Logic

Agreed.

Have you forgotten who we play this weekend?

@TonyBarretTimes Are there any English players who could’ve produced the kind of first touch that van Persie came up with then? @Robbie9Fowler @TonyBarretTimes yep

Their leftback + gylfi IIRC. That makes 5 with Allen...

Really like these posts. Keep it up.

So... compare and contrast: Ferguson: "The referee had one of these days where we don't get anything from him. I thought he had a shocking performance today, I know he's a young ref, I was really disappointed in that performance." Lambert: "I haven't a clue what [assistant referee Adrian Holmes] saw. We were well in the game - we had a foothold in it, and that is a big thing coming here but the penalty was a really shocking decision." One got a one game touchline ban while the other has not heard anything from the FA.

True, forgot that. Also if true that teams can change the dimensions of the pitch depending on the opposition those rules need to be fixed. You should set the dimensions for the season and you shouldn't be able to change that during the season. That's shocking actually. And probably again shows the different set of rules for Stoke and then the rest. Yes, we need to win the war first but unfortunately we won't be fighting an even fight because the ref will in one instance think "It's just how Stoke plays" and in the other instance "This is Liverpool, they don't get to do this." So my suggestion is we cheat our way to a win by diving, feigning injury, surrounding the ref and so on and so forth. You don't necessarily need to fight your opponent in the way he wants you to fight. You can always change things up. I'd tell the players to exaggerate every contact made by them and make it absolutely clear that if our players go into a 50/50 they stay down "wounded" if the ref blows up. I'd also encourage the players to do small fouls off the ball continuously throughout the game just to wind the opposition up (I'm thinking of things like tripping the striker when their winger is running up the pitch... think I saw Roberto Carlos do that once and I hated it and loved it at the same time). If it's unclear, I really don't like Stoke.

Stoke is the real cancer in football. They cheat more than any other team in football that I know of and do that in a way that the jingoistic English press can't complain about. They spread fouls around trusting that the refs are lenient and by doing that make it possible to make up to 30 f***ing harsh fouls in the game without getting a single player sent off. Each foul they make is a yellow card but because the referees don't have the guts to follow the letter of the law they first only get a warning, then a yellow (if the oppo team is lucky) and finally the obligatory "that's another yellow but that means I've got to send you off so here's your final warning". They waste time from the start but get away with it because the referees seem to think time-wasting can only occur in the last 5min and will only result in a yellow card if the goalie takes 2min to take a goal kick in the last few minutes of the game. They go into tackles that pretty much always risk serious injuries to the opposition but hide behind the "we only play like the game was played 30 years ago here in England". Not a single football fan would ever choose to watch their games if "their" team wasn't playing and it's not because of the route-one style of play. There's are several teams who sit back and play on the counter but people would still be willing to spend 90min watching. Sunderland, AV and other do it without the f*cking cheating. I hate them and their "kind" of football. If refs did their job they'd be playing in league one or further down but because it's "just stoke" they get away with the most blatant cheating any team in the league gets away with. I want us to destroy them, humiliate them and show them up for the yard dogs they are. I hate Everton and ManU as our rivals but Stoke are a cancer on the game that needs to be destroyed. Happy f*cking Christmas everyone and lets destroy these f*ckers!

I present to you the former owner of West Ham, his son (owner of the bank who offered the Icesave accounts) and 50 cent. Only difference between the Arab royals and our rich is that the arabs have nice titles in front of their names and the small matter of proper wealth behind them...

Coming from Iceland I can relate to that. I just asked because from what I've seen it seems like many newly rich people always prefer flashy (and imo classless) things rather than antiques and such.

Nouveau riche?

You mean someone like Assaidi?

We have been too nice for too long. We lack the winning mentality more than anything IMO. Just imagine how either of the manchester teams or Chelsea would have reacted to that (or any team in the top 5 leagues that's used to winning things). Or just think how they'd react to having gone 17 games without a single penalty.

Allen and Sterling should be off at halftime. Put Cole and Suso on for them pushing Jonjo back into midfield. And someone needs to slap Reina at halftime.

Simple to check Cahill's claim. Double blind test with a set of footballs with the GoalRef tech and one set without it. And going out on a limb here, but I believe that when you strike the ball the goal is in your peripheral vision meaning the colour of the net isn't even registered by the brain.

This whole things boils down to wether we want to build a team around a single player or if we want to build a functional team where people can slot in and out without disrupting the whole setup. I believe Rodgers is going for the latter and IMO that's the correct way to proceed. A Llorente or Hunterlaar type of player can only fit as a classical nr 9 and we'd have to build our team around that. That would also mean if they get injured or leave the club we'd have to completely change the set-up of the team to react to that. While our WarChest™ is limited it is probably better to buy a player who can fit into multiple positions in the team. Which is why I believe we'll rather go for players like Sturridge, Ince, and Walcott rather than your typical nr 9's. Demba Ba is probably somewhere in between those two types but from what I've seen from him he doesn't have the technique or awareness to play in a tiki taka based team. Even if he's a great goalscorer. Greater than the sum of its parts and so on and so forth.

I don't think Ba, Llorente or Huntelaar fit the profile we are looking for. If we buy a player for the front three he's probably expect to be able to play in any of the front thee positions. They'll be similar to Suarez and Sterling rather than typical nr. 9's. And although Ba scores a sh*tload I don't think he has the technique or style of play required for our front three.

Didn't Baggio do it in either the '94 or '98 WC?

Calciopoli.

Adding 90s to an already dubious 5min was very odd. I'd like to hear the ref explain that one. Also, 1) Are we the only team in the league who have not yet had a penalty? If so I'm putting my house on us getting a penalty in our next game. Why? Because there's no way the powers that be allow such a talking point to stay available. 2) I'd really like to see possession in the opposition third vs. penalties given for the league. Even a touches in the penalty area vs. penalties given. I'm guessing there'd be a very obvious outlier in such a graph.

Anyone know why the ref added 90sec to the 5min (which was BS in itself) added time? Was it just because WH were time-wasting when we got a free-kick at around 92min?

That was unbelievable... if you don't watch games expecting that every game. Just one more blatantly corrupt performance by a ref that many will just label as us being unlucky once again.

This is ignoring that we would have a penalty and most likely playing against 10 men for most of the game if the ref does his job. This most likely changes a loss to at least a draw even if we are s***. It has an effect as was decided in Italy.

That was a penalty. Major debatable decisions in this game 3-1 for them. Their pen, our pen, the karate kick + the pen they should have in the incident you mention. As usually we are on the losing side when it comes to game changing decisions.