Stoke City 0-1 Liverpool: In game and Post Match debate

Says a lot as to why they're the captain and vice-captain.

It's amazing the difference in mood between losing, drawing and winning. If we'd have lost I'd be pissed until the next game we played, now I can sit and chill out with a smile on my face whilst I down a Corona or two

Exactly mate.

We can enjoy it together for 8 days

F***ing gerrin.

Was pissed watching it, wasn't pretty but that goal and who else has lifted up trees so far in the league this weekend. Voted Cou MoM for the goal, couldn't tell you how he played for the time he was on and didn't even notice Firmino come on.

F**k it, wins a win and I said 1 nil.

Southern Shandy drinkers next.

F**kin have it.

I'm gonna be controversial here..... but if Gerrard had played, the Stoke players would have made mince meat of him and I think we would have conceded.

I think he definitely made the right decision to retire from Liverpool and wind down in the States, as I honestly think his lack of mobility was a crucial reason for the piss poor defensive showings of recent seasons.

Having Henderson and Milner in the middle - two engines in the midfield who cover shitloads of ground and are relatively quick (Hendo more so than Milner) - shielded us much much better than Gerrard would have. I said before when Milner was signed that these two pairing in midfield could be beneficial to the defence and I think it added a bit more assuredness in addiiton to Clyne and Gomez's solid jobs.

It's important to have some semblence of pace there in central midfield and forget about anyone who doesn't have the legs - if not for pace and movement, we always get murdered and the defence is really doing a backs against the wall type job. Which is why I don't think Lucas has a future here either.

I'm gonna be controversial here..... but if Gerrard had played, the Stoke players would have made mince meat of him and I think we would have conceded.

I think he definitely made the right decision to retire from Liverpool and wind down in the States, as I honestly think his lack of mobility was a crucial reason for the piss poor defensive showings of recent seasons.

Having Henderson and Milner in the middle - two engines in the midfield who cover shitloads of ground and are relatively quick (Hendo more so than Milner) - shielded us much much better than Gerrard would have. I said before when Milner was signed that these two pairing in midfield could be beneficial to the defence and I think it added a bit more assuredness in addiiton to Clyne and Gomez's solid jobs.

It's important to have some semblence of pace there in central midfield and forget about anyone who doesn't have the legs - if not for pace and movement, we always get murdered and the defence is really doing a backs against the wall type job. Which is why I don't think Lucas has a future here either.

Don't think it is being controversial in my view. No one would doubt that Gerrard slowed down and couldn't get 'stuck in' as much as he used to and certainly not as much as Milner could. It can't be underestimated how important it is to have players who will run miles and miles during games. He didn't have a good game today but Lallana gave a perfect example of how important it is to have runners in our team - can't remember which Stoke player it was that had gone streaming down the centre right of the field but there was Lallana chasing back and stuck out a leg to see it go for a goal kick (as the referee gave it despite the protestations of every Stoke player and fan!). It was Lallana's best contribution today but it was an important example of why we need runners in our team certainly from a defensive point of view.

I'm gonna be controversial here..... but if Gerrard had played, the Stoke players would have made mince meat of him and I think we would have conceded.

I think he definitely made the right decision to retire from Liverpool and wind down in the States, as I honestly think his lack of mobility was a crucial reason for the piss poor defensive showings of recent seasons.

Having Henderson and Milner in the middle - two engines in the midfield who cover shitloads of ground and are relatively quick (Hendo more so than Milner) - shielded us much much better than Gerrard would have. I said before when Milner was signed that these two pairing in midfield could be beneficial to the defence and I think it added a bit more assuredness in addiiton to Clyne and Gomez's solid jobs.

It's important to have some semblence of pace there in central midfield and forget about anyone who doesn't have the legs - if not for pace and movement, we always get murdered and the defence is really doing a backs against the wall type job. Which is why I don't think Lucas has a future here either.

Completely agree mate, but i'll rather have Emre Can as a DM to ease off the defensive responsabilities of Milner and Henderson, in this way they could be more involved in our attacking play.

Must admit I'm surprised how many people think Lovren had a good game, personally thought he got pulled out of position far too often, even ending up by the sidelines on a couple of occasions to which Skrtel bailed him out numerous times.

I'd say I'd catch the highlights on MotD but something tells me our game will be near the bottom of the listings with fair justification this time.

Lovren played better than I had expected, but alas, his stats bear out a much better performance than I thought:
Dejan Lovren Stats: 1 Shot. 1 On Target. 88% passing accuracy. 2 Interceptions. 12 Clearances. 56 touches. 6/6 Aerial Duels won.

Lovren played better than I had expected, but alas, his stats bear out a much better performance than I thought:
Dejan Lovren Stats: 1 Shot. 1 On Target. 88% passing accuracy. 2 Interceptions. 12 Clearances. 56 touches. 6/6 Aerial Duels won.

They are good stats, can't argue with that at all, but as I've explained earlier it was his positioning and risk to reward decision making I didn't like. Also said though I'm not going to argue if we manage 37 more of those types of performances that result in clean sheets because that probably gives us the league title.

So to be fair to those that are saying he had a good game the stats certainly back that up, but I will maintain my opinion about his positioning simply because I'm stubborn and always right! (j/k)

I'm willing Lovren to do well.  I think he was lucky to get away with the elbow and he skied one horrible clearance, but his forays to the byline in support of Gomez were usually appropriate and well-covered by Skrtel and Clyne.  In short, the defence operated superbly as a unit, which is new and refreshing.  He played a good part in that today, and I really want the fans to build him up rather than knock him because I'm convinced he's a confidence player. 

It's a very good win and I wouldn't be putting too much emphasis on performances at the moment, good or bad. Our pre season fixtures and the tempo of the matches didn't look overly testing, and my guess is it'll take us 2-3 weeks to get up to speed. I guess the one thing the match does demonstrate is the importance of defending properly, staying in the game so one flash of inspiration becomes the winning goal rather than a consolation.

Onward and upward, and looking at the potentially rocky away games coming up a win against Bournemouth would be very handy too.

Industrious 4-2-3-1 made way for a more fluent 4-3-3.

Would like to see us retain the latter or go 4-1-2-1-2. Both heavily dependant on the fitness of Can and Firmino.

3 points!

NOW YER GONNA BELIEVE

A welcomed 3 points today, although at times it looked as if it could have went the other way…. Can not blame Benteke today as someone hear said, dunlop liddell shankly (I believe)

“Benteke did the best with what little he could feed off. Most long balls he won, not his fault if there's nobody there to pick up the second ball.”

No My disappointment today came from the score line, (Would really have liked to put at east 3 goals pass Stoke, and make up in part for the 6-1 mauling we suffered at their hand 11 weeks ago) And Henderson and Milner contribution ( Or lack of) in this game
The system we play was at fault today, leaving Benteke Isolated, although I still felt that he could have done more
                                Benteke


        Milner                       Coutinho                  Ibe


                         Henderson          Cann


Gomez                 Lovren             Skrtel         Clyne

                                      Mignolet

In hindsight this is how we should have started, Milner is so much more productive when playing on the wing…. Sub Ibe for Firmino and then switch with Milner…
Still it was a victory and three points none the less

A welcomed 3 points today, although at times it looked as if it could have went the other way…. Can not blame Benteke today as someone hear said, dunlop liddell shankly (I believe)

“Benteke did the best with what little he could feed off. Most long balls he won, not his fault if there's nobody there to pick up the second ball.”

No My disappointment today came from the score line, (Would really have liked to put at east 3 goals pass Stoke, and make up in part for the 6-1 mauling we suffered at their hand 11 weeks ago) And Henderson and Milner contribution ( Or lack of) in this game
The system we play was at fault today, leaving Benteke Isolated, although I still felt that he could have done more
                                Benteke


        Milner                       Coutinho                  Ibe


                         Henderson          Cann


Gomez                 Lovren             Skrtel         Clyne

                                      Mignolet

In hindsight this is how we should have started, Milner is so much more productive when playing on the wing…. Sub Ibe for Firmino and then switch with Milner…
Still it was a victory and three points none the less

We'll save the revenge beating for Anfield so more of our support can see it.

Nobody who is going to be battling us for the league has done anything of note this weekend yet. First game, get through it, get 3 points at a place that a lot will drop points at this season out of the way and Coutinho is back on the worldies. Oh and it wasn't freezing and raining on a Wednesday.

Not reading into f**k all yet but that's a big, early three points at that gaff that we could have easily have not got at this point.

What's not to like at this stage?

Especially as I'll be watching the next two Monday nighters in Spain.

Quaff, quaff, quaff.

And if you are moaning and think you could do with smiling because you just want to whinge, cheer yourself up


Second review down.

Smile.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/reviews/B000KKNQBK

We'll save the revenge beating for Anfield so more of our support can see it.

Nobody who is going to be battling us for the league has done anything of note this weekend yet. First game, get through it, get 3 points at a place that a lot will drop points at this season out of the way and Coutinho is back on the worldies. Oh and it wasn't freezing and raining on a Wednesday.

Not reading into f**k all yet but that's a big, early three points at that gaff that we could have easily have not got at this point.

What's not to like at this stage?

Especially as I'll be watching the next two Monday nighters in Spain.

Quaff, quaff, quaff.

And if you are moaning and think you could do with smiling because you just want to whinge, cheer yourself up


Second review down.

Smile.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/reviews/B000KKNQBK

Absolute F***ing classic that veet review, remember when it was first posted by Rush I believe in the Funny Stuff thread, laughed my ass off at that one.

Absolute f**king classic that veet review, remember when it was first posted by Rush I believe in the Funny Stuff thread, laughed my ass off at that one.

Yep. Credit to Rush, gave me and a few of the lads a few laughs that.

Gay snowman 😀

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/reviews/B000KKNQBK

 

Feel guilty here for getting a couple of plusses for something Rush posted a while back.

Rush if you find your original post bump it and I'll plus it again.

Some of the other reviews are funny too.

Way off topic so GERRRRRRIIIIINNN!!!

Completely agree mate, but i'll rather have Emre Can as a DM to ease off the defensive responsabilities of Milner and Henderson, in this way they could be more involved in our attacking play.

I would rather have Can playing too - the team was definitely much more creative when he came on and Henderson was allowed forward.

But from a pragmatic point of view - considering it is a tough away game and it wasn't long ago we were battered there - I think Rodgers made the right decision to play more cautiously and sit Henderson back. In the end, it worked and with a substitution, our pushing on forward towards the end got its rewards.

Benteke was terrible.  Coutinho rusty but even when he's not fully fit he's still our best player.

Lallana, I don't know what his purpose at our club is.

Henderson and Milner both anonymous.  Can should start in place of one of them next week, probably Henderson.

Gomez looked shaky a few times but generally did ok.  Lovren much less sh*te than last season.

So sorry we won Fedderat. Don't want your synopsis of the game any day of the week.

We never find it an easy place to go (most team don't), so a win on the opening day and the Britannia out of the way - what's not to like.

So we could of played better, but at this stage of the season the win is what matters.

Thought Gomez looked good, particularly against such a seasoned pro as Walters.

I guess the one thing the match does demonstrate is the importance of defending properly, staying in the game so one flash of inspiration becomes the winning goal rather than a consolation.

Amen to that. We did look much more solid at the back, but there were a few shaky moments where we could have shipped a goal. Hopefully the Skrtle-Lovren partnership will improve over the next few games and we can build a stingy defense around them. I think the next few weeks will begin to show us if "Future Captain" can become  the defensive leader BR seems to think he can be....

Industrious 4-2-3-1 made way for a more fluent 4-3-3.

That formation (4-3-3) seems to suit our personnel better. Playing 3 combative, energetic CM's allowed our creative players (Coutinho and Ibe/Firmino) to focus more on attacking and less on tracking back.

A few thoughts:
- From what little I've seen, I think Firmino should be starting up front (alongside Coutinho and Benteke) with Ibe being used as a super sub. Firmino just looks like a more polished player (which makes sense as he is a few years older and has considerably more top level experience).
- Lallana picked up right where he left off, but that's not a compliment...
- Gomez looked like what he is - a right footed CB being played at LB. Its not that our attacks necessarily broke down with him, but there were several opportunities for him to take the space down the left flank but he wouldn't because it's unnatural for him. Our play in attack is very narrow, so we need our fullbacks to be able to provide width. I know I'll catch it from some for this, but I'd prefer Moreno at LB if we're going to play with Benteke at ST.
- I was impressed with Benteke. He did very well when the ball was played into him on the floor. He made several nice 1 time layoff passes, and he also did very well at holding the ball up when necessary. I could see him, Coutinho, and Firmino forming a very potent attacking trio this year.

3 points away at a difficult ground on opening day!! Sets up for a good week   

So pleased with the win. I had to leave about half way through the 1st half so I missed most of the match, but I'm glad we managed to get the 3 points in the first game. At this point, this is all that matters. Will be watching the replay soon so I have a better idea of what went right and wrong in this game.

1st game and first win.  With such a hard starting fixture list added with another huge batch of new players the 3 points are priceless.  Really couldn't ask for more.