[Nike19]

Sincerely wonderful to learn peace and harmony surrounding the Manchester concert; an event attended by Pep Guardiola and family.

If only Liam and Noel patch up their differences?!

Some songs are Liam DNA, but this was truly wonderful by Noel:

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[Nike19]

Mikus @ 6:13, all sound and valid points made and completely agree.

If we take ourselves back to when we secured new ownership to present, as far as we go on the pitch, I’d say we classed as ‘Hybrid‘.

My reasoning for this: One on side, we play breath-taking football, score lots of goals, blow teams away etc etc, plus challenge for a PL Title and most recently be able to compete almost on par with the other so-called Big Boys in the transfer market, and then…….

The other side: Under the Spotlight: Old problems or problems we haven’t addressed resurface.

As far as commerce goes, we’re a healthily runned club with prospects, an increased fan base not to mention numerous sponsorship deals secured, it’s fantastic.

However:

We’ve been speaking about the defence since Kenny Dalglish brought in Sebastian Coates. This is dating as far back as 2011. We’ll soon be reaching 2018.

Bar Jamie Carragher, I’d be struggling to recollect any well-established make up of defensive unit, not to mention be able to highlight decent and disciplined individuals. Jose Enrique in my view had a decent first spell under Kenny, but from injuries and what have you under Brendan Rodgers, he was left frozen.

Daniel Agger in my view was a breath of fresh air and one of the best ever in a central defender, we ever had. Again with Brendan Rodgers, he fell out of favour.

From my experience of viewing, Agger and Carragher were probably the best combined central defenders during this period of time. I don’t think Martin Skrtel really fitted with either of these guys when it came to forming an understanding. This is why a lot of mistakes were made perhaps doing an injustice to Pepe Reina.

Accustomed in unique to our club under FSG and taking into account too the way modern football at Top Flight has evolved, we found ourselves with a number of Managerial changes in a relatively short space of time:

After Rafa:

Hodgson
Dalglish
Rodgers
Klopp

When continuous changes are made at the top as far as the management team goes, there are naturally changes and a lot of reshuffling – great if you can pull it off, but there is that amount of movement and risk-taking, not every evidently as far as we are concerned has fell into place for us.

A similar pattern took shape with Man United after SAF left: They’ve had:

Moyes
Ryan Giggs (very briefly)
Louis Van Gaal

and now Jose Mourinho

Players don’t now whether they are coming or going when there is transition after transition after transition. Too many changes too consistently affects stability momentum negatively.

Though critical of approach and decision-making, I am behind Jurgen Klopp, and one more big Summer Window is needed to address the problematic areas, but come 2019 if we are holding these discussions on message boards, then something fundamentally is wrong and accountability has to lie beyond the Club Manager.

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[Nike19]

Don’t want to start a new thread on this, but would greatly appreciate in light of yesterday’s whitewash what defensive line up would Posters choose. Would you include Mignolet or give Karius?

I’m desperate for example, Jon Flanagan to be reintegrated back into the first team even if that means placing him alongside Joel Matip as a Centre-half. Nathaniel Clyne looks as though he’ll be out for quite some time, so Flanagan could play there like he did under Rodgers.

Robertson too should be prioritized ahead of Alberto Moreno, otherwise why has Jurgen Klopp signed him? Baring in mind we don’t have a great deal of defenders in the squad in the first place, I’d bring in Lovren and give Karius another chance so the back four would look something like this:

Karius – Robertson – Lovren – Matip – Flanagan.

Moving onto the Midfield, I would consider playing Ox in the centre along with Can and Milner – drop Henderson and Wijn.

As far as our forward line goes, I’d reintegrate Coutinho to play him on the left, with Salah on the right, and then Sturridge/Solanke as a central striker – drop Firmino.

I’d understand anybody coming forward in disagreement, but just feel a shake up is needed on the back of yesterday’s humiliation.

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[Nike19]

Leadership is absolutely vital in any team sport. A nominated Captain or a Club Captain should be providing that at his utmost.

You look at other professions from other industries out there and they have a Team Leader, a Supervisor or a Manager who has that presence, leads by example and is there to turn to when there are difficulties.

You need somebody hands on deck and able to react quickly to change or unfortunate circumstances.

Bar the odd trace of brilliance such as last season V Chelsea, what does Henderson actually offer us as a Captain? Ironically, I convinced myself or believed when he was out injured, we were missing him.

James Milner is a much more of a better example. Why is our manager seemingly afraid to drop certain players and not others? Why was Mignolet even reinstalled?

Aside footballing ability and competencies for their playing positions, we need footballers who can be vocal and not afraid to speak. We are missing that in Adam Lallana. In previous generations, players like Jan Molby and Ronnie Whelan were perceived more as figureheads and individuals a younger player could turn towards for guidance and support.

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[Nike19]

My, that’s an interesting pattern at the foot of the table as it stands and in light of the result coming in from Turf Moor.

The 3 promoted clubs probably albeit nearly Newcastle have had better starts than those currently at the bottom.

I am surprised with Bournemouth, maybe they’ll turn it around soon. Palace could be the one that falls short come May 18 – wouldn’t want to see them leave the Premier League.

Not to read obviously anything too deep at this stage of the season.

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[Nike19]

Sky and Jamie Carragher analysis I am definitely choosing to ignore – they are a pain to watch and listen too!

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[Nike19]

Somebody’s kindly posted MOTD highlights on you-tube – hope it doesn’t get wiped off

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[Nike19]

It’s been reported Liverpool wont appeal for Mane’s red card; Burnley and the 2 visits to Leicester he will miss. Next month for the trip to Newcastle it shall be.

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[Nike19]

Jim, you’re right. That was unusual, in fact very unusual of Liverpool. I am sure we have won a game in recent times playing with 10 men (can’t remember off the top of my head who it was).

The feeling I took from watching the second half even on 62 minutes that players wanted the final whistle to blow.

It’s purely unprofessional and disservice to players and supporters if a Manager is in resignation. If Klopp’s not happy with the decision, that’s fine, but he has a job to do and he had the half-time break to reshuffle the pack and implement an alternative game plan.

I would have been more content under the circumstances if we didn’t concede the second goal before half-time and tried everything we could to keep it to 1-0 and try and snatch a late draw – failing that, lose the game to a smaller margin.

This is the worse humiliation for us since losing on the final day at Stoke. I like Jurgen, a lot, but this is just a real hammer in the nuts for us.

I did check our injuries Jim, and only Clyne, Bodgan and Lallana officially registered as injured, so Coutinho not selected is a mystery.

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[Nike19]

Top four and challenging for the Championship is an expectation engraved if you are a Liverpool supporter, but essentially, it’s building a platform and trying to put a sequence of wins together to progress.

Make no mistake, I had hope of us beating City and going top of the table. I knew in the back of my mind there was a chance United might find it tricky to beat Stoke and they ended up drawing.

Around this time last year we lost to Burnley, but improved and grew consistent. We have to instantly eradicate that defensive line and bring in reinforcements. I don’t know what’s going through the Manager’s mind, but he either plays Robertson or he reverts back to James Milner because that full-back position along with the other side with TAA is where we were exposed the most yesterday.

De-Bryne was having a field day with his crossing. Until we don’t stamp out this problem along with setting up our midfield more compact away from home and supporting the defenders, then we’re only end up being a liability and won’t be able to build a sequence of wins.

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[Nike19]

Hightown, second paragraph is spot on. I mentioned Jurgen just taking a back seat and handing City practically free reigns – goodness we were down one man and had an entire half. If the Manager can’t galvanize us what hope do those players have?

I don’t feel as bad as I did yesterday, wow, that defeat really hurt and I allowed that to set a precedent of what began as a really depressing evening. I was chatting to a couple of locals at the bar last night and they were pretty much highlighting everything that’s already been posted on here.

What’s even more disappointing is that prior to the sending off, Salah actually came close to scoring and we also had a free-kick on the D which we should have made the most of.

I said in my mind once Mane left that we don’t want to concede another goal before half-time. One is ruled out for off-side, then bang, I just knew we wouldn’t hold our nerve and why would we with defenders like Moreno and Klavan? Matip looks helpless and TAA is just a kid who’s counting on support and people to show him the way.

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[Nike19]

I have said on the other thread I have no qualms over the sending off. With studs up and against that kind of speed, that collision could have ended with bleeding, injury to an eye socket, and anything surrounding the face.

Clearly if another official out there thinks differently, then there’s your answer to inconsistency.

Regarding the game itself, all is said already on the game thread and the biggest disappointment is not actually putting up a fight after the sending off and just giving an open invitation for goals. How on earth is a young guy like TAA supposed to learn his trade and build any confidence when there’s nobody there to learn from and look up to?

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[Nike19]

I mentioned in my assessment we missed Coutinho and now we essentially have a problem with somebody who is quality at set-pieces. Can at times is a pretender for us. On another day, he plays like a key component.

I fancied us at the start and I still would expect even away from home to at least compete and get a result, but as mentioned, we sat deep and didn’t push out as we should have. Plus, we need players to be more close to each other and pass the ball effectively. Instead, like the England team, we’re passing the ball backwards – why?

Responsibility lies within the management team as to how to deal with different sets of circumstances during a game such as being a man down. But, Henderson is a total let down for me when it comes to leadership. When the chips are down, he has no sense to be proactive, liaise with the Manager and make reinforcements. Too many players in fear and hiding behind each other when in a negative situation. Jurgen Klopp does have it in him to galvanise the team and fire a rocket, but he chose to take a back seat and effectively place an open invitation to Man City to just score more and more.

I didn’t previously mention the defence, but they themselves are just growing from bad to worse allowing practically every other cross to reach a City player it’s a sorry state of affairs.

A shake up and reorganisation needed before we can think about any aspiration at the moment.

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[Nike19]

A couple of weeks ago we had seen the best of Liverpool and today we seen the worst. I don’t think the score was flattering because we could have lost by even more and congrats and full marks to Man City.

I have no qualms with the sending off because in a 50-50 challenge, if this results to a player being fouled and seriously hurt, then the Referee has to make a big call and Mane unfortunately had to be off the pitch.

Team selection and Moreno to one side, the midfield of Henderson (him especially), Wijn and Can were a total let down. There was no organisation, link or discipline between not to mention leadership.

We gifted City goals. If we’re adopting the mindset of pushing the full-backs forward, then the heart of the midfield have to encourage movement by being proactive themselves. Instead, players were stood static, too deep and trying to play a lazy ball over the top. Why? It was not met and instead, easily cut-out. I really feel somewhere down the line a big call has to be made to either drop Henderson or to permanently move him on, as with Can. Wijn too as he is not consistent but consistently quiet.

I have to shoulder the blame more towards the midfield than take the east way out and lay everything on the doorstep of Mignolet and the defence.

My reasoning comes from looking at both sets of teams and recognising that we lack that little bit extra of cutting edge in Phillipe Coutinho who was missed.

We played too deep too tactically against a team who likes to play football. Had the midfielders and defenders pushed out more habitually, they would be able to provide more support to the attackers.

A purely disappointing day at the office in summary and naturally, we will need to get back on the sadle and bounce back quickly.

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[Nike19]

999, I would agree to be involved in and compete in every domestic competition however not at the expense in my opinion in what is basically a long slog when it comes to both European competitions.

There are excessive games in both the EL and the CL and this I feel should be challenged.

I feel personally strongly about this because as mentioned in my early morning thoughts, both the FA and the League Cup are wrongly mistreated or at the very least regarded by certain clubs at the higher end of the Premier League.

I haven’t seen unfortunately so far in the time spent writing and reading posts any real constructive or positive solutions. So this sort of leaves me with an indication of this matter to accommodate England better being redundant.

Not all lost and positively we can all get our thinking caps on and hopefully thrash out some ideas -problem-solving I’m sure on here can be achievable.

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[Nike19]

Put the Internationals to one side, in my view there is a wider issue in the number of fixtures to be played in the first place when one team for instance is involved in a European Cup competition.

The Europa League is notorious for the amount of games entailed to win a competition and the Champions League after the group phase should then progress as a straight knock out competition.

I have read posts time and time again on message boards relating to these topics and not only do we just go round in circles, but both the FA Cup and the League Cup is quickly picked up on although on this occasion, nothing so far has been mentioned here though, some of us (in reason) have deviated from the original topic and question.

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[Nike19]

If we were to eventually tie up a deal for Van Dijk, bar perhaps the Goalkeeper, (for the first time) we’d potentially be looking at a watertight defence since the days of Rafa’s and Houllier’s earlier and peak years of back 4s fielded.

I say this because Kieta would compliment Van Dijk is probably is the replacement of Javier Mascherano we have long lacked – somebody proactive and not afraid to get their hands dirty to thwart a threat and tidy up play. I know it’s You Tube clips and not to overly read into, but this looks as if this individual does this with such panache and making this playing position his own.

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[Nike19]

The pre-season in recent years is made up of tournaments where there is more of a commercial benefit and build on a fan base so I can’t see whether there would be a compromise there to accommodate a block run of England games.

I do feel to pinpoint of one England’s biggest difficulties is to be able to gell together quickly as a unit and not only perform well, but achieve positive results.

Off the top of my head to my recollection, England struggled in Mexico 86 in the qualifying stages only for Lineker to then find his feet and turn on the goals.

The same with Italy 90 when I think it was a late 1-0 winner over Egypt that paved way for us to qualify.

I don’t remember Euro 96, but we didn’t even make the World Cup in 94.

In 98, we didn’t have a bad team and a blend of players, as with 2002. I think after 2006, it started to go downhill for us and from then on as far as tournaments go, we’ve failed miserably.

When there is synergy between players, we seem to get carried away easily. When it comes to a centre stage battle with one of the top national teams, again, we fail miserably because we can’t put in the performances consistently, or we are just consistently inconsistent.

Would a ‘block booking’ over internationals in succession help and improve us? I don’t know.

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[Nike19]

Blaze Power, good point. I think the way the itinerary is when it comes to internationals is what annoys a lot of the fans.

England games to my recollection used to be played on a Wednesday and then it would be business as usual come the weekend.

In the modern day, they practically take a whole week off and then cram in 2 games be it friendlies or actual meaningful games.

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[Nike19]

I think Liam Gallagher’s simply been wonderful and colossal since going alone. Love Oasis historically it goes without saying, and this man listening to his interviews throughout has simply been top draw not to mention in my view able to relate to the everyday Working Class individual.

Wall Of Glass it is:

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