5th columnist ..Your time has arrived

[Sir X]

Can you declare liverpool seasons, as you have said you declare around christmas, well it has passed.

Are we going to win the prem this season ?....what is the objective ...is pool going to achieve the objective.....what happens if pool fails to achieve this objective .

[Peter R]

Well, which LFC team was that?? same actors from last week give or take, but such a terrible performance. That was a fortunate win... but, any three points are welcome. Good goal by Sterling!

[Peter R]

Unless the team from last game vs Arsenal turns up, top four is not in the picture.

And I don't blame the manager for the team's lacklustre performance... same actors, same script (whatever that is) and wha' dem duh?? eat too much pudd'n yessiday?

[Sir X]

A think 5th columnist call it losing the dressing room.

[Paul Marin]

Can you declare liverpool seasons, as you have said you declare around christmas, well it has passed.

Are we going to win the prem this season ?....what is the objective ...is pool going to achieve the objective.....what happens if pool fails to achieve this objective .

LOL!!! When KLOWNISM was a give wey, ah wha mek u so craven? LOL!!! So, as I said, sensible people (like me) give assessments at major milestones in a season, this is one of them (the half way point). Rodgers has done a reasonable job, not great, but reasonable under the circumstances. He should be given the rest of the season to finish top 4. He is currently sitting in 10th with a game in hand and 8 points off of 4th with a game in hand. A victory tomorrow puts him 5 points back of 4th, with Southampton and WHU bound to fall off the pace, so it will be down to LFC and Arsenal for 4th, barring some unforseen development.

One of the biggest reasons is the return of Daniel Sturridge. Keep in mind that while the last 3 games gave us an indication of that the team is punching below it's weight, (unlucky both at Manu and against Arsenal), Sturridge's last game for Liverpool was against Spurs. In the first three games of the season (the only games he played), Liverpool had 2 wins (Southampton and Spurs) and 1 loss (XorCity Blues). So the loss of Sturridge cannot be overstated. It was quite simply a HUGE loss.

While the "real 5th columnists" will want to tear Rodgers down, the man lost a 53 goal production with the loss of Suarez and Sturridge. You simply DO NOT replace that kind of production overnight. When Suarez was sold, the replacement options were simply not there on a realistic level. Suarez is among the world's top 3 or 4 players, so in some ways, irreplaceable. However, Suarez was out of the picture in the first 10 games of last season and we performed extremely well with Sturridge leading the line. He scored in 8 of the 10 games Suarez was out. Furthermore, people tend to forget that he missed 9 games in the league last season, so 22 goals in 29 games is a hell of a production. It was therefore reasonable to expect Sturridge, with Balotelli, to do the business.

My expectation is that Sturridge's return will have a big impact on the team's fortunes and we will have a much better second half of the season than the first. Plus, my hope is that Sturridge will be available for the league cup clash against chelski. Getting past the blues in a meaningless cup will satisfy the simpletons who don't have any understanding where a football manager's priorities lie; but it will take a little pressure off him. (BTW, all cups are meaningless - just ask X's hero Martinez, who won the FA Cup and got relegated same time - a feat which put him in X's highest esteem )

At the end of the day, my personal take is that sacking Rodgers at this point in the season would be stupid. You can't denigrate him for the team's performance this year and at the same time, not give him credit for their performance last year - that's the "dammed if you do, dammed if you don't thinking" of Xorcists. I have heard X chat Xcrement 'bout how "Suarez papered over a lot of the cracks"...the biggest crock of crap on the planet! Take Messi and Neymar out of Barca, Ronaldo and Bale out of RM, Rooney and RVP out of Manu** and I guess they have cracks too...but none so big as the one in X head top. LOL!!!!

As always - I AM IN FULL SUPPORT OF MY TEAM!!! AND MY TEAM'S MANAGER IS BRENDAN RODGERS!!!! UNTIL THAT CHANGES, HE IS MY YOUTH!!! GWAAN BRENDAN...DO BIG TINGS MY BREDRIN!!!!

[Sir X]

Big tings

[Rockman]

Paul Marin,why give credit to BR for last season's unprecedented(in recent times)achievements if Suarez(I am going to get to Sturridge) meant so much?
Also if Suarez was sooo pivotal isn't the depency expected to be addressed by the manager.why then the reliance of a Sturridge?
Furthermore,I really expected your much awaited( December) analysis to use Pool's proximity to the coveted top four spots as the indicator,what is it,Pool would have to be facing relegation...?

[Paul Marin]

Paul Marin,why give credit to BR for last season's unprecedented(in recent times)achievements if Suarez(I am going to get to Sturridge) meant so much?
Also if Suarez was sooo pivotal isn't the depency expected to be addressed by the manager.why then the reliance of a Sturridge?
Furthermore,I really expected your much awaited( December) analysis to use Pool's proximity to the coveted top four spots as the indicator,what is it,Pool would have to be facing relegation...?

Rockie, it is very simple. Whether it was Suarez, or Suarez/Sturridge/Sterling/Johnson - it matters not, if you lose your primary goal scoring source, whether from one person or four, it is going to be a problem. In this case, he lost BOTH sources of goal production. Losing Suarez alone was NOT a problem. Liverpool had seen great goal production when Sturridge was the only striker in 2013/14. It wasn't as if the team was 'soooo' dependent on S7 at all...we had the goal production we needed with Sturridge, and it was working. So there was no reason to panic when Suarez left...especially when Balotelli came on board, as he is no slouch.

Secondly, who was he supposed to buy? Falcoa? Ibra? Sanchez? Cavani? All of those names I am sure he approached, so if they didn't want to come, what is he supposed to do? I have said it before, the Prem (and football in general) is a money ting. We don't have the money to have the kind of wage bill the money teams can support. Still, Liverpool will have a much better second half of the season than the first.

And lastly, your question regarding relegation is specious, what is important is top 4, everything else is secondary. Let's see how he does, he deserves the chance because the circumstances have conspired against him.

[Assasin]

Rockie it is simple. LVG said Carrick changed his midfield. Now take him and Rooney away and see what happen. Man City sweating as they have no fit forward so if they play against big teams it is going to be a different team. You can beat second rated teams like that but not the top teams. As Paul said you can't lose 50 goals a season and stand up so strong. When Ronaldo Left Manu it took a little while to get their footing, even with Rooney there, imagine if Rooney had left same time. Show me a team that lost their strike force and is able to compete at the very top the next year.

[Paul Marin]

Rockie it is simple. LVG said Carrick changed his midfield. Now take him and Rooney away and see what happen. Man City sweating as they have no fit forward so if they play against big teams it is going to be a different team. You can beat second rated teams like that but not the top teams. As Paul said you can't lose 50 goals a season and stand up so strong. When Ronaldo Left Manu it took a little while to get their footing, even with Rooney there, imagine if Rooney had left same time. Show me a team that lost their strike force and is able to compete at the very top the next year.

Dem head tuff enuh!

[Rockman]

Just feel that you probably had me and others eagerly awaiting your December judgement when the only decision you intended on making was further delaying it until the end of the season,THAT I find specious.
Suh getting Sturridge and Bolotelli playing together is potentially redefining,we do know whereas Sturridge may very well put up the numbers Suarez did,Balotelli has yet to mirror Sturridge performance (when Suarez was absent),but all is well.
I have to ask you Paul Marin,if Pool was several spots further down in the table,would you then have an unfavourable opinion of BR insomuch that you would call for his sacking?

[Sir X]

Specious...dat is Paul, yuh nuh see mi mark im as a 5th columnist .Di bredda nuh come wid nutting but reasonable and Big tings !...yuh nuh see a mad man?.....No bloody standard !

Suh if dis at present ,is reasonable and BIG TINGS , when end of season done and wi deh said place , do we stick with Pauls standard of reasonable and BIG TINGS ?

[Paul Marin]

Just feel that you probably had me and others eagerly awaiting your December judgement when the only decision you intended on making was further delaying it until the end of the season,THAT I find specious.
Suh getting Sturridge and Bolotelli playing together is potentially redefining,we do know whereas Sturridge may very well put up the numbers Suarez did,Balotelli has yet to mirror Sturridge performance (when Suarez was absent),but all is well.
I have to ask you Paul Marin,if Pool was several spots further down in the table,would you then have an unfavourable opinion of BR insomuch that you would call for his sacking?

Two things:

1. You need to look up the meaning of specious
2. You are asking a hypothetical question without making the other assumptions clear. If he were in a relegation battle, and everything else remained the same (except the results obviously) then clearly he would have been underperforming and something would have had to change, either the manager, players or management. Xcrement will tell you that Rafa's 7th place finish was not his fault (something he is not willing to consider for anyone else you notice), so based on what I know, the issues facing Rodgers with Sturridge getting injured were not simple...even though understanding the problem was not rocket science.

With regard to #2 however, LFC is NOT in relegation, so the hypothetical would apply to Jose Mourinho, Pelligrini, Van Gaal or any other manager who found his top 5 wage bill in the relegation zone. Would you sack Van Gaal if Manu** was in relegation? There you go.

[Paul Marin]

Specious...dat is Paul, yuh nuh see mi mark im as a 5th columnist .Di bredda nuh come wid nutting but reasonable and Big tings !...yuh nuh see a mad man?.....No bloody standard !

Suh if dis at present ,is reasonable and BIG TINGS , when end of season done and wi deh said place , do we stick with Pauls standard of reasonable and BIG TINGS ?

First of all, remind me of where I said "big tings"? Give me a link, as I don't like being quoted out of context. Second of all, why do you care what my standard is? I am just glad that the rest of the world doesn't operate under the X-standard. The world would be in shambles. One day Obama would be a democrat, next day a republican, then if Michelle sey she like French food, him would have the fambly moving to Paris. Such is the X standard...no direction, no guiding principles, no constraints whatsoever, makes no sense to anybody but X...that's why it's really the Xcrement standard. LOL!!!

[Assasin]

If Sturridge can score 15 goals this seaon, Liverpool will definately be in the top 5, he just need a little help to open up the attack a little.