KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Why are we not clinical?

Yeah the old " the keeper was brilliant or we were unlucky can only go so far" we played well but we need to start scoring. No excuse for Henderson not scoring. That said we will score a lot of goals this season. I see our problem is that we cannot close games. We get nervous and let the opposing team play.

The question for me is whether we can get Sturridge to do it. I've noticed that both Sturridge and Suarez both nearly always drop-off and look for the pullback, or try to "arrive late" in the box, along with Gerrard, Coutinho, Henderson, et al. We end up with a crowded penalty spot and no one in front of the keeper or gambling on the near or back post.

Enrique's chance in the 1st half was a classic example. He made a great run to the byline and had to take a shot from a near-impossible angle. His momentum made a cut-back impossible, but if there was someone there he could have squared it for an easy tap-in.

Can we get Sturridge to add this to his game (even though he is very good from outside the box as well - as shown yesterday), or do we need to buy someone like Jackson Martinez?

I still think Jackson Martinez is the finisher we need. Good with both feet and can score with his head aswell. He reminds me of Benteke and RVP, but would come at about £30m, so would be more expensive, and older than Benteke, and is untested in the premier league.

We'd all like to think so, but we have *exactly* the same problems when he plays...

The absolute 100% FACT that their goalie was absolutely amazing, top drawer, top notch, best in the Prem, world class, completely on top of his game, made us 'lucky' then you reckon?

What an absolute wagon load of ball cocks.....imo
(rushes off to check for alternative interpretations so as not to upset any wall flowers)

for me our big problem is that we dont have any plan B we needed to hold on to possesion last 10 mins and startve Stoke of the ball to stop them buliding any momentum instead we kept Courtino on and brought on little Sterling both players hardly able to hold the ball or retain the possession so when the ball was being cleared it was coming straight back at us, we needed dare I say it an Andy Carroll or Benteke type player to hold the ball up and allow players to get forward in support, until we get a plan B we are always going to find ourselves in these types of positions unless ofcorse we are a couple of goals up.

Or, the fact that we created the most chances in the Prem last season and finished 7th.

I agree... and disagree. I agree we should've kept the ball. I disagree that Andy Carroll/Benteke would be better at doing that than Coutinho and Sterling. I'm trying to think back to who was giving the ball away at the end there, but can't picture it... Sterling clearly couldn't get up to the pace of the game and gave away that free kick.

We need to learn to keep the ball for the sake of keeping the ball, like Barca and Spain. We have the players to do it, imo, but not the mentality, well not at that stage of the game. We seemed to get caught up with the nervousness of the whole situation.

We desperately need a class striker such as robin van Persie.

I watched aspas for the first time yesterday he did ok but is he going to rip teams apart ? Don't think so no more than a squad player yet he was number 9.

Rush fowler Torres

Aspas ?

We have to make another striker a priority and spend big and I am assuming we keep Suarez. If we do that we are in with a chance of champions league qualification especially watching arsenal yesterday who look to have real problems.

Otherwise its another 7th placing I think
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Every season we have 5 or 6 keepers play their best game of the season at Anfield. It is an inspirational place. You make one good save you make another and another and another.

It's a bit like a batsman playing himself in at cricket. After a while it gets easy and the longer it goes on the easier it gets. We are giving keepers more practice and one by one they keep us out. Or so it seems.

The Gerrard free kick in the second half was an absolute belter but Begovic made it look routine.

I think you have to put doubt in a keepers mind very early in a game. Look at the aerial stuff Stoke gave us early on and made Mignolet look a bit dodgy. Whatever you do early on you must test the keeper. It might even mean fouling him at a corner or winding him up but don't give him anything easy.

In their case Begovic is their best player by some distance and he might be the difference between Stoke staying up and going down.

Our conversion rate may seem poor but it will improve and we won't get Begovic every week. Perhaps we ought to just get stuff on target first. The shot by Coutinho early in the second half and Henderson hitting the post. Players know they have to get it in the corners to get a goal when the keeper is on fire.

But keepers don't stop everything and perhaps we should just get stuff on target first and take it from there.