Re: The Red Lion Pub Team (Liverpool) Thread 2014/15
Post-game reaction:
Quick thoughts:
- De Gea is probably the 2nd best goalkeeper in the world. That's why you need studs and match-winners. Either develop them or buy them. A top team needs at least 3-4 match winners. We have zero. Sturridge I think is one, but even one is not enough (otherwise you become a one-man team).
- What does Allen do? Might as well have kept Shelvey. Hell, might as well have kept Spearing.
- Rodgers will go down with his insistence on playing Johnson/Lovren/Gerrard/Allen. Dropping Lucas was criminal, restoring Lovren is too soon. Give Sakho (remember him?), Toure, Manquillo (remember him?), and Moreno a run or 4-5 games together.
- Sterling is going to crumble. He was wasteful sure, but he just turned 20 and he's not a striker. I fear the fans will get on him for this game. He needs resting, not because he's crap, but because he's 20 and we spent 120M this summer. Rodgers himself spoke about protecting him, but if you read Marcotti's recent ESPN article he's already played way more minutes and had more starts than Messi, Ronaldo, Owen or Fowler did at that age.
- I liked however that the team created chances, but it's already too late now. Sturridge will probably improve things and we will be better in the 2nd half of the season--but that will be with zero pressure as 4th would've been well and truly lost.
- Dreading the Arsenal game next week.
- Who knows what happens in January? It' a dilemma. The team clearly NEEDS a *mobile* semi-capable striker. However, honestly to be fair I wouldn't blame FSG/Henry if they didn't trust Rodgers/TransferCommittee to spend 15-20M on another player.
- Solution to Mignolet problem is to hope he will get better (he is a good shot stopper, though he's panicky in other areas) or buy a replacement no. 1 (however again that means giving the transfer committee big money). Jones is not good enough either, so we just have to stick with Mignolet.
- Rodgers should stop talking. Or at least ground his comments more in reality and an indication that the clubs' level is not acceptable. His post-game comments:
"It's easy, we know what the solutions are but we have to keep working and hopefully the confidence will return." AND "I thought we did enough to win the game,"
- Can should play more. He's built like a tank. We're too often pushed around by other teams. Sakho and Can would add good presence to our team. Can is being penalized for having good games vs Madrid and Chelsea.
- For me I'd still keep Rodgers until the end of 2015, but that's because I'm ok taking a little longer than most are willing to tolerate to figure out ourselves out of this predicament. If he gets fired we're not getting Klopp, Simeone, Hiddink etc. Alladyrce is actually a more realistic target. AVB is probably the biggest "name" we can get.
Behind the scenes someone needs to have a very serious discussion with Rodgers about how this season went down and then the transfer operations needs revamping. Some authoritative intervention for someone to have a word with him about some of his blindspots (his increasing habit of holding grudges against players, his philosophical aversion to defensive midfielders, etc). But those of us who are calling for his head thinking we'll just sign Klopp are in la-la land.
