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Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2013/14 Mod warning post#7005

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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,893 ✭✭✭the kelt


    People are missing the most obvious thing when it comes to a defence. Consistency and familiarity.

    Its a given that any defence, no matter how good they are are going to struggle with constant changes which is what we have had to put up with because of injuries, we have been missing Agger our best centre half for a significant period, we have missed Enrique for practically the entire season, Johnson has been injured, Flanagan has been injured, Sakho has been injured etc etc.

    The best teams have a defence that they very seldomly change, look at the Utd, they won titles playing the same back 4 each game. A defence partnership and developing that is as important as as cohesive front 2 or 3 and it takes time. Likewise a keeper gets more and more confident with a settled back 4 in front of him.

    Its no coincidence that we were rock solid at the start of the season with a series of one nil wins when we have had a settled back, in the first 3 games we only changed one player in our back 4 and that was Skertl for Toure again due to injury.

    Back then we were still attacking, we were still playing just one screening midfielder, we were still playing the ball from the back, we were still using the same coaches, still using the same tactics broadly. The only difference is not since then have we had our first choice back 4 available.

    If we can avoid more injuries at the back, get our players back and get a settled back 4 then we will be fine. Sometimes people look for too many less obvious answers, its the system, its the coaching, its the players, its the tactics when a lot of times its the most obvious answer such as not having a chance to develop a settled back 4 all season.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,379 ✭✭✭hefferboi


    djPSB wrote: »
    I can never understand how people think we have a chance of signing Coleman. You do know he plays for Everton?

    We'll be Premier League Champions, he'll be paying us to come here.

    Even if he doesn't come or Brenny thinks he's substandard, we just go for Reus or Vidal for the right back position. Easy!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19,341 ✭✭✭✭Chucky the tree


    Paulegend wrote: »
    so my argument is dumb because you cant come up with anything else to add??

    skrtel got caught for the first time yesterday but im sure that doesnt discredit your smart remark does it??

    toure being our in form player at teh start of the year doesnt discredit you does it??

    agger you just quoted what i said and moved on?????

    make a point ffs


    my point is as the above poster said it doesnt matter who we have in defence because our defence is leaking goals not because of who they are but something else. the above poster thinks its our system (probably gerrard playing dm) but i think it may be our keeper not taking control in the box.

    so either make a point or dont. stop pretending to.


    My point is, your analysis is terrible.

    Watching the players play will dis-credit them. Who cares if Toure was good ten years ago or at the start of the season? He's made some horrendous errors lately and that's what matter, his current form and performances.


    Agger - great that he's supposedly our great ball playing centre back. Just a shame he's weak as a kitten and gets bullied far to easily. Personally I'd rather have a strong centre back than a great ball player.

    Skrtel - yea he can be amazing, he can be **** as well.


    I've still no idea why you think Mig is at fault. I mean it seems Mig is at fault because Toure was great over 10 years ago, because Agger can pass the ball and Skrtel can sometimes play amazing. As I said, that sounds like a dumb argument to me. Maybe some examples of Mig doing badly and pointing out where he made lots of mistakes would help.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,676 ✭✭✭✭SlickRic


    we won't win the title with that defence.

    we should have more than enough in attack for top 4 though. in fact, it would be almost embarrasing to let that go now.

    that's my boring as shít analysis.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,609 ✭✭✭✭Dont be at yourself


    Anything to be said for a Reina - Valdes swap? Not as good a shot-stopper, but seems more suited to our game than Mignolet.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,983 ✭✭✭✭NukaCola


    Anything to be said for a Reina - Valdes swap? Not as good a shot-stopper, but seems more suited to our game than Mignolet.

    More suited to the conceding goals part of our game :p


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,175 ✭✭✭Paulegend


    our play keeps evolving with Rodgers. last season the whole passing controlling football with loads of chances and little end result. this year we have been quicker on the counter and scoring more in fewer chances. we have tried every formation from 442 433 4231 541 352 and so on but i was thinking what will next year look like.

    Gerrard is being primer for this defnsive mid playmaker role. i think most feel that he isnt good enough defensively so what is the solution?? Rodgers has bought alot of center backs and no full backs (bar a loanee). he has played 3 at the back before and he seems to like giving 5 players the attacking freedom. so maybe there is something in all that.

    maybe we could see something like this

    migs
    Ilori----Skrtel---Sakho
    Gerrard---Lucas
    ---Henderson---Suarez--Coutinho---Sterling
    Sturridge

    maybe with glen probably on the way out (even though reports say we are willing to offer him what he wants now) and cisokho on loan maybe we will go away from full backs and develope some sort of uber attacking force.

    maybe brendan is thinking

    Gerrard
    Allen---Sakho---Hendo
    Lucas----Agger----
    Sterling
    Coutinho
    Hendo
    Suarez
    Sturridge

    or else his dream is to just play a rigid 0-0-10 system

    Migs

    Sterling--Coutinho--Hendo--Suarez--Allen--Borini--Sturridge--Gerrard--Suso--Assaidi


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,901 ✭✭✭Raif Severance


    Anything to be said for a Reina - Valdes swap? Not as good a shot-stopper, but seems more suited to our game than Mignolet.

    You do watch Barca, right?

    Because if you do, you'd realize Valdes is a Good Shot-stopper.

    This Season, I think he's the Best Keeper in La Liga.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 43,313 ✭✭✭✭K-9


    It probably is a mix of things but many on here have been saying for years that Agger and Skrtel are top, top defenders, I really don't know if thats the case!

    Mad Men's Don Draper : What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,983 ✭✭✭✭NukaCola


    Dont rate Toure at all, sure he was grand when needed and done a job and that was what he was brought in for. A starter he certainly is not though.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,983 ✭✭✭✭NukaCola


    K-9 wrote: »
    It probably is a mix of things but many on here have been saying for years that Agger and Skrtel are top, top defenders, I really don't know if thats the case!

    Maybe just top defenders :p


  • Site Banned Posts: 4,925 ✭✭✭Agueroooo


    SlickRic wrote: »
    we won't win the title with that defence.

    we should have more than enough in attack for top 4 though. in fact, it would be almost embarrasing to let that go now.

    that's my boring as shít analysis.

    not boring but I want 3rd spot and think we should set that as a min.

    It would also allow us go shopping, and also damping down any Suarez talk as we wont have to wait and play the CL preliminary round.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,175 ✭✭✭Paulegend


    My point is, your analysis is terrible.

    Watching the players play will dis-credit them. Who cares if Toure was good ten years ago or at the start of the season? He's made some horrendous errors lastly and that's what matter, his current form and performances.


    Agger - great that he's supposedly our great ball playing centre back. Just a shame he's weak as a kitten and gets bullied far to easily. Personally I'd rather have a strong centre back than a great ball player.

    Skrtel - yea he can be amazing, he can be ****.


    I've still no idea why you think Mig is at fault. I mean it seems Mig is at fault because Toure was great over 10 years ago, because Agger can pass the ball and Skrtel can sometimes play amazing. As I said, that sounds like a dumb argument to me. Maybe some examples of Mig doing badly and pointing out where he made lots of mistakes would help.

    ive given examples of where i felt migs was at fault


    my point is that migs doesnt seem to take control in his own area enough.

    the cross in that led to the peno yesterday was along the 6 yard line. he should have come for it. same thing happened against fulham where he never came for a cross on the 6 yard line and when the striker got something on it the second ball again in the 6 yard box was the second fulham goal. again back to yesterday when skrtel was yelling at migs to come for the ball and migs was slow coming for it and almost got himself sent off for bringing the ball out of the box with his hands.


    thats 3 huge mistakes. 2 that led to goals in the last 2 games he has played in. im sure i could go back through the games but my point is that he doesnt take that leadership role that he needs to. Reina despite his drop in ability over teh last 2 or 3 years was great at controlling his area. didnt always work but you knew if the ball was going into the box he was coming for it.

    migs not so much.

    i think that is why our defence is playing poorly. its hard to be confident when you dont trust your keeper.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,033 ✭✭✭Demosthenese


    All this nonsense about players not playing together this season etc ... these are professional players and should NOT be making individual errors like the ones we've seen i don't care if they are back from injury or not.

    Our problem is that we have basically had Skrtel fit for most the season and he has been hot and cold, we do not have a partner to go in beside him that has been a standout candidate despite trying Toure (Who was excellent for the earlier part of the season but how has found his level, he has the jitters too and that is very apparant) Agger (Who now is being watched closer than ever since we have viable competition for him - and he is looking like the defender he always was, poor in the air, easily bullied and lacks the necessary physical mentallity to be a proper ENGLISH PL centre back) and Sahko who has been injured.

    Added to the equation we have Glen Johnson who is a shadow of his former self, lets be honest here, Flanno has made him look completely lazt and out of form with his displays which have not been excellent but very consistent. 4 defenders and we have 2 having offdays more often than not, what you expect to happen?

    I'll also add, that some pairings simply do NOT work in football, no matter how perfect they seem on paper. I think we all WANT Agger to succeed cos he is comfortable on the ball, but he simply is not cutting it as a TOP defender in the PL. He does not seem to compliment Skrtel. WHY? Who knows why ... anyone that has played football will tell you, sometimes you just seme to be better balanced with certain players as a partnership. We've not had a decent partership since Hypia and Carra, it just worked! United are finding the same problem these days when they cannot find a pair that Gel. Arsenal had the problem for the last 5 years. Sometimes we fancy a certain player cos they look good or do good things ... but its BR's job to find a pairing that work.

    I hope that Sahko does become that player where we are saying "Sahko plus one other centre half" as if its a given he is the dominant player.

    Some players need to man up (Glen Agger) some players need to keep their concentration for 90 mins and shake off the doubt that seems to dog them (Toure Skrtel).


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,983 ✭✭✭✭NukaCola


    Paulegend wrote: »
    i think that is why our defence is playing poorly. its hard to be confident when you dont trust your keeper.

    So when Brad Jones played who was at fault?

    Its not as black and white as you are making out. Not coming for a cross when the striker is marked by two CBs is good decision making. Some of the things you are highlighting aren't GKing mistakes.

    In reality its a combination of the whole defence, Mignolet is part of it but not as big as you are making out.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,775 ✭✭✭✭Slattsy


    Mignolet definately has a problem coming for balls, its quite obvious.
    Shot stopping is generally fine and his distrubition is ok, but command of his area is a huge negative.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,033 ✭✭✭Demosthenese


    Paulegend wrote: »
    ive given examples of where i felt migs was at fault


    my point is that migs doesnt seem to take control in his own area enough.

    the cross in that led to the peno yesterday was along the 6 yard line. he should have come for it. same thing happened against fulham where he never came for a cross on the 6 yard line and when the striker got something on it the second ball again in the 6 yard box was the second fulham goal. again back to yesterday when skrtel was yelling at migs to come for the ball and migs was slow coming for it and almost got himself sent off for bringing the ball out of the box with his hands.


    thats 3 huge mistakes. 2 that led to goals in the last 2 games he has played in. im sure i could go back through the games but my point is that he doesnt take that leadership role that he needs to. Reina despite his drop in ability over teh last 2 or 3 years was great at controlling his area. didnt always work but you knew if the ball was going into the box he was coming for it.

    migs not so much.

    i think that is why our defence is playing poorly. its hard to be confident when you dont trust your keeper.

    Ok, for Migs i think you are correct in the dominating your box regard. Soon as that ball comes anywhere near his area the shout should either be AWAY or Keepers - yesterday on a few occasions the defenders were waiting on him and he was waiting on them. Terrible communications from a PL keeper AND defender.

    But for the cross yesterday with the speed of the ball into the box, the trajectory and the position of Agger in particular, he needs to trust his defenders to win it (and Agger did). If he went out he could have been stuck in no mans land. 2 Defenders, 1 Attacker ... leave them be. For the Fulham game, he might have had a better chance to collect it BUT, sweet jesus, Toure fell over and kicked the ball into his own net! Nothing to do with having no confidence in your Keeper!!! Just deal with the bloody ball. This is not keystone cops here it is bread and butter simple defending that is done on every pitch across the world. Toure shout be shot for that ... not blaming the keeper.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19,341 ✭✭✭✭Chucky the tree


    Paulegend wrote: »
    ive given examples of where i felt migs was at fault


    my point is that migs doesnt seem to take control in his own area enough.

    the cross in that led to the peno yesterday was along the 6 yard line. he should have come for it. same thing happened against fulham where he never came for a cross on the 6 yard line and when the striker got something on it the second ball again in the 6 yard box was the second fulham goal. again back to yesterday when skrtel was yelling at migs to come for the ball and migs was slow coming for it and almost got himself sent off for bringing the ball out of the box with his hands.


    thats 3 huge mistakes. 2 that led to goals in the last 2 games he has played in. im sure i could go back through the games but my point is that he doesnt take that leadership role that he needs to. Reina despite his drop in ability over teh last 2 or 3 years was great at controlling his area. didnt always work but you knew if the ball was going into the box he was coming for it.

    migs not so much.

    i think that is why our defence is playing poorly. its hard to be confident when you dont trust your keeper.


    You don't come for every ball in the 6 yard box and Migs should certainly have never came for the one yesterday during the penalty incident. It was at the front of the goal and he had 3 players in front of him. That's never a ball your keeper should be going to try and claim. Would need to see that ball again that Migs could have claimed, either way it was a easy one for Skrtel to deal with so not a huge deal.


    Migs has definitely made some mistakes, but our defending has been terrible. Nearly ever corner/freekick Skrtel is ripping the jersey off opposition players and not to mentioned his ropey clearances that far to often tend to bounce perfectly in the middle of the goal for the opposition. Agger is physically bullied far to often and Toure can be a disaster at times. It's hardly surprising Mig isn't hugely confident.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,798 ✭✭✭✭DrumSteve


    Someone said on F365 that we're the Mullet of English football.

    Business at the front and party at the back , if you will. Pretty apt if taken based on the Swansea game.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,385 ✭✭✭✭D'Agger


    My thoughts:

    Strange game but one that could be expected somewhat given the football LFC & Swansea tend to play.

    Felt Gerrard was exposed a few times - he tends to drift to whatever wing the ball goes to in order to support the full backs, whereas I'd rather see Coutihno & Henderson do that, with him staying central. Far too often Swansea seemed to give it to Dyer & Routledge who would then ship it back to the middle, after Gerrard shuffled across. It was the cause of Shelvey having far too much time and space in the opening half. If you compare this game to the Arsenal game, we certainly pressed better higher up the pitch, with Coutihno in particular doing alot of work that allowed Gerrard to stay central. The difference here was that Swansea were able to get the ball up the pitch quicker and were also better at closing down up high, which Arsenal didn't do, meaning we were never going to have it all our own way.

    Johnson for me gets a pass - first game back, I thought he should have been on the right with Flanagan left tbh but fair dues to Flanagan, defensively he was very sound.

    Agger & Skrtel, I think they suffered from Gerrard being exposed a few times but they don't work well together, I think Agger & Sahko would be best suited but both being lefties could be an issue, that said, Agger is fairly two footed so would easily try him at RCB. While I thought Agger was poor, Skrtel is going to take the flack moreso due to the decisions that cost us two goals.

    Sturridge & Suarez once again on song - the cross from Suarez to set up Danny was top notch - even if one of them has an off day and forgets their shooting boots, you know they'll still create which is a great boast to be able to make. I mean, at 3-3 yesterday, you almost knew we'd score again, or at the very least, create some clear cut chances.

    With that said, Champions close out games like yesterdays & the Stoke game. It's great to see character in the team to come back from losing positions but the fact remains, we're at fault for putting ourselves in those positions. Tactically Rodgers is very good and importantly, he seems to learn from his mistakes more often than not. However, in a comfortable winning situation, our defensive shape/setup needs to be improved upon. To save my young heart if anything else - if we're playing like this in 10-20 years then I simply won't be able to watch anymore for obvious health reasons.

    Finally - delighted for Henderson, worked hard again and hopefully he can continue to add goals to his game, he deserves them. Allen showed us what he was bought for when he came on, he's brilliant at nicking the ball and hopefully he'll continue to progress and put his injury woes behind him.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,775 ✭✭✭✭Slattsy


    DrumSteve wrote: »
    Someone said on F365 that we're the Mullet of English football.

    Business at the front and party at the back , if you will. Pretty apt if taken based on the Swansea game.

    Thats ****ing quality! Nearly spit my coffee out all over my desk.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,175 ✭✭✭Paulegend


    NukaCola wrote: »
    So when Brad Jones played who was at fault?

    Its not as black and white as you are making out. Not coming for a cross when the striker is marked by two CBs is good decision making. Some of the things you are highlighting aren't GKing mistakes.

    In reality its a combination of the whole defence, Mignolet is part of it but not as big as you are making out.

    well Brad is a backup keeper. i dont think any of us would be happy with him to be a permanent fixture in the first team. that is my point. if Brad was in goals against united then im sure that whoever was at center back would have that on their minds in some sort of way. they wouldnt be playing with full confidence


    i know that its not all migs fault. im not blaming him. im just saying that he is part of the reason and its not just our defence that needs to get their head straight.

    i do think he should have come for the cross myself. maybe more so in the fulham game.

    i hope he gets his act together because at 25 we need a top keeper to lead our future challenges. he isnt just some young up and comer. maybe 25 is young for a keeper but what age was reina when he arrived?? we need a similar step up from a keeper. if he cant get it together then in the summer we wont only need a center back


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 43,313 ✭✭✭✭K-9


    Paulegend wrote: »
    the cross in that led to the peno yesterday was along the 6 yard line. he should have come for it. same thing happened against fulham where he never came for a cross on the 6 yard line and when the striker got something on it the second ball again in the 6 yard box was the second fulham goal. again back to yesterday when skrtel was yelling at migs to come for the ball and migs was slow coming for it and almost got himself sent off for bringing the ball out of the box with his hands.


    thats 3 huge mistakes. 2 that led to goals in the last 2 games he has played in. im sure i could go back through the games but my point is that he doesnt take that leadership role that he needs to. Reina despite his drop in ability over teh last 2 or 3 years was great at controlling his area. didnt always work but you knew if the ball was going into the box he was coming for it.

    migs not so much.

    i think that is why our defence is playing poorly. its hard to be confident when you dont trust your keeper.

    I don't get the criticism on the penalty yesterday, Agger cleared it, Skrtel finally got caught out and he's been lucky he hasn't given a couple away this season. I don't see why Mig has to come out for that ball, Agger and Skrtel are there.

    Some stats on Allen yesterday, completed 18/19 passes, 5/6 tackles, 2/2 dribbles, 7 ball recoveries, 1 chance created and 1 interception. Swansea created 8 chances and had 11 shots for the 56 minutes he wasn't on the pitch, 3 shots and 2 chances after his introduction.

    Mad Men's Don Draper : What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons.



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,175 ✭✭✭Paulegend


    K-9 wrote: »
    I don't get the criticism on the penalty yesterday, Agger cleared it, Skrtel finally got caught out and he's been lucky he hasn't given a couple away this season. I don't see why Mig has to come out for that ball, Agger and Skrtel are there.

    Some stats on Allen yesterday, completed 18/19 passes, 5/6 tackles, 2/2 dribbles, 7 ball recoveries, 1 chance created and 1 interception. Swansea created 8 chances and had 11 shots for the 56 minutes he wasn't on the pitch, 3 shots and 2 chances after his introduction.

    just using it as an example of what i mean by him not taking control of his area. others have pointed out that he was right to leave it to his defenders and agger cleared it. i agree that he was probably right to. but in a similar situation against fulham he did the same thing and it led to a goal.

    i feel though that he just needs to man up more in terms of communicating and taking control of his area.

    Allen looked class yesterday but i hope he can build on that and not have it just another "former player playing aginst his old club" type display


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,299 ✭✭✭djPSB


    Paulegend wrote: »
    just using it as an example of what i mean by him not taking control of his area. others have pointed out that he was right to leave it to his defenders and agger cleared it. i agree that he was probably right to. but in a similar situation against fulham he did the same thing and it led to a goal.

    i feel though that he just needs to man up more in terms of communicating and taking control of his area.

    Allen looked class yesterday but i hope he can build on that and not have it just another "former player playing aginst his old club" type display

    Allen has looked good this season once he's match fit.

    Unfortunately every time he seems to be hitting form, he picks up an injury.


  • Site Banned Posts: 26,456 ✭✭✭✭Nuri Sahin


    klose wrote: »
    After yesterdays win and the fulham win he first thing i thought of was thats how united have been winning for years, not playing well but grinding out results and i welcome it. We are at the buisness end of the season, we know how good we can be but for now with eleven games to go is that we get the 3 points, not how we get them.

    Agree with you on the first part of your comment.

    My fear is we don't have the squad to continue this gung-ho approach week in, week out and get away with it. I'm with Mike on the 2-0 wins over these 4-3 wins I must say. Thought it was weird people turning up their nose at Chelsea's performances grinding out 1-0 or 2-0 wins in the matchthread yesterday. At the end of the day, I want that league title with games going as smoothly as possible! All well and good when we can look back on a 4-3 result knowing we won, but yesterday could have been very different too. Whether we tactically would have sown up our mistakes in the first half, I'm not sure, but Shelvey was given the freedom of Anfield to wreck havoc. Fortunately he went off with an injury at the half. Going back to my squad point, Man U have their luck in seasons past, sure, but they had a squad too they could count on with a base of a confident, ever present keeper and CB pairing they could call upon at the very least to bail them when they went all guns blazing. Right now, I'm not sure we can say the same.

    By all means, I'm not saying if we go 2-0 up after 25 mins or whatever it was yesterday, no one is asking us to sit back entirely and defend for the rest of the game. Common sense needs to be applied though. The next 5 minutes or so should be stopping any possible response from the other team, slowing the game down for a moment, catching our breath and if the chance arises in that time frame, of course rip them apart without the spine falling apart in search of another goal.

    Maybe it's truly a fairly tale year and we'll continue in this manner.. and win the league, but I fancy drop at least drop half a dozen points doing so, which will still secure a top 4 at least.


  • Site Banned Posts: 26,456 ✭✭✭✭Nuri Sahin


    K-9 wrote: »
    I don't get the criticism on the penalty yesterday, Agger cleared it, Skrtel finally got caught out and he's been lucky he hasn't given a couple away this season. I don't see why Mig has to come out for that ball, Agger and Skrtel are there.

    Some stats on Allen yesterday, completed 18/19 passes, 5/6 tackles, 2/2 dribbles, 7 ball recoveries, 1 chance created and 1 interception. Swansea created 8 chances and had 11 shots for the 56 minutes he wasn't on the pitch, 3 shots and 2 chances after his introduction.

    It was great to see someone willing to get on the ball, recycle it accurately to keep things ticking over calmly while having an defensive influence. I really hope he starts the next game alongside Gerrard and Henderson.


  • Subscribers Posts: 32,867 ✭✭✭✭5starpool


    I was on holidays for a week so haven't been posting, but I caught the game yesterday before I came back, and it my nerves were shot watching it.

    We are in a great position now of course, but possibly 6 of our next 7 league games could be away, depending on rearrangements, as the City match at home will be postponed if they beat Wigan in the cup. While anything could happen now, that goes for potential bad things as well as potential good things, although we are strong favourites for top 4 at least.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 88,968 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    Put crudely taking control of a game can be done in two ways -

    One - you take control of the ball - Allen
    Two - you take control of the space - Lucas

    The manager needs to make a decision as to how to protect the back line (CBs really) and how to balance defence and attack - that's what he is paid to do.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,438 ✭✭✭5live


    All this nonsense about players not playing together this season etc ... these are professional players and should NOT be making individual errors like the ones we've seen i don't care if they are back from injury or not.

    Our problem is that we have basically had Skrtel fit for most the season and he has been hot and cold, we do not have a partner to go in beside him that has been a standout candidate despite trying Toure (Who was excellent for the earlier part of the season but how has found his level, he has the jitters too and that is very apparant) Agger (Who now is being watched closer than ever since we have viable competition for him - and he is looking like the defender he always was, poor in the air, easily bullied and lacks the necessary physical mentallity to be a proper ENGLISH PL centre back) and Sahko who has been injured.

    Added to the equation we have Glen Johnson who is a shadow of his former self, lets be honest here, Flanno has made him look completely lazt and out of form with his displays which have not been excellent but very consistent. 4 defenders and we have 2 having offdays more often than not, what you expect to happen?

    I'll also add, that some pairings simply do NOT work in football, no matter how perfect they seem on paper. I think we all WANT Agger to succeed cos he is comfortable on the ball, but he simply is not cutting it as a TOP defender in the PL. He does not seem to compliment Skrtel. WHY? Who knows why ... anyone that has played football will tell you, sometimes you just seme to be better balanced with certain players as a partnership. We've not had a decent partership since Hypia and Carra, it just worked! United are finding the same problem these days when they cannot find a pair that Gel. Arsenal had the problem for the last 5 years. Sometimes we fancy a certain player cos they look good or do good things ... but its BR's job to find a pairing that work.

    I hope that Sahko does become that player where we are saying "Sahko plus one other centre half" as if its a given he is the dominant player.

    Some players need to man up (Glen Agger) some players need to keep their concentration for 90 mins and shake off the doubt that seems to dog them (Toure Skrtel).
    I think you are being harsh on Toure, tbh.

    At the start of the season he was played RCB and was very successful there until injury. Since he has come back, he is being played LCB and i don't think it suits him. Slicing the ball into the net isn't something i would blame him for (having done it myself a few times:D), sometimes sh1t happens, but the pass across the box was a poor decision by him which he admitted. He wasn't brought in as a starter but as an experienced CB to help the younger players. Playing back on the right would see a better display by him, imo.

    Agger has been a disappointment this season for me, i expected a more solid display from him. I dont like the way both he and Skrtel are bullied by physical CFs and definitely one should be moved on this summer.


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