Liverpool Thread

here is the free kick, would have gone in imo...damn you Szczesny..

4A3irLsXQ5.gif
 
Think liverpool should be going for the league now, all the other top 3 teams will be distracted by the champions league and will be more tired by the end of the season, liverpool only have 15 games left and should be fresh come may
 
well let´s not get carried away..i would not say we are after the league, still a lot games to play...but if our players stay healthy + if other teams will be loosing points, i can see us getting only higher hopefully..

the games we are playing are not that though.. + as i said, Chelsea, Tottenham and City still need to visit Anfield...

Liverpool matches untill end of the season:

Fulham (A)
Swansea (H)
Southampton (A)
Sunderland (H)
Man United (A)
Cardiff (A)
Spurs (H)
West Ham (A)
Man City (H)
Norwich (A)
Chelsea (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Newcastle (H)
 
PIPA23 said:
well let´s not get carried away..i would not say we are after the league, still a lot games to play...but if our players stay healthy + if other teams will be loosing points, i can see us getting only higher hopefully..

the games we are playing are not that though.. + as i said, Chelsea, Tottenham and City still need to visit Anfield...

Liverpool matches untill end of the season:

Fulham (A)
Swansea (H)
Southampton (A)
Sunderland (H)
Man United (A)
Cardiff (A)
Spurs (H)
West Ham (A)
Man City (H)
Norwich (A)
Chelsea (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Newcastle (H)
Click to expand...

If they could get 30 points from those remaining games champions league will be assured
 
PIPA23 said:
well let´s not get carried away..i would not say we are after the league, still a lot games to play...but if our players stay healthy + if other teams will be loosing points, i can see us getting only higher hopefully..

the games we are playing are not that though.. + as i said, Chelsea, Tottenham and City still need to visit Anfield...

Liverpool matches untill end of the season:

Fulham (A)
Swansea (H)
Southampton (A)
Sunderland (H)
Man United (A)
Cardiff (A)
Spurs (H)
West Ham (A)
Man City (H)
Norwich (A)
Chelsea (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Newcastle (H)
Click to expand...

Apart from United and Southampton away, that's not a bad fixture at all.
 
as United look right now, i have no fear going there...

edit, but maybe they have a new manager at that time...
 
Crystal Palace could potentially be tricky too. The bottom is really close and I think it will still be like that at that stage of the league. Playing a Pulis team away from home is never fun, we were lucky we played them under Holloway.
 
I don`t get the fixture taboo , everyone plays each other twice. Anyone can have a bad day and drop points. I though ManCity were inhuman as a squad :SHOCK: .Chelsea calls them #easiest6points
 
How Brendan Rodgers has turned Liverpool’s league fortunes around
Tony Barrett
February 10 2014 11:02AM

Depending on your point of view, Liverpool may or may not be title contenders. What isn’t in doubt though is that they are one of the Barclays Premier League’s most improved teams as evidenced by them being 14 points better off this season than they were at the same stage of the previous one. Another eye-catching statistic is that they have scored more goals at this stage of the season than they have in any other in their illustrious history.

Here, Tony Barrett examines the methods that have allowed Brendan Rodgers to turn Liverpool into a team that could yet challenge for the Barclays Premier League title even if the manager himself continues to play down their chances.

Relaxing his commitment to ‘death by football’

That may seem strange after Liverpool’s recent demolition jobs on Arsenal and Everton, but when Rodgers talked of inflicting “death by football” his vision was for it to be caused by “relentless possession.” Everton and Arsenal were both on the receiving end of heavy defeats but they also had more of the ball. They were not passed into submission, they were brutally ripped apart by counter attacking football built on the pace, movement and ruthlessness of Luis Suarez, Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge, an attacking trident that Rodgers believes is at least the equal of any other in the Premier League.

Three of the nine goals Liverpool have scored in their last two home fixtures have come from the ball being won and released early. Defence is being turned into attack in the blink of an eye; there is no passing for the sake of it. Rodgers has recognised the strengths of the players and has developed a strategy to make them as effective as they possibly can be. His development as a manager is mirrored by the progress that has been made by his team. Liverpool can play possession football but they are better suited to allowing opponents to have the ball, pressing them remorselessly and then blitzing them.

The change in emphasis from “death by football” to conquest by counter was reflected in the aftermath of the Merseyside derby when Rodgers evoked memories of a vintage piece of John Motson commentary about Liverpool being “at their most dangerous when they don’t have the ball.”

Rodgers said: “I remember watching Bayern Munich against Barcelona last year and it was 9-0 on aggregate over the two legs. Barcelona dominated possession as you’d expect but everyone could see over the course of the two games the team with the most dangerous possession was Bayern.

“When you look at the stats of the modern game I’m big on controlling domination of the ball, but against Everton we were able to dominate without the ball. Tactically, where we are compared to when I arrived 18months ago, it is very, very pleasing.”

Acknowledging and learning from his own mistakes

Increasingly, one of Rodgers’ greatest strengths is the ability to hold his hands up and admit that he has got it wrong. “I was too aggressive in my tactics,” he admitted after an over-ambitious approach against Aston Villa led to one of Liverpool’s poorest performances of the season and a home draw that cost them two points. Taking responsibility has improved his already solid standing within the dressing room with Liverpool’s players appreciative of their managers’ willingness to take the pressure off them and his refusal to try and shift the blame.

It isn’t just about dressing room mechanics, though. Even more significant is Rodgers’ growing knack of finding solutions to problems he has caused. The formation that let him down against Villa allowed Liverpool to be over-run in midfield with Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson out-numbered and out-manoeuvred. There were no shortage of critics who warned that their partnership would not work, that there was no balance or blend and that there was too much emphasis on attack and not enough on defence.

So what did Rodgers do? He added another attacker to the mix in the form of Philippe Coutinho. It was defiant and it was also a risk. Had the lightweight Brazilian got lost in the midfield maelstrom, as many had expected, and the team’s form suffered as a result the Liverpool manager would have been lambasted. The opposite has happened, though, with Coutinho’s transformation from brilliant but inconsistent wide attacker to becoming the creative heartbeat of Liverpool’s midfield is one of the great tactical innovations of this season.

The wondrous through balls that created goals for Sturridge against Arsenal and Everton have been the most eye-catching evidence of Coutinho’s metamorphosis but equally crucial to the way Rodgers sets his team up has been the 21-year-old’s ceaseless pressing of opponents. The ball player is now also a ball winner, often high up the pitch, and that alone has allowed Rodgers to restore equilibrium to his midfield but it wouldn’t have been possible without his own willingness to admit mistakes and determination to correct them.

Turning into Tony Pulis

This is in no way a criticism. It is anything but. For decades, Liverpool have ranged from being at worst useless and at best functional when it comes to making the most of set pieces. In their 1980s heyday they made so little use of them that it became a standing joke that even led to a fanzine being named Another Wasted Corner. Under Rodgers, those days have become a thing of the past and Liverpool are now the most ruthless set piece team in the Premier League.

So far this season, they have scored 23 goals from corners and free kicks (although it should be stressed that Luis Suarez’s shooting ability from dead ball situations has contributed to this remarkable figure). Prior to the Merseyside derby, Roberto Martinez had warned his players that there is no better team in the country at taking advantage of set pieces but to be forewarned was not to be forearmed in this case as Liverpool’s opening goal came when Gerrard headed home Suarez’s near post corner.

Similar happened at the weekend when Arsenal were twice struck by the same lightning bolt in the opening eight minutes of the game with Martin Skrtel taking maximum advantage of Gerrard’s expert set-piece delivery. Liverpool’s opponents are becoming increasingly aware that if they don’t beat them on the ground, they could very well beat them in the air. It’s a volatile mix and one that has given Liverpool an added attacking dimension. It isn’t rocket science either; it just comes down to work on the training ground and an increased urgency to attack the ball.

Helping Sterling reach his peak

On December 2, Raheem Sterling made his second league start of the season – it could not have gone much worse. Bereft of confidence, lacking in match practice and burdened by expectation, the then 18-year-old was hauled off after 66 minutes following a listless display as Liverpool slumped to a 4-1 defeat away to Hull City. Sterling’s performance prompted his career to be prematurely and unfairly written off in some quarters and there was even a suggestion (albeit a wholly inaccurate one) that the winger would be sent out on loan because Rodgers believed he was not ready to make a positive impact on his team.

Only two months on from that chastening experience at the KC Stadium, Sterling’s form is such that public opinion has now swung in favour of the teenager being included in England’s World Cup squad. The potential that always existed – which was recognised initially by Rafael Benitez and then developed by Kenny Dalglish – is now being unlocked by Rodgers and Sterling is suddenly seen as an indispensible part of Liverpool’s attack. Tactically flexible, surprisingly strong, direct, skilful and always willing, the Jamaican-born teenager is terrorising opposition defences on an increasingly regular basis as Arsenal discovered to their cost on Saturday.

The talent was always there. Sterling was and is a special player, one who is capable of becoming a genuine star for club and country, but there was a spell when he appeared to be losing his way. Fault for that lay at his own feet but also at his clubs’. Sterling was responsible for his own loss of focus but working under four managers at Liverpool in only three years was hardly conducive to the development of a precociously talented young player who needed direction and consistent coaching. Rodgers has given Sterling the stability that he needed and he also given him the tough love that could be the making of him.

“We are very focused on nurturing the young player,” Rodgers said in November. “Someone like Raheem had a great first six months, a mixed six months after that, which was natural, and now is coming back to showing a level. It was going to be very difficult to maintain the level that he set himself. For him now, football has to be very much at the forefront of his mind and if it is he is a talent. He showed over the first six months of last season that he has a future in the Premier League and at Liverpool.

“I always say to players and in particular to young players that at Liverpool we work on what we call the ‘core’. We get the ‘commitment’. Once we have do that we will ‘organise’ a plan for them to get into the first team. When that happens it is their ‘responsibility’ and hopefully after that we can deliver ‘excellence’ in their performance level that keeps them there. If they don’t they will fall by the wayside.”

Having been on the receiving end of that warning, Sterling has responded to it to such an extent that on Saturday Rodgers described him as “the best English winger in the league.” On current form, such praise is not misplaced.

An absence of stubbornness

Liverpool’s starting line-up against Arsenal was part accident, part design. There were players that Rodgers wants, ones that he could have done without and others that he had almost written off previously. At an earlier stage in his tenure, the Liverpool manager would have not have been averse to allowing Jordan Henderson, Martin Skrtel and Jonathan Flanagan to move on. When the idea of signing Daniel Sturridge was first raised he was unconvinced. Guilherme Siqueira of Granada was Rodgers’ favoured left back option when Liverpool signed Aly Cissokho on loan from Valencia last summer.

In the case of each individual, though, Rodgers has been prepared to back down in the face of either their own form, the advice of others at the club or just his own instinct. The effect has been the creation of a meritocracy in which players at Liverpool know that if they train and play well the chances are that they will be in the side. The manager has demonstrated that he will not cut off his nose to spite his face and also that he is willing to change his mind.

The recent emergence of Flanagan is the most obvious example with the full back now holding down a regular starting place having previously been deemed surplus to requirements earlier in the season. At that stage, Rodgers had been ready to allow Flanagan to go out on loan but a move failed to materialise. The Academy graduate buckled down in training, to such an extent that before the Goodison derby he stopped a session and told his players to give Flanagan an ovation, and he is now seen as one of the major success stories of Liverpool’s season. Credit for that goes to the player himself but it must also be shared with his manager who has created an environment in which improvement is possible as a result of his own lack of stubbornness.
Click to expand...

http://blogs.thetimes.co.uk/section.../?shareToken=0c450969745c27efc8102dee3c2b5e54
 
Perhaps a litle reminder: go and search the posts last season around Christmas....quite alot of people wanted to get rid of Rodgers...
 
gerd said:
Perhaps a litle reminder: go and search the posts last season around Christmas....quite alot of people wanted to get rid of Rodgers...
Click to expand...

Not very intelligent people though gerd, lets be honest. There are too many fickle people in football who love a good knee-jerk reaction.

Right now Liverpool are 4th and a lot of people are talking about us as title contenders, at the start of the season the same people would probably have happily ended the season there if you'd said we'd finish 4th because it's a massive step up from the last few seasons. Now, if we lose momentum and drop out of the top 4 and finish 5th the very same people will be calling for his head and saying the same nonsense.

I've got a very good friend who is unbelievably fickle, it's actually really funny watching a game with him, he has certain players he hates no matter what. Glen Johnson could score a hat-trick and then concede a free kick on the halfway line and he'd scream at him and go on for 10 minutes about how shit he is, his previous scapegoats include John Arne Riise, Lucas, Jordan Henderson, Jamie Carragher, Dirk Kuyt and Martin Skrtel. Of course he also has the players he rates highly and won't hear a bad word said about them, such as Peter Crouch, Bruno Cheyrou, Jay Spearing and Lucas (yep, him again!) So in the same game you could have Crouch miss 3 easy chances and he'd defend him for it, then Kuyt would lose the ball or hit the post and he'd be off screaming about how useless he is "how's he missed that?!?"

Football fans are strange creatures. :))
 
gerd said:
Perhaps a litle reminder: go and search the posts last season around Christmas....quite alot of people wanted to get rid of Rodgers...
Click to expand...
I dont remember that being the case. There were a lot of us here trusting Rodgers last year, I think the majority actually. He clearly still has to learn things as he is very young and sometimes pulls some contradictory things but overall he has taken us in the right direction.
 
wow, Chelsea just draw to WBA, we could be 4 points of the top tomorow if we win and if Arsenal doesn´t win...presuming City will..

i might be cheering for United to win just to keep Arsenal away and also to give more chance to Moyes... :P
 
gerd said:
Go and have a look, there were people who wanted to get rid of him.
IMO he is a very fine manager who learns from his mistakes....
Click to expand...
Yes, as Tony Barret points out in that article, that may well be one of his best qualities. He has done some stupid things in the past (4 CB against Southampton, unbalanced lineups against Hull City and Aston Villa and all those matches in which we played with 5 defenders) that has cost us points, but he learns from that mistakes easily and isnt afraid to publicly show that he has commit a mistake.
 
Steady on there Pipa!

If, maybe, but, hopefully... all these words mean nothing!

One game at a time. I don't really care or look how other teams get on. We win our games and that's all that matters to me.
 
BIG match coming up , we need to win this one and than we can talk about 4th place or even 1st one , no one team in EPL seems to be favorite , city dropped points chelate too and arsenal as well , I believe if we play well and win our next matchs we can be champions , but we have to beat Fulham today.

I'm kind of scared, Liverpool "always" mess up with this kind of teams hope this season won't be same from now on!

Can't wait for match hope our players give 100% c'mon Liverpool we can do this. YNWA
 
Kolo again....not as big mistake as before, but damn he is unlucky..

that goal from Sturridge though was superb, and also Gerrard´s pass...

He is a real top class striker.

hopefully we can win this one.. couse Tottenham are breathing behind our backs...how on earth did it came to this.. everytime i saw them last few games they played boring football.. with narrow results..
 
They get points vs "low" teams , while we beat arsenal 5-1 , spurs 5-0 , Everton 4-0 and can't win s hull , WBA , Aston villa and now Fulham seems to be one of them too (well 1st half at leat)
 
i need to lay off football for some time...

what a win! massive result for us!!! we deserved it in the end, but fuck me can´t wait to have both Sakho and Agger back...

Teixeira played very well for a debut....
 
Studge... What a goal machine he's becoming.

Coutinho had 2 men on him all night and still looked ace.

Defence got off lightly.

Still, 3 points. Next
 
I like that Gerrard has made me look a completely ignorant. I critizised him in the past and said that I didnt see which role he could play. He is playing great and I was completely wrong.
 
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