So here we are, languishing in upper mid table. Stuck on 39 points with 11 games to go. Is it really that surprising given the changes at the club, the new owners the new players, a lot of them, the distractions. Reina looked distracted yesterday, on both goals he just stood on his line when he definately should have advanced on RvP, he looked disapointed himself. So Reina is not having his best season either. The missed chances the bad luck in front of goal. You know what With all of that I am surprised it is still possible to actually still get 4th however remote the chance. We've have played well this season so many times and not got rewarded, we've played not too great and got the points also. We have outplayed or beaten all of the teams above us, though the points don't reflect that. The plan and players bought plus the management of Kenny has produced great results at such an early stage, because lets face the fact that the finishing has kept us from absolutely being 3rd. The plan, the management have given us football that should have won 7 of our home draws and won our lost one if we had been ruthless with chances lke teams like City and United,and RvP of course. Just a couple of results with better finishing Liverpool v United 3 1 Man City 3 1 Spurs 3 1 Arsenal 6 2 or more Football that produced chances to take 12 points from those games, we got 3 points. There is fk all Kenny can do once the player has got the ball in the 18 yard area, it's up to him to do it, Kenny has done his job, the team are creating, there have been plenty of chances, the team are fairly stingy at the back too though Pepe has cost us a few points this season unusually. I thought yesterday we were not even close to 100% yet we opened up the opposition again and again. Funny how Downing looks far better when there are actually some of our players in the box. When you look at the stats, chances created it is amazing we're +5 goal difference. Yes we see faults of players at times when we need a goal, like adam's run to beat two players but if the others had tucked in those earlier chances would we care as much then? also maybe Charlie was sick of watching others fail over and over to convert.. and if he had got through and scored we'd all be saying the opposite, great run great goal So all in all I tihnk there is far too much positive things, like the fact we can actually go toe to toe with all the teams given the ball of clay the team is right now. YNWA please log in to view this image
Its just frustrating mate that's all. You're sentiments are spot on but one league win this year and wasting a multitude of simple chances is always going to lead to people venting their frustrations. Granted things could be much worse but when the answer to our problems was SO obvious before the transfer window (lack of a goalscorer) why on gods earth didn't we try and bring in one single player who could have won the sort of games you listed above? Just seems like yet another wasted opportunity on the clubs part.
You shouldn't stick up for Adam, if we had been up by a couple no I don't think it would have mattered as much but the fact is it was a pinacle moment of the game and he ****ed up like he always does. He is useless, he gets a couple of lucky deflected goals this season and one good game vs Chelsea and he still manages to play 98 mins in a very important match. The games that have cost us are the Stokes, Boltons, Blackburns etc. Would just like to see us finally win 3 PL games in a row between now and the end of the season...and I'll be happy.
We play a bit like I do on FIFA, with the new defending thing they have. Knock on the door all game, then they go up the other end and score.
I don't give any validity to lack of a goal scorer, I would have put 2 of those chances away, 3 if you count the pen, 4 if you count the follow up to the pen. Plus, players not scoring we're previously scoring, Suarez was scoring plenty before he came and was scoring when he arrived, he just got an 8 game ban over with and has not looked 100% since coming back. Kuyt usually finishes better than he has this year. Carroll's had his woes but is on the up, Dowing's got a shooting foot like a golf club, stick to supply my friend. With our current roster we should have taken far more chances than we have. I reckon we should be 35 GD
In that game yes. But just by watching Adam you can see he is not good enough. It's like he has won a competition to play for a PL team.
It was a classic sucker punch, I mean, we didnt even score at all!?! Even Nando would have got one yesterday
He needs to find his groove. Lucas was in a similar situation a couple of years ago. Adam needs to keep to what he is good at, getting us turned and on the attack quickly, not be behind the front two running with the ball, he's an anchor and Kenny should be forcing him to hold and be always available to take the ball and keep it moving Xavi style. Gerrard can do the other stuff further up the pitch. Adam has his uses and if you make his keep to them it can work./
At the same stage of his career Adam was struggling to get in the Rangers squad. I'll give him credit where it's due...As Lucas did Adam has come a long way since then to reach this level.
Adam has the skill, he can work on tactical movement, vision will come with playing with the team and learning everyone's movement patterns. Time exactly same for Lucas, he used to give the ball away a lot, now he's a hungry cnut Adam will become more confident, a big big move for him tbh. Henderson too but he looks a cocky lad, he'll improve more no doubt, he was bought for years not this year
Yeah I like the look of Hendo, had a poor game vs Cardiff. A lot of people will judge him on that but as he proved against City and yesterday he will prosper. I hope you are right about Adam, can't help but feel he could be a benchwarmer next season. But that would hopefully mean we have bought some improvements in the summer.
The fact remains we aren't failing to create chances we are failing to convert them. We haven't had a twenty plus a season frontman for over a decade now (in the league) and I ask myself why a 35million pound frontman can't get on until the 88th minute. My opinion is we absolutely do need a top class poacher.
Hang on! You say we should be 35GD yet you do not give validity to a lack of a goal scorer. Isn't the case that we should be converting more of he chances being created? I.e we should have a goal scorer? Suarez and Carroll have been poor in front of goal. We do need someone who can just poach/nick goals for us.
Adam made a bad decision not to pass to Henderson, but he still has the most assists out of all our players this season. I don't see how yesterday can be his fault unless you're expecting us to have 70% of possession and create 10 clear cut chances. We created the chances, several different players missed them. This suggests to me that we need someone who scores a lot of goals alongside Suarez, which would (hopefully) take the pressure off the others and get the ball rolling. They say strikers need a goal to get their confidence back and then they start flowing, well i think that's the case with our whole team. When we start getting the goals we deserve then there will be a certain confidence that if we play a certain way we will score. At the moment there's no way the players have that confidence and conviction. It's chicken and egg, and unfortunately i'm not sure we can solve the problem til the summer.
I am saying the players are capable of converting the chances they had, any other year and more would have been taken with more points on the board. Kuyt should have 10 more than he does, Suares too, they are below par is what I am saying
If your finishing is poor you work on it, you cant account for Kelly and a miss like that, Suarez keps hitting the post, he needs to work on getting side it. Carroll likees to head against the bar, he needs to work on that. There are far more goals in this team, this year has been whackey in that respect with keepers and goal frames
I think this is very sensible and has been the view i've stood by. Things were never going to be perfect this year, and i'd much rather our overall play was good but we were dropping points due to a combination of poor finishing and bad luck, than scraping wins where we finish all our chances and get a good amount of luck. The potential is there, there's just a few nuts and bolts that need tightening!
Bit harsh to blame Reina for both goals. I thought he had a decent game. He had no chance with the first one - that is what you call a perfect cross. On edge of 6 yard box between keeper and defender. If anything it was Carragher letting RVP get infront of him. The 2nd one was a great pass - the only thing you could say was he maybe should have had his front post covered but what a save from Wallcott before that. Apart from that he came and punched well at corners and did the easy stuff well. I'd much rather be playing well creating chances and not winning then being dominated and nicking the odd 1-0 against the run of play. It's much easier to correct that by signing a proven goal scorer rather than changing the whole style you play.
