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

Oh I agree with that. I was just addressing what debs was saying.
I've not read much of this thread so no doubt she was talking about some earlier posts. (But objectively speaking her point was still wrong though. Clearly we couldnt win the title playing like that.)

What?
You mean like winning all our away games 1-0 and taking a few drawn games at home into account?
Have a word with yourself.

herebare a few of my thoughts regarding the game.

i really like what i am seeing from clyne and gomez.  sure there were the odd tense moments but overall very good.  cant believe gomez is only 18.

i like what i see in hendo and milner.  however,  i think lallana with them is a miss.  lallana needs quick attacking players around him,  i am not saying milner and hendo is slow but with lallana on the pitch it feels like they are a bit more defensively oriented.  once Can came on,  they went attacking alot more.
however i really like hendo and milner pairing, steady and solid with the odd flair

i am ok with what i am seeing from benteke.  playing at the britannia is a hard place and stoke is pretty solid defensively... benteke had one or two stoke jerseys on him the entire game so i thought he did well in attracting attention andovement off the ball.

my most improved so far player award goes to migs.  he looked ten times more assertive going for the ball.  those crosses when he punches them out or when he has to run off his line... excellent and commanding.  especially that horrible back pass from skrtel.  would like to see more from migs this year for sure

0-1 tough  win at a tough place.  clean sheet... whats not to like?

It's negativity for the sake of it.

As for my point being wrong, you've misread what I posted.  My point was "play like that, with that result, for 38 games we win the Title" not "play like that and we win the title" because without that result we clearly won't. 

It's all in the context of all of the words my friend, not just the bits you select 

The same poster does have a leaning to the negative Debs; proved by that very post.
We secure a 1-0 away victory while our would be rivals F**k up gloriously, where in that proposition is anything to sulk about?
Only if they try really hard can anyone extract pessimism from that chain of events, of course a supporter of one of our rivals would find such negativity easy to contemplate.

The same poster does have a leaning to the negative Debs; proved by that very post.
We secure a 1-0 away victory while our would be rivals F**k up gloriously, where in that proposition is anything to sulk about?
Only if they try really hard can anyone extract pessimism from that chain of events, of course a supporter of one of our rivals would find such negativity easy to contemplate.

Exactly Stuey.

Just watched the game again and we played well attacking wise in the first 20 minutes, plenty of buzzing around and inter changing positions and play.  We then settled into a compact, less dynamic set up of containment.

Yes the changes made a difference at the time they were made but considering neither of the 2 who came on and had more than 60 minutes of pre season, to suggest that they should have started and we could have won easily is again complaining for the sake of it.

As for the goal, the turn from Cou to leave Sidwell flat footed was delicious but the scissor action of Benteke from right to left and Firmino from left to right dragged all the defenders out of the way for him to have a clear sight of goal.  Great movement and clear thinking from our new boys.

I'm not quite sure what everyone is complaining about.

Let's face it, you simply cannot go to Stoke expect to play attractive football and slap them 4-0, it just simply doesn't happen these days.  Everyone grumbled last season that we got bullied at times, so now when we are having to win these turgid games by getting stuck in and physical the same people complain again.

Look at the most successful teams, yes that wallop sides at home (which I'm pretty sure we will do several times this year) but they also have the ability to be tough and grind out a 1-0 win at places like Stoke.  It's what makes you successful.

We got 3 points, that's what matters - even more so when the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal dropped points.

I don’t think the comments posted that people are calling Negative are in fact that…. I think that most of them are in fact showing real concern on what from Liverpool’s supporter’s point of view was yet another poor game…. And yes Stuey is right If we won all of our games 1-0 the season there would be nothing wrong with that, (Don’t know if my heart and blood pressure could handle it) but we (LFC) supporters would take it., but we were poor and in defense of those being labelled as “negative”, those rejoicing about the “3 points” come across as if those 3 points won will be few and far between this season. So we should celebrate while we can, because it will be a long, long time before we get 3 points again…..

I believe it is how we are go about deploying Cann, Milner, and Henderson and Firmino that will determine how we fair this season more so than how or even if  we use Benteke

But 3 points no matter how we get them are always welcomed

Is it actually that difficult for people to rejoice in a Liverpool victory these days?

Apparently so.

It's getting beyond ridiculous Bill.

So we should celebrate will we can, because it will be a long, long time before we get 3 points again…..

So we'll lose to Bournemouth next Monday then??

Im over the moon, and tbh 0-0 would have done me just fine, nicking 3 points is fukin awesome considering how bad we were 2 months ago.

Full squad nowhere near 100% match fit yet, win next weekend at anfield then onto the gooners see what we can get there.

So we'll lose to Bournemouth next Monday then??

I think the point he was making Debs is the way some of us, me and you included, are talking about rejoicing in the win over Stoke, is coming across in the way that we should rejoice in it because we won't get another victory for six or seven weeks.

Now, that's not the reason I think people should rejoice in our victories. I think Liverpool fans should be happy seeing Liverpool win because that's what a Liverpool should want.

I think the point he was making Debs is the way some of us, me and you included, are talking about rejoicing in the win over Stoke, is coming across in the way that we should rejoice in it because we won't get another victory for six or seven weeks.

Now, that's not the reason I think people should rejoice in our victories. I think Liverpool fans should be happy seeing Liverpool win because that's what a Liverpool should want.

Marvellous!  So he's turning our rejoicing for winning into another negative because he can't be negative about the win? 

F***ing plain weird some people bud.

F***ing plain weird some people bud.

Aye but it's easier to spot the weirdos who are enjoying the victory this way.

Aye but it's easier to spot the weirdos who are enjoying the victory this way.

Well I've always been known as one never to toe the line Billy. 

I was brought up expected to be a scum fan, that worked out well for my Dad 

I don’t think the comments posted that people are calling Negative are in fact that…. I think that most of them are in fact showing real concern on what from Liverpool’s supporter’s point of view was yet another poor game…. And yes Stuey is right If we won all of our games 1-0 the season there would be nothing wrong with that, (Don’t know if my heart and blood pressure could handle it) but we (LFC) supporters would take it., but we were poor and in defense of those being labelled as “negative”, those rejoicing about the “3 points” come across as if those 3 points won will be few and far between this season. So we should celebrate will we can, because it will be a long, long time before we get 3 points again…..

I believe it is how we are go about deploying Cann, Milner, and Henderson and Firmino that will determine how we fair this season more so than how or even if  we use Benteke

But 3 points no matter how we get them are always welcomed

F**k this.

If we were poor then what were Stoke? Fact is, neither side put in a performance that will go down as memorable but the fact is we did enough. If we were poor we'd have been leaking goals and shots to them all day. We didn't. At the very best we kept it solid. And to do so at the Britannia makes three points there even more valuable.

F**k this.

If we were poor then what were Stoke? Fact is, neither side put in a performance that will go down as memorable but the fact is we did enough. If we were poor we'd have been leaking goals and shots to them all day. We didn't. At the very best we kept it solid. And to do so at the Britannia makes three points there even more valuable.

First game of the season also....rather go to that place right off the bat then some time in February...all squads are trying to find they're mojo right about now..the hallmarks of most clubs the first 3-4 matches is sloppiness and trying to find a rhythm.

If we can nab 3 points on the road to stoke whilst being a bit wasteful and still looking for our rhythm...I will take that all day long.

What?
You mean like winning all our away games 1-0 and taking a few drawn games at home into account?
Have a word with yourself.

100% record played one ,won one, scored one and conceded None. Its good enough for me. people expecting performance on day one are just not real and cannot really understand the game. We have never hit the ground running and I hope we never will going to Stoke on the first day is possibly one of the hardest away fixtures we could have had and after the 6-1 drubbing this result is just PERFECT

Can't really comment on Benteke yesterday, after filling myself with vodka and redbull Saturday night then thinking I was in the Adult Entertainment Industry till 7 am Sunday Morning, I passed out when we kicked off and woke up when Coutinho scored.

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.

Another thing that wasn't good enough was our movement of the ball and choice of player to pass to. Hendo, Milner and Coutinho, in the first half especially all had great opportunities to play a through ball to either Benteke who was making a run or more of note, when Clyne belted it down the pitch into space and we just played a simple pass sideways.

I don't think we played to Benteke's strengths in the slightest, we were trying to use his aerial ability but our deliveries were poor, especially Hendo who I think in general had a terrible game and didn't do himself as captain, any justice at all.

Gomez looked positive, at the start. He wasn't going to be bullied off the ball and looked comfortable when called into action or had the ball but I think as the game went on his performance went downhill but he's a young lad and he displayed an assured enough performance which is encouraging to see.

When Firmino and Can came on we looked a lot better, we looked to have bit more bite and looked more bothered about getting a goal.

Coutinho I think was head and shoulders our best player, he was without doubt our biggest threat going forward and that goal was incredible, he should just be awarded goal of the season now. Also got to give credit to Gomez too who was the one that played it into Coutinho.

Although I wasn't overly impressed in our performance it's 1 game, 1 win and 1 clean sheet and as it currently stands we can't ask for any more than that. We would obviously love to see us play football as good as the likes of Barcelona but at the start of the season I said would happily see us take 38 stressful 1-0 wins and ultimately as long we get the 3 points then the performance be it good or bad, isn't the most important thing because it is the 3 points that will build confidence and hopefully stand us in good stead to build on our performances too.

We got humiliated by Stoke last time and this was a game that we could quite easily have drawn or even lost but we took one of our chances, something they weren't able to do and it gets us off to the start we all so badly wanted.

So all in all, aside from my negative moaning points; despite it not being a glamorous win, it's still exactly that...a win and a stunning goal to make that happen.

37 more like this for all I care so long as we keep getting the wins.

I'm delighted with the performance at Stoke.

No it wasn't very entertaining for the neutral, but they had their "entertainment" last time. It wasn't about entertainment, it was about going there and getting a result, which we did. Even better, we won at a ground where we struggle to win anytime.

We had 5 new players yesterday, with varying levels of fitness. After May, for a team that notoriously can't defend, 2 new defenders helped us comfortably restrict that rugby side to one shot on target away from home, and kept a clean sheet. Remarkable.

Milner did well, showing his experience, and Coutinho always has the ability to fire a thunderbolt like he did, once he gets a bit of space. He got it once yesterday, and took full advantage.

I was also impressed with Benteke's workrate. While he didn't see much of the ball, he kept looking to get into good positions when we did get the ball forward. When we click into gear and the football starts flowing again, he will benefit as much from it as everyone else. Firmino was useful enough, despite the limited time he was out there.

Anyway, there are rivals who expected to win at home this weekend, that have a lot to complain about. We won away on the first day of the season with a fantastic goal, at a notoriously difficult place for us to get any result, kept a clean sheet, and brought home the three points. Anyone without an agenda has to be happy with that.

The great year two seasons ago started with a scrappy 1-0 win against Stoke. Nobody will complain much in May if this win leads to a similiar or better return.

Maybe I'm on a different planet but I'm delighted with the performance at Stoke.

No it wasn't very entertaining for the neutral, but they had their "entertainment" last time. It wasn't about entertainment, it was about going there and getting a result, which we did. Even better, we won at a ground where we struggle to win anytime.

We had 5 new players yesterday, with varying levels of fitness. After May, for a team that notoriously can't defend, 2 new defenders helped us comfortably restrict that rugby side to one shot on target away from home, and kept a clean sheet. Remarkable.

Milner did well, showing his experience, and Coutinho always has the ability to fire a thunderbolt like he did, once he gets a bit of space. He got it once yesterday, and took full advantage.

I was also impressed with Benteke's workrate. While he didn't see much of the ball, he kept looking to get into good positions when we did get the ball forward. When we click into gear and the football starts flowing again, he will benefit as much from it as everyone else. Firmin was useful enough, despite the limited time he was out there.

Anyway, there are rivals who expected to win at home this weekend, that have a lot to complain about. We won away on the first day of the season with a fantastic goal, at a notoriously difficult place for us to get any result, kept a clean sheet, and brought home the three points. Anyone without an agenda has to be happy with that.

The great year two seasons ago started with a scrappy 1-0 win against Stoke. Nobody will complain much in May if this win leads to a similiar or better return.

A post from you outside the Rafa thread.

Astonishing.

If you can't enjoy it when we win, then seriously what is the point? What do you watch football for, where does your enjoyment come from if you get a sulk on even when we win? F**k off!

Great f**king win and I'm most impressed by how solid we were defensively, we never really looked too troubled and it meant we were in a position to nick it at the end. Beat Bournemouth and go top of the league next!

where does your enjoyment come from

after filling myself with vodka and redbull Saturday night then thinking I was in the Adult Entertainment Industry till 7 am Sunday Morning

As we enjoy the win, we must also look at the negatives. Yes, we could easily have lost the game, Stoke missed a few sitters that could have allowed them to romp to a 3-0 lead. As I suspected earlier on, we did not play to Benteke's strength. We were so compartmentalised in our play, we were like silos in operation, spending 3/4 of the game in the middle of the park.

I see no progress from last season on how we made use of the forward's strengths. It has a Balotelli chapter II written all over it. Stoke pressed us at the middle of the park and we kept knocking the ball around  that area. We then switched to the other side but with no real intention of getting the ball forward to Benteke.

We would still struggle to score goals if we continue not to play to the forward strength even if we have a Messi or Benzema in the forward line.

Am I happy with the win, of course but not happy with how we performed.