The only place to be

I watch it and wonder why Bertrand shows him onto his left foot. I wonder why Benayoun isn't a bit closer. One of Luiz or Ivanovic should be on him but once again it shows that we need another CB who is a rock. Maybe JT can be that guy for one more season but I'd love us to pick someone up in the summer. In the first half I actually thought we were in total control and Mikel and Rami looked solid. in the second-half our midfield looked lost for the first 10 minutes. Rami improved but once again when we needed a bit of leadership and control in the middle it was lacking. I'd still like to see Oscar deployed in the middle. I really don't know why he can't play in the pivot, but we probably need someone alongside him who is a bit stronger than Rami or Mikel.

No. QPR, Southampton, Reading cost us a top four and no amount of bitey little cunts will change the fact that we've not been that good this season. He got 7 games in Holland, so that is the bare minimum. Throw in the fact he got 8 games for racism and is a repeat offender and he's looking at 10 games minimum in my opinion. Of course this puts Liverpool in a tough position. They pride themselves on somehow being 'better' than other clubs, more pure or some bullshit and this guy is a disgrace to their club. But he's also their best player, so what comes first - pride or selfishness?

Our penalty, their free-kick, Oscar's injury, Bertrand tackle and fracas, four subs+Lamps sub in injury time.

Then you're just inviting pressure onto you. With 30 seconds left what you want is a team forced to lump balls into the area because those are the easiest ones to defend. In theory. What I don't understand is Torres playing ahead of Ba with Thursday's game in mind.

So you bring on a defender? Who for? A midfielder, so you concede more space in the midfield and can't put as much pressure on them. I'm not defending his choices, but when you make tactical changes like bringing on a CB for a midfielder it has ramifications further up the pitch. It was a hopeful lob into the box, and we should've dealt with it better. If you can't do that then you will concede goals, whoever the coach is.

If I'm Benitez, I don't change the shape. He never does, so what I do is put on fresher players to keep the opposition honest. Ultimately players missed assignments. Suarez wasn't marked properly and their players weren't closed down fast enough, but I don't know if I can be bothered to blame Benitez for that. The 11 players on the pitch should've been able to hold out. I criticised him for not bringing on JT against Reading, but that was just stupid defending and individual fuck-ups. That might be down to his coaching in the week leading up to games but I think we have a severe leadership deficiency in our squad right now.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to wake up and remember Suarez bit someone and be more shocked than I am right now. I think at the moment it hasn't sunk in. Once the media get the teeth into in I think the gravity of what he did will hit me. If he got 10 games I wouldn't be surprised. If he got 20 I wouldn't be surprised and if he got nothing I wouldn't be surprised.

Exactly. The most important thing next season is winning the league and we can do that if we finish 4th or 5th this season, in my opinion. If Jose comes without us being in the CL, then he becomes a bigger legend here. He comes when it isn't the easy choice, and we build something special. If he doesn't then we appoint someone else and they may well lead us to great things. Maybe if we can't spend, we're forced to give youth a chance. There are no certainties in life. Finishing top four doesn't guarantee anything, and finishing fifth could be more damaging than I care to think about right now but when I look at where this club is heading I can't help but be hopeful whatever happens.

Mods, come on. We've had this guy trolling for months now and it's getting to be a fucking joke. We've lost a game in pretty shit circumstances, fans are pissed and this cunt comes on and slags off our fans? It's not even like he's trying to hide it anymore and it's taking the piss. Why isn't he banned?

:lol2: Pretty much this. The only worry is what's in their contracts. Some might have release fees which are dependant on us being in the CL, but even then they'd be almost prohibitively high. Mata almost certainly doesn't, Hazard and Oscar haven't had amazingly good seasons that would entice other teams and the reality is that there aren't many teams who could or even would put in a bid. Then there's the youngsters like De Bruyne, Lukaku and Chalobah who could slot into the squad. I'm not saying it's ideal, but WHATEVER happens this season I expect us to push for the title next season. Maybe we go for Pellegrini or Moyes and they surprise us all. Maybe we throw in a youngster or go for an unheralded player and we MAKE a star for once. People need to focus on the most important thing about next season - how fucking nice is our home kit going to look??? :blue scalf: :blue scalf: :blue scalf:

Should have gone where? I don't think Liverpool came to us and said we need a striker and we'll pay what you want, and we asked if they wanted the white one or the black one. Torres earns a lot of money. He's also not very good. Other teams see this, so why would they be in a rush to buy him? We're stuck with him for the foreseeable future so you can either let this giant drain on your resources rot or you give him EVERY chance to succeed, even if it costs you in the short-term. Unfortunately he didn't get better. But at no point in time was it a straight choice between Sturridge and Torres as players - there are massive financial and commercial aspects involved.

Wouldn't it be terrible if we lost amazing supporters like this by not qualifying for the CL.

Hopeful.

So you only had four minutes? I had at least 90 seconds each for the penalty and the free kick. Then you've got FOUR substitutions which is about two minutes. Then there's the Oscar injury and the Bertrand fracas. That's easily six minutes - then we brought on Lamps after the ref had communicated the extra time to the fourth official. But please, if you think I'm off in my workings here then say so.

More insults - have some respect for people who support this club.

So how many minutes did all those stoppages take up? I had it as at least 5 minutes. What did you have? And what minute did we bring Lamps on? Wish I could like this twice.

Agreed. Carried that midfield again today.

Get a fucking grip. He isn't the only manager capable of taking this club to glory. If he doesn't come, we're still Chelsea.

But he wuvs us..... Seriously, if he doesn't want to come here because he won't have Champions League in his first season then that's his choice. If he doesn't want to sit in our dugout, in front of our fans, coaching some of the best young players in Europe because he doesn't get Champions League football for one season then I won't shed a tear. But whoever comes in has a team that is capable of winning this league.

I'm well aware at scum at every club bringing up things like this and using it to mock and abuse other clubs. Disliking it doesn't make me prudish in my opinion. But if you honestly don't think all those stoppages add up then that's fine. I think you should re-watch the match and look just how long the free-kick and penalty took to set up because I think it might surprise you. I'm happy to be proven wrong on that because it's a worthwhile discussion. The rest of the shit I think is best left alone. It does no-one any good to discuss such things in the context of this match.

No.

I know. Unfortunately they are important in this whole discussion. Next year we move forward with Ba and Lukaku hopefully and this thread can die in peace because we'll have better things to discuss.

The only reason you can't convince me is because I've pointed out where the six minutes might have come from. Ridiculous conspiracy theories aren't going to do it. Either way, this is a discussion about the match. Bringing up people's deaths like it's got anything to do with the match is fucking ridiculous and one of the more disgusting aspects of football in this country. Thank god this part of the forum is hidden. Spot on. This came down to us defending a 2-1 lead and failing for the umpteenth time. Lack of character, lack of leadership and lack of bottle primarily in midfield.

And if we hadn't made the financial commitment to Torres we probably could've given him more chances. Fortunately we'll move onwards and upwards.

Our penalty, their free-kick, Oscar's injury, Bertrand's injury off the top of my head. Oh, and apparently 96 people dying had something to do with it. It happens in sport. The first New York Giants football match lasted about 3000 minutes when they played after 9/11.