Liverpool FC Forum

[Festy]

"I'm happy with my performances, especially with Javier, and I think we are linking well. But my form is not important; the team is all that matters and we have to improve."

....and yet we win 3/15 games. Yeah...you are playing well, linking well..correct yeah... 

[Kerry07]

ALONSO

I still think there are SOME who aint yet aware of the devastation his leaving has had. The pivot has gone, the crucial link between defence and attack.

With respect to lucas who was particularly shocking, he'd make a decent aquisition for Blackburn or Fulham... but at this level you cannot have a passenger in the single most important position of the field slap bang in the center. Its the reason Barca inspite of having a pisspoor defence and goalkeeper are the best team in the world because their central midfield duo play keep ball, so the defence is never exposed.

We are loose in midfield... theres no ball retention, no controlled possession, no protection infront of defence or taking the ball off them, no incisive passes to the attack.

Alonso was the glue in this team.... we are now loose, under greater pressure, the "compact" aspect has gone as they aint playing as a unit, and when you lose the brains of the team who made us tick then that has a catastrophic affect on the team.

I am staggered there are some who cant yet see this. I watched the game today awaiting the inevitable loose period where we cant hold the ball, as a result the opposing team get chances, while the lack of possession means we also dont create. That 2nd half was simply a rudderless team... they tried, but theres no conductor, no one pulling the strings in the midfield. While Torres and Gerrard got all the plaudits and headlines for the goals, and Carra for his outspoken nature and organising the backline... it was the modest, quiet, thinker Alonso... who kept the whole team running smoothly bang in the center.

[polygemus]

I have given up watching Liverpool for anything more than 45 min this year.

Especially watching Lucas Leiva is a pain in the a*s.

We might as well bring back Mohamed Sissoko.

Our midfield was run ragged Yesterday, SO  CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF ,WE ACTUALLY MISSED LEIVA BADLY LAST NIGHT...   

Midfield will not be ran ragged if the passes are strung together properly. W/o alonso we struggle to string more than 5 passes at anytime. And I am not talking about back passes to defenders/gk.

Benitez has lost the plot. Anyone who's obsessed with football 24/7 and with controlling his players right down to every last strand of hair is a maniac who will not be able to achieve much....

[Festy]

Benitez has lost the plot. Anyone who's obsessed with football 24/7 and with controlling his players right down to every last strand of hair is a maniac who will not be able to achieve much....

Couldn't agree more fella. Spot on.

[Sir Roger]

Benitez has lost the plot. Anyone who's obsessed with football 24/7 and with controlling his players right down to every last strand of hair is a maniac who will not be able to achieve much....

Couldn't agree more fella. Spot on.

Thats the most worrying part right there.
Control
Instead of letting players express themselves though their football, they are being told what to do and when to do it. This constricts and strangles individuality which leads to mistakes and dis-unity.
Set them free like the end of last season and see what happens...

[Festy]

Benitez has lost the plot. Anyone who's obsessed with football 24/7 and with controlling his players right down to every last strand of hair is a maniac who will not be able to achieve much....

Couldn't agree more fella. Spot on.

Thats the most worrying part right there.
Control
Instead of letting players express themselves though their football, they are being told what to do and when to do it. This constricts and strangles individuality which leads to mistakes and dis-unity.
Set them free like the end of last season and see what happens...

Absolutely....
It's like this with Rafa:

- Lucas, if I'm not wrong was a center mid for his old club, he has been asked to sit back, commit unnecessary fouls and pass only sideways and backwards now.
- Gerrard's preferred role has always been box-to-box, he likes to contribute in defense as well, he has himself told this in the past. Now he's been asked to play as a second striker. In the past he has been played all over the pitch as a RM, LM, RB etc..
- Kuyt, a natural deep lying center forward has been converted into defensive right sided midfielder.
- Aquilani, who likes to run around and attack, is being (for what we have seen so far) asked to perform a holding midfielder duty.
- Carra, who doesn't like playing at RB, has been asked to play there many times.
- Skrtel has been played at RB too. Even though we had other options in that game against Boro.
- Fabio Aurelio has himself forgotten what kind of player he is. A LB ? LWB ? LM ? CM ? DM ? He has been played at center mid and we are out of champions league now.

[Owzat]

I find it hard to criticise Rafa for playing Gerrard off Torres because it has been so f in eFFective. We lack great amounts of creativity in the final third and all people worry about is the lack of defensive responsibilites given to Gerrard?!?!?!?

Before Rafa shifted Gerrard into a more attacking role in 07/08, he had only once scored 20+ goals - back in 05/06 when 7 of the 23 came in the early qualifying rounds of the Champions League. In 07/08 and 08/09 he scored 21 and 24 goals respectively, I think that record justifies playing Gerrard in his current role. Surely people can't be questioning the effectiveness of the Torres-Gerrard partnership. Much easier to suggest Keane-Torres or Torres-Kuyt or Torres-player-we-might-have-signed would have been perfect as a front two and Gerrard could have played box2box again with no detrimental effect on our scoring or team.

Sure the team looks a lot worse without Alonso and it was Alonso that made the formation work, doesn't mean reverting to a system that worked last before we bought Torres is a solution

[Kerry07]

"What is Lucas doing in a Liverpool shirt"? - Bobby Gould at Half time (Talksport)

Wasnt listening to BBC and therefore didnt hear Alan Green's routine ridicule of the lad. I personally refuse to watch us right now (car crash TV) as we are so incredibly loose in central midfield, there is no ball retention, no control and platform to both defend and attack.


With the devastating effect of Losing the pivot Alonso, the link man between defence with attack, we are being outplayed by dross for the first time in over a decade. We've had passing midfield dictators in Redknapp, Hamann, McAllister, Alonso in central midfield who controlled games for the last 14 years, and very RARELY were we been outpassed and outclassed.. this season its a weekly event. You cannot win games you dont control, you cannot expect to compete when you have a handicap in the most important position in the team that affects everyone.

Rafa will lose his job, and its that one change (losing Alonso having alienated him.. and replacing him with lucas) that will cost him his job,

[Kerry07]

The downgrade in central midfield from Alonso to lucas, as the sole change from last season, has been too big a handicap for the players to contend with. Last season we controlled games from the center... this season we are being ripped apart.

Gerrard is getting zero service, the wide men are also being starved. There is no one in the center midfield pinging incisive passes to them anymore. Also there is no one sat infront of the defence demanding the ball of the back 4, then setting up an attack from deep, and giving us midfield control, composure. Instead we are loose in midfield...so fragile and easily dismantled.

Lucas...played 23, assists 1, goals 0. No passing range, slow, hides, avoids responsibility and wont make himself open after his customary 5 yard sideways pass, cant shoot, cant tackle, powder puff player slap bang in the center,

The mass ridicule he gets outside the club is merited,

[mjlfc09]

Disagree with me all you want but i thought Lucas had a good game tonight and did a number of things that people have criticized him for not doing previously i.e forward passing, forward runs etc.

[andy_g]

i thought he had an excellent game as well with plenty of running and plenty of craft. maybe he was liberated by the absence of mascherano, or maybe he was better with the more creative aquilani.

[roberto green]

i thought he had an excellent game as well with plenty of running and plenty of craft. maybe he was liberated by the absence of mascherano, or maybe he was better with the more creative aquilani.

totally agree there mate I said something similar in the Aqualani thread

[NANNY RED]

i thought he had an excellent game as well with plenty of running and plenty of craft. maybe he was liberated by the absence of mascherano, or maybe he was better with the more creative aquilani.

Done alrite to day , he will have a flag soon

[made in UK]

Average again.

[Number 9]

i thought he had an excellent game as well with plenty of running and plenty of craft. maybe he was liberated by the absence of mascherano, or maybe he was better with the more creative aquilani.

Done alrite to day , he will have a flag soon

and a song

Oooh Lucas
You used to play like mucus
and brazilian you were not
and now you play like pele
well im only joking
cause your hair keeps you choking
I know you thought it drastic when
we said you were a spastic
cause you dribbled from
your mouth and not your feet.....................
what a treat
We know you have a problem
Its there for all to see
Alonso you are not
to stop this little rot?
Stay on the bench kiddo beside fu'ckin Babel if he is lucky enough to get on it!