Stoke 6 Liverpool 1: Thank you and see you again soon Stevie G! As his beloved team is trounced!

By dedlfc

Pre-match thoughts:

Today is one of the saddest days for any LFC fan with the final curtain coming down on our legendary captain Steven Gerrard's career.

He had his final home farewell at Anfield last weekend and now this weekend is his last ever game as a LFC player - his immense presence and leadership around the club both on and off the pitch will be missed. YNWA.

This week instead of being about the end of a great LFC career has sadly been about another player whose career is in its infancy which sadly could be about to end.

Raheem Sterling has the potential to be a great player for LFC, but it seems through discussions with his flamboyant agent Aidy Ward he would like to continue his career elsewhere. It will be a sad additional loss to losing our captain but we should only keep players who want to play for this great club. It's a terrible fiasco that our club needs to resolve quickly to avoid it affecting any other transfer business.

The vital task before the game started was that we thought our manager had to review the poor season and ensure that he makes more quality signings than he produced last summer or he will not be the LFC manager this time next season. Little did we know of the ensuing saga to be played out on the pitch over 90 mins.

Match thoughts once team was announced: In Steven Gerrard's final match, he started along with no less than six other midfield players scattered throughout the starting eleven. Emre Can was at right-back again, Joe Allen and Lucas were restored to the side to join Jordan Henderson, and Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana were the only "forwards"  starting with Raheem Sterling relegated to the bench. It was to say the least very confusing.

And it was not good, as it turned out.  In fact, what was to take place was an utter embarrassment.

Stoke had a cluster of early yellow cards with Charlie Adam arguably doing enough to get sent off for two separate incidents, but Lallana and Coutinho were mostly left alone to battle Stoke's physical defenders.  Lallana curled a decent chance just outside the post with his left foot for the best chance early on.

And then extraordinarily Stoke scored five goals. Emre Can was at fault for each of the first three, literally heading to Jon Walters two feet in front of goal and errors from Mamadou Sakho and Lucas contributed to the fourth.  Steven N'Zonzi's curler --Stoke's fifth-- was an unstoppable shot to round off the first half scoring. Shocking FIVE GOALS!

Half-time thoughts: Everything hurts. That very well could be a half that ends Brendan Rodgers' 3 year tenure as manager.  Confusing selections, spineless, the side not playing for each other or the manager, no answers evident, and those five goals conceded. FIVE.

The manager responded by bringing on Kolo Toure and Jordon Ibe for Can and Alberto Moreno respectively and switching to three at the back. Ibe was positive on the left, and Liverpool managed to create a few chances in the first twenty minutes, including an opening for Lallana that was saved by Asmir Begovic.

Rickie Lambert was brought on just in time to challenge for an aerial ball that ended up with Gerrard free on goal to roll past Begovic for a consolation goal. It was emotional despite the score-line, heightened by the misery that we had brought upon ourselves with the abysmal first half display.  The stadium stood to acclaim a champion player as one.

We were well on top even though it was totally meaningless, with Ibe leading the way and some energy going forward. Adam Lallana was denied another potential penalty on a clear foul by Erik Pieters, but the 5-1 score-line makes it difficult to swallow.

Peter Crouch capped off the scoring with a header that shouldn't have been made so easy by Sakho and Toure close by. 6-1 totally unacceptable.

Stoke City: Begovic; Cameron, Shawcross, Muniesa (Wilson 71), Pieters; N'Zonzi, Whelan, Adam, Arnautovic (Crouch 81); Walters (Odemwingie 67), Diouf

Subs not used: Ireland, Sidwell, Butland, Wollscheid

Scorers: Diouf 22, 26, Walters 30, Adam 41, N'Zonzi 45, Crouch 86

Booked: Shawcross, Whelan, Adam, Pieters

Liverpool: Mignolet; Can (Toure 45), Skrtel, Sakho, Moreno (Ibe 45); Henderson, Lucas, Allen (Lambert 69); Coutinho,Gerrard, Lallana

Subs not used: Lovren, Sterling, Markovic, Ward

Booked: Skrtel, Lucas

Scorer: Gerrard 70

Referee: Anthony Taylor

Attendance: 27,602

Man of the match - Steven George Gerrard MBE - how fitting that our great captain, talisman and leader got the consolation goal as he was the only LFC player that looked hurt by the score-line. Gonna miss saying those words "How Harrrrrddd? Gerrrrrard!!!! Not gonna ever have another home grown player like him- truly great player, you will always be missed but You will never walk alone!

Full-time thoughts: Everything still hurts. Roll on the summer, and whatever may come with it. Goodbye (and really really sorry) Stevie. The players did not show the fight in the last two games that you have shown throughout your great career - you will go down in my eyes as the greatest ever home grown player that LFC has ever produced.

Last season we went extremely close to bringing home the holy grail of the Premier League but this season showed that was nothing more than a false dawn. As soon as Rodgers was faced with having to play more than one game a week his plans fell apart. Time and time again this season he’s claimed a lack of coaching time was the biggest issue – but that’s how it works at clubs who play in Europe!

His excuses are pathetic, his formation and constant tinkering with players who can be picked one game and then left out in the cold for the next four or five games is just senseless!

Manager's comments:

“It was embarrassing, and if the owners want me to go, I'll go. But I still feel like I have a lot to offer here. I apologise to the supporters because it was nowhere near good enough. However I take full responsibility for today as manager, we have to go away and fix this.”

The manager looked at the media with a sombre expression and I feel that he has now taken the club as far as he can. He is a manager learning on the job, in reality we are a club that cannot wait for a manager learning on the job, we need a manager who is experienced and confident enough to handle the size of our club.

I expect the review to now take place in Boston and FSG need answers to the following:

1.      why we have had such a poor season

2.      why has Brendan misspent the money given to buy players

3.      why does he continue to get tactics so wrong

4.      why has he not sorted out the defence despite the millions spent

5.      And why we struggle to goals despite buying the strikers we purchased.

Our manager focused on buying Southampton players last season when we had the lure of Champions League football on offer and rather than aiming for top quality players from Europe or South America he chose a different route. 

That’s why we ended up in 6th place which after finishing 2nd last year is frankly not acceptable.  King Kenny won a trophy but still got sacked, our current manager should now face the same scenario but he hasn't even got a trophy to place on the bargaining table. Dalglish was told we need to qualify for CL football and his results in the league were not good enough, lets now see if FSG are fair owners and deal with the current management situation in the same vain over the next few days/weeks.

The earlier this is resolved the quicker we can get the new man into post.

Get ready to step forward Mr Jurgen Klopp - you have the credentials that we need right away.