Liverpool FC Forum

[bigmick]

It really is strange that the media overly criticise us and our players (which they absolutely definately do). I've said it a few times that I think it's because they haven't taken to the manager from day one, the football establishment in England hasn't either. I'M NOT LAYING THE BLAME FOR THAT AT RAFA'S DOOR, I JUST THINK IT IS THE CASE.

[stmichael]

It really is strange that the media overly criticise us and our players (which they absolutely definately do). I've said it a few times that I think it's because they haven't taken to the manager from day one, the football establishment in England hasn't either. I'M NOT LAYING THE BLAME FOR THAT AT RAFA'S DOOR, I JUST THINK IT IS THE CASE.

it's true. the criticism johnson got playing for england was a joke in the end. they ended up blaming him for not blocking a cross which led to a goal despite our centre backs being nowhere and making a complete hash of clearing the ball.

i've seen ferdinand make three absolute howlers that have led to goals this season but of course he's just having a "bad spell". for what it's worth i think he's an excellent footballing centre half but have never really rated him as an out and out defender. ashley cole is the same. his performance against ukraine was far worse than anything johnson has produced this season.

[Toffeehater]

Spot on from johnson , perfect respone would be a cleansheet and a brilliant performance against united. He and torres have been our players of the season so far.

[made in UK]

Spot on from johnson , perfect respone would be a cleansheet and a brilliant performance against united. He and torres have been our players of the season so far.

I'd probably go with those two as being our better players this season. Funnily enough though Torres has been slightly critised for being 'below par'. With that said it just goes to show how good he is, or either how poor some of his teamates have been/are.

We used to be touted as a one man team, now its a two man team with Torres and Gerrard. It would be nice if the rest of the lads were good enough to consistently step up to the challenge, whether Torres or Gerrard are in the team or not.

fecking doctor 

[Toffeehater]

We've gota couple of match winners in there , Kuyt and Yossi , probably even Johnson if he's given a more attacking role but yes we are too reliant on Torres and Gerrard , this goes to show we've not build the team well enough and one of the issues which needs addressing . Its sad really , imagine if we'd kept warnock , bellamy , sissoko , keane . We'd have a much stronger bench and better options off it instead of voronin and Ngog .

[mart]

Its sad really , imagine if we'd kept warnock , bellamy , sissoko , keane . We'd have a much stronger bench and better options off it instead of voronin and Ngog .

Imagine the amount of bitching and moaning it would lead to. It would never work.

[Toffeehater]

Everybody plays a part or some part , rafa could have rotated and we won't be holding our breaths every time torres goes off to play for spain , we'd still have adequate cover instead of voronin and instead of throwing lucas in we'd have sissoko , who's been a absolute beast at Juventus mind you , one transfer which will come back to haunt us surely

[Owzat]

Not sure we'd have signed Keane if Bellamy had stayed.........................

And of course it's nice in theory, and for playing FM, but can you keep players of any quality happy without rotation? So had we kept a bench that strong, they'd be moaning like the likes of Pennant, Crouch, Babel etc have done about lack of opportunity. They'd be a lot happier sitting on the bench if they were getting winning medals mind, perhaps some footballers are happy just to get paid too much, but I reckon they want two out of three things - money, playing time and success. Money is the one thing they'd get based on ability and you are unlikely to get playing time and success/trophies without being paid plenty. Most would settle for money and one of the other two

[mart]

Everybody plays a part or some part , rafa could have rotated and we won't be holding our breaths every time torres goes off to play for spain , we'd still have adequate cover instead of voronin and instead of throwing lucas in we'd have sissoko , who's been a absolute beast at Juventus mind you , one transfer which will come back to haunt us surely

The moaning was endless even when Keane was playing most matches. Can you imagine it if he was even more on the bench? I dont think Liverpool benefited from having cameras focusing in on a whiny Keane every time he was on the bench.

Face facts he would never accept beeing a part time player.

[Zidane]

Like I said from the get go this guy is world class, what a player and what a game he had today.  Worth every penny.  Played a big role in our first goal and had a couple more crosses that could have been goals but luck just wasn't on our side.  When he sees he can take on the defender consistently he is a beast and just does not let up.

[andy_g]

magnificent last night, absolutely magnificent. i thought for a while that he was trying to beat some sort of international pull back record, i lost count of the number of times he did it. and the back heeled cross was particularly fine, i think.

[bigmick]

Agreed Andy his was an absolutely monsterous performance, huge. Not wanting to put too much of a dampener on it but McFadden didn't look fit and is sh!t anyway, but I think in that mood Johnson would have given anyone a problem.

[andy_g]

i think birmingham were aware that mcfadden was struggling with fitness and form though, which is why they doubled up on johnson so often. fortunately he realised early on that he was just as happy going through the pair of them.

[phil_cool]

Outstanding going forward, the only question I still have is whether he is a liability defensively, or is it just coincidence that we seem to have forgotten how to defend?

[bigmick]

Outstanding going forward, the only question I still have is whether he is a liability defensively, or is it just coincidence that we seem to have forgotten how to defend?

Unless Kuyt starts to perform better than he is Phil, we must surely be approaching the point where we're tempted to play Johnson at right mid. I've always said he looks like a right midfielder who's playing right back to me. Stick the kid in behind him and set him loose.