Liverpool FC Forum

bigmick wrote:Just before we go any further, are you being serious here mate? I mean it was only in the first game of the season at Villa that he won the match for us with an absolute World-Class free kick. In the second game of the season, he pinges a lovely little throgh ball into Torres which led to the goal against Chelsea.

I can understand your frustration with the way we are performing, and I haven't seen as much football as I would like but in the games I have seen, to say Gerrard has been useless is just being silly.

I've said this a few times now but it's not as simple as scapegoating one player or bemoaning the lack of another. The team is now woefully short of form and confidence and because of that, all the parts within it are now malfunctioning. Rectifying this problem takes time and patience. It brings the previos pages and pages of debate about the "R" word into sharp focus and is the precise reason why some of us advocate not fiddling around too much when you stumble upon a formula which appears to be working. The reality is of course rectifying the problem can be very difficult.

Those expecting us to suddenly start playing well are going to be disappointed in my view because thats not how it works. Even a good win won't put us back into form, it takes more than one game. It requires a run of results for confidence to grow. When it grows to the extent that even if you start the game poorly, or even go one behind but still think you will win, then you're onto something. We'll all just have to wait for that to come around though and in the meantime it's going to be a rocky road. If and when it does come round of course, some of us will be advocating doing the minimum possible to disturb the equilebrium.

Unfortunately he was...

Gerrard's , sell him.

Kharhaz wrote:

bigmick wrote:

Kharhaz wrote:Tell ya what i'll go further. Gerrard has been SH.IT. Captain my hes done nothing lately. Great player without a doubt. But when it comes to performances in the games that dont require a trophy he goes missing. Name an instance in which im proved wrong.

Just before we go any further, are you being serious here mate? I mean it was only in the first game of the season at Villa that he won the match for us with an absolute World-Class free kick. In the second game of the season, he pinges a lovely little throgh ball into Torres which led to the goal against Chelsea.

I can understand your frustration with the way we are performing, and I haven't seen as much football as I would like but in the games I have seen, to say Gerrard has been useless is just being silly.

I've said this a few times now but it's not as simple as scapegoating one player or bemoaning the lack of another. The team is now woefully short of form and confidence and because of that, all the parts within it are now malfunctioning. Rectifying this problem takes time and patience. It brings the previos pages and pages of debate about the "R" word into sharp focus and is the precise reason why some of us advocate not fiddling around too much when you stumble upon a formula which appears to be working. The reality is of course rectifying the problem can be very difficult.

Those expecting us to suddenly start playing well are going to be disappointed in my view because thats not how it works. Even a good win won't put us back into form, it takes more than one game. It requires a run of results for confidence to grow. When it grows to the extent that even if you start the game poorly, or even go one behind but still think you will win, then you're onto something. We'll all just have to wait for that to come around though and in the meantime it's going to be a rocky road. If and when it does come round of course, some of us will be advocating doing the minimum possible to disturb the equilebrium.

Im not bemoaning one player. What im doing is highlighting the fact that Gerrard is our captain and should be one of the front runners in ensuring our team gets the result. I hate to say it but Roy Keane had more influence in all games he played in then what our captain has.

Oh boo hoo, Roy Keane had more influence than our captain. How about Roy Keane's probably one of the best ever players in his position lad...

Thats like saying Maradonna done more than Gerrard, that means Gerrard must be ...

RUSHIE#9 wrote:Reina - Not a chance with the goal, best passer in team tonight says it all.
Finnan - Looked his usual self at times and lost track of Zenden at others.
Carragher - Like so many not his usual self tonight.
Hyypia - Steady performance but did struggle with their front man's pace.
Aurelio -
Benayoun - Didn't do much at all, all night.
Gerrard - Maybe the only player with a valid excuse for a poor performance. Still poor though.
Sissoko - Looked like a pub team player (a poor one at that).
Leto - Just not ready yet for top level footy.
Crouch - Not doing much to make Rafa play him more often.
Torres - Had nothing to feed off of all night. Unlucky not to score in dying moments.

Subs:
Riise - BIG improvement over Leto.
Voronin - Didn't really do anything when he came on.
Kuyt - His workrate may have been more fruitful tonight than in recent league performances.

Benitez - Got it all wrong tonight. We all agree that this rotation shite MUST STOP NOW!!!!!!

peewee wrote:well i think the last few weeks can put one thing to bed, rotation does not work.

i know people will blame the past few weeks on many things, trying to shift the blame from rotation, but the fact is that if rotation worked it would be working now, but the last few weeks has shown us players disinterested, players looking unfamiliar with one another, players concerned about whether they will get picked again, players scared to express themselves, players lying and saying they are happy with the situation, we have seen ridiculous team selections, we have seen 22 million quids worth of talent sat on the bench so he is fit next april for all the big games we will have at that time (although quite what these big games will be god only knows, maybe the big games are battles for 4th spot again).

all of these faults lie at rafas door, he picks the team, he picks the tactics, he make the changes during games when its not going right (showing how wrong he got it to start with), and even then some of his substitutions are mind boggling.

i pointed out in the match thread (that others are now starting to mention) that I have to question just who was the tactical genius in the relationship, rafa or pako, because rafa looks lost without him.

just for once i want rafa to swallow his pride and say "i got it wrong", I want him to admit he tactics do no not work every game, I want him to show us this attacking football he has promised us rather than defending, I want to see exactly what we can do when the shackles are of instead of him sh*tting himself. i want to see him trying to win games rather than trying to not lose games.

i want all this sooner rather than later, before G&H go knocking on maureens door and we lose a manager who has great potential when he drops his stubborness and admit he isn't the tactical genius some of you think he is. we have so much talent in our team it's frightening, but the oppo must love it when we just try ad counterattack leading to stalemates, we should be battering these teams from the first minute to the last, unless of course we are conserving our energy for that battle for 4th spot in may

peewee wrote:well i think the last few weeks can put one thing to bed, rotation does not work.

i know people will blame the past few weeks on many things, trying to shift the blame from rotation, but the fact is that if rotation worked it would be working now, but the last few weeks has shown us players disinterested, players looking unfamiliar with one another, players concerned about whether they will get picked again, players scared to express themselves, players lying and saying they are happy with the situation, we have seen ridiculous team selections, we have seen 22 million quids worth of talent sat on the bench so he is fit next april for all the big games we will have at that time (although quite what these big games will be god only knows, maybe the big games are battles for 4th spot again).

all of these faults lie at rafas door, he picks the team, he picks the tactics, he make the changes during games when its not going right (showing how wrong he got it to start with), and even then some of his substitutions are mind boggling.

i pointed out in the match thread (that others are now starting to mention) that I have to question just who was the tactical genius in the relationship, rafa or pako, because rafa looks lost without him.

just for once i want rafa to swallow his pride and say "i got it wrong", I want him to admit he tactics do no not work every game, I want him to show us this attacking football he has promised us rather than defending, I want to see exactly what we can do when the shackles are of instead of him sh*tting himself. i want to see him trying to win games rather than trying to not lose games.

i want all this sooner rather than later, before G&H go knocking on maureens door and we lose a manager who has great potential when he drops his stubborness and admit he isn't the tactical genius some of you think he is. we have so much talent in our team it's frightening, but the oppo must love it when we just try ad counterattack leading to stalemates, we should be battering these teams from the first minute to the last, unless of course we are conserving our energy for that battle for 4th spot in may

Not only is that harsh but I feel alot of it is knee jerk.

Rafa tonight, got his tactics wrong. But the players are as much to blame for tonights inept performance as the manager. His team selection "could have been better" however, if I'm honest, we're talking Kuyt, Riise and Mascherano instead of Momo, Leto (who is a joke) and Crouch.

The big names were in there, Gerrard and Torres. What annoyed me most tonight wasn't the in ability to pass a ball, but the lack of pressure on the ball. I could have played for Marseille tonight and not looked out of place Liverpool were that bad. The time on the ball each player had was rediculous. Carragher and Hyypia were far to deep all game and none of the players had the to say, right, we'll push up another 15/20 yards.

No Marseille player was once rushed into playing pass and it cost us. The whole team sat far to deep, and I can't be arsed with the "Hyypia" debate, he's played in a high line many a time and tonight would have been just another occassion, and lets face is, Daniel Agger isn't exactly quick either.

The team as a whole was to deep, every problem we encountered was because of this. Benitez got the tactics wrong and the players should have realised what was going on and corrected it.

What I do find rather strange is a comment The Rock has just made regarding this being similar to Houllier's reign, it was about this time it went Tits up for Gerard and it was also about this time Patrice Bergues left aswell if I'm not mistaken?

There are alot of parralells. However, this team is in good shape. Its a case of signing maybe another 3-4 players to complete the squad and take us to a level where most teams won't be able to compete.