Morning chaps! Anyone else nearly die watching us last night? Even if you're not English it must of been tough! Having said that it was good from a Liverpool point of view with Johnson and Carroll bossing it and Gerrard striking up a good connection with Carroll which we looked for all season. Here are my ratings, what do you think? Hart - 7/10 - Solid, couldn't have done much more. Turned out to be an excellent keeper. Cole - 5/10 - Left us exposed a few times and not being part of the wall probably would of prevented their second goal, although this is perhaps not his fault and something I hope the coaches correct. He pushed far too far forward to help Young and got caught a few times. We need to be careful there and he needs to be more aware. Terry - 6/10 - Excellent in the first half. Stopped everything they threw at us and recovered well from Ibra's strength with some great tackles. Second half slacked off and lost his positioning with Lescott contributing to their two goals. Lescott - 5.5/10 - As above without the first half display. I think a game or two more with Terry will help iron out the positional issues. Johnson - 8/10 - Well what can you say? His best game in an England shirt and better than any games I've seen him in for Liverpool. Some great last ditch tackles and was unfortunate for their goal. Was really impressed despite was the media say. Parker - 6/10 - Not as effective as usual. The amount of times the Swedes bombed at us and nobody stopped them was unbelievable. Our midfield did not close them down very well at all. Although he did make some good challenges and got a few elbows for his troubles, he was overrun quite a few times as they simply passed round a static midfield of him and Gerrard. Gerrard - 6.5 - Now I may be unpopular for this! But I didn't think he was that great despite what the media have to say. Yes the cross was excellent and he threaded a couple of balls around, however, England and thus us, have a massive problem when he plays in the heart of midfield. He simply doesn't have the legs anymore. He left us very exposed in the second half as he didn't track them down, standing off, and letting them pass round him. The amount of times I watched him semi jog about not closing them down as the Swedes got closer and closer to goal was really worrying, and was similar for us this year without Lucas. He leaves the back four exposed and under pressure. I think Gerrard has to play behind one striker so he can concentrate on going forward and not tracking back and defending. It's putting him under a lot of strain. Young - 4 - I defended him last night because he is a good player and I do think he will play a role in future games. We must not bin players after one bad game - I think the anti-Manc part of us stated he is a **** player last night. He isn't, but last night he tried his best to be! Poor crossing, shrugged off the ball far too easily which often set the Swedes on the counter, leaving us short on the left. Had a mare. Milner - 6 - Started well with some decent crosses but got gradually worse untill he was taken off. Strange player. Can't be that bad otherwise City wouldn't play/keep him. Carroll - 8 - Was delighted when he scored that bullet header! He was very good winning almost all his headers and tracked backed to win quite a few challenges. Great signs for us next season. Would of given him 8.5 had he not given away the foul for their goal. But we'll forgive him! Welbeck - 8 - To be fair he's better than I thought. He never gave up pressuring the defenders after Carroll won the aerial battle and popped up with the goal. Can't ask for much more. Great finish! Walcott - 7.5 - Wasn't on for long but picked the team up off the floor. Gives us pace which we so lack. Good goal and good assist. Job done. A supersub when teams are tired. Hodgson - 8 - Great decision in starting Carroll with Welbeck and made the change with Walcott bang on the correct time. Seems much better suited to internationals. What do you think?
Something funny? Johnson wasn't great but Ashley Cole was ****ing ****. If he's the "best left back in the world" then he should know not to let the ball bounce but he did and didn't that lead to one of their goals?
Although I agree in principle, you are taking the assumption that others won't make a mistake and Johnson won't need to cover for them
QPR fan here. Re. Ashley Cole. He is the best left back in the world IMO. The problem, as mentioned in the original post was a lack of balance down that left hand side. As with many a modern full back - Johnson included - he's better at going forward than defending. Johnson had the solid old Milner to help - Cole didn't. Reading what's been said about Gerrard re legs - here's a solution to both maybe. Go to 4 2 3 1. Gerrard sitting with Parker letting 3 of Rooney, Young, Walcott, Oxlaide free to attack. 1 up top either Wellbeck or Carroll. (Or Jones sitting and letting Gerrard free - especially if Carroll is lone striker.) Just my tuppence.
I think the vast majority would agree with you. However, Woy is in charge and he prominently prefers 442 or 4411
IMO Hart 7 Cole 5 Terry 6.5 Lescott 6 Johnson 7.5 Young 4.5 Gerrard 7 Parker 6 Milner 5.5 Carroll 8 Welbeck 8 Walcott 8
Milner was worse the Young. Milner is the most useless midfielder i have ever seen, never seen him have a good game.
Cole wasn't anywhere near as bad as Johnson. I quoted them both because everything that was said for Cole could have been said for Johnson. Johnson was at fault for both goals and was absolutely dire the entire game bar one good interception.
You're entitled to your opinion, but you're in the minority, I'm afraid. Most fans and pundits are in agreement that Glen was our best defender last night. I think the only really disappointing performance was by Young. The rest played satisfactory or better. I mostly agree with B4F's scores.
Hart - 7 johnson - 5 terry - 5 lescott - 7 cole - 6 milner - 3 gerrard - 7 parker - 7 young - 2 carroll - 8 welbeck - 7 wlacott - 8 oxlaide-chamberlain - n/a
How was he responsible for both the goals ya daft twat surely not another poor WUM named after B.Arfa
