Well here we are, I'd said last firday my thoughts on the game and amazingly i got kenny's team near enough exactly right. I foolishly beleived RHC who was high as a kite thinking johnson would be fit.. some oracle you are RHC... Kenny played exactly the team i wanted and it paid off... oh i don't doubt that some would go hang on were lost but hey **** happens. We simply outplayed arsenal and good on them some of thier players and manager admitted just that. Our 4-5-1 paid dividends as our midfield simply blew them away and to be frank we were useless in front of goal.. thats all, same as we have been all year and we can't eexpect miracles. Everyone single on of our players played well on the day, nobody had a shocker and i had to be at paine explaining to one of my mates who was whining on about carroll and bellamy that when a team is playing WELL and creating chances you don't just sub on a couple of guys for the sake of it. In fact had downing played a good pass rather than an overhit back pass to thier keeper squarez would have tapped in the winner.. those are the breaks. Had kuyt not stood so straight on as to telegraph exactly where he was hitting that pen or had hit the rebound into the roof of the net we'd also have won. Other wise we dominated possession, played really well, had a ever entertaining display and have to give credit to the best forward i nthe english prem in RVP. I still say carrgher ought to have marked properly for that first goal as he was with rvp but xchose the foul not the aerial contest... bar that we were really never in bother. In short if you play well and just see luck go the other sides way well fair enough. Its an awful lot better than losing cos you didn't play well or didn't work hard. We did our best, fell short for reasons we all know and so the development must continue in the summer. May i just remind everyone how long city took to get 4th? we're doing ok with a pot in the cabinet and another one to play for. This is why this monday i'm not at all upset but the result.
100% Agree MITO - great performance by the boys. In football, as in life you don't always get what you deserve.
Very fair summary mito,agree with all of that. Frustrating to lose the game when even a draw would have felt unjust,but with it being such an important game re. top 4 it makes it even harder to digest. With Chelsea getting beat we could have been looking at a totally different picture,never mind,we move on.
I know, my mate is really thick about it. he's jsut fuming so roll on the next game before he does his nut in over it. sometimes when a player like rvp gets one snifffhe'll punish you and he got two good goals but arsenal didn't do anything. we took no chances while hitting posts, corssbar, playing poor final balls etc etc.. all in all we know what we need and really our guys need to learn how to take pens properly. kuyt's technique telegraphed his intent. needs to stand much more side on and put it in the top 1/3 of the net where no keeper in the world can get to it.
I agree with MITO. But it goes far, far further than that. Perhaps now is a good time to reflect honestly on what has been achieved in so short a period of time. Less than 2 years ago, the whole club was going down the drain at a rate of knots. If Sir Martin Broughton (despite being a Chelsea supporter) had not laid his professional career on the line we may not even have a club to support. Personally I don't think that we (as fans) have ever given him the thanks that he is truly due. Whilst I dearly love Rafa Benitez both as a man and a manager, it does have to be said that, in the later stages we were playing some dire football. If you wanted to watch exciting football, Anfield was not the place to go. That lack of passion reached its zenith under the 'safe pair of hands' Voy. Now we are one of the most exciting teams to watch in the Prem (no matter what side we put on the pitch). Our new owners have committed themselves to taking us back where we, as a club, belong. They have invested and promised to continue to do so. They have promised to either re-furbish or build a new ground. As importantly they are going about this mission in a professional way. In all of their statements and actions they have shown that they are not looking for over night success. They are aware that there is a timetable for success. We have already won a trophy. We are in the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup. Whilst 4th spot is no longer in our hands it is still not impossible. When you look back and see us languishing near the bottom of the Prem such heights looked almost impossible. We know that we have hit the woodwork 'n' times, have missed 'y' penalties. It's maddeningly frustrating but there's little that we can do about that for the rest of the season. So let's hope for a change of good fortune and enjoy the creativity and excitement we do create. If other clubs were not concerned about our progress then we wouldn't have the WUM attacks on this board that we do. That's annoying too but it only shows that they are truly worried about our improvement. Notice just how condescending the Manc posters have become of recent weeks? So look back just a little while and rejoice as to how far we have come and how great the possibilities are for us. We know that there is still a long way to go but as Mao said, "every journey begins with the first step" - well, I think we've taken one giant leap and club amd squad are ready to take the next.
Absolutely spot on. Too many 'fans' with short memories on here, though most do understand what is happening, and what is likely to happen. Ignore the jibes from 'fans' of other clubs, sit back and try to enjoy the ride (I know it's difficult after results like saturdays'), it won't always be smooth, it will have it's ups and downs, but we'll get there in the end.
I see what you mean Gaf71 Agree ...in part. The lack of a good finisher was clear for all to see. If we are serious about making progress then what's been happening at Anfield is simply not good enough. We should have got a goal 'getter' in the window. It is clear that Carroll (for all his improvement) is not the solution. We all love Kenny but if something is not right we should say it.
I agree. But we didn't, so we just carry on supporting what we've got, because nothing will change before next season.
Not at the moment, I agree, but he definitely has the potential to be the solution in the future. It's up to him if he wants to do it.
As an Arsenal fan, I say we were lucky and were it not for poor finishing/great goalkeeping you would have won. Arsenal fans have seen this so many times over the last few years go against us, but we know that other performances like that will cost us. I think LFC under KD are going in the right direction. All they lack is goals, but crucially they always look like scoring. Come the summer, you'll probably address that shortcoming in the market place and be stronger. I get the feeling that LFC have a lot of fans from the city who are steeped in the tradition and love of the club and what it measn to the community, and you have an increasing nunber of fans from afar who maybe do not share this same communal spirit and are somewhat detached from the true roots of your club. I get the feeling that it is the latter griuop who are less enamoured with what Dalglish has done, whereas the true Scousers would rather give him a chance.
Of course. We will support the team as it is. But it is so frustrating to see that we are persisting with the wrong selections on so many occasions. What was the point of putting Bellamy on for only a few minutes? He should have come in much much earlier? Why put Suarez on his own at the front when it was a must win game for us? I am afraid we will go on a series of 'if only' and near misses if we do not take remedial action.
This ^ Man thanks for an objective viewpoint. I was left with my mouth hanging open on Saturday after the match. I just couldn't believe we'd been beaten. You have to do everything in your power to hang on to RvP. He's a very special player, and he's remained fit, which has been a problem in the past. As I said in another post, if we'd had him on our team, I reckon we'd have been top now. That second goal on Saturday was quite unbelievable. Contender for goal of the season
Therein lies the difference I believe. You think we need remedial action, I think we should let them get on with the long term job. Suarez on his own? Would we have dominated midfield and created so many chances with a man less in there? Bellamy on too late? Maybe, but why change a side that was still creating a lot of chances? I'm not having a go, just saying there are other points of view and opinions that need considering.
I agree with you. I do moan about things such as substitutions and selections but ultimately, it is Kenny's job and he is doing very well IMO. As for the comments regarding Bellamy coming on too late, we were battering Arsenal so why change it...?
Thanks TenG for that considered response. I do know what you mean about the frustration and I hope that we can do something about it. There will be plenty of talent on show at the Euros and I hope that we will be able to identify some quality talent to add to our squad. The media and fans will bay for the purchase of mature high-priced players. I think that we have to take a leaf from the Wenger book - anybody over 25/6 is too old for the long term development of the club.
Good post. I think a lot of the time it's just an instinctive reaction to a defeat we could hardly believe happened. Also, we've been off the top for a long time and so any sign of improvement can make a lot of us impatient for immediate success. We have to give things time to work- I'd hate us to be like Chelsea and change every five minutes if success isn't instant. You need to keep RVP locked up and only let him out on match days. If we'd had him in our team I'm certain we'd be top three now.
I'll say it again... dowing was playing very well and so was kuyt.. we were dominating, creating chances... why stick on bellamy just because? Football managers don't just shove someone on, i think kenny subeed downing late on as he played midweek and was getting tired. I don't get this thing that bellmay at 33 is the worlds greatest and downing is dirt becuase he's downing. He's played wwell the last 3 games i think. For me fair play to the arsenal fans cos i enjoyed the game a lot and thier team did thier best. they must be so depressed about thier side really, 4th looks on again but where's their progress.... AND WE THINK AFTER LESS THAN 18 MONTHS WE CAN JUST TAkE IT???? I would almost agree with TenG... I get the feeling especially of my mate whos too yonug (relative term) to rememebr kenny either play or manage us) and he's going mad over kenny not putting on players, I am of the opinion rather that we'll buy who we WANT, WHEN AND ONLY WHEN they are available. I'd rather go without another carroll now that have bought another millstone in january. We have a squad, they missed a heap of chances... lets imporve in the summer on that. the one and only thing that vexes me is when a team puts in a couldn't care less performance ala bolton game.
