I’m a huge Kenny Dalglish supporter. I believe there’s no one better suited to lead Liverpool back to where they belong at the top of the Premiership table but when I saw the staring line-up against Man City I was concerned and somewhat frustrated. No Gerrard (isn’t he supposed be fitter than ever?) and no Bellamy? Not having their immediate creativity was surely going to be felt and when City saw Liverpool’s starting line-up they must have been given a real boost. I realize Gerrard may not be fully match-fit but why wait until the last 35 minutes to have him make an impact? Why not have him play the first 60 and create a foundation for Liverpool to go on and either win the game or consolidate a lead? Who knows, he may have even played longer. But Bellamy doesn’t need to get match-fit and having scored two goals against Newcastle on Friday he should have been an automatic starter to keep his personal momentum going and attack City from the first whistle. I don’t understand the logic.
Even with the starting line-up they had Liverpool should have taken the lead. A great through ball from Henderson to Downing saw him break into the box with only Hart to beat. He didn’t and within a few minutes Aguero gave City a lead they didn’t deserve. A predictable give-away by Kuyt in midfield, I’m not a fan, led to a shot on goal from outside the box that Pepe should have dealt with fairly comfortably. He didn’t. It went under his diving body to give City a soft goal.
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At times though Liverpool were playing well and had the majority of possession but with players like Adam having a shocker (he should have been off after 15 minutes) Liverpool were unable to capitalize and turn their possession into real goal scoring opportunities. Sound familiar? Downing wasn’t having a great impact on the game either as he persisted in cutting inside instead of going down the by-line and beating the defender. Carroll had some good moments holding up the ball and laying it off but never got himself into good enough positions to test Hart. By the way, will someone tell Enrique never to shoot from outside the box again please.
What is more frustrating is an in-form Liverpool side could have beaten City on Tuesday. City didn’t look that good and the 3-0 score-line flattered them. By the time Gerrard and Bellamy were introduced to replace Adam and Kuyt after 57 minutes Liverpool were 2-0 down and a comeback didn’t materialize even though Barry was sent-off after a 2nd yellow with 17 minutes to go. And as for the penalty which made it 3-0 , all I can say is the Oscars are coming up on January 24th and Toure might be up for one.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see both Bellamy and Gerrard in the staring line-up for next weeks Carling Cup game at Eastlands so then perhaps we’ll see what could have happened if they had both started on Tuesday
Barry also writes his own blog www.liverpoolfc-talk.com
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If you believe all this crap, then the score was a travesty of justice,Liverpool were just unlucky.
On the other hand if you read any other neutral report ……..
City played just 48 hours before. Still, City had the advantage in possession through early into the second half. Once City had the lead, they purposely set to stay back and absorb since they didn’t have the legs to attack. And getting caught on the counter attack would not be allowed, especially after the Sunderland disaster. Liverpool, however played into their hands by continually just firing crosses into the box. For a tired team this is the easiest type of attack to defend, since little running is required. To look at the final statistics, see Liverpool dominated possession, and conclude they must have been unlucky not to win is an incorrect conclusion. Dalglish made a mistake in his tactics, plain and simple. While Mancini had it spot on.
Spot on. We lacked a cutting edge, something bellars, Stevie and even maxi offer better than kuyt and downing. Possession means nothing if it doesn’t convert to goals. Maxi and bellars would also have provided better support to AC, who ran his socks off, bUt looked very isolated against 2 quality CBs in Kompany and Toure. Downing very disap this whole season. Very disap.
has it not occurred to you that liverpool let them win to give them clear advantage over manure! it was also a two finger salute to whisky nose saying you can ban our player but we will not help you win the league.
James
Had the same thought (no, I don’t think it’s really true in any way). Would have been perfect opportunity to drive the FA absolutely crazy. Just give one of his, half under his breath kind of trailing off in thought comments, “well, you didn’t really think we were going to help United”. The FA would have gone nuts, wasted a huge amount of time and money trying to prove LFC threw the match and in the end looked like a bunch of daft puppets. Oh, wait a minute, they are a bunch of daft puppets and don’t actually need any proof to level fines and penalties. Would be fun to watch though.
WE should have started with Maxi and Bellamy , rather than using them as subs..The thing is Maxi is a intelligent finisher but he needs time to settle, further Maxi links well with Bellamy as well.
Furthermore Adam’s free kicks or corners are not sharp (He is no Gerrard).
Kenny Dalglish is an excellent manager , but I somehow feel that Downing and Adam are better as subs than starters.
Plus Maxi and Bellamy work really well interchanging with Enrique. I believe Bellamy is being given time for his knees to recover as the reason the he doesn’t play full time.
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