Think this is great thinking by Rodgers.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/sep/03/brendan-rodgers-luis-suarez-liverpool
To me borini desperately needs playing time if he is going to realise any potential. I still think it is there and he has been unfortunate with injuries and shots in the post (goals breeds confidence) but playing time at Sunderland may help. I expected Suarez to be behind Sturridge but then again coutinho's development would suffer. This may be the best way to get the best out of everyone.
Suarez loves the game and may be mire of a provider in this system while also beating a man often himself and scoring coming in from the side. We have seen him do this in the past but then from the left and with Moses not being set on one side. I think they may rotate going forward even within games to confuse and frustrate teams.
With injuries we are not in a bad spot as well with apas, raheem ready to step in if needed and there is real competition for places now.
Lets hope we focus on staying in the domestic cup so everyone gets some playing time because if we go out early, and without European football there is a chance a few players won't be happy. Having said that there is fine balance between getting enough playing time for squad players and talent and having too thin a squad.
With two new central defenders we are much better stacked there. I have not seen much of sakho but from friends that watch the French league he comes recommended with strength and pace.
Tiago Illori is a 20 year old central defender with potential and one for the future I suspect. Know even less about him but I would argue we needed cover both with Coates and Cissoko out for the long term with injury.
Agger we know can be prone to injury and I suspect toure could be it as well with his age.
Recall also that we let Jack Robinson go on loan and I do not trust others like Flanagan.
It is easy to forget about Martin Kelly who is just coming back from long term injury and is injury prone as well. He is a massive talent and not sure how much Rodgers rates him.
Despite keeping him playing most of last season I think Rodgers wished that at times he could have rested Agger when he had niggling injuries or a knock. He didn't feel skertel was in a position or form where he could be trusted and that is when carra found his way back to the team. And to his credit he game in and played very well. Ledgend!
Now because other very good players coming in, we have players raring to go and in form and players like skertel, sakho, apas and Cissoko which may not be starters could be trusted to come in and do an excellent job. We even have youth that could argue they are close to deserving a starting 11 in wisdom and sterling.
Competition for places has been created and with some strengthening the squad is looking very healthy and forces everyone to up their game.
United win
That is a perfect segway to Skertel's performance on the weekend because he did just that, he upped his game.
He was up against the best striker in the league and performed admirably. He hurried and hassled RVP throughout the game, played physical and ended up coming away with the clean sheet. Danny wellbeck, at least before he was moved out wide didn't not seem to create much as well. Although this result was down to a good all-around team performance where we restricted them to few chances there was more organisation than we saw last year in defence from Agger and Skertel early in the season. Skertel admitted they had worked on defensive organization a lot in the post match interview and it showed.
One could argue that united were not at their best and missed Rooney who allegedly had an accidental cut across his face suffered in training but still I expected United to do more.
Sturridge showed instinct on the goal and said he thought Dan agger may get to the ball first which he did well to do. Yes Rio Ferdinand could have defended it better but I think agger deserves credit for getting there first. It also looked like it was going wide until sturridge got the touch and his quick thinking was the decider and did the trick.
All round impressive performances from sturridge over the last 3 games and few can argue that he deserves to keep his place up front as the main man. He was even carrying a knock going into this one but got us the decisive goal.
Others that I thought played well was glen Johnson and Jose Enrique. They stayed more defensive than earlier and really tried to limit the times they came forward and that makes a lot of sense when playing against one of the strongest teams in the league. Johnson picked his spots and came close a time or two with his bursts forward.
I personally can't remember off the top that Enrique came forward much which speaks to how well Phil Jones played at right back, but he kept Ashley young pretty quiet. He also did an admirable job controlling Valencia when he came on at right back for the injured Jones in second half. Valencia started overlapping as united saw more of the ball and the extra pressure was defended well by Enrique along with the help of the defensive mids who occasionally stepped wide then later when with more prominent assistance from Raheem Sterling came on for Apas.
Despite working hard apas had a pretty indifferent game in my opinion. His touches and ref decisions simply did not go his way. Raheem slowly seems to be learning defensive discipline and duties as well but I can't see him being as direct as he used to be when he really came on the scene highlighted by perhaps his best performance against Man city last year.
We let united have a lot of the ball second half especially and my colleague Malcolm mentioned we have not played the greatest football since the start of the season. And to be fair I agree with him but we have had very efficient performances and got the results.
That is after all the key and most important thing and what we admired by managers like Fergie, Morinho and perhaps Wenger in his invincible season. Winning on on not great days is extremely important if we want to force our way into that top 4 stop.
We have been able to keep it tight defensively for the first 3 games and we have not looked nervous or looked like breaking down when under pressure. That is maybe where I have been most impressed.
Winning ugly at times or allowing the opposition to have the ball when in control has not previously been something that Rodgers have talked about and as we get better I expect him to push for more possession, chances and domination but against stoke villa and united it has made sense. Maybe especially against the latter two because of the forward prowess they possess and the quality in their offence.
This shows that Rodgers has grown as a manager and learnt. It should also be mentioned that we have had some luck and you need to be good and lucky.
We are not going to be at our best early in the season and I think there has been some margins on our side in the first few matches. Mignolet and Sturridge has been the stand out players. Toure and agger has also impressed. Johnson has had a great start and had gotten rid of defensive errors.
Gerrard and Lucas looks to be getting better and better. Same with Enrique.
I think in midfield and up front we have a lot to look to the future to because I think they will play better as we come up against weaker opposition, we get to work on chemistry with Apas and Moses coming in as still new faces and with of course Suarez coming back. Much has been said about Coutinho and Sturridge hitting it off and having chemistry but although promising I would like to see that working more across the board and I think it will come.
Top of the table and it has been a great start. Lets hope it continues. Win against united I hoped for but I did not expect it.
PS! I thought Henderson worked his socks off and him and Lucas had their best games so far which bodes well for the future also.
YNWA,
Stian
Sent from my HTC
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/sep/03/brendan-rodgers-luis-suarez-liverpool
To me borini desperately needs playing time if he is going to realise any potential. I still think it is there and he has been unfortunate with injuries and shots in the post (goals breeds confidence) but playing time at Sunderland may help. I expected Suarez to be behind Sturridge but then again coutinho's development would suffer. This may be the best way to get the best out of everyone.
Suarez loves the game and may be mire of a provider in this system while also beating a man often himself and scoring coming in from the side. We have seen him do this in the past but then from the left and with Moses not being set on one side. I think they may rotate going forward even within games to confuse and frustrate teams.
With injuries we are not in a bad spot as well with apas, raheem ready to step in if needed and there is real competition for places now.
Lets hope we focus on staying in the domestic cup so everyone gets some playing time because if we go out early, and without European football there is a chance a few players won't be happy. Having said that there is fine balance between getting enough playing time for squad players and talent and having too thin a squad.
With two new central defenders we are much better stacked there. I have not seen much of sakho but from friends that watch the French league he comes recommended with strength and pace.
Tiago Illori is a 20 year old central defender with potential and one for the future I suspect. Know even less about him but I would argue we needed cover both with Coates and Cissoko out for the long term with injury.
Agger we know can be prone to injury and I suspect toure could be it as well with his age.
Recall also that we let Jack Robinson go on loan and I do not trust others like Flanagan.
It is easy to forget about Martin Kelly who is just coming back from long term injury and is injury prone as well. He is a massive talent and not sure how much Rodgers rates him.
Despite keeping him playing most of last season I think Rodgers wished that at times he could have rested Agger when he had niggling injuries or a knock. He didn't feel skertel was in a position or form where he could be trusted and that is when carra found his way back to the team. And to his credit he game in and played very well. Ledgend!
Now because other very good players coming in, we have players raring to go and in form and players like skertel, sakho, apas and Cissoko which may not be starters could be trusted to come in and do an excellent job. We even have youth that could argue they are close to deserving a starting 11 in wisdom and sterling.
Competition for places has been created and with some strengthening the squad is looking very healthy and forces everyone to up their game.
United win
That is a perfect segway to Skertel's performance on the weekend because he did just that, he upped his game.
He was up against the best striker in the league and performed admirably. He hurried and hassled RVP throughout the game, played physical and ended up coming away with the clean sheet. Danny wellbeck, at least before he was moved out wide didn't not seem to create much as well. Although this result was down to a good all-around team performance where we restricted them to few chances there was more organisation than we saw last year in defence from Agger and Skertel early in the season. Skertel admitted they had worked on defensive organization a lot in the post match interview and it showed.
One could argue that united were not at their best and missed Rooney who allegedly had an accidental cut across his face suffered in training but still I expected United to do more.
Sturridge showed instinct on the goal and said he thought Dan agger may get to the ball first which he did well to do. Yes Rio Ferdinand could have defended it better but I think agger deserves credit for getting there first. It also looked like it was going wide until sturridge got the touch and his quick thinking was the decider and did the trick.
All round impressive performances from sturridge over the last 3 games and few can argue that he deserves to keep his place up front as the main man. He was even carrying a knock going into this one but got us the decisive goal.
Others that I thought played well was glen Johnson and Jose Enrique. They stayed more defensive than earlier and really tried to limit the times they came forward and that makes a lot of sense when playing against one of the strongest teams in the league. Johnson picked his spots and came close a time or two with his bursts forward.
I personally can't remember off the top that Enrique came forward much which speaks to how well Phil Jones played at right back, but he kept Ashley young pretty quiet. He also did an admirable job controlling Valencia when he came on at right back for the injured Jones in second half. Valencia started overlapping as united saw more of the ball and the extra pressure was defended well by Enrique along with the help of the defensive mids who occasionally stepped wide then later when with more prominent assistance from Raheem Sterling came on for Apas.
Despite working hard apas had a pretty indifferent game in my opinion. His touches and ref decisions simply did not go his way. Raheem slowly seems to be learning defensive discipline and duties as well but I can't see him being as direct as he used to be when he really came on the scene highlighted by perhaps his best performance against Man city last year.
We let united have a lot of the ball second half especially and my colleague Malcolm mentioned we have not played the greatest football since the start of the season. And to be fair I agree with him but we have had very efficient performances and got the results.
That is after all the key and most important thing and what we admired by managers like Fergie, Morinho and perhaps Wenger in his invincible season. Winning on on not great days is extremely important if we want to force our way into that top 4 stop.
We have been able to keep it tight defensively for the first 3 games and we have not looked nervous or looked like breaking down when under pressure. That is maybe where I have been most impressed.
Winning ugly at times or allowing the opposition to have the ball when in control has not previously been something that Rodgers have talked about and as we get better I expect him to push for more possession, chances and domination but against stoke villa and united it has made sense. Maybe especially against the latter two because of the forward prowess they possess and the quality in their offence.
This shows that Rodgers has grown as a manager and learnt. It should also be mentioned that we have had some luck and you need to be good and lucky.
We are not going to be at our best early in the season and I think there has been some margins on our side in the first few matches. Mignolet and Sturridge has been the stand out players. Toure and agger has also impressed. Johnson has had a great start and had gotten rid of defensive errors.
Gerrard and Lucas looks to be getting better and better. Same with Enrique.
I think in midfield and up front we have a lot to look to the future to because I think they will play better as we come up against weaker opposition, we get to work on chemistry with Apas and Moses coming in as still new faces and with of course Suarez coming back. Much has been said about Coutinho and Sturridge hitting it off and having chemistry but although promising I would like to see that working more across the board and I think it will come.
Top of the table and it has been a great start. Lets hope it continues. Win against united I hoped for but I did not expect it.
PS! I thought Henderson worked his socks off and him and Lucas had their best games so far which bodes well for the future also.
YNWA,
Stian
Sent from my HTC
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