Liverpool FC Forum

[Ciggy]

Is it me or is it since Pellegrino has come in that our zonal marking is all over the place and has Reina flapping.
We have had one of the best defences in the league for the last few years but we are leaking silly goals from set pieces and look clueless on marking the zones.

I havent go the first clue about zonal marking so its a bit silly of me to be starting a topic about it

Its just we look really dodgey at the back and my nerves go if the other team get a corner of free kick in and around our area.

What has Agger done so wrong that he cant get his place back? Even hyypia has been better than carra this season yet he keeps his place.

We would have had a better chance attacking threat with agger yesterday someone who can pass it forward and carry the ball out of defence and will score goals.

Instead we stick with Carra's sideway crab movement its about time his place came under threat and give him a kick up the @rse, I love the lad but him and Skyrtel have been to blame for the goals conceeded of late.

[akumaface]

I totally agreed that Agger should have played yesterday as we were lacking passing from the midfield and it would have helped a lot that Agger was there to bring up the ball. The fact that he wasn't even on the bench tells you something. Rafa never in his mind wanted to play the best team since he was here (pennant, keane, crouch, bellamy, babel etc....). He just wanted to play the most loyal 11. This really pis.ses me off. The best pairing should be Agger and Skrtel. It is really a frustrated to fine someone as good as Agger but never played him...

On the zonal thing, this always puzzled me why he wanted to play this. On set piece, we should mark man to man so everyone know who they should follow. Zonal marking really confuses players especially when our lineup is consistently changing. We can see many times this season that we conceded silly goals with couple of our players went to the wrong guy and left an open header on missed assignment. We kept conceding but Rafa kept playing Zonal.... WTF. If we had improved the Zonal thing, I would be ok but it isn't and is getting worse. Also, i don't know why we don't have anyone standing on either of the post when facing a corner. Rafa's decision is getting stranger by the day.

[bigmick]

I dunno Lynds I'm not sure it's a Pelligrino thing. A few of our goals recently which have been conceded from set-pieces aren't really down to coaching I don't think, they're down to individual errors. I know some will say (and I'm probably one of them) that it's the coaches jobs to make sure we don't commit individual errors, but I think it would be harsh to put it at Pelligrino's door without knowing what goes on.

FWIW I'm often suspicious of Skyrtel and his tendency to ball watch on occasions, and more often than not if you're looking for a scene of crime suspect he is involved somewhere. I like him as a footballer and he's developed all areas of his game a lot since he came, but he'll never be top class while he has the affliction of ball watching.

The goal against City was pretty unfortunate to be fair so it's hard to blame anyone. I thought Arbeloa could probably have been stronger against Kompany in the build up, and we switched off a bit letting Bellamy drop into the pocket in behind, but it was an unlucky deflection when all said and done. Dossena's defending for the Ireland chance in the first half was predictably awful however, and if we've got serious pretensions of doing anything then I'd be amazed if he's capable of being part of it. Ireland played the initial crossfield pass then sprinted fully seventy yards to get on the end of the slip in. If a full back can't see that coming and get right side then there really is no hope IMHO.

As for Agger, I like him and he'd be in my starting eleven. As you say he adds a lot from an offensive viewpoint as well as from a defensive one, and it's no surprise that Mourinho by all accounts is looking to recruit him to Inter. That said, we can only play two centre halves in most games, and the manager obviously rates Skyrtel and Carragher as his number one pairing so what can you do? I don't actually think we are defending too badly despite the stats, but a little bit like our attacking play it's just a few degrees off kilter, and at the level we're playing at it makes a huge difference.

[The_Rock]

Pellegrino is our lucky charm....the last time he was here.... (2005).. our defence was all over the place but we won the champions league....

Now he is here again.....and we are conceding goals galore.....


History is about to repeat itself....


Champions league winners 2009   

[Fowler_E7]

Its Martin Skrtl trust me. Dont rate him at all, he's a ball watcher and positions himself badly all the time, Agger is a much much better player yet rarely gets a look in, it makes no sense to me at all.

[redhayesy]

ball watcher -my ! or is it just the positions he puts himself in

anyway mate,you gonner tell him that na thought not. 

[Bad Bob]

I totally agreed that Agger should have played yesterday as we were lacking passing from the midfield and it would have helped a lot that Agger was there to bring up the ball. The fact that he wasn't even on the bench tells you something.

He's got a back injury according to .tv and was unavailable  yesterday.  Didn't travel to Madrid either.

[bigmick]

ball watcher -my ! or is it just the positions he puts himself in

anyway mate,you gonner tell him that na thought not. 

What a strange post mate. You don't agree that he's a ball watcher? Fair enough it's about opinions. What's all that about "am I gonna tell him" though Like all fans I'd love the opportunity to be on the coaching staff at Liverpool, and I'd tell him alright make no mistake about that.

I would be absolutely staggered, amazed, flabbergasted, shocked if they don't already work on precisely what I'm talking about with Martin Skyrtel. It is the single most glaringly opbvious, plain as the nose on your face flaw in his game. He does it on average three or four times a match, and occasionally it costs us a goal.

Anyway, as I've said many times it's all about opinions, and if yours is that he doesn't ball watch, fair enough 

[Bad Bob]

ball watcher -my ! or is it just the positions he puts himself in

anyway mate,you gonner tell him that na thought not. 

What a strange post mate. You don't agree that he's a ball watcher? Fair enough it's about opinions. What's all that about "am I gonna tell him" though Like all fans I'd love the opportunity to be on the coaching staff at Liverpool, and I'd tell him alright make no mistake about that.

I would be absolutely staggered, amazed, flabbergasted, shocked if they don't already work on precisely what I'm talking about with Martin Skyrtel. It is the single most glaringly opbvious, plain as the nose on your face flaw in his game. He does it on average three or four times a match, and occasionally it costs us a goal.

Anyway, as I've said many times it's all about opinions, and if yours is that he doesn't ball watch, fair enough 

Mick, I think the "you gonna tell him that?" bit was a joke in reference to the fact the Skrtel looks like the kind of dude that could mess you right up if you got on his bad side. 

[bigmick]

Mick, I think the "you gonna tell him that?" bit was a joke in reference to the fact the Skrtel looks like the kind of dude that could mess you right up if you got on his bad side.  [/quote]
I know I got him Bob 

Funnily enough, I've never bought into this Skyrtel looking all scary thing. He looks like a young kid to me, all gangly and clumsy. Like he will be hard when he becomes a man kind of thing, but not yet.

Certainly in comparison to a Vinnie Jones, a Joe Jordan or even a drunken Duncan Skyrtel would be higher up my list of blokes to have a row with if my life depended on it than any of them feckers. Carragher would be well below Skrtel as well FWIW, as would Kuyt come to that. He'd be one of them feckers that you could never put down

In the ned you'd just be saying "Ok OK FFS you win now just feck off and leave me alone" 

[aCe']

Mick, I think the "you gonna tell him that?" bit was a joke in reference to the fact the Skrtel looks like the kind of dude that could mess you right up if you got on his bad side. 

I know I got him Bob 

Funnily enough, I've never bought into this Skyrtel looking all scary thing. He looks like a young kid to me, all gangly and clumsy. Like he will be hard when he becomes a man kind of thing, but not yet.

Certainly in comparison to a Vinnie Jones, a Joe Jordan or even a drunken Duncan Skyrtel would be higher up my list of blokes to have a row with if my life depended on it than any of them feckers. Carragher would be well below Skrtel as well FWIW, as would Kuyt come to that. He'd be one of them feckers that you could never put down

In the ned you'd just be saying "Ok OK FFS you win now just feck off and leave me alone"  [/quote]
Kuyt oh Kuyt.... 

[Bad Bob]

Mick, I think the "you gonna tell him that?" bit was a joke in reference to the fact the Skrtel looks like the kind of dude that could mess you right up if you got on his bad side. 

I know I got him Bob 

Funnily enough, I've never bought into this Skyrtel looking all scary thing. He looks like a young kid to me, all gangly and clumsy. Like he will be hard when he becomes a man kind of thing, but not yet.

Certainly in comparison to a Vinnie Jones, a Joe Jordan or even a drunken Duncan Skyrtel would be higher up my list of blokes to have a row with if my life depended on it than any of them feckers. Carragher would be well below Skrtel as well FWIW, as would Kuyt come to that. He'd be one of them feckers that you could never put down

In the ned you'd just be saying "Ok OK FFS you win now just feck off and leave me alone"  [/quote]


Yeah, Kuyt might only land a punch once every 25 shots or so but they'd be hugely important punches, undoubtedly. 

[NANNY RED]

ball watcher -my ! or is it just the positions he puts himself in

anyway mate,you gonner tell him that na thought not. 

I will if you pay me an have an sas team behind me

[redhayesy]

ball watcher -my ! or is it just the positions he puts himself in

anyway mate,you gonner tell him that na thought not. 

What a strange post mate. You don't agree that he's a ball watcher? Fair enough it's about opinions. What's all that about "am I gonna tell him" though Like all fans I'd love the opportunity to be on the coaching staff at Liverpool, and I'd tell him alright make no mistake about that.

I would be absolutely staggered, amazed, flabbergasted, shocked if they don't already work on precisely what I'm talking about with Martin Skyrtel. It is the single most glaringly opbvious, plain as the nose on your face flaw in his game. He does it on average three or four times a match, and occasionally it costs us a goal.

Anyway, as I've said many times it's all about opinions, and if yours is that he doesn't ball watch, fair enough 

yes mate it was a p1ss take, however i wouldn't tell skyrtel he watches balls, & on recent performances neither do the coaching staff! so your a braver man then them mate. 

however i do rate skyrtel, for me he is the old fashioned cb mentallity,but he does need to watch "balls" in the box more often
as they have been costly!

[stmichael]

To be honest, despite conceding more sloppy goals than in previous seasons, the defence is the least of our problems imo (as long as Dossena doesn't play).

Our attack is chronic at times which just puts more pressure on the lads at the back.