Stoke City vs Liverpool FC || January 12th

Red Alert wrote:

Arquitescu wrote:Not happy with this performance at all.

Yes it may be Brittania and we had never won there before in the history of the Premier League yet our tactics were symbolic.

Our defence continues to be like silly putty as Glen Johnson once again continues his meteoric decline in an average performance in attack and failure to position himself multiple times during the game. Aside from his wonderful chested touch from a Gerrard cross, he has failed to replicate the dynamic and skilled RB that he was and his attitude is even worse. Was awful vs Arnautovic. I yearn for Kelly or anyone else to start over this man, he is not up to the task.

Martin Skrtel, who people fail to see what an average CB he has become, once again was positionally at fault for 2 of the 3 goals and is a disaster waiting to happen. He attempts to defend as if he reads the game (anticipating the attacker, Italian style turn and point) yet he has no vision outside a single attacker. Outside last-ditch situations, he only causes our line to be compromised and further instills why Agger is almost twice the CB that he is.

Toure was at fault for one goal yet remained positionally sound throughout, as this serves testament to what I've seen; an all-round consistent season for him.

Cissokho was awful. No surprise there.


Most interesting point was the Lucas-Gerrard combination in which Lucas was given almost infinite freedom to attack while Gerrard played an almost sweeper role very similar to Leonardo Bonnuci of Juventus. I quite enjoyed Gerrard's attempt to reinvent himself as despite the few odd stray passes he was defensive sound, frequently dropping as the 3rd CB while his overlook vision of the field in his crosses on both sides were excellent. Lucas failed because due to his freedom, he was not attuned to tracking back and as we know, he is offensively non-existent in his technique; which is why I failed to see the point of Lucas in such an unfamiliar role.

Henderson was near anonymous, as expected to be within the return of a dominant Gerrard. He had no idea nor was given a clear idea of his role and was rather disappointing in possession.

Coutinho was influential yet continues to be one of the worst finishers in the final third, somehow finding an uncanny ability to shoot straight at the GK no matter what the angle.

We were completely overrun in the midfield by Stoke,  with Charlie Adam pulling the strings for them. Adam choose mostly to occupy the right side in order to cut into his favoured left foot, in essence failing to properly link the midfield to attack for Stoke, yet succeeded in late runs into the box, allowing much space for him to navigate his passes. I feel he had a decent career in Liverpool (first half) yet proved not worthy enough given his Hollywood play. Nevertheless I always liked him for what he can produce and the classy manner in which he left Liverpool. Glad to see him as Stoke's finest player this season.

We won 3-5 yet our continual failure to shut down an average Stoke attack was the bane of our existence. Not only we fell asleep in dire complacency when in the lead yet we cannot be troubled so much by this average team, no matter what stadium we are in.

Our saviour from the reignited partnership of SAS saved our hinds; while fortune was also on our side during the ordeal.

Nice to note what a difference Sturridge makes in our system, providing the direct thrust to lead our line and providing Suarez a near telepathic link to compliment his indirect navigation.

Would opt for Sterling to be dropped to make presence for Sturridge if our attack needs to be sacrificed.

What I am happy about is our reaction to each of the goals yet Stoke's defence was non-existent in talent or tactics.

We must improve ourselves defensively and drop some players who do not deserve to start, namely in the defence.

I swear to god if I wrote this post, they'd be 1,000 replies calling me a pessimist.   

Anyway, I disagree with the parts in bold.

Glen Johnson whilst out of form, is still our best fullback.

And you've mixed it up. Skrtel was at fault for one goal (Adam's) and Kolo was at fault for the other 2.

Also, disappointed to see the constant attacks on Skrtel. They're not true either. Skrtel is pretty much playing as a sweeper type for us, so his job in the team is to do those "last-ditch" tackles. He's having a very similar season in 11/12, where he was voted our best CB and you were praising him week in week out. What happened? Are there any examples of him being a disaster waiting to happen? I'm sure someone's going to bring up the pulling in defence, but the best CB in the league in Kompany does them too. They both have to cut them out, but most of the time the attacker is pulling Skrtel as well. That's why there's no penalties being given.  

There is no way Agger is "twice" the better the defender. It's arguable that he's JUST better than him as a defender. Yes, he reads the game better, but he's not that great in the air, loses 1 on 1s regularly, he continuously heads the ball back into dangerous positions, gets dominated when he has to vs anyone with decent power/pace, and has lapses in concentrations on a regularly basis. He's not the same defender as he once was.

Skrtel and Toure have never worked, and I doubt they ever will. Sakho should come back in the next game, so we'll improve defensively.

Red Alert wrote:

Arquitescu wrote:Not happy with this performance at all.

Yes it may be Brittania and we had never won there before in the history of the Premier League yet our tactics were symbolic.

Our defence continues to be like silly putty as Glen Johnson once again continues his meteoric decline in an average performance in attack and failure to position himself multiple times during the game. Aside from his wonderful chested touch from a Gerrard cross, he has failed to replicate the dynamic and skilled RB that he was and his attitude is even worse. Was awful vs Arnautovic. I yearn for Kelly or anyone else to start over this man, he is not up to the task.

Martin Skrtel, who people fail to see what an average CB he has become, once again was positionally at fault for 2 of the 3 goals and is a disaster waiting to happen. He attempts to defend as if he reads the game (anticipating the attacker, Italian style turn and point) yet he has no vision outside a single attacker. Outside last-ditch situations, he only causes our line to be compromised and further instills why Agger is almost twice the CB that he is.

Toure was at fault for one goal yet remained positionally sound throughout, as this serves testament to what I've seen; an all-round consistent season for him.

Cissokho was awful. No surprise there.


Most interesting point was the Lucas-Gerrard combination in which Lucas was given almost infinite freedom to attack while Gerrard played an almost sweeper role very similar to Leonardo Bonnuci of Juventus. I quite enjoyed Gerrard's attempt to reinvent himself as despite the few odd stray passes he was defensive sound, frequently dropping as the 3rd CB while his overlook vision of the field in his crosses on both sides were excellent. Lucas failed because due to his freedom, he was not attuned to tracking back and as we know, he is offensively non-existent in his technique; which is why I failed to see the point of Lucas in such an unfamiliar role.

Henderson was near anonymous, as expected to be within the return of a dominant Gerrard. He had no idea nor was given a clear idea of his role and was rather disappointing in possession.

Coutinho was influential yet continues to be one of the worst finishers in the final third, somehow finding an uncanny ability to shoot straight at the GK no matter what the angle.

We were completely overrun in the midfield by Stoke,  with Charlie Adam pulling the strings for them. Adam choose mostly to occupy the right side in order to cut into his favoured left foot, in essence failing to properly link the midfield to attack for Stoke, yet succeeded in late runs into the box, allowing much space for him to navigate his passes. I feel he had a decent career in Liverpool (first half) yet proved not worthy enough given his Hollywood play. Nevertheless I always liked him for what he can produce and the classy manner in which he left Liverpool. Glad to see him as Stoke's finest player this season.

We won 3-5 yet our continual failure to shut down an average Stoke attack was the bane of our existence. Not only we fell asleep in dire complacency when in the lead yet we cannot be troubled so much by this average team, no matter what stadium we are in.

Our saviour from the reignited partnership of SAS saved our hinds; while fortune was also on our side during the ordeal.

Nice to note what a difference Sturridge makes in our system, providing the direct thrust to lead our line and providing Suarez a near telepathic link to compliment his indirect navigation.

Would opt for Sterling to be dropped to make presence for Sturridge if our attack needs to be sacrificed.

What I am happy about is our reaction to each of the goals yet Stoke's defence was non-existent in talent or tactics.

We must improve ourselves defensively and drop some players who do not deserve to start, namely in the defence.

I swear to god if I wrote this post, they'd be 1,000 replies calling me a pessimist.   

mr-r34 wrote:Honestly this is only an issue because you guys make it one, if everyone just got over it and learned to agree to disagree we wouldn't be at this point. Differences of options should be welcomed, whats the point if we all wrote the same shit, everybody has a different viewpoint, accept it and move on.

P.S We did play shit in a number of games away from home, i think the easy home games and the hard away games have made it look like our away form has been terrible as hell.

Predicting the second half of the season we'll get more points away than at home, quote me on that one at the end of the season.  

RedOranje wrote:You're right.  It's obviously EVERYONE ELSE that has the issue/agenda/whatever and certainly not YOU that may have be at the center.