Liverpool FC Forum

[Reg]

I havent seen enough to comment in depth however I feel more confident about our first games this season than the same time last year where we had that horrendous pre-season tour in Spain and started the season so badly. These Uefa cup games + Arsenal and Citeh have made the lads and the club focus more and we seem to be in a far better position. Thank goodness. Roy is off to a good start, all things considered.

[RED BEERGOGGLES]

Roy interupted by Turkish jurnalists during press conference! haha

Fuck me Jekyll and Hyde and there ... 

[SouthCoastShankly]

was he fully fit last season did he get enough games under rafa to get fully matchfit. he should of been given at least till jan window to proof himself. is joe cole better than aqua is he feck.

rocky you have had too many punches to the head son!

Rocky's punch drunk, or just a mong.

Interestingly to see Hodgson making clear objective decisions about the squad. We all doubted the value of Aquilani for £20m, Roy clearly agrees. Besides it's only a loan deal.

More interesting is the possible move of Kuyt tointer, possible player swap and money.

if im a mong your bird must be a mongrel?

Mong alert

[Igor Zidane]

can i be dead honest here,and it's not a slight on roy or me harping back to last season under rafa. I don't honestly see any difference from last season. We're still playing two holding midfielders at home to lesser teams , we still lack much creativity and we still can't keep hold of the ball to save our lives (possesion is king). The only difference up to now is our defence have gone man to man and look shakey as f.uck. It's obviouly going to take time for roy to instill his philosophy but i can't see much difference as of yet.

[JC_81]

can i be dead honest here,and it's not a slight on roy or me harping back to last season under rafa. I don't honestly see any difference from last season. We're still playing two holding midfielders at home to lesser teams , we still lack much creativity and we still can't keep hold of the ball to save our lives (possesion is king). The only difference up to now is our defence have gone man to man and look shakey as f.uck. It's obviouly going to take time for roy to instill his philosophy but i can't see much difference as of yet.

You're right mate, there's not much difference yet, but like you say it will take him time to change things.

I'm optimistic.  The performances haven't been vintage, and the football hasn't been great, but the players are putting in 110% and they look to be playing with a bit more freedom than they did under Benitez towards the end.

Carragher for one looks rejuvenated.  He looked finished at times last season to be perfectly honest. 

There are definitely positives.  I think the new signings have been good.  Jovanovic (although a Benitez signing) looks good - great attitude and a bit of ability to go with it.  Cole has obvious quality (although he's had a poor start) and I thought Poulsen's debut was encouraging.  I also like how we've ditched zonal marking at set pieces - not that it's a bad system, we were very good at it for a few years - but teams seemed to be able to pick holes in it after a few seasons and our players clearly lost confidence in the system and weren't comfortable.

Rome wasn't built in a day and all that, but I see where you're coming from.

[Thewaykokid]

Couple of words from the manager on the kuyt / masch situation and aqua's loan, wasn't sure where to put it....

Hodgson confident of Kuyt and Masch stay

Published 23:00 20/08/10 By David Anderson

Roy Hodgson is claiming victory in his battle with Inter Milan over Javier Mascherano and Dirk Kuyt.

The Liverpool boss says his old friend, the Inter president Massimo Moratti, told him that the Champions League holders would not sign either player.

Hanging on to Mascherano and Kuyt would complete a great summer for Hodgson after he persuaded Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to stay at Anfield.

“It’s not true Dirk Kuyt is going to Inter,” said Hodgson. “I spoke to Massimo on Wednesday about the fact they are not going to buy Liverpool players and Dirk is in that category, isn’t he?”
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But Kuyt’s agent Rob Jansen claims Inter’s former Reds boss Rafa Benitez still wants him. “Yes, there is real interest from Inter,” said Jansen. “But Dirk has not decided whether he wants to leave.”

Definitely leaving Anfield for Italy is £20million Kop flop Alberto Aquilani and Juventus want him on loan.

But Hodgson insists Aquilani still has a future at Liverpool. He said. “If he can get regular games for a Serie A team, it gives him the football he needs.

“We’re doing it with a view to bringing him back.”

[Sabre]

Couple of people bemoaning the loss of Aqualani "our most creative player". Will someone tell me what he's actually created during his time with us ?. Yeah , "he didn't get enough playing time" blah blah blah, but again there's a question attatched to that, i.e. Why ?.

He may have looked a bit "tricky" but imo the tag "creative" is a bit of a stretch.

I regret his loss without that meaning I don't support the current players. I honestly think that the way the season went last year, even Zinedine Zidane at his best would have failed at Liverpool, such was the mess the last season.

NOT saying he was going to be Zidane of course, but I thought he was a quality player

[Raoul]

Personally I think it is a mistake. I'd keep him and let him prove himself here.

[In and Out]

can i be dead honest here,and it's not a slight on roy or me harping back to last season under rafa. I don't honestly see any difference from last season. We're still playing two holding midfielders at home to lesser teams , we still lack much creativity and we still can't keep hold of the ball to save our lives (possesion is king). The only difference up to now is our defence have gone man to man and look shakey as f.uck. It's obviouly going to take time for roy to instill his philosophy but i can't see much difference as of yet.

In that case then Igor you should be well content with that. 

[LittleHobo]

his assist/game record was better than anyone else at the club last season

so obviously the boy can create

[bigmick]

I'm away at the mo in cornwall. I haven't got time to read everyones posts properly, but my take so far is this:

I like Gerrard in central midfield. I like him anywhere really, but in central midfield all of a sudden the "axis" is broken up and we look like a better team.

Cole must do better. I'm already over flicks, back heels and shimmies. He has all the ability in the world but if he doesn't score goals and make goals, he can't play in the hole. It was a good pass for babaels goal, but a fairly simple one to make. For me when he hasn't got it I'd like to see him drift wider, maybe by 10 or fifteen paces, that way he can come in and recieve the ball with the pitch a bit more open to him, as opposed to with him facing the passer all the time. The penalty was sh!t and could well cost us the tie.

Both Lucas and Aquilani aren't going to be good enough to play a regualr role. Thankfully the manager is well onto both situations, with Aquilani being moved on (what a truly terrible buy) and Lucas being played only sporadically.

N'Gog has obviously improved a fair bit. It is only fair to point out that at 1.5 million quid he was an excellent buy.

Babel is still brainless, but took his goal excellently.

Poulsen's quality is absolutely glaringly obvious, despite a couple of mispaced passes. He will prove IMHo to be an excellent purchase, and will push Masherano extremely hard for a starting slot. The last bit isn't a misprint, I think he's good enough to keep Masherano out of the team.

We've dropped zonal marking, but must do much better if we are going to stick with man to man. Players need to get a hold of their attacker, literally, before the kick is taken. If we don't do it better we will concede lots of goals from set pieces.

Under Roy, we are going to be a team who sits in and plays conservatively. I don't massively like that style, nor do I necessarily agree with it, but at the moment that is the way we are playing.

The Greek is currently one of our two best centre halves. He may even be our best based on current form.




Anyway there it is, I've only got 20 mins so I'm going to read what you clueless c...s have been saying   `   

[fivecups]

Can you believe Kyrgiakos has only just turned 31? I thought he was about 35. No reason he shouldn't feature heavily this season IMO.

[maypaxvobiscum]

Can you believe Kyrgiakos has only just turned 31? I thought he was about 35. No reason he shouldn't feature heavily this season IMO.

  never knew he was that young. always thought he was 33.

[Owzat]

We've dropped zonal marking, but must do much better if we are going to stick with man to man. Players need to get a hold of their attacker, literally, before the kick is taken. If we don't do it better we will concede lots of goals from set pieces.

We've conceded one goal in four games, that to a goalkeeping error, so how is man2man doing any worse than zonal?!?!?!

Of course there will be chances that have been missed under man2man, but that is also true of zonal where we were probably lucky not to concede twice as many as we did.

It may take a while for players to settle in and get used to man2man again, those that have played it before that is. And there is always the FEINTEST of possibilities that we'll concede goals no matter what system we adopt because our full-backs are naff, and our CBs aren't exactly the best in the world. Christ, some 'fans' on here have been slagging Carra off for the last two seasons, but apparently we concede goals because of this system or that system!

I'm happier with man2man, players taking responsibility for marking someone not blades of grass. The players won't be able to blame the system for goals conceded, for me that is the best news possible.

[andy_g]

an extra defensive midfielder in and a creative attacking midfielder out (whatever you think about his suitability) isn't doing wonders for my feelgood factor.