The OFFICIAL Liverpool FC thread - Arne to Slot right in?

[haranguerer]

Agree with sentiments Carmen - does anyone know why Sturridge consistently replaced after 70-75 mins recently, is he carrying a knock of some sort.

Personally I think its man management of Suarez, heading off a blazing row between the pair - when hes subbed it seems to me that its when theres tension between the pair of them, such as last night.

[laoislad]

The last 20 minutes or so were nervy but up to that point it  was a professional rather than flamboyant performance.  Some poor decision making and selfishness by Saurez at times didn't help. The defense was very sound until that goal went in - bad work by Agger and Skytel not to cut out that ball.  Keeps Liverpool in there. The tension's going to crank up a bit from here on with every game now being a must win.

He was Flanaghan's man and he left him completely unmarked,really poor defending.
Then they left John O'Shea free a few minutes after..

Onto Spurs now which is the new biggest game of the season!

It was Flanagans man alright but i think its being a bit unfair on the defender. It Should have been dealt with before it got his length by two experienced international centre backs. I would'nt hold him entirely responsible.  Simply a case of being caught on the hop. 99 times of of 100 Agger and Skytel would have dealt with it.

Yeah 99 times out of a 100 Agger or Skrtel would have cleared it but you have to be ready for the 1 time they don't and Flanagan wasn't.  I'm not knocking him but he was at fault for the goal imo.
Speaking as someone who played left/right back for many years in the dizzy heights of the Kilkenny & District League  you would have been shot for leaving your man unmarked like that.
Don't know who was supposed to be marking O'Shea but that was also criminal to leave him with a free header.

[Bingo]

I would think that the defence as a unit should take the rap for the goal, it never should have got as far as it did but Flanagan should have been ready for it when it did. Your CB should be the dominate people in a position like that and they fluffed their lines.

Skrtel totally left O'Shea for the second chance and rightly got a bollixing from Gerard for a total lapse.

The chance reminded me of a certain Gudjohnson miss in a certain CL semi final a few years back. We know how that ended up!!

[Bingo]

Some craic. The longer this goes on the more fun the failure will be.

I'd certainly love to know what the "failure" will be baring Liverpool losing every game from now to the end? I think why this is so enjoyable is that the pressure is totally off and we are in bonus terrority - playing great football and challenging for the title, sure all we wanted was top 4.

Failure is taking a title winning team, spending 60-odd million, and finding yourself struggling for 7th place and been totally outplayed at home by your biggest "rivals". Thats failure.

But your predictions are very enjoyable, keep them coming. Mystic mEC.

[deiseach]

Mystic mEC. Love it.

We're playing with house money right now. Doesn't mean there's no tension with each spin of the wheel, but there's a lot of slack built in.

[AZOffaly]

The last 20 minutes or so were nervy but up to that point it  was a professional rather than flamboyant performance.  Some poor decision making and selfishness by Saurez at times didn't help. The defense was very sound until that goal went in - bad work by Agger and Skytel not to cut out that ball.  Keeps Liverpool in there. The tension's going to crank up a bit from here on with every game now being a must win.

He was Flanaghan's man and he left him completely unmarked,really poor defending.
Then they left John O'Shea free a few minutes after..

Onto Spurs now which is the new biggest game of the season!

It was Flanagans man alright but i think its being a bit unfair on the defender. It Should have been dealt with before it got his length by two experienced international centre backs. I would'nt hold him entirely responsible.  Simply a case of being caught on the hop. 99 times of of 100 Agger and Skytel would have dealt with it.

Yeah 99 times out of a 100 Agger or Skrtel would have cleared it but you have to be ready for the 1 time they don't and Flanagan wasn't.  I'm not knocking him but he was at fault for the goal imo.
Speaking as someone who played left/right back for many years in the dizzy heights of the Kilkenny & District League  you would have been shot for leaving your man unmarked like that.
Don't know who was supposed to be marking O'Shea but that was also criminal to leave him with a free header.

Looked like that was Skrtel, and he got blocked off or slipped. Gerrard had a right go at him after the incident.

[J OGorman]

Agree with sentiments Carmen - does anyone know why Sturridge consistently replaced after 70-75 mins recently, is he carrying a knock of some sort.

Personally I think its man management of Suarez, heading off a blazing row between the pair - when hes subbed it seems to me that its when theres tension between the pair of them, such as last night.

surprised too to see Sturridge subbed again last night. If players had chosen the better option more often, he could potentially have had a bagful of goals. He has the ability to be a brilliant winger and is comfortable working the flanks so shouldnt have been pulled ashore, formation rejigged to accomodate him.
Johnson on the other hand, was again awful. Just seems too lax. He was trying to run the clock down from 80 mins! That kinda nonsense feeds into the team. At this stage, the plan is to attack attack attack, not run down the clock and invite the oppostion on. I understand nerves etc, but the chap needs a shake

[Abble]

You and MR can f**k up 

I've a vested interest, at 16/1 for my fiver , they have the best possible chance to win since 1990 and may not get another chance, as the likes of City and Chelsea will be buying again after the World Cup

MR2 they will certainly get another chance and plenty of them if the current rate of improvement continues. In such a short space of time to be in the thick of it with Chelsea and Man City as we are, is quite astonishing and with  one or two further shrewd purchases and further backing we'll be getting better before we get worse, the likes of chelsea and city will plateau out eventually, a great club like our own can and will come to the top again

[supersub]

You know you are in with a shout when every one of your games during April is being shown live on SS :-)

Anyone watch the programme on SS1 last night with Sturridge? Decent interview - Steve Peters seems to have worked wonders with him/the team as well as what Rodgers has done himself!

[brokencrossbar1]

You know you are in with a shout when every one of your games during April is being shown live on SS :-)

Anyone watch the programme on SS1 last night with Sturridge? Decent interview - Steve Peters seems to have worked wonders with him/the team as well as what Rodgers has done himself!

You have to wonder just how much the success at this stage is down to him as opposed to Rodgers?  I am a bit skeptical about pyschologists to a point as I have been in a few sessions with some highly regarded ones who basically told us the what we already were saying but Peters I think is a different animal altogether.  Here on in the mind as opposed to the body will win or lose it and he is the absolute key man in my book.

[imtommygunn]

You know you are in with a shout when every one of your games during April is being shown live on SS :-)

Anyone watch the programme on SS1 last night with Sturridge? Decent interview - Steve Peters seems to have worked wonders with him/the team as well as what Rodgers has done himself!

You have to wonder just how much the success at this stage is down to him as opposed to Rodgers?  I am a bit skeptical about pyschologists to a point as I have been in a few sessions with some highly regarded ones who basically told us the what we already were saying but Peters I think is a different animal altogether.  Here on in the mind as opposed to the body will win or lose it and he is the absolute key man in my book.

I'm currently reading Ronnie O'Sullivans book and he has quite a bit on this guy in it. Credits a lot of his success to him - if you see where he was going before him he seemed to be fading into oblivion but credits a lot to this guy. Turn off the emotional part of the brain seems to be his main theme...

[haranguerer]

Its still Rodgers success - a good manager will identify areas of improvement and work on those, be it physically or mentally.

I think theres a massive difference between a few group sessions with a psychologist, and having a full time psychologist who is able to spend time individually with players. Group sessions have to be general, so will be limited, while reinforcement is usually a key part of it, again not really feasible with the odd session. The psychology of everything is so important - whats surprising is that its still seen as a bit 'airy-fairy'

[brokencrossbar1]

Its still Rodgers success - a good manager will identify areas of improvement and work on those, be it physically or mentally.

I think theres a massive difference between a few group sessions with a psychologist, and having a full time psychologist who is able to spend time individually with players. Group sessions have to be general, so will be limited, while reinforcement is usually a key part of it, again not really feasible with the odd session. The psychology of everything is so important - whats surprising is that its still seen as a bit 'airy-fairy'

I agree with you to an extent but the experience I had was that the psychologist was saying the same thing as the management,  using the same language etc and I felt it was money wasted getting her in.  There was nothing new added to the mix but it was a limited sample to base an opinion upon.  It is becoming more mainstream nowadays but in sport and also in the corporate field and it obviously is worthwhile.

[johnneycool]

You know you are in with a shout when every one of your games during April is being shown live on SS :-)

Anyone watch the programme on SS1 last night with Sturridge? Decent interview - Steve Peters seems to have worked wonders with him/the team as well as what Rodgers has done himself!

You have to wonder just how much the success at this stage is down to him as opposed to Rodgers?  I am a bit skeptical about pyschologists to a point as I have been in a few sessions with some highly regarded ones who basically told us the what we already were saying but Peters I think is a different animal altogether.  Here on in the mind as opposed to the body will win or lose it and he is the absolute key man in my book.

I'm currently reading Ronnie O'Sullivans book and he has quite a bit on this guy in it. Credits a lot of his success to him - if you see where he was going before him he seemed to be fading into oblivion but credits a lot to this guy. Turn off the emotional part of the brain seems to be his main theme...

With Ronnie you could see how someone steering his thought process could help him, and some of the Liverpool players may be of a similar disposition, but ultimately its can boil down to how good the manager is at interpersonal relationships to get some players on board. With the money they're earning now and how airy fairy contracts and agents are now using a stick to manage them isn't going to work.
Rodgers in all fairness does seem to have his head screwed on in this regard, whether he himself is getting a bit of coaching on this from Peters is still a sign of a good manager acknowledging what is needed and doing something about it.

[haranguerer]

Its still Rodgers success - a good manager will identify areas of improvement and work on those, be it physically or mentally.

I think theres a massive difference between a few group sessions with a psychologist, and having a full time psychologist who is able to spend time individually with players. Group sessions have to be general, so will be limited, while reinforcement is usually a key part of it, again not really feasible with the odd session. The psychology of everything is so important - whats surprising is that its still seen as a bit 'airy-fairy'

I agree with you to an extent but the experience I had was that the psychologist was saying the same thing as the management,  using the same language etc and I felt it was money wasted getting her in.  There was nothing new added to the mix but it was a limited sample to base an opinion upon.  It is becoming more mainstream nowadays but in sport and also in the corporate field and it obviously is worthwhile.

The last thing you want is someone rhyming off buzz words/phrases, I guess like every profession, theres good and bad, and if no value is being added, it can do damage to the overall perception of psychology, which in all honesty is probably what has happened in a lot of places.