Observations from a difficult night
Of course all is not lost providing we sort ourselves out pretty quickly. As Rafa mentioned in his press conference the Bolton match now becomes a must win. Hard to believe the 4th match of the season could be described as such but I wouldn’t fancy falling 9 points behind Chelsea.
Anyways, some observations, both positive and negative from last nights match:
1 – Emiliano Insua – I’ll start with a positive. What a superb player this lad is turning into. Excellent in the tackle, bags of energy and finally got the attacking assist he’s be threatening. Our man of the match in my opinion
2 – Central Midfield – The press have jumped on Alonso leaving as the reason for our poor start. Sadly it does look like a problem. In my eyes Mascherano and Lucas lack mobility and an eye for a forward pass. You can argue moving Gerrard back nullifies the best strike force in the country.
You can also argue they aren’t going to get a pass until we have a central midfield that can spread the play effectively. Yossi and Dirk were collecting the ball off the defence last night because the centre mids weren’t up to the job. This is the biggest decision Rafa has to make at the moment.
3- David Ngog – It’s difficult to be ‘Johnny on the spot’ when you’re not even on the bench. Any ideas were our most effective substitute was?
4- Zonal Marking – This works fine and has done for years. Players mark space rather than a particular player. What went wrong last night was the players stood like statues when the cross came in. Again the press will jump on it but it’s not an issue in my opinion.
5- Luck – Are we getting our karma for a few lucky breaks last season? After the penalty claims turned down on day one it was never a free kick for their first goal, Torres was chopped in the box, absolutely blatant hand ball off the line and Carragher being beyond the defender in the centre of the box for that offside was marginal. Not trying to make excuses for a poor display but the luck is definitely against us right now.
Your thoughts on were it all went wrong and positives we can take appreciated as always….
Where do you start!? I’m not going to lay into the players and tactics too much because I believe if the chance of the first half that fell to Gerrard had have been dispatched I’m sure Liverpool would have pressed on and finished winners last night.
I think one of our main problems that came up last night yet again is our ability to find a quality final ball – all the more obvious as the game wore on.
The passing ability of mascherano and lucas is very worrying – its definately a case of missing the quality that xabi provided in past seasons.
I just think sometimes we play too narrow and with players like yossi and dirk on the wings, who cut inside to join in attacks, i don’t think were stretching teams enough.
Another thing we love to do is drop right back and play infront of the opposition – villa loved that last night and at times when couldn’t find an effective ball we resorted in lumping a cross in from deep which Villa dealt with quite easily at times.
Obviously we still have aquilani to come into the side – hopefully he will be key to providing us with some quality passing in the centre of the park but i think if we were to improve as a side to need to play with more width – I think weve seen glimpses of this from Johnson who I’ve been really impressed with going forward.
Just got this from the Official site…
Liverpool have today confirmed Hungarian duo Krisztian Nemeth and Andras Simon will spend the 2009-10 season out on loan.
Nemeth has joined Greek side AEK Athens until the end of the campaign, while Simon will spend the term with Spanish club Cordoba CF.
The strike pair originally arrived at Anfield from MTK Hungaria in the summer of the 2007 after impressing in the previous year’s UEFA U17 Championships.
Nemeth was included in the first team’s tours of Switzerland and Asia this summer, and the 20-year-old helped himself to two goals in the 5-0 victory over Singapore last month.
Why, why , why are we sending Nemeth out on loan to a greek club???
He was being touted by Rafa as one of the best finishers he’s seen, now he’s gone off to get a tan in Greece while we struggle to get anything that resembles a good squad in place!
Zonal marking is a total failure. We are weak at defending corners and freekicks. We dont have a commanding CH that dominates like Terry or Vidic. For the great player Macherano is there are others out there that can do his job and create and pass and shoot. There is nothing coming from midfield. The argument is now over with Lucas, he’s useless, can’t tackle, commits fouls, can’t pass, can’t head, can’t defend and yet more proof that Benitez judgement of a player is poor. Should have sold him (5), Macherano (30), Agger (8), Dossina (5), Voronin (2). With Alonso (30) that would have got us £80m. Could have got Richards, Flamini, VDV, Negrado, Drenthe, and still have £20m over to pick up the likes of Saviola or Silva. How can you expect Gerrard to score when there’s nothing coming from midfield. The facts are the PL title is now gone and there is precious little to convince me that a top three place can be achieved. Europe forget it and the domestic cups are not what Liverpool is about. The Yanks and Benitez have failed the supporters and the Yanks at least should be driven out of Anfield.
Sometimes I dont want to watch the game when there is no penetration!!! We are awful, woeful, luckless and plan-less. Come on guys, pick up yr game !
Yesterday before the game, Rafa said something like this: `I would like to see an improvement from last year`s match against Villa. We won 5-0 and were very good, and I`m not trying to be arrogant, but I would like to see an improvement`.
Not arrogant huh? Unbelievable. Why on earth does Benitez go on saying stuff like this? Sometimes I wonder if he is really on the same planet as the rest of us. Saying stuff like this will in most cases have counterproductive effects. His psychological understanding of people, and most importantly, groups of people (a team), seems a bit off. Doesn`t the man understand that comments like this ONLY SERVES TO ADD PRESSURE? Come on man, is he living in his own world?
And what about the players then? Whether they have been bitten by the same bug I don`t know, but every day you read about Liverpool players saying we can do this and we can do that, cause we are Liverpool and we can walk on water, and we are good enough to win the league, and blah blah blah…
I`m sorry, I don`t like to rant like this. But the in the Liverpool of old, people spoke with their feet instead of running their mouth all over the place. It`s distracting and embarrassing. Nuff said.
A loss to Bolton and Rafa goes and so does the CL league cash and that means loss of income which will squeeze the basterds yanks hard until they give up and go…come on Pool, the squad needs rebuilding right from the owners, to the manager and the entire squad. I am sick of those bullshyte player like lucas who always talks shyte but got no substance. I am sick of the blardy manager who has been buying crap players over the entire season he is there. Lets face it, the title is all but over but do not despair, there is chance now to to rebuild the squad from scratch if the basterds yanks sells out and if they sell out, I hope they do sell at a loss. So Pool do your bit and loose every match ..YWNA..sick of the yanks & the goatie arrogant as$hole.
[...] me last night and the Spurs result were Rafa’s fault. He can blame the palyers, but if the players can’t play [...]
Our midfield is not working,outmuscled n outplayed by spurs n villa.Lucas is a useless player not even fit to play for stoke.Rafa is stubborn n stupid to play Lucas again n again.
I think Liverpool had Villa under the cosh for most of the match, Villa defended very well and took their chances.
Lucas is a liability, Johnson is great going forward but is not a great defender I don’t think you will challenge this season.
Some classic knee-jerk reactions here. I bet half of you walked out of the Attaturk at Half time (or turned the TV off)