Liverpool FC Forum

[stmichael]

And if an outfield player had scored it'd be a different result too. But then, had Christ been  a Rasta, we'd all have dreads and be smokin weed!!

Lets face it, we had loadsa time to get the goal back, and never looked like scorin.....is that Dudek's fault too?

amen

[JBG]

My own thoughts:

1. Man UTD are an awful lot better than people on this forum give them credit for. A few weeks ago some people were saying that we'd finish higher than them this year, which was comical then and even more so now. They defended terrifically and in midfield they outfought us and limited our options. Ferguson certainly won the tactical level.

2. Pelegrino has a decent enough debut in my book, while Morientes looked like he was short of match fitness and was cancelled out by a teriffic UTD rearguard. All the same, there were a few moments where Morientes looked like he'd cause damage and I think he will be a good player for us.

3. Dudek made another high profile mistake and while I think his overall goalkeeping is decent enough, he is guilty of making the occasional error which have cost us in the past.

4. I said at the start of the season that I'd allow the new players time to bed in before making any judgements and while it is still relatively early days yet, I'm not convinced about Garcia and Nunez. Nunez looks eager but he doesn't look to me to be a top 3 Premiership player. He needs to get a bit more power and a bit tighter in his control as the ball breaks to him deep in the opposition half. He could continue to improve, but I don't see Nunez as a player who will make serious headlines in England.

5. Garcia is one of those annoying players with bags of ability but is not comfortable in any one particular position. As Stu the Red has said, he's not a right sided player and not a left sided player. He's best playing up front or in the hole. However, with Morientes and Baros undoubtedly first choice, Garcia is being accomodated in midfield, and frankly, he's put in more weak performances than strong ones there, and I'm begining to scratch my head over what exactly Benitez has in mind for Garcai.

6. Both Garcia and Nunez haven't hugely impressed but have done better than the likes of Smicer, Cheyrou, Diomonde etc, but that still isn't good enough. We cannot afford to be spending £6million on Garcia and get an inconsistant player who's fantastic in one game and absent in the next 3. We cannot afford to be blowing £6million on players who half perform, as from now on, every penny Liverpool FC spends has to be right. However, I still am prepared to give Garcia and Nunez more time, but for the purposes of this season, at least, I don't see any dramatic improvement from either. Hopefully next year will see them both fully settled and firing full cylinders.

7. It is increasingly obvious that Steven Gerrard is over rated. Ok, he may or may not have been carrying an injury on Saturday, but either way, he was thought a lesson by Keane and Scholes. Gerrard is a terrific player, but far from perfect. Its alright scoring wonder goals and hitting eye catching passes or making the occasional tundering tackle, but there is more to being a top class midfield player than that. He needs to cover more ground in a defensive sense, getting tighter on opposition players and not being as rash with his tackles. Moreover, he needs to learn that he doesn't always have to do something dramatic, and keeping possession through simple and economic use of the ball is more important than his lung busting runs and 80 yard passes. If he can keep things simple and limit the "dramatic" stuff to only a couple of times a game, he'd be twice the player.

8. Progress is very slow at this stage if we are all honest with each other. Benitez has made some mistakes and certain things aren't working, but I'm optimistic about 4th place and even more optimistic about next season.

[The_Rock]

Maybe rafa should not have started with morientas & pelle at the same time (same thing happen against bolton). The team just did not gel.....

But you can't blame him too, we don't really have quality back-up. I know we will be a force next season (rafa will most likely have his preferred playes by then.). But it is 8 mths away    unless if we win the champions league though (don't laff, it might happen).

[109-1105722616]

hes right there about manchester united although they arent as good as previous seasons, they are still a good team and on their day can beat anyone.

as for finishing above them, i think next season when we establish a full strength team with the players rafa want and we get rid of houlliers deadwood floating around the squad.  the trouble is that at times we still seem to have that houllier mentality were we become disheartened and very stale in attack, i think it showed against manutd.

[stmichael]

7. It is increasingly obvious that Steven Gerrard is over rated. Ok, he may or may not have been carrying an injury on Saturday, but either way, he was thought a lesson by Keane and Scholes. Gerrard is a terrific player, but far from perfect. Its alright scoring wonder goals and hitting eye catching passes or making the occasional tundering tackle, but there is more to being a top class midfield player than that. He needs to cover more ground in a defensive sense, getting tighter on opposition players and not being as rash with his tackles. Moreover, he needs to learn that he doesn't always have to do something dramatic, and keeping possession through simple and economic use of the ball is more important than his lung busting runs and 80 yard passes. If he can keep things simple and limit the "dramatic" stuff to only a couple of times a game, he'd be twice the player.

i think that's a fair assessment jbg to be honest. as stu the red pointed out somewhere recently, in the three biggest league games of the season, manure home and away and everton away, gerrard has gone missing. to me, the game on saturday proved that we miss xabi alonso just as much as we miss stevie g in a game of that magnitude. it was no surprise that their passing was on a different level to ours.

[109-1105722616]

i didnt realise the importance of alonso, he is quality, he can do the business.  i think stevie g's ar$e goes against the big clubs and he plays against players who are of the same standard as him

[The Canadian Red Army]

we lost to manu, get over it. look to this weekend for something brighter.

[109-1105722616]

we lost to manu, get over it. look to this weekend for something brighter.

easy for you to say, i was there, i felt the pain

   


sitting on them seats gave me piles

[Ciggy]

Was readin the scum forum and they where sayin they where lucky with the Dudek goal, and next time around they wont want to play us with a match fit Morientes and Alonso.
Have to laugh my f@ckin head off tho that Gerrard wont be goin to them and Alonso told them where to shove it

[109-1105722616]

i appreciate fans who admit when their team is fortunate and say whether they deserve they win or not, honestly.

they do know that a fully fit morientes, alonso with gerrard and kewell coming at them that it would be a different ball game.

keane and scholes wouldnt know what to do

[yckatbjywtbiastkamb]

they were missing a few players as well........ferdinand, van nistlerooy, giggs.
but i do think if we could get our best eleven on the park and have a couple of months injury free to let them gel i honestly think a title challenge is a reality next season.
if kewell finds his leeds form and gerrard and alonso keep up their performances...........

[109-1105722616]

they were missing a few players as well........ferdinand, van nistlerooy, giggs.
but i do think if we could get our best eleven on the park and have a couple of months injury free to let them gel i honestly think a title challenge is a reality next season.
if kewell finds his leeds form and gerrard and alonso keep up their performances...........

thats what we need, i think baros and morientes will get about 35 in the league between next season if they get a run in the team for long enough, need to stay injury free

[stmichael]

i didnt realise the importance of alonso, he is quality, he can do the business.  i think stevie g's ar$e goes against the big clubs and he plays against players who are of the same standard as him

After the match on Saturday there was alot of ridiculous Gerrard bashing in threads simply because he had to play against two world class midfielders (Keane and Scholes) and lost. But this thread is constructive criticism and most points highlighted are valid ones.

He does try to do too much for the team (as daft as that sounds), and he is relatively young with alot still to learn about controling the pace and tempo of a game. Because he has a tendancy to hurry the play, players around him respond in the same fashion which is why many of our moves come to nothing. We try to do things too quickly for our own good. Things will gradually change though and Stevie has all the attributes to gradually adapt his game and become more tactically astute on the pitch..

I think he and Alonso can help each other improve aspects of each others play, providing Stevie sticks around to let his partnership flourish..