Half term report

[Chewie]

overall 7/10. Looking very potent going forward, much improved Goal Difference, have secured one of the best players in the world for the forseeable future (ie. going nowhere in January)

 

signings 4/10. Mignolet and Sakho have been good. Aspas very difficult to see why (no better than Borini), Alberto - could be a player but not what we needed for 13/14. Cissokho and Moses - thank goodness they're only on loan

 

manager 8/10. has grown into this role. Is taking us forward, especially against weaker opposition. Small squad preventing decent rotation or substitutes

 

Squad: Mignolet (8), Johnson (6), Skrtl (6), Sakho (7), Agger (5), Enrique (3), Cissokho (3), Flanagan (7), Kolo (6), Allen (6), Lucas (7), Gerrard (8), Henderson (9), Alberto (4), Suarez (10), Sturridge (8), Sterling (7), Aspas (3), Moses (3), Coutinho (6)

 

Points . 7/10.. on target for 70+ At the 15 game mark we were on 30 and going into those last 4 games the min was 3, a steady return would have been 6, a good return 7, anything over this eg. 9, 10, 12 would have been magnificent

 

League position: 6/10 our position is not good in terms of CL but it is so close that one defeat or win takes you up and down 2-3 places.

 

Signings needed. Weird one this. It's often said that in the modern game Fullback is a pivotal position... in that case we need 2 real good ones. We also cannot rotate the midfield due to numbers so a DM is also a priority. I reckon we need to buy for these positions long term. We are a very good side but an argument can be made for improvements at RB, CH, LB, DM, Wide attack - those are 5 key positions.

 

Cup: 2/10

 

Big big push needed in the next 5 months. What happens in this period might just shape the direction of this football club for the next 5 years.

[Nerik]

Toure a good signing which you forget.

[redjersey]

19 games played, 34 points. On course for 68 points I'd say.

No guarantee we'll fare any better at home to the top sides than we have away. And we'll still drop plenty of points away to the 'easy' teams.

Edited December 29, 2013 by redjersey

[Beardsley]

Johnson a 6?

In the "famous" words of Phil Dowd: "Not on my watch".

[Sion]

Sturridge and Stevie back for Stoke would be a huge boost.

 

57 points left to play for.

Realistically to win the league we'd need at least 44-45 from that, so say W14, D3, L2.

Which is a big big ask really. And it probably wouldn't be enough.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Sion

[Chewie]

19 games played, 34 points. On course for 68 points I'd say.

No guarantee we'll fare any better at home to the top sides than we have away. And we'll still drop plenty of points away to the 'easy' teams.

 

We're on 36 points. On course for 72 points I'd say...

 

Johnson a 6?

In the "famous" words of Phil Dowd: "Not on my watch".

 

He gets a 6 because up until the last 4-5 games he was very influential. He was on course for 7 or 8 out of 10 but the last 4-5 games have dragged him down...

[£440,000]

19 games played, 34 points. On course for 68 points I'd say.

No guarantee we'll fare any better at home to the top sides than we have away. And we'll still drop plenty of points away to the 'easy' teams.

We've got 36 points.

[Dominus Maximus]

Liverpool being s**** the last couple of years has almost made forget how intense it is to watch your team play when there truly is something special at stake. And so the last two defeats have been excruciating to watch. Overall the team fell short and Mignolet screwed us twice. Why did Reina have to leave? I still don't get it. The team lacks leadership and intelligence. The ability to control the game. It's like they only have two gears. And the experienced players in the line-up are not pulling enough weight. God knows what Johnson and Skrtel are thinking half the time.

Solution: Sign more players. Better players. If it's true that Xabi wants to leave Real then let him come here, now! And get more strikers, wingers and fullbacks. Lord knows we could use then. You have to spend money to make money. And it is embarrassing really when you see how thin the squad is and how depleted of experience it is. In conclusion, it is enormously annoying to be so close but still so far away.

Edited December 29, 2013 by FalseNine

[Jim D]

Would have taken the current points total at the start of the season after 19 games, double it and that makes 72 points, enough to make Champions League football. Top 4 was our target at the beginning of the season and we are on course for that, got to be taking 2 points per game from here on in starting with three points against Hull on New Years Day.

 

Oh and Glen Johnson has become a fecking liability

Edited December 29, 2013 by Jim D

[FakeNewsBear]

Mignolet - 7

Johnson - 5

Skrtel - 7

Sakho - 6

Agger - 5

Toure - 6

Flanagan - 7

Cissokho - 4

Enrique - 4

Kelly - 3

Lucas - 6

Allen - 6

Henderson - 7

Gerrard - 6

Coutinho - 8

Sterling - 7

Moses - 3

Alberto - 5

Sturridge - 9

Suarez - 10

Aspas - 4

 

IMO Borini offers more than Aspas

Reina and Mignolet could have been pushing each other.

Johnson needs to leave with Agger.

 

Wish list would be Montoya, Vestagaard, Munoz, Koke and Luuk De Jong or Ferrerya from Shakhtar

[Earl Hafler]

Defensively naive with little signs of improvement in 18 months

 

With an injury to Sakho and Johnson playing like a drunken sailor, Rodgers has to show a greater awareness of the defensive frailties in the team. Pissing about switching Sakho and Agger next to Skrtel has done us few favours. Get someone to drill them throughout the next few weeks and leave the midfield and attack to flourish as it has. More work on set pieces and defensive routines in training won't result in Suarez forgetting where the goal is or Henderson forgetting who he plays for but it will - or at least it should - result in fewer mistakes and more points.

 

Improvements there during the second half of the season could prove vital.

[Ronnie#5]

It's worse cos Everton are above us in the table but I said I'd be happy to be within a win of Top 4 in 1st Jan and we're more than that so 8/10 for me.

 

I also consistently said I'd wait to judge Rodgers until turn of the year and on that note I think he's a keeper but I'd be holding any new contract till end of May.

 

We've become one of the best 'teams' in the country this past year. Our 'squad' is worse than at least 5 others and therein lies the rub. 2 1st team players in Jan pretty much nails top 4 for me.

[Billy Dane]

We've done ok, but still not sure Brendan has the tactical nous to beat the top clubs we want to be competing against.

[floyd the barber]

Still think Lucas is being rated too high,he been poor since his return from injury and a massive weak point in the side.

A defensive mid and 2 full backs are blatently what we need in jan. That should be top priority,no squad players I want top money spent on genuine first team plAyers. With our run in,we have a serious chance of winning the league..add to that the lack of midweek euro games and our chances are genuinely fantastic. We cannot blow this window,spend the money and well.

[Farmer's Tan]

Coutinho has been poor since returning from injury, trying to force it instead of what he was doing prior to the injury.

[David Hodgson]

Every one would've happily taken 36 points from this first 19, especially given that we've played virtually all of the top sides away.

 

To be top of the table at Xmas was beyond wildest expectations stuff and represented a 9 out of 10 season. Less now, but 2 games can't change everything, especially when with a touch more luck we could've taken points in both of them. There's some seriously fickle stuff going on here. And no mistake.

Edited December 30, 2013 by David Hodgson

[schmuckdonald]

Every one would've happily taken 36 points from this first 19, especially given that we've played virtually all of the top sides away.

 

To be top of the table at Xmas was beyond wildest expectations stuff and represented a 9 out of 10 season. Less now, but 2 games can't change everything, especially when with a touch more luck we could've taken points in both of them. There's some seriously fickle stuff going on here. And no mistake.

 

Just a bit.

 

We had no luck in two of - probably - the toughest games of the season and ended one of them with Brad Smith on the wing. We're doing well. Very well.

[smithdown]

Don't think we expected to see a forward in such ridiculous form either, and the best player in the league sitting fifth halfway isn't anything to get triumphant about. Need to rethink how we play big teams and how we play away.

[Flanders]

Don't think we expected to see a forward in such ridiculous form either, and the best player in the league sitting fifth halfway isn't anything to get triumphant about. Need to rethink how we play big teams and how we play away.

Where as a week ago when he was sat top, everything was dandy. We lost away to Man City and Chelsea - big deal, we were very unlucky and if you don't see that it's because you dont want to.

[Cisse]

Where as a week ago when he was sat top, everything was dandy. We lost away to Man City and Chelsea - big deal, we were very unlucky and if you don't see that it's because you dont want to.

this, f'vv this

[Ronnie#5]

Don't think we expected to see a forward in such ridiculous form either, and the best player in the league sitting fifth halfway isn't anything to get triumphant about. Need to rethink how we play big teams and how we play away.

We can def improve but we honestly got done by 2 very bad refereeing performances. We gave City a hiding in the 2nd half and Chelsea were able to benefit from our lack of squad depth as we looked shattered at times in that 1st half.

 

I ain't buying the neggy stuff. We're a serious football team now. The paymasters at FSG f***ed us over last summer and we're seeing the fruits of that right now. As I said earlier, 2 1st team players in Jan and I think we're nailed on for top 4.

[redjersey]

1388359714[/url]' post='3551626']

We're on 36 points. On course for 72 points I'd say...

 

Sorry, my mistake. Was both pissed and pissed off last night.

Apparently we're the first team ever to be top on Christmas Day and 5th before New Years Eve.

[Dan]

Every one would've happily taken 36 points from this first 19, especially given that we've played virtually all of the top sides away.

 

To be top of the table at Xmas was beyond wildest expectations stuff and represented a 9 out of 10 season. Less now, but 2 games can't change everything, especially when with a touch more luck we could've taken points in both of them. There's some seriously fickle stuff going on here. And no mistake.

 

Agree. This is the most entertaining season we've contributed to for years - loads of joyless b******s wading in with the knives when we hit a bump though.

[fred milne]

Where as a week ago when he was sat top, everything was dandy. We lost away to Man City and Chelsea - big deal, we were very unlucky and if you don't see that it's because you dont want to.

It's Smithdown remember.

[RP]

There's some seriously fickle stuff going on here. And no mistake.

 

 

But are you surprised at that??

 

Looking at the fixture list a few weeks ago, this would all have been predictable. The only sub-par result in the month was at Hull ... and we recovered well from that. Since then, we've played to our handicap/batting average in terms of results, and well above our average in terms of performances.

 

Apparently we're the first team ever to be top on Christmas Day and 5th before New Years Eve.

 

 

So what?