Liverpool F.c.

[StevieH]

In that case, they must have been told and coached to play crap.

Of course the team and the players are affected by the way that they are managed, but come on, if we were having a discussion on how woeful Rooney has been for England i don't think you'd be sitting there wasting much time defending him. He has played crap, just as Gerrard has too. Do you really think it necessary to baby these guys?

i'm not 'babying' anyone. just saying that england have, for the past 10 years and more, had a habit of playing players in roles they don't play for their clubs - and then people are surprised when the players don't perform as effectively in an england shirt as they do for their clubs. that's just bad management. when it became clear that rooney and gerrard were both at their most effective as second strikers england should have built a 4-2-3-1 system which looked to get them two on the ball as often as possible in the 3 off the lone striker. but various managers continued to play flat 4-4-2s with gerrard in a centre mid two and rooney too far forward. that is them being told and coached to play crap. and then when it was crap during matches successive england managers still didn't change things. ferguson, wenger, benitez, mourinho - all would have had england performing to a much higher level given the players available in the past decade.

so back to LFC - rumour today appears to be raheem sterling starting on the left of the front three. i am both excited and terrified by this.

[StevieH]

yep, confirmed.

reina, kelly, skrtel, coates, johnson; lucas, allen, gerrard; suarez, borini, sterling. big vote of confidence in the wee lad and a big eff you to stewart downing. come on redmen.

city left out lescott and silva too, surprisingly.

[smokie36]

Well played! Desperately unlucky not to win....plenty positives there though.

[JacknDanny]

Well played! Desperately unlucky not to win....plenty positives there though.

'' Desperately unlucky not to win'' !!!

What game were you watching smokes????

Draw was a fair result, even though City didnt play that well.

With Citys horrible record at Anfield it was a good result

[carmine]

In that case, they must have been told and coached to play crap.

Of course the team and the players are affected by the way that they are managed, but come on, if we were having a discussion on how woeful Rooney has been for England i don't think you'd be sitting there wasting much time defending him. He has played crap, just as Gerrard has too. Do you really think it necessary to baby these guys?

i'm not 'babying' anyone. just saying that england have, for the past 10 years and more, had a habit of playing players in roles they don't play for their clubs - and then people are surprised when the players don't perform as effectively in an england shirt as they do for their clubs. that's just bad management. when it became clear that rooney and gerrard were both at their most effective as second strikers england should have built a 4-2-3-1 system which looked to get them two on the ball as often as possible in the 3 off the lone striker. but various managers continued to play flat 4-4-2s with gerrard in a centre mid two and rooney too far forward. that is them being told and coached to play crap. and then when it was crap during matches successive england managers still didn't change things. ferguson, wenger, benitez, mourinho - all would have had england performing to a much higher level given the players available in the past decade.

so back to LFC - rumour today appears to be raheem sterling starting on the left of the front three. i am both excited and terrified by this.

Then you must be very satisfied with Sterling. This lad is going to be superb. I hope Rodgers plays him as much as poss. he can clearly perform at this level already but must be careful not to burn him out.

[StevieH]

'' Desperately unlucky not to win'' !!!

What game were you watching smokes????

Draw was a fair result, even though City didnt play that well.

With Citys horrible record at Anfield it was a good result

i was watching the game where we had to gift you two goals to give you a point. and city didn't play that well because liverpool didn't let them play well. yaya toure said it was the hardest match he's played in since he arrived in england.

Then you must be very satisfied with Sterling. This lad is going to be superb. I hope Rodgers plays him as much as poss. he can clearly perform at this level already but must be careful not to burn him out.

delighted with him, thought he had an excellent full debut. he's definitely ready to throw in now, just need to manage him right as you say. glen johnson had an absolute blinder looking after him mind.

[smokie36]

Well played! Desperately unlucky not to win....plenty positives there though.

'' Desperately unlucky not to win'' !!!

What game were you watching smokes????

Draw was a fair result, even though City didnt play that well.

With Citys horrible record at Anfield it was a good result

Got your rose tinted specs on today Jack.

[rijit]

Caught the last 20 min's and thought you looked good. And although you can never write man city off, for me you looked the better team, shame you seemed 2 gift man city the draw. Ps Stirling looks the part.

[sharecropper]

As a neutral it was a superb game, and a fair result. I would be happier as a Liverpool supporter with that performance than a City supporter with theirs though.

Skirtel's backpass was a mirror image of Distin's howler in the FA Semi last season. Unbelievable.

[MrRed]

'' Desperately unlucky not to win'' !!!

What game were you watching smokes????

Draw was a fair result, even though City didnt play that well.

With Citys horrible record at Anfield it was a good result

i was watching the game where we had to gift you two goals to give you a point. and city didn't play that well because liverpool didn't let them play well. yaya toure said it was the hardest match he's played in since he arrived in england.

Then you must be very satisfied with Sterling. This lad is going to be superb. I hope Rodgers plays him as much as poss. he can clearly perform at this level already but must be careful not to burn him out.

delighted with him, thought he had an excellent full debut. he's definitely ready to throw in now, just need to manage him right as you say. glen johnson had an absolute blinder looking after him mind.

I saw it that way also Johnson played extremely well in support of Sterling,I did mention last week to you that i saw Sterling a s a player Rodgers would like and fair play to the manager he has pushed him on.

I thought City where negative with there set-up from the beginning i just hope they keep playing Balotelli the best player ever!!

[StevieH]

As a neutral it was a superb game, and a fair result. I would be happier as a Liverpool supporter with that performance than a City supporter with theirs though.

Skirtel's backpass was a mirror image of Distin's howler in the FA Semi last season. Unbelievable.

i've never understood it, these are senior, experienced pros - and yet they still make that mistake that is hammered into them from the age of about 11 onwards. never pass the ball across your own penalty area, and never, ever, ever backpass blind. put it out for a throw if you don't know what's between you and your keeper. was livid with skrtel for that because until then he'd been pretty much flawless.

[carmine]

'' Desperately unlucky not to win'' !!!

What game were you watching smokes????

Draw was a fair result, even though City didnt play that well.

With Citys horrible record at Anfield it was a good result

i was watching the game where we had to gift you two goals to give you a point. and city didn't play that well because liverpool didn't let them play well. yaya toure said it was the hardest match he's played in since he arrived in england.

Then you must be very satisfied with Sterling. This lad is going to be superb. I hope Rodgers plays him as much as poss. he can clearly perform at this level already but must be careful not to burn him out.

delighted with him, thought he had an excellent full debut. he's definitely ready to throw in now, just need to manage him right as you say. glen johnson had an absolute blinder looking after him mind.

I saw it that way also Johnson played extremely well in support of Sterling,I did mention last week to you that i saw Sterling a s a player Rodgers would like and fair play to the manager he has pushed him on.

I thought City where negative with there set-up from the beginning i just hope they keep playing Balotelli the best player ever!!

Super Mario is the biggest waste of space for 200k a week in the history of football. And a total liability with the brains of a pot plant

[StevieH]

Super Mario is the biggest waste of space for 200k a week in the history of football. And a total liability with the brains of a pot plant

i was pretty confident he was going to get sent off again yesterday until mancini replaced him with dzeko.

[carmine]

Super Mario is the biggest waste of space for 200k a week in the history of football. And a total liability with the brains of a pot plant

i was pretty confident he was going to get sent off again yesterday until mancini replaced him with dzeko.

Absolutely, always on the cards. Apart from the odd very good goal what does he bring to the table aside of petulance and stupidty. With City's calibre upfront i can't understand how he gets a look in baring an injury crisis.

[MrRed]

Because he is Mancini's golden boy and the city faithful think he is a character a fruitcake has character!

[carmine]

Because he is Mancini's golden boy and the city faithful think he is a character a fruitcake has character!

He's not a character he's a complete bellend. Mourinho had him worked out didn't he. Mancini's poor judgement is subsidised by the fact he has so much other talent. Most other managers couldn't get away with his blind faith in Balotelli.

[mrbojangles]

Because he is Mancini's golden boy and the city faithful think he is a character a fruitcake has character!

You must have a short memory as it was Mario who was instrumental in turning the game around against QPR. You know, that game that decided we were Champions.

[StevieH]

Because he is Mancini's golden boy and the city faithful think he is a character a fruitcake has character!

He's not a character he's a complete bellend. Mourinho had him worked out didn't he. Mancini's poor judgement is subsidised by the fact he has so much other talent. Most other managers couldn't get away with his blind faith in Balotelli.

i think mancini sees a bit of himself in balotelli. mancini was quite a nutter as a player from bits i've read over the years. gifted genius of a player but very headstrong etc.

[MrRed]

Because he is Mancini's golden boy and the city faithful think he is a character a fruitcake has character!

You must have a short memory as it was Mario who was instrumental in turning the game around against QPR. You know, that game that decided we were Champions.

Long may you think that Bertie. we gave it to you

[carmine]

Because he is Mancini's golden boy and the city faithful think he is a character a fruitcake has character!

You must have a short memory as it was Mario who was instrumental in turning the game around against QPR. You know, that game that decided we were Champions.

Long may you think that Bertie. we gave it to you

I have to agree with MrRed

If he's so good how come most other fans want him as first name on the teamsheet when we play you?

[mrbojangles]

Because he is Mancini's golden boy and the city faithful think he is a character a fruitcake has character!

You must have a short memory as it was Mario who was instrumental in turning the game around against QPR. You know, that game that decided we were Champions.

Long may you think that Bertie. we gave it to you

If you think giving it to us was by us totally embarrassing you at your gaff last season, long may you think that RAG

[MrRed]

Wigan and Everton is where we gave it to you at the end of the season but hey ho Mr Bo,i am not bitter!

[mrbojangles]

Because he is Mancini's golden boy and the city faithful think he is a character a fruitcake has character!

You must have a short memory as it was Mario who was instrumental in turning the game around against QPR. You know, that game that decided we were Champions.

Long may you think that Bertie. we gave it to you

I have to agree with MrRed

If he's so good how come most other fans want him as first name on the teamsheet when we play you?

And your memory is short too Carms. It was Mario who scored in injury time against your lot last season for us to win 3-2. You just carry on wanting him on the teamsheet. Although he didn't score in our 5-1 slaughtering of you at your gaff. .

[mrbojangles]

Wigan and Everton is where we gave it to you at the end of the season but hey ho Mr Bo,i am not bitter!

I think you forget that we were the ones leading for the majority of the season and it was us who gave away the lead to you first.

Edit:- sorry Liverpool fans, we are totally off topic here.

[carmine]

Mr B, apologies to Liverpool fans for being off topic but i want to answer you here.

The facts of the matter are that Balotelli should never have been on the pitch to score against us should bar some appalling refereeing. he remained because the ref was either blind of choose to ignore Mario stamping down very delberately on Parkers face. Why? Because he simply didn't like being "legally" tackled.

Edited August 27, 2012 by carmine

[MrRed]

Perceptions are just that,we wore you down same as we will do this season and we blew it big time.

African nations this year? Rodwell and Sinclair bring them on interesting that Lescott and Silva where left out yesterday.

I think that Mancini is blinded by the light.

[MrRed]

It is related to Liverpool a little as they played them yesterday and should of won but for a mistake.

Apologies anyway!

[rott]

As a neutral it was a superb game, and a fair result. I would be happier as a Liverpool supporter with that performance than a City supporter with theirs though.

Skirtel's backpass was a mirror image of Distin's howler in the FA Semi last season. Unbelievable.

i've never understood it, these are senior, experienced pros - and yet they still make that mistake that is hammered into them from the age of about 11 onwards. never pass the ball across your own penalty area, and never, ever, ever backpass blind. put it out for a throw if you don't know what's between you and your keeper. was livid with skrtel for that because until then he'd been pretty much flawless.

One of the few things I remember from Anfield Road Juniors---never pass it across your own goal in the goal area (well we were 7 year olds at the time) get rid of it, get it away.

[Devil]

Plenty of positives from the game but I just hope we can raise our game like this against lessor opposition or will it be the same old story. 1 point in 2 games is disappointing regardless who we have played.

Suarez was having a shocker for me but came up with a blinder of a free kick!

Borini looks uncomfortable out wide, his touch has let him down a few times now and he looks much better in and around the box than outside- reminds me of a quicker Kuyt also with great work rate.

For me Allen has been a fantastic signing so far and seems to of hit the ground running, his composure and ability to always move the ball around even when under pressure stands out. Very Interested to see if he is paired with Sahin in the centre for the next few games now that Lucas picked up a muscle strain.

[StevieH]

If he's so good how come most other fans want him as first name on the teamsheet when we play you?

i'll have a bet that if you did a survey where you asked which city player would you like to be first name on the teamsheet 99% of people would respond 'savic'. or as he now appears to be known 'the hapless savic'.

One of the few things I remember from Anfield Road Juniors---never pass it across your own goal in the goal area (well we were 7 year olds at the time) get rid of it, get it away.

there's nothing quite like 20 pressups in the cold rain and mud to make you not do it again though eh?