Liverpool Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014 Mod Warning Post #6378

Raif Severance wrote: »

Just seen this on Twitter:

Skrtel must be worth at least £50m then

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/english-soccer/gerrard-s-magic-powers-could-just-net-him-the-goal-of-a-lifetime-1.1760995?page=1

Gerrard’s magic powers could just net him the goal of a lifetime

Then at the crucial moment, after City had defied destiny by fighting back to 2-2, Kompany’s miskick sent the ball spinning to Philippe Coutinho. Coutinho is not the most reliable shooter, but this time he rifled the ball into the bottom corner.
Kompany could seek consolation in the autobiography of Andrea Pirlo, which is published tomorrow in English translation by Back Page Press. Reflecting on what Gerrard’s Liverpool did to his Milan team in Istanbul, Pirlo writes: “I’ll never fully shake that sense of absolute impotence when destiny is at work. The feeling will cling to my feet forever, trying to pull me down . . .” Pirlo learned at the Ataturk Stadium that sometimes it’s just not your night – or your year. He reflects on Milan’s defeat: “There are always lessons to be found in the darkest moments. It’s a moral obligation to dig deep and find that little glimmer of hope or pearl of wisdom. You might hit upon an elegant phrase that stays with you and makes the journey that little bit less bitter. I’ve tried with Istanbul and haven’t managed to get beyond these words: for f**k’s sake.”

and further down the article......

He always had the gifts of improvisation and inspiration, but, the argument ran, he lacked the patience and the game intelligence to be a truly influential central midfielder, the kind who protects his defence and controls the game from a deep position.
Yesterday, his former midfield partner Dietmar Hamann told the Daily Mail : “never did I expect to see him end up in my position, as a holding midfielder. He just wasn’t the most disciplined – and that position is all about being disciplined and giving the team balance. Often when you were playing with Steven you would think: ‘Where’s he going? What’s he doing there?’”
When Brendan Rodgers used him as the anchor against Aston Villa in January, Gerrard endured a disastrous first half that emphasised all the old doubts. Villa overran him and Liverpool were 2-0 down by the break. A tactical switch moved Gerrard further up the field after half-time, and he scored one and created the other as Liverpool rescued a draw.

Most managers would have given up on the experiment right then but Rodgers persevered with it and has been rewarded with a run of 11 wins in 12 games.
And in these matches we have seen the emergence of a new Gerrard, alert and watchful, disciplined and strategic, rarely venturing beyond halfway, finding a team-mate with 90 per cent of his passes. He moves forward only for dead balls, and to devastating effect, scoring decisive goals from penalties or free-kicks in four of the 10 successive wins that have taken Liverpool to the brink.

Seriously, after getting so many yellows how did Gerrard manage to stay card free fro 4 matches!

Mignolet was poor yesterday.At fault for the 2nd goal imo.Kicked a ball straight to Silva in 1st half but was lucky it hit very hard & is very poor at dealing with crosses.But he is one of the best shot stoppers in the league so i would stick with him for next season as he is a young goalkeeper.

MD1990 wrote: »

Mignolet was poor yesterday.At fault for the 2nd goal imo.Kicked a ball straight to Silva in 1st half but was lucky it hit very hard & is very poor at dealing with crosses.But he is one of the best shot stoppers in the league so i would stick with him for next season as he is a young goalkeeper.

Thought he was excellent. Made some crucial saves, and despite one missed punch, he was big when he needed to be at the end of the game.

Came out and caught the ball at few needed moments, and punched away another few too.

Don't think we could have asked for more, really.

Gerrard was brilliant yesterday. His motivation and emotion was expressed through covering an absurd amount of ground; getting some great last ditch challenges in; and winning more than his fair share of headers and ball generally.

Suarez and Sturridge were the wrong side of amped up. They made rash decisions, executed poorly and generally tried too hard.

This is often the problem for teams down the stretch. Everyone will be trying 100%, it's just that you can try too hard by times and lose the point of what you're doing. As fine a definition of 'bottling' as any.

Knex. wrote: »

Thought he was excellent. Made some crucial saves, and despite one missed punch, he was big when he needed to be at the end of the game.

Came out and caught the ball at few needed moments, and punched away another few too.

Don't think we could have asked for more, really.

Wouldnt say he was excellent. Think that may an over statement. He made one good save. His kicking was average. Nearly cost us a goal first half coming for the ball when he didnt need to. Learned his lesson and did better second half with a few punches. Got beaten on his near post for a goal as well...

Vanolder wrote: »

The only game I am really worried about Hendo missing is the Chelsea game, Allen/Lucas are good enough for the other games. While Coutinho was immense yesterday, at this moment i'd drop him and play both Lucas and Allen ahead of Gerrard. Allen is more than capable of keeping the attack ticking over from midfield and was the difference yesterday when he came on. If sturridge is injured then Coutinho will start regardless, but for now I think the midfield are gonna need more than one of Allen or Lucas in the middle.

You'd drop Coutinho?!! After yesterday's performance??!! Are you mad? He was a like a terrier yesterday, deserved every bit of the standing ovation he got when he came off.

machiavellianme wrote: »

He had 7 in the previous 30 league games.
So he's been averaging about 1 in every 4.28 games.
Chances are he'll pick one up in the next 0.28 games!

Oh ya, I know throughout the season he wasn't too bad but I think he picked up 4 consecutively which is why I was surprised.

Another weekend, another win, another match day of anxiety!

I was thrilled with our start yesterday, but when it came back to 2-2 I feared the worse and I really felt like that City fan the camera zoomed in on in the last game of the season two years ago; the disappointment and frustrating was boiling over. I guess I'm a cynic at heart, I keep waiting for the bubble to burst, and I thought it was going to happen yesterday.

But while I might have dropped my head, the team didn't, and it's just an excellent result. The funny thing is that it really changes nothing in some ways, we still have to win all four to guarantee winning the league. Like some others here, I believe 3 wins and a draw will probably do us, but obviously we won't know that for certain until City do drop points somewhere. So it's same as before, win them all to win the league.

What worries me, apart from my inherit 'I can't be this lucky' mentality, is that I don't know how long the team can keep playing at this intensity, it must be draining them! We've gone from 'win 10 finals' to 'win 4 finals', can we really keep it up for these last four matches? God, I bloody hope so. Any team that wins 14 in a row at the business end of the season deserves the title, but plenty of teams have deserved things and not got them.

So, first things first once again, Norwich is next. We're 4 points away from guaranteeing 3rd spot (though it would take a massive collapse for us not to get it anyhow). We'd have been thrilled with that result in August. And if we get 7 points in the next 3 games then no matter what the other teams do, we'll be in with a shot on the last day of the season.

As another poster said, it's mad to think that we've won 10 in a row, after being top in late December, and we're still worried about dropping a point anywhere. How good would it be for all our hearts if City and Chelsea just did us a favour and dropped some points somewhere! This lack of any sort of a cushion, this 'must win' every game, is draining...

I daren't hope we could win it all yet, the disappointment would be horrible. So I tell myself one game at a time, and I look at guaranteeing 4th or 3rd. But in my heart I'm going 'Please let it happen...'

J.

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Gerrard was brilliant yesterday. His motivation and emotion was expressed through covering an absurd amount of ground; getting some great last ditch challenges in; and winning more than his fair share of headers and ball generally.

Suarez and Sturridge were the wrong side of amped up. They made rash decisions, executed poorly and generally tried too hard.

This is often the problem for teams down the stretch. Everyone will be trying 100%, it's just that you can try too hard by times and lose the point of what you're doing. As fine a definition of 'bottling' as any.

I couldnt believe Suarez yesterday. Its the first time this season Ive been genuinely disappointed by him. The challenge on Dimichelis was a stupid one. His reaction to the booking even worse. Then he continued to walk that tight rope for another hour at least until he calmed down. This coincided with the City period of dominance and I think his temperament was effecting our team and the City lads sensed it. He seemed to cop on in the latter part of the 2nd half. I thought he was going to do a Mascherano on us.

Aside from the outstanding play the cool heads of Sterling and Coutinho was extremely impressive.

Luis needs to be more controlled like he has been all season.

I think Flanagan should be on the plane to Brazil, he would represent an excellent option as back up for either flank. Much better player than Walker and Cole this season imo.