S-Clarke

We made fucking hard work of that, should have been a really comfortable 3 or 4 niller, we were very good today and created stacks and stacks of chances. Defensively though, notably down the left side, abysmal. Manning had a role in each of the goals they scored. I'd personally have him on the bench now and try and shift him for a fee in the summer, he's cost us in games too much. Not entirely sure moving THB to right back helped the stability either, we have a ready made RB in Bree - just play him there. No need to break up Bednarek and THB. I thought Stephens had an ok game weirdly, but I think the change around has unsettled us a little bit. Good to see Downes back, I thought Brooks had a great game - really in his groove now. A Armstrong back to his best. And Aribo taking on the Fraser mantel. This result has the potential to be a critical one, could look back on this in May and how important it was.

I think there is over reaction on here from people and they make a judgement without really knowing why - it's how it is. But I personally don't rate Manning, positionally all season he has been inept. It could be how he's told to paly, which is even more alarming given that the manager should know him and his limitations more than most. All of our problems come through that left side, they have most of the season. I don't think it's coincidental if I'm honest, teams target that space because Manning is always out of position and simply doesn't have the pace or physicality to recover. Maybe our tactics hang him out to dry a bit, but if the manager knows him more than most then it's pretty worrying.

I thought on the second goal particularly, he's too close to Bednarek. He's got to be aware of his surroundings and be in a position to respond to any sort of misplaced header, but he's kind of in no mans land there - they win the header, or if Bednarek gets it wrong (which he did) and they're away - and that's what happened. He just doesn't seem to have any positional awareness or sense danger, he's everywhere bar where he should be defensively. Reminds me of Oliver Bernard.

We've played alright I think, should have at least 3 goals here given the chances and openings we've created. Controlled 90% of that. Sadly undone by horrific defending on two occasions. Manning was tucked too narrow for the first, but where was the cover? Second goal Bednarek and Manning are too close to each other, Bednarek miss-does the header - but if Manning was a little further behind in a positional sense Stansfield wouldn't have had all that time. It's fine margins, and Manning has been pretty poor on both goals there. Football/possession/attacking/chance creation wise - really good, as well as we've played for weeks. But that left side is just all wrong. Still think we've got enough to get some goals here in the 2nd half, but we're making it much harder than it needs to be.

Personally for me the best combo still is Smallbone and Downes, that hasn't changed. Smallbone was terrific in that 25 game run for us, he was as pivitol in that as THB was at the back. Basically what we've seen in recent weeks is Smallbone playing a role that he's not necessarily suited to physically, so it's showed up more of his limitations than his positive attributes. So with Downes back we will get to see Smallbone deployed higher up the pitch in the area's where his positive attributes can come to the fore, where physicalness or positional awareness isn't as critical as it would be in the 6. There's nothing wrong with Smallbone at this level and some of the fans OTT comments towards him are drivel and are born out of a lack of understanding of football from themselves.

What's that got to do with anything? Some of the abuse Jones got was also utterly detestable and was posted in main by the same trolls who target Smallbone. Neither scenario is right, fans who throw disgusting comments (well, any human to be fair) at people on social media do not deserve any spotlight

Some of the crap sent to him on social media was a disgrace, ''i hope you get cancer, so you don't have to pass the ball anymore for us'' was a significant low point. Although we all know they're not fans. Sadly that's twitter for you, the cesspit of society with weirdos looking for a reaction to 'extreme' opinions or posts. He's better coming off of it.

Nah, i wouldn't read anything into it what so ever. The most obvious takeaways for me is that you have to play your best players (i.e KWP, Armstrong(s), Adams, Fraser, Downes, THB etc). We didn't do that yesterday for a start. And the other takeaway is that we'd need to purchase attackers of the right quality, our approach play last night was pretty much spot on and it showed what you can get out of the way we play - but the quality at the top end killed us. I reckon we'd have done better with Fraser in there.

yep, very much that as well. He doesn't seem to know how to use his 'tools', so it's all pretty ineffective really. Like Usain Bolt trying to be a footballer because he's quick.

I know he won a WC, but his career still feels like an absolute waste. I imagine he'll retire now.

He keeps making those schoolboy mistakes by staying logged into the wrong account. I wonder who his positive persona is? always?

wtf are Stoke up to? I didn't realise they'd invested into their team at those levels. If they go down they are ruined.

I don't understand why we're calling out Bazunu in a thread about a game in which he didn't feature in? He wasn't even on the bench, yet people are still digging him out?

Yeah I think he does have technical ability, he has some skill in his locker - he just doesn't seem to know what to do with it half the time, that's his biggest issue imo and why he'll never really amount to much at the top level.

Thought I'd bump this on the back of his performance tonight. I thought we used him well, he kept wide and stretched their team - the spaces in their team in the first half were massive, and we were exploiting that and his pace was adding genuine threat and danger every time we got forward. But...the biggest criticism I will continue to lay at his door is his lack of any footballing brain. He's quick, decent skill, good technical ability...but all of that means sod all if you don't play the pass at the right time, see the opportunity to cross, know when to shoot or know when to hold off etc. Exactly the same has to be said of Edozie and Mara as well, they're young but they need to start developing a deeper understanding of football. It's not just about speed and skill.

Decent attackers, we score at least 1 goal, maybe 2. The approach created those moments, it was the quality in the final third which killed us - not the way we played. An inexperienced Liverpool, who still included McAlistair, Gakpo, Gomez, Timaskis, VVD, Elliott, Konate in their team at varying points - not exactly a bunch of never heard of players, just saying.

You don't have to be a genius to sniff out the narrative in your post - not just yours by the way, was a general observation. The undertone is very odd. We went 25 games unbeaten playing the same way, if we want to rip it all up again and start from scratch after 2 or 3 iffy results then that's just odd imo. As I said, there are seemingly people who have been waiting very impatiently in the background since September to ramp back up again.

If we come out of these 2 league defeats in a row without KWP and Fraser then that is going to conclude an absolute season defining disaster for us. Fingers crossed KWP is fine.

He had a good game, was caught out a few times, but positionally he was much better than Smallbone. The biggest takeaway from Charles inclusion was how much better and 'free' Rothwell was.

We lost to Liverpool, it was inevitable. Nothing about this result puts any credence on the ''Martin Out'' chat which people are so, so, so desperate to get going.

First half was decent, so was the start of the second half. But the result was pretty much guaranteed when we didn't take our chances, we just lacked any real quality in the attacking third - and that will kill you at any level. We approached it well, brave on the ball, did get caught out a few times. Some of our build up and play through the two thirds was great, but it was the lack of any real ability at the top end which killed us. I thought Stephens had a good game, but that was prime PL Bednarek out there for their first goal. Rothwell was decent I thought. Most of our threat came through Sulemana, but that's all it was - threat, no real punch at the end of it. Mara did hold the ball up well and bring others into play, but he was pretty shit as our top end threat which is why we lost ultimately. Not really much to learn from this one really, always an inevitable result and the proverbial free hit. We gave a good account of ourselves, but the lack of quality in our attack made it look more comfortable for Liverpool than it should have been. Worried about KWP - hope it was just a precaution, if he's out injured for any period of time then this game is going to end up being pivotal for our season for all the wrong reasons.

He's just a bit clinical isn't he! Luton have given the best account of themselves compared to the other 2 promoted sides this year, but up against the best they are so, so limited and so out of their depth in a defensive point of view.

Our most effective wide player of the season imo. If you class Adam Armstrong as a striker, then none of our other wide options have come close to his output.

The general feeling amongst the fan base for many years is that the away fans where they are is a bit crap, this isn't a new opinion and has been doing the rounds for years. The proposed location is the only place they could relocate them to, and to add to that - both ends of the ground have home fans behind the goal, the away fans are tucked into the corner. I guess the people upset by this are the ones who will be forced to move or change their personal arrangements arriving and exiting the stadium, as I imagine the chapel shortcuts may be off bounds at times - but those are just individual personal gripes, for the majority this is a very positive move.

We should ask Millwall for some compensation. Dirty fuckers, horrible team.