Liverpool FC Forum

[maguskwt]

The solution is we need a new manager simple as that.You can see these lads are in desperate need of inspiration, a new challenge, its like the life has been drained from them lately. We can do better with what we have but just need a new angle and a fresh eye on things and thats no disrespect to Benitez who has given us some good times and had a real go at it. Whats happening on the field of late is just not good enough for this club and we have to move on now.

right...yeah, it doesn't matter that our first choice RB Glenn Johnson, our first choice striker Fernando Torres, our first chice LW Albert Reira are out injured or still recovering from injury and that within first 15 mins of the game our first choice CB Agger, and our back up LW Ryan Babel got themselves injured and had to be replaced with our back up CB the Greek and not fully fit Yossi Benayoun, now does it?

And how many players were chelsea missing yesterday then, didn't seem to affect them in the slightest,

Geez, I wonder why??? it's like talking to bricks on here sometimes.

doesn't ever seem to affect the other teams so much,

wow which other teams are those???
   

[Rush Job]

Corner kick + Shkrtel = conceding a goal. Shkrtel is an OK defender.He could block and tackle but the crosses are his problems as I can see.But in order to make a good defense we need a Vidic or a Puyol type of defender, which is imposible at the moment.Kyrgiakos is an OK defender too.As long as he sits on the bench we'll be fine.Charager is getting a bit old and Agger is getting injured too often.But at the end I actully dont see why do we suck that much in defense.The players may do alot of mistakes but they cant suck this much in defense.They're not really that bad but the defence is still critical.

It's only really set pieces that we suck at and this is because of zonal marking and the fact that our players clearly aren't comfortable with it combined with having  manager who is too stubborn to change his mind.

We defend in much the same way as most other top teams you could name.
Why is it when we concede from a corner its the zonal part that gets the blame instead of the man to man?
We dont play a complete zonal system,infact we defend much the same way as we used to in Hansens days, man to man on the biggest threats and zonal elsewhere.
No one ever mentions that we lack height and players who are strong in the air, but then why would that have anything to do with it.

I'm sorry but that is complete and utter 100% grade a in so many ways. Firstly in what way do our defenders lack height, Skittles, Carra and Agger are all big lads aren't they and Insua is no dwarf either, plus Stevie and Nando are tall enough. In fact the only smallish players we have are Mascha and Benni.
Secondly if we defend corners in the same way as other teams then what the F is going on, why are we so terrible at them, who's fault is it?
For my money we do not do man-on-man in corners we do zonal and it quite simply doesn't work and every oppo player knows it. FFS all Adebayor had to do was take two steps back to get out of his "zone" and there was no one challenging him because no one was sure who's "zone" he had gone into.

I said we lack height and players who are strong in the air. Our CB have decent height but arent good in the air.... see?
We play a mixed system mate, like most top teams and not alot different to the one Hansen played in in the 80`s, according to the man his self.
Like it or not its a fact,stop getting your opinions from the media.

[Rush Job]

Reina is a fantastic keeper in many many ways but he is not a natural shot stopper in my opinion.

Thats complete sh!te and I dont think you`ll find anyone who will agree with that. Anyone who has seen him play will know that that is probably his main strengh along with distribution.
How is it he became known as a pen stopper if he isnt a natual shot stopper?
How can you think he is a "fantastic" keeper if he isnt a quality shot stopper?
You say he is a fantastic keeper in many many ways, ok list these many many ways.
I wish you would read your posts through before you hit send.

OK OK chill. By shot stopper I'm referring to saves made in a one-on-one situation, instinctive reflex saves. I don't think reina is particularly good at them compared to say Schmeical, James, Cech etc.
What Reina is very good at is dealing with crosses, positioning and saves from distance.
I have now read my post several times and I feel happy with it. 

Reinas is lacking on one on ones and reflex saves???
WTF does anyone else agree with this?

[aCe']

i thinke Reina is average at best when dealing with crosses, very undecided at times, doesnt know when to come out for the ball, and when he does, he often gets the timing wrong .... as a shot stopper hes good but nothing special, not someone you can count on to make spectacular saves to turn games around for you... theres many keepers who are better than him in both departments... He's solid though, and does whats expected of him on a consistent basis... Add to that the fact that he has top top class distribution from the back and helps start attacks efficiently, and you got no reason to think about replacing him anytime soon... I think people who go on about him being the best in the league are exaggerating a little... Cech, Given, and VanDerSar to me are much the better keepers ..

[milou]

i thinke Reina is average at best when dealing with crosses, very undecided at times, doesnt know when to come out for the ball, and when he does, he often gets the timing wrong .... as a shot stopper hes good but nothing special, not someone you can count on to make spectacular saves to turn games around for you... theres many keepers who are better than him in both departments... He's solid though, and does whats expected of him on a consistent basis... Add to that the fact that he has top top class distribution from the back and helps start attacks efficiently, and you got no reason to think about replacing him anytime soon... I think people who go on about him being the best in the league are exaggerating a little... Cech, Given, and VanDerSar to me are much the better keepers ..

I agree with everything you said here.

That said.. as pointed out by you as well.. reina is NOT the problem of our defence this season.

[killerp]

Poor defending of corners cost us quite a few goals, I'm not blaming zonal marking but why are other teams good at defending corners? Is it just down to the players quality or lack of

[SouthCoastShankly]

Another annoyance is kids who were deemed "not good enough" are now shining in the championship and being touted for fairly good sums.

Jack Hobbs is a good example, we sold him after purchasing him as the next big thing (how many times have we heard that), he now has had a storming season in the Championship with Leicester and is receiving interest from Premiership clubs. Leicester have slapped a £2.5m price tag on him.

It's clear to me who I would have over kyrgiakos

[stmichael]

a blind man could see that this is the root of our problems this season. we're scoring goals at a decent rate but the manner in which we're conceding is nothing short of a joke at times. i called the adebayor goal before it even happened and the ease with which SWP tuerned the greek for the second goal was embarassing.

in the past, if we went a goal up under you'd put your mortgage on us winning the game in 95% of cases. now it's got to the stage where even after taking the lead i have no confidence in us holding onto it. Lyon (twice), birmingham and now man city are recent examples.

in 13 premiershiop games we've only kept 3 clean sheets which is worrying. however even more worrying is that in 8 of those 13 games we've conceded 2 goals or more. you can't keep relying on having to score 3 goals in a game to win it, especially when your main goalscoring threat upfront is struggling for fitness.

[heimdall]

Corner kick + Shkrtel = conceding a goal. Shkrtel is an OK defender.He could block and tackle but the crosses are his problems as I can see.But in order to make a good defense we need a Vidic or a Puyol type of defender, which is imposible at the moment.Kyrgiakos is an OK defender too.As long as he sits on the bench we'll be fine.Charager is getting a bit old and Agger is getting injured too often.But at the end I actully dont see why do we suck that much in defense.The players may do alot of mistakes but they cant suck this much in defense.They're not really that bad but the defence is still critical.

It's only really set pieces that we suck at and this is because of zonal marking and the fact that our players clearly aren't comfortable with it combined with having  manager who is too stubborn to change his mind.

We defend in much the same way as most other top teams you could name.
Why is it when we concede from a corner its the zonal part that gets the blame instead of the man to man?
We dont play a complete zonal system,infact we defend much the same way as we used to in Hansens days, man to man on the biggest threats and zonal elsewhere.
No one ever mentions that we lack height and players who are strong in the air, but then why would that have anything to do with it.

I'm sorry but that is complete and utter 100% grade a in so many ways. Firstly in what way do our defenders lack height, Skittles, Carra and Agger are all big lads aren't they and Insua is no dwarf either, plus Stevie and Nando are tall enough. In fact the only smallish players we have are Mascha and Benni.
Secondly if we defend corners in the same way as other teams then what the F is going on, why are we so terrible at them, who's fault is it?
For my money we do not do man-on-man in corners we do zonal and it quite simply doesn't work and every oppo player knows it. FFS all Adebayor had to do was take two steps back to get out of his "zone" and there was no one challenging him because no one was sure who's "zone" he had gone into.

I said we lack height and players who are strong in the air. Our CB have decent height but arent good in the air.... see?
We play a mixed system mate, like most top teams and not alot different to the one Hansen played in in the 80`s, according to the man his self.
Like it or not its a fact,stop getting your opinions from the media.

I get my facts from watching the game, where do get yours from, dogma perhaps, towing the line??
If the players aren't good enough in the air then sell them and get better ones or here's a novel idea fecking practice and get better!!

If we play the same system in defending corners then hwy are we all of a sudden the worst team in the premiership at them, do all the other clubs have more money than us.

i am sick and tired of this excuse that we have no money, there are plenty of cheaper players who can come in and do a job but we don't have any of them, instead we have a band of travelling willburys who don't give two sh1ts about Liverpool and have very poor skills and attitudes, why for example do we only have one striker on our books, how can a manager be called a genius when he allows that to happen?

[Benny The Noon]

Individual errors at the back and poor marking .

[JC_81]

Another annoyance is kids who were deemed "not good enough" are now shining in the championship and being touted for fairly good sums.

Jack Hobbs is a good example, we sold him after purchasing him as the next big thing (how many times have we heard that), he now has had a storming season in the Championship with Leicester and is receiving interest from Premiership clubs. Leicester have slapped a £2.5m price tag on him.

It's clear to me who I would have over kyrgiakos

To be fair mate the Premiership is a massive step up from the Championship these days.  From the very few appearances I've seen of Hobbs when he was here and the few times I've watched him for Leicester, I'm just not that impressed.

Not even sure I'd have him over Kyrgiakos to be honest, and he's poor.

[Yossi_Benaloon]

The way we are conceding sloppy goals is very worrying and needs to be one of the main things to adress. Our marking from set-pieces is hopeless and too often there are free attackers in the box. Rafa has to understand now that the title is gone and all his efforts need to concentrate on ensuring we qualify for the Champions League next year - as if we dont i can see Mascherano and maybe even Torres getting unsettled. So fourth place in a must, and there are many teams this season looking capable of acheiving Champions League qualification from fourth spot. Sorting the defence should make this acheivable as we are in a rut and conceding goals far too easily.

[maguskwt]

Reina is a fantastic keeper in many many ways but he is not a natural shot stopper in my opinion.

Thats complete sh!te and I dont think you`ll find anyone who will agree with that. Anyone who has seen him play will know that that is probably his main strengh along with distribution.
How is it he became known as a pen stopper if he isnt a natual shot stopper?
How can you think he is a "fantastic" keeper if he isnt a quality shot stopper?
You say he is a fantastic keeper in many many ways, ok list these many many ways.
I wish you would read your posts through before you hit send.

OK OK chill. By shot stopper I'm referring to saves made in a one-on-one situation, instinctive reflex saves. I don't think reina is particularly good at them compared to say Schmeical, James, Cech etc.
What Reina is very good at is dealing with crosses, positioning and saves from distance.
I have now read my post several times and I feel happy with it. 

Dealing with crosses is actually one of Reina's weaker points... 

[Fauxy]

Reina not a natural shot stopper!!?? Someone is on drugs 

[Owzat]

a blind man could see that this is the root of our problems this season. we're scoring goals at a decent rate but the manner in which we're conceding is nothing short of a joke at times. i called the adebayor goal before it even happened and the ease with which SWP tuerned the greek for the second goal was embarassing.

in the past, if we went a goal up under you'd put your mortgage on us winning the game in 95% of cases. now it's got to the stage where even after taking the lead i have no confidence in us holding onto it. Lyon (twice), birmingham and now man city are recent examples.

in 13 premiershiop games we've only kept 3 clean sheets which is worrying. however even more worrying is that in 8 of those 13 games we've conceded 2 goals or more. you can't keep relying on having to score 3 goals in a game to win it, especially when your main goalscoring threat upfront is struggling for fitness.

Since we beat the mancs we've scored seven goals in five games and not won any of them. Before that last win we scored one goal in four games and lost them all.

Agree on the not defending leads bit, perhaps a lack of confidence tailored with an inability to close games out. In the eight games we've scored 2+ goals this season we've won six and drawn two.

0-1 goals : P11 W2 D1 L8 (Won 18.18%)
2+ goals : P8 W6 D2 L0 (Won 75.00%)

Not sure that tallies with the notion we score more, bear in mind three of those 2+ goals wins were Hull, Stoke and Burnley. The two 1-0 wins were Lids in the cup and Debrecen in the CL. Defence is definitely a problem, but so too is the lack of goalscoring. We are over-dependent on goals from Gerrard, Kuyt and Torres, Benayoun seems a likely scorer but his hat-trick aside he's scored only two other goals this season.

I think our problems can be summed up by the "back six", leaking too many goals (8 out of 20 league goals conceded from set-pieces) and not much creativity, especially without Johnson. How on earth does Rafa justify playing two DMs against Citeh with Aquilani on the bench in what I believe Rafa termed a "crucial game" ? I won't criticise his substitutions on Saturday as his hands were tied by early injuries, but too often he's tried the same starting formula and it's not working very often. We've won eight games this season, the quality of most of the opposition was poor come limited - Debrecen, Leeds, Hull, Stoke and Burnley. We beat the mancs, the margin of two not clinched until the death, the others were narrow 3-2 wins over Wet Sham (17th) and notlob (18th) So effectively we've beat a lot of nobodies plus the mancs, lost against most of the half-decent opposition faced