Dynamite

Sky (and especially Niall Quinn) really loves Andy Carroll.

Not that I agree with Suarez being all Liverpool had but he never had a season like he did last year, with Liverpool. I think the combination of Suarez being ridiculously good, Sterling and Henderson's emergence and Sturridge making good on the 20 goals prophecy, combined into a perfect storm of a season

Right, but who coached that out of Suarez? Rodgers.

Who plays Glen Johnson at left back despite having a more than capable and impressive Moreno along with competent second choice Enrique sitting on the bench/sidelines? Who continues to play Lovren despite him being outplayed by a 33 year old Toure whenever he plays? Who continues to play Gerrard in a holding midfield position despite games passing him by week in and week out whilst having Joe Allen play in an advanced midfield role? Who continued to play Balotelli despite him adding zero to the team effort and taking the piss with his work rate?

Glen Johnson has played left back TWICE this season. Last night and last weekend. Though I agree, he needs to fuck off and die. Lovren has been extremely poor, but how much of that is down to not having a competent partner, no midfield protect, and an unconvincing goalkeeper is debatable. Toure has not outperformed him other than in one game. Completely agree with you on Gerrard, even though he was deployed as a No. 10 last night. Allen isn't played as an "advanced midfielder," he's played in his preferred position, as a ball winning midfielder, and he's damn good at his job. Not sure how Balotelli is "taking the piss" with his workrate when he's averaging the same ground covered as Luis Suarez last season.

FACTS /rafa

These are all massive Rodgers faults, though. Not having a competent partner - he bought Sakho for £20million and he isn't competent, and then keeps Skrtel as an automatic pick despite him being part of a defence that shipped 50 goals last season (the only team that conceded more than that in the top 10 was Spurs with 51). He refuses to even entertain the idea of dropping Gerrard, or even resting him, when it's clear he's struggling in the defensive midfield position and shouldn't be playing 90 minutes every single game. Benitez used to rotate him semi-regularly and that was when he was in his absolute peak, not at age 34 and with his confidence crushed. It's not like there aren't options to put in his place. And then the unconvincing keeper is another Rodgers buy, who will play every game because he hasn't bothered to buy a capable backup.

I don't think he'll be sacked bar a disastrous result against Basel and a big slide down the table around January time. But he does need to show a bit of flexibility and make some strong decisions. The worst thing that can happen to a manager like Rodgers is having the players lose confidence because that is what the whole of last season was built on. Making the same mistakes over and over, and then coming out with ridiculous sound bites about "the great characterisation of the group" after conceding a poor equaliser against a Bulgarian side playing 200 miles away from their home stadium is precisely what makes players lose confidence in a manager.

Ludogorets Razgrad

Is Origi even that good? Liverpool fans seem to bring him up as somebody who'd get them firing but he only scored 5 goals last season in the French league and has 4 in 17 this season across all competitions. Seemed to lack composure in front of goal in the World Cup, I thought too. He'll get better as he's older but pulling him off loan at the age of 19 won't magically kickstart their season.

Next ten or so games are the real test for Southampton. They play both Arsenal and United twice, City, Chelsea and Everton. Survive those and then top four could look very attainable.

The lack of the words 'Glen' and 'Johnson' on that squad list is lovely to see.

Shocking lack of ambition from Rodgers tonight. I'd be pretty pissed if I was a Liverpool fan travelling to Madrid for the team's biggest Champions League game in five years and the manager had already decided he'd be proud of a narrow loss with just one shot on target from 25 yards out by the left back.

Gerrard seems mentally broken after losing out on the title like that last year. He genuinely believed he'd finally done it and slipping has hit him hard. The fact he's still playing 90 minutes every match at the age of 34 and is visibly low on morale at the moment is not helping Liverpool.

If he was at United or Chelsea, he'd be on the Scholes or Lampard schedule where he's rotated enough to still be excellent when he does play. Rodgers is too scared to drop a Liverpool legend. Even Benitez rotated him pretty often and that's when he was in his absolute peak.

This has been a cracking game. City have looked so much better since Dzeko has gone off. Silva is incredible.

Anybody on 360 fancy a game or two tonight?

Dortmund.

I can't believe how few strikers we have these days. I mean Rickie Lambert is now an automatic inclusion in any England squad and he hasn't even played 90 minutes combined of Premier League or Champions League football this year, let alone score a goal.

Shit, forgot about this. I'll make my pick now in case I forget again ... Chelsea.

That Welbeck dummy for the Ox's goal. Outstanding.

Balotelli is so wasteful. Lost count of how many shots he's had this game but it's definitely in double figures and I haven't believed he was going to score any of them, even the easy one where he hit the bar.

How come I can't combine "Chelsea to win against Schalke" and "Chelsea v Schalke to have more than 2.5 goals" into one bet?

I mean I can find other bets, but I don't really see the problem with that. It doesn't contradict itself or anything.

Eh, fuck it:

Selection: Double of Chelsea to beat Schalke (1/3) and Bayern v Man City to have over 2.5 goals (13/20)

Stake: £7

Odds: 1.19/1

Returns: £15.40

Seeing this a bit late but I know Bet365 offer a 'Chelsea and over 2.5 goals' bet, as do a couple other bookies (Paddy Power and William Hill do, I think). Who are you using?

I'm in.

I pick Porto.

Every Man United game has been on TV, give someone else a go.

I think every Liverpool and Arsenal game has been on TV as well.

Geoff Shreeves is useless, asking Falcao what his name is. It's on the big red shirt right behind him!

Interesting to see if it's still three at the back with Blind and Rafael wing backs, or more of a diamond formation with Blind holding and Rojo to left back.

Not going for anything terribly exciting or adventurous:

Selection: Stoke vs. Leicester - Both teams to score
Stake: £2
Odds: Evens
Returns: £4

What did we pay for Kagawa? Wasn't it between 20 and 30m?

I think it just came to a point where he was never going to get game time. Even before Mata, Rooney was sometimes playing in the role Kagawa wanted to. Unless Kagawa played out wide and did well there, he was never getting back into contention.

£12 million. Sad to see him go. Talented player but, as said, never really fit into our system with Rooney there too.

Derby cost me as well.

I'm going to the Derby-Ipswich game so my bet will be on that:

Selection: Derby to win and over 2.5 goals
Stake: £2.00
Odds: 2.75
Returns: 5.50 (including stake)

Might have to spend a week coming up with new setpieces. Or just do the same thing with Taylor instead of Williamson, which is what will actually happen.

Not one for the neutral.

Yeah, as a neutral, that was not a good game at all. Villa are less flimsy and more functional than last season, but are missing Benteke's presence up top to add that bit of quality. Newcastle need a goalscorer. The midfield and defence seems solid but nobody from the wings or upfront looked like a game-winner. Cabella seemed a bit better when he moved in behind the striker, but Riviere hasn't quite settled in yet. There were a few Cabella through-balls which Loic Remy would have really thrived off last year but Riviere couldn't do anything with.

Cabella to win the Most Frustrating Player of the Season award.