Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 12:37 pm
red37 wrote:to my reckoning the following players have had cause for criticism so far this term. rightly or wrongly its happened.
REINA
FINNAN
CARRAGHER
HYYPIA
RIISE
PENNANT
GERRARD
ALONSO
AURELIO
BELLAMY
CROUCH
to a lesser extent have Sissoko, Gonzalez, Warnock, Garcia and Zenden.
but of those above, that is a whole side. and almost the entire squad! more pertinantly however, they were the actual starting 11 from yesterday. and you'd struggle to single out a top-draw performance to date from most of them. i find it as astounding in equal proportions that, A) there are so many of them who are underperforming and B) why we continue to be so surprised by it.
something clearly is wrong at the club. you cannot say virtually the whole squad has started a new season as poorly as they plainly have done due to anything less. there seriously appears to be cracks appearing for one reason or another...how else can you explain the amount of players up for debate on that list?
or are we just expecting the earth from them. you can go into the greatest depths of debate til the cows come home concerning laying the blame with either 'rotation, formation, permutation or simple alteration. but there is no argument to be questioned regarding Dedication...something that appears to be becoming an issue behind everything else.
there are extremely gifted footballers playing for Liverpool, there usually always has been. but all the ability in the world cant account for having the character necessary in shaping Winners out of those who otherwise are really just pretenders. and its become painfully evident that to be champions of england that not only requires stamina and luck along with technique, it demands 100% commitment and fight when the sh1t hits the fan.
this season is emerging as one of a proving ground in that sense. and unfortunately for me, there are few who can make the grade, for now at least.
with the exceptions of: Reina, Carragher, Gerrard, Alonso and Kuyt, possibly Agger, Sissoko and Bellamy. the rest are of insufficient quality to win Liverpool the english premiership imo. european or cup competition maybe. and i see nothing wrong in suggesting that either. somewhere in the table lie the facts. but second or third place is probably the best we can acheive for this years league campaign now. if that.
mentally they look hammered already, what 8 games in. its time to get back to basics and at least throw some points up on the board before things really do become as bleak as you'd be forgiven for understanding reading thread after thread of pessimism. for me well yeah, the red tinted specs are well and truly off now. this could be Rafa's defining hour in terms of how the staff can pull together and bring back the winning mentality they used to display. all is certainly far from lost. but its going to require a gargantuan effort from the entire squad to turn this around quickly enough now.
Yeah I agree, just players such as Pennant, Crouch ad Zenden, that is quality of mid table/uefa cup team, not for a team who is challenging for the title.
Gerrard, Carragher, Kuyt, Alonso, Sissoko, Bellamy and Agger are maybe Riise, are the only players that have that quality.