Nice to see that Ibe is on the bench.

Come on, let's do this!!

now I understood why the game was 10 minutes past, everywhere they were still showing Newcastle game

We're f*cking horrid on the road.

Gifted two goals, and can't even hold onto it. Two ex-Liverpool players score. Nice goals to be fair...

Stupid experimentations continue (Lucas is playing as the AM FFS), hoof ball is back...

F*CK how did we let that slip I'm going to have a heart attack

Get given the jammiest of own goals, followed by a Sunday league error for the second.

We then let them get in a perfect cross and let crouch get away and head the ball in for thier first, followed by adam tripping over and having enough time to get up and fire a cracker through skrtels leg.

FML, and some of us were were prob thinking we were going to win by 3, 4 or 5.

Got a lot of luck for our goals and let them back in, there hammering us whenever they get a set piece.

Cou had 1 half decent opportunity that he should of hit the goal at least and another good opportunity where he hit the keeper, for how good he is on the pitch, he sure can't finish for shit.

We need to swap Lucas and Gerrard around. Get Gerrard attacking, and helping Suarez out, Lucas to actually help the defence out (you know, why he's actually in the team/how he plays). Adam's dominating us ffs.
 
We also need to play this stupid away tactic that we continue to play. PLAY DEATH BY FOOTBALL FFSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
 
Sterling from the first half, was the only positive to be honest. Fluked two goals despite playing average..

Henderson also needs to step up. Playing real poor. Gave away possession cheaply for Adam's goal, hasn't done much going forward. Hasn't recycled the ball enough.
 
And Coutinho really really REALLY REALLLYYYYY needs to learn how to finish.

5-3 SAS is back in action Baby

Very ugly win, but who gives a shit, getting points away is vital.

Thank f*ck for Daniel son. Luis came into the game after Sturridge came into it. I wonder why. Maybe it was because he had service. Maybe that's why. If Lucas plays as an AM again, I'm going to lose it. lol Lucky we won that, really. Gifted 3 goals. End of the day, just glad we got 3 points, what a terrible game, great for a neutral I guess.

Our goal tally is at 51, how we've managed this is beyond me, yes we have SAS, but other teams have goal scorers all over the park, were only 8 behind city.

SASAS

SUAREZ
STURRIDGE
STERLING

Mignolet

Thank F*ck for that win, that's all that matters

we got goals because we pressed high, relentless nothing lucky there since we were screwed before for many decisions in the previous games
5-3, 8 goals in 1 game

Given the all stats before the game, this is really a massive win although against Stoke

Given the all stats before the game, this is really a massive win although against Stoke

McAgger wrote:SASAS

SUAREZ  
STURRIDGE
STERLING

Mignolet

Thank F*ck for that win, that's all that matters

 
Mignolet did well to save the Gerrard header at the end, but I think he's at fault for their third?
 
Kolo was beaten quite easily, but the shot was straight at Mig. Wet surfaces and all, but still think he should of done better.

Mignolet hasnt exactly been comfortable since the start of December. I would include in this match in the ones he should forget.

What a crazy ass game...!

Needed a bit more luck to win it than I would have liked, but that's part of the game sometimes.

Stoke did really well in midfield, shut us down. We were mostly creating chances and scoring goals from counter-attacks, couldn't really control the game, which was / is a bit of a worry. Conceding three goals (and 11 corners) was mostly down, imo, to the fact that Stoke were actually able to push on from midfield better in possession than we were. It was like our midfield trio and forward trio were on different wavelengths when it came to building up attacks in a controlled fashion.

Anyway, very relieved to get three points from the Britannia and be back in the top-4 !

Mignolet had a couple of amazing saves (Gerrard header and Walters header). But yeah I think the 3rd he could've done better. Even still though, so much better than Reina

tbh Jones is so much better than Reina in collecting crosses not saying Jones will be able to consistently put such performances in EPL but Mignolet can learn from him fffs

Natalie Portman wrote:
But that's what matters. Taking chances when we are gifted them. Winning ugly. Chelsea are kings at that.

Stoke are a very good team at home....and with this now done and dusted, only Saints and Man U away from home remains from TOP 13 !!!! We should be fine with goals that SAS give us. Plus, our defending can't get any worse once Agger and Sakho are back fit. Skrtel and Toure today were pathetic, and Johnson has been pathetic basically all season . Plus Enrique is back soon too. so I'm positive.

Great chance to open a gap next week since we are home to Villa and:

Everton away at WBA (Pepe Mel's first home game)
Spurs away at Swansea (Swansea MUST get something or they could be dragged in relegation battle)
Man Utd away at Chelsea ('huff said).

Fingers crossed. This week, our opponents had home bankers and we had the trickiest away game, and yet we came out successful. That'll dishearten them.

Winning ugly and playing ugly is two different things.

Winning ugly is okay, but when you play 11 games away, you expect to win more than 3 games playing ugly, no?

Defence will get better, midfield will get better, as will SAS, as we'll go back to playing our game next week. (Assuming it's at home.)

Again, happy with the points, performance again, was very very ordinary.

McAgger wrote:Red Alert is back at it ffs

We just won at the Britannia ffs, only Norwich had one there this whole season.

We have had BY FAR the toughest away schedule in the whole league, have played all the top 13 teams away from home bar United and Soton.

I don' know how you can be pessimistic knowing all that.

Pessimistic posts are back? Really?

This "had the toughest away schedule" isn't the best argument, really. We didn't exactly beat any top team bar Spurs. We've only really played 3 good away games this season. In 11 games. That comes up against Everton, City and Spurs. We won ugly against S'land, Stoke and Aston Villa... kudos to us. The performances in general away from home have still been meh. And by meh, I mean the attitude from manager to player has been pathetic. Half-arsed performances in most games... it's ridiculous. We were average last night, even if we did score 5. The second half of the season is opening up, and games are becoming more open. Which gives chances to both teams. Just glad SAS took there's when it mattered most.

Again, glad we got the 3 points today, but we still need to improve our away performance/record. We were very fortunate to get our first 3 goals from this game... first 2 were gifted, and Sterling made a good run to win the penalty, but those calls are 50/50 most of the time. He went down way too easy, even if there was slight contact.

Oh, and that means we have to win against the likes of Arsenal, City and Chelsea at Anfield to get the points back we lost. Bending over to Arsenal and Chelsea didn't help, either. Do you honestly see us getting 9/9 out of that to win those points back?

BeautifulGame wrote:

Exactly +.We had 3 first choice defenders (Enrique Sakho Agger as well alanagan) injured out.Got battered last time there and all Chelsea City Everton failed to win there.

So go there and score five goals and win is amazing even bigger than Spurs imo.So to criticize our attacking play as hoof ball and poor and find faults is just

It's not a bigger win than Spurs, no.

We did play hoof ball, until Sturridge came back onto the pitch.

It wasn't hard to see our faults. I'm just glad we didn't bottle it when they came back from 2-0 down.

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:if 2005 Istanbul happens once again, I am sure Red Alert will surely get upset analyzing the first half instead of celebrating the CL win and will spend two more days about how to put a better performance in the next CL final

Yes.

stevieg8 wrote:TBF I agree with RA on the tactical aspects of it. We weren't playing our game and we shipped 3 goals. Those are both negatives.

At the same time, I wish he could temper his response. If there was a "these are the bad things, BUT..." then I think we'd all agree wholeheartedly with you. The fact is we've won ugly a lot this season; at a certain point you have to appreciate the winning mentality that this team hasn't had for a while. At some point it's not a fluke and it's not "lucky".

Would I rather play death by football and win 10-0? Of course. But we also got 3 points. Both can be true at the same time.

>Stated happy to get the points.
>Stated to be happy to be back in a top 4 spot.
>Stated where we poor. I mean, no one was going to say it. Our away performances are worrying, dude. Again, glad we got the points last night, but we need more wins from games on the road. Yes, we got that against Stoke, but we were fortunate.

We've won ugly in 3 games out of 11. That's 9 points out of a possible 33, well 30 considering we beat Spurs. That's not exactly, great. It's not "lucky" but it's average.

We don't have a winning mentality yet. Few players do, Suarez, Sturridge and Sakho probably the stand outs, but the team still lack it.

Alright guys we know who Red Alert is and we know what he contributes - detailed tactical analysis with a constant bit of worry, never satisfied always wishing for perfect football.

He's one of ours, and we're a community here, so let's embrace it. He brings a different approach to the rest of us; we have the shamelessly optimistic (myself and Fahim), and we have the shamelessly pessimistic, and together we all make a wonderful forum.

stevieg8 wrote:Alright guys we know who Red Alert is and we know what he contributes - detailed tactical analysis with a constant bit of worry, never satisfied always wishing for perfect football.

He's one of ours, and we're a community here, so let's embrace it.  He brings a different approach to the rest of us; we have the shamelessly optimistic (myself and Fahim), and we have the shamelessly pessimistic, and together we all make a wonderful forum.

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.

I'll put myself in the realist category, thank you very much.   

I meant it as a compliment, but we can use whatever term you like   

Red Alert wrote:

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.

I'll put myself in the realist category, thank you very much.   

Yes, but then your view isn't exactly objective.

You don't complain about the wind; you complain about the sails, or the captain, or the keel, or the rudder... but you definitely complain.  As do we all, at some point.  You just do so more often than most.  Accept it, but please don't embrace it.