Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 11/12 - Mod Note 4153

I hate to harp on about this but 2 goals from over 150 corners so far this season is a very poor return.

Tusky wrote: »

This is where I see the team at the moment, which says alot about what I think of our big money signings.

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X

X

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Suarez

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X

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Lucas

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X

Enrique---Agger--Skrtel----Johnson

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Reina

Oh look, who would have thought, we need wingers.. The perpetual state that we have been in for 12 years and, for me anyway, the single most influential shortcoming that separates us from United in that period.

tommyhaas wrote: »

Surely there's a legitimate reason why after 11 months at the club he has yet to get an extended run in the team. Given the dire need for a striker, coupled with the obvious pressure Kenny must feel under to start his record signing, him not getting much of a look in can only down to him simply being very poor in training

Maybe there is - I don't know. Maybe it is Carroll's fault, maybe it is Kenny's fault?

What I do know though is that we paid 35m for him and in my opinion, we haven't given him a fair crack at it yet. We are going to have to roll that dice eventually and having our hand forced by any ban that Suarez gets is as good as time as any in my opinion (I appreciate that the ban might be somewhat prolonged now).

Back in Ireland after being home for a few days. Was at the game yesterday, and I was pretty disgusted by a few performances and well pleased with a few.


The back five were very good as a unit again yesterday with Johnson doing a lot of good work. Agger really seems to have taken to the role of the "leader" of the back four like a duck to water. Very calm organiser, and very quick to give a wink or a thumbs up to his fellow defenders when things work out.

From the remaining six starting players I think only Downing comes in outside of the average to poor rating. He made a lot of good runs yesterday, he put in a lot of good balls over the course of the game, and I think if Carroll was less lazy or had more game intelligence that Downing would hgave had a few assists to his name yesterday.

Adam was going between average at best and poor at worst yesterday. Very little seemed to work for him, and we suffered a lot in the centre because of that. Will give him credit for showing fight and for not hiding, but unless he has decent quality around him in midfield he is squad player material for me.

Henderson was even worse that Adam over the course of the game. He was pretty much a passenger, and offers very little in a CM pairing. He was awful in defensive terms with his running alongside players rather than putting in a challenge. His offensive game was only slightly better.

Maxi was not good either as a whole, but the simple fact that he scored a goal probably made him our most effective player in the midfield/forward positions.

Suarez was pretty average by his standards. He still worked hard and kept trying to make things happen, but he looked like a player who was stuggling to lower the level of his play to try and get on the same wavelength as some of his teammates rather than a top class player that others try to match.

Carroll was pretty poor yesterday. Some might say that he was not awful, and that he tried at times, but I think that when he puts in a somewhat average poerformance many praise him simply because an average performance looks better than some of the poor performances he has put in. Same thing applies to Henderson and Downing at times imho. When we had the ball in wide positions and tried to get the ball into the box, Carroll tends to stand static and wait for the ball rather than make runs into the box to get on the end of crosses. Most be very frustrating for anyone in the team as they know they need to hit a perfect cross otherwise the man who has been lauded for his aerial ability won't come looking for the ball.

Gerrard getting game time yesterday was a bonus, he added a spark to the team (along with Bellamy), and I could not help but think that three subs should have been brought on earlier in the game rather than two late subs.



Spotted this a page or so back from Tusky

Tusky wrote: »

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X

X

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Suarez

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X

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Lucas

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X

Enrique---Agger--Skrtel----Johnson

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Reina

And I have to sday that it pretty much hits the nail on the head with regards to the positions where we seem week, and the players that should be starters from what we currently have. Pretty damning on the £100m + worth of attacking players the club have bought over the last two windows, and with the exception of Suarez I think that all the other new attackers are pretty much squad level players at present. Maybe some will grow into better players with time, but right now a few of them look no better than a raw reserve player thrust into the starting XI for the first time.

Am also getting tired of the home crowds. The crowd really needs to take a leaf from the book of our travelling support. Granted there was plenty on the pitch to be not happy about, but the bitching about the players/Manager should be kept for the pubs after the game or for the online forums afterwards. Of course crowds need some sign of life from the players to get them going, but I feel that the noise levels at Anfield (save for a handful of league games and big cup games) have gotten even worse this season again, which is saying something given how drastically the noise levels have dropped there over the past 10-15 years.

In terms of the bigger picture, there have certainly been improvements. Last season after 19 games we had 25 points, right now after 18 games we have 31 points and if we beat Newcastle then we will have 34 points from 19 games. We are three points off of fourth place, and certainly have a chance of getting a CL slot if we can reinforce in January and/or starting scoring.

Kenny I think is currently doing the job that the Journeyman should have done when he came in, and that is to steady the ship to such a degree that there is a good platform for the next manager to come in and kick on from. Journeyman's appointment effectively knocked that steadying process back a full season imho. That is not to say that Kenny should be exempt from criticism though as his use of subs and some of his tactics have been puzzling at times, and many of his transfers still have serious question marks over them.

On a rumour front, two of my mates who are stewards said that Luuk de Jong was a guest at the game yesterday, and that a player from the French league is rumoured to be a guest for the next game.

The most outlandish thing I heard yesterday was Jose to Liverpool in the summer.:pac:

mike65 wrote: »

Jose was on BBC Radio 4 yesterday and said he would definitely return to the EPL for his next job, however I reckon its Manchester Utd he had in mind!

As for Eden Hazard visiting next week, well lets not get our hopes up, you'll probably find he is the guest of Joe Cole!

Hazard? Nope what I was told was that they thought it was a CM/DM from the French league that was the rumoured guest for this Friday.

Kirby wrote: »

I seem to say this every week to my Liverpool friends but how Downing is still being played on the wrong wing when it clearly isn't working is beyond me. Any manager worth his salt wouldn't keep persisting with it.

Want to player on the wing opposite his strong foot so he can cut inside? It won't work but fine. Do it. But drop downing because it doesn't work with him. Try somebody else.

Oh, and that "We've spent peanuts" lark is ridiculous. "We've wasted loads!" would be more apt.

It's all relative tho, I think both statements are apt. Oh and as for thinly veiled dig at Kenny, plenty of managers have "persisted" with tactics that haven't given instant success, to say otherwise is just you trying to belittle our manager and is also disingenuous. :rolleyes:

Kess73 wrote: »

Hazard? Nope what I was told was that they thought it was a CM/DM from the French league that was the rumoured guest for this Friday.

Yann M'Vila too much to hope for?

Knex. wrote: »

Yann M'Vila too much to hope for?

Him or Moussa Sissoko were the two first names into my head.:D

One of the stewards said he was hoping, if true, that it was Capoue, Sissoko's teammate at Toulouse.

Guess folk will have to see if anyone gets spotted in the directors box come Friday. Am still trying to find out if what was said about the guest yesterday is true, although the lads were positive that Luuk de Jong was a guest during the game yesterday.

mike65 wrote: »

That's the worst sort of reaction tbh. 4 points might as well be 40 given the way the team are playing in the attacking half of the pitch. Newcastle will not loose and may well win on Friday. How many will Utd knock past Rovers on Saturday? I guess we can just be thankful Chelsea are pretty clueless in attack as well, that may change. Will Liverpool?

I dunno Mike, I have a feeling about the Newky game. I think they will come at us from the start and this may suit us. It could turn out as a 2-2 or even 3-3 draw in the end but I see us scoring a few against them. Demba Ba worries me tho.
I think the most worrying thing about our form is that most teams in the league now believe they can come to Anfield and realistically get something from the game, and rightly so obviously, and then of course this in itself makes the task harder. Plenty of teams lie down now when they go to Old Trafford or City of Manchester stadium or whatever the heck they call it these days. Utd don't even need defenders anymore these days to keep clean sheets it seems. :rolleyes:

Kirby wrote: »

I seem to say this every week to my Liverpool friends but how Downing is still being played on the wrong wing when it clearly isn't working is beyond me. Any manager worth his salt wouldn't keep persisting with it.

Can anyone tell Kirby what wing Downing mainly played on for Villa ?