First of all there are a few mitigating circumstances as to why the team are scrapping for 1-0 victories rather than showcasing the free flowing attacking football which you would normally expect from a Dalglish team. The absence of key players such as Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez last night always meant it was going to be a tough affair against Sparta Prague. Playing Christian Poulsen alongside Lucas in midfield while leaving David Ngog up front on his own means there is a lack of star quality in the side to really take the game to opponents.
One thing you can take from recent performances though, and a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by owner John W Henry and his wife Linda Pizzuti, is the sheer meanness of our defence which has conceded just 1 goal in the last seven games. This is certainly a good development after the defensive troubles suffered under Roy Hodgson, but I dare any Liverpool fan to state that they knew that this was how Dalglish’s team was going to play before the King took over the reins.
There has unquestionably been a change of emphasis under Kenny to Roy Hodgson as we are pressing higher up the pitch and putting the opposition under pressure. Certainly with the ball too there has been a lot more positive attacking intent, shown in away games against Wolves and Chelsea, but going by the stats during Kenny’s short rein in charge, the defensive record is by far and away the most striking change. It is definitely a good thing as while it takes time to develop a “pass and move” philosophy going forward, it takes far less time to coach the basics of defending and organisation into a team.
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These players have played together under Rafa for a few years it was Roy who tried to change tactics that didn’t work. So, Kenny had an easy job because he instituted the old style tactics and encouraged the players to enjoy the match instead of being afraid to lose! I am sure that our new former Chelski coach has helped immeasurably also.
lack of star quality???? that’s an understatement!
whoever said david eggnog was premier league quality never mind Lfc, needs his head examined, i’ve never seen a sorrier excuse for a striker!
as for lucas, he has improved a great deal but just a squad player at best, gives away FAR too many fouls in dangerous areas.
poulsen, i don’t have the words for this numpty, PATHETIC is the best i can come up with!
kuyt..unfortunately his goal overshadowed another totally inept performance from sweaty boy, PLEASE don’t give him a new contract!
so looking forward to the summer when kenny, damien and FSG bring in some REAL class to add to pepe, GJ, agger, raul, SG, suarez and carroll.
oh sorry, young kelly has been tremendous too, going to be a fantastic player for us!
rafa cant take the credit for the waywe now play (with a full strength team)we have never had so many players in and around the oppositions box (note chelsea away)since the 80s – coincidence ?.
rafa takes credit for the academy set up though.
get rid of the dead wood two played last night, buy a couple of top players add some great kids who are definately going to be first teamers next season and we are fine.
Ngog would struggle at any Premier league club with his poor touch. Poulson is gone in the summer. Kuyt got the goal but we need a new right winger next season so Kuyt is a sub.
Lucas is only a squad player. He is not near the class of Didi Hamann or Mascherano as a holding midfielder and that’s the class we need to challenge for trophies.
We need a lot of players – a good 3rd choice striker, a centre back beside Agger, a quality holding midfielder (M’Villa), left and right wingers, and a left back. If we get those and push Kuyt, Lucas, Skrtel, Cole, Johnson etc.. to make a good bench we will challenge next season for the top.
Ngog, Poulson, Jovanovich, Maxi should be dumped ASAP. Shouldn’t be near the 1st team.
I think that is a little harsh on Johnson; playing well at left back. Solved that situation for me.
I agree we need a holding midfielder of quality; good one at Barca who never gets a game-big mouth though! Shame.
Carra is Agger’s partner.
The winger is in our youth team and will be with us soon; we have a couple in there actually.
getting rid of Jovan, Maxi, Poulsen and Ngog is spot on. Make room for the quality young guns to come through.
I think we are a holding midfielder short is all.
Ngog has a poor touch?
Lol you guys may not like him, but to say he has a poor touch is crazy…
His hold up play is better than most barring yesterday’s performance he generally finishes pretty well.
Most times Iv seen him play it’s been in an under strength side.
How many fouls does he win? Many!
How many times does he actually lose the ball… Yesterday included? Hardly!
I think given a run of games he would be a very handy player!
Let’s not attribute things like a bad touch that don’t relate to him for the sake of it….
I’d you don’t like him you don’t like him but be fair!
I’ll be happy with 1:0 win on sunday against W Ham.
though nobody believed that our club LFC will play only a 1-0 win over SPARTA PRAG,but we should give credit to our workerholic player [KUYT]who gave us the needed 3 point,but in my own view i believe they reserve strength for our up coming premiership games that is coming ahead of us,and i pray for them to keep wining the remaining matches.
And for those who sayLucas commits to many fouls…
HE’S A DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER, A DESTROYER!!!
He will make tackles and also will make fouls, sometimes intentional ones too in order to break up play and this usually will occur in our half of the field!
For such a big fouler how many red cards does he have to his name?
Atleast when he does foul unlike with mascha it doesnt result in us playing with 10…
That foul he made in the 90th minute was absolute class, with Sparta running in numbers towards our a goal and Lucas all of 20ft behind play while I was shitting myself he was in turbo boost hunting the attacker down… Bosh! No plumber needed!
A heroic tackle by Lucas!
guys relax..dont expect flops like Ngog,Jovanovic,Konchesky,Poulsen,Maxi,Insua,Aquilani,Degen,El Zhar to have future at Liverpool..come summer we gonna create a new and great squad for the next years with players like Fabio Coentrao,Ashley Young,Yann M’Vila,Gary Cahill,Christian Eriksen,Tomas Necid..the team is in safe hands right now under Kenny,NESV,Comolli and Steve Clark..we lack a lot of things right now and this season was already off by christmas so they’re already planning for the next seasons..YNWA
The simple and honest truth is we have too many mediocre/average players at the club: Our Club Liverpool football club the best club in the world struggled to beat a nobody(Sparta Prague) 1 0.
We have 11 dead wood/average players at club who are not good enough to be at the club: Krygiakos CB, Koncheskey LB, Insua LB, Aurelio LB(Great player but always on treatment table 80% of season), POULSEN DM/CM, LUCAS CM/DM, Jovanovic LW/RW, J Cole RW/LW/AM, D Ngog FD and D Kuyt RW/LW/FD.
Kuyt is a hard worker, fighter,has an amazing work ethic,good stamina, good fitness, loyal but offers rarely anything out on right wing or upfront.
He has scored some important goals, but his goals to games ratio must be poor as he must have started in 90% of the clubs games since he joined the club.
The players mentioned would struggle to get into the likes of Stoke, Sunderland, Birmingham, Bolton, Wolves, Blackpool, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Fulham’s 1st Eleven and some of these squads.
Yet they are still at the club,
The players at the club who are our spine are : Reina, G johnson, Carragher, Agger, Skrtel, Gerrard, Meireles, Suarez and Carroll.
These players could get into the teams we hope to be competing with season in season out if the club want to win trophies again: Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Man City.
Kelly, Spearing, Shelvey and Wilson could be future stars in the making.
But the other 11 players mentioned as dead wood/average players are simply not good enough.
over the last 3-4 years we have replaced class and quality with average players:
Hypia was a great, Krygiakos is poor.
Riise was a consistant reliable left back, warnock was a upcoming left back with the potential to be a great left back: both were shipped out of club and were replaced with likes of Insua, Dossena, Injury Prone Aurelio and Koncheskey.
Hamman, Sissoko and Mascherano were all tough, strong, quality class defensive midfielders who dominated games in the centre of the park, all were sold , shipped out or 1 became a mercenary and got his way out of club. Now they have been replaced with Poulsen and Lucas.
Alonso was a great, world class defensive midfielder who could out pass anyone in england, he was sold to real madrid for £30M but has been replaced by Meireless £11.5m and Aquilani £17-£20M.
So Aquilani should be brought back to club, to compete with Meireles and Gerrard.
Crouch, Cisse, Bellamy, Keane are all good, great strikers who could offer us alot more quality and class than D Ngog and D Kuyt Upfront.
But Now we have Carroll and Suarez,One more top, great striker should be brought to club to compete and complement the two others.
Any club looking to compete for trophies need 3 – 4 class strikers at club.
The club have lacked speed, pace, width, creativity, quality, class from either wing for many years and in the summer an out and out right winger and a left footed left winger needs to be brought to the club.
@ tully
Why wouldn’t you expect this from a Dalglish team. Were you too young to watch him play? Were you too young to watch him manage the team the first time round? The liverpool back line has been notoriously miserly down the years and even under Sir Bob and Sir Joe we were capable of playing out fairly boring 1 nil wins were our priority was to control the game and get the win: especially in Europe. As manager Dalglish was not unaccustomed to playing 5 at the back or with defenders in midfield, particularly at the start and the end of his tenure. Dalgish has a legacy that enthrals the memory,
that of a team bristling with flair players and attacking football, but it wasn’t always that way. Howev I’m sure that once gerrard, Carroll, Suarez and Johnson appear in the same team we’ll see far more attacking intent.
I think we should all stop playing Championship Manager and just support KK and NESV whatever the decisions are going to be. We all know KK loves the club, and we all know NESV wants us to be winning our 19th title and run ahead of the scums. Let’s all have a little faith, pull together and dominate once again!!!!
Ascension of the Reds!!! YNWA!!!
Man Hoof are nothing more than wimbledon with frills, and they pox results with their hoofs up field.
Are you lot fans or supporters?any player to wear the red under Kenny is a player that should have all our support.he’s wearing the red lads,he plays for Liverpool,he plays for King Kenny.Yer,we all have our favourites,but for every player pulling on the shirt and playing for Kenny’s red’s speaks volumes in itself.who would argue with the King when it came to selection?not me.we are Liverpool,the greatest team in the world,and we support each and everyone of our players everytime he pulls on the red shirt of Liverpool.Forget those that have moved,remember and sopport who we’ve got,remember we are Liverpool Football Club.If a player isn’t already at Liverpool,they’re not good enough yet.Above us only sky.YNWA.