Colonol

Here is what I took from the game. Kenny played the correct team and formation. I was pleased when i saw the line up before the game. Our so called second string team is far stronger than in previous years. Chelsea's is shite and they could be in real trouble of missing out on top 4 as their first team isn't gelling well either. I thought nearly all the players were excellent. However, in the defence I thought Carra was a bit wasteful with his distributions (long balls to no-one). I thought Coates could have easily conceded that penalty and he needs to be careful with that. He was excellent apart from that. I thought Enrique and Kelly were great yet again. In midfield I thought everyone played well. Gutted Lucas got injured. I thought Henderson put in one hell of a shift. He seemed like he covered more ground than any other player. Spearing was great tonight. Bellamy was my man of the match, was dangerous with his pace, set up two and should have taken the penalty. Maxi again shows why he needs to be starting more. He is not blessed with loads of pace but he is on the same wavelength as our other top quality attacking players. Carroll looked to have put in more of a shift tonight. I knew he would miss the penalty and can't understand why he was taking it. His touches were better and he linked up better with the team. I still question his attitude. Reina says he is the worst trainer in the squad and for me our most expensive player, that is currently out of favour should have a much better attitude and be putting in more effort than any other. He needs to look at Spearing's attitude and take a leaf out of his book. My side points are: Lukaku is one hell of a beast for 18 and looks a lot older. Is he really 18 and not one those lost passport lads ie Obefemi Martins et al. Mini shit coat has a real problem on his hands with that squad. He however doesn't have as big a problem as Kenny with his coat. His coat can be worn on the streets, it's just not needed on the sidelines. Kenny's only real problem is to find a better coat. Torres really must be thinking he made a big fuck up leaving us now. I love it.

Some good saves from Hart but you would expect them. I thought Reina made some very important blocks to keep the score level also. Great match to watch. I thought the 3 man central midfield worked. I thought Lucas had a great game (i'm not his biggest fan but in a 3 man CM they all played well. Can't believe people can slate Henderson, all three CM's covered the ground all match. The only weak link today was Kuyt. Maxi should have played on merit today and in place of him or Downing (although i thought Downing was ok today). Plenty to take from the match (confidence wise) but the problem is not the big teams, it is clearly getting the supposed guaranteed 3 points from the lesser teams.

As much as people want Carroll to work out he will never justify his price tag IMO. So what that we had sold Torres for a huge amount. We broke our transfer record by more than 10m on someone that is no more than 15m (20m including the British Tax). Pure madness and the owners can't be happy with this. I am sure Kenny and Commoli know that the fee was just too excessive in hindsight (even in those circumstances) and we should have waited till the summer. Absolutely shocking piece of business and the way things are going he will go down as one of our worst signings ever solely because of his price tag. He really needs to be scoring 20+ in the prem to come close to justifying 35m. The mistake however has been made, it is now important to see how Kenny reacts to it going forward. I feel sorry for Carroll. The pressure must be immense. I wish he was up for the challenge but I don't think he has any top quality attributes to ever be successful here and add that to the fact that we play better without him in the side means he can't even get into the team as much as he needs. If we had bought him for 10-15m I think we would have seen a player showing his worth to our club. I believe Kenny is man enough to admit he is wrong when he believes he is so and will have no problem replacing him, if or when the time comes. I would hate to see him sticking with him just because of the fee we paid. Time will tell. I wrote the guy off before he even arrived here but I am not the manager. Let's just hope he starts hitting form, playing well and scoring goals.

I heard our medical is simply coughing a few times while the doc listens to your chest and making sure your balls have dropped.

What about Podolski? I'd say he wouldn't cost too much and would possibly be willing to come to Liverpool.

I understand what racism is and I don't judge people because they are different to me in appearance including skin colour. People do have perceptions of people due to their skin colour though and some may even be accurate. Is doing that right or wrong? It is up for debate. I don't really care if someone is Black, Asian or Caucasian etc, but we are different in appearance. Inside we are no different. Those that see this as a problem have racism on their mind and conjure up the negative side to innocent comments. Things are said in the heat of the moment and are not necessarily intended to be racist. I see other words being racist and saying them to someone is wrong. People have their opinions on women and there are several derogatory comment made on this forum about them. This is sexist but it is not seen as controversial on here. However if we are merely describing a person as a female, i see it the same as describing someone as Black, French, Asian, Irish etc. I rather focus on real racism and not merely describing someone as black or negrito. The "cunt" part is the derogatory term. Calling someone Black or Asian to me is not racist and it all depends in what context I was using it and even still it is debatable. People are getting too sensitive and are having to be careful with everything they say in case they offend someone. There is racism in football when it comes to certain fans and that is clear racism as you are saying or gesturing at someone in a derogatory way to belittle them. Calling someone Black or Asian is merely describing them in my mind.

I still don't see what all the fuss is about re Suarez and Terry. I think crying racism is just going too far. The facts are that Ferdinand and Evra are black. Evra is also French. If he was called a French cunt would he be offended? If he was a white French man and he was called a French cunt would he be offended? I don't thin he would. This whole ethnic origin bullshit. People are originally from somewhere and as such they are different in certain ways to others from other areas. Calling someone a nigger is bad but calling someone a negrito or black is not. It is merely describing them like calling them French, Irish, cunt, short-arse, fat, ginger etc, etc. How many times have people had to fill a form that asks you to fill out nationality and race etc. Jaysus soon forms will just say name and all things like weight, height, gender will be done away with. We won't be able to describe ourselves in any way as we are classifying someone.

People can't keep going on about how much we spent and that it is not near enough to what is needed to get 4th. We have bought poorly. We struggle to beat the lesser teams, we are dropping points at home against these teams. That is down to the set up and attitude of the players. If we were winning the games we should win and merely losing to the teams that were spending more than us then i would agree that money is the issue. Swansea didn't come and park the bus like the other lesser team have been known to do either. They came and played football and we failed to outplay them and win the game.

I thought i would start a post to see peoples take on the mental side of the game. I'd say most would agree that it is very important but I wonder just how many premiership footballers would employ their own mental training coach to improve the psychological part of their game. It is a very important factor considered in individual competing sports athletes. Many have written about how it has improved them and made them winners in the respective fields. Footballers have far more time on their hands than other sports players so personally I think those that need it should constantly try and better that part of their game. It is clear some of Liverpool's players are in need of it and they have no problems paying for it. Does anyone know of any that do?

LOL, Oh are the poor premiership overpaid players not getting the support they deserve. Support is earned. They need to go out there and give everything and then the support will follow. If they are so vulnerable then they can spend their millions on mental training coaches like other sporting people do. We have spent a lot of money and the owners expect 4th and so i am sure does Kenny. You can keep lowering the expectation as the season goes but our best players won't be here if we are not in CL. Reina and Suarez will be gone and Gerrard is too old to fulfill his dream. I don't blame them either. If you want to settle for mediocrity then why support Liverpool. We have overcome the bad truly bad times but don't let that cloud your judgement of where we should be right now and where Kenny and FSG will expect us to be.

We are creating chances but we are not finishing them. At the same time we look vulnerable to conceding as teams walk through our CM too easily. Therefore why are we playing 4-4-2. Lucas and Adam can't be the CM pairing, there needs to be another or one needs to be dropped. Adam is not good enough for Liverpool and nor is Lucas but seen as we have just bought Adam he will get a fair chance from Kenny especially as all his signings bar Enrique have been shit. Lucas is not good enough though so he should be dropped or play him in a CM 3. Just because he is not the worst does not mean he warrants a place. The only players that warrant a place are Reina, Kelly, Agger, Enrique, Gerrard, Bellamy and Suarez. The rest should be Maxi, Skrtel/Coates. I can't even pick the rest.

Do you honestly believe what you posted or are you on a wind up? We have spent all this money to finish one place higher, a place we narrowly missed out on last season? the place that loads of fans didn't even want because it was a hindrance? You say FSG have refused to commit re stadium future, why even mention this, are you suggesting they are short term? yet then you say they are investing for the future (long term) with Carroll, DOWNING and Henderson. LOL We needed players for the team NOW not for the future. Do you think Reina and Suarez will stick around? Do you think Gerrard will last forever? I don't know what more I can say to anyone that actually thinks this club was bought to finish 5th. Mata et al are CL players but you don't have to buy them to get into CL, they come when you are in it and players like Suarez leave if you aren't getting in it. We have bought poorly and that is down to Kenny and Damien

The money spent was enough to get a CL place not a EL place. If you think for one second that Kenny will feel he achieved his objectives and is satisfied with a EL place then you are deluded. Sure some fans last season were arguing against EL this season as we needed to focus.There are too many deluded twats on this site. Unfortunately I may be one of them sometimes but certainly not now. If Kenny doesn't get 4th then he has failed and I expect him to be the man he is and walk.

I believe we have drawn 4 from 6 at home. That is embarrassing. Over the last few years teams can honestly believe that they can get points when they come to Anfield.

Swansea are not a decent side away from home, they are as close to a guaranteed 3 points as you can get in the premiership when you are playing at home. If you have any aspirations you need to take all 3. Why do people always try and stick up for the team. The team and set up get paid enough to deliver, if they don't they have failed. Liverpool as a whole failed tonight. It is no good turning up for the top teams and failing to beat the shit teams. We'd finish far higher in the league if we took all 3 points from the supposed lesser teams.

I'm sorry Robbie but if you can't see it you just don't have what it takes to be a top pundit/fan like the rest of us. You should go and support Newcastle and believe you are going to win the premiership this season.:yes:

This pathetic bickering from children about negs and blah, blah, blah is getting me out of my bad mood about the match. Thank you to the contributors to this. I do hope you are all under 12 years old though for your own sake and will be in bed by 9pm.

The crux of the matter is we were shit today. We were set up wrong and that is down to Kenny. I love the man but I am worried that his 4-4-2 philosophy is just too archaic. He is a wonderful manger in so much that he does but if he is going to stick with a poor set up and even worse, poor players in that set up then he deserves the same sort of criticism on this forum that Hodgson got. People tore Roy apart for playing the same shite system. Hodgson believes in the system but never had the money to buy the players to play it so he can be excused to a certain extent for being the sort of manager that is everywhere in the game , Kenny believes in the system and had the money to buy players but has IMO failed at this. There is no excuse with having funds and failing to buy to play your system. I think we have the players to play a different system but sticking with 4-4-2 we are carrying too many players. The objective surely was to get back into 4th. This involved buying better players that are ready now to improve the team. Only then can you look to other parts of the club like long term future. If Henderson is the future then he should not have been bought now. If he is for now then he should be played in CM. All our signings have been poor bar Enrique and any other manger would get slated for this by everyone, but the past is blinding people. I call things when i see they are wrong, regardless of who the person is. I am not calling for Kenny's head, i just want to see a change as it clear that his formula is not working. Set the team up differently and we could see better results, i really hope he does this. Football is made complicated by stupid people. When we look at the people that manage teams we are hardly looking at the most intelligent people of the world. They are mostly past players. There are few other places where someone is expected to perform the job of another. It is like a lawyer being asked to be a doctor. Why is it so hard to buy players for the roles you need. If you play a system then you buy for your system. Where is our right winger for a 4-4-2? If you play 4-4-2 shouldn't you have at least one pacy winger? Personally in football I think a team needs to be built around one system but also adaptable. I think the 4-4-2 is the past, i think we are better set up for 4-3-3 and it needs to be played. When i think of our best 5 players we have in attack, ie the players i think can change a game (whether it be scoring goals or creating goals/space) i think of the following: Suarez, Gerrard, Bellamy, Maxi and Kuyt. If they are not injured then at least 3 maybe 4 of them should start every game. Tonight we started with one and he had an off game. This needs to be addressed. Those that feel the need to slate one another and have internet fights are pathetic. Everyone is pissed off and are merely venting. It is a forum after all. We are not 5 year olds in the school yard, we are merely liverpool fans that get far too frustrated when our beloved team fails to deliver.

People need to cop the fuck on. Kenny is no the Messiah, he is merely a King and all Kings have their day. I am not saying this is his end but I am not going to blindly follow him endlessly like a cult religion. He is answerable in all he does and needs to be questioned if it is not working. Right now he has spent a lot and it is not working. He needs to change things and i hope he does. If he continues with this system and these players he will not. He will merely believe that he is right no matter what and we will suffer as a result. I have seen this to many times with Liverpool managers, i hope the king knows how to adapt and admit in his failings. Time will tell

I personally am not judging with a final opinion i am merely questioning what he is doing and whether he will improve it. I think questioning it has to be done and just waiting and seeing is not for me. It is clear to all he has made mistakes but what is important is whether he will identify them and thus improve our team. It is not hard to identify problems with a set up and formation. It needs to be addressed. Kenny has all the harder abilities a great manger needs so i am hoping he is also modest enough to admit that he needs to rethink other parts and get the best 11 players playing in their right positions with the right system, otherwise we will fail to get 4th playing 4-4-2 with an unbalanced side.

The crux of the matter is we were shit today. We were set up wrong and that is down to Kenny. I love the man but I am worried that his 4-4-2 philosophy is just too archaic. He is a wonderful manger in so much that he does but if he is going to stick with a poor set up and even worse, poor players in that set up then he deserves the same sort of criticism on this forum that Hodgson got. People tore Roy apart for playing the same shite system. Hodgson believes in the system but never had the money to buy the players to play it so he can be excused to a certain extent for being the sort of manager that is everywhere in the game , Kenny believes in the system and had the money to buy players but has IMO failed at this. There is no excuse with having funds and failing to buy to play your system. I think we have the players to play a different system but sticking with 4-4-2 we are carrying too many players. The objective surely was to get back into 4th. This involved buying better players that are ready now to improve the team. Only then can you look to other parts of the club like long term future. If Henderson is the future then he should not have been bought now. If he is for now then he should be played in CM. All our signings have been poor bar Enrique and any other manger would get slated for this by everyone, but the past is blinding people. I call things when i see they are wrong, regardless of who the person is. I am not calling for Kenny's head, i just want to see a change as it clear that his formula is not working. Set the team up differently and we could see better results, i really hope he does this. Football is made complicated by stupid people. When we look at the people that manage teams we are hardly looking at the most intelligent people of the world. They are mostly past players. There are few other places where someone is expected to perform the job of another. It is like a lawyer being asked to be a doctor. Why is it so hard to buy players for the roles you need. If you play a system then you buy for your system. Where is our right winger for a 4-4-2? If you play 4-4-2 shouldn't you have at least one pacy winger? Personally in football I think a team needs to be built around one system but also adaptable. I think the 4-4-2 is the past, i think we are better set up for 4-3-3 and it needs to be played. When i think of our best 5 players we have in attack, ie the players i think can change a game (whether it be scoring goals or creating goals/space) i think of the following: Suarez, Gerrard, Bellamy, Maxi and Kuyt. If they are not injured then at least 3 maybe 4 of them should start every game. Tonight we started with one and he had an off game. This needs to be addressed.

The crux of the matter is we were shit today. We were set up wrong and that is down to Kenny. I love the man but I am worried that his 4-4-2 philosophy is just too archaic. He is a wonderful manger in so much that he does but if he is going to stick with a poor set up and even worse, poor players in that set up then he deserves the same sort of criticism on this forum that Hodgson got. People tore Roy apart for playing the same shite system. Hodgson believes in the system but never had the money to buy the players to play it so he can be excused to a certain extent for being the sort of manager that is everywhere in the game , Kenny believes in the system and had the money to buy players but has IMO failed at this. There is no excuse with having funds and failing to buy to play your system. I think we have the players to play a different system but sticking with 4-4-2 we are carrying too many players. The objective surely was to get back into 4th. This involved buying better players that are ready now to improve the team. Only then can you look to other parts of the club like long term future. If Henderson is the future then he should not have been bought now. If he is for now then he should be played in CM. All our signings have been poor bar Enrique and any other manger would get slated for this by everyone, but the past is blinding people. I call things when i see they are wrong, regardless of who the person is. I am not calling for Kenny's head, i just want to see a change as it clear that his formula is not working. Set the team up differently and we could see better results, i really hope he does this. Football is made complicated by stupid people. When we look at the people that manage teams we are hardly looking at the most intelligent people of the world. They are mostly past players. There are few other places where someone is expected to perform the job of another. It is like a lawyer being asked to be a doctor. Why is it so hard to buy players for the roles you need. If you play a system then you buy for your system. Where is our right winger for a 4-4-2? If you play 4-4-2 shouldn't you have at least one pacy winger? Personally in football I think a team needs to be built around one system but also adaptable. I think the 4-4-2 is the past, i think we are better set up for 4-3-3 and it needs to be played. When i think of our best 5 players we have in attack, ie the players i think can change a game (whether it be scoring goals or creating goals/space) i think of the following: Suarez, Gerrard, Bellamy, Maxi and Kuyt. If they are not injured then at least 3 maybe 4 of them should start every game. Tonight we started with one and he had an off game. This needs to be addressed.

Being outplayed by Swansea. People were thinking we were going to stuff them. Kenny and the players have let the club down here. I blame the set up/formation and the players that are picked but even still the players on the field should do enough to win it.

It does Henderson's development no favours playing him out on the right. It is detrimental to his future as it's clear for all to see he can't be effective out there. Putting him out on the left is just taking the piss. We don't need Lucas (playing poorly anyway) for this match. Switch Henderson in the middle in his place and bring on Maxi (if he is on the bench) or Bellamy. I love Kenny to bits but sometimes you just have to wonder why managers see things they way they do. All managers continually play players out of position and they fail to perform. It's not brain surgery. Play to our strengths and we win, simples.

match is on YES on Sopcast