Liverpool FC Forum

by **Sabre** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 9:54 pm

I quite agree Bad Bob.

I think Zenden is a decent midfielder, it's just that I don't understand that some players are given some games without playing regularly on the team.

Meaning, just when we were wondering how come Gonzalez was playing so few games, he played against Manchester United, that was quite shocking for me, as it is a tough game and what's worse, if you lose against them the defeat hurts more because they're archenemies thus helping those players to be scapegoats.

by **stmichael** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 10:12 pm

Bad Bob wrote:Zenden is falling far too rapidly into the convenient scapegoat category, for my tastes. Certainly he is a limited player in a number of key regards but he is also a model professional: he's versatile, he's level-headed, he works hard for the team and he doesn't mind spending a good deal of time on the bench when our "best 11" are fit and firing on all cylinders. While many of us would no doubt prefer to see Stevie in the middle of the park and other options used wide left ahead of Bolo, he's still managed to "do a job" when called upon by Rafa this season. Perpetually slating Zenden may feel like a fun bandwagon to jump aboard but the reality is he is not the exclusive source of the team's current malaise and the amount of stick he's getting is out of all proportion given the service he has provided to this club. Let's give the lad a break, hmmm?

I agree that he's been made a scapegoat, far too harshly by some, but serious questions have to be asked about whethet he's good enough to play in a 2 man central midfield.

Imo he doesn't offer enough going forward or backward and is exposed in a 2. Because he's a busy give and go type player I think he can do a job in a 3, but he's way out of his depth in a 2.

I was all for playing him on Sunday after recent performances, he'd earned the opportunity. Unfortunately after a reasonable start he was badly found out. I think he will do okay against weaker teams and probably score a few goals but he won't hack it in a midfield battle.

by **Bad Bob** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 10:26 pm

stmichael wrote:I agree that he's been made a scapegoat, far too harshly by some, but serious questions have to be asked about whethet he's good enough to play in a 2 man central midfield.

Imo he doesn't offer enough going forward or backward and is exposed in a 2. Because he's a busy give and go type player I think he can do a job in a 3, but he's way out of his depth in a 2.

I was all for playing him on Sunday after recent performances, he'd earned the opportunity. Unfortunately after a reasonable start he was badly found out. I think he will do okay against weaker teams and probably score a few goals but he won't hack it in a midfield battle.

I definitely agree that Zenden's not our best option in the middle of the park. He'll do a job for us but he'll never be the one driving us forward or snuffing out an opposition move. Ultimately, he's a utility player with a lot of experience who you can count on to be a steady hand. As someone suggested in another thread, he's pretty much Vladi Mark II.

My point about the scapegoating, then, is more to do with OTT reactions to his presence on the pitch. While he'll rarely hit the heights we expect of Liverpool central midfielders, he's also not one to let the team down badly and I don't think he deserves to be the fans' whipping boy. Criticism of the lads and the gaffer is understandable and justified given our overall form this season but let's not oversimplify things. We are not all but out of the title race because Zenden's played a few matches in central midfield. The current underachievement is a little more complicated than that!

by **7_Kewell** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 10:53 pm

CharmlessMan wrote:
7_Kewell wrote:still...its better than the Bitters. Look what happened to Beattie when he started the Frosties.

I'd be grateful if you didn't post your fetish's on the board.
Zenden is being used as a scapegoat, it's not on and if anyone has noticed Zenden has been one of the few hard working players this season.

i typed in Frosties to google and it come up....made me laugh so much i had to post it

by **67-1161385641** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:16 pm

7_Kewell wrote:
CharmlessMan wrote:
7_Kewell wrote:still...its better than the Bitters. Look what happened to Beattie when he started the Frosties.

I'd be grateful if you didn't post your fetish's on the board.
Zenden is being used as a scapegoat, it's not on and if anyone has noticed Zenden has been one of the few hard working players this season.

i typed in Frosties to google and it come up....made me laugh so much i had to post it

Yeah, it's amusing!

by **Cool Hand Luke** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:18 pm

Zenden is a former winger who no longer has the pace or the stamina to play there, so he fills in as a CM. His game from CM is based on breaking into the box, much like Gerrard, unfortunately for both of them, Rafa’s 4-4-2 doesn’t give his CMs the freedom to do this.. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to hang on the Hamann and now Sissoko has picked up a long term injury, CM and RB were the 2 positions I was worried about picking injuries up in.

I think we really don’t have much choice but to stick Gerrard back in the centre or play 3 in the centre with Gerrard and Zenden flanking Alonso, much the way Chelsea have played since Mourhino has arrived, with Lampard and Essien/Tiago flanking Makaele.

I don’t think we can play Zenden alongside Alonso in a 4-4-2 for the next 3 months, it just doesn’t seem viable to me, something has to give.

by **tubby** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:27 pm

stmichael wrote:
Bad Bob wrote:Zenden is falling far too rapidly into the convenient scapegoat category, for my tastes. Certainly he is a limited player in a number of key regards but he is also a model professional: he's versatile, he's level-headed, he works hard for the team and he doesn't mind spending a good deal of time on the bench when our "best 11" are fit and firing on all cylinders. While many of us would no doubt prefer to see Stevie in the middle of the park and other options used wide left ahead of Bolo, he's still managed to "do a job" when called upon by Rafa this season. Perpetually slating Zenden may feel like a fun bandwagon to jump aboard but the reality is he is not the exclusive source of the team's current malaise and the amount of stick he's getting is out of all proportion given the service he has provided to this club. Let's give the lad a break, hmmm?

I agree that he's been made a scapegoat, far too harshly by some, but serious questions have to be asked about whethet he's good enough to play in a 2 man central midfield.

Imo he doesn't offer enough going forward or backward and is exposed in a 2. Because he's a busy give and go type player I think he can do a job in a 3, but he's way out of his depth in a 2.

I was all for playing him on Sunday after recent performances, he'd earned the opportunity. Unfortunately after a reasonable start he was badly found out. I think he will do okay against weaker teams and probably score a few goals but he won't hack it in a midfield battle.

No i think hes :censored:

and thats the end of story.

Hes ok at best. Hes always giving the ball away and running into people.

Id expect him to be out the door come the summer.

by **66-1112520797** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 1:28 pm

Like others Zenden does seem the scapegoat and I myself would of prefered to see Gerrard in the middle. But like S@int says he give his all and works. But the only problem with that is, its just simply not good enough and TBH I dont think he's good enough for the pool TBH. Again Rafa's selection and purchase of him is more of a question.

by **Judge** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:24 pm

zenden the white heskey. useless

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