Reds Bullied At Britannia

It was the same old story at the Britannia for Liverpool in the Premier League. Another disappointing result at the hands of Pulis's men, a bogey side for the Redmen since they got promoted. Brendan Rodgers selected the same starting 11 that featured in the 4-0 home win over Fulham last weekend. The Redmen got off to a fantastic start, when Suarez turned Shawcross only for the former Manchester United trainee to pull the jersey off the back of the Uruguayan. For the first time this season a penalty for Liverpool which been a long time coming so much so that the travelling supporters could be afforded to have a party in the away end referring to the chants "We'll have a party when Suarez gets a pen" in the past few months.

Liverpool legend and captain Steven Gerrard stepped up, dispatched the penalty to the left of Begovic thus sending the keeper the wrong way in the process. 1-0 Liverpool after 1 min. Rodgers couldn't have had a better start, but from there on a weak underbelly that has been shown on a number of occasions this season filtered through the heart of this Liverpool side. The presence of Kenywne Jones and Jonathan Walters caused Agger and Skrtel problems all night, so much so the ease of Stoke's 3 goals cannot be understated. Liverpool gifted Stoke 3 goals from 3 set-pieces, the players knew what to expect and disappointingly for Rodgers some of the players when into their shell once Stoke scored the equaliser. Only for Reina, who hasn't been at his best for a long time now kept the score level(before Stoke took the lead) with a few saves especially the save from Matthew Etherington's great effort.

Stoke have their critics, personally I don't like them but you have to give credit where credit is due. Stoke are effective, the Britannia is probably the hardest away day for any side. The win moved Stoke up to 8th vacating Liverpool in the process. Liverpool now lie 10th at the halfway mark of the season, 25 points and unless Rodgers wins against QPR come Sunday he will have the unenviable record of equal to Roy Hodgson's points tally after 20 games. Whilst the football this season has been decent, results are the currency.

Rodgers is learning as a manager, the naivety of the team selection yesterday is a sign of this. For Fenway Sports Group(FSG) they will have backed the manager to the tune of 50 million if the deals for Ince and Sturridge do go through. The worry for me as a Liverpool supporter is are the club pigeon holing themselves again to buying British talent at inflated prices. We have been burned in the past which is well documented for our sake and Rodgers they need to hit the ground running.

On Sunday we need to start getting consistency fast. Half term report is debatable on which side you're on, there are Rodgers apologists(which I would count myself in that group because sacking him will only further disillusion me what Liverpool FC is). Then there is the Rodgers haters - we have seen it before with popular managers(Rafa), once the bandwagon gets going and media hysteria is whipped up there is only going to be one outcome.

As we go in 2013, in February it will be 4 years since we beat Real Madrid home and away in the Champions League. It seems such a long time ago with the upheaval we have seen at the club in that time. From on the brink of administration/liquidation in October 2010 to where the club is now, patience is a virtue and unfortunately its going to take that virtue before we get back to where we were. Getting bullied at the Britannia like we did only gives a further indication the rebuilding the owners need take on board.

Off the pitch the inexperience is as much as it is on the pitch at times. 3 points on Sunday for the moment should be the main focus to bounce back from last night's defeat. Like we did after the defeat to what can only be described as the worst Villa side side since Brian Little's vintage.

Heaping more pressure on Harry Redknapp would be even sweeter.