Liverpool FC Forum

[stmichael]

if only we could play in european competition every week eh?

yesterdays game should just remind the fans of the reality of our current situation. it also reminded me how different the premiership and european cometition are. how can a team who held (and should have beaten) chelsea four days earlier, suddenly get beaten 4-1 at home by them? i'll tell you why.

i've said for some time that chelsea would eventually put in a really commanding display which confirmed that they are street ahead of anybody else in this country. unfortunately, that came against us yesterday. ok, we defended poorly for at least 3 of the 4 goals, but sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and appreciate when a team were too good. we actually played well in patches and created some decent chances, but at the end of the day, how many saves did cech actually have to make? as much as i despise drogba, the piece of skill for duff's goal was absolutely top drawer. and there in lies the difference. i just don't see anybody providing that bit of inspiration for us at the moment unless it's stevie g.

which leads me on to the main point. looking back now, i still cannot get my head around why we didn't just break the bank to get michael owen back. forget the fact that we would have to pay double what we sold him for. at this current time we desperately need a top class player to play off crouch. owen would have been perfect for this role. sinama pongolle seems like the best option but he's in and out of the side. cisse will be gone by this time next year. the fact that rafa brought him on with only ten minutes to go convinces me that he just doesn't rate the guy. morientes, for all his qualities, just hasn't adapted to the premiership at all yet.

it's not rocket science. playing 4-5-1 (or 4-2-3-1, depending on how you want to look at it) at home is not going to get us results against the top sides who know how to defend. crouch is extremely isolated at times and unless the 3 behind the front man get up and support him regularly, we struggle to make chances. gerrard will always try and do this, but riise and garcia just aren't going to thrive using this system.

we need one, if not two quality wide men in january. stu mentioned breaking the bank to get joaquin but i'm not sure whether i'd advocate this. the fact is, i don't think we've got anything of great quality down the left either (unless kewell can somehow magically rediscover his form).

we're still strong in defence, despite yesterday's result. we have a better keeper than anything we've had in the last ten years imo, and in central midfield we're probably blessed with bettr strength in depth than anyone else in the premiership. however in attack we still have serious problems which need to be adressed in january if we want to get back into the champions league via our league position.

oh well, we'll wait and see what happens. we don't have a crisis here by any means. the game yesterday was just a wake up call. however i'm seeing worrying trends in conjunction with last season. we're almost invincible in europe but in the premiership, some of our displays are leaving a lot to be desire. i suppose we can take heart from the fact that we are away at fulham next. their defence is absolutely shocking and we should be able to go there and turn them over good and proper.

YNWA

[115-1073096938]

Where did you get that one?

[wrighty (not mark!)]

I totally disagree that you wanted Michael Owen back for that price.

Initially, I didn't want him back at all due to the fact he let his contract run down meaning we had to sell him for around 25% of what he's worth just so he can sit on the bench in Madrid. The man lacks loyalty.

However, when it came round that he was available, I would not let principles get in the way of us buying a top drawer player.But due to the fact Newcastle came in with an offer that was more than double what we sold him for, it would be shocking business to match that fee.

This simply does not make financial sense when we could just have bought wide players to accomodate the strikers we already have.

[Leonmc0708]

I totally disagree that you wanted Michael Owen back for that price.

Initially, I didn't want him back at all due to the fact he let his contract run down meaning we had to sell him for around 25% of what he's worth just so he can sit on the bench in Madrid. The man lacks loyalty.

However, when it came round that he was available, I would not let principles get in the way of us buying a top drawer player.But due to the fact Newcastle came in with an offer that was more than double what we sold him for, it would be shocking business to match that fee.

This simply does not make financial sense when we could just have bought wide players to accomodate the strikers we already have.

The Owen Dilemma in a nut shell.

[Judge]

lose garcia, and get someone who can play the ball abit, and perhaps not lose it so much, then we maybe able to play a little better

garcia = waster (imo)

not bothered if i get slated for this, he's fucking shite

[Lando_Griffin]

lose garcia, and get someone who can play the ball abit, and perhaps not lose it so much, then we maybe able to play a little better

garcia = waster (imo)

not bothered if i get slated for this, he's fucking shite

He's an enigma. Fantastic one minute, sh*te for 89.

[Judge]

cheers lando, i knew i could rely on you mate for support

[FrankM]

lose garcia, and get someone who can play the ball abit, and perhaps not lose it so much, then we maybe able to play a little better

garcia = waster (imo)

not bothered if i get slated for this, he's fucking shite

I dont like to be offensive to our players by calling them names, but I agree that Garcia simply isnt good enough. At times he can be good but mostly he plays as though he is defending for the opposition. Against Scum he continually broke up OUR attacks by giving the ball away. On Wednesday & Sunday he was at it again. My opinion has been and still is that he is a luxury we cant afford. When you add him to the likes of Traore it basically means we are trying to play against teams with 9 men. It cant work no matter what your formation is.

Probably get nailed for making this post but I'm sick of listening to people saying " give him time ". Its not going to happen. End of.

[Judge]

lose garcia, and get someone who can play the ball abit, and perhaps not lose it so much, then we maybe able to play a little better

garcia = waster (imo)

not bothered if i get slated for this, he's fucking shite

I dont like to be offensive to our players by calling them names,

your right, i hate calling him Garcia, his name, so i call him waster 

[metalhead]

sorry but i have to disagree with some of you guys about garcia.

Garcia is a very clever and creative midfielder that we lacked during the Houllier era. He was one of the reasons that we won the Champions League last year and scoring goals. the only thing that he needs to work on is his consistancy and keep the ball more, but he has vision, skill and very clever when it comes in plays.

[H_K_LFC]

true hes good in europe but he's been disapponting in the league....if he can carry his european form into the league then he could be a brilliant player for us

[Mikz]

Ifs and buts,sick of hearing about his european form-if any one player won us the champs league it was dodgey dudek or even smicer and where are they now? Garcias had more time than enough.
  St Mike said it all in the first post -the only thing -I would go flat out for joachin  cant see it happen tho.

[hobbes]

We simply cannot play 1 striker. We need two. Loof when Sinama came in and played with Garcia. It made some sense. We have been wastin all our strikers on the right wing. We could easily move Finnan there and replace Josemi at the back. In fact that what Rafa did when we have already conceded 4 goals. Forcing Finnan to move forward.

We have given away Nunez. He was starting to shine on the right. Now we have no one to play on the right. Whose fault is that.

We bought Peter Crouch. He controls well the ball and keeps possession forward, But actually does he shoot the ball towards the goal. NO
Why is he better than Ciise.?

We have 4 strikers readily available in form. Yet we couldnt score.

Midfield is strong. Gerrard and Riise play creative football. Xabi depends too much on long balls and is not making accurate passings. Sissoko defends well. He too get nervous in front goal. He kicks off target.

In midfield though we have enough I never liked selling Danny Murphy. He is creative. He feeds the strikers with good through balls. BUt what to do he is now shining at Charlton. We now claim we dont have people to support Crouch.

While Murphy was around he was put on bench by GH and Biscan was playin there. Murphy did not play as much as he needs to keep improving. His perforamance dwindle down. Yet when GH needed to bring Liv back at the 4th position, guess who he played again. Yes Danny Murphy. The same players who was rumoured to have booked a place under Rafa was sold to Charlton the minute Rafa arrived. I never knew who did it. I believe it was not Rafa. Rafa never saw him play. Rafa even gave Biscan and Dio a chance before selling them off. Had danny was around he would have given Rafa some options. At least 90% of free kick around D-box would have been converted into goals.

Hypia. He has served well for Liverpool. Carra is solid at the back.
I read Hypia was actually sick when he was playing against Chelsea. However he did not hide behind it. He admitted he could have done better. But imagine if our two centre midfielders get sick and could not play. Who is going to replace them. We had Henchoz. We sold him too.

Let me touch on Owen. Owen wanted to leave so badly. Liv shouldnt have sold him for that price. Real Madrid can demand why we never did. If Owen didnt want to play. Put him on the bench Simple. Liv was so nice and comforting to sell him and get Morientes. They gave us Nunez. And then We got Morientes. Now we sold Nunez. And Morientes .. how many goals have he scored for us......

Morientes is an injury prone player. He will never play 1 whole season without taking break.

Garcia... is very very lousy. He keep making crucial mistakes.   

Overall... Liv needs creativity and better personality in forward. If Rafa uses preformance as a method of assessment then easily all strikers would be playing well. Rafa is sticking to one simple plan.. Crouch in front. Thats going to be a problem. Its going to casue the team to be disoriented. GH did it too. Rafa must quickly change his direction. Otherwise he is going to face what GH faced a disoriented squad of unhappy players. Now Ciise has said it. He is making a decision in December. Soon the squad will be split into 2 One favours Rafa and the other despise his decision. In that respect I think what Jose Morinhoe said is 100% right. You play well you will start. Otherwise dont go knocking on the managers door.

Simple. Liv has been too happy with CL glory. Wake up. And Get back on the race

[hobbes]

I dont believe a play can be good at one tournament and bad in the other. If so... he aint a good player.

[desperado0831]

If Garcia is a waster on ball, who else to score us goal and who else to replace him? Stop the critism and get back to reality, it's about a team of us and not to insult one from them. Sometimes, we can play very well and people praise them and then when we play in bad form, one or two from them will get blasted. We have to learn from the lesson, and grow up from the mistake. Perharps Hyypia and traore did the mistake, but when they play well, shut your mouth off. Try not to blame on, discover the water front of whole team.