This season is a write off for me Get the players which suits his style and buy some quality and not quantity this time.

Yeah, they should have sacked Rodgers in the summer, but who was available at the time?

I'm

We're definitely headed in the right direction.

The bad results are mainly down to physioroom.com

Benteke and Firmino as a two could be worth a try. It has to be.

I'd trial it against Exeter. Want to see a strong team on Wednesday.

Our league campaign is now a write off, we will finish midtable, no two ways about it. We should play more fringe players for the remaining matches.

We are still in three cup competitions. Let's make the most of them. Hopefully we should make the league cup final, and if we can pull out one of our better performances we could win it. Who knows even Sturridge might be fit for the final which would give us a great chance. A trophy in Klopps first season would represent a big step forward.

We have no reason to not have a cup run in the FA cup as well with two home ties.

We have no chance of the Europa imo but again stranger things have happened and we have a good draw, and getting to the latter stages could put us back on the map in terms of European competition.

We can still salvage some good out of this car crash of a season if Klopp manages his squad correctly. Oh and the owners pulling their finger out and giving him some money to spend in the next fortnight would help.

Most of the players do fit Klopp's style.

For some reason the club has an obsession with overpaying for strikers who don't.

Even the ones who are probably not good enough like Lallana and Allen are perfectly suited to the pressing game.

When we have a fitter squad, and a few Klopp signings, we will be a different proposition.

We have 4 strikers and 3 of them would suit klopps system.

Unfortunately the only one who doesn't is the only one available. Sodslaw

Agreed TKT.

Although I would argue we have 5 strikers as Firmino is a striker IMO. Or a forward at least.

Studge------firmino -------cout
-------------------ings

Would be a foookin handfull for opposition Imo

Ings was a huge blow to us this season.

He is both a relentless worker and a natural goalscorer.

He isn't top class but he suits us perfectly and had started well.

If we could defend set pieces it would all look so different. We scored three against Arsenal but lost because of set plays. How would Benteke tactics have helped us then? If we had played to Benteke's strengths against Arsenal we would probably have lost. Benteke has missed our best performances this season with good reason.
Such deficiencies like the set plays are sometimes hard to remove. Some of our problems are also mental and deeply ingrained so that we could change tactics all we want and still get beat, just ask Rodgers. He tried lots of different tactics.
Benteke is not filling me with confidence and I fear that switching tactics just for him is putting all your eggs in one basket. If it were to backfire we'd be more fecked than we are now.
I say to stick with the manager's blue print, take the pain on the chin, let the players get used to the style, get rid of the misfits gradually, bring in who the manager wants gradually and see where it takes us. This is Rodgers' team yet after three years he wasn't doing any better than Klopp is. If our issues could be solved by tactics alone then Rodgers would still be here.

comment by The Kaiser's Trainers (U5676)
posted 5 minutes ago
We have 4 strikers and 3 of them would suit klopps system.

Unfortunately the only one who doesn't is the only one available. Sodslaw
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Agree with this. Which is why we need to change how we play to get the best out of Benteke. Whilst we have him its criminal not to try and use him. No one else is scoring on a regular basis.

I don't like this writing the season off talk. People have said it since Klopp arrived. With the state of the league there's no way this is an acceptable approach.

If we play bent eke it's very doubtful we'd score more than 1 goal a match

Darren bent used to be like that. 20 goals a season but the team only scores 25

comment by Mamba - Can't leave JA alone the game needs me, Haters want me clapped and chromed (but) it ain't easy, Cops wanna knock me, D.A. wanna box me in, but somehow, I beat them charges like Rocky (U1282) (U13041)
posted 1 minute ago
If we could defend set pieces it would all look so different. We scored three against Arsenal but lost because of set plays. How would Benteke tactics have helped us then? If we had played to Benteke's strengths against Arsenal we would probably have lost. Benteke has missed our best performances this season with good reason.
Such deficiencies like the set plays are sometimes hard to remove. Some of our problems are also mental and deeply ingrained so that we could change tactics all we want and still get beat, just ask Rodgers. He tried lots of different tactics.
Benteke is not filling me with confidence and I fear that switching tactics just for him is putting all your eggs in one basket. If it were to backfire we'd be more fecked than we are now.
I say to stick with the manager's blue print, take the pain on the chin, let the players get used to the style, get rid of the misfits gradually, bring in who the manager wants gradually and see where it takes us. This is Rodgers' team yet after three years he wasn't doing any better than Klopp is. If our issues could be solved by tactics alone then Rodgers would still be here.
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You can't use the Arsenal game to state a case for not using Benteke. That game did suit Firmino, so he was rightly played up front. Most other games haven't suited him though. If we'd played as I've suggested in games such as Watford there's a good chance we'd have faired a lot better than we did. We couldn't be more 'fecked' than we are at this moment in the league, so it's obvious what we're doing isn't working consistently enough, which is why I say we need to try something else.

comment by The Kaiser's Trainers (U5676)
posted 4 minutes ago
If we play bent eke it's very doubtful we'd score more than 1 goal a match

Darren bent used to be like that. 20 goals a season but the team only scores 25
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Considering our goal difference is currently-3, I'm not sure it could make things any worse

When Benteke plays people complain and then when he's on the bench people complain that he's not starting. Fact is we have looked our best when he is on the bench. He is a plan B to me.

The idea we could get in the top 4 by trying to play to Benteke strengths is fanciful in the extreme.

We would still have defensive issues, we would still lack goal scorers throughout the team, we would still have loads of injuries.

comment by selbstgerechtein (U7048)
posted 22 minutes ago
The idea we could get in the top 4 by trying to play to Benteke strengths is fanciful in the extreme.

We would still have defensive issues, we would still lack goal scorers throughout the team, we would still have loads of injuries.
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Ideas of top four full stop are probably fanciful. So why not try something else? Benteke and Firmino might be worth a try, they could even complement each other. Drop Lallana and see what happens......

Did anyone see br on sky sports earlier today. He spoke about the transfer committee and basically said if his top target was not attainable they had a list of three or four alternatives. He also did not have final say. Sounds of his interview there were some targets that he did not get he did not want an alternative ie instead hold the cash but the owners insisted that he bought the alternatives. So let's not all slate br alone, the transfer committee are equally at fault here.

comment by Goofy One (U16087)
posted 1 minute ago
Did anyone see br on sky sports earlier today. He spoke about the transfer committee and basically said if his top target was not attainable they had a list of three or four alternatives. He also did not have final say. Sounds of his interview there were some targets that he did not get he did not want an alternative ie instead hold the cash but the owners insisted that he bought the alternatives. So let's not all slate br alone, the transfer committee are equally at fault here.
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Interesting..... Pretty much confirms what an utter shambles our transfer policy has been....

Top four has gone now, I think most would agree. The whole season hasn't gone though, we are still in plenty of competitions.

There has to be a plan for the rest of the season, a scenario where we can find a winning formula because the system we are playing isn't winning matches. For the rest of the season it's likely the only striker and player who can score goals consistently and be consistently fit is Benteke.

It's becoming fairly apparent that we aren't going to sign anyone this window, so Klopp needs to get the best out of the squad he has now until the end of the season. If he wishes then he can change the squad to what he wants.

And for those who keep saying we play better without Benteke, barring one fluke game at Man City, there is little evidence in terms of goals scored to back that up.

I think recalling ballotelli would work better than basing our starting attack on what suits tekkers.

I like bent eke, but he doesn't seem a good plan a option

What's the point when it's not the managers long term plan?

It's obvious what his long term plan is, he has spoken about his tactics and what he expects from players in certain positions.

I see little point in confusing the players by playing a different way for a few months.

Especially when we are still in 4 competitions.

Maybe if we were out of all the cups then you could say try something different for a short time but I don't see the point otherwise.

We haven't got to the semi of the Cap 1 and out of the Europa group by playing just to suit Benteke.

And for those who keep saying we play better without Benteke, barring one fluke game at Man City, there is little evidence in terms of goals scored to back that up.

---

You seem to be confused as to what play better means, firstly.

Secondly we scored twice without Benteke against the league leaders just 4 days ago, we also scored twice at Chelsea without him, and 6 at Southampton without him.

We have scored more than once in only 8 games this season, and Benteke didn't start 5 of those 8 games.

comment by selbstgerechtein (U7048)
posted 39 minutes ago
The idea we could get in the top 4 by trying to play to Benteke strengths is fanciful in the extreme.
We would still have defensive issues, we would still lack goal scorers throughout the team, we would still have loads of injuries.
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Exactly. It would be a huge mistake IMO, like selling your soul. It's Benteke that needs to conform or an close the door on his way out.