Liverpool FC Forum

[Boocity]

I have no problem with Mario taking penalties. However, I'm having doubts about Henderson being our future captain.

No true captain would let themselves be pushed aside by another player. Can anyone see Gerrard, Carra or Hyypia doing so?

That's a somewhat stupid thing to say. Yeah, he shouldn't have been pushed aside, he should have given the ball to Balo himself! Hendo has never taken a pen, Sturridge is a bad penalty taker and Balo has a fantastic record in scoring (important) pens. Balo was by far the best option and Hendo as a captain should have seen that right away instead of looking like a Stevie G wannabe.

Spot on mate, it's getting ridiculous with Hendo, he all of a sudden thinks as captain he is SG mark II, takes all the free kicks, corners he can't get into the air and now thinks he should be taking the pens, it's a joke.

[Boocity]

I reckon we give Mario a start along side DS

[maguskwt]

I was actually praying that Mario would stick to his guns and refuse to hand the ball over to Hendo or Sturridge, I had no confidence in either of those 2 putting it away. Hendo just looked like he really didn't fancy it and Danny was having one of those games where a penalty miss looked on the cards.
Even aside from the pen I thought Mario did really well when he came on, some of his hold up play was top drawer. Ibe was the star of the show though.
We weren't at our best tonight but never the less we won, kept another clean sheet and kept our decent run going so all in all it wasn't too bad.

Balotelli maybe the better penalty taker, but Gerrard's criticism is right in this case, there needs to be order in the team to have good team spirit and chemistry, and Henderson should've taken it. Balotelli should've let Henderson know that he wanted the penalty and not just taken the ball off him and pushed him away...

[Boocity]

I read on the BBC website that SG reckons Mario showed disrespect to Hendo over the pen, SG is out of order, make you wonder if it's his influence on BR to get Hendo taking everything because as captain SG does, BR needs to tell him to shut it, the player best qualified should take free kicks, pens etc not just because they are captain

[only me]

I have no problem with Mario taking penalties. However, I'm having doubts about Henderson being our future captain.

No true captain would let themselves be pushed aside by another player. Can anyone see Gerrard, Carra or Hyypia doing so?

That's a somewhat stupid thing to say. Yeah, he shouldn't have been pushed aside, he should have given the ball to Balo himself! Hendo has never taken a pen, Sturridge is a bad penalty taker and Balo has a fantastic record in scoring (important) pens. Balo was by far the best option and Hendo as a captain should have seen that right away instead of looking like a Stevie G wannabe.

Spot on mate, it's getting ridiculous with Hendo, he all of a sudden thinks as captain he is SG mark II, takes all the free kicks, corners he can't get into the air and now thinks he should be taking the pens, it's a joke.

All starts and ends with the Manager ,All those decisions ,who does what ,who takes a penalty ,a corner, a ***** ,should be determined pre-game. To me it's an easy decision ,give the ball to your best kicker on the pitch meaning Mario ,But BR failed in giving those assignments leading to frustration by the players. I also think Henderson isn't the most qualified nor talented player to take set pieces no idea where that came from.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

I read on the BBC website that SG reckons Mario showed disrespect to Hendo over the pen, SG is out of order, make you wonder if it's his influence on BR to get Hendo taking everything because as captain SG does, BR needs to tell him to shut it, the player best qualified should take free kicks, pens etc not just because they are captain

What Gerrard forgot to mention is that Hendo hasn't taken 1 pen in his entire career and Mario has taken tons of them, including pens in high pressure situations. You could see it in Hendo's face that he didn't fancy it (he looked like someone about to take his first big pen) and he didn't protest too much when Mario took the ball off him, it was Danny who was doing most of the kicking off.
As someone mentioned what Hendo should have done as captain is walk over to Mario and give him the ball, it's f**king obvious to anyone with half a brain that an experienced penalty taker like Mario was the best option to take that pen.
Mario did well to keep his composure and score the damn thing, the way Sturridge etc was carrying on must have put him off. Shows you how good Balotelli is at pens.

[Santa]

Not seen the game but read about the penalty incident...it would be a shame if due to political reason, Henderson or Sturridge was to take "THAT" penalty. Clearly Mario should be our main penalty taker, just that with Stevie being so good at it as well, Mario was asked to step aside. Look at their career records (Mario vs Jordan vs Daniel) in taking penalty, I don't even understand why there's even a fuss. Also I don't want to see Henderson takes any free kicks as well...not good enough!

[Dundreamin is back]

Christ that 1st half was so boring I actually fell asleep ( it wasn't all the match it was partly due to my health) I have never in the last 50 years of supporting LFC done that before maybe it's my age

[Boocity]

I was actually praying that Mario would stick to his guns and refuse to hand the ball over to Hendo or Sturridge, I had no confidence in either of those 2 putting it away. Hendo just looked like he really didn't fancy it and Danny was having one of those games where a penalty miss looked on the cards.
Even aside from the pen I thought Mario did really well when he came on, some of his hold up play was top drawer. Ibe was the star of the show though.
We weren't at our best tonight but never the less we won, kept another clean sheet and kept our decent run going so all in all it wasn't too bad.

Balotelli maybe the better penalty taker, but Gerrard's criticism is right in this case, there needs to be order in the team to have good team spirit and chemistry, and Henderson should've taken it. Balotelli should've let Henderson know that he wanted the penalty and not just taken the ball off him and pushed him away...

You're off your head if you think we should potentially miss the opportunity to take a needed lead into the away leg to satisfy SG and his protege

[woof woof !]

Re the "who takes the penalty incident"

Balotelli apparently overruled team orders (not good but I'm glad he did) Henderson either wimped out and bowed to Mario's demand or realising Mario was a far better taker of pens did the sensible thing by allowing Mario to take the ball (maybe a bit of both ?)

Sturridge cerainly didn't help the situation by getting in Hendersons' face and bitching about Mario taking the ball.

Realise he hasn't been starting but when he's on the pitch why hasn't BR got a supremely confident penalty taker (Mario) pencilled in to take pens if Gerrard's not available ?

We weren't at our best , some of our decision making was woeful but a win is a win and we should be able to finish the job in the second leg.

[maguskwt]

I was actually praying that Mario would stick to his guns and refuse to hand the ball over to Hendo or Sturridge, I had no confidence in either of those 2 putting it away. Hendo just looked like he really didn't fancy it and Danny was having one of those games where a penalty miss looked on the cards.
Even aside from the pen I thought Mario did really well when he came on, some of his hold up play was top drawer. Ibe was the star of the show though.
We weren't at our best tonight but never the less we won, kept another clean sheet and kept our decent run going so all in all it wasn't too bad.

Balotelli maybe the better penalty taker, but Gerrard's criticism is right in this case, there needs to be order in the team to have good team spirit and chemistry, and Henderson should've taken it. Balotelli should've let Henderson know that he wanted the penalty and not just taken the ball off him and pushed him away...

You're off your head if you think we should potentially miss the opportunity to take a needed lead into the away leg to satisfy SG and his protege

The point flew right over your head. It is not about satisfying SG nor Henderson (his protege as you so demeaningly refer to). It is about principals. SG said "It's not nice to see when players are taking it off each other and stuff, for me, rules are rules and codes are codes inside a dressing room and when a manager selects a penalty taker that player should take it." and he is spot on.

Now whether or not Henderson is a suitable designated penalty taker, that's another discussion and IMO I agree that he's not. And that's on BR. But what Balotelli should've still done is request to take the penalty in a proper manner and not 'wrestle' the ball away from Henderson and then push him away which shows disrespect to your captain. "Manners maketh man" as Collin Firth's character showed in the Kingsman movie.

[algymoon]

I don't understand why to much fuss about what Mario has done.. He is the best penalty taker we have in team along with SG, and Lucas. Sturridge and Henderson are not penalty takers, for Sturridge I thought at the time he would miss.. he had a very poor game, playing within himself and tusty and not sharp at all, as for Henderson I didn't think he will conver it, he lacks confidence.. to be hounest he is not true Skipper it is not in him.. He is not a leader, and he cannot lead by example.

Mario did the right thing and got us the win,, many thanks for his goal, all the fuss will distract the team from focusing on the Sunday game, which it will be very tough.

BR if he is strong, then he should stop all this fuss, and ask the players to focus on their job.. leave the talk to the media!!, they would love it to take their attention off Chelsea shamful act by their fans in Paris!!!

[Kopite-Jud]

I don't understand why to much fuss about what Mario has done.. He is the best penalty taker we have in team along with SG, and Lucas. Sturridge and Henderson are not penalty takers, for Sturridge I thought at the time he would miss.. he had a very poor game, playing within himself and tusty and not sharp at all, as for Henderson I didn't think he will conver it, he lacks confidence.. to be hounest he is not true Skipper it is not in him.. He is not a leader, and he cannot lead by example.

Mario did the right thing and got us the win,, many thanks for his goal, all the fuss will distract the team from focusing on the Sunday game, which it will be very tough.

BR if he is strong, then he should stop all this fuss, and ask the players to focus on their job.. leave the talk to the media!!, they would love it to take their attention off Chelsea shamful act by their fans in Paris!!!

Lucas ?

[leeroy74]

The decision to whom takes said peno  is surely the managers.  Then it's down to the captain to make sure this order is up held during the game.  Hendo papped it and gave it up to Balotelli  , sturridge was far too fired up to take it anyway,  Balotelli was cool as fook. Hendo needs to grow a pair

[RED BEERGOGGLES]

I think that game against Besiktas underlined my reservations with Rodgers tactical acumen ,he seems to possess no proclivity whatsoever to deviate from his current
mindset .Besiktas if we're honest are a decent well drilled team with a manager who knows how to accentuate the strength in his core group of players....but that's it !
If truth be known they're nothing special ,and with the players at the managers disposal he had more than enough options to have switched things up ,if only to confound
Bilic's tactics ,which has to be said were underlined by Rodgers with his refusal to be less predictable.   



In the first half we were tormented by Tore, and Sakho had his work cut out ,to all inside Anfield he was arguably their most potent threat ,we also seen that Ibe although
carrying a real attacking threat was naive in his defending and this often left Can exposed ,we seen how rigid our midfield was with no player pushing up to provide
protection for our main course of invention 'Coutinho' who was marked out of the game ...Bilic was more than happy to let us have the lions share of possession ,whilst retaining a firm line in defence ,they also constructed the best attacks and arguably had enough chances to return to Turkey with a few goals.

Balotelli was introduced and we looked much more threatening and more inventive ,and yet this seems to completely escape the manager  European football is a different animal than the kick and rush of the Premier League ,it requires intelligence and the tactical nous to outmanoeuvre your opponent. It may make for depressing reading ,but Liverpool are so predictable in Europe ,and managers can devise their counter tactics a month before the game.

That game on Thursday typified  the reason we're out of the Champion's League and it evoked some deeply unpleasant memories of our game against Basel ,a real lack
of game intelligence and once again overlooking the best players to complete the job . I mean what's so difficult ,the games at Anfield and you have two brilliant strikers
to spearhead your attack and you leave one (who has started to play with a real flourish of late ) on the bench ....it completely baffles me