Posted:
Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:18 pm
by Toffeehater
Great result looking at the team we put out i was expecting a thumping , the lads did well . CROUCH played the best game he has had this season fo lfc and he looked good , rafa should revert back to 4-4-2 and put crouch and torres upfront against them in mid week
Special praise to plessis did well in his debut , real encouraging stuff .
Posted:
Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:21 pm
by Toffeehater
The last time we played arsenal like this they knocked us out of 2 competitions the fA and the carling cup
Now we have the chance , we have already knocked them outta the title race and now we should knock them outta the champions league
Arsenal fans talking ab hw much progress they have made this season well TBH , they have made none . They could not beat a reserve liverpool team with a stronger side . They have done well to adapt without henry but thats it
Posted:
Sun Apr 06, 2008 11:04 pm
by JBG
Fair play to Joe, he really has his finger on the pulse when it comes to the reserves.
Posted:
Mon Apr 07, 2008 3:02 pm
by LFC2007
It's interesting that our upturn in form is put down to keeping a more settled side. From my point of view, we played a string of winnable league games - in two of which we were far from convincing, playing European matches in between with the same system and similar personnel - in comparison to previous seasons where we've rotated a lot more and with the same positive outcome. It's actually quite reminiscent of the same period last season, playing well in Europe, doing well in the easier league games and not quite functioning in the tougher ones. It's also no surprise that the positions in which we rotated more were on the wings and at full back, which isn't dissimilar to this season.
It remains that, if we had the level of quality we require in these positions and to a lesser extent up top, a natural consequence would be a more settled side - assuming they played to their potential. It's the fact that the players in these positions haven't been up to it, and can't play to a consistent level because they're not good enough anyway, that we rotate the team more often. Whether we sticked with one or the other is irrelevent as you won't get much of an improvement either way in my view, e.g. I don't buy that keeping Babel in the team has somehow benefitted our fluencey and cohesion. Players who aren't up to it may put in one good performance, then a shocking performance, then an average performance, then a shocking performance. Babel springs to my mind here immediately, as does Riise, as does Aurelio to a lesser extent. They're rotated partly through indecision, because of their inability to play consistently decent - let alone good or excellent. Granted in certain instances keeping one of these players in the aforementioned positions in the team on a more consistent basis may aid their consistency levels, Kuyt on the right for example but (IMO) that's primarily because he had been lacking in confidence quite severely - but is now thriving on being valued. The fact still remains that within this 11 game period where our form has improved - Kuyt has still put in a few below par performances, and has been below the consistency level we require. My view is that (over the course of the season) Rafa has felt that if we don't have the players in these positions up to the required level, keeping them fresher is the best way to maximise their output, i.e. enabling them to work hard by preserving their freshness, because if their ability is limited this strategy makes sense.