QuoteGoodbye top 4 if Liverpool put Gerrard CM regardless of who will replace him upfront. At least a dozen players better than him as a centre mid in the Premiership.Originally Posted by Noli
The words Godawful and eyesbleeding come to mind
Goodbye top 4 if Liverpool put Gerrard CM regardless of who will replace him upfront. At least a dozen players better than him as a centre mid in the Premiership.
So for the next two months what would you do?play masch and lucas cm every game?
It seems the best of a number of poor options at the moment. Even when Aquilani is back from injury Liverpool will not be as impressive as last season as he is not a player who sits in front of the defence. Maybe he can be turned into a player like that but Benitez did not do it with Lucas. I have not seen enough of Aquilani, however, to know for certain will he be able/not able to adapt into that role.
Aquilani is definately not a holding midfielder, in the 4-2-3-1 Lucas and Masch can do that,but is there a need to use that all the time? a plan b and a bit more of the football we seen from Feb onwards would be nice
Liverpool's defence is not strong enough not to have two holding midfield players, even more so that Johnson has been signed as he is more attacking than Arbeloa.
give spurs a bit of credit.. they should have been 3 or 4 up by half time .. keane had 3 great chances to score .. and palacios ran the show from midfield for spurs in first half.. 1st goal was a cracker for spurs................ skertel/ carragher looked very shaky for most of the game
" football is a simple game "
Reina was excellent. Actually kept Liverpool in the game. Centre of defence was terrible, Caragher was shockingly poor. Kuyt not himself, centre mid dont compliment each other and sit too deep.. Babel, goodbye -enough said. Gerrard was poor. Torres had a very quite game. Yossi was very good when he came on. The options or lack of them on the bench are worrying. Players looked sluggish and seemed to be in pre-season mode.Big improvement needed fast or more points will be dropped.
Big credit to Spurs who deserved their win, Harry is a miracle worker.
you are only a loser when you stop trying. Playing sport does not build character, it reveals it.
Why they offered Benitez a new contract near the end of last season I don't know, the man is an idiot. Liverpool are short at least 3 players of mounting a serious title challenge.
Carragher is nearing the end of his career, Skrtel was clearly fcuked after clashing with Carragher but there wasn't an ounce of quality on the bench to replace him. Aquilani was a strange buy as well, he was booed of the pitch a couple of times last season by Roma fans and is not a proven quality player.
Spurs hit the ground running and were very good and well deserved their win. However, the penalty shouts for the foul on HHH and the hand ball were valid penalties. Overall, it was a poor, sluggish performance from Liverpool. Reina was MOTM from a Liverpool perspective with some excellent saves, particularly in the first half. If Robbie Keane was on song Spurs could have been 3 up at half time. Benayoun made a positive difference when he came on but for some reason, he never has the same effect when he starts.
My biggest moan of the day were Gerrards corners. Why does he take corners? Its not like he is actually good at it. Given his shooting ability from long range, surely he should be lurking outside the area for corners.
Dont get too excited, Mr. Manc. I watched most the united game and saw very little to worry about for any of other title contenders. United looked very ordinary all over the pitch. If United dont buy before the transfer window closes, they wont win the league. Liverpool will finish ahead of them but I wouldnt be so sure that would be in 1st place.
Arsenal and Man City impressed me most over the weekend. Arsenal were class and played some lovely football. Man City played really well at Blackburn which is a very tough place to win. If they manage to get Lescott, who will shore up their defence a little more and strengthen even more at xmas, they could break into the CL places. Chelsea are only settling into a new system of play but still managed to scrape a win which is bad news for everyone else.
Last edited by reder; 17/08/2009 at 10:32 AM.
The "handball" was nothing of the sort, clearly hit his chest, the only one claiming it was Benayoun who was behind BAE and couldn't have seen it.
The "foul" was at 50/50 shout, I've certainly seen them given but it came 20 seconds after Carragher had blatantly shoved Crouch in the other area with nothing given, so it was understandable that it too, wasn't given.
I have said for a couple of seasons that Liverpool are one dimensional, Bent'Arry seems to have the measure of Rafa, Spurs played a high tempo yesterday knowing that Liverpool playing with only 1 striker wouldn't be pressing, which meant not having to hoof the ball up to 2 short strikers, I rather suspect if Huddle20stone especially(who just seemed to drop deep to get the time he needed) & Palacios were harried a bit more it might have been a different game.
From a Liverpool pov, how do Babel & Lucas mantain a place in that squad? They were a different side when Benayoun came on.
Was at this game yesterday and fully agree Spurs deserved their win. Played really well first half and could have been more than one at half time. Best for Liverpool Reina, Johnson and Yossi. Thought Defoe was good for Spurs fairly lively upfront and for a small guy hard to handle but a lot of the time don't think he knows what he's doing when he's in possession of the ball but played well all the same i thought. Palasicos i thoght was excellent to. Can't agree Harry is a miracle worker myself. He has a decent squad when you look at their bench yesterday and Woodgate and Dawson were out with injuries. He needs to go for it this season with Spurs and stop whinging about the previous management and the lack of cash as it's complete rubbish. They have a good enough squad now imo.
You make a good point about Gerrard taking the corners. I feel the same when Giggs takes them for United, not that he would be of any use lurking outside the box, just that he's rubbish at taking corners. I honestly can't see Liverpool finishing ahead of United unless they do something impressive in the transfer market. There is little difference between the teams at full strength but Liverpool's squad is desperately poor. Even if they stay relatively clear of injuries it will still cost them in a big way with the amount of games they play. United were very laboured themselves yesterday but I really wouldn't raed too much into that. The started the past two seasons with home draws against teams that were eventually relegated so this was an improvement. It's all about getting the points on the board at this stage and not falling too far behind. Long term I'd worry about United's midfield and a huge question mark still hangs over Berbatov. The positives for United yesterday would be the performances of Fabio at right back, Valencia as the game went on and Evra looking more like his old self. Evans looks very capable too when needed. Rooney will have a big season I think and Anderson will be first choice in midfield sooner rather than later.
Yeah can't believe this hasn't been mentioned more.
To be fair I think Spurs have the measure of most teams, at the Lane anyway. The battered United the season before last there and United got a late equaliser and last season they gave United very little, drawing the match again. They also beat Chelsea with a really good team performance. The futures bright for them I think.
Class player though.
Liverpool fans say this every year
Liverpool don't have the team or squad to win the title. They are crying out for another forward who can fill in for Torres if/when he gets injured. Alonso is a big loss and their new buy won't play till end of September so they are relying on Lucas.....
Man Utd's main threat this year will come from Arsenal if they keep everybody fit. Chelsea? Same old same old. No width, same squad but a year older.
Was talking to a Spurs fan who was at it also. He has a very good knowledge of the game, systems etc, strange as that is for a Spurs fan and was really surprised by the lack of movement by Liverpool off the ball. He thought that most of the players were waiting for Gerrard or Torres to make it happen. Agree or disagree??
**Reder is bemused. ** Chelsea are playing a brand new system under Ancelotti. They will be playing with 2 up front, Anelka and Drogba and when Joe Cole comes back, he will play behind the front 2.
True but this kind of thing has been tried before. Anyway Chelsea will still be a serious force cos that same squad they have happens to be a very good one. United may have a slightly different squad to last year but that's only because they lost 2 of their best players.
So where would Lampard play? He cannot play on the wings and he won't sit in front of the back 4 so if Ancelotti persists with the diamond formation Lampard will be behind the front two.
Joe Cole will be stuck out on the right or left side when fit (20 games a season then) but I wouldn't classify him as a conventional winger.
[QUOTE=reder;1213211]Was talking to a Spurs fan who was at it also. He has a very good knowledge of the game, systems etc, strange as that is for a Spurs fan and was really surprised by the lack of movement by Liverpool off the ball. He thought that most of the players were waiting for Gerrard or Torres to make it happen. Agree or disagree??
Agree. The thing for me was no players wanted the ball so no chance of Gerrard or Torres getting it. When Yossi came on all he wanted was the ball. When he got it he was running with it and looking to make things happen which in turn created more movement from others off the ball. Hindsight is wonderful and all that but considering how he finished last season can't understand how he didn't start yesterday. Thought Torres had one of his days yesterday were he allowed himself to bullied which resulted in him looking for frees all the time and whinging at the ref but can't be to critical of him i suppose.
Lampard will sit in front of the back four and switch to the attacking point of the diamond when Joe Cole doesnt play. Ancelotti has always played with this system and I dont see him changing his ways now.
Spurs were all over him and King had a very good game against. Anytime he tried to go on a run he was surrounded by 2 or 3 Spurs defenders and was subjected to a fair few tough (but fair) challenges. I thought he looked a bit laboured at times but wouldnt be too hard on him. Also, Gerrard isnt 100% fit.
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks