There is no doubt that the result on Saturday afternoon was not what any of us had wanted. After a long, arduous summer without any real football to speak of the Premier League was back on Saturday with a bang. Except, for Reds fans, the final whistle brought an anti-climatic feeling.
I think though, that that although we all felt that the game should’ve been won, there is a lot of understanding that needs to be built amongst our new and established players, not to mention that our main source of goals have barely played more than a handful of games together yet and have yet to develop an understanding. The message is: it’ll take a bit of time, but it’ll come.
However, despite the fact that the first half showed a lot of promise on Saturday, I felt that there were two very baffling decisions prior to kick-off: the choice to select John Flanagan and Jordan Henderson from the start. Now, I’m not Kenny Dalglish, nor am I Steve Clarke. I’m not even Sammy Lee but the decision to start with Flanagan was an odd one. The youngster is a very promising player but he still has much to learn, as his positional error showed for Sunderland’s goal but the cross should never have been allowed to reach his area of the pitch, not with 3 Reds players tracking the ball and crosser on the opposite side of the field.
No matter whose fault it was though, Flanagan had a rough game and was given a torrid time all match by Larsson. The decision was made all the more questionable given that Martin Kelly was on the bench and that Kyrgiakos was left out completely. If the coaching staff were unsure of Kelly for whatever reason, then surely starting Carragher at right back with Kyrgiakos at centre back would’ve been a wiser choice? Either way, when there is experience available, youth should be looked to once the game is wrapped up or when there is no other option available, otherwise what is the point in ensuring there is experience in all positions?
Dude this aint rugby! Kyrgiakos in central defence and carragher at right back? Greek Maestro is only in team for the Stoke Citeh Rugby match.
Agger and Skrtel are trainwrecks and carra holds them together. Hendo left flanagan completely exposed. ADAM, ENRIQUE AND THE OTHER LIVERPOOL PLAYER were ball watching and not stopping the cross!! Watch the video! They were at fault, not flanagan!
It is not always possible to prevent a cross, although it is preferable. But, had flanagan been in position and been a bit more aware of his surrounding, then I doubt Larrsen would have got such time to line up a volley and Flanno would have headered it clear>. IMHO.
Kelly was extremely poor throughout pre-season and didn’t deserve to start, so choosing Flangan over him DID make sense.
Choosing Henderson on the right though (I said it from day one and will continue to say it until conclusively proven otherwise; the guy is a central midfielder all day and is no better than Kuyt – who I have strong criticisms for also – on the right) didn’t make any sense, nor did leaving arguably our best player in pre-season (Aquilani) out altogether to squeeze him into the team.
Once I heard Aquilani was out I gave up!
thgis buy british policy is killing the team.why play hendo ahead of aqua and meireles or even kuyt.why buy carol freo 35m wen prodigious talents like aguero are there for same amount.look wat we have done to pacheco and soon it will be suso,silva.i think kennt needs to buy another striker like lavezzi as carol cant be banked on for oncehe is marked out in the air then its done
The problem wasn’t flano. The problem is with Carra, second half it was pretty apparent we were defending deeper due to the backline dropping & don’t forget Carra calls the shot at the back. The backline was a lot higher in the first half, that enabled us to press so impressively. Why they dropped deep we’ll never know, was it because the lads were tiring, in particular Carra? Could be. Legend he is but he doesn’t have the legs to do it anymore for 90 minutes which is why I reckon Kenny is going for a new centre half. Anyway it’s only the first game, Kenny will address this issue I’m sure.
I think they dropped deeper because the midfield were not pressing the ball.
This means their midfield had more time to pass the ball mostly to the running and moving players ahead of them.
This again means that our defenders either play the offside trap, which is dangerous because we dont have players fast enough to catch the strikers if they get it wrong, or they drop deep to avoid the ball being played in behind them. That gave their wingers the opportunity to get down the side and cross balls in, and that is how we conceded. I think. But we could do with a quicker back four period, IMHO again.
BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THEIR STUFF.
carra always drops deep when he when he tires, and he has been a problem there now for at least three seasons. the gap between the defence and midfield was to big. a new CB is needed.
well put mate, I agree we were a bit deep in the second half & that allowed sunderland back. I also agree that flanno isn’t to be blamed, couldn’t be blamed for the whole team not playing well second half. maybe he could’ve defended that cross better but hey, if kelly was caught out instead of flanno it’s all the same. flanno’s a young lad he’ll be orite, nobody will ever progress without being allowed to make some mistakes. some of the knee jerk replies being written on here are appalling. and don’t listen to people like jobo, he’s likely 12 years old.
You ppl havent got a clue this article is spot on!flano is just a kid he did OK when called on last season but he wasnt amazing in fact he only had to make a hanful of tackles and in truth carra baby sat him thru the gamea making him look better.he needs to go on loan coz he has got potential but in are 25 man squad theres no room for 3 rightbacks and johnson is englands first choice and kelly is far more developed than flano very iffy decision by kk. as was the bench 3 kids but no aqua maxi or cole all who had decent pre season kenny got it horribly wrong!
I think it’s important to see how the kids and new signings fair in a real game. And i think it’s better against Sunderland than, say Arsenal. If they do well it boosts their confidence. If they make mistakes then we won’t get punished as much and could possibly still win the game. Lets not forget they should have been down one man and we had a perfectly good goal dis-allowed. I think Ol red nose fergie’s gimp, Steve B, is getting similar refs decisions as ol red nose himself.
cole had a decent preseason, yea he was great against rabotnicki last season too so what happened then? gimme a break
there was no way kenny would ne starting aqua over his new signings because aqua wants to move to italy, why on earth play a player who’s moving out over your new players? makes no bloody sense does it? have maxi on for who? raul? kuyt? It’s a big squad now, there’ll be players who won’t make the team week in week out this is not rocket science.
Ur talking about last season am saying joe cole looked very sharp in pre-season as did aqua and kelly and i didnt say aqua should start i was making the point of whats the point of having a strong SQUAD for the first time in many many years if your not going to pick a strong bench? Kelly should of started as should kuyt bench of hendo,aqua,maxi,flano,soto and doni that way we would of had flano who can play righr and left back soto to cover centreback then cole maxi and aqua for attacking options but who did we have to change the game? Robinson? Spearing? Ngog? The bench was a joke! I the king but i repeat he got it horribly wrong
You are an idiot son you clearly have no clue about football and if you believe that the team and bench selected made sense you should follow a different sport am a season ticket holder and have lived on townsend lane (less than a mile from anfield) all my life i have watched some absolute rubbish over the years too many bad playera to list but now the squad is strong i have doubts about kennys selection on saturday so dont question my knowledge of lfc you nob your proberbly from the other end of the country or an arm chair know all who knows nothing! If youve got nothing interesting or useful to say just keep your mouth shut
showing your age here with this sort of reply plastic. saying you having doubts about kenny’s knowledge don’t make you right does it? jobo- ticket holder, kenny – liverpool legend. try not to embarrass yourself again eh.
We seem to be taking it out on a 17year old boy who made 1 mistake the whole game. I blame the midfield they lost control in centre park allowing our back to be exposed.
Kk selection was poor too. We had two players not 100% fit. Henderson starting in front of kuyt mereiless and maxi. Adam needs to learn the art of a tackle especialy when playing deep midfield. Downing an enrique where great. Carra slowing down.
I believe we started playin carrol in the second half who only managed a total of two shorts on target out of a possible 8. Carrol is a great prospect same as henderson but they need time. I believe carrol should come in as a sub and make suarez our loan striker and play in a better player in form of aquiliani maxi mereiless who can score goals too. Dont get me wrong i dont hate andy but there are better options which can terrorise defence. Aquiliani yes he wants to go back to italy but he is on the payrol with liverpool.
It’s not a Perplexing Decision of king Kenny after a 1- 1 draw against Sunderland . In a sense Liverpool was a 2-1 winner team with Suarez goal and that of Carroll should have been granted if we compare Messi contact with Real Madrid defender to score the 2nd goal for Barca so it’s not Kenny it’s the Ref: perplexing decision of giving more Tolerance to opponent defenders that’s have a limit after all Liverpool team played very well may that continue apart of 1goal taken keep it up YNWA
worse player on field: lucas
Is 3PHD your medication? If it is, i suggest you take it all.
You only look foolish when you spout such rubbish.
The real issue the more I watch the game was midfield. Simply put, they ran out of legs. Adam isn’t the most mobile of characters, but I don’t believe we bought him for that, and Lucas just wasn’t up to speed. His passes were not crisp and his decision making was a little slow. Add to this that Henderson seemed confused about his roll in the side, especially defensively, this is what causes a back four to be more cautious. Hense they start to naturally drift back a little, and the gaps open up for players like that french guy ( not even going to attempt to spell his name ), who bossed the midfield in the second half.
Dude, where u live and how many matches u’ve watched has no bearing on your analytic knowledge of the game.
Also geography doesn’t make you a better fan!!!!!!!!!
Reading all our fans comments all I can say is that 1. we are not aware of what goes on with the team, who is totally fit and who isnt and why KK decided to play Flanno ahead of kelly . Maybe it was bcoz he was not 100% and he wanted to use him for the more difficult game against Arsenal. The game was won 2-1 I agree. Of course all was not 100% in the midfield. The new players are still being tried out and many of them like Adam and Henderson are still tense and awed to be playing for such a big team – nerves and not 100% fit yet. Plse let KK decide what to do and let us just support the team.