Liverpool FC Forum

I think Henderson's work rate is fine, he is a hard worker and he did show it a lot last season. The problem with him is that he lacks so much in confidence, he hides and he doesn't fight enough in the field, unlike Joe Allen or Shelvey.

I guess what Rodgers wants to do is to make him a fighter

He did pick Shelvey over him[/quote]

I don't think Adam, Carroll or Henderson have a future at Anfield.

I cannot see Henderson getting much of a look in to be honest and to be honest I can't grumble about that. Henderson has done nothing of note since his arrival last summer. One goal against Bolton and an assist at Stoke isn't enough for me. Henderson's work-rate is just poor in my book.[/quote]


So thats over £50 Million pounds worth of talent just cast asunder cos the new manager doesn't "fancy" them !  And there I was believing a  good manager can work with whatever is put before him ! 

I find it a tad disconcerting that NEW managers are allowed to offload very expensive players without at least giving them the opportunity to showcase their obvious talent. In Henderson and Carroll we have the current England number 9 and the former Under 21 England captain !

I understand the argument regarding Charlie Adam as he is far too pedestrian to fit into  a team which will be asked to press the opposition and close down at every opportunity. However couldn't one argue that the same could be said of Stevie G ? 

Today we went tot to toe with the current Premiership Champions and for large parts of the game we were the team in the ascendancy. Its was obvious to see that the players were implenmenting BR's philosophy (albeit after a slow start). Cut out the sloppy defending and we could (should) have come away with all 3 pts but I have my reservations about whether players like Skirtel, Carra and Kelly are truly comfortable playing the ball out.

We can't give away 2 goals a week and expect to win games thats for sure ! I know BR wants us to play like Barcelona but Skirtel, goood as he is is not Ramos or Pique !   


Walk on ................

We suffered a miserable defeat in the first game and now a draw at home against the champions. Many commented we're a Work In Progress and needs time to play what Brendan wants to play on the pitch including BR himself. I like to believe this but could some of you tell me could this be a myth? Could it be just an excuse? Reason I ask this is, look at his old club Swansea? They have a new, unproven manager on an even tighter budget and with players who are not better than Liverpool and look at them, they won 2 out of 2 scoring 8 goals in the process. If we had played QPR and the Hammers in our first 2 games, do you think we could get those results as well? Could this be a fluke? If it is not, then Swansea will have thrown this Work in progress thing out of the window because don't you think they're an even bigger Work in progress?

On the City game itself, I would have been relieved with a draw before the game started but after what we've put it, I am disappointed with a draw, the 3 points were almost in the palm of our hands at one time. Let's hope we can build from there and beat Arsenal and manure. A bit disappointed Assaidi didn't play. Getting Sahin was a smart move but why are we getting another midfielder when we desperately need a good striker. Our midfield is already crowded and we can have a complete team with the midfield men at our disposal : Spearing, Adam, Henderson, Lucas, Gerrard, Allen, Assaidi, Shelvey, Sterling and now Sahin. We are repeating the same mistake Kenny did last summer ie signing too many midfield men and neglected the strikers' department. Suarez, Borini and Carroll are not 25+ goals/season type. I hope Brendan won't play Suarez as the central striker anymore.

Core, I feel so deflated after that. 

I thought both Borini and Shelvey started slowly but as the game wore on both got better, Jonjo's work rate was excellent and he has IMO done enough to keep Lucas out (depending on his injury).

Raheem Sterling was immense today, and that was a brave & bold move by the manager to play the 17 year old there, as well as Coates, who like Borini and Shelvey settled really well after the opening 20 mins.

Allen was excellent, who scoffed at 15 million pounds! He looks a fecking bargain and you can see that he's a VERY intelligent player.

Suarez's goal was fecking sublime, shame it wasn't the winning goal, as Skertel made his first and most catastrophic error of the day to let an otherwise quiet Tevez in.

Kelly improved massively from the WBA game and did really well, Johnson was good too.

Reina, I think i'm starting to lose faith in him, their first goal wasn't the first time in the game he flapped at fresh air, he's becoming a bit of a liability with his poor decision making.

Our pressing up top was phenomenal and baring the first 20 mins we were the better team, we dictated the tempo of the match well too in large parts.

2 points dropped when the performance didn't warrant it - that's football though.

In truth Ken, thats a very positive review of the game and players, I'm happy with that.

alwayslfc.... I gave up trying to work out how footballers minds think years ago, I just take it on a game by game basis and thank goodness we were so much better than last week at WBA.

Onward, sideways and upwards!

The Hustler » Sun Aug 26, 2012 8:32 pm wrote:

Homebooby » Sun Aug 26, 2012 7:15 pm wrote:B0ll0x to all of yer analysis........simple question


Hands up who enjoyed that?

You cant enjoy watching us play!! Its torture.

If that was torture for you, then you obviously haven't been watching us for the last 10 - 15 years very much. We made the defending champions and the cream of the crop look neutered for 85% of the game. Team spirit was excellent, work rate was excellent, we played fast ball and looked v. dangerous at points, we finally have width to our game and the ball went forward rather than sideways. I personally enjoyed watching that and hope we continue to grow in that vein.....regardless of result it was entertaining imho.

Should we have won the game, of course, but that just goes to show what's been lost over the years within the team, but it is something we can easily reclaim. We have to wait and see how it goes, but I think there's more to be positive about than negative.....to call it torture is more than a little over the top in my opinion.

we're on the right track at last. it'll take a little time but we are heading in the right direction.

No idea why Skrtle didn't just play the ball into touch, if he had we would have picked up a well deserved three points.

If we can get rid of some glaring defensive errors whilst maintaining yesterdays level of performance we should have a more than decent season.

woof woof ! » Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:14 am wrote:No idea why Skrtle didn't just play the ball into touch, if he had we would have picked up a well deserved three points.

If we can get rid of some glaring defensive errors whilst maintaining yesterdays level of performance we should have a more than decent season.

He seemed to totally freeze....lesson learned hopefully

woof woof ! » Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:14 am wrote:No idea why Skrtle didn't just play the ball into touch, if he had we would have picked up a well deserved three points.

If we can get rid of some glaring defensive errors whilst maintaining yesterdays level of performance we should have a more than decent season.

Rodgers made some comments on the incident in the post-match interview. He said that he was happy to see Skrtel wanting to play football but did say he woudl speak about the angles. Probably alluding to the fact that Skrtel wasn't aware how acute the passing angle was and that by playing a back pass at that angle was risky (as it turned out).

Really enjoyed the game. We played very well, and in a way we haven't seen for quite a while. Hope we play the same way against smaller teams, and in addition have plan B and C when it's not quite going our way. I think, Carroll could have caused more problems for Mwanck Citeh if he had been brought on earlier. Just need to sort out some defensive issues, but, that aside, bring it on..... and Let's Move On Up

Good result and much improved performance in a very enjoyable game to watch.

A lot of potential out there for all to see , but let's be sensible about it.

A couple of days ago there were those posting BR won't last five minutes, now some are saying we are virtually title contenders.

Keep playing like this and European qualification is on the cards (top 6). If we can improve and adapt may be better.

Who knows?

My thoughts having now watched the game back on TV. I'm still really positive about the performance and the way the team went about it's business and have to say that I am very excited about the coming season and seeing how this side develops as they get to grips with what BR is asking them to do.

- First up I thought the decision to start young Sterling took balls, I really didn't see it coming but had a big smile on me face the moment I heard his name announced and it wasn't just me, several around me were all clearly surprised and excited to hear he was getting the start. The decision proved a good one as the kid had another promising game and he gave Toure a torrid time on more than a few occasions. Having a player on the pitch who scares the shi...te out of other teams when he gets in to one on one situations makes a MASSIVE difference to every body else in the side and it's been too long since we've had a player like this in the team in the wide areas.

- For long spells yesterday our possession and tempo was superb, lots of quick passes, triangles and most importantly COMPOSURE all over the pitch. The lads did the things you need to do to make a short passing game work ie. giving good angles, the right distances and showing for it quickly. We're still not quite there (particularly against this calibre of opposition) but I'm excited to see us improve, particularly with players like Sahin to come in.

- Joe Allen was fantastic. Watch how quickly he addresses the ball and then plays the pass. The speed at which he does this is incredible. Add this to great awareness and the fact he's feisty little bugger and it looks like we have hit gold.

- Get off Reina's back. This system is big change up for our Goal-keeper, in fact i'd say even more so than for the two CBs. I don't know how many touches he had on the ball yesterday (to feet) but I reckon he made more passes than Jordan Henderson managed in any game last season. Several of which were under quite a bit of pressure with City attackers bearing down on him, at one stage he had to field a 25 yard chip pass (one of Allen's rare errors) with Tevez right on top of him but he didn't panic and dealt with it as the whole stadium let out a collective sigh. I was impressed with his play yesterday.

- I'm not completely convinced of Borini as yet, despite scoring the other night in the Europa League he looks a little short on confidence at the moment BUT I do like his movement (he made dome excellent runs yesterday) and his tenacity.

- Stevie was hot and cold yesterday but he covered so much ground and popped up just about everywhere. His passing wasn't always at the standard you expect BUT he was part of a midfield 3 that was generally dominant and he played his part in that.

-  I love the look of our midfield 3 going forwards. It took us 5-10 minutes to settle once Lucas went off but Allen, Shelvey and Gerrard had a good balance about it and when you throw Sahin and a Lucas (when fully fit) into the mix you can see several combinations there that should ALL work. It's very exciting.

- We are absolutely sorted at Right-Back. Jonno is comfortably my first choice but I'm more than happy with Kelly as well. I'm not so sure about the left-back spot. Enrique was good last season BUT this system asks different questions of it's full-backs and i'm not sure I like Enrique's one-footedness high up the pitch where losing the ball could prove very costly. I wonder if young Robinson might challenge him for the job by mid-season should the youngster impress in the Europa League.

- Coates had some good moments yesterday BUT he is worry for me long-term in this system. There were a couple of panicky moments where the big man went to ground TWICE in the space of 10 seconds with City on the attack and I absolutely shi...t meself. Imho we could do with another left footed CB to spell to Agger.

All in all a good performance. I'd expect a few more soft goals to be given away as the season progresses and I like the way the manager has spoken after the game because he knows there are going to be problems along the way and some of our players (particularly the back 5) have some real adjustments to make and different pressures to deal with this system. I'm certainly excited to see how we perform in the coming weeks.

SouthCoastShankly » Mon Aug 27, 2012 1:56 pm wrote:

woof woof ! » Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:14 am wrote:No idea why Skrtle didn't just play the ball into touch, if he had we would have picked up a well deserved three points.

If we can get rid of some glaring defensive errors whilst maintaining yesterdays level of performance we should have a more than decent season.

Rodgers made some comments on the incident in the post-match interview. He said that he was happy to see Skrtel wanting to play football but did say he woudl speak about the angles. Probably alluding to the fact that Skrtel wasn't aware how acute the passing angle was and that by playing a back pass at that angle was risky (as it turned out).

i thought it was more about other players - i think it was shelvey on this occasion - not offering a better angle of pass, or get out, for the man on the ball. i think that the relative positions of players is fundamental to rodgers' vision of possession football. if someone doesn't make himself available, by ensuring he is at the correct angle relative to him, then the player on the ball will have to make a much more risky pass.

andy_g » Mon Aug 27, 2012 6:03 pm wrote:

SouthCoastShankly » Mon Aug 27, 2012 1:56 pm wrote:

woof woof ! » Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:14 am wrote:No idea why Skrtle didn't just play the ball into touch, if he had we would have picked up a well deserved three points.

If we can get rid of some glaring defensive errors whilst maintaining yesterdays level of performance we should have a more than decent season.

Rodgers made some comments on the incident in the post-match interview. He said that he was happy to see Skrtel wanting to play football but did say he woudl speak about the angles. Probably alluding to the fact that Skrtel wasn't aware how acute the passing angle was and that by playing a back pass at that angle was risky (as it turned out).

i thought it was more about other players - i think it was shelvey on this occasion - not offering a better angle of pass, or get out, for the man on the ball. i think that the relative positions of players is fundamental to rodgers' vision of possession football. if someone doesn't make himself available, by ensuring he is at the correct angle relative to him, then the player on the ball will have to make a much more risky pass.

yeah he was talking about the other players not helping martin out.
because we play out from the back with split CB`s who go wide, if something does go wrong we are well f**ked because no one can get around on the cover a la yesterday. other sides know how rodgers likes to play so they will try to take advantage of our willingness to play from the back, thats why skrtels mistake was such a f**k up because he must have known city would be trying to catch us in possession at the back and looking for opportunities to latch onto loose back passes.
i think if our CB`s find themselves in that position again they have just got to put it into the stands, by all means play it out from the back but if one of them get cornered without an out ball instead of blindly passing it back to the keeper just put it into row z and then we`ll defend the throw in.