fred milne

He looked promising in his very first displays (coming on as a sub at City, 1st half at home to Villa) but then went into his shell as his confidence drained away. It can't be easy to coming into a league as fast & physical as ours at his age, especially when the whole side is struggling for fluency too.

What do you do if your striker is a hitherto work-shy man-child or an immobile 32 year old?

The pressing started with Suarez and everyone took their lead from him.

I disagree. If we had a good striker - not necessarily a world beater but someone who could hold the ball up and was also a threat in behind / had good movement in the box - and not Balotelli, then the picture would be a lot rosier. I reckon we'd still be in the Champions League and more handily placed in the league. The youngsters, who we have clearly signed for the long-term (Origi 19, Can 20, Markovic 20, Moreno 22), would be under less pressure to deliver immediately.

That was a throw-back to the early 2000's when he used to clatter the likes of Vieira and Dacourt early on in games.

Absolutely right. He is our best player.

Smalling, Jones and Shaw out for them by the sounds of things. Not clear whether Di Maria will make it either. Could be a back three of Evans, Carrick and Rojo with Valencia and Young as wing-backs.

I'm sure there are managers who would be better at making us "hard to beat" but, for now, Rodgers gets the benefit of doubt from me, mainly due to last season.

Getting as many of our pacy players in as we can seems a sensible ploy. If Borini was available I'd play him through the middle and move Sterling to the left with Coutinho on the bench. Otherwise, worth a go I reckon.

The best player in the team is Sterling and Gerrard was poor for the first 70 odd minutes.

It is weird to single him out when we had Lucas passing to the opposition repeatedly, Henderson's touch frequently letting him down and Gerrard generally being wretched until 80 mins.

It must be linked to a January sale - there is no other logical reason.

You can't ignore the fact we sold a player for £70m (or whatever it was). Also, god only knows what wages they have had to offer to get them to sign in the absence of European football.

Hang on a second. LVG has spent a massive amount of cash (£150m net?) and they are still way off challenging for the league.

Suarez wasn't a traditional target man but in addition to everything else he offered us an out ball. Just because Balotelli and Lambert are inadequate doesn't mean we shouldn't go after a good one. Personally I wanted us to go for Bony in the summer but reckon the horse has bolted there. You can't plan around Sturridge. I'm starting to look on him being fit as a bonus. In the meantime we need a proper all round striker to lead the line.

He has tweeted the article so my guess would be yes.

I'm assuming that was outside our control.

Balotelli is still the single biggest mistake of the summer. It all starts there.

Thought we should have tried to get him on the overlap more yesterday. When he and Sterling combined we looked more of a threat.

Looks genuinely two-footed and has a nice drop of a shoulder but lacks a change of pace and isn't blessed with particular sharp passing. Not a bad player but can't help thinking the money could have been better used elsewhere.

Same was true of Villa if memory serves.

I'd go with the same team that played against Stoke However, if we should be thinking of wrapping anyone in cotton wool for Tuesday it should be Sterling as he is our main attacking threat.

Henderson is different. In part it's how he is being used. He offers little as a centre-mid in a 4231. He needs to play as a wide midfielder, ideally in a 433 or diamond so that we get the benefit of his best asset, his engine which he can use to attack space in the opposition half.

That's harsh - his form has been signs of improvement since Ludogorets away. He had a hand in two goals last night if memory serves and is still our main attacking threat in Sturridge's absence.

Seriously?