Liverpool FC Forum

by **Boocity** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 5:01 pm

I cannot believe some of the posts after this game, 'It was ok', 'It was only portsmouth' etc.

lets face it, that was one of the best attacking games we have had all season, Babel, Aquaman, Torres, Maxi all looked good. Reading some of the posts you would think people would prefer Lucas and Kuyt in the team.

Yes it was only Portsmouth who are at the bottom of the EPL but they are in the semis of the FA Cup and they have won 3 of their last 5 games.

It was good to see us getting to the byeline and pulling dangerous crosses into the box rather than hitting hopeful balls from mid way into the opponents half. It was good to see sharp and penetrating passing and movement and not be bored sh1tless as with some of the recent displays. We need to win on Thursday so why would we bring back Lucas and have two defensive midfielders against Lille, just to prevent them from scoring, if we don't score its irrelevant.
Against ManU I would much rather we went to OT and took the game to them rather than go back to the negative defensive cr@p we have seen and concede a late goal.

Is it a coincidence that this display comes when Rafa fields most of our talented players on the pitch at the same time, we should demand that he carries on with this type of selection and tactics and not simply go back to the negative (and costly) displays just because its Rafa and in Rafa we are supposed to trust.

by **liverpoolusfan** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 5:06 pm

heimdall wrote:Finally Rafa plays an attacking formation and surprise surprise we start scoring goals and looking dangerous in attack plus less pressure on the defence. I'm so happy we have a genius manager, only took him 30 fecking games to figure it out mind you.

All the same very very happy with the win but I still think it's too little too late.

Agreed. This team does have the talent for exciting football. Once I saw the starting eleven, I knew the style of play that was coming. Unfortunately these players were under ulitize because of the conservative nature of management.

Think of all the games and points loss away from Anfield because management went there with the intent of "not to lose" as oppose to "going for the win." Only when that strategy backfired, did the tactics change.

But as stated, it might be too late. Will be interested to see how long management stays with this style. Is it a permanent change or just an abbreration?

by **LFC2007** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 5:48 pm

Yeah, I agree with that too. We saw a marked improvement in everything related to our attacking play and that shouldn't be overlooked simply because of the standard of opposition. If we'd approached games like that against half of the teams we haven't beaten this season, we'd have created a lot more chances, probably taken a few more points and perhaps might still be in one or two other competitions.

Among the front five it really did click. They all contributed something of significance to at least one of the goals. Gerrard's hard-work and Maxi's support play facilitated the first. For the second we saw a lovely bit of interplay between Aquilani-Gerrard-Maxi-Johnson that got us in behind the Pompey defence and meant we had players in the box when Johnson put the cross in that Babel eventually finished. That's the kind of coordination that we call 'good football'. The third was a result of Gerrard finding space out wide, linking with Torres, and having Aquilani follow it all the way into the box and slotting it under the keeper. The fourth came after a slick forward pass and an excellent finish.

Aquilani was obviously the catalyst for the performance with his range of passing, his incisiveness and his movement, and frankly we don't often see that when Lucas plays alongside Masch. The movement of Gerrard was notably improved. Granted he got more space and time than normal - everybody did - but he was interchanging with Babel and occasionally Maxi - who both had good games - in order to link the play, and he found success in these areas. Simply, this was no static performance.

Now, I'm not getting carried away with just the one result but it was mightily refreshing to see us play some good football. And if you can't get excited about that then, IMO, you're a bit of a pleb...

In conclusion, LINK Pepe's face :laugh:

by **account deleted by request** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 6:46 pm

First time I have bothered to watch the highlights of a game afterwards for a long time. It may only have
been Pompey, but it was "only" Wigan last week and the difference in performance is stark.(or maybe Lucas and Kuyt

)

We played quick passing, some clever touches, good movement and aggressive running, hardly seems possible after some of the cr@p we have been forced to endure recently. Aquilani while still not tackling had an excellent game and renewed my hopes that he will "make it " with us. Another good performance on Thursday should set us up nicely for the must win game against the mancs.

by **metalhead** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 7:18 pm

My only worry is our vulnerability at the back! We look really not up to it when defending. Maybe because we pushed high up and we let Portsmouth get away with it in spells.

We still need to fix ourselves there, it won't do us any good if we don't. Other than that Rafa has to stick to this team, we are keeping the ball much better, and we need to keep possession to have any chance against the Mancs

by **NANNY RED** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 7:26 pm

Boocity wrote:I cannot believe some of the posts after this game, 'It was ok', 'It was only portsmouth' etc.

.

If you have ever read any of my posts you will know that . IT WAS OK , was actualy me being sarky ,

Even when we play sh.ite i usualy find a little spark somewhere , even if its the tea lady makin a nice cuppa,

It was tongue in cheek remark by me mate , Same as the NOT BAD comment in the first half :laugh:

by **Boocity** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 8:42 am

NANNY RED wrote:
Boocity wrote:I cannot believe some of the posts after this game, 'It was ok', 'It was only portsmouth' etc.

.

If you have ever read any of my posts you will know that . IT WAS OK , was actualy me being sarky ,

Even when we play sh.ite i usualy find a little spark somewhere , even if its the tea lady makin a nice cuppa,

It was tongue in cheek remark by me mate , Same as the NOT BAD comment in the first half

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