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Do you think maybe this is more of a paper story than an actual issue? Firstly he immediately took to Twitter to deny rejecting any contract offer (which was deleted) which kind of shows that he's not looking to leave. Brendan appears to be the kind of manager young players in particular really want to play for, and Sterling is at a top club who are giving him a chance, which wouldn't really happen elsewhere. Plus, there are so many ways you can write a contract - what would be the harm of signing a 4 year deal where you earn 30k, and then it goes up to say 60k the more appearances you make, which reduces the risk of a young player thinking he's 'made it' and losing the hunger. I think he'll sign. If he doesn't then serious questions must be asked of the business side of the club. And no statement Rodgers has or will make in a press conference will have any impact on whether he signs or not.

Deserved!

Some of the best football I've seen us play in a long time so far. How are we not ahead? Need the goal... I still can't work the formation out today?

Stream as well if anyone has a decent one?

Looking forward to these Young Boys coming to our home, really hope we smash their back doors in.

It's almost like people just want to criticise and moan.

Deserved goal for Jose

Henderson doing well here since coming on.

Enrique what an assist.

You fucking beauty! Great finish.

Think it looks ok. Enrique has most of the space and understandably isn't making the most of it, so I'd put Raheem on the left. Thing is who goes on the right? If you put Henderson there then that means Gerrard has to drop further back.

Wigan have come to play for a draw or nick a goal and defend it. We need that goal, looking ok so far.

Anyone got a decent non sopcast stream?

Assaidi apparently injured. Downing clearly on way out, therefore makes sense Enrique is playing on the left. Having him there will give Johnson license to attack, is what I'm hoping. If Suso is in the middle then I like the potential of this alot.

*Not all ethnic minorities

Elephant in the room? Gerrard played AM in the first 2 games, he was awful in both, and was only switched when Lucas got injured. So no, that isn't the elephant in the room. Although I agree that's where Gerrard should be played, exactly where Kenny and Hodgson didn't play him.

No-one is seriously suggesting that we're not going to finish in the top half of the table? It's early in the season, we've had a tough opening set of fixtures. The squad last season wasn't good enough to finish higher than 8th, so actually he has been left a bit of a mess, which is going to take time to clear up and rebuild with players of the right quality.

I don't understand all of the negativity around our players leaving next summer. Suarez, Agger and Skrtel are the names mentioned, and they all signed long term deals recently. They know where the club is going, and where it's at at the moment. And even if they did decide to leave, we would get decent fees for them. No player at any club is irreplaceable. Of the youngsters, we're really talking about Sterling, and maybe Suso who other clubs would potentially want at the moment. If you look at the squad, it's up until the final 3rd as good as most. Where we're lacking is obviously a couple of attacking players, and cover for Lucas position. Everyone needs to chill I reckon, we'll finish where we deserve, somewhere between 5-8th. No that isn't where we should be, but it's where we're at at the moment, and Rodgers needs time to get the players we need. Looking at the quality of Arsenal, Spurs etc (not that much better than us) if we were within 9 points of 4th in January, I wouldn't rule us out of sneaking in if we added the right attacking options (I don't think we will).

This is a huge game in my opinion. Win and we're 4 points off of a top four place (2 behind Arsenal), lose and we're in the bottom half of the table 10 games in. I do look at the league though, and outside of Utd, City, Chelsea, is anyone that good? Spurs, Arsenal, Everton and Newcastle will all drop points this season. I think if we're in touch in January and add at least 2 attacking players we might be ok.

I absolutely love this passion. Hate the narrative of the article, but just love this. Steven Gerrard has kept controversy simmering from the 219th Merseyside derby by labelling Everton a long-ball team similar to Stoke City and claiming Liverpool were the only side that tried to play football at Goodison Park. Liverpool were incensed at being denied a legitimate stoppage-time winner in Sunday's 2-2 draw when Luis Suárez was incorrectly ruled offside as he converted a header from Sebastián Coates. David Moyes argued Suárez was lucky to have been on the pitch at that stage, having escaped with a yellow card for a dangerous challenge on Sylvain Distin. Gerrard was on his knees celebrating in front of Liverpool's supporters by the time Suárez's effort was disallowed by the referee, Andre Marriner, following a flag from his assistant Simon Bennett, and the Liverpool captain could not hide his frustration as he criticised the match officials and his Everton counterpart, Phil Neville, for a ridiculous dive. The England captain also reserved his anger for Moyes' tactics. "There was only one team who came into the derby trying to play football," said Gerrard. "Everton are effective because they have some big physical lads in the team and are very direct. They are effective. But the only team who tried to play football was us. "Everton are not better than us. I thought we stood up to a team that are very similar to Stoke. Every single time they got the ball to their goalkeeper it came in long. We had a young, small team and they were all men and stood together. We deserved the win." Gerrard's comments echo the post-match claims of the manager, Brendan Rodgers, who reverted to a 3‑5‑2 formation in the second half to combat Everton's aerial threat and to play on the counter-attack. Moyes' team dominated after conceding two early goals, though an injury to Kevin Mirallas reduced their threat and Liverpool almost capitalised in a nervous finale, and the match statistics do not support Gerrard's assessment. Everton enjoyed more possession than Liverpool (56.2% to 43.8%), made more passes (400 to 314), had greater passing accuracy (78.5% to 76.8%) and played proportionally fewer long passes (13.8% to 14.6%). There was, however, no argument over the legitimacy of Suárez's late effort. Gerrard added: "There is no offside and it's difficult for me to explain it. The only person who can explain it is the linesman. I asked him after the game if it was offside and he said: 'I think so.' That's not good enough. If every decision in this league is based on 'we think so', then we're in trouble. The linesman got it badly wrong. The benefit of the doubt is supposed to go to the attacking player anyway. And for their second goal it's a clear throw-in to us. The linesman gives us the throw but the referee saw something different. I feel sorry for our lads because I thought we were fantastic and deserved to win." The Liverpool captain claimed Neville had "badly let his manager down" by diving after Moyes had condemned Suárez for theatrics in the pre-match build-up. He said: "With what he said about Luis Suárez before, David Moyes was trying to get in the referee's head, which is fine, that's all part of the game, stuff like that, but you don't expect your captain to dive like that." Gerrard did reserve praise for Raheem Sterling, Liverpool's 17-year-old winger, who overcame a difficult start to impress on his Merseyside derby debut. The Liverpool captain added: "Sterling has been a revelation for us. To be 17 years of age away in a derby, in a cauldron of an atmosphere against a big, physical long-ball team, I thought he was outstanding. I don't think the Everton players would have known too much about Raheem Sterling before Sunday. But I think they are going to be seeing an awful lot of him in the future. He is going to be playing in many, many Merseyside derbies. He is going to have a major impact in them. "He is going to be one of the top players in the league, there's no doubt about it. The way he stands up for himself, wants the ball and doesn't hide. It's a credit to himself. He has some bottle. That's what you look for in young lads. You wonder whether they have the bottle to play away against tough teams in tough situations and he handled it superbly." Steven Gerrard describes Everton as big, physical long-ball merchants | Football | The Guardian

We're a team with the personnel and style of play to play 4-2-3-1/4-3-3. 4-4-2 is a dinosaur formation. Yes people say fergie sometimes still plays it, but even then he sets the team up with a slant of one of those variations. He learned that 4-4-2 had had its day when Real Madrid dicked them in the champions league about 13 years ago.

So far managed to clear out some deadwood, is giving young players an opportunity which they're showing they're capable of taking, will need to be given time to bring in the players he needs to complement this. I don't think we're far off from challenging top four, just a couple of additions in key areas. I think he's getting unfair criticism from being Liverpool, he didn't choose to do it, embraced it in a positive way and has come across quite well over all. I think there's managers out there who wouldn't come across so favourably. So I think he needs time, and he's shown enough to deserve it. Plus the players seem to like him and want to play for him, which is important.

This.

I've seen this, and it's actually a brilliant piece of work. His story is incredible. I don't think you can have too much respect for people who overcome really difficult circumstances in life to make a success of themselves, and respect him even more for the fact he would have been willing to sacrifice the chance of a career in football just to work and provide for his family.

Kenny's right, QPR were his first club, Rafa pulled off a massive coup to get him here as every other club wanted him. The strength of the academy he restructured helped develop him, playing and learning tactics in a 4-2-3-1, Kenny gave him a glimpse in the first team, and Rodgers has really taken it on and given him the opportunity, which regardless of the shitness of our squad is a brave thing to do. So yeah all deserve credit, and bit cheeky for Rodgers if he was trying to take all of it, however he has gone from prospect to first time player very quickly. Fuck it though, there are certain players who are just born to play football, and you can see it first time they play. Gerrard was one, Rooney was one, Owen the c*nt was one, and it's the same with Sterling. They could have been playing for the Dog and Duck till they were 16, they just have the ability.