Liverpool v Bournemouth

Art Morte wrote:The first 20 minutes were bad, but after the goal we've been in total control. If only Cou had scored in the end there.

as soon as coutinho starts scoring chances like that the guy will go to world class level

Don't call me James wrote:Coutinho is clearly the best player on the pitch. What a beaut.

Clyne and Gomez playing great. IBe and Lallana are *bleep* killing me over here. Holding on to the ball so much. Just pass the *bleep* ball. The less said about Lovren the better. HE got raped in the first 25 minutes. Calmed down a bit later but honestly how does this guy start for us

Benteke Good game from him.

Can and Firmino on for Ibe and Lallana please.

ibe and lallana need to swap sides.

Everyone crying about Clyne and Benteke signings meanwhile they've both been great for us.

Anyway, Coutinho and Henderson most impressive players for us in the first half. Picking up where they left off last season.

I like Gomez but he will have harder games than the first 2. I just hope 1-2 bad games don't knock him back.

Win is a win gtfi

Arsenal will destroy the double pivot garbage with Hendo-Milner though. Must go with Can plus Hendo-Milner.

Kinda like the Stoke game. Not a convincing performance, but still a 1-0 win. Need to improve if we want to be happy about the result this time next week (Arsenal game).

Anyone else thought that Firmino was nowhere to be seen in his 20 minute appearance?

Good that Benteke got his first goal.

He was struggling to get back to cover Clyne as well, The only position that suits him is Coutinho's role and he isnt going to get that. He needs to turn it up asap.

Calm down fellas

He's had like 30 minutes of game time in this 2 matches. He needs to start. Ibe and Lallana were meh today and even agasint Stoke. So we need to get Firmino in the same wavelength as his teammates.

Don't call me James wrote:Calm down fellas

He's had like 30 minutes of game time in this 2 matches. He needs to start. Ibe and Lallana were meh today and even agasint Stoke. So we need to get Firmino in the same wavelength as his teammates.

what firmino needs is a easy game to get his confidence going

Man we needed a really good run today before the Arsenal match, were shoe ins to lose that game now. Nothing about us has looked good in the first two games. Cou's playing well, some of the new boys are showing why they were bought, but Lallana is looking useless again and Ibe isn't impressing much, hopefully this doesn't affect his development too much. Early days but so who knows how we'll fair next week.

I really think Cou needed 1-2 more seasons as a deputy before anyone built a team around him in order for him to develop into possibly the best player in the world, but we don't have that luxury, he would kill it at a tier 1 club.

The important thing is getting the players ready in real matches to play together. These are not the types of games we were winning last season and it's funny because in title winning years for United everyone points to games like these and are like "those are the type of games contenders win".

A win is a win, and it's not like Liverpool have looked particularly vulnerable either. They've been quite tidy at the back, and they're creating chances. Right now there's still a bit of disconnect up front but you can see the defence is starting to settle and get used to eachother.

Benteke already showing his worth. Even without his goal he has been causing the opposing teams a lot of problems and opening up space for other players.

We're shoe-ins to lose against Arsenal? Last time I checked they lost 2 - 0 to West Ham at home.

6 points, 2 wins and 0 goals against. Clyne, Lovren, Gomez, Milner, Henderson, Coutinho and Benteke all look good. The offence is taking a bit of time to mesh, but I have no doubt it's going to soon.

I would line-up like this against Arsenal:


Their midfield is soft af and Kos/Mert are a penalty waiting to happen with a guy like Firmino pressuring them and adding movement while Benteke is taking up space and pushing them around/winning aerial duels.

Let's open the season 3 - 0 lads.

I would also play the diamond against Arsenal, we're not looking slick in this 4-2-3-1. There's no dynamism in attack.

Two wins is the perfect start, but I just hope Rodgers isn't fooled by that, if our performances stay like this we're going to lose a lot of games eventually. Need to be proactive and improve now, not after losing a few.

This is the least I expect. May be Sakho over Lovren too   . And oh, Mignolet as keeper .

Curtinho wrote: They've been quite tidy at the back, and they're creating chances.

What are we creating?

First game: Literally created *bleep* all. Got lucky with a Cou wonderstrike.
This game: We scored an offside goal.......

We're 2-0 with 2 clean sheets but it's hardly roses and sunshine. We've played bad. And 4 years into Rodgers' tenure I still have no idea what he's trying to implement here.

We created more chances against Bournemouth (the Coutinho left foot chance and Benteke hitting the bar which both should have been scored) but still there is no cohesive play whatsoever. Some nice one-twos in attack but not playing with any sort of dynamism and flow you'd want.

It does hurt us that both Ibe and Lallana hold on to the ball for too long and provide very little end product. Ibe is only 19. He's good and is going to be a very very good player but he shouldn't be starting every week at 19 for us. He's already showing his age. Need Firmino to start already. And I would reconsider giving Markovic more minutes as well. He's being isolated by Rodgers similarly to Sakho. Lallana needs a break to reconsider his whole approach to games. He needs to be simple and direct, he has a lot of ability, but he tries to be *bleep* Ronaldinho everytime he's in possession.

I feel Sturridge coming back with injury problems behind him will give us an even further quality addition to the starting IX. Just a few more games.

Don't call me James wrote:
I feel Sturridge coming back with injury problems behind him

Good one. He'll be out by sometime in September.

Lack of creativity is there to see. Only more boring team to watch than us is probably Manchester United (by a distance).

Henderson-Can-Milner midfield lacks creativity as well. If any one is suggesting that. Need a true CM. How the hell we didnt go for Moutinho or Cabaye. Especially the later who went to Crystal freaking palace. Illaramendi if he is coming is a deep play maker that still doesnt solve the problem that we dont have a natural center midfielder who can carry the ball and dictate the play.

the only solution with current squad is to play diamond so that Coutinho plays there at the tip of the diamond or play Coutinho in a 3 man midfield. I would try for the first one,

If Henderson's injury keeps him out next week I wouldn't mind seeing this:


For our midfield/attack. Still, a Henderson-Can-Milner midfield is strong especially if we have Coutinho on the tip to get the ball to and act as a creative outlet.

Also we had plenty of chances to score against Bournemouth (Ibe, Coutinho, Lallana, Benteke, Henderson and Milner all had close chances that weren't converted). The Stoke game you could see the whole team was reserved probably due to the result of the same fixture last season. The season just started and it will take a bit, especially with a slightly different approach due to Benteke, to get our offence really going.

I would think that the defence playing as well as it has would give people something to be encouraged about since all I've heard for the last two years is *****ing about how Rodgers doesn't know how to organize a defence, but meh.

Red Alert wrote:

Curtinho wrote: They've been quite tidy at the back, and they're creating chances.

What are we creating?

First game: Literally created *bleep* all. Got lucky with a Cou wonderstrike.
This game: We scored an offside goal.......

We're 2-0 with 2 clean sheets but it's hardly roses and sunshine. We've played bad. And 4 years into Rodgers' tenure I still have no idea what he's trying to implement here.

Great assesment.

First game we had nothing in attack, second game we had a few chances against a promoted side.

arsenal will test our defense hard, and if we can barley score against fodlers, how will we do it against arsenal, who usually step up against us. Yes it's great to win these games, but it's the big games that will get us the top 4, our biggest top 4 contender is doing exactly the same thing as us now.

Arsenal have definitely been a team to be scared about tbf. I mean they scored 0 at home against West Ham, and scored 1 away against Palace and needed an own goal to squeak out a win. Meanwhile they've allowed 3 goals to our 0. If one of these two teams meeting on the 24th has been underwhelming I'd say it is probably Liverpool.

Helmer wrote:the only solution with current squad is to play diamond so that Coutinho plays there at the tip of the diamond or play Coutinho in a 3 man midfield. I would try for the first one,

I have been saying this since we bought Milner.

cujo wrote:If Henderson's injury keeps him out next week I wouldn't mind seeing this:

Lucas
Milner - Emre
Coutinho
Firmino - Benteke

Agreed

Make the Arsenal thread asap.

Also lay off Ibe, Did you see the amount of help Clyne was giving Lallana by bombing down the right at every instant?

Ibe has absolutely no help whatsoever from Gomez(which is expected), He was doubled up on every single occasion.

Please don't deceive yourselves, Rodgers will start Milner-Henderson pivot against Arsenal now matter how shit it was because we won the last match. He didn't even change the bench from the Stoke game ffs.

Curtinho wrote:Arsenal have definitely been a team to be scared about tbf. I mean they scored 0 at home against West Ham, and scored 1 away against Palace and needed an own goal to squeak out a win. Meanwhile they've allowed 3 goals to our 0. If one of these two teams meeting on the 24th has been underwhelming I'd say it is probably Liverpool.

As opposed to our 1 wonder goal and another offside goal, yeah lol.

Curtinho wrote:Arsenal have definitely been a team to be scared about tbf. I mean they scored 0 at home against West Ham, and scored 1 away against Palace and needed an own goal to squeak out a win. Meanwhile they've allowed 3 goals to our 0. If one of these two teams meeting on the 24th has been underwhelming I'd say it is probably Liverpool.

We've only beat Arsenal ONCE from the last 8 matches we've played them. Conversely they've beaten us 5 times. They certainly hold the upper hand and are a team we should fear.