011/12 they had home wins against Man Utd and Bayern Munich.

And despite all that they could have been beaten, if we'd had Sturridge and Allen.

Should just copy and paste that last bit.

I'd say :

Mignolet 7 - result could have been worse without his saves ...

He made one or two really good saves, far from the poorest player on the pitch tonight

Somebody gave Skrtel and Lovren  a 6 

Did you not see the goal we  conceded Skrtel doing his usual grappling with the player and leaving the oppo with a free header, not sure what Lovren was doing as the ball came off his backside!

When Roy Evans had us playing fast attacking football but letting in goals David moores brought in Houlier. Brendan needs to find some clean sheets because his defensive record is shocking

Well Brendan took all the plaudits last season he has to be challenged and judged by this season without Luis.
I always thought our tactic last season was "just give it to Luis" and so far I think I was right

Brendan needs to turn this around fast or it's curtains for our CL run let alone our bread and butter PL . I can't F***ing believe  what i'm seeing Rodgers is delusional if he thinks this will get better . Waiting for Sturridge to get match fit isn't the answer either .

So who's going to be dropped for the buggies game then ? Now that poses a big problem, especially with the.....
'Strength in Depth' we have now.
Does anyone deserve to keep their place ?

Somebody gave Skrtel and Lovren  a 6 

Did you not see the goal we  conceded Skrtel doing his usual grappling with the player and leaving the oppo with a free header, not sure what Lovren was doing as the ball came off his backside!

Thought Lovren was comfortable pretty much all night. It was Martin grappling with the lad and the ball bouncing off his back was the problem

Basel are sh*te. On par with Villa. We have been beaten twice in as many weeks by that calibre.

Three. You forgot West Ham

Just got home from work and was busy so didn't know the score until I was driving home.

Bitterly disappointed but Basel away was always going to be a tougher game than many thought.

A lot of work to do on the training pitch too get this current squad to gel by the looks of things.

Brendan needs to turn this around fast or it's curtains for our CL run let alone our bread and butter PL . I can't f**king believe  what i'm seeing Rodgers is delusional if he thinks this will get better . Waiting for Sturridge to get match fit isn't the answer either .

we know as good as Daniel is he will get injured again . How many BIG players do we have baring in mind this is a club with a pedigree that had 5 CL trophies.

simple question, Ian rush or Balotelli, Robbie Fowler or Balotelli, Owen or Balotelli .......Suarez or Balotelli he isn't a Liverpool player.I cant see a natural first x1 out of this squad

Well, that's really disappointing , can't really sleep after watching that performance.... Villa was quite good in defending, so did West Ham.. but Basel wasn't that good tonight, and still we even didn't score one goal.

My thought we were just lost our 'clinical' in front of goal... I can recall something similar with this last season but that time we have clinical strikers that  change the games. Once you put that in, you put the pressure to your opponent, and we banged a few more.. just can't see it happen recently...

Sterling got some clear chances, Markovic even missed when to kick... Frustated really....


I hope the players, manager and the staffs do not think it is just a bad day in the office.. they need to sort this out..

We were awful tonight but we'll be a lot better when Sturridge and Ballotelli are up front together.

We can still get through the group.

What really stood out with do many players under performing was the lack of options on the bench.

Where was Suso when Raheem was crying out to be replaced when he could not control a simple ball.
Where was the midfield general to drive us forward when Stevie decided to take a break on his deck chair.

Maybe I have exaggerated a bit but you get my gist.

Sterling needs to be benched for a spell and you might be right Suso could be a better option at the moment .Gerrard was terrible tonight in holding possession and giving the ball away very cheaply and not just him but all across the park , Basle were there for the taking had Rodgers got the tactics right .

Missed the second half because I was at six a side but looking at the result I'm glad I did. Regardless of who they beat a couple of years ago they've lost a few key players since then so using "they beat Chelsea last season" is a scapegoat excuse. They were there to be beaten and yet again we fu**ed up.

How the F**k Markovic is getting into this starting 11 is beyond me. Throughout the first half his first touch was dreadful and when he should have shot he turned back and tried looking for a pass elsewhere.

Somebody gave Skrtel and Lovren  a 6 

Did you not see the goal we  conceded Skrtel doing his usual grappling with the player and leaving the oppo with a free header, not sure what Lovren was doing as the ball came off his backside!

Yes I was probably too generous saying "nothing terribly shocking".

On the other hand if you consider the number of corners they had and our usual tendancy to make critical errors on set pieces, it wasn't that bad from the defence to only allow one.

Just got home from work and was busy so didn't know the score until I was driving home.

Bitterly disappointed but Basel away was always going to be a tougher game than many thought.

A lot of work to do on the training pitch too get this current squad to gel by the looks of things.

I love and admire your positivity mate, I really do. But by the fu*k it's going to take many a training session to get this shower to gel Not to mention Brendans decision making.

First 20 minutes it became very obvious that these we're there for the taking and we didn't capitalise at all..Our pressing was good at that point but when we won the ball we just gave it back with some sunday league pass..

and when we did break in and around the box our final effort was dreadful..

I'm more disappointed than mad.. we let ourselves down big time..

lots of players just didn't turn up tonight and if those same players play like that against Madrid we truly are F**ked !

Their number 8 and that little Egyptian winger ran rings around us.. I mean, come on.. who the F**k are they?..

Saying all that.. The Ref gave us F**k all tonight !!

We are missing Sturridge up front so bad right now..

I love and admire your positivity mate, I really do. But by the fu*k it's going to take many a training session to get this shower to gel Not to mention Brendans decision making.

The thing that worries me a little is that we would have bought all these players in the summer with some sort of thought about how they would play together in a team but there is little evidence of that so far.

Mignolet, done alright although he was, partly, at fault for the goal. The save he made, he flicks back into the middle of the goal rather than pushing it wide of the post like a keeper is supposed to do.

Manquillo, was solid enough. Isn't the greatest going forward but as many will know, I'd settle for a defensively sound and somewhat dodgy attacking full back than a glorified winger who can't defend as a full back.

Skrtel, was sound throughout apart from the goal where I don't know what the F**k he was doing. One bad error and it's cost us a goal.

Lovren, I'd say his best performance in a Liverpool shirt thus far. Looks much better on the left alongside Skrtel than he ever did beside Sakho. Maybe slightly at fault for the goal but if Skrtel clears it then Lovren has nothing to do.

Enrique, was F***ing sh*te. They targeted him throughout the game, constantly running at him and putting him under pressure. First 20 minutes he'd made 5 mistakes.

Gerrard, sound defensively poor offensively. Don't remember people walking past him other than the one he got booked on. Dealt with the corners at the near post well enough. Going forward though, with one or two good long ball exceptions, he didn't give us any creativity.

Henderson, similar to Gerrard really. Sound enough defensively but then didn't do anything of any real note going forward. Needs to start taking a bit more responsibility as well.

Coutinho, did alright. Few nice touches, couple of decent runs but like he has all season struggled for that final ball. Better than he has been for most of the year though. Bit surprising to see him to storm right past Rodgers when he got brought off and the boss didn't look too pleased either.

Markovic, sh*t unfortunately. He really struggled to find a team mate with even the simplest of balls. He supposedly has express pace but he seems reluctant to use it.

Sterling, was sh*t but still in dangerous positions. We're pinning our hopes on a 19 year old kid and it looks like it's taking it's toll on him. Last year we had 4 front players who were all match winners with Suarez, Sturridge, Coutinho (on form) and Sterling. This year, it looks like it's left to Raheem and Raheem only. That ain't right, especially after forking out over 100 mill.

Balotelli, waste of 16 million. Never rated him, tonight proved why.

Lallana, one decent pass when he came on for Sterling. Also got caught dallying on the ball (again) inside our own half and then rolled over looking for a free kick. Still don't see the reason everybody is raving about him.

Lambert, one good hold up play and one daft free kick for trying to win a ball he couldn't get to. Needs to either get more minutes or be told to F**k off because 10 minutes here and there is neither good to us or him.