Gerrard has endured a tough season
5. It Isn’t the End of the World – Yes, we’ve lost a game and it wasn’t in the most impressive of circumstances. But what can you do? It certainly isn’t the end of the world. Before Sunday afternoon, we’d gone 8 games unbeaten under Dalglish; who’d have thought that even 4 games unbeaten would’ve been possible 3 months ago, let alone 8. If we can pick ourselves up from this, hopefully bounce back quickly, then a few more good runs between now and the end of the season could see us finish in an unexpected (though, perhaps not top 4) league position.
4. Our Small Squad is Harming Our Results – While the result isn’t the end of the world, the fact remains (and was spectacularly exposed on Sunday) that we have a woefully undermanned squad, at least in terms of quality. Looking at the bench at Upton Park, as Meireles and then Kelly left the pitch, we had a shocking lack of even decent squad players on the bench. A mixture of journeymen, youngsters and players past their best does not make a top 4 squad. Oh, how we’ve fallen in the past 2 seasons and it needs to be – at least partly – rectified during the summer months.
3. Luis Suarez Looks Pretty Handy – Our new signing from Holland looks the business; tricky, hardworking, nippy and a lot of quality in both feet, it looks as if we may have got ourselves a bit of a bargain. Sure, £20+ million is a lot of money but for a player of just 24, with all of his best years ahead of him, with the potential of making a fairly devastating strike-force with his soon-to-be-fit co-signing, Andy Carroll you can only be impressed with what he’s shown us so far.
INTRODUCING THE WINDOWS PHONE 7!
2. Is Steven Gerrard a Fading Force? – Now, before Gerrard’s biggest supporters get on my back about that question, I must re-iterate: it is merely a question, and a rhetorical one at that. On Sunday, our captain was played off the field by Scot (Scotty) Parker. Did you ever think you’d hear or read that sentence? No, me neither but it happened. I appreciate that Gerrard has only just come back from a few weeks out but the reality is that he hasn’t been himself for around 18 months now. The fear was always that – much like quick strikers rely on their pace – Gerrard relied on his immense ‘engine’. As he has approached 30, Gerrard has found it more difficult to influence games by sheer power of his will; by his huge physicality. All those years of gut-busting performances week-in, week-out may take its toll before too long, and when it does, we have to hope that he can adapt. As it is, performances like yesterdays remain unacceptable; limp passing, little energy and poor set-pieces are not good enough. Gerrard can not be immune to being left on the bench when he clearly isn’t at his best.
1. We Must Learn From Rafa’s Old Tactics – Following on from the point about Gerrard, you have to say that yesterday it became glaringly obvious why Rafa Benitez often opted for 2 defensive midfielders away from home. It was obvious to everybody, wasn’t it? We got mauled by a 3 man midfield, against our 2. A midfield that had consisted of Mascherano, Lucas and Gerrard would never have been outplayed so easily. Admittedly, we no longer have the top talents of Mascherano but – and I never thought I’d hear myself saying this – even Poulsen would have made a difference to that outcome yesterday, even if it was purely by weight of numbers in the middle.
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We lost the game because the priority given to the mickeymouse Europa League meant that only one day’s training and preparation was spent on the game against West Ham. Thanks to the crap goalkeeping of Reina against Wigan and West Ham Liverpool are now in danger of being overhauled this weekend from the lofty position of 6th place.
It was crapy Defending , so much holes in defence. Carr was too slow. Ya Renia was of color. Suarez is our bright future. We need a physical LB. And some pacy wingers. Hope ths ws jst a bad day at office. We must beat Man U nxt. Any how. YNWA
Carrager to slow. Has to be droped. Gerrard has to be sold. Reina too if he does not want to be at Liverpool. 30 mill for Gerrard plus 20 mill for Reina is enough money to buy 3 world class players and build a proper team again. Oh and bring Rafa back as well and him and the King will take us where we should be . YNWA
we wont get more than £20m for gerrard…
and bring back rafa when the king is at the throne???
Right, first, we would not get 30 mil for gerrard anymore, second why would we even consider selling stevie, he is our heart of the midfield, and, as Lucas is crap and we dont have any other midfileders of quality, that would be a massive mistake to sell him, Also that game was just a bad day at the office and, with the upcoming arrival of Carroll to the first team, we have a chance to build around a strong core to the team, REINA, CARRA, AGGER, GERRARD, MEREILES, CARROLL, SUAREZ. A couple of high quality wingers, like ashley young and n’zogbia and then a good left back like contraeo and then we would have a premiership winning team, with the youngsters like shelvey, spearing, sterling and pacheco on the bench, mixed with the experience of Kuyt and a back up keeper of jones, we could bring the glory days back to anfield… YNWA!
Gerrard is to Liverpool what players like Giggs are to Man Utd and more, as he has shown game after game over the last few years. He is the lifeblood of the team until Liverpool unearth a worthy successor and should remain with us to the last of his playing days (and perhaps beyond).
i think after been injured gerrard lacked fitness and its something i wont worry about at this stage of the season but i think it will have to be addressed in time ,ive heard rumour that javier mash is not feeling at home in barcelona ,i wonder why and a possible move back to liverpool could be on the cards crazy as it sounds id welcome it !i personally think kenny will sort out the deadwood at the end of the season and brinf in some new stock ,but i have worries about this d commoli ,something just isnt right there !how much say those he really have?and finally why is rafa been linked with a premier club where the unspoken one is ,that would really drive me bonkers ,someone shed some light on this if they can ?
p s ,would love to write or post a thread here ,thanks
I dont really feel that 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 is the best way to play for us. With carra acting as sweeper the other two defenders drift wide. in a a 4-4-2 the wingers double up with the full backs in defensive duties as kuyt and maxi have done when played. at pushing full backs on wing means a lot of space is left behind the midfield for wingers to exploit and when they do our defense looks way out of space. Ofcourse packing the midfield would mean we can have two defensive or one defensive/deep lying playmaker, but given the players we have a 4-3-1-2 system feels like more fluid
out of pace*
5. OK
4. The squad isn’t the problem, it’s the lack of quality of the first teamers that is the problem. Our youngsters match up with those at the likes of Chelsea and Man U. The likes of Kuyt, Maxi, Skrtel etc definitely do not match up with the regular starters at other top clubs though…
3. People keep talking about Suarez being quick and tricky, but the main attribute for me is his sharpness in the box. He was pretty poor around the pitch imho, but when he gets the ball in the box he always aims for the corners of the net and can get a shot off quickly – hopefully he isn’t convinced to turn into another Kuyt by all this talk of work rate!
2. Gerrard had some loose balls but still provided far more of a driving force moving forwards than Meireles did when he was on the pitch. Obviously Gerrard is not as dominant as he once was (especially after playing a less involved role upfront for a couple of years) but his competition for places still aren’t better than him yet
1. We played Gerrard, Meireles and Lucas from the start – that’s a 3 man centre midfield isn’t it?? The problem is that Lucas and Meireles are regularly overpowered by any opposition that decides to press back against them, which is one of the major reasons why I’ve long been calling for a more powerful central midfielder (or two) to be brought in
BTW, the midfield of Mascherano and Lucas behind Gerrard were regularly outplayed last season so stop the nonsense
I fail to come to terms with all these people naming carra in the core squad around which the team should be built. Legend that he is, carra is past it and unnecessary stuffing him in starting XI would result in more results like west ham. Carra would have been sold 2 seasons ago had sir bob been our manager, FACT. Also players like skrtel,kyrgiakos,jovanovic,ngog,poulsen,maxi,aurelio,kuyt are simply not good enough. We need atleast two good wingers first of all. Every team wishing to compete for top honours has two good wingers in their ranks. Also a new cb and a lb are also a must.
Gerard get older, he’d better play as defensive midfield
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