THE defeat against Arsenal was disappointing, but there are only ten games gone.
There is plenty of opportunity for us to bounce back but the nature of the defeat and against the opposition makes it a difficult one to stomach.
But we need to bounce back much more than in terms of morale.
We have now yet to keep a clean sheet since the 1st September. Eight matches in a row, we have conceded a goal. Mignolet has been excellent by and large and yet now finds himself having let in at least one goal in eight consecutive games.
This is an issue we absolutely must address because it is making our life extremely difficult.
There are a multitude of reasons that we keep conceding cheap goals (Ramsey’s goal for Arsenal on Saturday was largely unavoidable and was a good hit) and we aren’t going to progress until we nip this in the bud. Set pieces have been a constant issue but this has gone on the back burner in recent weeks, replaced by goals where the midfield have yielded too much space.
Carzola’s goal was yet a different example – Cisshoko wasn’t tight enough to his man and made no effort to block the cross, and we didn’t react to the ball coming off the post quickly enough. Ultimately that goal, whilst a good finish was extremely lucky, but we didn’t make our own luck with it by dealing with the danger at several different phases of play.
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Sloppy goals are hurting our season. It has cost us points against Swansea and Newcastle before this setback. But in those games, our prolific form in front of goal bailed us out. On this occasion, and it was inevitable, Sturridge and Suarez had a quieter game than they have been doing and it hurts.
It’s very easy to say that we need to tighten up at the back, but we absolutely do. We are conceding goals far too readily and we are going to find that results like the Arsenal one will happen. All it takes is a bit of misfortune in front of goal or an anonymous performance and we could find ourselves dropping points on a more frequent basis.
I almost feel ungrateful complaining about it because we’ve had one of our best starts to a season in recent years, but our defence is better than conceding goals the way we have been. However, we need to resist the need for wholesale change because this formation we have recently switched to has potential. Perhaps goals we are conceding are teething issues.
But teething issues, poor decision making, switching off or any form of defensive indiscipline needs to cease, because we are continually shooting ourselves in the foot – and our attacking play generally deserves much, much better. We need to stick to basics – and one of the most basic things about football is keeping a clean sheet.
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A back line of three will ALWAYS be vulnerable.
It just depends on which 3 you choose. At the minute the new signings aren’t doing their jobs properly. Agger, Skrtel and maybe Sakho would be ok with Enrique and Johnson as wing-backs. That gives cover for our lightweight midfield.
Spot on…fancy skertle; agger and sakho…and please no cissokho his too slow to read the game.maybe the key is to get a coach for defence like arsene wenger.
Rodgers doesn’t know how to play a 3-5-2 properly and doesn’t have the personnel to execute it anyway.
I concur with RedandDread, BR does not know how to execute 3-5-2. With Johnson missing and throwing Flanagan in the deep end smacked of ignorance. I recall telling my brother, Arsenal fan, lfc is screwed the moment i saw the team sheet and formation. Lfc had 5 defenders; Cissokho, sakho, skrtel, toure, flanagan. if you include lucas it was effectively 6 defenders. Game plan was negative and hence lost the game before the ball was kicked.
goals conceded are not completely fault of defence. we are not controlling games in the middle and in the arsenal game we havent pressed the ball enough. we had serious lack of quality on the wings. and overally we were slower.
We have been shaky in defence since Rodgers took over . He doesnt know how to organize a defence . Mignolet looks shaky too.
Play agger instead of sahko. Simple
Sakho is even better than Agger. Just bench Toure and play Agger Skrtel and Sakho
Dan, if LFC share your opinion, and think Corzola’s goal was just ‘lucky’ then it is understandable why they underestimated him and gave him so much space. Every one of Arsenal’s midfielders, who played that day, in their own right, are remarkable footballers and capable of turning a game in a moment. Not recognising this fact might explain why Liverpool were dismissed so readily. Lets face it, Suarez can score a hatful of goals against any team, but if a club dismissed this fact as pure luck, you (and LFC) would be rubbing your hands with glee.
And don’t play cissohko
I wl advise BR, pls dont play cissohko again plz bcox d guy is too heavy for EPL football and also come back to your normal formation 4-4-2………..Mignolet, Enrique or Sahko(LB), Johnson or Toure or kelly(RB), Agger, Sketel, Lucas or Gerrad or Allen(CM), Countinho(LW), Moses(RW), suarez and Sturridge…………………Sub…….Henderson, sterling, ibe, Cissohko………….Henderson and cissokho are crap players, they dont need to start match……..When the match as been seal u can introduce the two of them:………….BR please forget 3-5-2 formation, that formation is a conceading formation for a team without a midfield…………..That 3-5-2 formation is meant for a team like Barcelona not liverpool please…………
Stil favour three man defence……………..:………………………………………………….mignlot………………………………..skertle………sakho…………agger…………..lucas….gerade…..alberto…………………..johnson…………enrique………………………suarez……………sturridge
Better play Allen or Henderson rather than Alberto
is steven GERRARD untouchable?
Why doesnt that dope of a manager just play Gerrard in his PROPER position ? Then we might see the real Stevie G
. Top 4 has gone unless we change this manager asap. He is not in the class of the Wengers , Mourinho, Pelligrinis , they know it and a lot of us already do. You can already see the top 4 taking shape , even Moyes cant mess up Utd . Then Chelski, Citeh , Arsenal are nailed on , then theres Spurs , thats 5 who wont budge easily , they would have to have a disaster, can you argue this point? we are with the Bitters, W,Brom , Southampton looking in. It doesnt have to be like this though , because a top tactically astute manager could still do it, you can give Rodgers until Christmas if you want , but it wont change a thing. Arsenal took the mickey the other night while thinking about their CL game , we havent even got a Carling Cup game.