Gruesome stuff being played out at WBA, 2-0 flatters Liverpool. Liverpool are just phenomenally slow building attacks and even slower getting back once committed in their opponent's half.

Ah, now it's 3-0.

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This hurts to watch. There's absolutely no off the ball movement from Liverpool.

The amounbt of Garri Liverpool were drinking, I thought I was watching an episode of Man V Food.

Liverpool are a very poor team and if Suarez and Reina had any sense, they would get the hell out of there.

Rodgers was a fool to take that job on as they need at lkeast 5 new first team players.

'Brendan Rogers Liverpool' would make a more apposite thread title.

Final whistle 3-0, if so Liverpool and Rodgers can take something from this. If it had ended 5 or 6 nil, and it really should have, then they'd never have recovered.

Joe Allen played well for Liverpool, Suarez worked hard until the second goal. They're the only positives I can find. Steve Gerrard and possession football don't work.

Jesus wept, 3-0 and they missed a penalty.

I almost wish QPR and Norwich hadn't been even more inept, it's denied me a league table with Liverpool right at the bottom.

Rogin the Kitten Minder wrote:


Dont worry, plenty of time for that

They weren't kidding

Just seen it on Match of the Day. For all their incompetence at the back, Liverpool might still have had some chance of sneaking a result if Suarez hadn't cocked up all seven of the chances that came his way, getting just two of them on target. A masterclass in shit finishing.

Don't think Downing's name was mentioned once in the entire highlights.

West Brom should have had at least five goals (the missed pen and Morrison's wasted sitter) and might have had seven. Some hit by Gera for the first one.

He cleared the ball off the line once

Analogue Bubblebath II wrote:

No change there then. His shot conversion rate last season was pitiful. He's got loads of ability, but his finishing is pitiful. he needs a finisher that he can sit behind, and Rodgers has already decided that he doesn't want Carroll to do it.

Sean of the Shed wrote:


He had the worst shots-to-goals ratio of any striker in the entire division last year. Even Carroll, who is useless, put away a higher percentage of the chances he got.

The woeful header over the bar in the first half today reminded me of Kevin Keegan in the Bernabeu.

Yeah, another sad, sad match against a side that should be beaten. But the days of thinking about other sides as mid-table are gone since we're there as well.

I wasn't very happy when Glenn Johnson was purchased but he seems to have turned out ok for Liverpool and had a good tournament for England, but I can't figure out why Liverpool continues to put him on the left, where he basically does nothing going forward. It's not like Kelly is on his way to becoming a superstar on the right. He's not horrible, but certainly not better than Johnson. Rodgers' playing Johnson on the left basically degrades the defense X 2.

I thought Joe Cole cut a very, very sad figure.

danielmak wrote:


Johnson played on the left because Enrique was injured rather than out of anyone's preference, I believe. It does beg the question of why there is no specialist cover at left back though.

I can only echo all the comments about Suarez's finishing, I didn't get to see MotD until 2am and was contemplating starting a thread entitled 'Luis Suarez - Worst Finisher in World Top Fight Football?' until I saw it well covered here.

I certainly can think of no other forward with such a huge disparity between their general play and final attempts on goal.

Suarez missed two headers yesterday which before playing in England was probably the number of headers hed make in a whole season.
He needs a Rush/Aldridge/Lineker/Henry/Wright type playing between him and the goal ala Dalglish, Beadesley and Bergkamp had in their pomp.

City next for them, what are the odds Rogers will be sacked by Christmas now?

Steve Clarke was very dignified in the way he did not gloat after he had been sacked by HR in the summer.

no points behind spurs, one behind arsenal, could have been worse.

Was informed by a pal that it was 47 years since West Brom defeated Liverpool in a top-flight opening fixture, so better late than never. And, I have to say, that the two penalties by Long were soft in the extreme, and even though my sympathies are of West Brom-influence I'd have been just as aggrieved and pissed off if Albion had been on the end of such decisions (that said, a peak at one particular Liverpool website, where the denizens were horrified at being beaten by a side 'who last won a trophy in 1968', had tempered my sympathies somewhat).

But, no matter how chuffed I am at this win (and a Goal Of The Month/Season contender included - thank you, Mr. Gera), it simply is the one game where too much is read into it. Even now, Albion's safety is assured, Liverpool's downfall is guaranteed even more and crows of triumph and misery are amplified to maximum levels. It isn't that easy. For Albion, the trick (which I hope they pull off) is to embark on a campaign starting with a run that ensures that yesterday's result isn't a novelty one which you can warm your hands on in the cold sorrow of a long defeat-strewn series of crap outcomes. Lots of swallows need to make this a summer, not just one.

For Liverpool, well, many teams have come back from a bad opening result, and Rodgers's outfit may well do that to go on to better, if not greater, things. The drawback isn't whether Rodgers will succeed, but whether he's given time and patience enough to get on with it (I've often been cynical about managers who talk about being given time to build a team, because the managers who do that often turn out to be the ones who just want to stay in a job as long as possible and build bugger all - Rodgers seems to be a rare type who needs as much time as he can to bring his ideas to life).

Anyway, there's a lot that's always read into the first game, and that's happening now. It's the other 37 that bothers me.