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

Great buzz when the goal went in...
You could see the game drifting into a nil nil and then, GET IN !!..

we're on our way.. that'll do nicely..

For 3/4 of the game, I was far from impressed and saw little, to no improvement on last season. Defensively we weren't good enough yet again and although we got the clean sheet we were incredibly lucky to do so because they had some great chances. Charlie Adam and Johnson both should have scored against us. Though, I'm not surprised and thought we would have problems the moment I saw Lovren in the team. I'm not highlighting him to pick him out as such because it certainly wasn't his worst game for us but him and Skrtel together, doesn't work. There is zero communication between them two, constantly out of position and what really pissed me off was, and I felt a bit sorry for Lovren to be honest and here's why. In the first half they had a free kick and it showed us getting set to defend it and Lovren was doing his best to get the defensive line organised and it was one of the few times I have actually seen Lovren look as though he is confidently taking control but nobody was paying him the slightest bit of attention. Skrtel kept looking at him but was still further back than him rather than stepping up in line with him. Not good enough and we need to start having better communication at the back.

For a man who has been at the club for so long, Skrtel's communication is appalling.

If he's not willing to take responsibilities at his age and experience, then we'd be better off phasing him out the side and forming a Sakho-Lovren partnership because it's simply not good enough from him.

what's probably more worrying is that both our centre halves picked up a yellow each.. not good..
or are we to expect it from the pair of them every game?

what's probably more worrying is that both our centre halves picked up a yellow each.. not good..
or are we to expect it from the pair of them every game?

And one Full Back

yeah...should've been avoided though..
Lovren led with his elbow which is a no no and Martyn Psychobilly let the red mist come down again...

We got the 3 points. I'll bet a lot of the top teams go there this Season and won't get the same result...so get the f**k in!

amen to that brother, I know it wasn't fund but you get games like that and we won.
On another note, its the last few hours of voting for the Liverpool Fc Supporters Committee posts and I have been shortlisted to the last 3 in the Season Ticket Holders Post and would appreciate any votes.

http://liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/190068-vote-to-help-shape-future-of-the-club

thanks, paul wilcox.

I love a good dissection of the game as much as the next person but it is possible to critique in a positive way, some however just want to be negative, despite a win. 

Your right.
I'm not sure if that is supposed to be aimed at me though?
I made one balanced post - positives, negatives and my view on how we should play Benteke ( which I even said is how i thought Brendan would in fact play Benteke).
I dont really appreciate being told I'm being negative for what was a perfectly reasonable and balanced post ( if that is what you are saying?)

Personally I come on here to talk about the game. I dont mind if other people thought it was a good performance or a bad one. I'm happy for them to say what they think about it, and I'll certainly continue to say what I think about it.

If you think certain individuals are being continually and perpetually negative then by all means call them out on it. Say who are talking about and by all means let them know you think they are moaning bas**rds.
General statements that its a win, so thats it, any criticism means you're a killjoy, are just daft, and would make this a hell of a boring forum.

amen to that brother, I know it wasn't fund but you get games like that and we won.
On another note, its the last few hours of voting for the Liverpool Fc Supporters Committee posts and I have been shortlisted to the last 3 in the Season Ticket Holders Post and would appreciate any votes.

http://liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/190068-vote-to-help-shape-future-of-the-club

thanks, paul wilcox.

Done. Good Luck.

Done. Good Luck.

You said done, but did you vote for him or someone else?

Whatever happened to the sign of a good team being one who can not play great but still grind out the win?

In the old days to achieve that you had to defend properly and not concede, the thinking being that if you couldn't win it you'd better make sure you don't lose it. Restricting the opposition to one shot on goal, that was the sort of thing you aimed for. You got your midfielders in front of the back four, played compact and sacrificed a bit of attacking flair for increased solidity. What you then did was played for the full ninety, in the hope that if one of your flair players produced a worldie it would be enough to take the three points. You didn't make a DVD of the "ugly" win, but you got back on the bus knowing the three points were just as valuable as a fluent 4-0 win.

The point always was that NOBODY plays great every week. The teams though that don't just win when they play great, but can also win when they stutter, tend to amass more points at the end of the season. In days gone by when it was two points for a win I remember celebrating boring 0-0 draws where neither team mustered a shot, that was when we all knew what was going on. These days though most of the time you have to win to celebrate.

Footballs obviously changed though. Now you've got to win 4-0 and release a DVD. Chelsea and Mourinho must be sh!tting themselves that someone is going to strip them of last years title.

So this seems to have become a thread all about how unhappy the happy people have become about those who have failed to be happy enough about our win at the weekend!

Different opinions is what a forum is all about. Be a bit boring if everyone thought the same. Try not to take it all so personally is surely the best way forward.

Your right.
I'm not sure if that is supposed to be aimed at me though?
I made one balanced post - positives, negatives and my view on how we should play Benteke ( which I even said is how i thought Brendan would in fact play Benteke).
I dont really appreciate being told I'm being negative for what was a perfectly reasonable and balanced post ( if that is what you are saying?)

Personally I come on here to talk about the game. I dont mind if other people thought it was a good performance or a bad one. I'm happy for them to say what they think about it, and I'll certainly continue to say what I think about it.

If you think certain individuals are being continually and perpetually negative then by all means call them out on it. Say who are talking about and by all means let them know you think they are moaning bas**rds.
General statements that its a win, so thats it, any criticism means you're a killjoy, are just daft, and would make this a hell of a boring forum.

Actually it wasn't aimed at you, nor were any of my other posts about negativity despite us winning but it clearly hit a nerve that you chose to pick up, then misinterpret a positive comment I made and turn it into a negative.

That's fine though as I'm obviously a daft killjoy who wants the forum to be a boring place because you think I only ever want everyone to say "yay we won, so no discussion" or maybe "oh we lost, still no discussion.

Nobody is running down the streets singing "we're gonna win the League" after that performance.  We do realise that we need to be better however those of us who want to enjoy the win also realise that it's the first game of the season, that some of the players have barely had a pre season, that we had 4 new starters playing and that generally Stoke away is a very difficult fixture, so to get 3 points is something to be happy about.

Debate is welcomed, differing opinions are welcomed, critique is welcomed, negativity for the sake of it, is not. 

The things is debs it isn't really negativity for the sake of it, a few posters have come out and said they thought we played pretty poorly, were lucky to get the win and that it hasn't inspired much confidence, I don't have any problem with that view. Now I was pretty happy with the performance in terms of battling qualities, looking solid, digging in and getting the job done but I'd be lying if I said I thought we played well because we didn't.

So this seems to have become a thread all about how unhappy the happy people have become about those who have failed to be happy enough about our win at the weekend!

Hahaha, the irony!!!

So this seems to have become a thread all about how unhappy the happy people have become about those who have failed to be happy enough about our win at the weekend!

Different opinions is what a forum is all about. Be a bit boring if everyone thought the same. Try not to take it all so personally is surely the best way forward.

It is however incredibly boring when the same people can only ever be negative, works both ways.

"We'll need to play a lot better", "Benteke had a quiet debut" etc is fair enough. Some of the stuff though is daft. "I've said all along about Benteke" for example, what, after one game? Really?

The things is debs it isn't really negativity for the sake of it, a few posters have come out and said they thought we played pretty poorly,

To be fair Scot, most times it is the exact same posters anytime there is a complaint...its one thing if its various people at various times for various reasons.

What we have is the same handful of posters that complain about everything..from Anfield redevelopement, to the gaffer, to the players and the tactics..it does not matter the subject as everything done is wrong.

People rightly so get sick of seeing this sh*t in every thread from the same people.

The things is debs it isn't really negativity for the sake of it, a few posters have come out and said they thought we played pretty poorly, were lucky to get the win and that it hasn't inspired much confidence, I don't have any problem with that view. Now I was pretty happy with the performance in terms of battling qualities, looking solid, digging in and getting the job done but I'd be lying if I said I thought we played well because we didn't.

I have no problem with those points Scott, it's a fair summation of the performance.  It's the ones spouting things like same sh*t as last season, F***ing woeful, hasn't Brendan learned anything without even considering any of the points you've raised. 

They were the same ones criticising Brendan for not knowing how to defend, or coach a defence, that we'd leak goals left, right and centre if he didn't change the set up then complain that we looked turgid in attack because he did all those things.

As you say mate and most of us have said the same, we were solid defensively, compact in midfield, did what we had to do to give us the platform to go on and win the game.  Those subtleties seem lost on some though mate.

I have no problem with those points Scott, it's a fair summation of the performance.  It's the ones spouting things like same sh*t as last season, f**king woeful, hasn't Brendan learned anything without even considering any of the points you've raised. 

They were the same ones criticising Brendan for not knowing how to defend, or coach a defence, that we'd leak goals left, right and centre if he didn't change the set up then complain that we looked turgid in attack because he did all those things.

As you say mate and most of us have said the same, we were solid defensively, compact in midfield, did what we had to do to give us the platform to go on and win the game.  Those subtleties seem lost on some though mate.

I think it's an absolute minority mate, Fed drops his penny's worth and then legs it usually, I think he enjoys it meself! And he probably isn't the only one.

Funnily enough it will be a lot easier to draw some early conclusions after the Bournmouth game as we will have gone from tough, gritty away day to a home game against a newly promoted side, a game we should dominate and win.

I think it's an absolute minority mate, Fed drops his penny's worth and then legs it usually, I think he enjoys it meself! And he probably isn't the only one.

Funnily enough it will be a lot easier to draw some early conclusions after the Bournmouth game as we will have gone from tough, gritty away day to a home game against a newly promoted side, a game we should dominate and win.

We should mate but even though we probably won't set up or play like yesterday I'm not sure it'll tell us a great deal about the coming season.  There's still a lot of variables to work on but I am looking forward to having alternatives dependant on the opposition.

We should mate but even though we probably won't set up or play like yesterday I'm not sure it'll tell us a great deal about the coming season.  There's still a lot of variables to work on but I am looking forward to having alternatives dependant on the opposition.

I think the Bournmouth game will tell us how we are going to approach lower sides looking to defend and play on the break this season. It will also give us some clues as to how well Benteke will fit in to the style Brendan has typically had us playing the past few seasons. He has certainly suggested we are not going to miss a beat in that respect so I am looking forward to seeing how we go.

Any team hammered 6-1 on their last meeting would regard a win by any margin as something of an achievement on visiting the same opponents once more in their own back yard.
Incredibly some supporters do not seem as impressed with the reversal in fortune.