I counted at least three when a simple, side-footed turn and pass would suffice but instead he tried to Cruyff himself, never mind the opponents, and the move broke down. Here's the difference - Kenny was the master of flick or glance (as was cantona, it should be admitted) but only if they needed to, or if they were four -up. I'm sure if he took our penalties he'd try to backheel them in whilst fooling nobody that he was trying a pass to the corner flag.
I gave Benteskey some **** last week for his control (or lack of) but at least he's trying to do the right thing when the ball pings ten yards off his foot. I rarely see Lallana and think "He's not put a foot wrong" (not even for twenty minutes). Lala just lives in cloud cuckoo land, floating around with the fairies, putting Nivea scented flowers in his hair and eating stardust for breakfast. #scapegoatfortheweek
There were a few times when Clyne or Firmino got beyond him and ran into space out wide but he either didn't want to play it or just didn't see it. The issue is that he's 27/28. He's not going to improve IMO. This should be his prime but his limitation is something that is very difficult to coach at such an age. Against Newcastle, he got the ball, turned and played a great through ball to Sturridge. He played on instinct. That is something our players are struggling to do at the moment - Firmino is such a great first touch player but it's deserted him at the moment. Ibe dwells on the ball as well. And Coutinho just doesn't trust anyone so he'll hang onto the ball longer than he should. We have some good options in the final third but it needs refining.
Hendo wasn't great. He did ping some good balls at times but overall, he was poor. Having said that, he's still rusty from injury I hope to God that Klopp strengthens the midfield in January. Possibly our weakest area.
Though Hendo was doing his best Gerrard impression yesterday, the long balls were good. But I thought he got alittle lost especially in the 2nd half and kept getting stuck on the right side of midfield. But its hard to find fault as he didn't do much wrong and he is coming off a long injury.
He is very lightweight I agree. And defensively all he does is run around like a headless chicken. The fancy dribbling I was referring to was the occasional Cryuff turn. He tended to do them for Saints when he should have be hitting an early cross to Lambert, or in pointless areas, for Southampton. Seemed to be a thing kids, or people that I consider to know very little about football (which I'm afraid to say is most Saints fans), liked to see. The same people like to see a player run around like a headless chicken, which just creates huge gaps in the midfield for the opposition to exploit if the whole team isn't wildly pressing too for the whole 90. I do think his first touch and control of the ball was decent for Saints, but that was it to be honest. He used to annoy me with the amount of times he lost the ball cheaply, his poor decision making, his poor end product. A very average player imo.
His first touch and ball control is excellent imo but he holds on to it too long resulting in either losing possession or retreating.
Was about to post no way mate have you looked at our defence then i thought about it and thought you might have a point then i thought about how ****e we are up front and thought maybe i have a point then i thought about the whole team and thought **** it there is no point it's all weak as fook so here i am posting from the afterlife it's nice here Lallana has his own range of skin care products that they've bought in (the Nivea thing is just to fund that he's actually a very savvy businessman) and Sturridge can walk again
Ha well, it's a bit sad that we're debating which area is worse! Both have very good cases. For me, our issues stem from the midfield. It provides neither the protection to the defence nor the drive to the attackers. For me, Can is the only one who has a long term future as a starter and even then, he's only 21 and we can't be relying on him. Henderson is capable of a few good passes every now and again and make some great off the ball runs. But on the ball, he's lacks composure and consistency. He can't carry the ball either. And Lucas is slow, unable to cover the ground, quite weak and is a poor tackler. In January/summer, I'm hoping we bring in a GK, CB and midfielder. Crucial positions for us which have been neglected for years. This team is built on a foundation made of sand. Not enough characters or big personalities in this team. Too many choirboys.
We don't seem to play the ball on floor in our own half very often nowadays. A small amount of pressure see's our players boot it up field rather than attempting to play our way out. I realise this is changing from the Brod way to Klopp's vision but I didn't expect playing it out to go completely. Reason I mention this in response to your comment is because I believe its the midfield. All our central midfielders are very similar, they can all run endlessly and they are all able to defend, pass or attack to varying degrees, but we don't have any specialists for these in the squad. There isn't a Mascherano, Alonso or Gerrard (obviously, not expected that level of quality, just examples) in the squad. There are lots of Biscans!
Fair point. Can and Henderson are box to box. Lucas isn't good enough in any role. Milner isn't a CM. As you say, we need specialists.
