New job is taking all my time, no time to post here, but here are my observations of the team so far.... Gerrard - Take him out and make glue out of him. Henderson - As Lawro says, the best player without the ball in the country, with the ball, painful to watch. The guy has the IQ of bird droppings, he can be tenacious without the ball, clueless with it. Hopefully Suso returns, and is able to replace him. Or at least make him a holding mid, so he doesn't get up to as much wastefulness up front. Johnson - Makes Gerrard and Hendo look good, by far the poorest performing player this season. By far the weakest link in the team. Has to go. Sterling - I can't comprehend how people think he is playing good. Stoke was the first time, I have seen him perform well, and that is because his place is rightly under threat. He can't pass anyone, he always looks like he can't control a ball, and is always digging it out from under his own feet, he runs like Bambi, then just stops and gets it taken away from him 9 times out of 10. He very much reminds me of a young Michael Owen, who you had to put the ball over the shoulder of, while he was already running at a defence, to get the best out of him, Sterling is another wind up and point him in the right direction, "one trick pony". he is doing a job of sorts, but I can't see him being around if we get top four, and can buy a better class of player. Ming - The man excels at one thing, his cat like pounces, to make split second saves. He made a couple against Stoke, and they may well stick in the memory, and you may think him an excellent keeper, but Stokes second goal was all his fault, and for the two main reasons why I think he is a poor replacement for Pepe, his distribution and command of the 18 yard box are woeful. 9 times out of 10, when he kicks the ball out, he goes back to the opposition. long gone are the days of Pepe rolling it out and us building from the back, we are enduring huff it and hope, and losing so much possession because of it. He is also afraid to come out of the 6 yard box. No-one controls their 18 yard box like Lloris at Spuds, yes he has been caught out a couple of times, but more often he mops up danger before it happens. A combination of these two weaknesses resulted in Stokes second goal yesterday. Skrtel - If he can't defend without grabbing shirts, we are going to have to drop him again, sooner or later we are going to get punished by his inability to mark without holding on. Courtinho - Still a bit small and weak for the prem, and gets lost in big games, vanished second half against Stoke, and was rightly swapped out for Sturridge. I think he will come good, bust a lot of adapting to do. Flanno - The Scouse Kafu, love how he has come back stronger, could have so easily faded away after being found out a few times during his last run in the team, but has improved and deserves his place. Sakho - Immense, best buy of the window. Cissokho - Solid enough, but doesn't give as much going forward as I would like. Lucas - Deserves his place in the team, needs to get booked less. Toure - I so wanted him to play today, turns out Rodgers had no choice but to play him, but I think he does well when played. Suarez - lightning in a bottle, hope we get top 4 and he stays and becomes a proper legend. Sturridge - Brings the best out of Courtinho, and Suarez, while being a top striker in his own right. Allen - When Gerrard was out injured, there was this couple of weeks, when Allen and Hendo stood up and made we wish that Gerrard never got his place back. Within 3 weeks, I was hoping for Gerrard to come back again. Now I just cry that we don't have a midfield of any sorts these days. I've been storing this up for a few weeks, as I never wanted to post after a defeat, as that just sounds like blowin in the wind knee jerking, so I've had to wait for a good win to slate half the squad. Basically, better than last year, still not good enough.
Gerrard is still good... but not great. He doesn't need to be sent to the glue factory... just rotated occasionally. Besides... who would take penalties... everyone would stare dumb faced at each other not knowing what to do. Suso hasn't shown to me he is better than Hendo. Johnson has had a bad run of games and may be past his best... but he's always been like this for us...great for a number of games... then crap for a number of games... not sure if he is past it or in another downswing... has been bad lately. Agree about Sterling having poor control... I put it down to age. He works hard and gets in positions but has no end product. I'm fairly sure by 23 he will be excellent. Minny has had a bad run of games but most of his games for us have been good... think pepe was better though. Skrtel... good but a liability. Rather agger and Sakho start (if we don't mind two left footers) . Courtinho - has dropped in form since last season and don't know why. He was a genius last season. Flanno - huge potential. Not finished article yet. Sakho - agree... brilliant. Cissokho - disagree... he's total crap. Doesn't belong in red. Toure - happy with... good cover. Suarez - amazing season. Sturridge - we would all be gushing about Studge if we didn't have Suarez... so lucky to have both. Allen - good cover... not good enough for our starting team but I don't think he is as bad as criticism dictates.
Noblelox... Not sure how not bossing the box makes Migs responsible for the second when Adam hit a rocket (after not being closed down including time to fall over) from twenty yards. Similarly, their third was from outside the box too so you can't blame his command of his area there too. However, you can blame him as the ball went straight through him! Maybe you could say he didn't command for the first but thats harsh.
I've missed your ranting bollocks Nobollox I agree with roughly not a lot of that Hope you're well though you old tart.
I now want my rating changed form the noblelox lesbo affair to "rampant optimist" as i'm not half as harsh as noble!
Disagree with most of that and not going to go in to it as you won't be around to discuss. Wish some people would ****ing cheer up!
he reminds me a lot of Traore and we all know what a nightmare that was. when's Flanno and Enrique back? need them asap, and drop Johnson as well hopefully the useless ****.
The one I disagree with most is Hendo I think but it's a close call.....serious PMT post from Nobby this was though eh....just like old times
I didn't mate no (lost a few brownie points over xmas so need some in the bank as I'm going to the Fulham game ). I thought he played pretty well but I still think he's a better player further forward. However I know he just doesn't suit BR's style of closing down high up the pitch so I suspect we'll see him deep more often over the coming months. I'm still not convinced that it suits either him or Lucas when they play pretty much side by side though. As for the midfield as a unit I think the reason Hendo has come to the fore in recent weeks might partly be down to him not feeling he's in Gerrards shadow but for me it's more about how he's been pushed further up, he is (almost) perfect for that higher role of harrassing defenders and midfielders. He covers so much ground it's unbelievable, hence why I'll argue with MITO until the cows come home about Hendo playing deep, it would get nothing from his best assets. The most effective holding midfielders IMO are those who are positionally perfect, who read the game exceptionally well and have that kind of inner calm when under pressure (Hamann being a typical example). I think for Gerrard now he could be at a point where it's the deeper role in most games, a higher position only against the weaker teams at home or even a more traditional role in the middle on the rare occasions when we play a slightly flatter midfield.
I thought you might have gone so had a better view of his overall positioning. I watched in the pub (natch) and, whilst footie with a constant supply of beer is the nearest thing to Heaven on Earth, your view is obviously restricted. I still think Gerrard brings a lot to the team and don't know why he has so many haters. If you're going to compare him to the player of old of course he'll be found wanting, but I can't see him going off to the glue factory just yet. My only problem with him is that because he's getting on we need to develop a way of playing effectively without him, and that's difficult while he's still a dominant figure. I think Hendo, and a lot of the younger players, are in awe of him a bit and they need to shrug that off. I'm not sure whether Hendo has the right personality to be a real leader, tbh, he seems a bit too nice. I think that lack of confidence shows in front of goal- a sharp contrast to Sturridge's arrogant stuff-strutting. More responsibility might bring him on. The second worst thing about watching on the telly, btw, is having to listen to bloody commentators and self-styled experts.
The only thing i found "weird" yesterday was Lucas. I didn't think gerrard was all that bad but did think stoke were pretty poor. In many ways is that is a "sighter" then they need to work on this before everton cos everton will destroy that midfield. didn't mind the commentary meself but wasn't feeling to good yesterday anyway so wasn't able to give a great annoying running commentary abusing all and sundry for you.
Lucas getting in the box was strange. I thought someone had spiked my drink. Commentary yesterday wasn't too bad, it was more of a general moan about pundits getting paid for describing what we've all just seen.
