Liverpool FC Forum

[Ace Ventura]

Its nothing to get worried about to be honest remember its only pre-season.

The first goal came luckily of the cross bar to one of there players and the 2nd just looked like we wasn't concentrating properly, like Roy Evans said on commentary its not all about the results its about getting there fitness ready so I wouldn't read to much into it.

What did you watch it on with Evans doing the commentary ?

It was Dean Saunders on Setanta.

[burjennio]

wow, how bad was the defending for the 3rd goal??!!!

[stmichael]

I watched the full game live on Setanta, apart from very good contribution from quite a few players, Voronin, Sissoko, Alonso, the most remarkable thing was they had a Mic pretty close to Rafa and you heard a lot of what we was saying.

Its very clear after listening;

He is 'obsessed' by keeping the ball moving and therefore the players moving all of the time, he constantly shouted 'Move the ball'.

He shouts and shouts for the defence to move up as soon as the ball is cleared.

He is very clear with wide players and forwards as to where he wants them to stand; if our defender has the ball on the edge of our box he wants the pitch as wide as possible over the half way line.

The players really listened to him. At one point Stevie was going to pass to his right, Rafa clearly shouted 'Switch' Stevie did a 360 turn and swung a pinpoint pass to his left to El Zhar in acres of space.

He actually ran and almost played the game from the Tech area.

He shouted 'Easy Gabby' to Palletta on numerous occasions!

[Ace Ventura]

wow, how bad was the defending for the 3rd goal??!!!

No, How bad is that green writing, knock that on the head its making me eyes go funny.

Too much acid in me younger years maybe 

[ckay]

Cracking goals. I'm not worried about the defence, with friendly's, no one ever goes in for a crunching tackle, i'll reserve judgement till after the Villa game.

Haha apart from Carragher, who jumped into two with in minutes of coming on at half time    Got booked for the second one as well.

But Carra always gives 199%, bet he's a right when he has a kick about with the family. LOL

[JoeTerp]

very interesting stuff about Rafa, do you think he was taking advantage of the smaller crowd or does he do that in everygame?  I would think it would be impossible to hear him in a hostile environment, even if it is Anfield being hostile towards the opponents.

[redsince2001]

thanks for putting up the links to the goals !

[Owzat]

Nice to read some comments and see that this one game is what some views of a player are based! Apparently we should eat our words because Voronin had a good game. Or write off Babel because he didn't. Let's reserve judgement until the crunch games, the ones that matter. I couldn't give a sheet who plays well preseason, who plays well week in, week out next season is my concern. All views I express on signings before they've played are reservations or optimism not anywhere near a final verdict. The same I'm sure applies to others, let's not assume the first impression of a player is the be all and end all

[Emerald Red]

very interesting stuff about Rafa, do you think he was taking advantage of the smaller crowd or does he do that in everygame?  I would think it would be impossible to hear him in a hostile environment, even if it is Anfield being hostile towards the opponents.

Bit of both, really. I've heard him shout at times during games at Anfield, and most other times this is why he seems to be more animated than most managers when the crowd is loud with his baseball-like sign language antics on the touchline. Something tells me that if you don't listen to what he's saying or doing, then he won't take a very good likeing to a player in the long run. Maybe Bellamy and Cisse were like this and he kicked them out. Too much ego, maybe, and not down to individual ability? Who knows.

[westhamrob]

did yossi play?

[Owzat]

I wouldn't want the manager shouting direct instructions too often, having the players concentrate on their game is important without listening out for his commands. What happens if he shouts to Gerrard to switch and the ball is cut out? It happens too often with Alonso, playing square balls and getting caught out. Let the players focus on the game, pass any instructions to the nearest player during stoppages with maybe players delaying throw ins or other restarts to do so

[Emerald Red]

Nice to read some comments and see that this one game is what some views of a player are based! Apparently we should eat our words because Voronin had a good game. Or write off Babel because he didn't. Let's reserve judgement until the crunch games, the ones that matter. I couldn't give a sheet who plays well preseason, who plays well week in, week out next season is my concern. All views I express on signings before they've played are reservations or optimism not anywhere near a final verdict. The same I'm sure applies to others, let's not assume the first impression of a player is the be all and end all

I understand where you are coming from Owzat, but clearly preseason is a good indication of the quility of a player, no matter the context of the games being played. Afterall, you still have to beat what is put out in front of you. Only thing is, maybe some players are reluctant to go into tackles a bit more, but that certainly wasn't really much the case last night, as there were some savoury tackles being hurled about. I remember seeing Big Sammi for the first time in a friendly when he was only bought, and immediatly I could tell that he was a real bargain buy and a cracking find for us. If a player just gives off an aura of class once or twice, then you know he's got it. Voronin may not be a big name hitter on the footballing map, but neither were any of the other big name players that are today until they came into a footballing environment that would showcase the talent that they really are. Vornin is probably a good example of a great player that's been playing in mediocre teams and leagues all his career and as such has went relatively unnoticed in his footballing career. I always maintained when people were moaning about the lack of transfere activity, and freaking out because the Mancs were spending big, that so long as we get the right player and not really the big player with the big price tag, that we'll be more than a match for them to challenge for the title. From what I've seen so far, Voronin will be a great asset to us over the next season. I was a little apprehensive about him at the start, but now if he's named on the starting 11,  I'm chuffed. Good player!

[Emerald Red]

did yossi play?

He did indeed. Nothing much to write about in his performance, apart that he looked like Luis in disguise on the ball. Went past his man a few times, and made some good runs. Final ball was weak, though. It's encouraging, though, that we now have 3 players that I seen last night that can pick the ball up outisde the area and attempt, and succeed, to beat a player to get into the box just by dropping the shoulder.

[Owzat]

I wouldn't base judgement on one match, let alone pre-season. It isn't so much I'm denying they had good or bad games, more the reaction of some that in some way this is how we should judge the signings overall - "eat your words a$$hole, Voronin is class cause he played well last night". As I say I won't be rushed into judgement, I don't need someone to tell me Voronin is class, hopefully his goals tally will do that come the end of next season.

And my main reservation is his tally of 5 goals in 44 internationals, pretty poor. Doesn't mean he won't succeed, I'm just worried about the old expression "you get what you pay for". Costing nothing is nice if there is no drop down in quality, like I say I'm not judging him yet but I hate to think people are carried away with a pre-season friendly with bold statements and predictions

[Emerald Red]

Well, if he scores more than 5 for us all season, and plays well, I'll be more than happy with him. I'm not expecting great things, but from watching him in the world cup, and his past two games for us, he's certainly going to have his uses. On a Bosman, good bit of business from Rafa if and when he decides to sell him off for a nice profit. If he looks a player come the end of next season, I'd say it will be a handsom sum.