As the spare CB I agree. That role has less responsibility in a positioning and marking sense, it allows that player to attack the ball knowing the other two are holding position. This is perfect for Skrtel. Would have been for Soto too. However, if we were to switch back to a four then he would be the one to miss out first IMO. As I keep saying, I know he is a good player but I think he lacks the mentality. His concentration drops and he gets rushes of blood to the head. Sakho is similar but he has acceleration, pace and gangly legs that help him recover. Plus he is young and will improve. PS...I know you was attempting to wum me, just thought I'd answer anyway
Sakho has been a beast so far so I'd personally go with him still. Can't wait for Coutinho to come back, we don't have to go back to 433, I just want to go back to 4 at the back. I think Sturridge and Suarez up top will work when Coutinho is back.
Newcastle fan in peace I live in Liverpool and was listening to the match with a few Liverpool fans. We are unpredictable this season (which is better than last season when we were consistently terrible) and up until we scored I think Liverpool were shading the game but after Cabaye got the first it seemed that we wrestled control of the match and I was hoping we got a second before half-time to let me calm a touch. Obviously the sending off and red card changed the game. I think it was unlucky for Mbiwa not because he didn't deserve the red card or it wasn't a penalty because both seem to be the correct decision but because he had good reason to think it was off-side. It wasn't offside as Tiote was playing Suarez on after having been down 'injured' but that caught Mbiwa out and the defender was then left with a decision to make and made the wrong one. At that point I would have snatched your arm off for a draw, to concede an equalizer on the stroke of half-time is always deflating, to do it with a man sent off was likely to be a killer. Second half Liverpool were understandably on top (I would expect if we had a man advantage we would have been likewise) but rarely threatened like you should have. What surprised me most was that when Newcastle scored to go 2-1 up I was shocked but the Liverpool fans I was with just shrugged and said you guys have been awful in the second halves this season. Given that you were top of the league I expected them to have higher expectations of the team. In the end the draw seemed a fair result, one which neither team is particularly happy with but both can take something from. You guys came from behind twice to take a point away from home whilst we had a man down for most of the game. I suspect if at any point in the game you had taken the lead it could have been a cricket score. Good luck for the rest of the season. ps. Cabaye>> Arfa. When he isn't on his game Arfa offers nothing. 1 game in 3 he is Messi-esque, 2 in 3 we play with 10 men (or 9...)
problem is 4-3-1-2 gives us absolutely no width Surely our best has to be 4-3-3 Johnson-----CB1-----CB2-----Enrique -------Gerrard----Hendo/Lucas--- ------------Coutinho---------- Suarez--------Studge---------Moses
Why not Agger & Sakho? And no one say about the fact they are both left footed please A problem with our defenders today was they were **** scared to go out and close the player, instead happy to drop back until they hit the 18 yard box where they felt happier. Problem is, Cabaye then went and scored and noticed Skrtel did a similar thing only it was Tiote who was shooting so went 20 yards wide.
Can't argue with that bar the chances bit. We created plenty of opportunities, just not many clear cut ones. Our expectations aren't high but then, we're also exceeded most views ATM too so there is room for errpr so to speak. Good luck to you guys too
Can't say I noticed Alberto too much bar a blazing shot near the end when we needed to be patient. I thought Cissokho looked rusty / clumsy. Not convinced by his defending but not I feel he will get better there, his offensive play was woeful though.
Alberto was tidy, like Dev says, only really noticed him when he blasted over in the last minute.. Looks like he could be a handy player in the future. Cissikho grew in to the game. Offered nothing going forward, didn't beat his man once and his passing wasn't convincing. He was involved in the mix up for their second goal too.
It depends, not for me when the opposition can use the flanks well. Gerrard and Lucas end up getting pulled out of the middle and when we get caught on the break we are very exposed. Given the quality of our passing today we might have got beat playing that.
I thought Cissokho was pretty good considering he only just came back from injury. Was shaky at the start, but his powerful runs could be devastating on the counter - hard to knock him off the ball and he has the pace, plus he can drill crosses with decent accuracy. Alberto was tidy and is clearly more suitable to the number 10 role than Moses. I've already mentioned this earlier but I think it's embarrassing that we struggled to dominate against 10 men. Central midfield needs top class options - I rather Gerrard push up, or just come on for the last 30 mins for an all action cameo. It's no coincidence that he produces his best performances either as RW or AM (especially under Rafa). Rafa was reluctant to use him as a CM.
I'm genuinely concerned when we play against a decent team - a team like Arsenal will have a field day against our midfield.
A point away to Newcastle is by no means a disaster especially after an international break and I don't think either team deserved to win so a fair result really. The positives for us imo were the spirit we showed to come back twice and Sakho is getting better every game imo, he could develop into one of the best defenders in the world.
OK so I'm not happy with the result but given the way we played yesterday I'm convinced we would have lost that game previously. The International break appeared to have taken the edge off the team. Our passing was just enough 'out' to give the defenders the advantage and the speed in our attacks became more and more lacking particularly in the first half. As many have already said Moses is not (and never will be) a No10. Any creativity we did have came from Gerrrard who was a long way back. We therefore washed up against 2 rows of 4 without anybody who could create those little killer passes. With Moses playing centrally we only had width from the FBs and Newcastle (quite rightly) played on the counter and therefore restricted thier usefulness. Alberto did not have enough time to get to grips with the game let alone significantly influence it. What Sterling was supposed to be doing I still don't understand. Given that we were out-thought; our game was off; we didn't have Ford and a few of our players were just coming back from injury a draw was acceptable. We will play worse and win. Let's hope that we manage to also win when we play like that again. Having said all of that there were times when some of our play was almost perfect and that bodes well for the rest of the season.
I think Alberto in the no.10 role might be a shout whilst Coutinho is out. Looked composed yesterday except for a rash decision to shoot, and looked tidy on the ball. Certainly wouldn't play Moses there anymore. His strength is clearly in his wing-play.
