Our journey to the ground was a little different yesterday, as we decided to go in via the M4 to avoid the A40 closure. Also, me and the lad were accompanied by my Brother, a life-long Rangers fan and his son, a die-hard Liverpool fan. We got there early in order to obtain a free parking space and set about having a leisurely family lunch, whilst sharing a good chat and laugh. We all agreed that any result really wouldn't have been a surprise, although, as we took our seats and the Liverpool team was read out, I was filled with dread. As for us, Cesar was back.....good! SWP and Mackie still starting ahead of Hoilett.........puzzling! Nelsen back......good! Anyway the game began and Rangers were their usual lethargic selves. Liverpool looked as though they were from a different footballing world and proceeded to take us apart. With M'bia and Diakite completely misunderstanding how to play as defensive midfielders there were huge gaps in our midfield, just as there were against WBA. After 10 minutes Suarez showed his class and opened the scoring. Firstly, he bamboozled Hill with a great bit of movement to buy himself space in front of our back four. He then drove at Hill and left him for dead before finishing clinically into the bottom corner. Hill's lack of pace cruelly exposed by a world class forward. Liverpool continued to make us look like a pub team, with Gerrard looking such a class act. Meanwhile, M'Bia and Diakite continued to get caught out of position time after time after time. SWP was having a complete nightmare and Taarabt was trying to do too much on his own (arguably understandably). Onuoha was looking solid and matching Sterling's pace, but Traore looked like he'd rather be back in Arsenal's reserves. It was only a matter of time before the 2nd Liverpool goal would arrive and it was dear old Clint Hill who was again at fault. Firstly, Hill allowed Suarez to win a header in front of him and then he simply ran away from the South American and left him in acres of space to receive a return pass before surging unopposed into the area. A lucky rebound and Suarez made it 2-0. Before long it was 3-0 as Rangers, for the 2nd time in as many minutes, failed to pick up Gerrard from a short corner. The midfielder swung the ball over and Agger easily lost Hill to head in a powerful effort into the bottom corner. Whilst all this was going on, M'Bia was getting increasingly embarrassing with his ridiculous diving and Rangers should have had a penalty when Henderson clearly blocked a Taarabt free kick with his arm. Harry also made the first of a few very strange decisions. We had started in a 4-2-3-1 with Mackie and SWP either side of Taarabt. This clearly wasn't working as the two holding players, M'Bia and Diakite were all over the place. So Harry moved Mackie forward to partner Cisse and switched SWP over to the right. This left us with a lop-sided 4-3-1-2, with SWP wide on the right, Taarabt behind the forwards and M'Bia and Diakite still in the middle. It was supposed to be a midfield 3, but it left our left side completely open for the rest of the half. Rangers hardly put 3 passes together and the relief of the half time whistle was met by a chorus of boos, although I expected the crowd reaction to be much worse. Large sections did however sing "you're only here for the money" and "you're not fit to wear the hoops" as the half had worn on! At half time we all suspected that the game was over (no ****, sherlock!). However, we also agreed that a Rangers goal in the first quarter of the 2nd half could just get the Liverpool players thinking about what happened last year, when 1 goal quickly became 3!! Harry, however, had already decided that we couldn't get back into it and threw in the towel by putting on Derry for the disappointing, but scandalously under supplied Cisse. Derry was the right call, but for Diakite or SWP! We also went with 3 centre halves and played Traore and SWP as wing backs. As Liverpool lifted their foot off the gas, Rangers at least had a bit more possession, but created virtually nothing. Then Grenaro was brought on for Diakite (yep...SWP STILL remained on the pitch!!). We had just been awarded a free kick which Taarabt was shaping up to take. Granero ran straight over and obviously started arguing with Adel over who should take it. No doubt Harry had told the Spaniard to have a go and Derry persuaded the understandably pissed off Taarabt to walk away. The crowd booed and sang "Taarabt's too good for you". The free kick was more a back pass to Reina which struggled to reach the dead-ball line. Cue more booing!! To be fair to Granero though, our passing improved a fair bit after he came on and he linked well at times with Taarabt, Derry and M'Bia, who was now playing further forward. Mackie huffed and puffed, but he gets caught offside just as often as Cisse and really isn't good enough to lead the attack imo. M'Bia was booked for another outrageous dive and then Harry made his last substitution, bringing on, wait for it....... Fabio! But at least it was the end of the game for the awful SWP!! The game petered out with a whimper and we all trudged out knowing that we were almost certainly going to be relegated by this shower! In conclusion, whilst I understand where Harry's damage limitation was coming from, I simply can't agree with any Rangers team giving up on trying to get something out of a game at half time! By that reckoning, then surely us, the fans, should just get up and go home as soon as it looks like we won't win. Harry has gone down a little in my estimation after that. Although I do wonder if employing Onuoha as a third centre half and using wing-backs could be a possibility. Couldn't be worse at any rate!! Hoilett obviously isn't impressing during training, as he is surely a better bet than SWP? Whatever though, we were simply out-classed by a good Liverpool side and talk of them being a poor side was shown to be ignorant nonsense. Gerrard and Suarez are top class and they pass and move expertly. Mind you, against us, it really wasn't too difficult!! Player ratings and comments: Cesar - 6 - A little shaky in the first half, but pulled off a brilliant save to deny Suarez his hat-trick. Onuoha - 7 - Our best player on the day (not hard!). Very quick, possibly our quickest player and strong and solid too. Hill - 4 - I'm a huge Clint fan, but his limitations were cruelly exposed. Nelsen - 5 - Superb goal line clearance, but dreadful distribution at times. Traore - 4 - Looked like he just wasn't interested. SWP - 3 - Truly dreadful. Traps the ball further than he can kick it!! M'Bia - 5 - Improved when given a more advanced role. Terrible positioning when in the holding position and dived embarrassingly...often. Diakite - 4 - Very poor positionally, but didn't improve much even after Derry showed him and M'Bia how to do it. Mackie - 5 - Never gives up (so I don't suppose he was too impressed with Harry throwing in the towel). Ran and ran. Taarabt - 6 - Not his day, but at least he drove forward and tried to get at the opposition. Never stopped trying and showed one or two flashes of brilliance. Tried too much on his own, but then again, what else do we have? Cisse - 5 - After watching a re-run of the game, he didn't appear to be putting it in up front, but the lack of service to him was..........well it was non-existent! Subs: Derry - 7 - Showed how to play the holding role in midfield and denied Liverpool the space in front of our back 4 that they enjoyed in the first half. Granero - 6 - Some neat touches and passed well. Clearly not suited to a side struggling at the bottom. Pity, as he looks as though he would shine in a side like say, Liverpool, Swansea, Arsenal or even the Manchester clubs. Fabio - 4 - Ran around like a headless chicken for 10 minutes. Thoughts?
I know I'll be accused of picking on one point of your report but when someone repeatedly exposes a glaring blind spot on one particular player, it calls the the entire analysis into question. This is the thing that drives me mad. I can't remember one thing - not ONE! - that Taarabt did yesterday that was even remotely decent let alone brilliant. What fu*king game were you watching mate? He was terrible! Clever play on words there. The way myself and Queens put it (and most balanced people would) is that he was D.I.Y-ing instead of passing to a team mate. I ask again: What game were you watching? (EDIT: I've calmed down now. Thanks very much for the report mate, it takes a good deal of effort to post them up and I enjoy them. No disrespect RE Tarbs. )
To be fair, Adel played an exquisite reverse pass into Mackie who couldn't control it, unfortunately. I not in the camp that views Adel as a world-class player worth thirty million and he tried the usual unnecessary tricks on half way, but I think he remains an important player for us. He's committed in my opinion.
Correct. That was our first attack of the game and he slipped a pass through to Mackie who somehow managed to turn himself in the opposite direction to where the ball was travelling. However, considering that he has the ball more than anyone else, he has far more opportunities to play people in (not that that pass was "brilliant" in any way - it was fairly straight forward) but 90% of the time he takes the wrong option and loses the ball. I've never come across a player that infuriates me more. Never, in my whole life.
Sombre to read but as usual, an excellent reprise of the game, Col. It's too early to judge Harry yet, but his faith in SWP and his acceptance of the loss at half time, do dent my confidence somewhat. If Hoilett is one of those Harry is accusing of moping around with his head down and not showing that he's up for the fight, he may even go in Jan. Would be a shame because he's clearly got skills, but the dire position we're in means we can't carry those who feel things are hopeless.
Agree on the infuriating thing, and his performance last night wasn't littered with brilliance. We don't have, however, an abundance of players who can find space and make that sort of pass as Adel did - it was a fine pass that split the defence. On another note, I wished HR would've gone 4-4-2 (as I stated before K.O.): let Mackie do the running and let Cisse amble around. He's a azy s**t, but he's still our best goal scorer.
A good, succinct summary of the failings of the side in the paper today. The article basically said that those with heart are lacking that essential bit of quality, whilst those with quality are lacking that essential bit of heart. Pretty much sums it up for me. Whilst we love the likes of Nelsen, Hill, Derry and Mackie for their heart, they are not good enough at this level, either because of the toll taken by injury or age, or simply because they aren't good enough. Whilst, on the other hand, the likes of Traore, Taarabt, Granero and Cisse undoubtedly have the skills, one can question whether they have the drive, commitment and focus required to get us out of this mess. Frankly, it's unlikely 3-4 changes will be enough to bring about a miracle, but I guess we shall wait and see.
I don't know how you managed to write that with such a seemingly degree of measured calmness Col. As I took to my seat yesterday, I thought things couldn't get any worse. Things have to turn in our favour at some point. It would be nice to end the year with a good performance and a win. Shortly after kick off my pre-match thoughts were banished into the realms of fantasy. It was 'Groundhog Day' all over again at HQ. Yet another early goal conceded and another lack lustre performance ensued as Liverpool meted out a footballing lesson. Our midfield went missing allowing Gerrard and Co. the freedom of Loftus Road. I sat for the rest of the game in a surreal bemusement, as our little run of games where we can turn things around came to an end. Net result 3 games, nil pointe. The LR faithful deserve better than what those imposters dished up yesterday. It was quite frankly a bloody disgrace. Cheers Col.
We did go 442 in the latter stages of the 1st half but cisse did sod all as usual. Hes a good finisher but totally useless otherwise in build up play or winning the ball back.
How can you agree totally when you agreed totally with Harold going for damage limitation on another thread? Hope the new arrival got into the Christmas spirit Bob. Headless chickens a good description of a fair few yesterday Col. Tired, listless headless chickens at that. In other circumstances (I.e they were playing Chelsea) it would have been a pleasure to watch Liverpool play like that. Things can only get better, as four of us were singing loudly but badly in the Loft by the end. The other major topic of conversation was whether my son and I would drag down from Leamington 23 times in the Championship next year. Consensus was better to go to more away games. Still, may not come to that......
Thanks for that, Flyer. I thought HR had changed it to 3-5-2, though? Perhaps not. Can't always tell through the laptop. My overall preference would be for Cisse to start on the bench, and not just because he seems to limit his scoring to the second half.
Nice one Col. As usual, I find myself agreeing with most of your analysis. Having previously criticised Onuoha as being unimpressive in defence, I entirely agree with your very positive assessment of him yesterday. Mbia and Diakite were awful but, unlike you, I felt the former was embarassing when pushed forward: he really didn't know what to do. I'm not an SWP basher: I'd give him more than a 3 because he worked so hard but I can't deny that, atm, he offers little or nothing going forward. He couldn't beat a man to save his life. I'd much prefer to see what Junior could do for us. I thought Granero started well and showed some much needed composure on the ball and when passing. However, he seemed to give up quickly and once turned his back on play, hands on hips, when we gave up possession. Bad attitude! Finally, I don't think Swords will ever rate Adel. I thought he was our one creative player and worked hard. He and Nedum were probably the only two of our players that matched those of Liverpool. Cue abuse from our Irish friend....
He did go 3-5-2 from half time mate. It was a very lopsided 4-4-2/4-3-1-2 that we finished the first half with. Basically no-one was on the left except traore.
Mbia was supposed to be on the left but was drifting inside. We started with a 4231, then went to an 442 with no LW and then 352 at which point I left.
