Some things to remember/observations: Suarez is a beast. He could miss 5 penalties in a row and would still ask to take the 6th, it's just his nature. It's part of what makes the rest of his play great. At the same time though, it turned out the miss didn't actually cost us, so maybe it was handy that we settle the penalty taking order before such a time when it will cost us. Kenny made a bold choice to go the way he did. It backfired in the 2nd half because as fitness levels struggled we were unable to fall back on experience and intuition, as half of our squad hasn't even play 2 games together, so they haven't got this yet. This will affect everything, and means that whilst we solved a lot of positions this summer, solving the whole team is going to take time. Expect a big upward curve in performance levels over the season. Carroll has no understanding with Suarez yet, so they suffer. Carroll and Downing. Carroll and Adam. Adam and Downing. Downing and Enrique. Enrique and Adam. Adam and Lucas. That's only our predominantly left-sided partnerships, and is ignoring the inexperience on our right flank, but if you think that every one of those partnerships will improve to build the team, then you can expect more of the good bits from the 1st half this season. Leading on from this you should also see the days of cautious football we have been treated to since Houllier are over. It didn't work out, but Kenny is clearly going to go for the win, and lots of goals, as much as he can. Kenny will still be figuring out how to get the best out of his team, one of the problems with a relatively new manager and lots of signings. Gerrard, Aquilani, Skrtel, Johnson, Kelly, Aurelio- all players not involved who add a huge amount of depth. Aurelio was a late exit, and meant we had to throw Enrique straight in. He did a fine job, but barely even knows names yet! It was the 1st game of the season, and nearly everyone typically at the 'top' dropped points this weekend. Sergio Aguero is on £200k a week and wanted Champions League football, so stop being pathetic and comparing him to Carroll. Arsenal are proof that filling a team with 11 identical players doesn't work, and we already have Suarez. He also came on against a tiring Swansea team at home. Seriously get a grip. Carroll has huge potential and what's more will be the only player of his kind in a decade. Aguero is equivalent to several South Americans of similar style. Here is a quoute from the offical LFC Forum: "i watched a 38minute highlights clip tonight on an old video of our 1st home game of the 2002-03 season. we beat southampton 3-0, diouf got 2 and murphy a penalty.. now i know it was only southampton, but even taking dioufs 2 goals outta it, he looked a world beater!!! his movement off the ball was brilliant, his involvement and creativness with the ball was outstanding, his link up with owen was mouthwatering and all in all he looked world class!!! his flicks, his passing and again, his movement were top drawer.. he played 2 different cross field balls to murphy in the 2nd half that took about 4 southampton players outta the game on each occassion!! Aguero is good, but perspective please. Anyway, lots of reasons not to lose that positive feeling, plus if we smash Arsenal then everyone will forget the Sunderland game. Even if we don't beat Arsenal then there's no need to panic, it's a long season and we've got a quality squad now!
Good post.I think the first 45 mins showed what the team will be capable of and even then they will only get better.Carroll and Suarez have barely played together so they have a lot of work to do to create that understanding.If we are struggling after 10 games then worry but we wont be.We only won 1 of our first 8 games last year so thats not gonna happen again . As for Aquera well yes he did look very good but lets not get caught up in the media knee jerk reactions of that he's a 'world beater'.
I'm not comparing them both mate. This just all comes down to Torres and me being pissed off at him and Chelsea If they'd waited until the summer we could possibly have got Carroll for less and had money left over for someone like Aguero (theoretically). Let's not try and compare the 2 players though; Aguero will make an immediate impact, and judging on last night's performance he could clinch the title for Man City. We have to wait for Carroll, and try and get him to adapt to our play but even then it could be a full season before he's completely adjusted. If I had to make the choice in January between Carroll and Aguero, then I'd pick Aguero. When it came to the summer, that's when I'd pick Carroll. It's all the benefit of hindsight though, and I'm very happy with the transfers we've made. There is depth there, but unfortunately I think we're going to lose the most creative player in that bunch - Aquilani. He's our 2 most creative player behind Suarez and I'd love for him to stay on with us, but with his Agent working overtime we may have to resign ourselves to the fact he's going to leave.
I'm not really upset with the draw against Sunderland anyway, we played some good stuff and will improve as the season goes on.
I have to say that I was upset at drawing on Saturday. We should have put the game to bed in the first half but we let them in in the second half which was our problem last season - finishing teams off. However, the first half performance was really good and encouraging and I hope we can continue this more consistently. It's quite evident that without Suarez, we don't look threatening. It showed last season and it showed on Saturday - although I would like to put it down to the fitness levels. I think if we're going to be a real force, we need to have both Suarez and Aqua starting. These 2 are unpredictable - they can create something out of nothing and that's what we need, I'm still not convinced by Carroll, even before he joined Liverpool. He lacks basic technique, his touch, movement and control are poor and he doesn't look sharp. I don't think he is a Liverpool type player i.e. pass and move. He's a very good impact player, someone who can offer something different but I'm afraid Kenny is trying to build the team around him which will inevitably lead to long balls to him all the time.
Like scoring nine (9) goals more than anybody else in the league? Being good defensively does not necessarily make you defensive. The ethic of hard work, defending from the front and tracking back to help out that we were treated to since Houllier but before Hodgson has returned.
I agree but what I think he meant was with Houllier and especially Rafa, we would be more concerned about not losing rather than going for the win. This is a mentality that we have to shake off and I'm sure Kenny will definately more interested in gaining 3 points rather than not losing. It's the same attitude that Man Utd have adopted for decades which allows them to attack and attack until the final minute. It's not coincidence that they continually score in the last 10 mins (someway or another) and end up wining or saving the game. I always say they're lucky but deep down, they don't stop until they win.
Whilst occupying the same position on the pitch, Aguero and Carroll are two very different types of player. Aguero is probably at his peak whereas Carroll is still very raw and inexperienced. Last night Aguero had 45 minutes, at his new home against a tireing Swansea playing their first ever premiership game. It's not too far removed to compare Agueros performance with Carroll's last season against City themselves. I've been trying to think back and have come to the conclusion that Liverpool have never had a Carroll type CF since Davey Hickson and that was pre-Shankley days! (apart from the season with Tony Hately when we played with 10 men because nobody would pas to him!). None of our CFs have ever been an all out 'attack-dog'. Even when we had Toshack, he was never a bully of defences. Now Carroll, I believe, has it within his compass to develop into a Shearer type CF. Don't get fooled by the Newcastle fans who claim that we don't know how to get the best out of him - his best is still to come. Sure he will provide flicks for Suarez and on-coming midfielders but he will also be an striker in his own right. Forget about the fee we paid as it's irrelevant. He's our main striker and in that role far better than anyone we presently have at the club. It's his first real season with a new squad of players and the season is only 1 game old! Now Aguero is a good player. He will cause defences problems and is probably the striker City need. He too faces the rigour of a full premiership season plus CL football. let's see if he can stand up to the pace. I was listening to Radio 5 last night and Lorro was talking about pre-season and reminded us that the work in pre-season only really showed itself in March/April and that for the first 5/6 games Liverpool have to quote him "always been awfully slow starters". For once I tend to agree with him. We are trying to find just how our new squad can be blended and who is carrying on their form from last season. On top of that, I tend to distrust teams who 'get off to a flyer'. Chelsea did that last year and then suffered badly mid-season.
