for ages and ages liverpool were accussed of being a two man team i,e stevie g and nando,well can we just flush this down the toilet for good and see that liverpool are a squard off oustanding talented players who work there bo**ocks off for each other
And where is your "oustanding talented players" team, in the league? Thats right 6th and out of a European spot.
wont correct your english eggy,but hey you know as much as anybody else that we had a crap start to the season,and if it wasnt for the currant manager and the work rate the players have put in we wouldnt even be 6th at the moment.
Hey they called us a 2 man team when we still had Alonso and Mascherano. I can't explain enough how good swapping Torres for 2 strikers was. Before it was Torres is injured... ummm Kuyt or Ngog up front on their own? If Carroll is injured we still have Suarez and vice versa, plus we can still play with 2 up front as Kuyt does better with someone alongside him (who isn't Ngog). Its just going to mean we'll be punished much less by injuries. It should also help with bringing players into the team as we're not limited to that 1 up front formation that was effective under Benitez but not adaptable. Now if we have a youngster we can put him on with Suarez so he can get used to quick pass and move and flicks etc. Or we can put him on with Carroll who will do all the physical work for them. This is a reflection of the different styles and options we're going to have next season.
This two man team lark gets thrown at united too, because opposing fans only rate certain players and dont see the rest really. It is all cack. I never seen two players beat 11 ever.
We were close to one at times in around 03/04, in the sense there were only a couple of real high quality, match winners/savers. Realisitcaly no team would survive with two good and the rest **** players. As has been said, even when we were flying people were still saying it. Back then we had Carra, Reina, Alonso, Masche, Torres, Gerrard, with key contributions from the likes of Arbeloe, Kuyt, Agger and Riera. It's only now people are realising that that team was excellent, and probably should of won the title. I have to say though, as has been the case with the last Year and a half, we have been better without Gerrard. When he plays the rest cower and expect him to do everything. The squad are playing with freedom atm, and some of this I suspect is due to him not being the focal point of the team. Could we dare to leave Gerrard on the bench until he shows it in training? Or does he automatically get straight back in the team like normal? Only Kenny would be brave enough to bench him and make him earn it. I would love Gerrard, who lets face it hasnt realy done it in a while, regain some motivation by having a challenge to get back in the side, then come and destroy teams like a couple of years back. We need to show some balls within the club, as well as outside.
I actually agree with that. Gerrard for a while had too much influence and authority.He was acting like a chief instead of an indian.You need one chief and loads of indians,not the other way round.Gerrard was in fact becoming like Bobby Charlton in 1970.I read this a while back that,Man Uniteds biggest problem in 1970 after Busby retired was that Wilf McGuinness didn't pick the team....Bobby Charlton did.He was the captain in the same way Gerrard is.Gerrard needs to be told that in order to stay in the side he must get his finger out and earn the right to be in the side.Kenny doesn't do reputations.Kenny needs to cut his influence and authority and remind him,that he's the chief and Gerrard is an indian.I'm 100% sure he will.
I always took the whole one man / two man team as a complement. It was rival fans way of saying "You have one or two players that are absolutely top class and we are **** scared of". And of course, the more rival fans underrate the rest of your team, the more satisfying it is when they put in outstanding performances. I remember how satisfying it was in 08/09 when Park opened up the Arsenal defence in the CL after the gooners had been slating him as being crap with no skill. I bet a whole lot of Liverpool fans are feeling the same with Lucas' recent performances.
Swarbs...You right about Lucas. Always felt he was one of Rafa's "favorites" willing, but lacking. However I'll eat my words and say the last 18 months the level of performance have just improved and improved. Still think he can get better as well.He's desire to succeed is commendable, alot of modern footballers would have bottled it and looked elsewhere, taking the easy option. Shame to see United fans giving Darren Gibson pelters, is he really that bad? I'd trust Fergie's judgment, over some spotty 16 year old scally.
We all slated Rafa for continuing to use Lucas, but maybe Rafa was even more of a genius than we thought? I mean he must have seen potential in Lucas, and after all this time he's turned into a good player. Perhaps there were other players he bought that should have been given more game time?
I think he's done particularly well given how many Liverpool fans were quite negative about him in the early period of his career. If you look at players like Eboue at Arsenal, when your own fans get on top of a player it can completely destroy their confidence and stop their improvement. Kudos to Lucas for coping with that as well as he has. He's not that bad at all, but then he's not particularly good either. He rarely makes obvious mistakes or gives the ball away, but rarely makes obviously crucial passes or creates chances and, apart from his long shots, rarely presents a goal threat. He also doesn't cope all that well in a congested midfield, and doesn't really shine as an obvious holding player, playmaker, or box to box. He's just used as a decent utility player to give us balance in midfield at the moment, with so many of our CMs playing in relatively withdrawn roles. I think some of the abuse he gets is partly because of our general CM weakness. Of our current CM's he's the least talented, and so fans are asking why we're keeping him in the squad instead of replacing him with a better player who can also replace Scholes. And of course there are the usual plastics who think that every player who plays for United should be world class, and a club of "United's stature" should never stoop to having utility players in the squad. The same knobs who've been calling for O'Shea, Fletcher, Park and Brown to be sold at various points over the last decade...
A bit like Lucas, then? And Spearing. And Insua. And any player who wasn't Gerrard, Torres or Alonso once he'd gone. Kuyt used to get it when he first arrived. Then Benayoun. Some of the Liverpool fans who've changed their tune about Lucas are now aiming at Ngog.
Pretty much It's a sad fact that too many fans don't understand the importance of having a squad, and having versatile players within it. Fortunately they still seem to be in the minority and most fans are willing to give players the chance to prove themselves.
The problem with Ngog is that his attitude isn't up to a lot on the pitch. I remember in the first leg against Sparta prague he just didn't try, stood there took the ball and went to ground before even taking 3 strides. With attitude like that there's no way in hell he'll improve. Lucas tried his hardest even when fans were booing him. Although, fans are incredibly quick to boo someone.
Especially after one tie against Sparta Prague, when nobody came out with much credit. He was also getting a lot of "Can he compete with Carroll and Suarez?" nonsense at the time, which can't have helped. He did improve, especially after the experience of being thrust into the #2 slot last season. As long as a player of his age is showing improvement I think they're worth backing because 23-24 are the big years, as Lucas demonstrates perfectly.
The thing about Lucas is that he's had to change the way he plays.When he was with Gremio,He was effectively a box to box midfielder,and although the transition has taken a while to occur,He has had to learn to become more disciplined.His overall game has improved in that respect ie tackling.There is better players than Lucas that haven't learnt some of the things he has ie Scholes.Its easy for Gerrard to change as he has always been able to tackle.I still believe that although Scholes is a fine player and always was,Gerrard is more all-rounded. The thing that probably has saved Lucas from being binned,has been his atitude.Even though he's been derided,He's kept his chin up and kept doing what he's always done.We are getting the benefits of Lucas' improvements.He has to be the most improved Liverpool player in the last 18 months.
