Liverpool FC Forum

by **jkop** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:26 am

After not giving Luton our gate receipts the least we could have done is draw with them, then they can come to Anfield and get a few more shillings in their pockets.

by **66-1112520797** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:27 am

Ordinairy.

Honesly if I didnt know any better, I'd of thought Luton were the Premiership side and us the division 1 outfit. We started the first 20 mins decently enough, and from there on it went rapidly down hill.

There was nobody out there today to inspire us or to even to wake us out of a sleep walking performance. Maybe old mate who wrote that article about Gerrard and us being a one man team wasnt as far off the mark as some thought.

Stand up Xabi Alonso, Yossi Benayoun, Ryan Babel, Dirk Kuyt where were you all. If ever these lads had a point to prove then surely this game would of been it. I thought all four mentioned were ineffective and in the case of Kuyt, absolutely awful as usual.
The little ginger haired forward for them, Talbort had so much more purpose about him than Kuyt, honestly he made Kuyt like very ordinairy. 'Kuyt bashing' I here you all moan, too f.ucking right I am.

Yossi was again quiet and never got into the game, thats typical of him. He seems to struggle at the best of times to get into a game, good squad player but I definately called that wrong saying he'd have a good season.

Babel shows flashes here and there and his pace is electric, dissapointing display from him all in all. As he too drifted in and out of the game, as said before needs time.

Alonso was very average, like the team. His "hollywood balls" werent coming off, and had that of been Stevie G trying them he'd of been slated on here by some. Looked very slow and lethargic IMO, he should of put in a commanding performance as Gerrard was out but failed to deliver.

I do like the look of Ijande

or whatever the f,uck his name is, he looks a decent back up keeper.

Also you wont hear me moan about Rafa's selection, again I dont think he got that wrong, he was right to rotate. I'm glad he played Crouch, he should play him much more than he does though considering he usually opts for the hopless Kuyt, strange one that.

In moaning about that all, I'm not going to lose to much sleep over the fact we drew with Luton. What I would lose sleep over though is our poor playing form of late, we look really out of sorts. Cant put my finger on it .... Rotation probably

Oh yeah thats it just a bliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip

by **Ciggy** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:33 am

Maybe if Kuyt had not have been doing Finnans job for most of the last two games he might have scored a goal or two :glare:

by **66-1112520797** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:41 am

Ciggy wrote:Maybe if Kuyt had not have been doing Finnans job for most of the last two games he might have scored a goal or two

Whats the excuses for the rest of his sorry performances ?

Oh yeah, its Rafa telling him to play that way. :idea

by **account deleted by request** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:06 am

Bamaga man wrote:Ordinairy.

Honesly if I didnt know any better, I'd of thought Luton were the Premiership side and us the division 1 outfit. We started the first 20 mins decently enough, and from there on it went rapidly down hill.

There was nobody out there today to inspire us or to even to wake us out of a sleep walking performance. Maybe old mate who wrote that article about Gerrard and us being a one man team wasnt as far off the mark as some thought.

Stand up Xabi Alonso, Yossi Benayoun, Ryan Babel, Dirk Kuyt where were you all. If ever these lads had a point to prove then surely this game would of been it. I thought all four mentioned were ineffective and in the case of Kuyt, absolutely awful as usual.
The little ginger haired forward for them, Talbort had so much more purpose about him than Kuyt, honestly he made Kuyt like very ordinairy. 'Kuyt bashing' I here you all moan, too f.ucking right I am.

Yossi was again quiet and never got into the game, thats typical of him. He seems to struggle at the best of times to get into a game, good squad player but I definately called that wrong saying he'd have a good season.

Babel shows flashes here and there and his pace is electric, dissapointing display from him all in all. As he too drifted in and out of the game, as said before needs time.

Alonso was very average, like the team. His "hollywood balls" werent coming off, and had that of been Stevie G trying them he'd of been slated on here by some. Looked very slow and lethargic IMO, he should of put in a commanding performance as Gerrard was out but failed to deliver.

I do like the look of Ijande or whatever the f,uck his name is, he looks a decent back up keeper.

Also you wont hear me moan about Rafa's selection, again I dont think he got that wrong, he was right to rotate. I'm glad he played Crouch, he should play him much more than he does though considering he usually opts for the hopless Kuyt, strange one that.

In moaning about that all, I'm not going to lose to much sleep over the fact we drew with Luton. What I would lose sleep over though is our poor playing form of late, we look really out of sorts. Cant put my finger on it .... Rotation probably

Oh yeah thats it just a bliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip

I think you were a bit hard on Yossi, he's not really my type of player, but I thought he did better than most of our midfield and forwards yesterday, at least he tried to do something.

I was very surprised that Alonso allowed himself to get muscled off the ball so much. Edwards(I think that was his name ) won every 50/50 ball and quite a few times when he was shoulder to shoulder with Alonso seemed to be much stronger, even though Xabi looked much bigger.

I really did expect Liverpool to come out firing in the second half. I thought they had been caught cold first half, expecting a walkover and found themselves in a game. I expected a reaction after half time though, I thought Rafa would give them a blasting and they will come out and show that we are a good side. Nothing , no real improvement and no real fight (apart from Carra and Hyypia)

I was very worried before the game about our goalkeeper, but he did ok this time, which is more than you can say for most of our team.

We seem to be toothless without Torres and Gerrard, but I though class would have allowed us to create enough chances that even Kuyt might score. Unfortunately we never showed any class, little fight , and we made Luton look like they just wanted it more.(which they probably did )

At the end of the day we will probably win the replay 5-0 and everyone wil be happy , but the performance yesterday suggests that there are big problems behind the scenes.

I think its time that Benitez started to try changing the team at half time (or before) when things are obviously going so badly wrong, and why he persisted with Kuyt for 90mins is a mystery to me.

by **mattylfc** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:19 am

Yet another lacklustre performance. No complaints about our starting 11. Too many big players didnt perform.

Im a huge fan of Alonso but yesterday he was terrible. You could tell he wasnt fit and i hope this is the only reason for his poor performance. Babel started brightly and then got figured out. He then went hiding and didnt threaten at all.

Kuyt is an international player but looked so average against a poor luton defense. Why we keep putting him out wide i will never know, no wonder he doesnt know where the net is anymore.

We didnt defend well. Hyypia was not fully fit and was once again punished for his pace and once again Riise and Finnan have not played well.

Im beginning to get extremely fed up with just how ordinary we look at the moment. It just highlights how much we depend on Gerrard and Torres. We had no creativity and didnt look like scoring for the majority of the game. Too many of our players depend on the big players to perform and we can go on like this.

We just look like we havnt progressed. Not a happy bunny.

by **account deleted by request** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:27 am

The one good thing to come out of yesterdays game is that we are no longer totaly dependent on Sissoko........... We can play just as bad now without him

by **66-1112520797** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:34 am

s@int wrote:The one good thing to come out of yesterdays game is that we are no longer totaly dependent on Sissoko........... We can play just as bad now without him

by **mattylfc** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:39 am

The only positive that i can see coming out of the spell we are in is the timing of it at the beginning of the transfer window. Its pretty clear that we are still well short of a top quality team and should the right players become available in January, lets get them bedded in for next season.

Im just so disapointed at the moment. We need players with heart and passion, players that will do anything for LFC. At the minute i dont see enough of that.

We need a massive lift and we need one soon.

by **burjennio** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:45 am

Im scared to read through the previous 31 pages for fear it may drive me to jump out the 4th story window beside me in a fit of unconsollable depression "Kuyts not good enough" "Babel rubbish" "Rotation" "Global Warming." - oh the horror

Heartbreaking as im sure it is here's my 2 cents on yesterdays game. Before we even continue lets just take stock that we didn't lose The performance wasn't great and some of the players looked like they'd rather be watchin Bullseye than be within 100 miles of Kennelworth Rd but for Luton Town this game meant everything to them. A club 24 hrs away from financial ruin, the players havnt been paid in weeks but they have the knowledge that if they could even get a draw, it would set the club up with some much needed funds that would continue its existence for another month or two. How could anyone really expect any player on the Liverpool side to match that kind of motivation? For all intensive perposes these guys were playing for their livelyhoods, their mortgages and food on the table, do you really expect someone on £50k a week to even contemplate the mentality of a person in that situation? its not that they have done anything wrong just a whole different world from the glitz and glamour of the PL and CL, So lets not start giving up all hope and reaching for the handguns jusy yet, instead lets give a little credit to Luton Town, a team 2 leagues below and and whole world away from their star studded opposition, who fought like warriors and played like superstars and got the result that might just save their club

Can I get an amen?

by **Bretc** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 12:48 pm

burjennio wrote:Im scared to read through the previous 31 pages for fear it may drive me to jump out the 4th story window beside me in a fit of unconsollable depression "Kuyts not good enough" "Babel rubbish" "Rotation" "Global Warming." - oh the horror

Heartbreaking as im sure it is here's my 2 cents on yesterdays game. Before we even continue lets just take stock that we didn't lose The performance wasn't great and some of the players looked like they'd rather be watchin Bullseye than be within 100 miles of Kennelworth Rd but for Luton Town this game meant everything to them. A club 24 hrs away from financial ruin, the players havnt been paid in weeks but they have the knowledge that if they could even get a draw, it would set the club up with some much needed funds that would continue its existence for another month or two. How could anyone really expect any player on the Liverpool side to match that kind of motivation? For all intensive perposes these guys were playing for their livelyhoods, their mortgages and food on the table, do you really expect someone on £50k a week to even contemplate the mentality of a person in that situation? its not that they have done anything wrong just a whole different world from the glitz and glamour of the PL and CL, So lets not start giving up all hope and reaching for the handguns jusy yet, instead lets give a little credit to Luton Town, a team 2 leagues below and and whole world away from their star studded opposition, who fought like warriors and played like superstars and got the result that might just save their club

Can I get an amen?

Sorry, I can't give an amen here. Well, I agree with the Luton part and I fully understand why the Luton players fought so hard. BUT that's no excuse for a poor performance by the our players! Liverpool is a premier league club with top class players, many are fully fledged international players. The least they can do for earning so much is to play like professional players but they didn't.

Kuyt was an absolute disgrace, so was Babel and to a certain extent, Alonso. I've already given up on Riise so I'll not comment further on him. Why Rafa stick with Kuyt for the full 90 min is something I can never comprehend. it's shape up or ship out time and I'm afraid the time is up for many of our players - Kuyt is one of them.

by **stmichael** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 1:17 pm

Yesterday was the lowest that I've been as a Liverpool fan since Burnley three years ago. The attitude/committment of the players was a disgrace. We lost every 50:50 and were second to every lose ball. Not for the first time (or last) we played like a team of 11 individuals. WE barely strung 5 passes together, when we actually managed to have the ball. We have good players, with good technique, how they can consistently put in these type of patchy displays is beyond me - its as if its being coached out of them.

by **Ola Mr Benitez** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 1:45 pm

stmichael wrote:Yesterday was the lowest that I've been as a Liverpool fan since Burnley three years ago. The attitude/committment of the players was a disgrace. We lost every 50:50 and were second to every lose ball. Not for the first time (or last) we played like a team of 11 individuals. WE barely strung 5 passes together, when we actually managed to have the ball. We have good players, with good technique, how they can consistently put in these type of patchy displays is beyond me - its as if its being coached out of them.

I don't want to bang on the rotation drum, but I think the answer can be found in a post that was up recently stating:-

1. The players do not know they are playing till an hour before the game.

2. There is no point in busting a gut as you will probably be dropped next game anyway (I really hope none of our players have that attitude)

3. Confidence players do not get the emotional support they need after a poor game.

4. Playing with different line ups, formations means no consistancy.

Now I am not condoning this but it must have an effect. How else can a very talented squad continually play so below there potential?

I know it always seems worse after a defeat or a poor performance and we all sing to the heavens when it clicks and we destroy a team, but lets be honest, the teams we have totally battered have been pretty cr@p. We do struggle to get the results against the big boys.

by **mattylfc** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 1:48 pm

Its very frustrating when you look at some of the players that have changed since Rafas management. Kuyt, Voronin, Cisse etc were all out and out strikers when they joined liverpool. All have been employed as a right winger under benitez, all have gone down hill too in my opinion.

Too many times i have watched Liverpool fail to get going in games and wait for the opposition to spring us into action.

We have enough quality to take the game to any team and let them know they are in a game. Of late we just seem to wait and see how the game unfolds and we worry far too much about the opposition in my opinion.

We are Liverpool Football Club for christ sake, one of the biggest teams in the land. About time we showed it on the pitch.

A lot of mates have been ripping liverpool to shreds lately about the way we play and i have really struggled to defend us as team at time.

I just hope the new year can bring some major changes our way. Lets hope so.

by **LittleHobo** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 2:06 pm

peterc1992 wrote:First of all,i completly disagree wit all the about sacking benitez,hes a decent manager but has messed up a bit lately.We up the league,and the same will happen this season again like the other ones,we will be out of the race over the next month and then we wil go a great run scorrin all sorts of goals and well end up 3rd or 4th and we might get into another final.

I think we just need a bit more patience on benitez.Dirt Kuyt was signed because he was a great goalscorer in holland,he came to liverpool and he has worked so hard,it hurts us all to say it,but hes not good enough.We need another orld class striker like torres.United have Rooney,Tevez,and Saha.Torres is just as good if not better than them and our second striker(crouch,voronin,kuyt) is not as good as any of them.In midfield,once we get alonso gerrard playing in the same team again we will be flying but we just dont have enough game winners(torres.gerrard) while united have (Ronaldo,tevez,rooney) along with Hargreaves,Nani,Giggs,Scholes,anderson,carrick.............we just dont have the extra strength in depth.

dont agree with the saha point

dont think he is much better than our 3 other strikers, its just he actually is made to play up front, rather than on the wing and he has better service :suspect:

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