betterman

The defense is not that bad really, Hughes just kept sending the team out in a kamikaze formation. Against Spurs he just gave Aaron Lennon a free pass by selecting Robinho ahead of Silvinho. And his teams have just been too attacking really, trying to shoehorn all them expensive forwards in. No Balance at all.

Yes, a lot of what you said is correct. The bit I have highlighted obviously isn't.

Yet conventional wisdom has it that the solution to all our problems is an owner/owners who will plough endless millions into the club. Would you stay away if this happened? I see your point, but the game is 'money-led' and has been for a long, long, long time, so you should stay away permanently if that's your view really, no? Soccer is big business, end of story.

Fulham showed today exactly what Wolves had to fear (apart from fear itself!) - an injury ravaged team with a makeshift defence, over reliant on one player to make it happen for them. I'll post back tomorrow when Wolves win

Torres tried. Reina could do nothing about the two strikes really. This is the best I can say about our efforts against the bottom team in the premier league.

You are right. But even if that's in any way true (and I'd be surprised to be honest), those players are representing Liverpool and I think it's quite obvious that for a lot of them we could be Sporting f***ing Lisbon, LA Galaxy or whoever the f*** They don't want to dig in and fight, they won't battle, they are showing no pride. If not for the fans, if not for the club, if not for the manager then what about for the vast amounts of money you're paid. You can excuse bad games, bad form etc etc to a certain extent, but lack of effort, lack of heart and just not caring enough? Never. I'll get slated for this, but I'd love a Roy Keane (the player) or his ilk in our dressing room right now.

Exactly, I was doing my nut. Pepe and Torres are the only two who can hold their heads up at the moment in my opinion. If I was the manager of an opposing team I'd be telling my team 'get stuck right into these fellas and they won't want to know'. Sad, but true.

But my point is not even form (which is gash, you're right), you don't need form to have a cut, to care, to get f***ing stuck into them. That should be the very basic. Especially for a centre back. We are push overs now, apart from not playing well. It's embarrassing watching it now, found myself going nuts with frustration today, not just cos they were utter s****, but because all bar a couple just didn't seem to want to know. Especially after we went down to ten men.

Just saw Agger's f***ing god awful attempts to defend Boateng getting in a cross for the second goal again. And it's even more annoying now - an embarrassment. Jesus our centre backs have been playing like bloody novices this year. No aggression, no leadership, no bloody balls. All over the field we've a bunch of bloody pussies. No one is taking responsibility for anything and no one seems to care that much frankly. Not that you can see anyway. And I don't mean they should be following Mascherano's lead. That's not brave, it's just petulance and stupidity - whatever your views on the decision. Physically our team are a match for no-one right now. You could see a difference again clearly today. Apart from Pepe, who is in the f***ing goal, where's the aggression? the pace? the strength? the will to win? The bloody men for f***s sake? Teams must be dying to really get stuck into us now. It's ridiculous. Forget tactics, signings, selection, all of that, they are playing for Liverpool for God's sake, I really don't know what the f*** those players think they're at.

I think Gerrard will have a big game today, it's about time he did. Torres is Torres, the one thing more than any that gives me hope for the rest of this season. Wouldn't be surprised to see Dirk or Dossena get a goal either though if things go well.

Defensive team really. BUT, with Gerrard and Torres starting in tandem I fully expect us to win.

It's the end of the year and, even worse, the end of the decade. Time to settle into lists, lists and more lists. Personally, after seeing the thread on our team of the decade, I'd had more than enough of this game!

The crux of the issue. Further demeans the competition/game in general.

This content is not viewable to guests.,This content is not viewable to guests.

Largely agree with that. Anyone comparing this to one of the top clubs 'rotating' players is missing the point. This game was forfeited. Just because they fielded a team doesn't change that. I'm not advocating any sort of punishment. They can pick whatever team they like. And no-one should be able to interfere with that. Should they be fined? No. But it still doesn't make what they did any less of a disgrace, If we were still in the hunt with United and Chelsea the opinions being expressed by many on here would be very different I'd imagine. McCarthy did what he thinks is best, who knows, maybe he'll be proved right in terms of future results. But personally I hope the teams like Burnley and Birmingham continue to play in the spirit of the competition and are rewarded for it.

Even if both were possibilities for us, I'd only be interested in Joe Cole. He'd be a great signing actually. Walcott is not all that good is he? Doesn't seem to be developing at all under Wenger for whatever reason. And he's injury prone.

This content is not viewable to guests.,This content is not viewable to guests.

I think two up front is the way forward for us right now. Not because I'm convinced by N'Gog, but I think we need to change the system badly and it seems the most sensible option given the players available to us. And it's more positive. Nothing stopping Aquilani coming into a 442 either, I'm even beginning to think a wide right/roaming brief might not be the worst thing for the skipper right now. But that's another day's work.

Yep.

Jesus, I hope we never find out, to be honest. I wouldn't worry about Gerrard too much, I reckon he's just not fully fit, though there does seem to be more to it alright. Top of my wish list now would be a few clean sheets. Until we sort ourselves out at the back we're liable to get caught in any game, even against rubbish teams, because we don't seem to have many goals in us at the moment.

Good old Burnley though, they'll always have a crack in fairness to them. You can't say the same about every team who faces the 'mighty' Arsenal.

This content is not viewable to guests.,This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.,This content is not viewable to guests.

I agree with that. He's a good winger, will get the odd goal and should get plenty of assists in a season. Problem is, while he's not all he's cracked up to be he's the type that would immediately improve our team. I'm not advocating signing him (cos that won't happen anyway), I'm just saying the gap in quality between the type of players we feel Liverpool should be signing (the very best) and some who currently represent them is so vast that there's loads of players in that grey area who would walk into our team right now. And he's one of them.

They look in better shape this year. A lot of it last year was them relying on the bare eleven and fatigue set in big time, people like Agbonlahor had played every single minute of every game etc They have better options now, Downing, for example, could mean a rest for Milner or Young when needed, Heskey/Carew give them a choice upfront, they are not nearly as badly fixed as last year I reckon. Don't for a minute expect them to finish in the top four, just saying it won't be easy for us now. We need to win tonight, win well and kick on. City are obviously stronger this year too (sure they could do anything in January as well) and Spurs will probably hang around the fringes of the Champions League places at least.