Liverpool FC Forum

[66-1112520797]

Liverpool are so boring to watch, yawn yawn!!!! Kuyt is s*i*e.

[babu]

bit early to be on the sauce.

[account deleted by request]

Liverpool are so boring to watch, yawn yawn!!!! Kuyt is s*i*e.

I wasn't bored by todays game mate, bit disappointed with our play but not bored. I don't think we are that far off playing well at the moment. A bit more creativity in the final third , a bit more pace up front and a bit more snap in our passing and we will be up and running.

Think back to a few games ago, we couldn't pass, players were like statues, all we had to offer was hard work and effort, and even the effort didn't seem that great.

I think we are gradually getting back on track. While I appreciate Blackburn didn't try to pressurise us on the ball today and were quite happy to let us pass it about, we showed signs that our confidence is starting to come back.

I think Rafa made a big big mistake not buying a winger instead of Babel. Kewell did nothing out of the ordinary, just held the ball well passed ok and got a few decent crosses in, but the difference in our play was clear for anyone to see.

Babel may turn into a great player one day (unlikely I know but possible) but we have been crying out for a decent winger, and Babel is just not good enough as a winger. If a cameo from a half fit Kewell can have that sort of impact, just think if we had signed Mancini or Maluda.

I thought Mascherano had a great game again, but I think our fullbacks suffered without Alonso's quick passes. Or maybe it was Blackburns game plan to snuff out our fullbacks?

I agree about Kuyt, he certainly proved that he's not good enough to play the main striker, and that its not because he has been playing too deep that he doesn't score.

The only time Kuyt offered any threat or looked comfortable was when he dropped back into his usual position. Having said that, why did we keep chipping balls up to him all the first half? He never won a ball in the air so why keep doing it?

Nah mate I wasn't bored, I wasn't exactly thrilled either, but it will come.

[Owzat]

When we do create chances we don't put them away, I wonder if Rafa will go shopping for strikers in January. Who in the team looked like putting the ball in the net? Can't blame Gerrard, he scores his fair share, but can anyone honestly say Kuyt, Benayoun, Mascherano, Sissoko, Babel looked like scoring? Why did we need Sissoko AND Mascherano again? It's not like they stopped Blackburn getting chances and maybe with another more attacking option we'd SCORE. Some say it was Crouch coming on changed the outlook, I'd say it was the fact that we had two up front

[66-1112520797]

Liverpool are so boring to watch, yawn yawn!!!! Kuyt is s*i*e.

I wasn't bored by todays game mate, bit disappointed with our play but not bored. I don't think we are that far off playing well at the moment. A bit more creativity in the final third , a bit more pace up front and a bit more snap in our passing and we will be up and running.

Think back to a few games ago, we couldn't pass, players were like statues, all we had to offer was hard work and effort, and even the effort didn't seem that great.

I think we are gradually getting back on track. While I appreciate Blackburn didn't try to pressurise us on the ball today and were quite happy to let us pass it about, we showed signs that our confidence is starting to come back.

I think Rafa made a big big mistake not buying a winger instead of Babel. Kewell did nothing out of the ordinary, just held the ball well passed ok and got a few decent crosses in, but the difference in our play was clear for anyone to see.

Babel may turn into a great player one day (unlikely I know but possible) but we have been crying out for a decent winger, and Babel is just not good enough as a winger. If a cameo from a half fit Kewell can have that sort of impact, just think if we had signed Mancini or Maluda.

I thought Mascherano had a great game again, but I think our fullbacks suffered without Alonso's quick passes. Or maybe it was Blackburns game plan to snuff out our fullbacks?

I agree about Kuyt, he certainly proved that he's not good enough to play the main striker, and that its not because he has been playing too deep that he doesn't score.

The only time Kuyt offered any threat or looked comfortable was when he dropped back into his usual position. Having said that, why did we keep chipping balls up to him all the first half? He never won a ball in the air so why keep doing it?

Nah mate I wasn't bored, I wasn't exactly thrilled either, but it will come.

So sorry but I've just back from the beach, while I was there I watched the grass grow. I found that more exciting to watch.

Liverpools first shot on target came in the 42nd minute.

Boooorrrrrriiiiiiinnnnng 

   

Also of note: The players seemed frustrated at their lack of anything in the final third, they were to static. When Mascha had that long rang shot that went wide, Carra went off at him. Mascha turned around back to Carra, as Carra must of said 'build an attack' or on them lines, 'Where, where, where' replied Mascha, there was nothing on.

We are looking like a very ordinary team, and how the f.uck Kuyt gets picked ahead of Crouch as the lone stiker is just f.ucking self sabotage.

[bigmick]

Why did we need Sissoko AND Mascherano again? It's not like they stopped Blackburn getting chances and maybe with another more attacking option we'd SCORE.



Some say it was Crouch coming on changed the outlook, I'd say it was the fact that we had two up front

Yes the two defensive midfielders did seem a little like overkill to me as well. Given this selection, I actually think there is a certain amount of battening down the hatches going on in the mind of the manager, and I must confess I personally think it's probably a sensible option on balance.

Rafa will know in his heart of hearts as we all surely do, that a serious tilt at the title is looking like an unlikely turn of events. He will also know that qualification for the Champions League next season is an absolute priority if he is to have another stab at the thing. Were we to fail to qualify in the top four, then I would have thought that we would have a new manager next season and probably rightly so under those circumstances. This probably explains his reluctance to go all gung ho on the back of the Arsenal Man Utd draw and risk losing further ground on Blackburn.

As for your point Ows' about Crouch, it's certainly fair to say the inclusion of a second striker almost regardless of who it was changed the shape of the play. So inoccuous though was Kuyt before the introduction of Crouch, that the substitute was made to look like some sort of world-beater simply because he won a header or two and actually carried some sort of tangible threat. I know from your previously well-researched posts that you don't rate Crouch at all, but I'd be interested to hear who you would start with up top given Torres isn't available and the other options are Voronin and Kuyt (assuming of course he won't play Babel there which seemingly he won't). Though you don't rate Crouch, would you still concede he's the best of the other three?

[red--sangria]

We played good football at Camp Nou last season... we played good football against AC Milan in the CL final... we played good football against arsenal where we thrashed them 4-1 last season... we played good football against man u at anfield where we totally dominated them only to lose on an unfortunate last minute goal... we played good football against chelsea at home last season where we thrashed them 2-0...

we played good football against, villa, chelsea, sunderland and derby this season...

I agree that now we're not playing good football... and all of a sudden it seems as if we never play good football under benitez...

the negativity on this forum is unbelieveable sometimes...

or perhaps it is the definition of 'good football'... if you're talking about the kind of football that arsenal and man u play, I hate to disappoint you but we're not gonna play that kind of football... it is not possible to play that kind of football by any other club simply because the managers are different... if you want us to play like arsenal, ask wenger to quit at highbury and join us, if you want us to play like the mancs, maybe ferguson can join us after he retires at old trafford. As for me I admire Benitez's type of football (when it's working of course)... or are you ppl too narrow minded to think that man u's and arsenal's are the only types of good football? I believe you are not...

the question should be why we're not playing good football right now... because I know we can under benitez........for all of these reasons... I would give rafa 2 more years to prove his system works... surely if houllier deserved 7 years, the man who gave us the fifth european cup and the seventh FA cup in his first two seasons deserve 6 years... no?

[Paul C]

I agreed that we are boring it watch, it's like watching England play with red shirt rather than white (unless were in away shirts).

One of the problems I have had for a long time is the movement off the ball, we play two dimensional football, where the likes of United, Arsenal and Chelsea will run off the ball and create space we don't, we don't play high tempo football with players sometimes jogging around rather than busting a gut to find space.

Their is no spark there, simple as that

[OneHotRed]

I see your point red-sangria, but when Houllier went downhill everyone could see it, I think this is kind of happening to Benitez, we are not all dissapointed for no reason, the forums arent rife with dissapointment because we are playing really good football, our OWN FANS at football matches arent booing off MY team in 2 games this season because we are ecstatic about getting made to look mediocre by teams who arent worthy to polish our boots.

There are reason behind the critisim and I dont think these can be ignored by all parties (Fans, managers, coaches, players) for much longer, I hate the fact people are now coming to Anfield believing they can get a result, and they do, you can see that in the way they all play against us now.

I'm not saying sack Rafa, not even close to that but I would appreciate it if he would dampen down what seems to me his self pride and make some changes somewhere along the line, I believe we have become a predicatable team, which with the amount of times we have fielded the same team since Benitez joined is bloody ridiculous, we dont ever seem to do anything different anymore.

I believe the one thing we are missing is a little Creativity and composure (ok thats 2) as we creating some chances, just not finishing them off.

We DO have a good squad, not quite league winners I feel but a good squad none the less.  I'd like to see another quality striker brought in, 2 wingers and some cover at the back.

Ones thing is for certain we ARE missing Agger and Alonso more than I though was possible, when Alonso got injured against -nal you could see the difference straight away, I dont believe we'd have concieded if he'd still been on the field.  We are also missing the cutting edge of Torres too, which is a shame as we shouldnt be as he only joined this season and with the money been spent you'd expect us not to have to resort to SG ev everytime we needed a goal.

I still dont believe the above is an excuse, even without these players we should be winning games.  Its pretty upsetting to be honest so I can understand the haters etc calling for peoples heads.

[Owzat]

Rafa will know in his heart of hearts as we all surely do, that a serious tilt at the title is looking like an unlikely turn of events.

I'm sorry but we're unbeaten and not having a serious tilt at the title even though we're only six points off the top?!?!?! Not having a go at you, but what situation will we be looking at a serious tilt at the title? Is it only when we've won our first nine or ten league games? We could have won yesterday and probably should have, if we're conceding the title already then I have to wonder if this is the same Liverpool I have supported for over TWENTY years. We're not in a perfect position, but we're better off than any of the 10 points out of 21 starts we've had under Rafa (all three previous seasons)

[Sarge]

we are nowhere near arsenal quality.

and we expect to win this year's premier? don't kid yourselves..

[bigmick]

I'm sorry but we're unbeaten and not having a serious tilt at the title even though we're only six points off the top?!?!?! Not having a go at you, but what situation will we be looking at a serious tilt at the title? Is it only when we've won our first nine or ten league games? We could have won yesterday and probably should have, if we're conceding the title already then I have to wonder if this is the same Liverpool I have supported for over TWENTY years. We're not in a perfect position, but we're better off than any of the 10 points out of 21 starts we've had under Rafa (all three previous seasons)

Well we'll see mate and I hope I'm wrong. Certainly in the short term, our fixtures are favourable enough that we can be in there for a fair bit longer, so there'll plenty of opportunity for everyone to tell me I've called it wrong, and I hope I have.

Out of the top teams though, Chelsea have already played Man Utd and ourselves Away. Arsenal have played us Away and Man Utd at Home, Man Utd have been to the emirates and have played Chelsea at Home, while we have played both Arsenal and Chelsea at Home. We are soon going to play Man Utd at Home, meaning in the second half of the season we've got to go and play all the other big clubs on their home grounds.

Allied to that, is the fact that the other three teams are currently playing football on a different level to us. Now I know we have horrendous injuries and the rest, but clearly at the moment we are fourth out of four.

So I'm sorry Owz, with the greatest respect I think we are at best big outsiders as I've said. If you disagree with me, open yourself up a betfair acount and get yourself a bit of the eleven and a half to one. Given we play Fulham next in  a game we must surely win, we'll probably tighten up a point or so and you could probably trade back for a profit anyhow.

[Elchris]

we are nowhere near arsenal quality.

and we expect to win this year's premier? don't kid yourselves..

Lets say fabregaes and toure gets injured , then we will see if arsenal remains unbeaten

[OneHotRed]

Its not that they are going to stay unbeaten mate, they are a good side, technically better (in every aspect) than us as a team, not a fan of them, just stating what was obvious

[Owzat]

As for your point Ows' about Crouch, it's certainly fair to say the inclusion of a second striker almost regardless of who it was changed the shape of the play. So inoccuous though was Kuyt before the introduction of Crouch, that the substitute was made to look like some sort of world-beater simply because he won a header or two and actually carried some sort of tangible threat. I know from your previously well-researched posts that you don't rate Crouch at all, but I'd be interested to hear who you would start with up top given Torres isn't available and the other options are Voronin and Kuyt (assuming of course he won't play Babel there which seemingly he won't). Though you don't rate Crouch, would you still concede he's the best of the other three?

Honestly I have to say I have given up on Kuyt, never rated Crouch which hasn't changed based on a couple of moments in his last couple of appearances which ended in zip anyway, and Voronin seems to like playing teams within 3 points of bottom so I can't say I'm that impressed with him either. You get what you pay for, except we paid £7m for Crouch and £10m for Kuyt when I reckon neither's worth more than £5m tops.

So what alternative? Kewell behind Voronin or Crouch perhaps? Some convaluted formation with a holding midfielder and three behind the striker? Or maybe we should explore the Chelsea 4-3-3 come 4-5-1 option by playing Kewell on the left, Benayoun or Gerrard on the right, Mascherano in the middle and some combination not involving Sissoko to complete the middle. Maybe that is what Rafa is trying, I', not sure we have the players to pull it off as we've only one striker capable of matching Drogba and if we could find two to play wide then our middle three would probably end up being Sissoko, Mascherano and Lucas.

I think the problem is we have a midfield and attack that don't score enough goals - Torres and Gerrard apart. They don't create much either so no matter who plays and in what formation you could say Rafa has bought a lot of players incapable of doing any kind of job worth doing whatsoever! How many manc midfielders are that ineffective? None. Gerrard came through the system, Kewell was signed by Houllier and we've got too many players who are in the team to win the ball or hold it up and do little else if they do even that much.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't football about scoring goals, more than the opposition generally being the aim? Winning the ball and holding it up/working hard doesn't score goals so something has to happen inbetween and that something inbetween isn't happening. We've got Babel and Pennant who run with the ball and produce next to nothing, strikers who can't score even when in a good position and two holding midfielders when only one is needed (if they are good enough) I should say I'm probably being harsh on Benayoun, maybe we can just about scrape together a half-decent midfield but if it plays one game you can bet Rafa will change it the next. Despite spending quite a bit I reckon we'd struggle to put out an XI capable of winning the title if it played every game with no injuries and playing at somewhere near its best every game.

And to top it all off Rafa is back to playing Riise at LB when the now liability Sami is next to him. We can't score and we're leaving one side of the defence open to exploitation. Beats me what kind of manager would play two defensive mids and an 'attacking' LB who isn't the greatest defender. Isn't that like building a defensive inpenetrable fortification that the enemy can simply go round? (Maginot line)