Absolutely, time to get the brain farts out and start focusing.
Liverpool 2014/15 | WARNING: Contains strong amounts of Scouse nonsense
- Thread starter Wumminator
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Quick reminder
Why did they even bother buying Lambert if they're never going to play him?
Poor bastard should have stayed at Southampton.
Poor bastard should have stayed at Southampton.
Actually i thought he was the one but they made that made sense.
For the last couple of years i had him in my fantasy team so i kept a good eye on him at Southampton. Season before lady he was Berry good, he made everything click in the last third, but he could never last a full 90 minutes. His touch was very good add was his link up play.
Last season his age started to get the better off him and couldn't keep up with the style of play southampton had. His touch was still the he was just getting slower.
He had a choice of staying on bench at Southampton or being on bench at liverpool being used as a super sub, makes sense. Likewise for rodgers he brings something different. The reason they didn't win the league last year was that when people sussed them out and parked the bus they just tried the same thing over and over again. Lambert brings something slightly different, as has already been said not against the top teams but the smaller teams.
Balotelli signing makes the Lambert one all the more baffling. I think without that signing, Lambert would be a good bench alternative (though nothing special) to Sturridge and a mobile forward (Rémy, Alexis or someone like that). Now though if Balotelli is having a stinker Lambert doesn't really offer up a different approach, just more of the same - more effort but just as laboured all the same.
I actually feel quite sorry for Lambert tbh. I'm sure he didn't come in expecting to be a regular starter, but to be getting barely any minutes despite Sturidge's injuries, and how poorly Balotelli has been playing, must be incredibly frustrating and pretty demoralising.
Last edited:
I don't know the chronology but signing 3 strikers, who aren't known to be prolific, in one window was a bit mad.
It was Henderson.
I agree Lambert can link the play well though and he should be given a chance. Balotelli has fluffed his.
Who is the third?
Lambert has already proven he can play in a team who play quick football. He was capable of dropping deeper, pulling out wide etc to give Rodriguez space. Lallana did the same. His link up play and touch is good. He hasn't really been given a proper chance yet. Whereas Balotelli has been given chances, at several clubs. And the same thing happens. It was obvious he was going to flop.
Lambert isn't good enough to do it all on his own. He can be a very useful tool if used properly though. Balotelli thinks having a good touch and using his body well at times is enough.
Lambert isn't good enough to do it all on his own. He can be a very useful tool if used properly though. Balotelli thinks having a good touch and using his body well at times is enough.
Origi ? Hasn't he scored about 5 goals all his (short) life but considered some world class talent.
Ah, I forgot about him. Yeah, I do agree with his point, Origi just slipped my mind. slipped
He's a year older now though. From what I've read he's importance to Southampton was fading last season so it's no surprise to look even leggier.
As for the link-up and good touch...well, I'd heard reports of it but he looked waaaaaay off the pace in terms of technique and overall play in pre-season and has carried that into the season. Not really sure that kind of thing is something that you need to play a lot to show either, surely he'd have looked capable on the ball in his (admittedly sporadic) minutes so far?
Gaining an understanding of his team mates and their movement is also important I guess. The time he has got on the pitch they've just used him as a big target to hit. Lambert and Lallana made Rodriguez look a better player. Rodriguez was also quite clearly out of his depth during his England appearance. Cannot say the same about Lambert and Lallana.
He has got a good touch and is certainly more than just a big lump. His link play was very good. He's able to make through balls and cross the ball. His penalties and free kicks are also top quality. He has a lot to his game.
EDIT - Also no reason why Liverpool cannot get Sturridge and Lambert in one team with Lallana/Markovic/Coutinho making it a trio like Southampton did. In the bigger games it would make sense to leave Lambert out. Against teams like Hull at home for example, Lambert can be a good option.
Last edited:
What's the contract situation of Manquillo? Will Liverpool end up buying him outright? He's young and seems to be a pretty decent player. Better than Johnson anyway. Wouldn't mind him at United as a back-up for Rafael.
The biggest issue for them is the loss of momentum. They had a fantastic end to the 12/13 season and they carried that to last season. Now all that form and momentum is lost and they are left with a squad which is barely better than last season.
Just lose yourself dumbstars lar.
Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted. one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?
Snap back to reality, Oh there goes gravity
Oh, there goes Rodgers, he choked
He's so mad, but he won't give up that easy, no
He won't have it, he knows his whole back's to these ropes
It don't matter, he's a dope
He knows that but he's broke
He's so stagnant, he knows
Eminem knew
I love it how Koeman makes mockery of Liverpool's transfer policiy. It's amusing to see how much better Sauthampton perform in the league.
Good post. If Lambert was introduced gradually around Sturridge he might have settled in quicker. But with Studges injury he became our only hope which got to him mentally. I still like him, more than Botchatelli anyway.
That's high praise!
I was thinking more along the lines of damning with faint praise.That's high praise!
Saw the game on Football First. We played better than the result suggests. At least two or three penalties that may have been given on another day. Balo missed two open goal sitters which means we created them quite well AND Balo decided to be in the right places for a change.
Plus apparently Couts was carrying an injury which subsides some of anger towards Rodgers.
MOTD didn't mention the penalty claims disappointingly.
Plus apparently Couts was carrying an injury which subsides some of anger towards Rodgers.
MOTD didn't mention the penalty claims disappointingly.
haha we can dream!
Liverpool dropped 2 key points, Man City dropped 3, Chelsea dropped 2. Even Spurs dropped points.
Only Arsenal and Everton had decent weekends. From a performance perspective Utd had a great weekend (the point gained is a bit meaningless in the context of things. More important to everyone was Utd took two points off Chelsea).
Only Arsenal and Everton had decent weekends. From a performance perspective Utd had a great weekend (the point gained is a bit meaningless in the context of things. More important to everyone was Utd took two points off Chelsea).
I saw the full game, it really was no better than than the score suggests. Liverpool played as you'd expect a home side to play, generally being the proactive team with Hull reacting. But Hull were very comfortable, never really stretched. Liverpool struggled to reach any sort of hi tempo and never really built any sustained pressure.
Sure, Liverpool got a couple of chances such as from Lovren, but it'd have to be a truly awful performance not to get any chances in a home match against a mid-table team.
We were utter shite for the first 60 mins. Once Coutinho and Lambert came on we improved 2 gears and could/should/deserved to win it, we looked much much better all over the pitch. However giving a team that came purely for a point a target (30 mins to hang on) is never a good idea. On another day it would have been a comfortable win. Even that massive 'Pool hater Le Tissier said Chester's tackle on Lallana was '100% a penalty'. Poor Balo ... nothing going right for him at the moment. Why always me ?
I don't see it like that. I see it as United gained 3 points on us (1 most people didn't expect them to get against Chelsea and the 2 we dropped at home to Hull, you'd expect United to get all 3 at home to Hull and us to lose at home to Chelsea - on current form of all teams).
Yeah, Liverpool could have scored 3 or 4 in the last 20-30 minutes with the chances they had, but before that they created very little. It's ultimately what I thought would be the problem before the season started, not enough goal scorers to grind out wins like that, and the defence isn't very good to make up for it. Obviously the defence wasn't the problem on the weekend, but generally it has been. Sturridge is Liverpools only reliable goalscorer pretty much, and he seems to pick up injuries very easily. Having the champions league to contend with won't help that at all either. Suarez really lifted everyones game as world class players tend to do, but he provided as many chances as he scored pretty much. You just haven't replaced him in terms of chances he creates, the goals he scores nor the defensive work he does from the front.
We all know how good Suarez is, and was for us last year. But TBH it's really pointless banging on about it because the man is irreplaceable. We have to evolve into a different type of team, I thought we might have a sticky start but be showing more signs of gelling by now, a bit like United. IMO one of the main issues is BR almost refusing to go 2 up top until he's forced into it. We often played the midfield diamond, 4-4-2 last season because it suited the pace in our side, it would now suit us because Balo needs someone alongside him, he can't play the sole striker as most intelligent fans realise. I really don't get why BR is persisting with him as lone striker.
Interestingly, and co-incidentally as I've literally only just watched this, Carra agrees on both Balo's role and on the impression Coutinho and Lambert made when they came on :
Interestingly, and co-incidentally as I've literally only just watched this, Carra agrees on both Balo's role and on the impression Coutinho and Lambert made when they came on :
Last edited:
Everyone is still going on about Suarez because everyone knew what a colossus miss he would be, apart from Liverpool fans who said last year was down to Rodgers and his system.
This fitted inbetween the bit where we were told Suarez wouldn't be leaving and Balotelli was a bargain.
This fitted inbetween the bit where we were told Suarez wouldn't be leaving and Balotelli was a bargain.
Somehow Sturridge has been removed from this narrative. To lose one is unfortunate, but both is catastrophic. To be where we are in the league without the best two strikers last year is the only significant positive.
Sturridge is a huge miss.
He is, without a doubt. But that again brings us back to the loss of Suarez. Last year when Sturridge was missing, you had Suarez still ripping it up. You didn't really miss Sturridge because you had the 3rd best player in the world, in his prime.
This year you have Balotelli and Lambert.
Chelsea didn't "drop" two points. They were facing a top team away from home. It's a point gained for them, if anything.
When you concede an equalizer with practically the last kick of the game, it's two points dropped, nothing else.
94th minute equaliser is two dropped points whether you're playing Real Madrid or Stockport County.
If it had been Hull instead of Chelsea, would you lot be saying the same? Moreover, it was a very even game. Last gasp equalizers are nothing new and the scoreline justified the game. Had it been a one sided game where we got battered and Chelsea then conceded from our only chance then you could have claimed that. Not on the basis of us actually getting back to scoring late goals (like we always did till that calamity called Moyes hit us).
With the amount of injuries Sturridge suffers from then Rodgers should have planned better in his absence. Suarez was as tough as old boots, he'd take a kicking every game but never seemed to be injured, Sturridge is a different type altogether, seems to be all tight, fast twitch muscle fibers which make him prone to muscle injury.
Even more confusing is Rodgers trying to force Borini out in the final hours of the transfer window, would have left you awfully short considering Lambert isn't the fittest.
When you consider their away record at the big teams since Mourinho's return then it's amazing that we've got 2 points against them in the last 2 games at OT. A point gained for us for sure.
Chelsea have not had a "great" record against us at OT over the last 3-4 years anyway. As I said, on the balance of the game, we more than deserved the point. We are on an upward trajectory ourselves and this seems to be lost completely.