Liverpool as sloppy as hell in possession for that goal. Good counter attack though.

unfortunate considering how well they have played.well done by Podolski, good early find and great work to return to the ball... Diaby may be the best player on the field right now.

Liverpool are lacking again in the final 3rd... Borini and Suarez are poor at the moment

Apparently when Arsenal control the game, nothing happens. When they don't control possession, they score.

classic counter attack soccer...

cant blame them, what threat has liverpool offered the goal?

Got to say... Arsenal have coasted this. Liverpool look like a mid table team.

I can't help but feel that this win was somewhat satisfying. I will admit I was worried cause I'm not convinced Vito Mannone is that good. I think this match really showed just how much improved Arsenal's defense is, I know I said that already but Liverpool is a whole other level compared to Stoke and Sunderland. The Reds were missing it's lethalness but they were finding chances and Arsenal gave up very little room and cut off a lot of movement.

Agreed. I'm struggling to see where any goals are going to come from with Liverpool. Defending has been a load of arse so far this season, build-up play is too slow, Suarez and Borini both look poor, Gerrard not providing much. Allen is fantastic, but doesn't offer much in attack. Sterling looks great but has no-one to service. Very poor.

_________________
FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ

Rodgers talking about possibly signing Michael Owen in his press conference apparently.

Seems to be the only option left after that dog's arse of a deadline day. Not sure how much that'll help, though.

_________________
FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ

God damn Van Persie, Southampton didn't deserve to lose that match.

A thought on Rodgers...

Swansea was the perfect club for him because for several years they'd built a structure based around passing & controlled possession under two different managers. When he arrived, it was very easy to implement his system because it was virtually already in place. He really just took it to the next level, won promotion and the rest is history. However - he's taken two jobs (Reading & Liverpool) where the system wasn't in place and needed time... years even... to change the culture and programme things into his vision. He didn't last very long at Reading because they weren't willing to be that patient. I'm concerned for his sake that Liverpool likewise won't be that patient. Today they looked like a team trying to do things his way but struggling because it's not second nature like it is at Swansea. If you appoint a manager like Brendan Rodgers you have to be prepared to give him 2-3 years to get it right, and even then you might only seen the early signs of promise.

He's just led Liverpool to their worst league start for 50 years. Will he get the time he needs? Big question mark there. And if he doesn't, the Liverpool fans should turn on the hopeless chuffs running their club. Appointing Daglish, letting him waste millions, appointing a long term manager and then giving him nothing to spend... they have to stick by Rodgers and let him build. Otherwise there was no point appointing him. I just wonder if they're willing to finish 10-15th to let that happen.

Agreed about the players looking like they were trying to stick to the 'system' and failing at it. The team just doesn't look comfortable, they're spending too much focus trying to keep the shape and stick to the system. Every time Liverpool pressed forward, Arsenal got back in numbers and put 8 or 9 men in or around the box, snuffing out Liverpool's labored attacks. When Arsenal broke forward, they did it with pace, and Liverpool's back 4 were left on their own to deal, because the midfield and the front 3 were just standing around holding the shape. This was more evident in the second half, which leads me to believe that they were doing this under Rodgers' instruction.

I'd be willing to give Rodgers two mediocre seasons, but would be looking to seriously challenge the top 4 in season 3. FSG really screwed up last season, but if they can use this season and next to build on what Rodgers wants to instill, recoup some of their losses from last season, then go hard after some big names next offseason, we might have a chance. You can see what Rodgers wants to do, and you can see that players like Allen, Sterling and possible Sahin are capable of doing it, but I'm not so sure about Suarez, Gerrard, and the centerbacks. Something has to be done about the shocking defending.

_________________
FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ

I agree about the transfer window being a nightmare. I don't think a window of any kind is needed. Buy or sell as you please but players are still cup tied as they are now. Twitter has made everything even more of a nightmare. even just as a fan. Despite knowing that a rumour involving your club is 95% likely to be bollocks I still feel disappointed when you hear that it's not going to happen.

As for this window - agree about Liverpool & Arsenal.

Everton - I'll take your word for it. I know nothing about Naismith or Oviedo. Pienaar's alright. Spurs should have kept him but 'Arry ballsed that up for us, sending him back to Everton on loan right when we needed him.

City - Maicon was awful in the 2 games I saw him in against Spurs. Mancini obviously knows him but I wouldn't have thought he'd improve their team much. Don't know the other players bought.

Spurs - I thought we came out alright. Modric was never sticking around, regardless of who was managing the club, so our top priority had to be finding a replacement. I think Dembele brings a different skillset, but a comprehensive skill set nonetheless, and should be able to do a decent job. We really could have done with signing Moutinho as well though. I'm very happy about Lloris. He's a good keeper and more comfortable playing the ball with his feet than Friedel, which is something AVB's keepers need to be able to do. Friedel was never going to be a long term option and I don't think we could have done any better. The price was decent too. I wouldn't mind betting that Jack Butland would have cost a significant amount more than Lloris, De Gea was twice the price. Vertonghen should turn out to be a good buy. Sigurdsson looks a good player and Dempsey is a steal at £6m. He doesn't have van der Vaart's class but he can play for 90 minutes and score goals. Under Armour will be happy too. Not that that matters. Adebayor's good, although Llorente or Leandro would make me feel more confident.

Out of curiosity, which are the Spurs transfers in the past that you were more impressed by? van der Vaart is the obvious one. The Modric signing was pretty much universally slated by the English press as he was too small to play in the premier league. The signing of Walker (and Naughton) was obviously astute. Sandro's class. Who else? Nelsen, Saha, Gomes, Bent, Bentley, Friedel, dos Santos, Pavlyuchenko, Corluka, Pienaar, Cudicini, Kaboul, Krancjar, Assou-Ekotto, Bostock.... some have had more success than others, but I don't think Spurs are a club renowned for exceptional transfer nouse. I don't think we had a bad haul. We've got some depth now, certainly with the centre backs and midfielders anyway.

I didn't expect the team to get off to a great start, which is proving to be the case, but I think we'll be okay in the medium, long term. What became obvious in this window is that the owners are not prepared to spend money for the sake of it; the balance sheet ended up £11m in profit on Friday night. I think we've suffered in the transfer market by not qualifying for the Champions League. We should have done but we didn't. It is what it is. COYS!

I've also just read that Levy was out Levy'd by Porto, ie raised the price after initially agreeing the fee (by £4m, which Levy then accepted, only to have Porto mess up the paperwork to the FA, hence Spurs seeking an extension. No idea if it's true, but it's from one of the few Spurs sources that tends to be pretty much on the money and not in the habit of making things up for the sake of it.

Apparently Ronaldo is unhappy at Madrid. Time to invoke the 'special relationship' Levy!

Yeah that'll happen, when pigs fly out of the devils ass while hell freezes over. Their "relationship" with Madrid isn't that special.

Say what? There is no possible outcome to this that doesn't involve Cristiano Ronaldo in a Spurs shirt next weekend. I mean, we have a 'special relationship'.

Exactly, who else could he possibly go to?

_________________
FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ

Turns out the reason for Ronaldo being unhappy is because his father died on September 2nd, 2005.

Ronaldo is unhappy because he has to play Barcelona 8 times a year and messi, xavi and iniesta repeatedly win awards over him.


That and he is a red devil at heart. He will return for fergies last season.

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk 2

_________________

Man up, stand in line.