No mate I was armchair all the way yesterday (too old to be coping with the Brittania frostbite these days). In fairness mate the self styled experts you get in the pub are no worse than some of the ones you get at the game. When I sit in the paddock there's a guy a few rows back who never stops moaning and who needs a trip to specsavers even more than Arsene It is, I have to admit becoming an issue with Gerrard that BR seems to be having to shoehorn him in sometimes. As I said I think he's far more effective as a footballer when he's further up but he just can't do that hassling role as well as the younger lads and I think that's vital to Rodgers system now. If you watch the way Suarez, Sturridge, Sterling (to a lesser extent) and Coutinho play off the ball they take so much of their positioning from the pressure put on the opposition. When our midfield aren't closing down quick enough the front line becomes almost static, with Hendo up there the forwards are always backing up, covering another man or moving into space anticipating us winning the ball early. As much as I love Lucas I have to say I'd be interested to see how we worked with a triangle of Gerrard deep and Allen (or someone better) further up with Hendo doing the leg work in front. As we've both said before part of Gerrard's problem has always been his adaptability (as in he has always been moved around a lot and is constantly being asked to change roles). Maybe the deeper role is the only one left he can truly be of use in when we play the 3 man midfield the way we do. Can he be better than Lucas there? I don't know but I'm convinced BR will start him every game when he's fit so I guess we will find out over the next 5 months. What I don't like (personally) is Gerrard playing deeper at the side of another deep midfielder. I think Lucas especially loses that positional awareness he's built up straight away....it just becomes visible that neither knows exactly where they should be although I guess that sort of thing could be developed and worked upon on the training ground but I'm not convinced. As for others being in awe of him I think that may be true but really I'd say that's for the likes of Hendo/Coutinho/Sterling to get over rather than just saying "let's drop Gerrard". Maybe we need to reintroduce the phrase "man up" to the Anfield vocab Hendo has started every single league game this season (and only actually been subbed off once) so why should he feel in awe anymore? I'd say his place is as secure as anyones bar Ming and Suarez (and in reality the skipper too).
There is a difference tween the two. Traore wasn't half bad when on his game... he just made lots of bone-headed mistakes and let us down when needed to step up. Cissokho is just plain not up for it.
Sorry... did I delete the wrong quote header... I'll go back and look. Fixed. . It was Gerrez who said he'd pick Traore... not sure who to correctly attribute the pencil comment to... probably Zingy.
Traore started out bad but his time with Rafa improved him. He wasn't nearly as bad by the time Rafa had finished with him than when we first got him. Still wasn't good enough for us... but he wasn't as horrendous. Traore's reputation as worst man in the squad stuck with him long after he really deserved it.
Interesting points... I can accept some as a different opinion and some I agree on, but Cissokho 'solid and Hendo clueless with the ball? Cissokho's been our second worst performer (after Johnson) and some of Henderson's passing the last few weeks (without Gerrard to take the ball) was sublime, spraying it left right centre and some quality through balls to Suarez or Sterling.
I said Cissokho was solid enough, not outright solid. He worries me less than others do. I was going to point out that Traore has a Champion's League winners medal, but saint beat me to it ;-) I have two problems with glue factory Stevie, 1. his aim has deserted him, every ball is long, or short, or too low, or too high. I dread it when he goes to waste, I mean take a corner. 2. along with the other chuckle brother Hendo, he is more guilty than most of the passing it straight back to the player that has just past it to him. If Hendo was to pass it to him, they would enter this infinite loop of "To me...to you...to me..." until either Stevie sprayed it 60 yards into row Z, or Hendo had it taken off his toe by a sloth, while he stands there wondering why the sky is blue. I don't expect better from hendo, but it is a crying shame that Stevie appears to have lost his mojo. If I knew he was going to be this bad this year, I'd have sold him to Chavski in the summer. Yes Hendo does has his moments, but they are usually one a match, as I said, for a couple of weeks after Stevie was crocked, I felt Hendo and Allen were a revelation, but it just never lasted. We met teams better than Hull and Cardiff, and the dream was over.
