Our Squad

Gerrard needs to play bench.

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:f*** valdes...we dont need him, I am going to see how Mignolet does till the end of the season and get someone like Begovic!!!

Begovic is inferior... lol

ExtremistEnigma wrote:Gerrard needs to play bench.

It's rumoured we've told Lucas he can leave and find another club. Unless we want Allen playing in the DLP role, Gerrard's going to get the nod more often than not.

Should be interesting to see how the team proceeds in the winter window. Can't see Lucas staying, and to not get another keeper would just be foolish. I wouldn't even mind getting another striker with the impotence up front and Sturridge's lack of fitness.

If I'm Rodgers my targets, who I believe are pretty realistic, would be:

Loris Karius
Alexandre Lacazette
One of Ignacio Camacho, Maxime Gonalons or Morgan Schneiderlin (highly unlikely)

Anyway, if people want to wait for Origi and not worry about Lacazette taking his spot someone like Okazaki or Olic would not be bad stopgaps.

No idea why we picked a) Lambert over Eto'o and b) Bony over Balotelli (if we were going to play them alone up top; Mario is superior player if used correctly).

Then again, no idea why we targeted most of the players we bought...

Current best 11 excluding injuries:


With injuries:

What's yours?

Johnson is still our best RB. And I think we've got better CAMs than Henderson. Also, I don't think Allen should make our best XI.

I'd just like to see the diamond back, at least for a couple of games. This 4-3-3 stuff, I don't think it's optimal for us when we cannot play on the counter. We don't use the wings much to create chances. Furthermore, our wingers seem to get too isolated. You play the ball to the wing, what are the winger's options? Our lone striker is seldom available for a pass and in midfield we have got passers, not ball-carriers. The winger can pass it back to the CM who won't be taking the ball forward. We end up struggling to get the ball up into the final third and create good plays in there. So, I would switch away from the 4-3-3, at least until Sturridge is back. His mobility and dribbling enables us to play the 4-3-3 better than with Balotelli or Lambert.



Sterling could also be tried at CAM.

Or if we want to stick with one striker, could try the Christmas tree, it's December and everything:


Sterling, Coutinho and Lallana competing for those two spots.

4312 is the way to go given the personnel at the club.

Red Alert wrote:4312 is the way to go given the personnel at the club.

The trouble there is that without Sturridge we don't really have two strikers to play that system. Especially since Borini is so clearly out of favour. I'd be tempted to try the Christmas tree, 4-3-2-1. It would bring our wide players closer to the middle where they seem to be more effective anyway and we wouldn't have to fill two positions of the eleven with two under-performing strikers.

Well that Christmas is an interesting thing, I doubt Rodgers would try something like that. I think BR is going to continue with that weird 4-2-3-1 we are playing right now. Coutinho and Gerrard exchanging the role. Also looking at the recent performances, I really hope that BR doesnt shift Gerrard back to his last season position.

Well as much as people on here appreciate Coutinho, he seems to have stagnated in this season, he looks cool when he plays a 50 yard pass to unlock the defense and find the runners but sometimes all that skill of his not coming to anything if he cant fine a teammate with simple pass or use his dribbling more effectively in tight spaces. He seems to badly suffering because he doesnt have runners in front of him. I dont want him to become a player who is dependent on others. I think he can contribute much more if he chooses his passes more sensibly. I hope it will come because he is still young.

My 11 will be


I am little confused between Coutinho and Lallana but I guess Coutinho seems to be more consistent than Lallana as of now. Lallana, when he disappears, he becomes completely non effective.

Well, up to this point in the season we've learned some things. It's still early, but;

- We need a new keeper. Mignolet is just not good. Easily the worst keeper of any side trying to challenge for Europe in the PL.
- Our defending has not been great. Lovren has been bad more than good, but needs more time as the talent is clearly there and he is young. Sakho has been injured and off form as well. Still time though for us to get it together back here.
- Gerrard isn't cut out for the DM role in this squad anymore, and he has looked fantastic at the CAM position in his limited appearances there. Lucas is regaining form, but the whole team has looked better with younger, better defensive players in the double pivot with Hendo (whether it be Allen or Lucas).
- Sterling and Henderson have been our two best players by far this season which is great given that they are our future (not really fair to Studge, but he's been injured).
- Rodgers will not drop Johnson who is rubbish 99% of the time, and Enrique can't get a start to save his life.
- Lallana and Lambert are not world beaters, but they have a part to play. They've both been useful and while I wouldn't start them consistently they deserve reps.

My starting XI right now would be:


Gerrard and Coutinho splitting time at CAM. Insert Moreno against smaller sides and Enrique against tougher ones. Put Sakho, Balotelli and Sturridge in when healthy. Can has impressed me more than any midfielder except Hendo this season so he deserves more time too.

I'm not sold at all on this "Gerrard back to CM or CAM" stuff. Maybe against weak opposition, but I think he'll get exposed and expose us as a team, too, against proper opposition.

Btw, the forgotten man, Coates, is starting for Sunderland against Man City tonight, his first PL appearance this season.

Arguably we played the 4-1-4-1 formation yesterday. It didnt matter too much as Leicester were trying to hoof the ball to Vardy and Ulloa who were constantly winning everything in the air.

We always had 4 guys infront of the half line.
The one or two times Mahrez was able to run at us, He bypassed everyone. Lucas was isolated in the first 45 mins but it wasn't that bad as they kept hoofing. We would get destroyed by Villa, Soton etc with that formation.

Gerrard at CAM only against hoofing sides. Lucas-Allen-Henderson is the way to go.

Nah..we specially need to play Gerrard in his preferred position against big sides but we neeed to keep resting him time and again so that he is fresh for a 10/10 performance. I think Gerrard did much more in that position than any other player in just one game

----------Mignolet-----------
Manquillo-Skrtel-Sakho-Enrique
-----------Lucas------------
-----Henderson--Lallana-----
----------Coutinho----------
-----Raheem---Sturridge-----

----------Mignolet-----------
Manquillo-Skrtel-Sakho-Enrique
-----------Lucas------------
-----Henderson--Lallana-----
Raheem---Sturridge---Coutinho

----------Mignolet-----------
Manquillo-Skrtel-Sakho-Enrique
-----Lucas----Henderson-----
Raheem----Lallana----Coutinho
----------Sturridge-----------

The fact that a striker like Giroud (no disrespect, but he isn't anything special) was the difference, really pisses me off.

iftikhar wrote:The fact that a striker like Giroud (no disrespect, but he isn't anything special) was the difference, really pisses me off.

Yeah, well, we didn't add enough goals in the summer. Neither Balotelli nor Lambert nor Markovic nor Lallana are goal machines. More like a goal every now and then. We've been paying the price. There are lot of strikers out there who "aren't anything special", like Giroud, but they just know how to finish and how to move and where to be to get the goals. I mean, Balotelli is a more skillful player, but it's often a mental thing, being a natural goalscorer, and we didn't really add any in the summer. Too many technicians...

If we sell Borini, I hope we unearth some real gem like Studge from somewhere, I being desperate for a miracle !!!

Selling Borini is going to be tough if he keeps blocking the move.

What I'd like to see when Sturridge is healthy:


I would even put Can over Lucas, but he just doesn't seem to be getting a look yet. I noticed yesterday that Skrtel just seems uncomfortable on the ball and loses it a bit when we're not in possession. He doesn't push up or play the ball the way that Sakho and Toure were doing and was a big part of both goals against (how do you lose a header to Debuchy when you are 9 feet tall? fml). Skrtel is a good defender on his day but I think he's better suited to a different style and not Liverpool anymore. Lovren has been disappointing but I think he can grow into his role especially with two leaders like Sakho and Toure beside him.

Lallana & Markovic as wing-backs would be such wastes and they would leave our back-line more susceptible. But I guess you are trying to combine all the creative, mobile players in one line-up.

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:If we sell Borini, I hope we unearth some real gem like Studge from somewhere, I being desperate for a miracle !!!

It seems so obvious yet feels like a pipe dream.

iftikhar wrote:Lallana & Markovic as wing-backs would be such wastes and they would leave our back-line more susceptible. But I guess you are trying to combine all the creative, mobile players in one line-up.

I don't think so. Markovic has played really well in that position so far, and especially against Arsenal they kept moving Sanchez to the left to get him open. Markovic is a hard worker with bags of pace and actually is pretty intelligent too. Lallana is the same -- not as fast, but a very hard worker and smart.

Either way Rodgers seems to be grooming these young guys and identifying their talents pretty well as the season goes on. I think we will see more and more tactical flexibility from Liverpool in the second half.

Markovic looks better defenisvely (and of course offensively) at LWB than Moreno has done all season at LB/LWB.

I don't think so. Markovic has played really well in that position so far

Now come on, he isn't a wing-back. It's ok that he is doing a contingency but we should really stop using players in odd places.

Markovic is actually great defensively, he was always tracking back and hard working for Benfica too, maybe LWB isn't such an odd place for him after all?


The team when Sturridge gets back:

-------------Jones----------------
--Toure----Skrtel----Sakho------
Hendo--Cou---Lucas---Markec/Moreno
-Raheem-Sturridge-Lallana-----

It's not a bad set-up. It's also easy to switch the triangle at the top to a 1-2 with any of Sterling, Coutinho or Lallana playing the 10 behind Balotelli and Sturridge together. I think ideally, if everyone is healthy:


Or maybe put Lucas at Hendo's midfield spot and Henderson in over Lallana on the right midfielder. Either way. Watch out.

^ Newcastle/Fulham are starting to brick it get innnnn