Rodgers Mindset and The Three Points We Needed

First of all I am a Liverpool fan, just to clarify, the start to the season we've had it becoming hard to bare. A club of Liverpool’s stature should not be 11^th we should be 6^th at the very minimum. A lot of players in the team just simply aren't pulling their weight in the team but I genuinely can’t put my finger on why that is so ill leave that thought to settle for time being. Anyway, Rodgers obviously hasn't set out to buy a world class proven quality team hes building for the future, at the moment he’s trying to create a new era at Liverpool something we haven’t established for a long time, a team that as well as having top quality players like Coutinho and Sturridge is full of youth and can become a force in the Premier league for seasons to come. The reason for this is that Rodgers knows he isn't going to get £100 million every season so, he has to create his own quality players, you can see this by bringing in young fresh talent like Emre Can and Lazar Markovic as well as Moreno.

Rickie Lambert isn't going to be the figurehead at Anfield for the next 10 years but he’s certainly the present especially while Sturridge is out injured, he certainly wasn't a player bought for his youthfulness and potential but he was bought as a back up striker able to use his experience over his magnificent career and rise in talent. Ballotelli was also meant to be the present, so was Iago Aspas so it makes you think whether he’s constantly changing his mind each season as to what type of player he wants to bring in. He’s looking for a mixture of Ballotelli and Aspas, a strong and quick powerful striker with a keen eye for goal, you know like the striker we've got on loan at another club, so I can see a why he paid £10 million for Divock Origi who Liverpool fans will be expecting big things from this time next season.

The match against stoke was a really scrappy game, we got extremely lucky. Stoke hit the post and the bar at either ends of the pitch, and we never truly looked threatening. That being said we were much better defensively and our players looked more committed than what we've seen from previous games. Johnson actually earned his £120,000 a week for a change, that goal may be the most important we've had at the club this season, it may just kick start our season… Unlikely but at least it’s another three points that we desperately needed. Mignolet even looked more in control and confident he demonstrated this at the end of the match where he came out during the dying embers of the match and actually caught the fucking ball, like literally in his fucking hands, it wouldn't of typically been out of the question for him to miss the ball, the defence completely fail to clear and the opposition tap it home. The decision to drop Stevie especially given that it was his 16 year anniversary since his debut was a brave move from Brendan (even if he didn't actually know till arriving at Anfield) but sticking to his selected team paid off as Stevie looked refreshed when he came on notably closing down Shawcross in stoppage time like he used to do all over the field at one time or another.

The three points will do us a world of good and will keep these plastic fans calling for Brendan’s head quiet until the next match at least. Hopefully another 3 points will be picked up Tuesday and another on Saturday to build some confidence for the Last chance saloon fixture against Basel where only a win will see us through to the Knock out rounds. 

Brendan's Stubborness

Football is a fickle old sport, someone tell Brendan Rodgers this. The favouritism shown towards some players at Liverpool Football club is borderline embarrassing, Glen Johnson for instance is one of the the most consistently poor right backs in the league why does Brendan Rodgers thing a way of getting around this is to place him on the opposite side of the defence? It's clear that Brendan has made a few costly errors this summer excluding Suarez's departure as it was always imminent he would leave for pastures new. Two leading figures at the club were allowed for leave for roughly the same amount of money, players the fans have a genuine honest respect for,
Agger and Reina. Daniel Agger was a great centre back who last season started 20 of the 22 clean sheets we kept. He could play it out from the back and was one of the players who always seemed to take charge and make the right decisions, letting him leave for a measly £3 million is pocket change to today's football. Agger would be mine and probably the majority of fans first choice centre back at the club with Pepe Reina brushing the extremely dodgy Simon Mignolet onto the substitutes bench. The back five (including the goalkeeper) never seem to have any chemistry, Alberto Moreno is the player most fans would love to see at Left back yet Glen Johnson is seen as the better full back. WTF. There must be a clause in Glen's contract permitting him to bribe his way onto a specific number of starting 11's because he is very very poor. Where is the defence coach by the way? Every team bar Liverpool must have a defence coach, and Liverpool need one, we have one of the most embarrassing back fours in the county, scratch that in the world. Lovren seems a shambles of a human being and Martin Skrtel wants to play rugby, watch at the next set piece you will see the two chuckle brothers on the edge of box seconds after the set piece has been taken allowing the opposition player to loft it over them and another to head into the back of the net. Rodger's needs to admit he needs help bring in a top quality coach and there's half the team sorted right there.
The Steven Gerrard debate, is he past it?Does he still offer more than what the other players do? It's clear hes lost some of his pace, his passing ability, shooting ability, jumping ability, fitness, faith, passion and his patience but hes still the focal point and a great leader,isn't that enough?

Emre Can has shown moments of quality (from the fifty two minutes he plays for christ sake) he could do Stevie's job and then some, Joe Allen may not be the most gifted players on the ball but he very rarely gives up, his perpetual motion often wares down opponents. is it time Rodgers spoke to Gerrard and told him his game time will be limited unless his form continues, against Crystal Palace he won zero of his tackles? That isn't the Steven Gerrard who carried Liverpool since 2003, now it seems we're the ones carrying him, you have to sympathise with captain fantastic, every player he has ever linked up well with has left, Torres, Alonso, Suarez. It seems clear he's lost desire to have to pick himself up again and go to war for the club.

Who can put the ball in the back of the net please? We struggle to make chances, and we struggle to put them away. Rickie Lambert should start from now on, 2 Goals in 2 starts assures his starting place surely? Borini, Sterling or even Lallana could play just behind him to provide him with the chances? Seems obvious doesn't it? Brendan is looking at Ballotelli through one rose tinted eye and looking at Sturridge in the hospital with the other tear filled eye, not noticing the quality Lambert can produce when given an extended run in the team. Goals and form will soon come once the players have settled down completely and Sturridge hurries the fuck up. Sacking Rodger's is not a solution to any problem, he needs this season and the next season for his three year plan to be set, the groundwork and design have been completed now its just the final stages. Final Thought is that he needs a defensive coach, he needs to speak to Gerrard about his form and possibly rest him every so often and give Lambert the extended Run he deserves.

Real Madrid Performances

First fixture:  In a summary, Liverpool were very lucky to escape from Anfield conceding just three goals. Ronaldo, James Rodriguez, Modric and all of the other big name stars proved just how big a disance Liverpool have fallen since their last champions league experience five years ago. There was a lot of emphasis on the poor recent performances of the defence as well as the lack of leadership and confidence from Mignolet. All of these points were clear when Real Madrid hit their third goal just before half time as Mignolet the last line of defence foolishly came about five yards off his line to allow Benzema to tap home a moment later. The whole team was overshadowed and taught a very strict footballing lesson by possibly the best team in the world at the moment.
The scary thing to think about was that, this match took place at Anfield, what would be awaiting Liverpool on the 4th November at the Bernabeu? A far cry from the 2009 fixture which saw Liverpool cruise past Madrid with a 4-0 victory with goals from Torres, Gerrard and Dossena. The only positive Liverpool could take from the night would be a Ludogorets victory over Basel leaving them with the hope of making it past the group stages.


Second fixture: A weak starting eleven announced by Rodgers sending the 'Liverpool twittersphere' into anarchy. Criticising Rodger's and claiming he has given up before the first whistle, was he resting key
players for Saturday's equally as hard match against current leaders Chelsea who knows? A strong first twenty minutes from Liverpool as they dominated possession with glimpses of how they played last season replicated on a grand night at the Bernabeu where Liverpool won their last fixture here in 2009, 1-0 thanks to a Yossi Benayoun goal. A 26th minute goal seemed to be the start of a rampant night for Real Madrid, the attitude many would of thought but the weakened Liverpool side without Henderson, Gerrard or even Raheem Sterling held their own. Creating few chances against a strong Real Madrid defence it was hard to see them being broke down, Adam Lallana came close after a wonderful turn on the edge of the box. The introduction of Steven Gerrard and Raheem sterling replacing Markovic and Lucas in the 68th minute seemed to show a further attacking dimension for Liverpool, again further shown by the appearance of Phillipe Coutinho in the 74th minute. Gareth Bale had the best chance of the second half but was denied by the cross bar while Liverpool held Real Madrid to a one nil margin, the scoreline was still one that is a respectable deficit to lose by.
Some may disagree with the squad Rodgers picked, while other say his squad played well and were just unlucky, a star performance from an unlikely source became a talking point as Kolo Toure almost played Ronaldo off the park lurking behind the Portugal star nearly the whole match. Against a player who has averaged a goal a game since 2010 that is something to take away in achievement
(Hopefully its make Diego Costa jelly legged).

Final Thought, over 180 minutes Liverpool lost 4-0 to the best football team in the world. Liverpool are clearly miles behind in the squad compared to both teams, but in the second fixture they showed a
lot more desire, got in the faces of the galacticos and went toe to toe with them. Unlucky to not get any clear chances on goal, but with the quality that Real Madrid possess through all areas of the pitch it was hard to see a result ever not being in their favour. Qualification from the group is still extremely achievable consecutive victories over opposition we are very capable of beating will mean Liverpool finishing second.