There were many things to be disappointed about in Liverpool’s performance against Manchester United. The way we defended for the first and third goals in particular, as well the real lack of cutting edge in the final third in the first half, seemed to suggest we deserved to lose the match as Sir Alex Ferguson said. However, as Roy Hodgson said, there were elements to the display that the team should get confidence from. The way we came back from 2-0 down and the fact it was no doubt an improved display from the West Brom and Birmingham City games. Roy’s decision to start Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole AND Raul Meireles also surprised me and gives me hope for the future that the Reds will aim to attack teams away rather than defend. It was another player in midfield that actually impressed me most, with the exception of Steven Gerrard of course. Playing alongside Stevie in midfield, Christian Poulsen had a good game for me.
The Dane certainly wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea when he arrived at Anfield back in August. At 30 years of age, he was criticised for being too old, and more importantly too slow, for the Premier League. His initial displays for the Reds were not spectacular either as he consistently gave away possession on his debut against Trabzonspor in the Europa League, and played alongside Lucas against Birmingham City in the Premier League a couple of weeks ago where both players were seemingly incapable of playing a decent pass forwards. The Denmark international has however, for me, began to make his mark in a Reds shirt. Roy opted to start him in favour of Lucas against Man U yesterday, and although his performance was eclipsed by the display of Steven Gerrard, there was enough from him to suggest he has what it takes to replace Javier Mascherano, and actually provide some extra attacking threat than the Argentine.
Certainly a great deal slower than the Argentinean captain, Poulsen does however have a great deal of experience, and he played a tactically disciplined game keeping his position in front of the back four. The biggest compliment you can give the Dane is that he limited the threat, alongside Gerrard, of both United’s central midfield players Paul Scholes and Darren Fletcher. The greater threat from Man U came on the wing from Nani, and he troubled Paul Konchesky all day. The Reds got half the job done in stopping Scholes and Fletcher but failed to stop the crosses from Nani for the second goal and O’Shea’s for the third. Poulsen on the other hand made two important tackles in front of the penalty box before unleashing counter attacks for Liverpool.
As I have said though, it wasn’t only his defensive game which was on display yesterday. His other most notable contribution in the match came at 2-2 all when he delivered a great long diagonal ball to Raul Meireles who could only head the ball wide of Edwin van der Sar’s goal. Certainly his performance was not in the same league of Steven Gerrard on the day, but there was more than enough from my perspective that he could become an important member of Liverpool’s first team. Playing Manchester United in only your third start in the Premier League is a tall order for anyone, especially considering the importance of the defensive midfield role with attacking players such as Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Raul Meireles and Maxi Rodriguez all playing ahead of you looking to get forward. The performance from the Dane gives me good cause for hope that he will make it in the Premier League.
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I think this article is the only one that states how well Poulson played that day which in my opinion was spot on. Scholes and Fletcher didn’t have a sniff on goal and was not in command of the midfield due to Poulson and Gerrard’s experience. The defence were the reason of our downfall. Konchesky was poor against Nani and all goals came from his side.
i strongly believe that if masch had played instead of poulsen rooney would not have found the space in the middle the final third that he did yesterday.
It is not Poulsen who I am worried about it is Konchesky, he was taken to the cleaners from start to finish by Nani. His job is too stop the crosses, but he failed every time, in the end Gerrard was back there defending. We all thought he was a poor buy and an average defender so far he’s proving us right.
I hope Hodgson plays with Gerrard and Meireles in the centre with Cole behind Torres. Now since we don’t have any natural wingers we will continue to struggle unless we move Johnson up and play Kelly behind him. At least Johnson can beat a man and cross a ball, unlike Maxi & Kuyt.
ANd lets not gloss over the fact that Glen Johnson is SH*T and cant defend, and is the worst RB since Kvarme!!!!
Play 4-3-3 formation:
——————-Reina——————-
———-Carragher—Agger/skrtel———
Glen—————–=————Konchesky
——–Gerrard—-Meireles——Cole——
========Kuyt——-Torres——–Babel—–
no way poulson can replce masch defensively…but the defensive attributes of both poulson and mereles or poulson and gerrard together in medfield can be compared to masheranos defensive effect in team..and i feel as more games go by we see poulson spraying more attacking passes forward..an INJURY LESS MATCH AT TRAFFORD WAS MORE IMP THAN A WIN OR A DRAW AT MANU COS THE NEXT MONTH IS VERY CRUCIAL FOR US…GLAD THAT OUR FULL SQUAD CAN START AGAINST SUNDERLAND
Okay the hard start is over and done. Let’s get stuck into the next 6 weeks in team building and winning!
its not totally konchesky’s fault. joe cole was supposed to be playing left mid, but kept drifting into center mid. effectively, konchesky had to defend against both nani and o’shea. it wasn’t easy on his own.
In all the articles I have read no one has picked up on how poor Maxi was. He offered nothing. he doesn’t have pace/ strength/ height/ skill to play in these sort of games. I can only think that he started over Babel as he is more disciplined defensively.
I don’t know what game you watched but Poulsen couldn’t lace Mascherano’s boots for defensive play. He can’t run and I can’t think of a tackle made during the game. Jury still out for him and Konchesky, seems we still poor touch in the transfer market.
Sai your right about Maxi, I think he is a ‘homer’ a lot better when he sees more of the ball around the opposition’s box.
Kev you are right about no cover for Konchesky but that still didn’t explain why he gave the ball away so much and his centre into the Stretford Road End ! Is this another player that doesn’t have the mental strength to play for a big club. Look at Glen Johnson good for West Ham average for Chelsea, player of the season for Portsmouth average for us
Sunderland becomes a big big game and they won’t be any push over
@akash, you said you were done with liverpool while hodgson was there so do us all a favour and stick to your word!
oh and re the article………………..NA!
whole hearted agreement with this article. he does read the game well thru out, intercepting those passes and the occasional nudge/tackle.
though i think he does get caught out with speedy players. otherwise i think an able replacement in the middle. dun expect to see those lung bursting trackbacks ala Mascherano, but he can definitely offer better passes.
really hopefully the midfield will slowly gel as they get more games.
I was gutted when we signed Poulsen; he has form for being a calculated thug. So far I’ve been massively underwhelmed by his performances – especially when in tandem with Lucas. I was massively relieved when he didn’t start with the undynamic duo on Sunday. But I have to say for me he was one of our best players on Sunday – some quality slide tackles. That doesn’t mean he’s as good as Mascherano though …
I’m worried about Konchesky. Never rated the guy as he always gets nutmegged so easily. And what did Nani do (apart from keep falling down). Nani nutmegged Konchesky to get a cross in. Sorry, just think it sends a message we’re content with mid table.
he’s definitely not as good as masch but what we need is an aggressive, tough-tackling central midfielder and i think poulsen fits that category perfectly. this guy’s not afraid of a tackle and gets his foot stuck in. he protects the back four and he reads the game well so i think he’s a decent addition to our squad to be honest.
We all know he’s not as good as Masch, but he did ok against the crap on sunday, Konchesky, Johnson, Maxi, were useless at best, they were worried about Torres, they looked to foul him every time, at least he got the importent decisions, Cole, sorry would have prefered Van der Vart. At least we did’nt have to suffer Lucas. But for some choice defending we could have come away with a win, maybe with a bit of width we’ll do better next time.
many seem to forget the fact that liverpool ain’t the most attractive club these days for players to go to…no CL, the direction of the club unclear, our owners are couple of bitches..couldn’t get new investments, couldn’t find new buyers…finished 7th last season..to land a player like Poulsen is a great deal to my opinion..at the very least, he did a much better job than pathetic Lucas..he may not be perfect, definitely not better than masch, but i guess for now we have to live with it…get the team back in contests with the other big 3-4 teams, fingers cross, new investors, new owners then we can start choosing players..