Logic

Thanks. For some reason I can't remember anything about him. Even if I watch a lot of the U21's and U18's. Must be getting old...

I haven't watched much of the U21's this year... So who is Williams who's number 49?

Mignolet Manquillo - Toure - Sakho - Enrique Lucas Coutinho - Rossiter Suso - Lambert - Markovic (or as a 4231) Subs Jones Moreno Lovren Stevie Hendo Sterling Sinclair Rossiter (and Sinclair off the bench) need to be involved with first team players as they are probably the biggest prospects we have in the youth teams. Then just fill the team with players that need time to prove themselves as possible. And have enough on the bench to add more quality in case of trouble…

Yup, IMO it should be him and one of Lovren/Skrtel. And if we are going to be playing three at the back it should be Gerrard that takes one of the places rather than another "real" centreback. Especially against teams that aren't very good (like West Ham...).

It's a radical new idea but I'll think it'll work!

Then we need to form it. One of ours makes a bad tackle at the end of the game today (especially after they went 3-1) and Brendan can mention all the other incidents and say we were just playing to the level that the ref had allowed and we'll continue to do that.

If Sturridge isn't available it should be Mignolet Manquillo - Lovren - Sakho - Moreno Stevie Hendo - Lallana Markovic - Balotelli - Sterling If Sturridge is available he comes in for Markovic and we alternate between a diamond and a 4-3-3 during the game.

Yeah, we need to both put pressure on the ref and retaliate when this happens. We need to basically play one "level" tougher than the opposition if the ref doesn't do anything. For instance someone should have made their goalie pay for both the kick on Balotelli and the "tackle" on Borini. Even if it'd cost us a yellow card. But we are too soft - like we've been for way too many years.

And one other thing - just how many red cards could/should West Ham have got today? Their keeper could/should have been off twice today (kick at Balotelli and the "tackle" on Borini). Amalfitano on Borini (IIRC). One of theirs leading with the elbow in the back of Lovren's head. Or am I being too biased here? (and no - the ref wasn't the reason we lost today)

He headed it into the danger area but we should have had at least one midfielder there. His mistake as well as one of our midfielders mistake. Other than that I don't recall much he did wrong.

Everything went wrong today. Injuries, selection, set-up, shape of the team, and the list goes on. There are tough decisions to be made (how much game time should Stevie get is one), there's issues with finding a good balance to the team on match days (partly because of injuries) and there seems to be a lack of faith in the team. It appears as if some of them don't believe the team is good enough without Suarez - but that means the players have forgot just how good they were last year. We're lacking the arrogance needed at the moment - from the manager to the subs. You could write a long dossier on what went wrong today but I think the only thing we should focus on from here is 1) get the arrogance back and 2) get some semblance of a balance in the match-day starting XI and subs. (I realise that's not simple but everything else is irrelevant until we get those two things back in the team)

The Sakho we are seeing is not the same player as turns up for France for whatever reason that is. He's no worse than our other centre backs.

He needs players around him. He keeps dropping deep because he has no support. Put Markovic, Lallana, Sterling and Hendo close to him in one way or another and he'll do well. He's a good player playing in a team that lacks confidence at the moment. He'll come good.

He should be saved for the big games with others told to step up in his place from time to time. That and if we are changing to three at the back in the middle of the game he should drop into centre back rather to have a player there able to play some good passes.

You're expecting us to keep a clean sheet? Brave prediction that I'd say...

Origi with one goal (easy header) and one good assist so far today vs. Nantes.

In the same group Iceland won against Turkey 3-0 and could have won by more. Before this game Turkey had won 10 of their last 12 games (according to whoscored.com). We're all overly optimistic again over here following the depression that followed missing out on going to Brazil for the World Cup.

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Malmö please.

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The starting line-ups have looked unbalanced to me so far. In the first game you have Stevie and Lucas in midfield which is a big problem by itself but you also have Hendo on the right (one of the three in a 4231). The follow on effect from that is that Sturridge gets isolated as the only one who really gets up to support him and fill the gaps Studge leaves when he starts moving around is Sterling. So even if each individual player in the starting 11 is a good player we don't get the best team just by how we position them on the field. Same with yesterdays match. The midfield three was fine by itself but then we needed someone like Markovic or Lambert up front instead of Coutinho. Coutinho drops deep and works between the lines so Sturridge once again gets isolated up front. If we do a bit of fantasy football (and based on players reputation) I think we need something like the following if we are going for a 4123: Mig Johnson Skrtel/Sakho Lovren Moreno Stevie Hendo Lallana/Coutinho Mario Sturridge Markovic/Sterling IMO this is a better balanced team as the two wide forwards would quickly fill the gap Sturridge leaves when he goes wide - like he likes to to - and you'd have Lallana coming up to support from midfield and having that goalscoring/assist threat from midfield. You'd have the same type of players for a 4-diamond-2 meaning you could switch between the two in-game without any subs. I'm not sure we have the players needed for a 4231 to work effectively. IMO we'd then need to drop Stevie *ducks for cover* and play Can and Hendo as the two. You'd then have Lallana, Coutinho and Sterling/Markovic behind Mario/Sturridge. But that still feels a bit unbalanced as neither Coutinho not Lallana offer enough penetration from midfield IMO.

I think he's staying further forward than last season and got caught in two minds about rushing out to cut out the pass or staying to cover the goal.

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Alberto has scored for Malaga.

Tactical instructions from Pardew - (will we be seeing this from Brendaõ to Balotelli? )