After progressively poor displays against Wigan, and the two matches against Sparta Prague in the Europa League, yesterday’s defeat to West Ham was always on the cards. That is not to say that the Reds have played badly in all these matches but the side has certainly been lacking the spark which characterised the victories against Wolves and Chelsea during the eight match unbeaten run King Kenny had sustained before the loss at Upton Park on Sunday. Some might suggest that the enthusiasm that had been instilled into the players by the arrival of Kenny may have worn off slightly, and although that maybe slightly true that some players have reverted to type by putting in below par performances, a lot of it has been down to a lack of squad depth.
As of yet, Dalglish has not been able to pick his best team. With the departure of Fernando Torres and the arrival of his replacement Andy Carroll injured, the strike partnership between Luis Suarez and Carroll has yet to be formed. In addition, in the two average performances against Sparta Prague, Suarez was unavailable because he was cup tied and Kenny was left with the hapless David Ngog as his first choice striker. If we also include the various injuries to Daniel Agger, Raul Meireles and Steven Gerrard, it makes it hard for any manager to really make their mark on the team. It makes it doubly hard when the replacements are not really capable of playing up to the same levels as those they have replaced.
Even against West Ham yesterday, injuries contributed greatly to the outcome of the match. At the start of the match, Kenny reverted to a 3-5-2 formation. Danny Wilson replaced Daniel Agger in the middle of defence and with his inexperience, and the lack of mobility from Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel, the formation just didn’t work as well as it did against Chelsea. I won’t be too hard on Wilson as he is still young and learning his trade, but both his distribution of the ball, and his positioning in the back three was not up to the standard expected. He lost out to Demba Ba in the air for the build up to the second goal and allowed Ba to get into the box unmarked to put away his header, although he certainly wasn’t helped by his centre back team-mates Carragher and Skrtel in the marking department either.
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Indeed we need massive changes. Just look at our bench on matchday. There is no one who can be brought on to make a change. We would need 6 real quality players at least.
Getting Adam could have been crucial for our spot on the table by the end of the season.. We lack loads and loads of creativity. Cole did play better yesterday.
Against United I would certainly play Cole. Maybe a 4-3-2-1 with Kuyt on top and Suarez and Cole behind him and a midfield with Gerrard, Lucas and Meireles.This would give us much more creativity and strengt in the middle.
Adam would not have made a difference – he’s a passer and as currently set up, our team has only one person in the final third worth passing the ball to (Suarez).
Until we start implementing more width into our attack and getting some more pace into the team, we will continue to struggle to create quality chances
Lack of squad depth can hardly be used as an excuse for losing to West Ham, rather it is Dalglish’s and Clarke’s stubborn refusal to try things like Glen Johnson as a rightwinger and the inability to do anything from setpieces yesterday was another key factor. The likes of Man Utd play poorly in a lot of games but can still get something out of a game from setpieces. Dalglish gives too much gravitas to the likes of Gerrard, he should have been put on the bench yesterday as it disrupted the influence Meireles was beginning to exert on the team’s pattern of play. Bringing on Ngog and Cole were more poor decisions. Kygriakos should have been bought on for Kelly and Carragher shifted to rightback but Dalglish clearly did not want to antaganize Carragher by having him move to rightback for a second successive game.
i have to agree with most of this except that carragher is past his best now, too slow. I know Gerrard is coming back from injury but he’s living on his considerable reputation now, he’ll never be the player he was 2 seasons ago. they need to be benched both of them when fit they need a reality check. Reina wants to go you can see it so let him we only want players who want to be part of the revolution under kk. YNWA
Lack of squad depth cant be an excuse? And you say bringing on Cole and Ngog were wrong mistakes? There were no other options. By then we were already a goal down and we needed to have more strength on midfield. Thats why Cole came on. Ngog came on just because we have no one better.
Carragher has played at right back numerous time. He would hardly consider it to be a problem to do it again if necessery. But carragher was needed in the centre of the defence because you also had an inexperienced Wilson playing there.
Roll on the summer and get in some quality. Huge step backwards against West ham, too many average players. Suarez looks like he can cut it though. Bet Kenny can’t wait to get his own players either. I reckon we need at least five maybe six.
Has anyone actually totted up the enormous amount of mistakes that Reina has made this season? His response especially to the 3rd goal yesterday proves that he still has a hangover from all the drink he consumed after the World Cup Final last summer. Reina’s head is clearly sozzled and I am proposing the players are breathalysed every day as several of them are clearly intoxidated. Imagine players as bad as Liverpool’s being drunk at the same time.
I have. I made a topic on it on the lfc website but they did not authorize it so it never got posted. But Reina has been poor all season except for some games.
if Reina doesnt want to stay,sell him to Arsenal at summer and bring Stelekenburg for free(as his contract is running out come summer).also lets not get hard on some of our players,a lot of injuries actually.Agger,Meireles,Kelly.those three have been playing outstanding lately and yet they get injured,which is hard for us.also Carroll is expected to be ready soon enough,but he’ll sure lack match fit as he’s been 3 months without playing a game.ashley young,charlie adam and a left back(coentrao,baines,taiwo…etc) are the three priorities for the starting line up.and a couple of good players for the bench.
Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Baines
Gerrard Adam Meireles
A.Young Carroll Suarez
Bench:Elia,Kuyt,Skrtel,Kelly,Aurelio,Honda,Necid…etc
would love to see Ashley Young and Charlie Adam both wear the Liverpool shirt.flops like Maxi Rodriguez,David Ngog,Poulsen,Jovanovic,Degen,Aquilani,…etc must be sold..YNWA
Liverpool fans should note one important fact that our most hated nemesis from Manchester have won soon to be 12 league titles since 1992 by playing left and right wingers predominantly each Premier League season. Johnson has been a huge liability defending at rightback since his signing, that is an undeniable and inescapable fact, the evidence is overwhelming. However, he would be a gem as a rightwinger, the evidence to prove that is equally overwhelming. Liverpool need to sell the following players in the summer: Reina,Jones,Degen,Darby,Irwin,Ayala,Skyrtel,Insua,Aurelio,Konchesky,El Zhar,Kuyt,Cole,Maxi,Aquilani,Gerrard,Poulsen,Jovanovic and Ngog in the summer. This huge clearout although dramatic is needed. Liverpool should sign Stelekenberg,Adam,Nzogbia,Gutierriesz,Wickham,Rodallega,Albrighton,Gary Cahill.
It was a shocking inept decision that Kelly was played yesterday after picking up a twinge in his hamstring on Thursday night and now because of this stupidity he has torn his hamstring and will miss at least 6 weeks. This was a huge error from Dalglish,Clarke and Bruckner.
Find it quite amusing that you think you know better than an entire management and medical team, including Kink Kenny. Sell our whole squad, and buy all players spoken about in the press. Hmmm wouldn’t I love you managing our team! First thing we’ll do is deliver the newspaper to you in the morning so you know what to do everyday, you won’t even have to leave your desk 😛
3-5-2 or 5-3-2 or whatever you want to call it is not a long term strategy and you could see that against West Ham. There has to be question marks over Kenny’s team selection as well. How could he possibly leave Soto on the bench and start the inexperienced Wilson who’s never played a League game before. The guy’s promising but he’s clearly not ready yet. West Ham play with big strong strikers like Piquoinne and Ba and yet Soto is left sitting on the bench. West Ham’s second goal further illustrates this point.
Joe Cole is doing better and once he’s match fit he’ll be a great asset for the team but I can’t understand why Ngog is still playing. The guy offers nothing in attack and I’d much rather see Pacheco and Jovanovic given a chance instead. However, injuries did cost us and there was no one on the bench who could actually make a difference apart from Cole. Spearing, Maxi, Poulsen and Ngog who were all on the bench must be shipped out in the summer. These guys are just not good enough. At least 5 new players are needed this summer while the following players should be sold: Reina, Jones, Darby, Mendy, Degen, Insua, Konchesky, Aurelio, Poulsen, Aquilani, Spearing, Irwin, El Zhar, Jovanovic, Maxi, Saric, Ngog.
Selling Reina?
Personally I think Reina has been poor this season, making far too many errors and just not performing up to standards. It’s quite clear that he wants to play for a club in the Champions League and if we don’t qualify for that then I’m pretty sure he’d want to leave.
I am confident he will leave but still selling him wouldnt be something I would want. He is still a brilliant goalkeeper but he has lost confidence in the team and the club. Maybe with alot of good signings this summer we can keep him and he would return to form.
This game just brought to light the incompetence of Skrtel and the importance of Agger. Skrtel and Carra are very similar players who love to play hoof ball. Wilson had a tough game no thanks to Skrtel and Carra’s lack of pace. Even Stevie didn’t look up to the task. Credit to West Ham, they wanted the victory more than us. Suarez was the only bright spark trying to create something (and he did) but he was well defended against and could’ve used someone like Carroll to give him a bit more freedom. I have faith in Kenny and I’m sure he’ll learn from his mistakes unlike Roy and Rafa.
In response to Paul, does the fact that Kelly is now out for at least 6 weeks with a torn hamstring not prove that Dalglish,Clarke and Bruckner screwed up. Secondly, you say I am getting names from newspapers, so you rate none of these players mentioned fine but you need to understand that everything with NESV is cost neutral. If the manager wants to buy better players that invariably means that you need to sell more than your buying in order to make a reduction in your yearly wage bill to use that saving to narrow the gap between what you spend and what you sell. The eight players I stated the club should buy would probably cost 105 million, the players being sold would probably generate around 75 million, the savings in the yearly wage bill would amount to around 15 million. The 15 million shortfall would be made up by the club finishing in the top 3 at the end of next season.
Dalglish remarked after the Sparta game that Carragher is not a fan of having to play rightback.