23 Aug 2017 22:20:23
Sorry for the long post but bare with me and let me know ed01 and fans if u agree or disagree (its all about opinions at the end of the day with football) A few things on tonight's game.

Brilliant play for the goals could have had more but hoffenhim were a mess at the back and surprisingly for them really let themselves down defensively! Regardless, mane firmino and can in particular were outstanding!

I still maintain I'd like to see us with a striker in the Torres/ drogba/ costa/ van persie mould, someone who stays in the box and that all those teams who win the premiership have! Firmino could do a great job from a deeper free role, too often tonight when I looked up there was no one in the box and the players who were were mostly mane or salah who aren't the biggest and with Robertson delivery in the future a better target man and more traditional striker would be great to have in there who can reach 20+ goals.

Henderson had a great captains performance getting stuck in plenty, tidying up a lot of loose balls, and good passing range both long and short!

Taa excellent again both in defence and delivery into the box (again just wishing a traditional striker was in there more often)

Finally to end on a low unfortunately our defence is just a joke, I always feel like we are going to concede and that's not good enough! I've always given lovren the benefit of the doubt but tonight against really poor opposition who fortunately couldn't take all the chances they were presented, particular that gnarby lad, he was really poor and sloppy along with moreno. It's like they don't realise the importance of being solid at the back and what's at stake at times regardless of the scoreline! Those performances would stand for a conte, or pochetino or mourinho or most coaches at the top of the league or bottom for that matter!

However I still don't know if new defensive recruitment this summer will make a big difference! Not all the problems will be sorted and to be honest I'm not entirely sure what the problem is cos I'm not a manager or coach being paid top money! But the problem has been there for years now under klopp Rodgers Dalglish and Hodgson, the last manager to have put just as much effort into defense as the rest of the team was benetiz and that worked out well for a good while under him! We need to adapt our overall play aswell as some personnel in the team.

Anyway great to be back in the champions league really hope some depth is added now to that squad which is going to face a minimum extra 6 games now this season and hopefully more!

1.) 23 Aug 2017
23 Aug 2017 22:58:28
You speak a lot of sense, but I am not sure if there is a better Number 9 for our system than Bobby F. The more static likes of Sturridge and Benteke cannot make it work. In terms of defence, Lovren has to be the most disappointing signing since Phil Babb - both were big money signings, and both proved to be seriously underpar.

2.) 23 Aug 2017
23 Aug 2017 23:29:36
The one that springs to my mind is Harry Kane. He grinds all the time, and works really hard for his team. And, bare the month of August, he is lethal.

Is that realistic? Nah.

3.) 24 Aug 2017
24 Aug 2017 00:55:36
I actually like the look of Solanke - works hard upfront and a useful CF, but for now Firmino every time. We're not struggling to score and he was involved in most of our best moves and goals today.

4.) 24 Aug 2017
24 Aug 2017 03:20:11
Benitez was lucky enough to have Carragher already at the club. Sami, Agger and Skrtel were all decent, but I think Carra's leadership and organizational qualities helped solidify the defense under Rafa's reign. Pepe Reina was brilliant also - nearly forgot about him. So Rafa deserves some credit, definitely, but I wonder if we'd have been so solid for such a long time without Carra?