Cronky

It looked like he'd shed a bit of flab. Not before time.

Klopp reminds me of Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park. Same vague, disjointed way of talking.

Well I didn't see this one coming. As others have said, we grew in confidence as the game went on. Liverpool didn't look like a CL side - Klopp thought he could afford to rotate the squad, but it didn't come off for him. Our passing game is still poor and we have little ability to work our way through a defence. Our best chances come on the break, and we can't just rely on that to get out of our position. Sissoko is soooo frustrating. 90% of the time, he loses the ball, and it's difficult for players to get forward with confidence when he's so shaky in possession. Then once or twice in a game, a situation arises in his favour and he'll open things up for us. Given the alternatives, we've got no choice but to play him, but I wish that wasn't the case.

Terrible lack of confidence on the ball - no news there. De Jong has shown a bit of vision now and then. Klopp has got some good players to bring on and I fear that'll make the difference.

Looks like we're out to get a 0-0, or sneak a goal late on on the break. Given recent results, I suppose there's no point in trying the same tactics against even better opposition.

I think there's a major problem now with Coloccini and we have to replace him. At the moment, McClaren lacks an alternative, but Colo has never struck me as a natural leader or communicator. He gets discouraged, he can't assert himself in certain situations and at one stage he seemed desperate to leave. How a player in that position can inspire his team-mates I don't know. It sounded like he and McClaren fell out after the Leicester game, so there's now a complete power vacuum on the pitch. If we do nothing else in January, bring in a tough, experienced centre back.

The problem is the quality of the players in certain crucial positions. Changing the manager won't help. The other issue is that when McClaren came in, all of the staff went and he had to start getting to know the players and their abilities from scratch. Inevitably there were errors eg he under-rated Ayoze at first and over-rated Colo and Sissoko. He didn't realise the extent of the problem, so why bring in another manager who might well suffer similar difficulties. At least McClaren shouldn't be under any delusion about what needs to be done in January.

Those are the two priorities, for sure. We'll need to pay over the odds to get someone decent, or break the rule about signing older players. With the huge amount of TV money coming in, we're into new territory. So let's see.

The only consolation is that it makes the January decision simple. We either spend big or go down.

What has really hit home for me this season is that, despite the change of manager, and despite the money spent, a lot of the players aren't good enough. Standards in the Premiership are rising fast and players that were good enough three years ago look vulnerable now. As people have said, that's particularly clear in relation to the spine of the team - Colo, Anita, Tiote, Cisse are now struggling, Mbemba is getting used to a different and more demanding league. There's an imbalance in the midfield where we don't have enough technical ability overall. Now that McClaren has had the chance to look at the players and realise where the gaps are, we've got to take a deep breath and hope he can do enough in the January window to strengthen the team so we stay up. It'd be daft to get rid of him now. Pardew was actually making the best of a bad job, and we need to be realistic about the current squad.

I don't think it's a matter of temperament or attitude with Sissoko. It's just that his game consists of extreme strengths and weaknesses, and it all seems to depend on what gets exposed in a particular game. If he gets time and space to run forward in possession, he's difficult to stop and can open things up for us. He's a very good athlete. On the other hand, his touch on the ball is poor and he often loses it when put under pressure. And although he tries to defend, he doesn't have the ability to adjust his position or balance quickly to counteract what his opponent is doing. At the moment, we have to accept the package he's offering. But his lack of technique limits how the side can develop. If we want to improve the way we work the ball forward, I think we need to bring in a different sort of player.

He doesn't look all that fat any more. And on Saturday he certainly wasn't crap. It looks like he's been working hard. This is a big opportunity in his career.

He's not been in the job a year yet dude, was more than a year before the wheels really came off with us. I think the wheels really came off after he left, no? Sorry, couldn't resist.

Right from the start, it was obvious he didn't fancy it.

Firstly well done to Robbie. I didn't think he had that kind of performance in him. There's a serious problem with the midfield. Mitrovic - Perez is the only part of the team that's working well, so I can see why he's gone for a 4-4-2. But Wiljandum and Sissoko aren't great at defending from wide positions, and Tiote and Anita don't offer anything at all. We did miss Colback today (and yeah, I know what most of you think) A decent anchor man in midfield would enable us to get to a 4-3-3, bringing both Georginio and Sissoko into more central areas. In January, we've got to spend whatever it takes.

Mitrovic, Ayoze and Elliot are the only ones who are playing. We're getting nothing from Tiote and Anita. Either defensively or in attack. I'd drop Anita and bring Wijnaldum into the centre. He's wasted out wide. We look incredibly tentative when Bournemouth have the ball.

We're not challenging in the midfield at all.

Elliot's okay but he goes down like an elephant being shot. I don't mind seeing Woodman given a chance.

He will always have his own special place in the history of our club. Good to hear that it sounds like they are optimistic of a good recovery. All the best, Andy.

It does look like his attempt to create a siege mentality within the club is backfiring, and he's only isolating himself. Apart from Caneiro, I think he has a major problem with John Terry. He's not the player he was, and you wonder now just how much, over the years, they relied on his ability and leadership at the back. Mourinho humiliated him by taking him off at half-time against Man City, but the reality is that he can't do without him, at least for the time being.

He showing an ability to bring long balls down to his feet rather than settle for heading the ball on. Plus, he'll succeed in getting one to two clean headers in on goal despite being closely marked. He's starting to do really well.

One thing that rugby (and I suppose all other sports) has always had over football is a greater deal of respect for the referee and his decisions. The fuss over Joubert's decision is an indication that video replays are starting to undermine that. Yes, it was a mistake, but an understandable one, and the fact that he was not allowed to go to the TMO for a review has been conveniently ignored. It looks like a very good ref has had his career blighted by this.

Yep. He's trying to drag as many people down with him as possible. Platini is a disgrace.

It's more than a bit fanciful to use the high level corruption at FIFA to suggest that referees in the Premier League are bent, and that this could have influenced decisions on Sunday. If that's not what you're suggesting, then the Blatter-Platini-Dyke bit - however interesting - is in the wrong thread. Nevertheless, read my last sentence ...this is absolutely as I was told. I daresay conspiracy theories have been around for many years. More recently we've had Fergie saying that the draw for the Champions League is bent, and Mourinho saying that referees are conspiring against Chelsea. Both accusations say more about their characters than anything else. I see no reason to believe that the top level refereeing in this country isn't anything but above board. Refs make mistakes and they often succumb to pressure from a home crowd, but that isn't evidence of corruption. On the Greg Dyke issue, he's incompetent and out of his depth in the position that he's in. We've already seen that. But there's no need to read any more into it.

It's more than a bit fanciful to use the high level corruption at FIFA to suggest that referees in the Premier League are bent, and that this could have influenced decisions on Sunday. If that's not what you're suggesting, then the Blatter-Platini-Dyke bit - however interesting - is in the wrong thread.