Can I first just say that I have not read and don't intend to read any of the threads from yesterday - I can't even begin to imagine the crap that was put out there afterwards, so if I repeat anything said by others then I'll apologise now for that.
Ok, where to start!?
Let's begin with our opponents. Outstanding performance from Liverpool, not just their players but their fans too who were great company before and after the match, started the tribute to John Bond and no doubt enjoyed thoroughly their day in sunny Norfolk. They get a lot of stick from City fans on this forum but they were a credit to their club yesterday, just as their team was.
I don't like the guy because he winds me up good and proper but Suarez was described yesterday by my mate perfectly:
"Suarez - great player - why the histrionics? No need for them. He'd be hugely respected if he just played football."
To be fair he didn't really do much wrong yesterday other than feigning injury on a couple of occasions and should have had the most stonewall penalty I've ever seen so he probably doesn't deserve me bringing it up, but I think it's a worthy point to make when you see what he is capable of. He's now scored 25% of ALL his Liverpool goals at Carrow Road. Quite why the lad only seems to find his scoring touch here I don't know but he gave a second masterclass in 4 months in finishing, as did his team as a whole. 6 shots the visitors had - 5 goals. That is what I call clinical finishing!
So now to us. Well actually, no... let me just make one more point about Liverpool. Joe Allen - he was the catalyst for EVERY Liverpool move. He got his foot in early, won the ball back quickly and played it simple to the better players in the team. He was magnificent. I've sometimes watched him play and wonders what he does, but when you see him in the flesh you realise exactly how important a player like that is to a team who likes to pass the ball.
NOW we come to Norwich, and the reason I mention Allen is because we are crying out for someone similar, someone to get his foot on the ball and dictate our play. Now I'm scratching my head... who have we got on our books who can do that job? Please please please, lets see David Fox starting matches for Norwich City again. When he plays well, Norwich play well.
I don't like playing the blame game but I think it would be ridiculous to cover things up after that performance. Lets first of all exonerate John Ruddy who literally had nothing to do other than make one save from Gerrard and pick the ball out of the net five times. He had no chance with any of the goals. I'll also exonerate our three strikers who played yesterday. Jackson did pretty well first half though perhaps could have done better with a tricky volley. Not sure why he went off but Holt and Morison did ok second half and were fed scraps. However, both players had one chance a piece - both players took those chances. Morison also did well to set up the chance in the first 30 seconds which somehow both Surman and more astonishingly Snodgrass failed to convert. That would have been a goal 99 times out of 100 but just as our luck has been going so far this season, this would be the 1 time it doesn't ripple the net.
Had that chance gone in I think we'd have seen a different match. We started the 2nd period very well but that miss, combined with Liverpool's third moments later effectively ended the match as a contest. Liverpool were looking a bit shaky at the back, Reina looked very short of confidence in everything he did and I think we could have got a result. As it was, the scoreline of 2-5 was probably justified in terms of possession, quality of finishing but most importantly mistakes.
This is where it gets a bit messy.
The scene was set in the opening minute as we fell behind. Confidence knocked early on was always going to make things a lot harder for us. One thing I cannot stand is lack of effort and we saw that yesterday. Failure to close down is the most frustrting thing I see at football matches, yet Allen and Gerrard had the freedom of the centre circle to ping the ball to whoever they wanted, whenever they cared, knowing they wouldn't come under pressure. We MUST fight to win the ball back quickly. Liverpool did that, even when 5-1 up. Gerrard scampered 80 yards after losing the ball to make a last ditch tackle near his own corner flag. We need to show we can do that too - we know we can - we did it last season.
Both full backs had stinkers, absolute stinkers. Glenn Johnson completely owned Russell Martin; Garrido was dreadful positionally and in possession. Neither player have played badly this season, in fact I'd argue they've both been very good but not yesterday. Neither were helped however by our 'widemen' (if you can call them that. Snodgrass didn't track back, Surman had his worst game in a City shirt, both played far too centrally giving our opponents the freedom of the wings to run at our defence. Elliott Bennett HAS to be picked when fit. Pilkington should be in contention too but I think Bennett is far more important to our team. Had we had a deep-lying player like Fox or maybe Tettey then the full backs wouldn't have been so outnumbered but it was suicide defensively because of the shape of our team.
At centre half, we had two of the most calamitous performances of recent years. I felt a bit sorry for Barnett as he's had a good season but he needs a strong partner (ie Bassong) to help guide him. Michael Turner is not a bad defender but my god is he out of form right now. He shouldn't be anywhere near that team at the moment until he finds some confidence! Just to put things into perspective though, he reminds me of Michael Nelson's early days at the club. He looks like Bambi on ice and has a mistake in him every time the ball goes near him, therefore he plays as if the ball is a hot potato. Nelson turned his form around and I think Turner will too, but we should be playing Ryan Bennett right now. I don't believe the 2nd goal was his fault - it was Garrido who passed to him when Suarez was right behind him and obviously didn't give him a shout. True, Turner made a complete balls up after that and was hopeless for the third goal but he was put in an horrendous position for the 2nd - that certainly won't help his confidence!
In midfield, Howson is playing way, way too deep. He is an attack-minded player. I know people don't like it but we need five in midfield and one up front, preferably with one in the hole behind our frontman. We are just so easy to play against in a flat 4-4-2, unless the personnel changes to become more flexible in that formation. I would play Fox and Tettey as holding players with either Howson, Hoolahan or Butterfield (when fit) behind a striker, probably Holt. We should play with width from any two of Snodgrass, Pilks and Bennett. It will give us more depth to our midfield, more attacking options (despite only having one up top), we will keep the ball better with those players in there and we will be more sound protecting the back four. I personally think this is what Hughton has wanted to do all along but we were hit by a sucker punch at Fulham (with one up front but wrong personnel) and initially playing better with 4-4-2 and that may have clouded his judgement slightly.
Yesterday was honestly the first time I've watched us since returning to the Premier League where I genuinely thought, "yep, we're in trouble here". It is something which can be corrected quite easily but the main priority now should be getting our dented confidence back on track. The manager, players and fans all took a beating against Liverpool. Its important that people don't start getting on the players backs and certainly not on the managers back at this stage. Anybody, and I do mean anybody, who thinks Hughton should a) be sacked or b) be given three games or whatever to save his job is a ****ing imbecile. A ****ing lunatic. **** off. Apologies for the swearing but these people have absolutely no idea what they are watching and what they are talking about.
We have a lot of new players, we have a totally new management team and they are taking over from arguably our most talented manager in our history. Big shoes to fill and different styles mean that some people will never take to Hughton because 'he's not Lambert'. Well tough - he ain't coming back!! Hughton has the whole of this season. I believe he was approached because not only did he give us a great chance of staying up but he also gives us a great chance of bouncing immediately up again should the worst happen and we go down, so anybody asking for him to be dismissed or ultimatums given may as well go and support another club as far as I'm concerned - he's here for the long haul and quite right too.
He made a lot of mistakes yesterday. I believe (and called it before the game kicked off) that he'd picked the wrong formation and the wrong personnel and I also believe he made poor substitutions as well, but he is still trying to figure out the best way for the team to play and what his best formation will be. Unfortunately he hasn't got time to keep jigging about with it - he needs to figure it out pretty fast - I called 4-5-1 before the seasons started as it means round pegs in round holes. I still believe that is both the way forward and the way Hughton will move towards.
Yesterday was ****; embarrassing; painful... but get behind the lads - infighting only ever leads to one thing, and that's relegation. We aren't doomed but if fans give the impression they think they are, it will resonate around the ground and get to the players. Then we really WILL be doomed. We all knew this was going to be a difficult season - lets not make it any harder than it needs to be.
IHWT OTBC
Ok, where to start!?
Let's begin with our opponents. Outstanding performance from Liverpool, not just their players but their fans too who were great company before and after the match, started the tribute to John Bond and no doubt enjoyed thoroughly their day in sunny Norfolk. They get a lot of stick from City fans on this forum but they were a credit to their club yesterday, just as their team was.
I don't like the guy because he winds me up good and proper but Suarez was described yesterday by my mate perfectly:
"Suarez - great player - why the histrionics? No need for them. He'd be hugely respected if he just played football."
To be fair he didn't really do much wrong yesterday other than feigning injury on a couple of occasions and should have had the most stonewall penalty I've ever seen so he probably doesn't deserve me bringing it up, but I think it's a worthy point to make when you see what he is capable of. He's now scored 25% of ALL his Liverpool goals at Carrow Road. Quite why the lad only seems to find his scoring touch here I don't know but he gave a second masterclass in 4 months in finishing, as did his team as a whole. 6 shots the visitors had - 5 goals. That is what I call clinical finishing!
So now to us. Well actually, no... let me just make one more point about Liverpool. Joe Allen - he was the catalyst for EVERY Liverpool move. He got his foot in early, won the ball back quickly and played it simple to the better players in the team. He was magnificent. I've sometimes watched him play and wonders what he does, but when you see him in the flesh you realise exactly how important a player like that is to a team who likes to pass the ball.
NOW we come to Norwich, and the reason I mention Allen is because we are crying out for someone similar, someone to get his foot on the ball and dictate our play. Now I'm scratching my head... who have we got on our books who can do that job? Please please please, lets see David Fox starting matches for Norwich City again. When he plays well, Norwich play well.
I don't like playing the blame game but I think it would be ridiculous to cover things up after that performance. Lets first of all exonerate John Ruddy who literally had nothing to do other than make one save from Gerrard and pick the ball out of the net five times. He had no chance with any of the goals. I'll also exonerate our three strikers who played yesterday. Jackson did pretty well first half though perhaps could have done better with a tricky volley. Not sure why he went off but Holt and Morison did ok second half and were fed scraps. However, both players had one chance a piece - both players took those chances. Morison also did well to set up the chance in the first 30 seconds which somehow both Surman and more astonishingly Snodgrass failed to convert. That would have been a goal 99 times out of 100 but just as our luck has been going so far this season, this would be the 1 time it doesn't ripple the net.
Had that chance gone in I think we'd have seen a different match. We started the 2nd period very well but that miss, combined with Liverpool's third moments later effectively ended the match as a contest. Liverpool were looking a bit shaky at the back, Reina looked very short of confidence in everything he did and I think we could have got a result. As it was, the scoreline of 2-5 was probably justified in terms of possession, quality of finishing but most importantly mistakes.
This is where it gets a bit messy.
The scene was set in the opening minute as we fell behind. Confidence knocked early on was always going to make things a lot harder for us. One thing I cannot stand is lack of effort and we saw that yesterday. Failure to close down is the most frustrting thing I see at football matches, yet Allen and Gerrard had the freedom of the centre circle to ping the ball to whoever they wanted, whenever they cared, knowing they wouldn't come under pressure. We MUST fight to win the ball back quickly. Liverpool did that, even when 5-1 up. Gerrard scampered 80 yards after losing the ball to make a last ditch tackle near his own corner flag. We need to show we can do that too - we know we can - we did it last season.
Both full backs had stinkers, absolute stinkers. Glenn Johnson completely owned Russell Martin; Garrido was dreadful positionally and in possession. Neither player have played badly this season, in fact I'd argue they've both been very good but not yesterday. Neither were helped however by our 'widemen' (if you can call them that. Snodgrass didn't track back, Surman had his worst game in a City shirt, both played far too centrally giving our opponents the freedom of the wings to run at our defence. Elliott Bennett HAS to be picked when fit. Pilkington should be in contention too but I think Bennett is far more important to our team. Had we had a deep-lying player like Fox or maybe Tettey then the full backs wouldn't have been so outnumbered but it was suicide defensively because of the shape of our team.
At centre half, we had two of the most calamitous performances of recent years. I felt a bit sorry for Barnett as he's had a good season but he needs a strong partner (ie Bassong) to help guide him. Michael Turner is not a bad defender but my god is he out of form right now. He shouldn't be anywhere near that team at the moment until he finds some confidence! Just to put things into perspective though, he reminds me of Michael Nelson's early days at the club. He looks like Bambi on ice and has a mistake in him every time the ball goes near him, therefore he plays as if the ball is a hot potato. Nelson turned his form around and I think Turner will too, but we should be playing Ryan Bennett right now. I don't believe the 2nd goal was his fault - it was Garrido who passed to him when Suarez was right behind him and obviously didn't give him a shout. True, Turner made a complete balls up after that and was hopeless for the third goal but he was put in an horrendous position for the 2nd - that certainly won't help his confidence!
In midfield, Howson is playing way, way too deep. He is an attack-minded player. I know people don't like it but we need five in midfield and one up front, preferably with one in the hole behind our frontman. We are just so easy to play against in a flat 4-4-2, unless the personnel changes to become more flexible in that formation. I would play Fox and Tettey as holding players with either Howson, Hoolahan or Butterfield (when fit) behind a striker, probably Holt. We should play with width from any two of Snodgrass, Pilks and Bennett. It will give us more depth to our midfield, more attacking options (despite only having one up top), we will keep the ball better with those players in there and we will be more sound protecting the back four. I personally think this is what Hughton has wanted to do all along but we were hit by a sucker punch at Fulham (with one up front but wrong personnel) and initially playing better with 4-4-2 and that may have clouded his judgement slightly.
Yesterday was honestly the first time I've watched us since returning to the Premier League where I genuinely thought, "yep, we're in trouble here". It is something which can be corrected quite easily but the main priority now should be getting our dented confidence back on track. The manager, players and fans all took a beating against Liverpool. Its important that people don't start getting on the players backs and certainly not on the managers back at this stage. Anybody, and I do mean anybody, who thinks Hughton should a) be sacked or b) be given three games or whatever to save his job is a ****ing imbecile. A ****ing lunatic. **** off. Apologies for the swearing but these people have absolutely no idea what they are watching and what they are talking about.
We have a lot of new players, we have a totally new management team and they are taking over from arguably our most talented manager in our history. Big shoes to fill and different styles mean that some people will never take to Hughton because 'he's not Lambert'. Well tough - he ain't coming back!! Hughton has the whole of this season. I believe he was approached because not only did he give us a great chance of staying up but he also gives us a great chance of bouncing immediately up again should the worst happen and we go down, so anybody asking for him to be dismissed or ultimatums given may as well go and support another club as far as I'm concerned - he's here for the long haul and quite right too.
He made a lot of mistakes yesterday. I believe (and called it before the game kicked off) that he'd picked the wrong formation and the wrong personnel and I also believe he made poor substitutions as well, but he is still trying to figure out the best way for the team to play and what his best formation will be. Unfortunately he hasn't got time to keep jigging about with it - he needs to figure it out pretty fast - I called 4-5-1 before the seasons started as it means round pegs in round holes. I still believe that is both the way forward and the way Hughton will move towards.
Yesterday was ****; embarrassing; painful... but get behind the lads - infighting only ever leads to one thing, and that's relegation. We aren't doomed but if fans give the impression they think they are, it will resonate around the ground and get to the players. Then we really WILL be doomed. We all knew this was going to be a difficult season - lets not make it any harder than it needs to be.
IHWT OTBC
