Liverpool FC Forum

[Sir Roger]

Forget zonal marking
While we still have Lucas, Voronin and Babel playing we have bigger problems

[LFC2007]

We certainly controlled the game, we got it out wide plenty of times, but we did lack a lot of creativity...

There's 'majority of possession' and there's control, and given the free-kicks, corners and the penalty we conceded, we certainly didn't have an acceptable degree of control over our play. For about 10 minutes in the second half it looked like we reached an acceptable level, but we didn't sustain it, and shouldn't even have allowed Villa to get into the position where they could have won that penalty. At 3-1 you could say we were had proper control of the game, by which time of course Villa had every man behind the ball working their nuts off and closing down as a tight unit, because the game was as good as gone. We didn't control it when we needed to, is my point.

[Sir Roger]

We lost control of our discipline and composure
And in some cases, our sanity

[LFC2007]

[JoeTerp]

We certainly controlled the game, we got it out wide plenty of times, but we did lack a lot of creativity...

There's 'majority of possession' and there's control, and given the free-kicks, corners and the penalty we conceded, we certainly didn't have an acceptable degree of control over our play. For about 10 minutes in the second half it looked like we reached an acceptable level, but we didn't sustain it, and shouldn't even have allowed Villa to get into the position where they could have won that penalty. At 3-1 you could say we were had proper control of the game, by which time of course Villa had every man behind the ball working their nuts off and closing down as a tight unit, because the game was as good as gone. We didn't control it when we needed to, is my point.

while we didn't control the first half, I certianly thought we had the upper hand and we looked dangerous in the first 10, and then the game was mostly nuetral in terms of play the rest of the 35.

It was ridiculous how uneven the referee was being for what their defenders could do to Torres and how little we could get away with imo. Clearly, Lucas put in a stupid foul, and it was a foul, but Mascherano did the exact same thing in a very similar area, in what seemed to be out of frustration of Torres not getting a call for having the defender run through his back.  There was also a high level of frustration in the team on the 2nd goal, it didn't seem like we were in a good mental state, and a lot of that was born out of the ref.  Not to say its legit for us to put it on him, we need to learn as a team not to let that affect us.

[dawson99]

Forget zonal marking
While we still have Lucas, Voronin and Babel playing we have bigger problems

those 3 lost us the games we lost?
I thought it was pi$$ poor defending and no midfield and a lot of things, i think more or less the whole team, not bit part players?

but lets just blame the same 3.. and the yanks every time we play bad, much simpler

[Dazzer]

If i was Rafa which i'm obviously not, i would trawl the reserves their must be a players who
he can swap with Voronin and Babel

I love mistyred

[Lando_Griffin]

On the left, assuming Riera is going to be sold/has fallen out with the manager/isn't doing well enough in training or whatever, that leaves a gap.

Hopefully it's not the case, but I see comments in the forum here in and there, is there some sort of sign that's the case?

As for the rest of the post I agree, we're a bit under pressure, but I tend to agree aswell Bad Bob what he says in the match thread about us improving and our rusty starts. The problem will be as he says not to lose sight of the leaders.

On the Johnson note, yes, step up over Arbie and quite evident, I normally don't say these things after two games (I still have to watch today's game).

Arbeloa was safe and solid. DId his job as a professional. Working hard in every game. Good passing, good defending. A nice guy. Team player. Treating others with dignity and respect.

Johnson is also a good player. Just lacking the consistency Arbeloa offered. A little bit of a hot head. More likely to do that costly mistake that Arbeloa didn't.

Anyway there is no reason to splash a net of 18 million minus 4 million = 14 millions on a right back whan that area was sorted out.

This happened because Liverpool were forced to buy british (CL rule) and because the owners fooled Rafa into believing that he could buy Johnson and Still have money left to strenghten other areas.

Arbeloa made it clear to the gaffer long ago that he wanted to return to Spain.

We had to replace him one way or another - he and his family hadn't settled in England.

[redbeergoggles]

My suggestion would not be a popular one ,but I think Liverpool need to get back to basics this penchant for going for the jugular in the first 10 mins has to stop Liverpool are well known for their patient and methodical approach to the game something Chelsea seem to be honing to perfection of late .

I don't expect to see Carragher over his own halfway line ,it just doesn't sit right with me, and this worrying trend to go all out attack after putting ourselves back into the game is seriously leaving us open to a swift counter attack,surely fans who are used to watching Liverpools clinical approach to  games over the last few seasons realise this ,because its simple to me Liverpool do not have the personnel to control midfield allowing Torres and co to flourish and this is having serious repercussions on our start to the season .

Last season was painful and I thought a lesson learnt , apparently the games against Arsenal at Anfield ,Chelsea at the Bridge in the Champions league were not sufficient enough ,as a lesson in how not to defend .

I expect and totally accept that Rafa will eventually turn Anfield into a fortress as he has recently stated, but I dont think he had Cloppa Castle in mind as an example ,we need to stop the hurried and frankly amateurish  forays into all out attack  ,it leaves the team weak in Midfield and the defence susceptible ,Rafa needs to instil the discipline once more and get back to the traits of all successful sides a strong defence and an equally adept and solid midfield ,then and only then  can we can start playing flowing inventive football ,lets get back the cohesion and basic understanding amongst the players .

[dawson99]

stoke last season is a game we probably woulda drawn

spurs and villa can beat anyone on there day...

every cloud?

[Dazzer]

stoke last season is a game we probably woulda drawn

spurs and villa can beat anyone on there day...

every cloud?

Only if every cloud rains on you and hits you with a bolt of lightning then ..... Yes !

[parchpea]

Back in the day Liverpool could have a shaky start but hit top form and go like a train after xmas and win the title but I am pretty sure this group are not capable of putting a run like that together. We will hit form of some sort but not sure it will be the kind of push that will take a title in this league now. Not sure who to blame these days but we just do not have enough top players to push on. There are a few in the ranks that have not done anything but have been retained another year when in my opinion we should have cleared them out and new blood in. Those guys aside I can only assume we dont have cash to buy a forward as lord knows what will happen when Torres gets a knock. Maybe they think he can play every game this season. We can move Kuyt forward but then we are short on the right and its not adding up. For the first time Benitez has publicly got stuck into individuals and the team and so that shows hes feeling the strain in a year when deep down we all know he must deliver the title. Its a big ask and although last years efforts give us hope we really must improve dramatically to still be in with a shout. These opening exchanges just made a tough task even harder already and thats the frustrating part.

[Dazzer]

My suggestion would not be a popular one ,but I think Liverpool need to get back to basics this penchant for going for the jugular in the first 10 mins has to stop Liverpool are well known for their patient and methodical approach to the game something Chelsea seem to be honing to perfection of late .

I don't expect to see Carragher over his own halfway line ,it just doesn't sit right with me, and this worrying trend to go all out attack after putting ourselves back into the game is seriously leaving us open to a swift counter attack,surely fans who are used to watching Liverpools clinical approach to  games over the last few seasons realise this ,because its simple to me Liverpool do not have the personnel to control midfield allowing Torres and co to flourish and this is having serious repercussions on our start to the season .

Last season was painful and I thought a lesson learnt , apparently the games against Arsenal at Anfield ,Chelsea at the Bridge in the Champions league were not sufficient enough ,as a lesson in how not to defend .

I expect and totally accept that Rafa will eventually turn Anfield into a fortress as he has recently stated, but I dont think he had Cloppa Castle in mind as an example ,we need to stop the hurried and frankly amateurish  forays into all out attack  ,it leaves the team weak in Midfield and the defence susceptible ,Rafa needs to instil the discipline once more and get back to the traits of all successful sides a strong defence and an equally adept and solid midfield ,then and only then  can we can start playing flowing inventive football ,lets get back the cohesion and basic understanding amongst the players .

I agree with this 94.56% I meen we attack to much early on it leaves us open very much to the counter attack.If we sat back a little more and invited them onto us we could counter them.

[Reg]

I agree with this 94.56% I meen we attack to much early on it leaves us open very much to the counter attack.If we sat back a little more and invited them onto us we could counter them.

It also leaves us tired once the adrenalin wears off and the other team starts to attack. Its not a very sophisticated approach is it?

I wonder if Statto has to hand the timings of teh first golas scored against us last season and how many were in the 20 to 30 minute period?

[Ola Mr Benitez]

Back in the day Liverpool could have a shaky start but hit top form and go like a train after xmas and win the title but I am pretty sure this group are not capable of putting a run like that together.

The squad is not that different than last year... We should be able to put a similar run togther to get us back up amongst it... However the difference I see is in years gone by you could lose 6 to 10 games and still win the title, nowadays it is a lot harder.

Man U lost 4 games last year but drew loads less than us.. lets not hit the panic button just yet... IF we turn most if not all our home draws into wins we can still do it.. no pressure!