Liverpool v Arsenal

I wish I was banned I think.

Remember when every single one of you thought we'd have NO chance of the title when we drew WBA away before playing Arsenal last Feb, we were 8 points behind ?
Yet we came within a slip of the title, which if hadn't happened, everyone would have uploaded our season review film on red tube and wanked furiously to its glory and Rodgers. He is a novice, but some of the names he's being called is so sad and disgraceful. He is still making mistakes, but at least in the last 10 days we can see he has seen some of his mistakes and is trying to fix them. Let's see how he develops this new system. let's see if he lets Lovren walk back in, or bench Gerrard in the new system. He's making very brave and ballsy decisions unlike the cowardly conservative ones he was making from September-Dec. It's a positive sign and shouldn't be dismissed.

Honestly, If you wanna be negative spastics, don't take it to the extreme. If BR persisted with that dreadful 4-2-3-1 I'd wanted him gone too, but he identified it's not working, completely changed the system and now we look a lot better for it with 2 of our main attacking signings of summer displaying their best form as of yet in it. Let this new system develop in the next few games and we might have something to smile about going into 2015.

meh i aint even looking at their performance, We shared points basically at the end of the day.

When Sturridge comes back I really hope we don't drop any of the 'CreativeQuarter' for him. The 4 should be playing behind Sturridge. Heck move Sterlign to RWB, but don't drop Lallana or Coutinho which I fear is what will happen.

Creative Quartet being Cou, Marko, Llama, Raheem.

If we persist with this 3-4-2-1 (which I really like) then hopefully something like this


or even


We really need a Goalkeeper, a CB and a DM/CM this January. CB and GK the biggest priorities.

I don't know, man, I think we need a striker who can score. You take Sturridge away from those line-ups and we're back wondering who can put away the chances.

Well Sturridge would hopefully be fit for the remaining of the season. He usually only misses games through one major injury layoff not multiple.

Meh.

Natalie Portman wrote:We should persists with this 3-4-3 with some twists here and there.

I'd like to try Moreno as RWP with either Henderson/Can occupying Gerrard's spot in the middle.

Markovic-Lallana-Cou-Stelring are looking really bright with this formation and should be main stay.

Goalkeeper still the main priority in January....but at least we're finding some attacking fluency which was completely invisible for 3 months.

3 big games coming up. Let's see where we are in 9 days time. Arsenal play both WHU and Saints in that period.

Anything less than 9 points in the next 3 games and the league season is a write-off. Positive signs today, but we should be able to build on it. Another setback and i'm afraid it's game over in term of the league.

When has 3-4-3 EVER worked in the PL? It rarely works. The only team that it's "working" for is for United, but that's because they have way too much firepower in their squad they can go neck and neck with the opposition. We don't have that luxury anymore. And United aren't even doing that well. Yeah, they're in the top 4, but that says more about the lack of quality in the league than it does about them. (It was the same for us last season.)

Think about it. It leaves so much space down the flanks that makes team spread the whole defence open, and it's so easy to run through our midfield/defence because we don't know how to set up defensively. Teams have shown time and time again they can have a lacklustre performance against it, and still get a positive result. I'm not just talking about this result, either. I'm looking at last seasons results too. Maybe if we had an adequate defensive coach, but we don't.

Markovic/Lallana/Cou/Sterling are interchanging well, but not one of them is a consistent goal scoring threat. What's the point of having 4 players attacking the final third that can't score on a regular basis?

^ what is your solution then?

go back to 4-2-3-1 that served us so awfully for 3 months this season ?

At least we're creating chances with this formation. Also, we barely gave away a chance today...just a couple, which we would have also done with a more "traditional" line up. Alexis and Welbeck were turned into non-entities today offensively for Arsenal and couldn't get any joy of our so called "flawed system" and not many teams in the league have strikers of that quality. it was actually a bit encouraging.

Until at least Sturridge comes back, this formation is our best chance of creating chances to score goals, and you know...WIN games.

I much prefer a performance like this than the one we had a couple of weeks ago in a 0-0 draw to Sunderland with conservative 4-2-3-1 line up.

Be interesting to see how Balotelli does in this formation if given the chance. He sure isn't a 4-2-3-1 striker.

It's true that the 3-4-3 may get exposed, but of the systems we've played this season, it's looking the best, so we should stick with it for now.

Although personally I don't think it's the system that's been the key change, it's the fact that our best attacking players are playing together now, Sterling, Coutinho, Lallana (and Markovic and Hendo have looked pretty good offensively in their roles). But since the 3-4-3 allows them to play together, we should keep it for now and see which way it goes.

Natalie Portman wrote:^ what is your solution then?

go back to 4-2-3-1 that served us so awfully for 3 months this season ?

At least we're creating chances with this formation. Also, we barely gave away a chance today...just a couple, which we would have also done with a more "traditional" line up. Alexis and Welbeck were turned into non-entities today offensively for Arsenal and couldn't get any joy of our so called "flawed system" and not many teams in the league have strikers of that quality. it was actually a bit encouraging.

Until at least Sturridge comes back, this formation is our best chance of creating chances to score goals, and you know...WIN games.

I much prefer a performance like this than the one we had a couple of weeks ago in a 0-0 draw to Sunderland with conservative 4-2-3-1 line up.

Be interesting to see how Balotelli does in this formation if given the chance. He sure isn't a 4-2-3-1 striker.

Well for starters not stuff up in the summer and then wonder why the current team isn't good enough.

We've shown we're always A LOT better playing with 2 strikers. So why drop that to accommodate 1 this season? And why make that "1" striker a player that has never played that role before for 3-4 months before realising it's time for a change? And that change being to 3-4 players in the final third that have no finishing ability on a consistent level?

I still personally see a 4312 as our best fit. Shame that Borini will now be out, but Mario is back and Rodgers has shown he's willing to play Sterling as a CF so I'd like to see a front of Mario and Raheem and Lallana in the hole. With Cou/Hendo and Lucas as the middle 3.

Team selections are still very edgy right now. You and I both know how bad Lucas/Gerrard are together in midfield and Arsenal STILL looked average with them there. I think that says more about the lack of performance from Arsenal than it does on how good we were. They were REALLY BAD, and we didn't take advantage of it. We're pressing more, and there's small improvements, but there's nothing "major" positive about the switch. We're still very average defending, and we're still very average in the oppositions final third. I'd like to see how well we'd do against teams in a run of games. I mean, United were hardly good. They were just clinical. And they were clinical because they knew how to exploit the space against us which gave them control of the game. Arsenal were the same, but they weren't even good. We pretty much gifted them a point, hell we almost gifted them 3 points. lol

Don't you find it concerning at all that you're only alternative to winning games relies heavily on a striker that can't remain fit consistently? What happens when he goes out injured again? He's already had 9 injuries or something like that on the same leg. It's not like that legs automatically going to heal 100%. Kudos for us creating more chances in the past few games, but I think you guys are overrating the "improvements" in change. We've pretty much gone from playing like we were under the Owl, to like we were under Dalglish. Which was somewhat of an improvement performance, but both weren't good enough result wise.

Art Morte wrote:It's true that the 3-4-3 may get exposed, but of the systems we've played this season, it's looking the best, so we should stick with it for now.

Although personally I don't think it's the system that's been the key change, it's the fact that our best attacking players are playing together now, Sterling, Coutinho, Lallana (and Markovic and Hendo have looked pretty good offensively in their roles). But since the 3-4-3 allows them to play together, we should keep it for now and see which way it goes.

But how's it looking the best?

We've played 3 games with it.

We drew one (Arsenal), lost one (United), and beat one (Bournemouth).

It was hardly effective for us last season, when we had SAS playing for us.

The only "positive" difference in the last few games is that we're pressing more, but that's about it.

And I personally don't see how having arguably our best player in midfield wasted as a wing back is a good thing...

#1. for the third game running, we played football
#2. for the third game running, we fielded a team devoid of scrubs
#3. for the third game running, we played (most of the) players at right positions

For the first time in THREE MONTHS I'm not scared to think about our upcoming games.

I think Rodgers made a mistake in taking off Markovic for Borini. I have nothing against Borini but I think it should have been either Lucas or Gerrard who should have been taken off. With Marko & Raheem on the wings and Henderson in the middle, we could have pushed them harder.

Red Alert wrote:

Art Morte wrote:It's true that the 3-4-3 may get exposed, but of the systems we've played this season, it's looking the best, so we should stick with it for now.

Although personally I don't think it's the system that's been the key change, it's the fact that our best attacking players are playing together now, Sterling, Coutinho, Lallana (and Markovic and Hendo have looked pretty good offensively in their roles). But since the 3-4-3 allows them to play together, we should keep it for now and see which way it goes.

But how's it looking the best?

We've played 3 games with it.

We drew one (Arsenal), lost one (United), and beat one (Bournemouth).

It was hardly effective for us last season, when we had SAS playing for us.

The only "positive" difference in the last few games is that we're pressing more, but that's about it.

And I personally don't see how having arguably our best player in midfield wasted as a wing back is a good thing...

Scoring goals has been the big issue for us and with this 3-4-3 we have created more chances than with anything else we've tried this season. But like I said, I don't think it's necessarily the formation that's done the trick, it's the fact we have Sterling, Coutinho and Lallana playing together in attack (and not asked to hug the sidelines, either, like was the case with the 4-3-3). I wouldn't mind switching to the 4-3-1-2 as long as we have those three guys playing. Then again, the 3-4-3 is showing potential, so we should keep it for now and see where we go with it.

well 3-4-3 is a very risky Thing...you need to press in every game very effectively and yesterdays second goal we conceded was a example of what may happen if Opposition Teams know how to exploit that. What would say Art if we Play 4-3-1-2 with


I still think we will create the same number of chances with this Formation also. Probably we wont dominate the possesion every time like with 3-4-3 but we be equally good in attacking.

Btw, Lucas seems to be playing really good again. I mean not near to his best but if Lucas has someone like Hendo besides him, Lucas will look even more impressive imo. I am ready to drop any other player but Lucas should be automatic starter for that deep playing role. He misplaced one or two passes in the midfield yday but that is fine for me.

The 3-4-3 has been great. The goal scoring opportunities we've given up, which haven't been many, have all been preventable too if not for individual errors. Even still, playing like this has been very good for Liverpool and suits the players that we have. I thought Gerrard was fine, but our defensive issues will be lessened when he is replaced even in the 3-4-3. With Sturridge back I'd like to see Lallana moved out wide as he has a fantastic work rate and Sterling moved back beside Coutinho.

Regardless, I can see people being upset with the result, but people bitching about how we've been playing the last three games or about Rodgers at this point are just daft. We've been really pleasing to watch and the results are coming. A draw, a win and an undeserved loss all in which we've been the dominant side creating a ton of scoring chances.

A real GK and a striker with movement coming in the winter (or just having them period) would probably mean 3 wins there. I'm looking forward to it. Also Sakho was great and if possible I'd like to see Toure - Lovren - Sakho used (sorry Skrtel, overall you were poor and just because you rectified your mistakes with the game winner doesn't absolve that).

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:well 3-4-3 is a very risky Thing...you need to press in every game very effectively and yesterdays second goal we conceded was a example of what may happen if Opposition Teams know how to exploit that. What would say Art if we Play 4-3-1-2 with

GK
CB --- CB --- CB --- CB
Hendo - Lucas - Lallana
Coutinho
Sterling - Markovic

I still think we will create the same number of chances with this Formation also. Probably we wont dominate the possesion every time like with 3-4-3 but we be equally good in attacking.

Btw, Lucas seems to be playing really good again. I mean not near to his best but if Lucas has someone like Hendo besides him, Lucas will look even more impressive imo. I am ready to drop any other player but Lucas should be automatic starter for that deep playing role. He misplaced one or two passes in the midfield yday but that is fine for me.

I feel like I've seen a lot suggestions recently about Markovic playing striker and I cannot approve of that. If anything, he looked out of sorts earlier in the season in the final third. Has a total of 22 career goals through four seasons. I don't know why I'm seeing these suggestions of him playing striker for us. Replace him with Balotelli (and later Sturridge) in that XI and it's good.

I'm definitely in favor of continuing this current formation. Very enjoyable last 3 games. And more than likely we would have won all 3 had Sturridge been playing.

Can someone get me a gif where Borini was running away into the tunnel when he got sent off?

Did I ever mention how much I love Sakho?

So glad he's back, we need another quality CB next to him.