TWar

We were beaten by one of the best teams in the world. It was a comfortable victory but so were their victories against Arsenal and United who are much bigger and richer teams than us. It is obviously a shame we lost but this isn't the end of the world. The usual suspects will already blame the manager as if a good manager would easily brush aside a team like liverpool with our players. We played a back 3, it was effective against Chelsea earlier in the season and the second halves against United and City so there is definitely logic for using it, they were just too good. We deployed Che as a deeper 10 behind the two forwards which in my opinion isn't a bad shout and didn't cause the loss, Liverpools sheer quality caused the loss.

So he brings on two changes at 30 mins, then what? No changes at 60-70 mins when people are knackered, what if there is an injury? Liverpool are one the best teams in the world. Saying "why didn't the manager just change system mid game to the winning one" is very silly. Why didn't arsenal? Or United? Who this team also battered

You only have so many tools as a manager. Making 2 changes in the 30th min or whatever when 2-0 down has its own pitfalls which is why you rarely see it happen.

It was a very weakened Chelsea tbh, nowhere near the quality of this Liverpool team, as it was the cup team. As for three strikers, I think it was more a 3412 with Adams playing deeper as a lone 10

We have, 2 subs at half time is a pretty early change. Thing is, it doesn't seem to have helped. Against a team of Liverpools quality there isn't much you can do

This is pretty similar formation to that which worked against Chelsea. Liverpool are too good for us today. Its a shame but they are one of the best teams in the world, our season doesn't make or break against games like this

Nah he started last game. All that money spent in the summer in Buendia and Ings and neither makes the starting line up over the likes of Ashley Young. Pretty poor tbh.

More like that's us introducing KWP in LB who himself is a very attacking advanced player so Livra needs to spend more time back than he would have to if he was the only attacking fullback. Whilst Perraud is clearly gifted in an attacking sense for some reason he wasn't anywhere near as ambitious as KWP has been.

I rate QPR to beat Derby, that'd be my pick given all the unrest at Derby. Or Leicester to beat Watford.

I reckon 5-8 points from that run. Should beat atleast one of Brighton, Leicester, Palace and get atleast a draw against another of them. Then a point from one of Liverpool or Arsenal feels possible. I will conservatively say 5 pts. Win at Brighton, draw at palace and Arsenal, loss to the other two.

JWP is still our main chance creator, which is pretty poor given he plays so deep. We really need more from our attacking mids who barely created anything.

I think Ralph will use him, but probably as a forward. From his comments he sees him as our 4th choice Cf which means he should get plenty of chances to play there in the cup or if two get injured.

Walcott is gash, only really massive misfire of an otherwise fantastic summer of signings

I dare say he is a smidge overrated on here. I think he is a decent option as a forward but I don't really think he's all that great as a 10. He's better than Walcott imo, but then again who isn't. I don't think he should be anywhere near the pitch when Stu, Djenepo, Redmond, and Elyounoussi are all fit.

Weird you say that, as the 4 goals they have scored combined this season I'm pretty sure like 3 of them were assisted by the other (4 out of 5 if the Che goal wasn't given as an OG at united)

I should imagine it is a thread some might not want to pull at, as usually ban evasion (making a new account when banned) leads to a follow up ban Regarding Ralph, we were unbeaten in 5, we were the better side today and we lost because of individual errors from our weakest player who has already been slated as our next place to upgrade. I don't see how you can blame him for that, if the keeper had done his job it would have just been a professional victory.

If he wins he can take a dump on the subs bench, he'd still be a legend.

Thought he looked weak after coming on, didn't press as much, and didn't run around as much.

We go again. Macca was poor but I'd stick with him nonetheless as stability is important and Forster is just as bad. Armstrong and Redmond back for attacking mid and no other changes imo.

One loss in like 5 and we are back to "if/when he gets us relegated". We can't win every game, even if we play better, sometimes individual errors from our lower quality players (Macca etc.) will let us down.

I suspect we would have. He's fine as a back up imo, but as a starter he will cost us points like today!!

Johnstone please

Barely.

Why? Did you only just start following us? Forster has had a couple of decent games this season, but so had Macca, its consistency that is both of their issues and we have been shown that in a long stretch of games Forster is just as error prone. We could keep chopping and changing when one makes a bunch of errors, but consistency is important. We just have to pick one (as we have) and deal with the fact that they aren't actually that good. We need to sign a new one ASAP

He's not though, Macca has different weaknesses but Forster is definitely just as bad. Very poor at claiming crosses and low shots.