Let me preface this post by saying I’m not here to have a go about anything (by which I mean all that ‘5 times’ stuff you’ll find floating about the Liverpool board at the moment.) This is my first post on your board, and I don’t intend to make a habit of coming on here. So with that in mind I’ll try to make this a good one. If you ‘don’t care’ what I’ve got to say, then don’t reply. Simple as that. I’m here purely to get a bit of a discussion going. Anyway, I want to offer my views on last night’s game and your team in general. I think as a bit of an outsider I can bring a fresh perspective to things (hopefully!) So, on to the game. There’s no doubt the best team won, as I’m sure you’ll all agree. I thought you lot were going to give them a run for their money after the way you started. You were in their faces, pressing them high up the pitch and knocking it about at a high tempo. Then, for want of a better phrase, you went a little flat and rather than Barcelona getting themselves into the game, I think it was a case of you letting them get into it. I thought Rooney’s goal was excellent by the way, offside or not. Nice crisp passing, and actually better than the stuff going on at the other end. At half time with the scores at 1-1, I really thought you might take it. At 1-0 anyone would’ve thought they’d go on to get a couple more and stroll in for the break 3-0 up. But no, you got yourselves back into it and I think 1-1 was a reasonably fair scoreline for the first half (perhaps they just edged it, but you were well in the game.) So as I say, second half I thought you might turn them over. Arsenal got a couple of late goals against them, and this season you seem to have done the most damage to teams in the second half (Blackpool and West Ham away, for example.) But again, you came out a little flat. Carrick and Park weren’t closing them down like they were in the first 15 minutes and your defenders were quite often stationary and letting them pass it about too easily. Give them time and space, and that’s where they do their damage. To give you credit though, both of their goals were speculative efforts from outside the box (the first of which Edwin should’ve gathered.) They hardly cut through you like they do most teams. In summary, I think you started brilliantly but quickly took your foot off the gas and let them back in it. Nani shoul’ve been brought on earlier than he was. Stand out players for me were Park and Valencia. The latter I think is a great player and I’d have him on my team sheet all week long. He works tirelessly down that right flank and I think he was unlucky to get booked. The two that most let you down were Carrick and Evra. Evra kept ball watching and tucking in too centrally, leaving the left side exposed (particularly noticeable for the first goal). He was ok going forward, but those couple of lapses let you down. Carrick, as with the rest of the side started well, cutting passes out, getting a couple of tackles in and playing one or two decent passes. The trouble is though, I don’t think he does that often enough. He seems all too happy to jog about casually 15 yards in front of your defence and playing the easy 10 yard pass to whoever is closest to him. That’s fine when you’re winning, but when you’re chasing a game, you need a bit more than that. To finish, just a couple of questions regarding where you go from here: Who do you think should go in the summer, if anyone? I think you need to get rid of Carrick, for the above reasons. He was good a season or two back, but he’s ineffective far too often for a side of your standards. Who should you bring in? I think you need someone with a bit of flair in the centre of midfield. Maybe someone like Sneijder, who I hear you’re looking at. Giggs and Scholes are fine for the last 20 minutes/half hour, but I don’t think either of them merits a starting berth. Look forward to reading your views, particularly if there’s anything I’ve said that you strongly agree or disagree with. Also, sorry for the length.
Valencia was awful, committed about 10-15 fouls and didn't offer anything in attack. He was lucky not to get red carded with the amount of bookable challenges he made. Agree with the rest though, Barca are just too good!
They are going to have a problem getting a player of the calibre of Snjeider....Money.Joey Barton is in the last year of his contract.He would fit in perfectly into their financial structure. Liverpool on the other hand are on the rise,and it won't take them 35 years to knock United off their ****ing perch.
Barton has recently said that he wants to stay at Newcastle, according to http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13590926.stm Also, I disagree about Liverpool being on the rise as much as you claim, and Man Utd haven't finished getting the PL trophies yet, but if they did I doubt it would take 35 years to overtake them again
Agree with your sentiments. Evra didn't cover himself in glory though to be fair he has failed to do so for most of the season. I regularly defend Carrick from those who condemn him though I found myself shouting the same things at the TV last night that I shouted in 2009. e.g. 'Move your arse and tackle someone.' I know a new keeper is a given and if the rumours are true Young could be arriving with Nani going to Italy, but a top CM is a must, and possibly 2. A new DM would be useful especially since Owen has finally been shown the door. Scholes must retire but with Morrison, Cleverly and maybe Pogba being promoted next season I do feel there is a good future ahead. Again no shame to lose to that team.
For me, it was just a case of Barca outplaying us. The thing that really annoys me is that people are saying tactics made a big difference. We lost against a barca team that absolutely battered us. And we offered nothing in response. It was not tactics that lost us the game.
Joey Barton, eh? But there's another club already interested in him http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...h-mulls-5m-Newcastle-bad-boy-Joey-Barton.html What a stupid fat dipper ****
That looked like our strategy - win the ball back in our half, bypass the midfield and hit the wings, get it inside quickly and try to carve them open. It might have worked more often as well, but Valencia had a poor game and never really beat his fullback when isolated one on one. Had Valencia played like he did against Chelsea, I reckon we'd have gotten another goal at some point. But there you go. I don't think you can judge Carrick based on his performance on Sat. I'd rather judge him based on the three games vs Chelsea, when he dominated midfield all three times, and many other solid performances in midfield this season. His performances generally depend on his midfield partner - if they are playing too deep like Giggs was last night, Carrick has no one in front of him to pass too, and plays poorly. I think if we sign a good attacking midfielder, like Scholes was back in 2007 and 2008, or a more dynamic box to box player Carrick will thrive again. If Anderson can stay injury free and sustain his form over the latter part of this season, Anderson and Carrick could make a great partnership next year. Or we can go for Anderson / Fletcher when the midfield needs more steel, like against Barca. Personally I'd get rid of Brown, Owen and Scholes. Brown to give our younger defenders more games, Owen to give our younger attackers more games, and Scholes because he's drifting too deep as he gets older, which means he ends up tackling more often (aargh!) and when he plays alongside Carrick or Fletcher they all end up too deep and we have no one creating space in midfield. Also Obertan for obvious reasons. I'd go for De Gea, De Rossi and Hazard. De Gea for obvious reasons. De Rossi as a top class midfielder who can play the holding role or box to box, and replace Hargreaves who I think has been a bigger loss for us than Ronaldo over the past three years. Hazard as a young creative player who can play left wing or attacking midfield, and thus address our main two problem positions as well as allowing us to go 433 if we need to, with Hazard left and Nani right. I'm leaning away from Sneijder now because he's committed his future to Inter and he's probably going to try and play the same role as Rooney.
Newcastle fan probably the longest wait for a trophy! However I hate the way that people call us deluded when Liverpool fans think they'll win the league every year! They are the 6th best side in the premiership for a reason and I don't see them in the top four next year never mind challenging for the title! After 20 years of spouting about their superior history it's time they came onto your board and went yeah fair enough you're a better club and side!
Most us Liverpool fans accept that United have been the better club for the last twenty years painful as it is to admit. Ever since Dalglish left us all those years ago we just never seemed to fully recover. There is no debate, United is the best English team in recent history. But...as for OVERALL record, that's still up for debate, 18 + 5 > 19 + 3. And as for delusion, I would encourage you to find one example of a Liverpool fan who has said we will win the league next year, or did you just make that up? What actually happened was we gave Birmingham , Newcastle and Fulham a good hiding then the MEDIA started spouting nonsence about us challenging for more than the top 4 next year. Most fans are just optimistic and realistic, this season based on Kenny's results we would have finished second in the league. Obviously over a full season it's different but all most of us want is to mount a decent challenge for top 4 next season, does that sound deluded..?
Well KPR has just commented saying that teams roll over to united! And yes I agree it's the media blowing it out of proportion! But a few Liverpool fans do believe that next season is the one and also disputed that Torres' was moving to a side that were more likely to win a trophy! And no challenge for top four is not deluded at all and everyone wants the prem to be as tight as possible! I'll ask the same question as i did on your board! What are the targets for the year and in turn what is the minimum that Kenny needs to do to keep his job/have a succesful season?
I have no idea what the board's expectation are. Though I'd imagine they'd expect a serious title challenge by the end of his 5th year to reflect the large amounts of money they will be investing in the club this summer and over the coming years. As for next year, I think we will have some new key signings and it will take a while for them to gel together and work out how they can best play together. I think we'd expect no less than where we finished this season (6th) as the 5 teams above us were better than us. I hope though, that with Spurs apparently selling this summer due to lack of CL (reports their chairman?) and Arsenal looking like they need an overhaul/a large kick up the backside then we could quite possibly nick 4th place. Well, that's my opinion anyway.
Thats fair enough! I think Arsenal will take 4th because of their quality! I think 5th would be a good finish for you! I was just curious to see if Daglish had a bad start to next season (like Hodgson) would he get the backing and how long for especially after spending alot of money! I felt sorry for Hodgson no backing but I do think he's suited to lower clubs
Hodgson's a fantastic manager if you're a relegation threatened club and he should take that as a compliment. His counter-attacking defensive tactics are great for lower league teams and can even propel them up to mid-table and beyond like with Fulham and WBA. Problem is, and pretty much every lfc fan knew this, that he does not suit a club aspiring to be in the top echelon of the prem. It was just frustrating to try and give a man support who deep down you knew would never ever bring success back to Liverpool. What compounded it was his deflection of blame for his tactical feaux-pas on to the players themselves and even the fans! Anyway, a chapter best forgotten. Quite frankly I just want a better start to next season than those of the last two years, and that's not hard considering earlier this year we were in the relegation zone...
To be fair to Hodgson, when he left some of the players came out and said they didn't try hard enough for him. And like you said, the fans found it hard to get behind him so he definitely didn't get the quality of support from the fans that managers like Benitez and Dalglish and even Houllier have done. Liverpool fans seemed to be determined to want him out of the club as soon as he joined, and that must have transmitted to the team. I dunno if Hodgson would have been a long term success at Liverpool, but I honestly don't think the fans or the players ever gave him a chance. You can talk about his prior managerial record at lower level clubs, but Shankly was a moderately successful lower league manager prior to joining Liverpool, and he turned out to be your most successful manager, in relative terms, ever.
I can't help but have the feeling that the attraction of the P.L. is not what it was and foreign players are not particularly wanting to come to England these day. So all the possible multi million pound signings, not just for United but any English team may be just a that little bit more difficult these days. At one time almost all the top footballing stars on the planet were wanting to come to these shores, now we have seen the antics of a few owners and chairmen I don't think the situation is the same, despite the amount of money still being offered. On the player side of things it hard to imagine the total commitment of overseas players when they have stated they would 'see how it goes' so to speak. Tevez and Drogba come to mind of players who would rather be somewhere else than England, and dare I say, Fabregas?
