Birmingham V Liverpool

joe.

winamp

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> [url]http://208.53.170.192:2641;stream.nsv[/url]

mike65

Forget winmap its on Setanta!

Pool are not coping at all well, its 2-0 to Brum, a peno after Heskey was crawled over by Hyypia and a great goal put in by Gray. Liverpool ended half with 2 corners. The formation is the problem, Morientes up front on his own really as Baros is pushed wide right. The weather is terrible it looked like snow at one point! The pitch is rough too.

Mike.

Chucky the tree

this is painful.

hyypia is past it, still felt the peno was harsh. new CB in the summer. Gerrard doesnt seem to care anymore, chances are is deal to chelsea is done.

PHB

Thats a bit silly, he can't be expected to preform week in week out carrying a team

Chucky the tree

PHB wrote:

Thats a bit silly, he can't be expected to preform week in week out carrying a team

he hasnt been playing aswell for a while now though. I dont blame him, if i was as good as him and had to play with a pack of lemons i doubt i would bother either.

mike65

Benitez clearly has something to learn about how to play football in an English winter. It was all set up for "muck and bullets" and he did'nt instill an attitude of death or glory. Brum played simple stone age footie and played it well.

Mike.

Aquos76

What a woefull display by Liverpool this afternoon. You would have thought, that after this mornings result Liverpool would have been well up for this one. On the subject of Steven Gerrard, I now think its a sure thing that he wont be at anfield next season. Liverpool are just an average team and the sooner their supporters accept that the better.

Chucky the tree

Leonard wrote:

What a woefull display by Liverpool this afternoon. You would have thought, that after this mornings result Liverpool would have been well up for this one. On the subject of Steven Gerrard, I now think its a sure thing that he wont be at anfield next season. Liverpool are just an average team and the sooner their supporters accept that the better.

i think the supporters have accepted were average. Dont remeber anyone on here saying were great?

still, final of CC, quarter final of CL, battling for 4th place. Its not to bad for an average team.

KdjaCL

Its good that pool lost as well as everton ,that 4th spot if it stays between them will add a few more decent games to the end of season.


kdjac

eyerer

"Djimi Traore made a mess of a clearance giving the ball to Pennant and the on-loan winger wasted no time in sending a dangerous cross to the far post for Gray to volley high into the net."

cant say im surprised

Chucky the tree

risse was at fault, seemed to take a nice leisurely, relaxed attitude in trying to block the cross from going in.

traore is an excellent tackler.

PiE

Painful isn't the word. Absolutelymotherf*ckingshocking is more like it.

d22ontour

PiE wrote:

Painful isn't the word. Absolutelymotherf*ckingshocking is more like it.

Only to be expected liverpool blow hot and cold all the time

gandalf

Watched a bit of this and Liverpool weren't playing at all. Nice peno by Andy Pandy and excellent goal set up by Pennant (why did we loan him out !!!) converted with style by Gray.

Liverpool missed the opportunity to catch up with Everton !

mike65

I can see what the problem is..Liverpool need two thing

a) a couple of hard men in the middle and b) a pair of sissors for Baros, Smicer, Morientes. I think if you need an alice band you're not going to thrive in games like todays.

Mike

Guy:Incognito

Chucky the tree wrote:

he hasnt been playing aswell for a while now though. I dont blame him, if i was as good as him and had to play with a pack of lemons i doubt i would bother either.

Thats a ridicuolus statement and epitomises (sp?) everything that is wrong with Liverpool and Gerrard. I held him in very high regard for ages but im begining to doubt myself. The thing that separates very good players with the true greats is attitude. Theres no better example of this than Roy KEane and Steven Gerrard. Keane is by no means a skillfull player, but yet is imo the best midfielder of his type in the world and at the very least one of the top 3 Irish players ever.

Roy Keane in the Liverpool team would be a very different prospect to Gerrard, Keane would be dragging them around by the kneck if he had to. Gerrard hasnt got the ability to take control of a game when needed, he pops up with a vital goal here and there and thats papered over the cracks. I only wished he had had a couple of seasons playing with Keane because he would have got a kick up the arse he never would have forgot. I've never seen Keane drop his head and fade out of a game that wasnt going his way. He fights for EVERYTHING, and Gerrard justdoesnt do it.

£30m is great money for him imo because its purely reputation money, the only question is will the money be properly spent, For the first time in nearly twenty years of supporting Liverpool I dont see a bright future somewhere on the horizon.

The Muppet

Just watched the "Highlights" on the premiership. Heskey made the most of the contact for the penno but it was still a pen. Liverpoools defence for the second goal was very poor, That whole unit needs to be replaced with the possible exception of Carragher who I rate, Risse should have done better with his chance. he should at least have made the keeper work. Liam (chippy)Brady made an excellent comment in his analysis when he said " too many ordinary players have left Liverpool only to be replaced by ordinary players. Benitze certainly has his work cut out for him if he is to bring back the Glory days to Anfield.

Guy:Incognito

Chucky the tree wrote:

risse was at fault, seemed to take a nice leisurely, relaxed attitude in trying to block the cross from going in.

traore is an excellent tackler.

Riise came in to cover Traore when he gave the ball away, Traore stood behind Riise running back and forward with him, he should have been beside him helping to block pennant, that way he would have had to get by both of them to cross it, but woth troare behind riise all he had to do was make a yard a put a cross in. Troare should have been standing where the ball was hit, not walking up and down in an area marking nothing.

Shred

Fair dues to Birmingham but Liverpool were absolutely awful, I don't remember one attack of note in the game from them. It would be just too easy for them to have won that game and been 2 points off fourth wouldn't it? No, no they have to do it the fúcking hard way :mad:

Benitez:

A very disappointed Rafael Benitez has admitted to feeling a sense of shock after watching his side crash to defeat at Birmingham.
The Reds manager refused to offer the excuse of tiredness after the international matches and even blamed himself for the loss.

Benitez said: "We are very disappointed because we didn't play well at all in 90 minutes. We never passed the ball, didn't win second balls and we never kept the ball. This was a very bad game for us and I am disappointed.

"If you analyse the manager and each player we didn't do our best. We didn't do things you need to win the game. I am shocked by our display.

"We have problems away from home at the moment and I think we need to be a lot more physical than we are sometimes.

"I don't know if this is our worst performance of the season but it is certainly one of them. Our problem is we are not consistent. We won our last three games and had confidence then we play Birmingham and not one player played well.

"We now have a lot of days before we play again and in that time we will analyse what went wrong at Birmingham."

d22ontour

4th place is still in the balance with everton losing against chelsea and liverpool giving a poor performance away to birmingham.
It seemed liverpool would gain some ground after everton lost earlier but some poor defending and lack of creativity costing them dearly.
Things are not all doom and gloom for liverpool as everton have some tough away trips to come.
Fingers crossed that everton will hold 4th place till the end but realistically they can still crumble down the league and liverpool are still favorites to catch them

Headshot

i say liverpool will be saying good bye to Gerrard,i think he has given up on carrying the whole team on his shoulders and liverpools defence is letting ye down liverpool fans

smemon

woeful day for liverpool. seeing everton lose should have been the inspiration for them. failing to take advantage of everton's loss has me really questioning whether they can still challenge for 4th spot.

bring back gerrard houllier!!!

applehunter

Lads you should follow me and stop supporting them and start taking them on in the bookies.

i backed Birmingham today at 11/5 to beat them. I never had any worries after the penalty. Liverpool didnt have any fight in them even.

They're a shambles. They are as bad as the days of Phil Babb. I'm worried about if they dont qualify for the Champions LEague. Can they're finances take that hit.

Also if Liverpool move to this new 60,000 seater stadium, do you think they will be able to fill it?

Guy:Incognito

applehunter wrote:

Also if Liverpool move to this new 60,000 seater stadium, do you think they will be able to fill it?

Yes because real supporters don't ditch their team just because times are bad.

applehunter

Stekelly wrote:

Yes because real supporters don't ditch their team just because times are bad.

And are you a "real" supporter?

Guy:Incognito

applehunter wrote:

And are you a "real" supporter?

I'll go along with this to see where your going with it. Yes I consider myself a real Liverpool supporter. In that I've supported them since I was 6 and heave nevereventhought about changing my team.

The Muppet

Chelsea are doing quite well at the moment.

applehunter

I always thought I'd support Liverpool till i died. Then I went to Anfield for the first time last season. They were playing Wolves(won 1-0 last minute Hyypia goal) and the whole time I was there i was losing my passion for this club I had followed for the previous 14 years.

The atmosphere was terrible.
"Youll Never Walk Alone" was just embarassing.
WE were almost kicked out of the ground for starting to taunt the Wolves fans.
The City is a hole.
They charged me £8 to go on a tour of the stadium and they almost had a seizure when I went on the grass.

After that weekend I just lost complete interest in the club.

Seriously there is money to be made backing against Liverpool, especially when they are away from home.

Guy:Incognito

I went to see them beat newcastle 2-1 at home a few years back and the atmosphere was electric. Roman Abramovich had to pay a lot more than £8 to get the run of chelsea. If they let evryone who took the tour walk around on the pitch it would be in bits. And btw none of the reasons you give for losing interest involve the football, which at the end of the day is why your supporting a team. Going on your logic, I cant see why anyone would follow a team from most Irish or english cities.

I found Liverpool a much more pleasent city to be in than Dublin (maybe just because I've spent 23 years in dublin). I've never been to manchester but by a lot of accounts its a horrible rainy kip. why dont we all just go support a team from the canary islands so we can have lots of sun sea etc.

Btw the nature of "taunts" to other fans can cause a lot of trouble, escpecially in the current climate. technically the 3 people were only taunting Dwight York on the sideline.

applehunter

I forgot to say the football was terrible too. Houllier was in his prime at that stage. I'm sure the Houllier reign cost Liverpool of fans. All the youngsters are choosing Man. United and Arsenal now.

We were sitting right next to the away fans and they were taunting us for the full 90 mins. So we decided to give them a piece of their own medicine and we were threatened by a PC Plod.

Liverpool is an ugly city. Just an observation.

Big Ears

Houlier in his prime , you mean the time yee won 3 trophys in a year or the time yee finnished second ?

All those youngsters aren't the type of fan you want . Liverpool would fill a 60,000 seater stadium two times over .

kida

Awful performance - awful result lying now 25 points behind league leaders :eek:

The thing thats says a lot about this Liverpool team is losing 2-0 away from home with no one booked, its says a lot about the passion the team plays with.

If any of Bolton,Boro Charlton,Pool or Everton can get a decent run going 4th place is there for the taking. Current form would suggest Bolton could.

PHB

Liverpool would fill any stadium size as much as any other team in england.
As for having the fianances, rofl, get a clue.
Liverpool could ontget into the CL for a couple of years, and still have a nice transfer kitty

Lex Luthor

always back against Liverpool if they play away after international game mid week.
EASY MONEY!!!!!!

I watched the highlights last night and I thought up until the pen, it was 50/50. Baros out of position didn't help. Benitez needs to learn quicker than he is saying he is about playing in the PL.

ButcherOfNog

The problem with Liverpool is the lack of mr xabi alonso at the moment. he was the one pulling the strings and making things happen. Liverpool are inbetween the top teams and the mediocre teams at the moment, however the loss of one of any of our few class players means pool become ordinary.

Liverpool played better without Gerrard when he was injured, compared to how they're playing now with Alonso out. Alonso was leading for pool in goal assists, passing, tackling and fouls won. He was by far our best player of the season. Liverpool have 5 or 6 outfield players that are good enough to play at the top level, Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd have alot more. Can't expect to challenge for anything till the squad is better.

I didn't think they played terrible v Brum, just looked very ordinary. They looked like Norwich in red.

d22ontour

ButcherOfNog wrote:

I didn't think they played terrible v Brum, just looked very ordinary. They looked like Norwich in red.

So norwich play like liverpool in yellow

opr

ButcherOfNog wrote:

The problem with Liverpool is the lack of mr xabi alonso at the moment. he was the one pulling the strings and making things happen. Liverpool are inbetween the top teams and the mediocre teams at the moment, however the loss of one of any of our few class players means pool become ordinary.

Liverpool played better without Gerrard when he was injured, compared to how they're playing now with Alonso out. Alonso was leading for pool in goal assists, passing, tackling and fouls won. He was by far our best player of the season. Liverpool have 5 or 6 outfield players that are good enough to play at the top level, Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd have alot more. Can't expect to challenge for anything till the squad is better.

I didn't think they played terrible v Brum, just looked very ordinary. They looked like Norwich in red.

Agree totally with what you are saying about Alonso he was such a big loss. Best player barr none before he was injured .

Looks like me might have him back for the last month of the season lets hope its not a lost cause at that stage.

Guy:Incognito

Theres a serious lack of decent players in the first team. Troare isnt good enough for a top 4 team, either is pellegrino, biscan, diao, baros, garcia, smicer, nunez, Luzi.

Feel free to add to the list if anyone feels different. I'm talking the main 1st team squad here, not including the youngsters.

The only players worth hanging onto are Kirkland, Carragher, Riise, Hyypia (by the skin of his teeth), Josemi (only because we havt seen enough of him to dump him yet), Hamann, Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Kewell (skin of the teeth again) , Ciise (same reason as Josemi, but im not convinced of his ability) , Finnan, Morientes, Carson (we'll see how that pans out).

The kids then:

Partridge (still counting him as he doesnt get 1st team games enough), Le Tallec, Mellor, Pongolle, Warnock, Raven, Welsh, Potter, Ostemobor, Whitbread. Mainly because one or two of them are bound to turn out to be decent.

Hopefully Bolton wil take Diouf permenantly. Likewise Rangers/ Vignal, Marseille/ Chyrou.

PHB

I'm 100% sure that if you give Benetiz roughly 40 mill for Gerrard + 20 miull for transfer, with a kitty of 60 mill, they will be in the top 4 next year, in the proper way
Whether that happens I dont know

Chucky the tree

Stekelly wrote:

Theres a serious lack of decent players in the first team. Troare isnt good enough for a top 4 team, either is pellegrino, biscan, diao, baros, garcia, smicer, nunez, Luzi.

if would keep traore, good cover at LB i feel. Certinaly not a first teamer. Pellegrinos only on a 6month contract isnt he, or is it a year and a half? He was brought in as cover for hyypia which was sorely needed. I would much prefer him a centre back then diao.

Biscan and diao are woeful and will gone in the summer. Keep baros for another season. He has done well enough this season considering hes gotten litle support. See if bentiz can sort out his headless chicken mentality.

Garcia and nunez should be kept, its unfair to judge a foreign player on one season in the premiership. Although i doubt nunez will ever cement a first team position, i have hopes garcia might.

Stekelly wrote:

The only players worth hanging onto are Kirkland, Carragher, Riise, Hyypia (by the skin of his teeth), Josemi (only because we havt seen enough of him to dump him yet), Hamann, Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Kewell (skin of the teeth again) , Ciise (same reason as Josemi, but im not convinced of his ability) , Finnan, Morientes, Carson (we'll see how that pans out). .

Keep kirkland, get rid of dudek. although i feel Carson will be number one. Kirkland is poor keeper. He very weak on crosses and the physical challenges.

Get rid of hyypia, too slow and old. We get some money for him if were very lucky. Risse isnt good enough to be a regular in a top 4 premiership side. He is poor definisevly and, as a winger he cant beat a man one-one. I feel kewell is better.

Hamann is past it too. fair to old and slow. He will be gone in the summer, i feel alonso is fine for a 4 man midfielder. Gerrard will go, so we need a new midfielder. Give cisse a chance, nothing to lose.

Again its Josemi's first season so i dont think we should be too critical on him, or saying get rid of him just yet. Anyway hes good cover for finann. Morientes is definitly a keeper.

Stekelly wrote:

Partridge (still counting him as he doesnt get 1st team games enough), Le Tallec, Mellor, Pongolle, Warnock, Raven, Welsh, Potter, Ostemobor, Whitbread. Mainly because one or two of them are bound to turn out to be decent.

Hopefully Bolton wil take Diouf permenantly. Likewise Rangers/ Vignal, Marseille/ Chyrou.

partridge is only on a year contract and will leave in the summer. Its a shame because i think he could of done well on the right hand side if he didnt get the injuries.

Mellor isnt good enough, sell him. Keep pongolle and le tallec seemed ok aswell, dunno how he has done on loan though. I dont think warnock will ever be good enough to be a regualr player. Think he should be sold aswell. I dont know enough about the others to make a decent judgement, but give them another year.

i liked the look of whitbread against burnely. He looked like more of a CB then hyypia anyway.

In the summer we need a new quality defender and left back.2 new midfilers(assuming gerrard goes), a right wing.