Cabaye's goal was a moment of brilliance combined with a fluke of placement. His strike was perfect, if speculative, but Mignolet simply didn't see it. I can't be too upset with him, because he's been outstanding. However, if he sees Cabaye strike that, he saves it 9 times out of 10. He just got blocked off, and saw it too late.

Dummet's goal was just another example of complacency on set pieces. We had absolutely dominated the set pieces, wasting chances at the other end of the pitch. However, Skrtel doesn't get enough on the header and Dummet had a superb first-time hit.

Credit to Newcastle for a very stout performance. They pressed well when they had 11 men today, and Pardew actually looked like he had taken a page from Southampton's playbook and figured out how to get at us.
Even so, if Liverpool concentrates for an extra 30 seconds in several defensive situations, it's no contest. In addition, SKrtel, Sakho, and Sturridge all wasted very good chances in front of goal.

In the big picture, this is one that we will rue dropping points. However, you have to say Newcastle deserved a point on the day.

– Immediate reaction –
Positives:
- Cissokho looked good in his return. He was far more consistent in his decision making than Enrique, even though he may not be capable of the moments of brilliance that the Spaniard brings.
- Alberto – Quality performance when he came on. Playing the right-AM position in a 4-2-2-2, he looked calm and assured in possession. He was much more effective than his last few cameos against Crystal Palace and Southampton
- Henderson – I thought he did well in distribution and supporting the attack from midfield. While his tackling isn’t to the level of Lucas, I’m not sure it’s as much of an issue with 3 covering CBs.
- Skrtel – an assured display again. Hard to argue with Agger being left out when the current 3 are playing so well. He can hardly be blamed for Dummet’s goal, even though he had won everything previous to it.

Negatives:
- Suarez – didn’t get into the game until 60 minutes or so. Wasn’t awful, but did not live up to his usual, high standards.
- Sturridge – looked off-color today. Perhaps playing 2 and 2/3 games in the space of 8 days got to him a bit. In any case, he was not as dynamic, looked tired, and made some poor decisions today.
- Moses – seemed somewhat anonymous today. He had several decent runs, but he failed to link with Sturridge and Suarez from his #10 position.

cooncidence or whatever, i missed ston and yanaited game, , swansea also saw on mobile so couldnt watch d complete match... I missed today second half and again i m getting sick of this!!!!

There's no way Skrtel can be blamed for their 2nd goal, just because a defender attempts to reach a cross doesn't mean that the guys behind him can stop marking attackers, but Sakho and Cissokho went just ball-watching.

I know I said it already but I'll say it again now that I'm posting: We cannot be that lazy in attack, no movement whatsoever. You don't need a grand plan, just start making runs and good things will happen, you'll make yourself available for a pass, but no! Inexcusable, I'm absolutely disgusted at our lack of brains in attack, even school boys have more idea how to create problems for defenders than we did today.

That was on Cissokho all the way... the widest guy is the responsibility of the FB. Sakho, i assume, is responsible for the best air player on the opposition. I assume Dummet was not it.

It wasn't that poor imo. Liverpool just recently changed tactics and it'll take somewhere around 10 games to get it together.

The fullbacks, who are now wingbacks, are not comfortable and are positionally confused as a result.

It'll come.

I don't want to do a massive post as it'll make me frustrated about how poor we were, but one thing I will say is why isn't Alberto playing when Coutinho is injured? We're playing with a winger on loan from Chelsea in the #10 role instead of a #10 we just bought for £7 million. He's 21 and he needs games. He seems to be a better passer, more composed and more aware than Moses who was poor today, runs into trouble with his head down too often.

sportsczy wrote:That was on Cissokho all the way... the widest guy is the responsibility of the FB.  Sakho, i assume, is responsible for the best air player on the opposition.  I assume Dummet was not it.

It wasn't that poor imo.  Liverpool just recently changed tactics and it'll take somewhere around 10 games to get it together.

The fullbacks, who are now wingbacks, are not comfortable and are positionally confused as a result.

It'll come.

A change in formation is no excuse for being so poor from a set piece though.

Also annoyed at Rodgers after the match. Going back to that "not a bad result", "some of our play was outstanding" nonsense. I know he shouldn't criticise the players in public too much but there's no need to lie to people, we're not stupid and he's not fooling anyone with those comments after a performance like that.

When you're giving up goals on the edges by unknown players on set pieces, it's either a fullback or a midfielder who has missed an assignment. Opponent CBs and primary air threats fall on the CBs since that's who they're supposed to target...

El Jefe wrote:Also annoyed at Rodgers after the match. Going back to that "not a bad result", "some of our play was outstanding" nonsense. I know he shouldn't criticise the players in public too much but there's no need to lie to people, we're not stupid and he's not fooling anyone with those comments after a performance like that.

Yeah, we hardly created chances against a 10-man opposition, his comments make it sound like he considers us to be a mid-table team who should be happy to draw on the road. If it was 11v11 the whole game I wouldn't be too disappointed, but we should seize this kind of opportunity.

Enrique > Cissokho

Chelsea coast to a 4-1 win against Cardiff, Mourinho unhappy. Liverpool struggle to a 2-2 against 10 men Newcastle. Rodgers satisfied. We need a winning mentality, if we want top 4 we HAVE to win those games.

I can understand the first goal we conceded, i mean little luck, shot, formation, he had so much time to shoot n all that....but just saw the highlights for the second goal we conceded if we dont take these three points when everything was favourable. When will we capitalise on the results and chances we get!!!!

until Moutinho returns or another good AM is brought in... i don't blame Rogers.  That's why Liverpool is conceding btw.  If you haven't noticed, you guys aren't able to control the midfield and flow.  The games have become really direct.  More opportunities against the defense = more opportunities to concede goal.

AM aside, i think the midfield is the biggest cause for concern.  Need a good CM in there to help control things.  Gerrard is fine... but he doesn't have the coverage anymore. He needs help.

I thought Cissokho played much better there at LWB than Enrique has had in the past outings.

Also Luis Alberto has a quality in him. He was one of the only positives things from today. I said Moses should not be playing that AM spot, but meh I don't know what Rodgers is thinking with playing a wide forward as a creator. Alberto should've had much more game time this past couple of weeks with Cou out.

But Coutinho is back next game, thank goodness.

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EDIT for gifs









Their goals

We were playing a counter attacking style even with Coutinho last season. I think people are forgetting that.

I can't take it anymore, so Skrtel fans...back off because I have a rant:

Skrtel is one of the main reasons for our midfield struggles at the moment. He normally wants to stay deep and you can see he is the one that never pushes up when Toure and Sakho ask players to go up. He likes playing in his own box. that's the sort of player he is. That subsequently forces Gerrard-Henderson/Lucas to play deeper too to cover the space, and it creates a massive gap between them and the #10 (currently Moses). It was blatant to see again today.
Also, when we are exerting an attack on opposition pinning them back, they clear the ball. Skrtel receives the ball in their half (almost all players are in opposition half)....opposition player runs at him. He doesn't have the technique or intelligence to turn or dribble, and ALWAYS ends up passing it back to Mignolet, killing the flow and momentum of the attack. This pisses me off no end. Bayern were searching for an equalizer today and it was the plain opposition. Keep the ball in opposition half and don't give them time and chance to breath.

Despite the abuse Agger gets here...we haven't kept a single clean sheet since he was benched/injured after August. I want him back in the side for Skrtel, even if it's one game. I wanna see how our 3-5-2 plays with 3 CBs who wants a high line and are all comfortable advancing with the ball. Seeing WBA's main striker is Victor Anichibe, next week will be perfect to try this.

Also...we really need a new midfield. a midfielder that will come and be the first name on the team sheet. I watched Schneiderlin's performance today at OT thinking...if our midfield was as good as Saints' we'd be top of the league maximum points so far. We need an absolute beast of an all rounder midfield. Sell a CB in Jan, and invest all the funds in a boss CM.

El Jefe wrote:Chelsea coast to a 4-1 win against Cardiff, Mourinho unhappy. Liverpool struggle to a 2-2 against 10 men Newcastle. Rodgers satisfied. We need a winning mentality, if we want top 4 we HAVE to win those games.

We hardly coasted to that win, After we went 2 1 up, the game was over and Cardiff gave up. We were far from our best and Mourinho was rightfully unhappy.

Kudos to Cabaye and kudos to Mole.

We're shit. How do you draw against Newcastle, let a lone when they're playing with 10 men. This 3412 that everyone jizzes over is also crap considering we don't have a number 10 and we continuously play it. Stupid. Cissokho is predictable and not very good on that left hand side, I can see why Valencia let him go. He was very frustrating last night. Moses is useless as a number 10; I honestly don't see what you people see in him.

We continue to be a joke at set pieces both attacking and defending. We had 5 free headers from corners last night. 5. Not one of them hit the target. I'm not even going to get into the laughable defending from Cissokho at the far post.

The system doesn't suit us at all right now. Drop a CB, it's not hard. It doesn't matter if all CBs are in form, go back to playing the Liverpool way ffs. I think Rodgers knows this too considering he changed the system because it wasn't working against 10 and went back to a formidable formation that got us the equaliser and nearly pinched the win towards the end. Sturridge lost his composure on two occasions at the end and Suarez hit the bar too. Where was all intensity throughout the game?

Also, thank *bleep* we kept Suarez. The only positive from last night. Laughable to think he wouldn't put 100% in for a red shirt when Arsenal (lol) from all teams are in his head...

my outburst is, we frrracking spend so much money on on CBs...and we still manage to loose 2 points, the question arises what was the point of spending so much then!!!

I also think, I think it would have been easily 3-2 just we managed to miss few chances or hit the post. So performancew ise we were not so bad actually in second half. We must rip apart those baggies in the next weekend. We must go to Emirates with a good position in the table.

Our tactical organization wasn't/isn't good enough. We STILL can't do jacks**t in defending set pieces.

Playing with 3 at the back is not easy as it looks.. you can't just put 3 CBs and expect them to beast and not concede a goal. We basically played with 5 defenders. Upfront, there wasn't enough creativity. There was no balance in the team. Moses behind Suarez and Sturridge was absolutely useless. He's best used out wide.. when he can comfortably dribble past his man, utilizing his pace.

Still don't know why we bought 3 CBs in the summer.. the money could've been much rather used in buying a creative, goal-scoring midfielder.

On other note, I was very impressed with Alberto after he came on. Looked very composed. Give him games ffs.

You cannot have creativity if players are just standing still. I'm absolutely furious at our laziness in this game because that's something that everyone are able to do, make runs and get the defenders moving. It's the very basics but we didn't do even that.

It was almost as if Sturridge, Suarez and co. thought they were too good for that kind of work, too happy to wait to get the ball, that "give me the ball and I'll do something with it" attitude. You can't have that, you need to move those legs, you need to make those runs even if you know that four times out of five you're not going to receive the pass. Getting lazy because you think you're too good to make those runs is the worst thing and Rodgers better put his foot down on this matter.