Liverpool FC Forum

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 6:18 am**

As soon as this match started, i was thinking to myself.............Keane would've been tearing up Hull like flypaper. Honestly, it was exactly the type of game he needed, very open, plenty of space, especially in the first half. This is what Keane enjoys, getting in that gap between the midfield and the Hull defence. I was seriously gutted that he didnt play..........imagine how he felt

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 6:59 am**

zarababe wrote:
Toffeehater wrote:
ruskiy playmaker wrote:
Zidane wrote:Tottenham holding strong against Man U what a save on Giggs free kick in the 90th minute. Man U draw woo!

I guess Ferguson is a useless clown as well.

Rafa can't be compared to fergie , he maybe a but that man is a legend and rafa can never get even close to his record . He's the reason that manure are one league title behind us

Rafa's not responsible for the failure of 20 years - and now u call Fergie a legend

Tolda ya the site is being overtaken by Mancs

but fergie is a legend. love him or hate him like i do, he is a legend. dont let your blind biasness block your sight.

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 7:12 am**

when lucas came on my stream died. i think it was a sign

anyway moving on, lets hope chelsea drop points today.

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 7:50 am**

Bad Bob wrote:Gutted with the result today. We went 2-0 down thanks to shambolic defending (Dossena truly is muck) but clawed our way back into the match nicely. We should really have grabbed a lead before half-time and that proved our undoing, as Hull came out in the 2nd half looking to defend what they had and, once again, we failed to break a team down at home when they sit in.

I don't know what the situation is between Rafa and Keane but something's up and it's very worrying. You simply do not leave a striker of Keane's pedigree on the bench in a must-win match even if his form has been patchy of late. Babel might get you a winner, El Zhar might contribute to one but Lucas probably won't and that means the match was crying out for Keane. I'm just baffled by the subs and still smarting from another 2 points dropped at home.

When asked about his decision not to use Keane, Benitez added: "We were thinking about the wingers. Some times more people in the box is not the answer."

********************

As Hull parked the bus in front of goal, I would agree with Raffa. It would not have suited Keane so I do not see him have making a difference in that game especially in the second half. They did not need an extra holding midfielder so as Lucas is more of an attacking midfielder, he was more likely to make something happen than Mascha and the two wide players that were subbed had run alot and were looking tired.

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 8:18 am**

Keane should of been on from the start after the blinder he played against PSV & Dossena shoulda been put on a boat, knocked unconscious & be in the middle of the atlantic ocean by now instead hes playing in the starting 11 of one of the best teams in the world

go figure

atleast man u & arsenal neva gained points so if chelsea slip up it looks like well have been bailed out again. cant last forever though...........lucky were playing away next eh

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 8:30 am**

Bad Bob wrote:Gutted with the result today. We went 2-0 down thanks to shambolic defending (Dossena truly is muck) but clawed our way back into the match nicely. We should really have grabbed a lead before half-time and that proved our undoing, as Hull came out in the 2nd half looking to defend what they had and, once again, we failed to break a team down at home when they sit in.

I don't know what the situation is between Rafa and Keane but something's up and it's very worrying. You simply do not leave a striker of Keane's pedigree on the bench in a must-win match even if his form has been patchy of late. Babel might get you a winner, El Zhar might contribute to one but Lucas probably won't and that means the match was crying out for Keane. I'm just baffled by the subs and still smarting from another 2 points dropped at home.

I was the same about the team he picked 1 stiker at home 2 DM shambolic to say the least.

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 8:38 am**

RedEire wrote:Haven't had a chance to go through all the posts so apologies if this is already mentioned - but how was Dossena left on the field for the full game - twice Mendy got past him as if he was not there - the first time a goal was averted by Arbeloa who backheeled the ball away from Barmby just he was about to tap in and the second resulted in Carra's o.g. - meanwhile his defending for the first goal by letting mcShane get above him was very poor. The reason why it appeared he had a better second half was becuase Mendy was brought back to right back when McShane was taken off and this stopped him from strolling past Dossena. His actual awareness of where his man is also shocking - 3 or 4 times i noticed him twirling around looking for his man and in doing so completely lose the flight of the ball. How he remains on the pitch is beyond me.
As for Keane - feel sorry for him. Kuyt for all his work is not good enough and if he has to play should be out wide and Keane should be played in the box - it is an insult to put El Zhar on ahead of Keane - simple as that. Yes Keane has struggled this season but the simple question is this - Is El Zhar/Ngog better player than Keane???
Gerrard did well to score twice but his overall play today was very poor, I thought. He passing was sloppy and first touch was missing.
Masch is struggling for form at the moment, like Keane, yet is given plenty of game time. Benayoun is not good enough to play for LFC. Riera has gone of the boil at the moment after a whirlwind of a start - perhaps he needs to rested.
Arbeloa is beginning to show that he has the ability and is becoming like Finnan - doing his job and putting in consistent performances - well done lad, as I was one of his biggest critics last year.

I disagree on arbeloa being on of the better performers You must be watching a very different game from me than . He's crossing was poor , neither of his crosses actually found a man . His general attacking play was poor His overlap play was decent but has a right back , crossing has to be one of your best strengths , arbeloa does not have that, defensively , he was sound and well done to him in that department

Riera played decent , at least he could get past his man and get the shots away . Kuyt's performance upfront was generally poor but he had a part in both goals , and also he had a lack of service .
Masch like you said has been blowing hot and cold this season maybe due to the Olympics .

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 9:38 am**

Toffehater his crosses may of been "poor" but for me he was one of our better players, I couldnt fault him defensively which is primarily why he's in the side, he covered, headed and intercepted anything that came near him. He got forward alot more and made space and width down the right flank better than Dossena and our "wide midfielders" and although you say he his crossing was poor, it wasnt any worse than Riera's TBH which I was more frustrated with because thats an important aspect of a wide midfielders game, as is defending is for a Fullback. I thought Arbeloa linked well with Benayoun, Gerrard and Alonso when pushing forward.

As for Dossena, like I said back on page 10 or whatever it was, I'm glad Hulls fullback went off in the 26th minute. With Mendy having to drop back into the fullback position, he was skinning Dossena and Hyypia at times for fun and was a genuine threat to us down their right flank. I could of invisagded a few more opportunities if not goals hadnt their first choice full back gone off.
I'm hoping Dossena will come good, but TBH my faith in him is wilting he honestly looks like a liabilty at the back and like Mick it baffles me to see why Insua got a game against Blackburn having played reasonably well. Then gets rotated the next for Dossena who succesfully helped our defence to look like a shambles at times.

Same with Carra to, I though he had a bit of a mare by his standards. It could be a number of things, an off day even. But with the current chopping and changing at the back it yet again doesnt make a strong arguement for the "needless" rotation.

I thought Alonso's overall game was better than that of our Captains TBPH, again I was impressed with him and his willingness to work and probe the ball further upfield. Compared to yesteryear where he'd sit deep and recieve the ball off the defence and spread the play from their. He is now carrying the ball further, tackling further upfield has looked more of a genuine goal threat in the last two games TBH than he has down throughout his whole time here. No doubt plaudits go to Mascha for this, but its nice to see Alonso finally come out of his "pocket". Gerrards goals were great and rescued us yet again, but again IMHO I dont think his allround game was as good as Alonso's was, his touch, control and passing were a bit hit and miss yesterday and he did give up his fair share of possesion. Dont get me wrong, I dont think I'm being overly critical of him like I said he rescued us again.

Riera was frustrating at times for me a little, when he recieved the ball I had the anticipation that something might happen from him. A goal, a cross, a run, but he never lived up to the anticipation. His game wasnt that bad, but it was great neither, he did okay. Same with Benayoun really, although after his last few displays I think the Israeli has got a fair shout in claiming a starting place over on the right. Although against Arsenal I'm sure Rafa will opt for Kuyt over Yossi. But it was a nice touch from yesterday (on the turn) for Gerrards second goal, and his workrate IMO has definately improved.

Personally I think most of the lads gave it a real good go, but unfortunately without a proper striker up front, one who doesnt slip over, loose possesion near enough everytime he recieves it, and inevitably applies his hard work in chasing down the ball thats bounced off his shin. Coupled with the fact he misses way to many chances it was an added burden on the team to find the winner.

I dont agree with Rafa's statement about not playing Keane, because the wide issues were as important. For me the service from wide (well maybe not Riera that much) and from Gerrard and Alonso was making its way to Kuyt. He couldnt take those chances, Babel and El Zhar didnt add anything extra that Riera and Yossi werent providing, had Keane been given the chance he may of just tucked one of those half chances away.

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 9:40 am**

Dossena was being torn apart by Mendy, but both goals could have been avoided with half decent defending. There was a defender who was near, but not marking McShane when the cross came in for the first. Quite how Carra managed to put the ball in his own net for the second I do not know. He almost got his feet in a muddle and pushed it in, it was painfully comical. I suspect he was still fuming at the free-kick award and didn't quite know what to do with the ball so close to his own goal and didn't want to control it on his line for fear of onrushing strikers.

But we bounced back well, although Phil Brown is right that there were two nudges on his defenders leading up to both our goals. Kuyt didn't have a good game as a striker, but did set up our first and nodded back for Benayoun to score the second, so contributed as much as anyone bar Gerrard to our recovery. Having got back on terms we had plenty of time to win it, Hyypia heading back off the post, Alonso doing more shooting from the edge of the box just wide and Hull scrambling at times.

I think Rafa botched his subs as usual. I agreed with El Zhar coming on, the usual 'Babel for Riera' substitution was unimaginative, predictable and ineffective, while bringing on Lucas was another half-measure when a DM wasn't really order of the day from the off. We conceded twice in spite of Mascherano being on the pitch, he could have given away a penalty with a POSSIBLE handling offence in the box and his passing is p1ss poor at times. You have to think Keane for Mascherano would have been positive, I think Rafa had in mind to avoid using Keane and I can only guess he is punishing him for his negative attitude to being subbed in past games.

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 1:43 pm**

Steven Gerrard scored a brace to help the Reds come back from 2-0 down in the first half, but Benitez couldn't hide his frustrations and admitted his team made too many mistakes.
"We showed character to come back and scored some good goals," he said. "But we couldn't play the final pass properly and the game was too open.
"The game was a little bit too frenetic and you have to be able to control things a lot more in these games.
"I was really pleased with the first few minutes. But we conceded two goals and everybody was a little bit nervous after that.
"It can make a massive difference when you score first, but the reaction of the team was very good when we went two goals down.
"They were a threat playing on the counter-attack. We know that teams like this will try to be organised and play in this way.
"We made too many mistakes. These are the kind of games that you have to win. We are disappointed, but we cannot change anything."

**********

just shut up Rafa really. complain that teams come and park the bus. now he says he game is too open. wtf does he want? and he was pleased with the first few minutes? :laugh:

it was rubbish. we started to play really really well after they scored 2 goals and i have to say, that was a superb performance by the lads and was hoping they showed the same sort of movement in the 2nd half. and he needs to put his hands up and admit he screwed up the subs.

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 1:50 pm**

Hear! Hear!...Can't see that Keane would've changed the game all that much had he been on the pitch...but strange first eleven....I still don't get Benny-noun....get rid of him. He's cack. Dossena doesn't cut it either. Arbeloa ain't great either.
6 points dropped out of 9 at home ? Methinks this will be decisive at the end of the season

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 2:12 pm**

just wait for a certain F.Torres to be back :;):

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 2:13 pm**

FAct - chelsea have drop 12 points at home .... we 8 .

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 2:20 pm**

redsince2001 wrote:FAct - chelsea have drop 12 points at home .... we 8 .

FACT !
Chavski have been missing Drogba, Essien, Ballack, Carvalho and others throughout the same time. We've been missing Torres (mostly) in the same time. United have also had a pile of injuries. When the others get their first team back, we're gonna rue those dropped points in a big, big way...

Posted: **Sun Dec 14, 2008 2:41 pm**

maypaxvobiscum wrote:
zarababe wrote:
Toffeehater wrote:
ruskiy playmaker wrote:
Zidane wrote:Tottenham holding strong against Man U what a save on Giggs free kick in the 90th minute. Man U draw woo!

I guess Ferguson is a useless clown as well.

Rafa can't be compared to fergie , he maybe a but that man is a legend and rafa can never get even close to his record . He's the reason that manure are one league title behind us

Rafa's not responsible for the failure of 20 years - and now u call Fergie a legend

Tolda ya the site is being overtaken by Mancs

but fergie is a legend. love him or hate him like i do, he is a legend. dont let your blind biasness block your sight.

True Sir Alex is a legend - I was blinded - now I see the light

Liverpool FC Forum

LIVERPOOL VS HULL CITY - Saturday 13th december 15.00pm ko.