So we have had our preseason and what have we learned?
1) We have strengthened our squad.
2) We have let more youngsters go.
3) Need to be more clinical in front of goal.
4) Luis Suarez is the biggest scumbag in the World (That hasn't worked for the BBC and been caught kiddy-fiddling).
Ok so the last 2 aren't new!
Our preseason tour was the usual mix and match of 'Commercial Brand Promotion' and actually worthwhile games. The highlight for me was seeing 95-odd thousand Aussies singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' in the MCG at the top of their voices! Awesome.
I think this was our 1st preseason in years the manager who organised it is actually the one who led the team on the tour. There was subtle change in approach from the Gaffer instead of the usual wholesale changes at halftime.Other than the Preston Game most games saw the players that started getting at least an hour. We played well in all the games but were wasteful again in front of goal but we seemed to have defensive solidity only conceding 1 goal. OK that has to be measured against the quality of opposition but to be fair Mignolet made1 or 2 good saves in every match. The Celtic game was a strange one.We basically dominated it but Celtic took 1 of their 3 chances and their 1 half keeper had a blinder saving 6 or 7 good efforts. But in the second half Fraser Foster could have been sitting in the crowd we really didn't make him do anything.
So now that we have seen our new signings in action what can we gleam from it:
Mignolet - Ronseal Goalkeeper - Tall, good in the air excellent shot-stopper probably needs to work on his distribution skills.
Toure -Ronseal Defender - Premier League vet used to 'Big Club' pressure brings some much needed steel, pace and organisation to the Back 4. I have to agree with Gary Gillespie though, Skrtel and Agger are our best centre-half paring.
Aspas- Looks real live wire, comes alive in the box and is very aware of those around him. He will be an excellent foil/back-up to Sturridge. Already seems to be on same wavelength as Coutinho. Looking forward to his performances this season. More assists than Messi last season!
Coutinho - Seems to be carrying on where he left off last season.He is our creative lynchpin.Almost everything worthwhile goes through him.Has a hell of an eye for defence splitting pass.Where we finish will largely depend on this little man. I have to give Rodgers credit,not just for signing him but using him out on the left. The couple of times we did try him centrally he was less effective as was being picked up by the holding midfield player.
Our Midfield Trio - looks like Rodgers has reverted to type here - Lucas,Gerrard and Allen.I still don't understand the point of Allen. He is clueless going forward which he seems to be trying to do more of. He cant tackle and his passes are rarely forward. Obviously Rodgers is obliged to play him after spunking £15mill for him but JonJoShelvey or Jordan Henderson are far more adept in the advanced central role.Not sure about Luis Alberto, he seems like another Joe Allen,lots of pretty nothing passes.
Out wide - Ibe and Sterling - Both looked very lively in preseason and I am sure Rodgers has learned from burning Raheem out early doors last season due to lack of options. I expect them to be rotated rather than used in tandem.The departure of Downing (good riddance) make that less likely. Not sure what poor Assaidi has to do to get game. He looked very good against Valerenga. drifting in , running diagonals and making a nuisance of himself in the box. Lets hope we see more of him.
One the out front cant say I am too surprised by many of the departures.
Downing was coming he has been a huge disappointment.
Jay Spearing isn't really good enough for top Premier League team. I hope he has great career and gets Bolton promoted.
Loanees- Robinson,Suso,Coady to be expected. These guys need game time and with no Europa League there wont be lot of opportunities for them at the club.
Reina going was to be expected once we signed Mignolet. He needs to try and find himself. He is low on confidence and I think he just wants to go back to Spain with his wife and daughters. Hopefully Rafa will help restore some of his confidence. Whether he comes back is neither here nor there. he has been a good servant but has been well below par the last 2 seasons.
JonJo Shelvey - pretty shocking decision. Of all the midfielders in the squad he is the most natural replacement for Stevie G. His height, strength and power are exactly what we need. Not a tippy tappy hobbit from Wales or a headless Mackem. Sure Shelvey can be wasteful and indecisive in the final 3rd but the boy is 20 for crying in a bucket! Plus he only cost us £1mill!He will come back to haunt us I guarentee it. If not in Swansea shirt then when he moves to one of the bigger clubs in a couple of years. Why you would sell him is beyond me. He basically ran the game for Swansea against Malmo when they won 4-0. I guarantee he will score more goals and get more assists and MoM's than Henderson and Allen combined this season. It is a bit like the Tom Ince decision makes no footballing sense.
We are still in the market for left back and looks like we have solved that with Aly Cissokh coming in loan from Valencia.Enrique needs the competition. So think all we need is a winger.
As for Mr Suarez, expect an 'apology' after the window closes when no-one has bought him.Brendan Rodgers has been right to exclude him from training last week.His preseason runouts have been completely lacklustre.Clearly doesn't want to be there but no-one wants his baggage except Arsenal and that is just desperation on their part. We wont sell to a direct competitor. If Suarez want Champions League football, loan him to Celtic for the season!!! See how long his ungratefulness and attitude will last in the goldfish bowl of Scottish Football.
So Stoke at home1st, hopefully Agger or Skrtel are fit to partner Toure, I would even go so far as play Kelly at right-back and push Johnson forward. Wisdom is too lightweight for Centreback in the PL, Kelly is more natural choice in there.Gives us more height against the giants of Stoke. With Coutinho and Allen on the pitch we can afford to many other short players on the pitch. Lets hope we can start with a win.
YNWA
Friday, 16 August 2013
Sunday, 23 June 2013
2012/13 Review & 13/14 Preview
Well another disappointing season behind us despite not losing in our last 8 games.
The stats don't lie unfortunately.
Defending
While we scored 71 League goals one of our best returns in the last decade we managed to concede 43. Shocking really. While conceding just over 1 goal per game may not sound that bad to win the League or finish in the Top 4, you generally only concede around 0.8-.06 per game. To put our Gorgonzola defending into context here are few more facts about our defending.
We managed to concede 2 goals or more 17 times - That almost half our games.....
Of the times we conceded 2 goals 10 were against the 6 teams who finished above us , is it any wonder we only won game all season against teams above us.Bizarrely that was against Spurs when we scored 3! Only 5 of those games resulted in defeat!
I have spoken before of our over-commitment of fullbacks and Glen Johnson's general lack of positional awareness when playing at right-back, cant jockey cant tackle cant cover, always playing people onside etc..... The Manager's decision to discard Martin Sktrel in favour of Carra didn't really bear any fruit. Upon his return to the back 4 we surrendered a 2 goal lead at Arsenal in 7 minutes. Committed Hari-Kari while winning at City (Thanks Pepe - again) and after clubbing West Brom at home let 2 in, in the last 10 minutes. So we conceded 6 in 3 no different to what we were doing before and that sequences of results probably cost us our last faint hope of a Top 4 finish.
Tactics
The addition of Daniel Sturridge to the squad has definitely resulted in a slight shift of tactics from Brendan Rodgers. We seem to be allowed/willing to play a ball into the channel earlier. Result - we have scored more and are starting to pick teams off on the break. This seems to be working better and more productive use of the pace we have in the squad. This change in tactic has seen the abandonment of Joe Allen as a useless continuity Hobbit in front of the back 4. This has been coupled with some form from Stuart Downing. Jordan Henderson has similarly grown into a more central role which he seems to be more productive and not the usual headless chicken displays we have seen from him before.
Philippe Coutinho has like Sturridge has hit the ground running which is surprising considering he has hardly played any football in the last year or so before joining us from Inter. So a big plus for Brendan Rodgers January signings.
Manager's Performance
I gave Brendan Rodgers a D- before Xmas as he seems to be hamstrung by his blinkered approach tactically and slavish reliance on Joe Allen. the latter has proved thoroughly out of his depth at Anfield. another £15 mill wasted.Yes its his 1st season but he came as someone who Rodgers had worked with before. So he should have adapted better. He hasn't.
I would say that we have been better in the 2nd half although still dropping too many points at home. Only 33 points at home all season. Anfield used to be a fortress at the moment its like a country retreat for visiting teams. They all seem to leave with something and a smile on their face!
If we want to push for the Top 4 you have to be winning 16+ home games. Winning 9,6 and 12 like we have done in the last 3 seasons isn't good enough.Its a huge factor in us not qualifying for Europe at all next season. That needs to be addressed. Its no use to dominate matches and not score. You only have to look at ManUre this last season. Some games they only had 3 or 4 shots but won 2 or 3 nil. That is down to quality and composure. We still don't have it.
I would say that Rodgers deserves a C for his performance as Manager in his 1st season. He has probably tried to change too much, been hamstrung by the mad decision to let Carroll go on loan last August without having a suitable replacement.
Fabio Borini getting injured in one of his 1st matches further reduced our options. But most damningly it took us 6 League games to win a match. That was not good enough.
I notice we have a far more serious pre-season this year with 7 games lined up. That should ensure we hit the ground running. We also seem to be getting our transfer business done early this years with several signings already in place. Also Rodgers' transfer policy has been hit and miss.Unfortunately mostly miss so far. That needs to improve. He is suppose to have 180 page dossier lets hope he uses it....
On the plus side we have seen Sterling,Wisdom,Suso,Shelvey and Conor Coady make1st team appearances which shows that the Academy can produce decent players lest just hope we don't continue to sell them all!
Transfers
Joe Allen - £15 mill for a guy who sits in front of the back 4 and passes it sideways and backwards.Eventually binned by Manager after the Oldham Cup exit. Will probably get another season but I would cut my losses now. Sorry waste of time and money - 3/10.
Nuri Sahin - Showed some glimpses but throwing him in against Arsenal in his 1st game probably knocked what little confidence he had. Still he ended up up playing in the Champions League Final.... 1/10
Mo Assiadi - AKA Splinter -always on the bench Yet to trouble the 1st team or the Reserves in the League. So not if he isn't the player the manager thought he was. 0/10????
Samit Yesil - doing a good job in the U21's hopefully gets some more experience there and is ready to step up at some point this season.6/10.
Fabio Borini - £10 mill - Unfortunately injured early doors had a decent couple of cameos at the end of the season and has had a good U21's with Italy. The Chelski reject may yet prove useful next season and qualifies as 'homegrown'.
Daniel Sturridge - £12mill. Greta move The fact that we should have had hm for free a year before we signed him rankles but he has shown that with or without Suarez we have a quality goalscorer. 9/10
Phillipe Couthinho - £10mill as mentioned is proving an astute signing and is king of the assist at the moment. Hopefully more to come from him next season.9/10
The New Boys
I have to be honest I dont know much about these players but its sign of the times while ManUre, City and Arsenal are chasing household names we are looking relative unknowns.
I am looking forward to the newspaper headlines for Aspas. Comedic value alone will be worth it, what a name!
Simon Mignolet - A keeper with a growing reputation and I expect him to be in the 1st Team sooner rather than later. I expect Reina to return to Spain over the summer.lets be honest he has been poor for the last 2 and bit seasons.
Luis Alberto - Promising young Spaniard. Some places quote him being a midfielder others a forward. Main thing is he is from Barcelona so should be technically good, and he had a season on loan so has played some competitive football.
Glad the Andy Carroll situation has been resolved but I would still have liked to have kept him as plan B and for games against the more physical teams in the League. Still the manager clearly doesn't fancy him or his style.
The Elephant in the Room
Luis Suarez - I have said enough about this 'human being' on Facebook in the last few months. The biting of Ivanovic was the final straw that should have broke the camels back but the Club still seem to want to keep him. Hopefully this is just posturing to ensure we get a decent transfer fee from Madrid or whatever other team want a cheating diving scumbag.....
His statements during Confederations Cup about the club and colleague not supporting him went too far. He racially abused another player and the club stood behind him. His colleagues all wore T-Shirts with his image on it away at Wigan before his hearing. Clearly a lack of support!!!! He was found guilty (because he is a liar) and by the usual FA bumbling his 1st game back was against ManUre. He had assured everyone he would shake hands with Evra, yet he didnt and caused Kenny Dalglish to look stupid and caused club to issue apology.
Every transfer window he has had a wage increase, another 'lack of support' from the Club. All the while he besmirches the Clubs name and makes us fans feel embarrassed to support Liverpool......
Hopefully he will not disgrace us next season by still being a Liverpool player. Take £30 mill and be rid of him.
YNWA
The stats don't lie unfortunately.
Defending
While we scored 71 League goals one of our best returns in the last decade we managed to concede 43. Shocking really. While conceding just over 1 goal per game may not sound that bad to win the League or finish in the Top 4, you generally only concede around 0.8-.06 per game. To put our Gorgonzola defending into context here are few more facts about our defending.
We managed to concede 2 goals or more 17 times - That almost half our games.....
Of the times we conceded 2 goals 10 were against the 6 teams who finished above us , is it any wonder we only won game all season against teams above us.Bizarrely that was against Spurs when we scored 3! Only 5 of those games resulted in defeat!
I have spoken before of our over-commitment of fullbacks and Glen Johnson's general lack of positional awareness when playing at right-back, cant jockey cant tackle cant cover, always playing people onside etc..... The Manager's decision to discard Martin Sktrel in favour of Carra didn't really bear any fruit. Upon his return to the back 4 we surrendered a 2 goal lead at Arsenal in 7 minutes. Committed Hari-Kari while winning at City (Thanks Pepe - again) and after clubbing West Brom at home let 2 in, in the last 10 minutes. So we conceded 6 in 3 no different to what we were doing before and that sequences of results probably cost us our last faint hope of a Top 4 finish.
Tactics
The addition of Daniel Sturridge to the squad has definitely resulted in a slight shift of tactics from Brendan Rodgers. We seem to be allowed/willing to play a ball into the channel earlier. Result - we have scored more and are starting to pick teams off on the break. This seems to be working better and more productive use of the pace we have in the squad. This change in tactic has seen the abandonment of Joe Allen as a useless continuity Hobbit in front of the back 4. This has been coupled with some form from Stuart Downing. Jordan Henderson has similarly grown into a more central role which he seems to be more productive and not the usual headless chicken displays we have seen from him before.
Philippe Coutinho has like Sturridge has hit the ground running which is surprising considering he has hardly played any football in the last year or so before joining us from Inter. So a big plus for Brendan Rodgers January signings.
Manager's Performance
I gave Brendan Rodgers a D- before Xmas as he seems to be hamstrung by his blinkered approach tactically and slavish reliance on Joe Allen. the latter has proved thoroughly out of his depth at Anfield. another £15 mill wasted.Yes its his 1st season but he came as someone who Rodgers had worked with before. So he should have adapted better. He hasn't.
I would say that we have been better in the 2nd half although still dropping too many points at home. Only 33 points at home all season. Anfield used to be a fortress at the moment its like a country retreat for visiting teams. They all seem to leave with something and a smile on their face!
If we want to push for the Top 4 you have to be winning 16+ home games. Winning 9,6 and 12 like we have done in the last 3 seasons isn't good enough.Its a huge factor in us not qualifying for Europe at all next season. That needs to be addressed. Its no use to dominate matches and not score. You only have to look at ManUre this last season. Some games they only had 3 or 4 shots but won 2 or 3 nil. That is down to quality and composure. We still don't have it.
I would say that Rodgers deserves a C for his performance as Manager in his 1st season. He has probably tried to change too much, been hamstrung by the mad decision to let Carroll go on loan last August without having a suitable replacement.
Fabio Borini getting injured in one of his 1st matches further reduced our options. But most damningly it took us 6 League games to win a match. That was not good enough.
I notice we have a far more serious pre-season this year with 7 games lined up. That should ensure we hit the ground running. We also seem to be getting our transfer business done early this years with several signings already in place. Also Rodgers' transfer policy has been hit and miss.Unfortunately mostly miss so far. That needs to improve. He is suppose to have 180 page dossier lets hope he uses it....
On the plus side we have seen Sterling,Wisdom,Suso,Shelvey and Conor Coady make1st team appearances which shows that the Academy can produce decent players lest just hope we don't continue to sell them all!
Transfers
Joe Allen - £15 mill for a guy who sits in front of the back 4 and passes it sideways and backwards.Eventually binned by Manager after the Oldham Cup exit. Will probably get another season but I would cut my losses now. Sorry waste of time and money - 3/10.
Nuri Sahin - Showed some glimpses but throwing him in against Arsenal in his 1st game probably knocked what little confidence he had. Still he ended up up playing in the Champions League Final.... 1/10
Mo Assiadi - AKA Splinter -always on the bench Yet to trouble the 1st team or the Reserves in the League. So not if he isn't the player the manager thought he was. 0/10????
Samit Yesil - doing a good job in the U21's hopefully gets some more experience there and is ready to step up at some point this season.6/10.
Fabio Borini - £10 mill - Unfortunately injured early doors had a decent couple of cameos at the end of the season and has had a good U21's with Italy. The Chelski reject may yet prove useful next season and qualifies as 'homegrown'.
Daniel Sturridge - £12mill. Greta move The fact that we should have had hm for free a year before we signed him rankles but he has shown that with or without Suarez we have a quality goalscorer. 9/10
Phillipe Couthinho - £10mill as mentioned is proving an astute signing and is king of the assist at the moment. Hopefully more to come from him next season.9/10
The New Boys
I have to be honest I dont know much about these players but its sign of the times while ManUre, City and Arsenal are chasing household names we are looking relative unknowns.
I am looking forward to the newspaper headlines for Aspas. Comedic value alone will be worth it, what a name!
Simon Mignolet - A keeper with a growing reputation and I expect him to be in the 1st Team sooner rather than later. I expect Reina to return to Spain over the summer.lets be honest he has been poor for the last 2 and bit seasons.
Luis Alberto - Promising young Spaniard. Some places quote him being a midfielder others a forward. Main thing is he is from Barcelona so should be technically good, and he had a season on loan so has played some competitive football.
Glad the Andy Carroll situation has been resolved but I would still have liked to have kept him as plan B and for games against the more physical teams in the League. Still the manager clearly doesn't fancy him or his style.
The Elephant in the Room
Luis Suarez - I have said enough about this 'human being' on Facebook in the last few months. The biting of Ivanovic was the final straw that should have broke the camels back but the Club still seem to want to keep him. Hopefully this is just posturing to ensure we get a decent transfer fee from Madrid or whatever other team want a cheating diving scumbag.....
His statements during Confederations Cup about the club and colleague not supporting him went too far. He racially abused another player and the club stood behind him. His colleagues all wore T-Shirts with his image on it away at Wigan before his hearing. Clearly a lack of support!!!! He was found guilty (because he is a liar) and by the usual FA bumbling his 1st game back was against ManUre. He had assured everyone he would shake hands with Evra, yet he didnt and caused Kenny Dalglish to look stupid and caused club to issue apology.
Every transfer window he has had a wage increase, another 'lack of support' from the Club. All the while he besmirches the Clubs name and makes us fans feel embarrassed to support Liverpool......
Hopefully he will not disgrace us next season by still being a Liverpool player. Take £30 mill and be rid of him.
YNWA
Sunday, 10 February 2013
Progress?
Bearing in mind my last post was just before our game with Mansfield its been a rather eventful month.
We looked like we were going to tear The Stags to pieces after Daniel Sturridge scored in the 7th minute. But they held their heads. We rightly brought on Suarez as we seemed to be losing our way again. As usual he had an impact almost instantly, unfortunately it was with his hand. I believe he had enough time to think about it and then tell the ref it hit his hand. He is unlikely to have been booked as it was pretty close to him when it bounced up of the keeper.
Once again his 'street-fighter' traits (Rodgers words not mine when describing Suarez's various lapses) got the better of him. He then launched into his traditional celebration of kissing his wrist. This further enraged the locals who must surely have thought he was rubbing it in, rather than kissing his daughter's name (Delfina - anagram of Anfield) which is tattooed there.
The hope was that this controversial goal wouldn't prove decisive but unfortunately it did. Especially considering the amazing gesture by the Stags Chairman John Radford and his foxy Chief Exec wife, Carolyn Still. How many other clubs would have not only left 96 seats open in Liverpool end and also placed the names of every one of the Hillsborough victims on them? A true act of class. Something Mr Suarez has none of.
The draw kind to us with trip to Oldham. A club in total turmoil. The manager keeps his job but the whole backroom staff gets sacked! Before that debacle trips to the Scum and then Norwich awaited. The first half of the Scum game was largely forgettable, except for RVP's clever piece of movement to created half yard on Agger to score for them.
We took off Lucas at HT and brought on Sturridge to give is more threat going forward. We started much better but unfortunately we had a innocuous free-kick to defend in the 54th minute. Despite there being a reasonable line of defenders on the 18 yard line Reina was already flapping. This panic clearly spread to hi8is defenders. When what was a bog standard cross to the edge of 6-yard box at the far post arrived. Evra and Vidic were completely alone! So 2-0 down AGAIN. Then within 3 minutes Sturridge scores and we are right back in it. We deserved at least a draw from that game. And you knew how worried they were as Sith Lord Fungus was hauranging 4-th officials during injury time.
Norwich was Norwich we always seem to have their number now and 5-0 was just the tonic we needed.
So on to Boundary Park to face Oldham in Round 4 o the F.A. Cup. A team coached by Paul Dickov (so they with be up for it and in your face) who have an average height of 11"5'! So what does Rodgers do?? Yep get the underage hobbits on the pitch!
Did he actually scout Oldham? I don't think he did. If his manner on 'Being Liverpool' is anything to go by its a miracle he can tie his shoes laces and walk upright! Our team was woefully undersized and lob-sided. From only having Suarez upfront or most of the season, he decided to playing all 3 strikers and Sterling. With just Henderson and Allen in the middle of the park. Hobbits among Ents.....That left a smallish back 4 of Wisdom-Skrtel-Coates-Robinson in front of Brad Jones. Not the worst back 4 but lightweight except for Skrtel.
Needless to say it went pear-shaped from the start. Matt Smith scored within 2 minutes and if we are being honest we never recovered. Suarez equalised only for Brad Jones to fluff one and allowed Matt Smith a second in 1st half injury time. This was further compounded when young Jack Robinson got smashed at the far post by a well timed leap from Wabara at start of 2nd half. Drastic action was required and Downing and Gerrard were introduced. A lucky deflected goal from Allen brought us back into it but you ever felt we would push on.
So we ended the game with roughly what we should have started with. Shelvey,Downing and Gerrard for Boroni, Sterling and Wisdom. The fall-out and backlash was immediate. The LFCTV phone-in was full of what is he doing why didn't Carra and Gerrard start. Why is Joe Allen even in a red shirt. Having a football philosophy doesn't win matches, hard work effort preparation and skill do etc.
I couldn't agree with all of it. The Carragher comments were particularly badly thought out. Carra is 35, he has only played in Europa and cup games for most of the last 2 seasons. Why. Simple when faced with physically bigger and stronger opponents he gets mauled and buffeted all over the place. Drogba, Traore from Anzhi and anyone else who is of that type you care to mention have all dominated him.
Brendan Rodgers reaction also left something to be desired. On Monday he indicated that most of the youngsters had let the Club down!
Jack Robinson had only started 2 League Cup and 1 F.A.Cup game this season, so clearly he was sharp and ready for the type of game at Oldham.??????
Seb Coates - Almost exactly the same appearance record as Jack. But slow and lightweight for one so tall.
Borini - just back from injury and asked to play out wide, something he has show isn't good at before.
Raheem Sterling - now paying for being used so extensively earlier in season. He has been largely ineffective when starting in the last few months and was asked to play in midfield rather than wide????
Andre Wisdom - A decent right back still learning his trade, didnt really do anythig wrong before being subbed.
Joe Allen - as always when its a proper game he is a luxury. His 'amazing' pass completion ratio is meaningless as these are mostly in his own half and to centre-halfs and full-backs. Like Gareth Barry but worse!
I am sorry who picked the team, you Mr Rodgers! Therefore you are responsible for the teams preparation ad selection. Clearly YOU didn't do that properly ad have decided to blame others ad chose those least able to defend themselves, the youngsters! Shame on you.
So Rodgers gives in to swathes of criticism and restores Carra to the starting 11 for the Arsenal game. We tear them apart for the 1st 30 minutes but crucially only score one. The latter stages o 1st half and majority of the 2d half are all about us absorbing pressure and hitting on the break. Jordan Henderson scored a 2nd involved loads of ricochets but you think at that point we are home and hosed. No within 7 minutes its all square!
So imagine my surprise when Alan Smith in a game full of flowing attacking football awards Carragher the ma of the match! We conceded 2 goals i 7 minutes ad but from some profligate finishing from Walcott,Podolski and Giroud we could have conceded 10! Surely Wiltshire,Walcott,Sturridge or Henderson were more deserving of the accolade?
On to Man City where just like the game at Afield at the start of the season we are 2-1 up and looking comfortable before a moment of defensive madness causes us to concede. What Pepe Reina was thinking is beyond me. Aguero wasn't even half a yard ahead of Skrtel when he came charging out for the ball. Sure Aguero's skill to score sublime but clearly had more to do with luck.
There is talk the Reina wants to go back to Spain with Valdes looking to leave Barca. I would tell him to start packing now. His has cost us too many points i the last 2 seasons with his butter fingers, hot-headedess and general flat-footedess. He gets beaten at his near post far too often and easily. Time to move him on. Harsh, but you only have to hear Mancini yesterday says Joe Hart has made 3 or 4 costly mistakes and its too many... So Reina has made 5 times as many!
So are we making progress? The short answer is no. We took 4 points from the same 4 league fixtures 1st round. A 1 point improvement is not progress.
We have not beaten a team in the top half of the table.
We have not beaten a team above us in the league.
We are now 31 points behind ManUre. - 10 points lost in 4 League games
We are now 12 points off 4th - 5 points lost i 4 league games.
We have conceded 6 goals in the 3 games against team above us in the last month.
That last stat is particularly damning. 26 League games and 32 conceded. In all competitions taht takes us to 40 goals in 50 games. Yes we have played 50 games already this season.
That a ratio of 1.25 per game out worst since the 98/99 season (1.27) That season we finished 7th, lost in the 2nd tie in both domestic cups and only played 3 UEFA ties... Sound familiar
We still concede too many goals from breakaways. We look most vulnerable when we have a corner. that was happening in August it still is.....
The Full-backs need to show more defensive discipline and nous. We have wingers for width. they should only go beyond their winger when it makes sense and even the only 1 should go.
The tippy-tappy philosophy fall down when the other teams are pressing you high up the pitch. The Premier League isn't Spain, we certainly aren't Barcelona and Joe Allen isn't Xavi or Iniesta!
Hopefully Brendan Rodger will realise this and become a proper manager i.e. adapt to his squad and opposition. he need to start picking his best team and not the best 11. Not the best 11 who fit your slavish adherence to 4-3-3
For me that is easy now he has some people back from injury and has added Sturridge.
It has to be 4-4-2 or a loose 4-2-3-1
Reina - until we buy Begovic or Mignolet in the summer.
Johnson-Skrtel-Agger-Enrique
Downing-Lucas-Gerrard-Sterling
Suarez-Sturridge - With Suarez in the hole and Sturridge running the channels.
Do we have things to be positive about. Yes!
Sturridge & Suarez blossoming partnership.
The tempo of our play is better.
Jordan Henderson is starting to look like he might be of some use.
Joe Allen is on the bench these days!
We only have West Brom and Swansea in the League this month. Madness when you consider the fixture over Xmas and New Year.
YNWA
We looked like we were going to tear The Stags to pieces after Daniel Sturridge scored in the 7th minute. But they held their heads. We rightly brought on Suarez as we seemed to be losing our way again. As usual he had an impact almost instantly, unfortunately it was with his hand. I believe he had enough time to think about it and then tell the ref it hit his hand. He is unlikely to have been booked as it was pretty close to him when it bounced up of the keeper.
Once again his 'street-fighter' traits (Rodgers words not mine when describing Suarez's various lapses) got the better of him. He then launched into his traditional celebration of kissing his wrist. This further enraged the locals who must surely have thought he was rubbing it in, rather than kissing his daughter's name (Delfina - anagram of Anfield) which is tattooed there.
The hope was that this controversial goal wouldn't prove decisive but unfortunately it did. Especially considering the amazing gesture by the Stags Chairman John Radford and his foxy Chief Exec wife, Carolyn Still. How many other clubs would have not only left 96 seats open in Liverpool end and also placed the names of every one of the Hillsborough victims on them? A true act of class. Something Mr Suarez has none of.
The draw kind to us with trip to Oldham. A club in total turmoil. The manager keeps his job but the whole backroom staff gets sacked! Before that debacle trips to the Scum and then Norwich awaited. The first half of the Scum game was largely forgettable, except for RVP's clever piece of movement to created half yard on Agger to score for them.
We took off Lucas at HT and brought on Sturridge to give is more threat going forward. We started much better but unfortunately we had a innocuous free-kick to defend in the 54th minute. Despite there being a reasonable line of defenders on the 18 yard line Reina was already flapping. This panic clearly spread to hi8is defenders. When what was a bog standard cross to the edge of 6-yard box at the far post arrived. Evra and Vidic were completely alone! So 2-0 down AGAIN. Then within 3 minutes Sturridge scores and we are right back in it. We deserved at least a draw from that game. And you knew how worried they were as Sith Lord Fungus was hauranging 4-th officials during injury time.
Norwich was Norwich we always seem to have their number now and 5-0 was just the tonic we needed.
So on to Boundary Park to face Oldham in Round 4 o the F.A. Cup. A team coached by Paul Dickov (so they with be up for it and in your face) who have an average height of 11"5'! So what does Rodgers do?? Yep get the underage hobbits on the pitch!
Did he actually scout Oldham? I don't think he did. If his manner on 'Being Liverpool' is anything to go by its a miracle he can tie his shoes laces and walk upright! Our team was woefully undersized and lob-sided. From only having Suarez upfront or most of the season, he decided to playing all 3 strikers and Sterling. With just Henderson and Allen in the middle of the park. Hobbits among Ents.....That left a smallish back 4 of Wisdom-Skrtel-Coates-Robinson in front of Brad Jones. Not the worst back 4 but lightweight except for Skrtel.
Needless to say it went pear-shaped from the start. Matt Smith scored within 2 minutes and if we are being honest we never recovered. Suarez equalised only for Brad Jones to fluff one and allowed Matt Smith a second in 1st half injury time. This was further compounded when young Jack Robinson got smashed at the far post by a well timed leap from Wabara at start of 2nd half. Drastic action was required and Downing and Gerrard were introduced. A lucky deflected goal from Allen brought us back into it but you ever felt we would push on.
So we ended the game with roughly what we should have started with. Shelvey,Downing and Gerrard for Boroni, Sterling and Wisdom. The fall-out and backlash was immediate. The LFCTV phone-in was full of what is he doing why didn't Carra and Gerrard start. Why is Joe Allen even in a red shirt. Having a football philosophy doesn't win matches, hard work effort preparation and skill do etc.
I couldn't agree with all of it. The Carragher comments were particularly badly thought out. Carra is 35, he has only played in Europa and cup games for most of the last 2 seasons. Why. Simple when faced with physically bigger and stronger opponents he gets mauled and buffeted all over the place. Drogba, Traore from Anzhi and anyone else who is of that type you care to mention have all dominated him.
Brendan Rodgers reaction also left something to be desired. On Monday he indicated that most of the youngsters had let the Club down!
Jack Robinson had only started 2 League Cup and 1 F.A.Cup game this season, so clearly he was sharp and ready for the type of game at Oldham.??????
Seb Coates - Almost exactly the same appearance record as Jack. But slow and lightweight for one so tall.
Borini - just back from injury and asked to play out wide, something he has show isn't good at before.
Raheem Sterling - now paying for being used so extensively earlier in season. He has been largely ineffective when starting in the last few months and was asked to play in midfield rather than wide????
Andre Wisdom - A decent right back still learning his trade, didnt really do anythig wrong before being subbed.
Joe Allen - as always when its a proper game he is a luxury. His 'amazing' pass completion ratio is meaningless as these are mostly in his own half and to centre-halfs and full-backs. Like Gareth Barry but worse!
I am sorry who picked the team, you Mr Rodgers! Therefore you are responsible for the teams preparation ad selection. Clearly YOU didn't do that properly ad have decided to blame others ad chose those least able to defend themselves, the youngsters! Shame on you.
So Rodgers gives in to swathes of criticism and restores Carra to the starting 11 for the Arsenal game. We tear them apart for the 1st 30 minutes but crucially only score one. The latter stages o 1st half and majority of the 2d half are all about us absorbing pressure and hitting on the break. Jordan Henderson scored a 2nd involved loads of ricochets but you think at that point we are home and hosed. No within 7 minutes its all square!
So imagine my surprise when Alan Smith in a game full of flowing attacking football awards Carragher the ma of the match! We conceded 2 goals i 7 minutes ad but from some profligate finishing from Walcott,Podolski and Giroud we could have conceded 10! Surely Wiltshire,Walcott,Sturridge or Henderson were more deserving of the accolade?
On to Man City where just like the game at Afield at the start of the season we are 2-1 up and looking comfortable before a moment of defensive madness causes us to concede. What Pepe Reina was thinking is beyond me. Aguero wasn't even half a yard ahead of Skrtel when he came charging out for the ball. Sure Aguero's skill to score sublime but clearly had more to do with luck.
There is talk the Reina wants to go back to Spain with Valdes looking to leave Barca. I would tell him to start packing now. His has cost us too many points i the last 2 seasons with his butter fingers, hot-headedess and general flat-footedess. He gets beaten at his near post far too often and easily. Time to move him on. Harsh, but you only have to hear Mancini yesterday says Joe Hart has made 3 or 4 costly mistakes and its too many... So Reina has made 5 times as many!
So are we making progress? The short answer is no. We took 4 points from the same 4 league fixtures 1st round. A 1 point improvement is not progress.
We have not beaten a team in the top half of the table.
We have not beaten a team above us in the league.
We are now 31 points behind ManUre. - 10 points lost in 4 League games
We are now 12 points off 4th - 5 points lost i 4 league games.
We have conceded 6 goals in the 3 games against team above us in the last month.
That last stat is particularly damning. 26 League games and 32 conceded. In all competitions taht takes us to 40 goals in 50 games. Yes we have played 50 games already this season.
That a ratio of 1.25 per game out worst since the 98/99 season (1.27) That season we finished 7th, lost in the 2nd tie in both domestic cups and only played 3 UEFA ties... Sound familiar
We still concede too many goals from breakaways. We look most vulnerable when we have a corner. that was happening in August it still is.....
The Full-backs need to show more defensive discipline and nous. We have wingers for width. they should only go beyond their winger when it makes sense and even the only 1 should go.
The tippy-tappy philosophy fall down when the other teams are pressing you high up the pitch. The Premier League isn't Spain, we certainly aren't Barcelona and Joe Allen isn't Xavi or Iniesta!
Hopefully Brendan Rodger will realise this and become a proper manager i.e. adapt to his squad and opposition. he need to start picking his best team and not the best 11. Not the best 11 who fit your slavish adherence to 4-3-3
For me that is easy now he has some people back from injury and has added Sturridge.
It has to be 4-4-2 or a loose 4-2-3-1
Reina - until we buy Begovic or Mignolet in the summer.
Johnson-Skrtel-Agger-Enrique
Downing-Lucas-Gerrard-Sterling
Suarez-Sturridge - With Suarez in the hole and Sturridge running the channels.
Do we have things to be positive about. Yes!
Sturridge & Suarez blossoming partnership.
The tempo of our play is better.
Jordan Henderson is starting to look like he might be of some use.
Joe Allen is on the bench these days!
We only have West Brom and Swansea in the League this month. Madness when you consider the fixture over Xmas and New Year.
YNWA
Sunday, 6 January 2013
New Year - New Cheer
So we seem to be starting to put the rubbish to bed.2 3-0 wins certainly improves things. But I wont be getting carried away. If you watch both games our goals have come from playing the ball early into channels.Something I have been saying we should be doing more of.
Can't just stick to one tactic of tippy-tappy all the time. Not if you want to maximise the return from Suarez and Sterling's pace, as well as Gerrard's range of passing.The tippy-tappy stuff certainly wears the opposition down and lulls them into pushing up their back line and thus gives us the space in behind.
Glad to see the addition of Sturridge £12mill is gain a little steep but we are victim of circumstances of our creating. We have wasted so much money i the last 2 seasons on transfers it beggars belief. The fact we have had to pay for Sturridge at all is galling. As you know he was offered as part of the of the Torres deal. So technically he has cost us the £35 mill we wasted on Carroll plus the £15 left that we wasted on Henderson or Downing (take your pick). and now another £12 million. So he is a £60mill striker!
Joe Cole has moved back to his spiritual home and to be honest the Club he should never have left. He was never as good anywhere else and by all accounts he had a great game against the Scum yesterday. Good luck to him. He never really got a chance but I don't think he was ever going to do anything. Its £90k a week off the wage bill and it looks like we are trying to shift Sahin off the wage bill too. Slightly worrying bearing in mid we wiped £500k off the wage bill a week over the summer. I suppose the 6-monthly review of Suarez's contract and the re-signing of some of the existing players on longer term deals has probably eaten into what ceiling space there is in the wage bill.
Hopefully nothing comes of the Tom Ince rumours. Not because I don't think he or good enough, he is. I saw him at the Cottage yesterday and he could easily have scored a hat-trick and put Fulham out the Cup if it wasn't for some excellent saves from Stockdale in goal. The reason I don't want us buying him is simple. Some idiot got rid of Ince and Ecclestone over the summer.Much like the the Sturridge deal it smacks of trying to recover what has been lost. We need to look forward and find new talent. As clearly we are not good at appreciating what we have. New Year fixtures saw Kakaniclic, Ince,Della-Valli all score for their teams. Enough said.
Still think we could do with a winger of some sort it Rodgers isn't going to use Assaidi. I appreciate that the focus is bringing younger talent on long-term deals to give a core of talent for the next 10 years. A laudable idea however I like most Liverpool fans don't want to wait another decade for a title challenge. We need to focus on quality not quantity and get a couple of experienced player who can deliver.
Today we go to the Stag's for a tricky away tie.Looks like Sturridge may get his debut. Not sure if that will be a start or off the bench. Cant imagine he has had much time to integrate properly but if he can produce anything like his early Man City form he will be a legend for us. He knows where the goal is and isn't shy to shoot. Can he a Suarez play together, absolutely.Might means Suarez playing wider like he does for Uruguay.Suarez,Sturridge,Sterling. That looks dangerous
The real litmus test for us will be our next 4 League games. We are currently 21 pts behind the Scum and 7 points off 4th. That gap would have been smaller but for the disaster against Villa. A team who have let in 8,4 and 2 in their 3 league games since. So we are a long way from where we want to be. We only took 4 points off the ext 4 games in the league first time round. Away at the Scum, home to Norwich, Gunners and City away. We need 7 to 10 points out of these fixtures just to keep up with Spurs Chelski et al. I hope we get something at OT, lose miserably at City beat Norwich and the Gunners. The latter 2 are fragile at the back and with the way Suarez is playing he will kill them.
If we only get 3 or 4 points them clearly we are not moving forward. let hope we have an easy game today and a good draw in the 4th round.
YNWA
Can't just stick to one tactic of tippy-tappy all the time. Not if you want to maximise the return from Suarez and Sterling's pace, as well as Gerrard's range of passing.The tippy-tappy stuff certainly wears the opposition down and lulls them into pushing up their back line and thus gives us the space in behind.
Glad to see the addition of Sturridge £12mill is gain a little steep but we are victim of circumstances of our creating. We have wasted so much money i the last 2 seasons on transfers it beggars belief. The fact we have had to pay for Sturridge at all is galling. As you know he was offered as part of the of the Torres deal. So technically he has cost us the £35 mill we wasted on Carroll plus the £15 left that we wasted on Henderson or Downing (take your pick). and now another £12 million. So he is a £60mill striker!
Joe Cole has moved back to his spiritual home and to be honest the Club he should never have left. He was never as good anywhere else and by all accounts he had a great game against the Scum yesterday. Good luck to him. He never really got a chance but I don't think he was ever going to do anything. Its £90k a week off the wage bill and it looks like we are trying to shift Sahin off the wage bill too. Slightly worrying bearing in mid we wiped £500k off the wage bill a week over the summer. I suppose the 6-monthly review of Suarez's contract and the re-signing of some of the existing players on longer term deals has probably eaten into what ceiling space there is in the wage bill.
Hopefully nothing comes of the Tom Ince rumours. Not because I don't think he or good enough, he is. I saw him at the Cottage yesterday and he could easily have scored a hat-trick and put Fulham out the Cup if it wasn't for some excellent saves from Stockdale in goal. The reason I don't want us buying him is simple. Some idiot got rid of Ince and Ecclestone over the summer.Much like the the Sturridge deal it smacks of trying to recover what has been lost. We need to look forward and find new talent. As clearly we are not good at appreciating what we have. New Year fixtures saw Kakaniclic, Ince,Della-Valli all score for their teams. Enough said.
Still think we could do with a winger of some sort it Rodgers isn't going to use Assaidi. I appreciate that the focus is bringing younger talent on long-term deals to give a core of talent for the next 10 years. A laudable idea however I like most Liverpool fans don't want to wait another decade for a title challenge. We need to focus on quality not quantity and get a couple of experienced player who can deliver.
Today we go to the Stag's for a tricky away tie.Looks like Sturridge may get his debut. Not sure if that will be a start or off the bench. Cant imagine he has had much time to integrate properly but if he can produce anything like his early Man City form he will be a legend for us. He knows where the goal is and isn't shy to shoot. Can he a Suarez play together, absolutely.Might means Suarez playing wider like he does for Uruguay.Suarez,Sturridge,Sterling. That looks dangerous
The real litmus test for us will be our next 4 League games. We are currently 21 pts behind the Scum and 7 points off 4th. That gap would have been smaller but for the disaster against Villa. A team who have let in 8,4 and 2 in their 3 league games since. So we are a long way from where we want to be. We only took 4 points off the ext 4 games in the league first time round. Away at the Scum, home to Norwich, Gunners and City away. We need 7 to 10 points out of these fixtures just to keep up with Spurs Chelski et al. I hope we get something at OT, lose miserably at City beat Norwich and the Gunners. The latter 2 are fragile at the back and with the way Suarez is playing he will kill them.
If we only get 3 or 4 points them clearly we are not moving forward. let hope we have an easy game today and a good draw in the 4th round.
YNWA
Sunday, 23 December 2012
Half Term Report
I haven't blogged for a while partly because I do get weary of moaning all the time and secondly to allow Brendan Rodgers to bed in and give the players time to adapt.
Unfortunately that hasn't really happened to much. Liverpool have always passed the ball so Rodgers is hardly bringing a completely new philosophy here. He hasn't turned up at Wimbeldon and told them that football is played on the ground and got funny looks. I think modern teams are over coached and Manager try to control almost everything that happens on the field. Sometimes you have just got to let the players do what feels right any a particular time or in a particular situation.
I think a lot of our performanceshave been like a bunch of 15 year olds trying to master a new way of pressing or changing to 3 at the back or something. Unfortunately the Premier League is not a place to try this out.The players dont look comfortable. All the foibles of last season are still evident.
We still cant make the correct decision in the final 3rd.We have over 300 shots at goal in the League this season but have scored a paltry 27 goals.Once again we are at a 1/10 conversion ratio. Not good enough.To say we are profligate in front of goal would be same as saying the Titanic had a small leak.......
Our recent performances have illustrated that especially the debacle at home to Villa. Over 20-odd shots and 3 clear cut chances to be 3-0 after 20 minutes.1st one Suarez passes it behind Gerrard. 2nd one Shelvey waits to long to pull the trigger and the 3rd one Suarez shoots instead of cutting it back. What happens Pepe again doesnt cover himself in glory.Sure Benteke's opener was a decent strike but no pressure after a another Allen powder puff challenge.
We just seem to always be getting caught out on the break.Spurs tore us to pieces. No idea why Downing was at left back against Lennon.Glen Johnson still cant defend for toffee.He never truly squares up to someone running at him or in a position to cross. As a right footed player I don't understand why he leads when his left foot when he does bother to try and stop a cross. even that he hang out like a wet rag.
Tactically I think Rodgers is too rigid and sometime naive. there is no deviation from the same tactic. Pass the ball ad nausem. Over commit your fullbacks at all times.have none of your central midfielders show any positional discipline. That is roughly what happens. We seem to be most vulnerable when either have corner or are in possession just outside the opposition box.
Due to this over commitment of resources when we lose the ball all the other team has to do is pass it out wide into the acres where fullbacks normally live and have any of their quick players tear Agger and Skrtel to pieces. weseem to have no defensive shape.Its reckless pressing all over the place when we dont have the ball. No pressing when we should. We are letting in almost 2 goals a game. its rubbish.
This has bee compounded by his total devotion to Joe Allen (90-odd% pass completion but its always sideways or backwards and in his own half) and refusal to play Enrique even when he was fit.Why? probably because he doesnt bomb forward aimlessly ad if there isn't a cute pass on he goes long into the channels IE proper defending.thankfully Rodgers has relented on the latter and Enrique is showing his worth.
Yes we are playing well but it just isnt working consistently. I think the reasons are obvious. Rigid tactics, over-reliance on youngsters and lack of leadership from senior players on the pitch. Lets be honest Gerrard has been coasting this season. Yes he has scored in his last couple of games. Same goes for Downing, suddenly he looks like a winger.
So where are we, sitting 8th (flattering) ahead of Stoke and Norwich on goal difference. 5 points behind the race for 4th,with an inconsistent bunch of players badly in need of reinforcements. Some might see that as positive but we haven't beaten a single team above us in the League this season and have struggled against most of the team below us. Other than Norwich, Wigan and Fulham yesterday we don't put the rubbish to bed.That has to change. we also need to stop being 'unlucky' against the better teams. City,the Scum, Everton and Newcastle were all games we should have taken more from.
Personally I give Rodgers a D- as a mark so far..
On the plus side youngsters like Suso (lately), Sterling(briefly) Jon-Jo (more regularly) have stepped up to the plate. Suarez is scoring more regularly although he still misses loads and doesn't always look at other options.
thankfully it looks like Sturridge's arrival is imminent. That at least gives us the option of resting Suarez. I wont go into the madness that 2 years after we were offered him as part of Torres deal we are now paying for him! Dalglish and Comolli have a lot to answer for on that front. A £100 million mess.
We probaly need a another 1 or to in. We appear to be looking at buying Tom Ince back, begs the question why did we sell him in the 1st place???? Surely another season on loan would have been a better option.The lack of joined up thinking amazes me. They talk about investing in youngsters and themn sell all the best ones...
Being Liverpool - A brave and bold decision by the powers that be to let us have a look at the club from the inside. Not sure what the target audience was. But 2 things struck me. We looked unprofessional (the chef talking about player diet - straight out of 1991!) and Rodgers came across poorly and a bit of an idiot. Especially the piece with the names in the envelope nonsense. Thats psychology 101 from 1984......
W are short of players points and consistency.January is never a very good time to fix these things and with a tough Europa draw with Zenit. Think it will be down the FA Cup to provide us with any joy.
Other than Sturridge who can we get in. Firstly I would say recall Carroll. Yes he is injured (again) but surely he is better off with us. Could do worse than Snodgrass and Sessingnon. But those clubs wont sell in a. Maybe 2 for the summer. Not sure what Rodgers is doing with Assaidi.In the Cup games he looks good but doesnt even crack a nod for the bench. Worriyingly Henderson has been told he has a future at the club. I hope its on the shop selling bobble hats! Joe Cole will surely go in Jan. even if its just for the £90k off the wage bill.
Not a lot of value and talent out there for us to exploit this window.
One a separate note great news the verdicts in the Hillsborough disaster have finally been overturned. Those families have been steadfast in their belief. The shocking thing for me is that most people werent really aware of the scale of the cover up until the independent tribunal made their public pressconference. Most of the facts have been know to Liverpool fans for years.....
Justice for the 96 may become a reality.
YNWA
Oh Yes and BAH HUMBUG!
Unfortunately that hasn't really happened to much. Liverpool have always passed the ball so Rodgers is hardly bringing a completely new philosophy here. He hasn't turned up at Wimbeldon and told them that football is played on the ground and got funny looks. I think modern teams are over coached and Manager try to control almost everything that happens on the field. Sometimes you have just got to let the players do what feels right any a particular time or in a particular situation.
I think a lot of our performanceshave been like a bunch of 15 year olds trying to master a new way of pressing or changing to 3 at the back or something. Unfortunately the Premier League is not a place to try this out.The players dont look comfortable. All the foibles of last season are still evident.
We still cant make the correct decision in the final 3rd.We have over 300 shots at goal in the League this season but have scored a paltry 27 goals.Once again we are at a 1/10 conversion ratio. Not good enough.To say we are profligate in front of goal would be same as saying the Titanic had a small leak.......
Our recent performances have illustrated that especially the debacle at home to Villa. Over 20-odd shots and 3 clear cut chances to be 3-0 after 20 minutes.1st one Suarez passes it behind Gerrard. 2nd one Shelvey waits to long to pull the trigger and the 3rd one Suarez shoots instead of cutting it back. What happens Pepe again doesnt cover himself in glory.Sure Benteke's opener was a decent strike but no pressure after a another Allen powder puff challenge.
We just seem to always be getting caught out on the break.Spurs tore us to pieces. No idea why Downing was at left back against Lennon.Glen Johnson still cant defend for toffee.He never truly squares up to someone running at him or in a position to cross. As a right footed player I don't understand why he leads when his left foot when he does bother to try and stop a cross. even that he hang out like a wet rag.
Tactically I think Rodgers is too rigid and sometime naive. there is no deviation from the same tactic. Pass the ball ad nausem. Over commit your fullbacks at all times.have none of your central midfielders show any positional discipline. That is roughly what happens. We seem to be most vulnerable when either have corner or are in possession just outside the opposition box.
Due to this over commitment of resources when we lose the ball all the other team has to do is pass it out wide into the acres where fullbacks normally live and have any of their quick players tear Agger and Skrtel to pieces. weseem to have no defensive shape.Its reckless pressing all over the place when we dont have the ball. No pressing when we should. We are letting in almost 2 goals a game. its rubbish.
This has bee compounded by his total devotion to Joe Allen (90-odd% pass completion but its always sideways or backwards and in his own half) and refusal to play Enrique even when he was fit.Why? probably because he doesnt bomb forward aimlessly ad if there isn't a cute pass on he goes long into the channels IE proper defending.thankfully Rodgers has relented on the latter and Enrique is showing his worth.
Yes we are playing well but it just isnt working consistently. I think the reasons are obvious. Rigid tactics, over-reliance on youngsters and lack of leadership from senior players on the pitch. Lets be honest Gerrard has been coasting this season. Yes he has scored in his last couple of games. Same goes for Downing, suddenly he looks like a winger.
So where are we, sitting 8th (flattering) ahead of Stoke and Norwich on goal difference. 5 points behind the race for 4th,with an inconsistent bunch of players badly in need of reinforcements. Some might see that as positive but we haven't beaten a single team above us in the League this season and have struggled against most of the team below us. Other than Norwich, Wigan and Fulham yesterday we don't put the rubbish to bed.That has to change. we also need to stop being 'unlucky' against the better teams. City,the Scum, Everton and Newcastle were all games we should have taken more from.
Personally I give Rodgers a D- as a mark so far..
On the plus side youngsters like Suso (lately), Sterling(briefly) Jon-Jo (more regularly) have stepped up to the plate. Suarez is scoring more regularly although he still misses loads and doesn't always look at other options.
thankfully it looks like Sturridge's arrival is imminent. That at least gives us the option of resting Suarez. I wont go into the madness that 2 years after we were offered him as part of Torres deal we are now paying for him! Dalglish and Comolli have a lot to answer for on that front. A £100 million mess.
We probaly need a another 1 or to in. We appear to be looking at buying Tom Ince back, begs the question why did we sell him in the 1st place???? Surely another season on loan would have been a better option.The lack of joined up thinking amazes me. They talk about investing in youngsters and themn sell all the best ones...
Being Liverpool - A brave and bold decision by the powers that be to let us have a look at the club from the inside. Not sure what the target audience was. But 2 things struck me. We looked unprofessional (the chef talking about player diet - straight out of 1991!) and Rodgers came across poorly and a bit of an idiot. Especially the piece with the names in the envelope nonsense. Thats psychology 101 from 1984......
W are short of players points and consistency.January is never a very good time to fix these things and with a tough Europa draw with Zenit. Think it will be down the FA Cup to provide us with any joy.
Other than Sturridge who can we get in. Firstly I would say recall Carroll. Yes he is injured (again) but surely he is better off with us. Could do worse than Snodgrass and Sessingnon. But those clubs wont sell in a. Maybe 2 for the summer. Not sure what Rodgers is doing with Assaidi.In the Cup games he looks good but doesnt even crack a nod for the bench. Worriyingly Henderson has been told he has a future at the club. I hope its on the shop selling bobble hats! Joe Cole will surely go in Jan. even if its just for the £90k off the wage bill.
Not a lot of value and talent out there for us to exploit this window.
One a separate note great news the verdicts in the Hillsborough disaster have finally been overturned. Those families have been steadfast in their belief. The shocking thing for me is that most people werent really aware of the scale of the cover up until the independent tribunal made their public pressconference. Most of the facts have been know to Liverpool fans for years.....
Justice for the 96 may become a reality.
YNWA
Oh Yes and BAH HUMBUG!
Sunday, 9 September 2012
Gunned Down Again
I found it quite ironic last Sunday when a team that sold its crown jewel (RVP) had been widely criticised for letting him go and the quality of the replacements. Clearly the media had nothing to write about so as usual its either Liverpool or Arsenal bashing.
If you had watched any of Arsenal 1st few league game you would have seen, like us, they are creating chances and just needed a bit more composure to take them. With Podolski,Carzola and Giroud anyone with a brain would agree it was just a matter of time. Unfortunately that time arrived early on Sunday afternoon.
We were hopelessly outfought in every department. I haven't criticised Brendan Rodgers' tactic so far but splitting up the midfield trio of Allen-Gerrard-Shelvey seemed odd especially when he was bringing in Sahin. A youngster from Real Madrid who hasn't kicked a ball in anger in over year. Needless to say the game passed him by and once we were 2-0 down did he bring on Shelvey. The young man immediately set about Arsenal with more vigour and purpose than the rest of the team. (Sterling aside). Sure Arsenal had taken their foot off the gas but he has 3 or 4 shots and did more than the other 3 combined.
We created almost nothing and got deservedly stuffed. We have shipped 8 goals in 3 games and with Sunderland and ManUre on the horizon I don't see many points there. So we will be bottom after 5 games and so 3 Managers in 2 and a bit years after parting company with Rafa we are far worse off than we have been since the mid-sixties when we we were languishing in 2nd Division and constantly missing out on promotion (ala modern day Cardiff).
Steven Gerrard look totally disinterested, again....... He cant seem to pass 5 or 10 yards. He gave the ball away for the 1st goal when he was required to simply roll the ball into Surez's path on the edge of the Arsenal box,instead Podolski wins the ball and he and Cazorla tear us to pieces
Pepe Reina was again culpable for their 2nd, thats his 3rd clanger of the season sofar and we have only played 7 competitive matches!
As mentioned previously,we are threadbare.Only Chelski and Wigan have submitted similar size squad lists and thankfully we didn't let Pacheco go on loan in the end. Squad listed below with their homegrown status and there are 4 keepers in it and Lucas and Cole are injured!!!
1 Agger, Daniel Munthe No
2 Allen, Joseph Michael Yes
3 Assaidi, Ossama No
4 Carragher, James Lee Yes
5 Coates Nion, Sebastian No
6 Cole, Joseph John Yes
7 Marangon, Donieber Alexander No
8 Downing, Stewart Yes
9 Gerrard MBE, Steven George Yes
10 Gulacsi, Peter Yes
11 Henderson, Jordan Brian Yes
12 Johnson, Glen McLeod Cooper Yes
13 Jones, Bradley Yes
14 Sanchez Diaz, Jose Enrique No
15 Kelly, Martin Ronald Yes
16 Pezzini Leiva, Lucas No
17 Reina Paez, Jose Manuel No
18 Sahin, Nuri No
19 Skrtel, Martin No
20 Suarez Diaz, Luis Alberto No
I can't see how the remainder of this bunch above plus the likes of Shelvey,Sterling,Flanaghan, Morgan and Borini are suppose to get us up the table at all.
The Owners have seen fit to post an open letter in light of the outrage and despondency voiced by fans and media alike in the aftermath of the deadline day shenanigans and the abject surrender against Arsenal.
They hold their hand up to admitting that it taking longer than expected to fix the mistakes of the past and indeed have compounded it by making some of their own. A clear reference to the appointment of Commolli and allowing and King Kenny to waste £140mill in 2 transfer windows.
Unfortunately this has hamstrung Rodgers in what he can achieve this season. I seriously believe that Premiership survival is all we can hope for......
I see almost no creativity in the above bunch and there isn't a goalscorer among them. But at least we now know that until we start to achieve success on the pitch, there wont be anymore money from the owners. So its self-funding and focusing on the youngsters already at the club and those we have brought in like Sahin.
13 goals from Suarez last season wasn't good enough and from what we have seen so far he doesn't look like scoring even that many. Too many missed chances and he doesn't look for others in the box.No Bellamy,Rodriguez or Kuyt. That's roughly 20 goal there as well we need to replace. Henderson and Downing have dropped to subs which is again showing how overpriced and completely overrated they were.
Rodgers is stuck with what he has until January and I would expect Henderson, Downing and Cole to go in that window.Hopefully we will see the sense of bringing Andy Carroll back by then.
As mentioned in my last post we have missed out heavily on some bargains which is slightly disappointing. I would have thought that Rodgers with his 180 page dossier would have had at least some knowledge of the like of Snodgrass, Michu,Rodellaga and Aruna Kone. All of whom would have strengthened our squad. I cant see how his preferred tactics can work with a squad so devoid of pace.Hopefully he realises he needs to modify things a bit. Everyone worked Swansea out for the most part in the 2nd half of last season so if all he is going to is exactly the same thing them we have no chance.
Another long hard season of toil awaits us. No doubt we will rise to the occasion for some of the bigger games and continue to be clueless against the Wigan's of the League.
All we can hope for is that all our players return from the International break without injuries.
YNWA
If you had watched any of Arsenal 1st few league game you would have seen, like us, they are creating chances and just needed a bit more composure to take them. With Podolski,Carzola and Giroud anyone with a brain would agree it was just a matter of time. Unfortunately that time arrived early on Sunday afternoon.
We were hopelessly outfought in every department. I haven't criticised Brendan Rodgers' tactic so far but splitting up the midfield trio of Allen-Gerrard-Shelvey seemed odd especially when he was bringing in Sahin. A youngster from Real Madrid who hasn't kicked a ball in anger in over year. Needless to say the game passed him by and once we were 2-0 down did he bring on Shelvey. The young man immediately set about Arsenal with more vigour and purpose than the rest of the team. (Sterling aside). Sure Arsenal had taken their foot off the gas but he has 3 or 4 shots and did more than the other 3 combined.
We created almost nothing and got deservedly stuffed. We have shipped 8 goals in 3 games and with Sunderland and ManUre on the horizon I don't see many points there. So we will be bottom after 5 games and so 3 Managers in 2 and a bit years after parting company with Rafa we are far worse off than we have been since the mid-sixties when we we were languishing in 2nd Division and constantly missing out on promotion (ala modern day Cardiff).
Steven Gerrard look totally disinterested, again....... He cant seem to pass 5 or 10 yards. He gave the ball away for the 1st goal when he was required to simply roll the ball into Surez's path on the edge of the Arsenal box,instead Podolski wins the ball and he and Cazorla tear us to pieces
Pepe Reina was again culpable for their 2nd, thats his 3rd clanger of the season sofar and we have only played 7 competitive matches!
As mentioned previously,we are threadbare.Only Chelski and Wigan have submitted similar size squad lists and thankfully we didn't let Pacheco go on loan in the end. Squad listed below with their homegrown status and there are 4 keepers in it and Lucas and Cole are injured!!!
1 Agger, Daniel Munthe No
2 Allen, Joseph Michael Yes
3 Assaidi, Ossama No
4 Carragher, James Lee Yes
5 Coates Nion, Sebastian No
6 Cole, Joseph John Yes
7 Marangon, Donieber Alexander No
8 Downing, Stewart Yes
9 Gerrard MBE, Steven George Yes
10 Gulacsi, Peter Yes
11 Henderson, Jordan Brian Yes
12 Johnson, Glen McLeod Cooper Yes
13 Jones, Bradley Yes
14 Sanchez Diaz, Jose Enrique No
15 Kelly, Martin Ronald Yes
16 Pezzini Leiva, Lucas No
17 Reina Paez, Jose Manuel No
18 Sahin, Nuri No
19 Skrtel, Martin No
20 Suarez Diaz, Luis Alberto No
I can't see how the remainder of this bunch above plus the likes of Shelvey,Sterling,Flanaghan, Morgan and Borini are suppose to get us up the table at all.
The Owners have seen fit to post an open letter in light of the outrage and despondency voiced by fans and media alike in the aftermath of the deadline day shenanigans and the abject surrender against Arsenal.
They hold their hand up to admitting that it taking longer than expected to fix the mistakes of the past and indeed have compounded it by making some of their own. A clear reference to the appointment of Commolli and allowing and King Kenny to waste £140mill in 2 transfer windows.
Unfortunately this has hamstrung Rodgers in what he can achieve this season. I seriously believe that Premiership survival is all we can hope for......
I see almost no creativity in the above bunch and there isn't a goalscorer among them. But at least we now know that until we start to achieve success on the pitch, there wont be anymore money from the owners. So its self-funding and focusing on the youngsters already at the club and those we have brought in like Sahin.
13 goals from Suarez last season wasn't good enough and from what we have seen so far he doesn't look like scoring even that many. Too many missed chances and he doesn't look for others in the box.No Bellamy,Rodriguez or Kuyt. That's roughly 20 goal there as well we need to replace. Henderson and Downing have dropped to subs which is again showing how overpriced and completely overrated they were.
Rodgers is stuck with what he has until January and I would expect Henderson, Downing and Cole to go in that window.Hopefully we will see the sense of bringing Andy Carroll back by then.
As mentioned in my last post we have missed out heavily on some bargains which is slightly disappointing. I would have thought that Rodgers with his 180 page dossier would have had at least some knowledge of the like of Snodgrass, Michu,Rodellaga and Aruna Kone. All of whom would have strengthened our squad. I cant see how his preferred tactics can work with a squad so devoid of pace.Hopefully he realises he needs to modify things a bit. Everyone worked Swansea out for the most part in the 2nd half of last season so if all he is going to is exactly the same thing them we have no chance.
Another long hard season of toil awaits us. No doubt we will rise to the occasion for some of the bigger games and continue to be clueless against the Wigan's of the League.
All we can hope for is that all our players return from the International break without injuries.
YNWA
Saturday, 1 September 2012
Dealdine Day Dross - Part3
For Liverpool Football Club tranfer deadline day has become nothing but an unmitigated disaster since Fenway Sports took over the club. Its like watching The Blairwitch Project, alone in your caravan in the middle of nowhere.
Part-1 - January 2011. King Kenny and Commoli contrive not only to pass on £40mill and Sturridge to insist on £50mill. Why because it made good business sense to give £35mill of this windfall to Newcastle for their injured 6 foot 6 inch giant who had score a hat-trick against Liverpool in the November League match. Brilliant........
Part-2 - August 2011. Still armed wth some £15 from the Torres /Carroll thing rumours abound in March that we are looking to sign Enrique from Newcastle to solve our 6 year old leftback issue.IE we sold Riise for some reason and never really replaced him. See Warnock, Aurelio and Dossena (Another 8mill wasted).
So the season finishes and suddenly Charlie Adam,Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson are linked with the club. No real problem with the 1st 2. Adam would not be expensive and Downing solves another left sided problem. IE we dont have a winger. But things again start to get stranger. Some haggling over Adam and we get him for 8mill. Initial offers of £12mill each to the other 2 are rebuffed.
So you would think that we would go and look elsewhere. After all we are LFC and can go get players anywhere and lots of clubs would take £12mill for any of their players. But no like the myopic sage at the Emirates we blindly plow ahead for 2 players who between them hadn't scored 5 goals in the 2010/20111 Premier League season. Result £20mill for each. Ashley Young a far better player than Downing goes to ManUre for £16mill????? Man City buy David Silva for £22.2mill we get Jordan Henderson for around the same????
While all this is going own we sell yet another player to Chelski in Raul Mierles because we decided to renage on gentleman's agreement between Hodgson and the player over a wage increase.(Player took a £20 cut to come to Liverpool). Then Kenny confirms in a press conference that Aquilani was our 'best player in pre-season' so naturally the next day he is loaned to AC Milan for the season!!! Next is Joe Cole is off to Lille as a wage refugee this finally allows us to sign Enrique.
Alarm bells should have been ringing already if e have send player out on loan just to make a gap in the wage bill what ridiculous salaries are we paying to players who finished 6th and spent most of the season not trying a leg and languishig in the bottom half of the table?
So we stumble through last season. Other than Enrique none of the otehr signings including a now fit Carroll really make any impact whatsoever.
Charlie Adam goes from running games at Blackpool and delivering set-pieces to drool over. To huffing and puffing aimlessly and suddenly can't beat the 1st man or wall with crosses, free-kicks or corners.
Stewart Downing proved what any of us with eyes and and brain knew all along. He cant beat an egg, cross a 'T' or pass water. He is so bad he has been usurped by a 17 year old and teh manager has told him he 'might' have future at leftback.
His Northeastern sidekick, Jordan Henderson, proved equally as ineffective and resembled a Duracell bunny with its head cut-off.
So we get rid to Kenny and Commoli and make the extremely brave decision to appoint Brendan Rodgers. A decision I fully support and still believe he is the right man.
He wasted no time sorting the wheat from the chaff. The ever reliable and loyal Dirk Kuyt lasted 3 days. Aurelio and, Maxi were soon to follow. Excitment started building would we actaully sig osme wingers and attacking players. During our pre-season tour romours abound about Dempsey and Ramirez.
Part 3 - August 2011. Rodgers decided he wants Joe Allen but he has a £15mill buy-out clause so surely we are not going to get burnt again. But no the money men throw the £15mill at it. I have o be honest I have actually been surprised by him and he looks decent, but £15mill???
So on Sunday we played a blinder against the Champions only for another defensive error to cost us all 3 points. Brendan Rodgers staes afterwards that 'the players here need help' and we are looking to sign a few more players. as we have not eve replaced the numbers that have gone out. So hopefully we would see a raft of newsignings but come Thursday nothing other than that Demspey is almost a cert.
So just beore the Hearts game news comes through that we are loaning Carroll to West Ham for exactly the same terms that were on the table 2 weeks before???
On Friday it all starts to fall apart.
Charlie Adam is sold to Stoke. Spearing , Ecclestone,Pacheco and Wilson all leave. So that's 6 out when the manager has already said we dont have enough! So who did we sign???? Thats right, not a single player!!! In fact Ian Ayres and Brendan Rogers left Melwood before 8pm!!!
More galling is the fact that we tried to haggle with Fulham over Dempsey. In the end he goes to Spurs for a mere £6mill. Are you seriously telling me that we did not have £6mill to spend on a player who can play in 3 positions and has consistently scored 10 or more goals almost every sesason he has been at Fulham??? Absolutely shocking.
I fully understand that the owners feel they wasted enough money last summer on duds and may have been reluctant to part ewith more cash and if Joe Allen was the 'marque' signing then why not sell Adam or Henderson sooner and at least give us a chance to bring Dempsey or someone else in?
It is completely unacceptable that we only have 1 misfiring strriker in the squad. On Thursday Suarez again had is clown feet and brain on. Do we really expect this guy to play 3 times a week from now until January with support from 17 year old (Sterling), a unproven 21 year old Italian (Borini) and young Adam Morgan.
Is that really going to propel us up the table?????
I look at all the team who finished above us and they are all stronger. I look at 3 or 4 of the teams below us (Fulham, Sunderland, Stoke, QPR, Swansea, WBA) and they are all stronger. I am honestly extremely concerned about where we are headed. You cannot go into a Premier League campaign with a squad this young and threadbare.
I cant see us finishing in the top half of the table unless Suarez learns to pass in box to others or suddenly starts to score every 2nd or 3rd chance he gets (at the moment its 1 in 10). I seriously believe that we are going to be involved in relegation battle..........
We lack quality, experience and depth. Unless Sahin and Assiadi are some kind of wonder kids who can get 15 goals each I can't see how we score.
I didnt think we could get worse than last season but really we have. Nothing to do with the Manager, I think he has agreed to sell players on the understanding others are coming in but nothing has come to fruition.
Its doing to be hard enough to bed in the new style without having any experienced players. Rodgers stystems relies on wide players with pace. We only have Sterling........
1) Lucas out for 4 months and we let Spearing go!
2) No replacement striker and we let Carroll go!
3) No width or pace and we let Eccleston and Pacheco go!
If you made those sort of decisions on Champie Manager you would get the sack and relegated and thats just a game.
Look at the value that has been available this window:
Berbatov - £4mill. Michu - £2mill. Dempsey - £6mill. Hernandez - £5.5mill. Rodellega - free. Aruna Kone - £3mill.
The £12mill spent on Allen could have bought us Ramirez or Fletcher.........
We just dont seem to have a joined up approach to buying and selling. You only have to look at Everton and Spurs both of whom have strenthened their squad for a net profit in this window.......
I really fear for us we can only bring ina free agent, what money for an Anfield return for Michael Owen????? I'd sign him tonight before someone else does........
I cant bring myself to type the usual ending to this post.......... As clearly we are walking alone into the abyss.......
Part-1 - January 2011. King Kenny and Commoli contrive not only to pass on £40mill and Sturridge to insist on £50mill. Why because it made good business sense to give £35mill of this windfall to Newcastle for their injured 6 foot 6 inch giant who had score a hat-trick against Liverpool in the November League match. Brilliant........
Part-2 - August 2011. Still armed wth some £15 from the Torres /Carroll thing rumours abound in March that we are looking to sign Enrique from Newcastle to solve our 6 year old leftback issue.IE we sold Riise for some reason and never really replaced him. See Warnock, Aurelio and Dossena (Another 8mill wasted).
So the season finishes and suddenly Charlie Adam,Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson are linked with the club. No real problem with the 1st 2. Adam would not be expensive and Downing solves another left sided problem. IE we dont have a winger. But things again start to get stranger. Some haggling over Adam and we get him for 8mill. Initial offers of £12mill each to the other 2 are rebuffed.
So you would think that we would go and look elsewhere. After all we are LFC and can go get players anywhere and lots of clubs would take £12mill for any of their players. But no like the myopic sage at the Emirates we blindly plow ahead for 2 players who between them hadn't scored 5 goals in the 2010/20111 Premier League season. Result £20mill for each. Ashley Young a far better player than Downing goes to ManUre for £16mill????? Man City buy David Silva for £22.2mill we get Jordan Henderson for around the same????
While all this is going own we sell yet another player to Chelski in Raul Mierles because we decided to renage on gentleman's agreement between Hodgson and the player over a wage increase.(Player took a £20 cut to come to Liverpool). Then Kenny confirms in a press conference that Aquilani was our 'best player in pre-season' so naturally the next day he is loaned to AC Milan for the season!!! Next is Joe Cole is off to Lille as a wage refugee this finally allows us to sign Enrique.
Alarm bells should have been ringing already if e have send player out on loan just to make a gap in the wage bill what ridiculous salaries are we paying to players who finished 6th and spent most of the season not trying a leg and languishig in the bottom half of the table?
So we stumble through last season. Other than Enrique none of the otehr signings including a now fit Carroll really make any impact whatsoever.
Charlie Adam goes from running games at Blackpool and delivering set-pieces to drool over. To huffing and puffing aimlessly and suddenly can't beat the 1st man or wall with crosses, free-kicks or corners.
Stewart Downing proved what any of us with eyes and and brain knew all along. He cant beat an egg, cross a 'T' or pass water. He is so bad he has been usurped by a 17 year old and teh manager has told him he 'might' have future at leftback.
His Northeastern sidekick, Jordan Henderson, proved equally as ineffective and resembled a Duracell bunny with its head cut-off.
So we get rid to Kenny and Commoli and make the extremely brave decision to appoint Brendan Rodgers. A decision I fully support and still believe he is the right man.
He wasted no time sorting the wheat from the chaff. The ever reliable and loyal Dirk Kuyt lasted 3 days. Aurelio and, Maxi were soon to follow. Excitment started building would we actaully sig osme wingers and attacking players. During our pre-season tour romours abound about Dempsey and Ramirez.
Part 3 - August 2011. Rodgers decided he wants Joe Allen but he has a £15mill buy-out clause so surely we are not going to get burnt again. But no the money men throw the £15mill at it. I have o be honest I have actually been surprised by him and he looks decent, but £15mill???
So on Sunday we played a blinder against the Champions only for another defensive error to cost us all 3 points. Brendan Rodgers staes afterwards that 'the players here need help' and we are looking to sign a few more players. as we have not eve replaced the numbers that have gone out. So hopefully we would see a raft of newsignings but come Thursday nothing other than that Demspey is almost a cert.
So just beore the Hearts game news comes through that we are loaning Carroll to West Ham for exactly the same terms that were on the table 2 weeks before???
On Friday it all starts to fall apart.
Charlie Adam is sold to Stoke. Spearing , Ecclestone,Pacheco and Wilson all leave. So that's 6 out when the manager has already said we dont have enough! So who did we sign???? Thats right, not a single player!!! In fact Ian Ayres and Brendan Rogers left Melwood before 8pm!!!
More galling is the fact that we tried to haggle with Fulham over Dempsey. In the end he goes to Spurs for a mere £6mill. Are you seriously telling me that we did not have £6mill to spend on a player who can play in 3 positions and has consistently scored 10 or more goals almost every sesason he has been at Fulham??? Absolutely shocking.
I fully understand that the owners feel they wasted enough money last summer on duds and may have been reluctant to part ewith more cash and if Joe Allen was the 'marque' signing then why not sell Adam or Henderson sooner and at least give us a chance to bring Dempsey or someone else in?
It is completely unacceptable that we only have 1 misfiring strriker in the squad. On Thursday Suarez again had is clown feet and brain on. Do we really expect this guy to play 3 times a week from now until January with support from 17 year old (Sterling), a unproven 21 year old Italian (Borini) and young Adam Morgan.
Is that really going to propel us up the table?????
I look at all the team who finished above us and they are all stronger. I look at 3 or 4 of the teams below us (Fulham, Sunderland, Stoke, QPR, Swansea, WBA) and they are all stronger. I am honestly extremely concerned about where we are headed. You cannot go into a Premier League campaign with a squad this young and threadbare.
I cant see us finishing in the top half of the table unless Suarez learns to pass in box to others or suddenly starts to score every 2nd or 3rd chance he gets (at the moment its 1 in 10). I seriously believe that we are going to be involved in relegation battle..........
We lack quality, experience and depth. Unless Sahin and Assiadi are some kind of wonder kids who can get 15 goals each I can't see how we score.
I didnt think we could get worse than last season but really we have. Nothing to do with the Manager, I think he has agreed to sell players on the understanding others are coming in but nothing has come to fruition.
Its doing to be hard enough to bed in the new style without having any experienced players. Rodgers stystems relies on wide players with pace. We only have Sterling........
1) Lucas out for 4 months and we let Spearing go!
2) No replacement striker and we let Carroll go!
3) No width or pace and we let Eccleston and Pacheco go!
If you made those sort of decisions on Champie Manager you would get the sack and relegated and thats just a game.
Look at the value that has been available this window:
Berbatov - £4mill. Michu - £2mill. Dempsey - £6mill. Hernandez - £5.5mill. Rodellega - free. Aruna Kone - £3mill.
The £12mill spent on Allen could have bought us Ramirez or Fletcher.........
We just dont seem to have a joined up approach to buying and selling. You only have to look at Everton and Spurs both of whom have strenthened their squad for a net profit in this window.......
I really fear for us we can only bring ina free agent, what money for an Anfield return for Michael Owen????? I'd sign him tonight before someone else does........
I cant bring myself to type the usual ending to this post.......... As clearly we are walking alone into the abyss.......
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