QPR 2:3 Liverpool, In game & post match "discussion".

Brendan has been here 3 years and this is an area that we are seeing deteriorate to new levels of incompetence.

That's the number one issue I have with the Gaffer; every season since he's been here, our defensive duties have gotten worse

That's the number one issue I have with the Gaffer; every season since he's been here, our defensive duties have gotten worse

Spent a lot of money and not improved on Carragher/Skrtel/Agger. Skrtel/Sakho/Lovren - Maybe given time they will be.
A lot of chopping and changing at the back. Don't think that helps.

The strange part is that Can, SG, JH SHOULD have provided some cover to the defence. But it didn't.

One problem is that our attack is so sh*te, we have to send numbers forward to attack. Which can leave us exposed at the back.

But ALSO, our organisation is poor. The implementation of the tactical formation.

Last yr we were poor defensively, and by that I mean midfield and defence when the opposition had the ball.
We brought in 90/100m of cash. And haven't improved that side of it very much, if at all. But going fwd we are much worse. So none of these performances should remotely be a surprise.

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Additionally, last yr we had THREE top level players, with so-so team-mates. This yr we only have one. And he is too young to have the burden exclusively on his shoulders.

The biggest problem we have is losing last season's top scorers.
That would hurt any team.

Honestly though, this situation should have been planned for.
Suarez was always going to leave. Sturridge has a terrible injury record.
Naive at best to no bring in the right players to compensate for this.

Yesterday was awful. Yes a wins a win like some are saying but that performance was truly worrying/embarassing.

The back four are sh*te but F**k me I don't think I've ever seen a Liverpool side so poor in attack.

Balotelli needs dropping ASAP. What does he offer us? Can't score, doesn't create chances, doesn't make space, doesn't even close their defence down. After watching last years front two of Danny and Luis work their bollocks off for 90mnins every game we now have to watch him stand around doing F**k all. I'd have Lambert or Borini every day over him.

Been saying it for weeks and weeks but coutinho has to start every game and yesterday shown that. No creativity until he came on and then he bags a good goal and sets the winner up with a beautiful pass to start the move. How has he suddenly fell out of favour? He is our best player.

The midfield was sluggish and slow. Not being too hard on him as he's come back from an injury, but can was off the pace yesterday.  Gerrard has lost his legs too and I would seriously only use him as an impact player now.  I don't know if it would work but Id love to see a midfield 3 of Coutinho, Allen and Henderson. Plenty of pace and work rate in there.

Our defence is as bad as our attack. I'm his biggest critic and he still made some errors but overall I thought Mignolet was our best player yesterday. Made some decent stops to be fair to him.

RB position needs addressing immediately. Neither Johnson or Manquillo are good enough. I'd say Johnson is the better player out the two but I can't wait until Flanno is back fit.

Enrique isn't as good as Moreno.

The Lovren and Skrtel partnership isn't working for whatever reason. They are all over the place. Defending like kids at times, its cringe to watch.

We concede the same goal every F***ing week. As soon as the other team has a corner or a set piece around our box I know its going in. We just can't deal with that sort of pressure.

I said in another thread a week ago that the anfield atmosphere on a European night will drive us to victory V Madrid but F**k me, based on yesterday Im really concerned now. Come on reds F***ing book your ideas up and lets get our act together starting now

That's the first time we've won a game where I didn't really feel like celebrating after we'd scored any goal. Also, it really pissed me off to see the Gaffer punching both hands into the air as we'd won something big.

The post match interview where he praised the courage and commitment (again) did nothing to alleviate my fears that the Gaffer doesn't see what I see.

I'd love to hear for once: "That performance was simply unacceptable and inexcusable. If we continue to give the ball away and defend like that, we'll be in a relegation dog fight, let along fighting for 4th. Some players out there need to have a good long chat with themselves - and they do that when we start training at Melwood tomorrow morning!"

Then I realised it's the manager who bought those misfiring players

Officially worried, and that's taking into consideration the fact we don't have Studge.

I have predicted a 2-0 win for us .... obviously I am hoping for some slight improvement on todays performance.

Sorry but what on earth is that based on, unless we play better than we did against Spurs or they have one of their extremely rare off days then they will humiliate us on Wednesday and even more so in 2 weeks time. The team is quite simply not working at the moment, and the longer this carries on the more you need to look at the management and coaches, especially whoever the feck is the defensive coach or do maybe we not have one.

That's the first time we've won a game where I didn't really feel like celebrating after we'd scored any goal. Also, it really pissed me off to see the Gaffer punching both hands into the air as we'd won something big.

The post match interview where he praised the courage and commitment (again) did nothing to alleviate my fears that the Gaffer doesn't see what I see.

I'd love to hear for once: "That performance was simply unacceptable and inexcusable. If we continue to give the ball away and defend like that, we'll be in a relegation dog fight, let along fighting for 4th. Some players out there need to have a good long chat with themselves - and they do that when we start training at Melwood tomorrow morning!"

Then I realised it's the manager who bought those misfiring players

Officially worried, and that's taking into consideration the fact we don't have Studge.

What Brendan says to the press isn't necessarily what he says in the changing rooms.

What Brendan says to the press isn't necessarily what he says in the changing rooms.

Only, I think it is. He comes across as the type of manager Uncle Roy was; too nice a guy

Only, I think it is. He comes across as the type of manager Uncle Roy was; too nice a guy

You are probably right.

But Brendans positive attitude and his encouragement of players was one of the reasons why we performed as we did last season.

Only, I think it is. He comes across as the type of manager Uncle Roy was; too nice a guy

Roy's never come across as anything other than a self-preserving c**t.

Only, I think it is. He comes across as the type of manager Uncle Roy was; too nice a guy

Wait, just a few weeks ago Brendan was a jerk for callin out players. So is he too nice a guy or his he a jerk?

Truth be told.

Apart from our Breakable Daniel Sturridge, Balotelli is the best we have right now.

What other option is there outside Balotelli?

The last time Rickie led the attack, we were all screaming for Balotelli's return.

Who else?

No one.

The striker that failed medical is now plying his trade at Chelsea as a fit striker. We have no one.

If Balotelli sucks as a lone striker, then pair him with someone else. It is that easy. Do not keep persisting with him as a lone striker only to slag him off at the end of every game.

All these Balo slagging is getting us nowhere. Solution guys. Solution.

That's the first time we've won a game where I didn't really feel like celebrating after we'd scored any goal. Also, it really pissed me off to see the Gaffer punching both hands into the air as we'd won something big.

The post match interview where he praised the courage and commitment (again) did nothing to alleviate my fears that the Gaffer doesn't see what I see.

I'd love to hear for once: "That performance was simply unacceptable and inexcusable. If we continue to give the ball away and defend like that, we'll be in a relegation dog fight, let along fighting for 4th. Some players out there need to have a good long chat with themselves - and they do that when we start training at Melwood tomorrow morning!"

Then I realised it's the manager who bought those misfiring players

Officially worried, and that's taking into consideration the fact we don't have Studge.

Well the post match I saw BR said we were very lucky to win, QPR deserved a point and we were no where near an acceptable level of performance, however he praised the players for the character they showed in scoring twice late on. Fair comments to the press. I'd imagine he was more harsh in the dressing room.

If Balotelli sucks as a lone striker, then pair him with someone else. It is that easy. Do not keep persisting with him as a lone striker only to slag him off at the end of every game.

All these Balo slagging is getting us nowhere. Solution guys. Solution.

Thing is... Balotelli isn't an out and out lone striker anyway.. well that's the way I see it..
If you actually watch his link up play in midfield yesterday and in previous games it is very good so for me he's better off playing behind or alongside someone else..
When that ball came to him from the Lallana effort yesterday and he ballooned it over it came to him too quick and he didn't connect at all plus more importantly Lallana should have buried it anyway ...

For me our problem at the moment is BR is making too many changes too often this season and we are all over the place.. I can sympathise with regard to the new players "bedding in" for so long before my patience runs out...

To start two full backs who haven't played together since last season was absolutely ridiculous..
It was like watching the last 20 minutes of the Palace game last season all over again except it went on for 94 minutes...

and dya know what?..

We'll probably go out on Wednesday and hammer Madrid 3-0...

Crikey, just came on to read what everyone's thoughts on the game were, as due to a family accident have spent all weekend at Aintree Hospital, so apart from the score knew nothing.
I was disappointed that I hadn't been able to watch the match, but after reading through these pages, I don't think I missed much!
Still, a win is a win no matter how it's achieved. Real Madrid on Wednesday is the perfect opportunity to bounce back!

Yesterday's match was one of the worst performances I can remember. Playing Emre Can (on that performance should be renamed Emre Can't) with Johnson and Enrique rates as terrible team selection. In the past, I thought that Kola Toure was suspect but would prefer him to Skrtel anyday. Brendan should tell Skrtel what Sparky told Shawcross- stop holding on to your opponents and play the ball. Either that or tell him to sod off.

Thing is... Balotelli isn't an out and out lone striker anyway.. well that's the way I see it..
If you actually watch his link up play in midfield yesterday and in previous games it is very good so for me he's better off playing behind or alongside someone else..
When that ball came to him from the Lallana effort yesterday and he ballooned it over it came to him too quick and he didn't connect at all plus more importantly Lallana should have buried it anyway ...

Is that you Mario?


Maybe Lallana should have scored but it wasn't exactly a sitter. The QPR keeper made a good save too. Mario missed an open goal from 6 yards out.

Wait, just a few weeks ago Brendan was a jerk for callin out players. So is he too nice a guy or his he a jerk?

I think he's too nice

I actually thought Can did quite well. The trouble I have with him is that I'm not sure the Gaffer knows where his best position is

I actually thought Can did quite well. The trouble I have with him is that I'm not sure the Gaffer knows where his best position is

The trouble is he'll invariably be compared to Gerrard, because that's where he will play at the moment.
Great young player, and his only just back from injury.

The first half was the worst I've seen us play in a long time. We couldn't string 3 passes together, we were toothless going forward and even worse in defense. There is something seriously wrong when Bobby Zamora makes our CBs look like school boys, and even worse is the fact that I'd have rather had him up front for us than Balotelli.

Mario needs to get his head sorted quick! He needs to stop looking for the shot every time he gets the ball and help us get our attacking movement and possession play going, but I just don't see him suddenly becoming an unselfish player.... BR has his work cut out with this one.

I'm not sure where the "Brendan's too nice" comes from. I doubt Agger and Pepe would be claiming that.

I think BR has tried the hatchet approach and he's limited as to where he can put it now. He doesn't know his best team/s.
He doesn't know who he can drop/sell/buy. He doesn't know where we will realistically finish, or whether he will be backed in the transfer window in Jan or next Summer. In truth, he doesn't know whether the owners will see him more than a "1 season wonder".

I think the young signings he made this Summer will likely be very good players in 3/4 yrs time. But what happens in the meantime could be rather unsettling.

The truth is, that since Xabi was sold, we haven't had THAT many top signings, even in value terms. Sturridge and Suarez are obviously the stand-outs. With Sterling as the stand out youngster. Johnson has been good(not so good these days tho), Sakho and Lovren may end up very good. But most of them have been ok or bad.  Even Sturridge suffers from injury layoffs and isn't the easiest to find a perfect partner for. Henderson is good, but no form of "lynchpin" at this stage. I look at how other teams are investing heavily. Even Arsenal, and certainly both Mancs. All I see us signing is solid youngsters who could become very good.

It would be interesting to see what the dreaded transfer committee has planned for the next two windows...