14 Sep 2014 16:33:17
I'm not as concerned about the game now that I have cooled down. I am, however, hoping that BR sorts his problems out soon.

First mistake: how many Of the players onthe starting sheet were new signings? Balo, markovic, lallana, lovren, manquillo, Moreno. That's more than half of our outfield players. Now, I should honestly put mistake in quotes. I've noticed some fans already slagging off on the performance of Lallana and the outlook of Balotelli. I'll address both.
Lallana looked clever every time he got the ball. I was actually very impressed with him. He worked very hard, perhaps even harder than Hendo, and he is sorely lacking in match fitness. Give him time, he will be much needed.

Balotelli hasn't scored for two games now. Several fans are concerned that he won't score much. I'll be honest, his performance yesterday deserved a goal, but he had to do everything himself. Everytime he got the ball he was impressive. But, he never got a chance to score because the delivery was poor.

Second mistake: balotelli leads me tothe second mistake. What on earth is Brendan doing changing the formation? I admire his adaptability; we've seen many different formations. But, the one that was successful was the diamond. We lost one player, albeit our top scorer, and now we are changing it to 4-3-3. If we are going to play a defensive holding midfielder, then it needs to be 4-1-3-2 with the diamond.

Third mistake: I hate to judge this guy, he can be a little wizard at times, but coutinho wasn't useful yesterday. Toward the end he was unfortunate with a few blocks, but, his through balls were, as usual, drastically over hit. If he can't play passes through to our pacey players then his fancy dribbling gets us nowhere. He's taking up a position that Lallana does very very well.

Fourth mistake: someone has to be waiting for me to say Sterling on the bench. Well, I'm not. The lack of a second striker destroyed us. I am not at all convinced by Rickie Lambert, but, if you're going to sign the guy, then you shouldn't be afraid to start him. Lambert works so well with another striker, from what I've seen statistically. Would I prefer seeing sterling as a second striker? Yes. Can he play every game? NO. what happens when he goes down injured and arguably our best player is out for months?

Fifth mistake: this isn't as much a mistake as a rant. playing at Anfield. Comon guys, even I noticed it from the states on the television. There was absolutely no noise coming from our fans besides the urging on or clapping as we gained momentum. I've read many fans say why is the Kop so quiet now? Y'all need to get marry and drink if you're becoming bashful. Anfield should be our fortress.

Will most of this fix itself? Yes, I believe with game time, it will. Some of it is on Brendan, and the rest we have to be patient for. Aston villa parked the bus after we gifted them a goal. But we aren't the only ones to have dropped points at home thus far. Keep the faith, it just wasn't our day.

Ps: ( sorry for the longevity of the post)

{Ed042's Note - very good post
and thanks a lot for posting it here

1.) 14 Sep 2014
Good post TJ, agree with everything you state there.

{Ed044's Note - }

2.) 14 Sep 2014
Good post, nicely constructed.
Completely agree with points 1, 2 & 5
Completely disagree with points 3&4

Dropping Sterling was a huge mistake. Which team will we struggling most against at Anfield? Villa, a bogey team, frequently parking the bus or Ludogrets? Drop him for Ludogrets by all means, but not a league match against a stubborn defence.

Coutinho vs Lallana? Only one winner for me, I was not impressed at all with Coutinho, but he was much more of a threat than Lallana. I'm desperately trying not to wade in on Lallana, so I'll stick to saying Coutinho was more of a threat.

Markovic? He's a young lad new to the premiership, I have no high expectations of him this season.

{Ed044's Note - my thoughts coming shortly....}