Man City Vs Liverpool (August 25th, 2014)

[KMD7]

Balls.

 

 

 

 

 

Repped for brevity

[JaminKibbler]

Brian McDermott has been in club photos recently at training, wonder if it's a helping hand after the Leeds job that Brendan said someone had done to him after the reading job or if he's here to coach?

[Hades]

We couldn't mount a title challenge until Carra retired, we won't win the title until Gerrard retires.

 

[TheHowieLama]

Really didnt. We were parking the bus and hoping we get something on the counter without committing anyone.

 

 

Still think Rodgers couple of naive glitches harm us though.

 

One, the need to go out and try to win every game. Superb to watch at times. But at places like the Etihad, a slightly more conservative approach and trying to nick one might be more fruitful.

 

 

 

Football - funny game.

[El Dangerous]

How fucking hard is it to coach a 'keeper to come out of his 6 yard box and sweep up. I like Mignolet and I think he's got the tools of a really decent goalie but he's glued to his line and his kicking is woeful.

 

Hopefully we see Gerrard transitioned in to an impact player this season. I can't help but feel that we'd be better suited picking and choosing when we'll need his creativity most and when we might need a more dynamic presence in his position. I think Lallana or Coutinho could be the creative midfielder in our side in the years to come with Can playing in Stevies position.

[jamespp]

Wasn't that bad, be more worried if the same happens Sunday, City were meh and every shot = goal, it's easy to say were not good enough but Arsenal gave us a more impressive beating last season 2-0 at the Emirates and we finished above them with a weaker squad than we've got now

Worry about missing Suarez when we've played the mid table & relegation contender teams and not got a result because that's when he was at his best

[TheFridge]

What we need to do more than anything is not make some stupid fuck up gifting them a goal, we always seem to do it against them.

 

All to predictable, that was an even game with us probably just shading it up until Riise possessed Moreno for a few seconds, shite time to concede as well, 0-0 at half time and it's job done for us and a different game in the 2nd half.

 

Watching Moreno in a few Europa League games last season i got the impression it looked like he was split second behind play at times on the defensive side of his game, committing himself late to challenges and not being completely on it.

 

Remember thinking that would obviously be bad news in the Premier League if it was a genuine issue, it might not be but that performance tonight hasn't done anything to makes those doubts go away, he very nearly gave away a penalty diving in on Zabaleta as well.

 

Saying that though he looks great going forwards and technically sound though it was a pity he didn't roll it to Sturridge for the tap in just before Aguero scored.

[TheFridge]

big season for coutinho ........more end product or end of the line for the little guy,2 years of nothingness now.....its like copping for a bird with hig boobies only to get her back to your ken and she pulls out her chicken filets.....

 

He has only been here 18 months.

[therevivalist]

henderson made several runs in behind, funzo. he was only given the ball once though.

 

I d said all day I expected us to lose and anything other than that would have been a bonus. not just cos it was away to city but we always do !@#$%^&* on mnf.

 

he hasnt got long to sort it out. spurs looked excellent yesterday and we'll need to find our best form and best team to beat them

Too much hype about Spurs already; true they're good. But mainly because QPR were turd. We should be able to beat them.

[therevivalist]

I watched it.

 

My only issue is that you get the feeling that Gerrard will always get off lightly when Carra is discussing our shortcomings.

 

Defensively though, I agree with their points on the whole. Apart from the last goal when I think Lovren was shafted by Skrtel and Johnson who didn't stay in line and come out. Lovren was more concerned with pushing up onto the city player in front of him whereas Skrtel wanted to stay deep, and Johnson copied him.

 

I don't follow the line of logic that Sakho is inferior to Skrtel.

The elephant in the room. Rodgers should start him with less frequency now.

[TheHowieLama]

 it was a pity he didn't roll it to Sturridge for the tap in just before Aguero scored.

 

Agreed, good move there. TBF Sturridge looked like he checked and was pulling back

[TheFridge]

Agreed, good move there. TBF Sturridge looked like he checked and was pulling back

 

Yeah he did, it was clever movement, probably a bit too clever for Moreno.

[xerxes]

Losing away to the League Champions by two goals is no disgrace.

 

The game itself though pricked some of the pre-season optimism. Nine new players will take a while to settle in. Gerrards' international retirement reflects his declining powers and Johnson is not an elite full back.

 

It is far too early to draw too many conclusions, and I can't wait for Super Mario.

[Mojo]

am I imagining it or was Mignolet playing much further out than usual deliberately. He certainly didn't play that far out in our last couple of games against Citeh. If that's the case, the third goal may be down to following out new instructions. It's not as if he regularly lets goals in his near side, unlike a certain goalie in his last years with us, who is now warming a bench in Bavaria.

[Major Tom]

We couldn't mount a title challenge until Carra retired.

Cause/correlation issues there, my friend.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

I think we matched them in many areas. Our general play was a big improvement from the Southampton game, and I remember thinking midway through the first half that "yes, the poetry in motion is still there".

 

They however had the cutting edge in the vital situation, and the best team no doubt won the game. The error by Moreno for the first I think is about adapting to the pace of the premiership. For the second I think their movement and build up was exceptional, still the defending was questionable.

 

We have of course our weak spots, more so that City still. So us being title contenders this year will be a long shot, unless of course Balotelli sets off in a Suarez scoring pace. But in my view Rodgers is building a team for the future and precense, and maybe in that order. Big part of the squad now is aged 19-23 and quite a few of them are new and need time to settle. We will only get better as the season progress I think, and not least for the next 3-4 years if we can keep the squad together. (And add a beast in central/defensive midfield at some stage)

[bouncebrigade]

I fear Balotelli may not be the saviour some people believe.

 

Hard to see us getting near Chelsea or City this year.

 

Hope to fuck I'm wrong mind.

[Paulie Dangerously]

The Baltic Barrier of Skrtel and Lovren needs work. They both look like mad bastards though.

 

Moreno, first goal aside, looked good. Markovic looks direct and skillful.

 

Mignolet might have done better for the first and third goal imo. Shame there's no chance of Chelsea selling Cech to us

[Major Tom]

I fear Balotelli may not be the saviour some people believe.

 

Hard to see us getting near Chelsea or City this year.

 

Hope to fuck I'm wrong mind.

 

I think those two have far stronger squads than the rest. No shame in not getting near them.

 

Consolidate our place in the top four this year. A cup and get out of our CL group. Would be a very good season for me.

[billypilgrimnz]

I fear Balotelli may not be the saviour some people believe.

 

Hard to see us getting near Chelsea or City this year.

 

Hope to fuck I'm wrong mind.

 

As much shit as we give Arsenal, we'll be doing well to stick with them this time as well. I don't think the balance is there this season - too many of our better players suited for the front three (Balotelli, Sturridge, Markovic, Lallana, Sterling, Coutinho) leaving us with a light, samey, midfield (more so if Can doesn't turn out to be any good and Gerrard continues his inevitable decline). And our defensive frailties appear to still be there (and somehow Sakho is the scapegoat for those? Not sure why he doesn't get a run ahead of Skrtel at least). Assuming Moreno goes well, with Enrique as back up, we are still relatively weak at right back (a declining Johnson, the overrated Flanagan and a 20-year-old loanee).

 

We'll do very well to get 4th this season. I think a number of our fans are unjustifiably arrogant about our prospects at the moment. Now, if our Ballotelli, Can, Lallana, and Markovic turn out to be superstars, that might change, but it's all hope at the moment.

[Gnasher]

Losing away to the League Champions by two goals is no disgrace.

 

The game itself though pricked some of the pre-season optimism. Nine new players will take a while to settle in. Gerrards' international retirement reflects his declining powers and Johnson is not an elite full back.

 

It is far too early to draw too many conclusions, and I can't wait for Super Mario.

Not sure i agree with some of the flak aimed at Stevie last night. Our midfield functioned well against a top side till the first goal, after which we seemed to lose a bit of confidence although we had to chase the game, Rodgers was right in describing the second goal as the killer.

 

I'm not sure Mario would have changed the result last night, if you need to score three goals to take a point away from home its always going to be difficult. If we had the Chelsea back five out last night we would have come away with at least a 1-1 draw. That's where the problem was last night and that's where the problem was last season.

[xerxes]

Not sure i agree with some of the flak aimed at Stevie last night. Our midfield functioned well against a top side till the first goal, after which we seemed to lose a bit of confidence although we had to chase the game, Rodgers was right in describing the second goal as the killer.

 

I'm not sure Mario would have changed the result last night, if you need to score three goals to take a point away from home its always going to be difficult. If we had the Chelsea back five out last night we would have come away with at least a 1-1 draw. That's where the problem was last night and that's where the problem was last season.

Fair comment.

 

I didn't think that Gerrard had a bad game last night, I just think that his barnstorming match winning displays are probably behind him now for a more subtle, but still valuable, contribution.

 

Lambert made our goal last night, and I suspect he will be putting I plenty of shifts this season. Balotelli's value I think will be seen over a season, and I agree he would have made little difference last night against a very good side who will score lots of goals, whoever they are playing against.

 

The defence will need to find a formula fast, but with nine new summer signings that may take a while.

[Dundalis]

I fear Balotelli may not be the saviour some people believe.

 

Hard to see us getting near Chelsea or City this year.

 

Hope to fuck I'm wrong mind.

 

I'm actually ok with not challenging for the title (as long as we get at least 4th and Champions League quali again of course). We have a young team with lots of players whom will only get better. City and Chelsea have an older much more experienced squad and will have to replace some key players over the next few years, as well as have players who may deteriorate as they move past their prime. Now they both have the money to replace them, but it's different having to replace your top players, as opposed to topping up the squad which is what they've mostly been doing recently, and mostly having a level of continuity with the first team.

 

We've basically just built our squad in one off season, and as Rodgers said, this should be by far the biggest summer for transfers for a few years. This group of players should grow together and develop real chemistry as we top up with a player here and there over the next few transfer windows. The room for development and improvement for the next 5 years is sky high with this team.

[Tony Moanero]

No Suarez = no title challenge. Deal with it.

[Gym Beglin]

I just think it's incredibly harsh to call out Mignolet when the defence in front of him had turned into an utter free-for-all after we conceded the first.

 

On the goals themselves, Jovetic just pumped it at Mignolet and 9 times out of 10 that shot hits Mignolet and stays out of the net.

 

For the second, he scuffed it. I'm not having this 'well placed shot' theory, he struck the ball into the ground, that's never been a skill, it's a mis-hit and he's lucky it (a) went where he wanted it to go, and (b) rose up off the ground enough to avoid Johnson (who should have gone with his fucking head).

 

The third was insane. Yeah, Mignolet didn't cover himself in glory, but with that backline and us chasing the game it was only a matter of time before Aguero would just scamper in behind it like that. I expected to wait longer than 20 seconds mind, but herein lies the reason we lost the match, we just asked for it.

 

I'm not giving up on Lovren, he tries to make things happen by pushing the defence up and beating the attackers to the ball. I'd rather fail gloriously than endure the death by papercuts that Skrtel would subject us to by defending the edge of our box. I still think we miss a central defender with recovery pace, perhaps Sakho can do it, I just don't get the anti-Sakho angle, why???

 

That defence needs to settle the fuck down. The best 4 or 5 defenders need to start games and get to know each other properly, trust each other, know the drills, know the capability of the man next to them.

 

Johnson is a nightmare, and so is Skrtel. No top defence can operate with either of these clowns involved, we need to get Napoli on the line and offer them back to Rafa for pittance.

 

Skrtel, in a shit team, would be a brilliant defender. A team that defends their box all game, he'll do that, he'll make the headers, he'll cover 3 yards quickly, he'll knock the fuck out of the ball and do some pointing and he'll get given Man of the Match awards for it. But WE don't play that industrial football, we're progressive, our defenders need to be clever, they need to be brave and they need to want to WIN the game, and not just avoid defeat.

 

Johnson just hasn't got the legs or hasn't got the application, and I don't care which it is, he needs to fuck off to a level that suits him better. Moreno was brilliant going forward on the left, whereas Johnson just left his teammates out to dry. No overlap, no attacking the space, his first thought is always to retreat and play safe, and that's a killer in our team.

 

The Sky stats showed that the left back space was where City attacked the most for a period of 20 minutes in the second half (45 to 75 mins). However, the first goal was a mistake, fine, but the second goal was more the fault of Johnson and Skrtel who weren't paying attention to Jovetic who had enough time on that right side of the area to build a Jenga tower when the ball came to him. Sure, the attack came down the left, but the killer blow came from the right.

 

The third, for me, (as I've already said), is Lovren trying to move the defence out (rightly, as we're 2-0 down) and then getting caught in the eye of the storm as he realises that Skrtel and Johnson haven't moved up the pitch with him. No excuses, they shafted him. Lovren could and would have stepped up and easily caught Aguero off, but for his scaredy-cat wanker teammates who seem to think that a 2-0 loss is something to 'hold onto'. No, you fucking bellends, we need to score two goals, you push up.

 

 

As much as I admire Carra and his work on Sky, and that of Neville's, they can be very fucking pompous backseat drivers when it comes to picking holes in things. Lest Carra forgets, he would have defended the six yard box all day if he could have, but it's just not good enough in a top level side these days, you've got to take risks. Our sin was that this defence isn't quite ready to take risks, not with this personnel having this little time to gel.