Liverpool FC Forum

JC_81 » Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:42 pm wrote:True yakka. Horrible ground for us over the years.

I missed first half but second half I thought we were well worth the win.  Good character to comrades back and then good game management to take the sting out of it and play keep ball. If any team was going to score last 20 mins it was us.

Great goal Sturridge, great workrate Balotelli (great to see) and a good performance again by Mignolet.

Great chance to win the cup, i'd love a final against United.

On this current form I'd back us to beat either United or Arsenal mate, especially at Anfield or a neutral venue like Wembley. Going to Old Trafford or the Emirates could be tricky though.
If we get a decent draw in the next round (i.e avoid getting drawn away against either of those two) i can see us winning the thing.

We have players that most of us, and I include myself, criticise constantly. Balotelli is one of them and for good reason. Allen is the other player and nobody except his Mum would enthuse about his overall performance since he arrived from Swansea. Yesterday they looked like Liverpool players. They both worked very hard and made a serious contribution. Balo's free kick nearly knocked Speroni into the back of his goal and he did extremely well to save it. Great to see the team reading the situation and Lallana knocking in the inevitable rebound. As for Danny we have massively missed finishing of that quality - GREAT GOAL !! Sakho is also coming on in leaps and bounds.

One question that concerns me: is Hendo good enough to be our next captain. He wants to get involved in all the free kicks and I have seen no evidence as to why he should. He wants to be Gerrard and to be frank he isn't. Thought he had a good game though and he is becoming more creative.

devaney » Sun Feb 15, 2015 7:51 am wrote:We have players that most of us, and I include myself, criticise constantly. Balotelli is one of them and for good reason. Allen is the other player and nobody except his Mum would enthuse about his overall performance since he arrived from Swansea. Yesterday they looked like Liverpool players. They both worked very hard and made a serious contribution. Balo's free kick nearly knocked Speroni into the back of his goal and he did extremely well to save it. Great to see the team reading the situation and Lallana knocking in the inevitable rebound. As for Danny we have massively missed finishing of that quality - GREAT GOAL !! Sakho is also coming on in leaps and bounds.

One question that concerns me: is Hendo good enough to be our next captain. He wants to get involved in all the free kicks and I have seen no evidence as to why he should. He wants to be Gerrard and to be frank he isn't. Thought he had a good game though and he is becoming more creative.

Hendo might not be our best player mate but he's certainly one of the most hard working and committed to the cause.
Whenever a team mate scores he celebrates like he's just scored himself and if there's any sort of a confrontation on the pitch he's right over there to back his team mate up.
Plus as we all know wether he is playing well or not week in week out he will run himself into the ground, not many players in the entire league never mind the club put a shift in like him.
Off the pitch he's a very level headed lad who shy's away from controversy and he also speaks well whenever someone shoves a microphone under his nose.
Bill Shankly once said that the problem with the world was that there wasn't enough natural enthusiasm, well that's one thing Hendo certainly doesn't lack.

devaney » Sun Feb 15, 2015 8:51 am wrote:
One question that concerns me: is Hendo good enough to be our next captain. He wants to get involved in all the free kicks and I have seen no evidence as to why he should. He wants to be Gerrard and to be frank he isn't. Thought he had a good game though and he is becoming more creative.

as a captain i would say that one of his responsibilities is exactly that - to be involved in the free kicks. if he's not going to take it himself (which he rarely does, and correctly so) then he should be involved in any discussion about who will take it and how. the lad is a very smart and perceptive footballer with an excellent understanding of what is going on in the game. he'll never be one of the outstanding stars of the team, but In My Absolutely Most Humble Opinion his character, his enthusiasm, his maturity, his quiet authority, his performances in the crossbar and keepy uppy challenges on the telly, and his englishness make him about the best candidate for captain.

andy_g » Sun Feb 15, 2015 5:05 pm wrote:

devaney » Sun Feb 15, 2015 8:51 am wrote:
One question that concerns me: is Hendo good enough to be our next captain. He wants to get involved in all the free kicks and I have seen no evidence as to why he should. He wants to be Gerrard and to be frank he isn't. Thought he had a good game though and he is becoming more creative.

as a captain i would say that one of his responsibilities is exactly that - to be involved in the free kicks. if he's not going to take it himself (which he rarely does, and correctly so) then he should be involved in any discussion about who will take it and how. the lad is a very smart and perceptive footballer with an excellent understanding of what is going on in the game. he'll never be one of the outstanding stars of the team, but In My Absolutely Most Humble Opinion his character, his enthusiasm, his maturity, his quiet authority, his performances in the crossbar and keepy uppy challenges on the telly, and his englishness make him about the best candidate for captain.

Hendo certainly has some outstanding qualities and has come on very well after being somewhat of a disappointment when he arrived from Sunderland. Reasonably to say that most players joining Liverpool seem to take some time to settle in. The problem I have is that there is nobody really challenging him for the job. I'm probably worrying about nothing 

I'm not sure it matters that much who the captain is in football, in other sports like cricket and rugby union captains have to make on field tactical decisions that can have a major bearing on the outcome of a match but that's not really the case in footy.
Captaincy in football is more about being a figurehead than the managers proxy out on the pitch.