Liverpool FC Forum

by **hobbes** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 5:03 am

Rafa's mistakes were playing Pongole alone upfront and Hamann in the centre.

Pongole is akind of player who is still building confidence. he needs some one with him in front. Bloody hell, Terry marked him so thight. Chelsea played Zono defence. Had there been one more person up front, we could have nailed them.

Want example.. see what Traore almost did. Since players are not marked individually, Traore penetrated easily to the penalty box. But, bad finshing. And on top of it, after hitting the ball to Cezh, Traore failed to follow up the return ball, he ran the other way. (WHAT A BLUNDER)

Hamann shouldnt start. He should have come in later only. Rafa should have played Gerrard and Alonso in the centre. Riise in the left and Nunez in the right, right from the beginning.

Ponggole and Mellor up front.

Playing Mellor at the 83rd minute does not do any good. These are young players, and need time toscore. You can expext them to get lucky always.

And as usual Chelsea tried a long range shot. They used Cole inssyed of Lampard. They tried Lampard but I guess lampard's morale wasnt high enough after being booed by the fans.

I must salute you guys who booed him. I cursed and swear him from home.

To me Garcia lost his temper yesterday. He didnt play calmly.

As soon as Alonso is injured...Rafa has no option. Riise seemed to injured as well.

Its okey.

We loose now,. But remember this Marinho, Liverpool will hit you back and when we do,,,,, you will never rise up again.

by **The_Rock** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 5:04 am

Slightly agree with pongolle left on his own....but really disagree with the hamann comment. If hamann did not break up the chelsea midfield, we could have lost the game early.

by **hobbes** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 5:15 am

Sorry Rock.

Hamann is 31 yrs old. He ran past Chlesea mid fiels a few times only. he tried a shot which went straigh to the fans.

His long past balls were not good. They went off field many times.

He played well. and now occasionally plays well. You can see that his ability and sharpness is dwindling. That's why i would play him later and not as a starter. Once he is tired, balls go off target.

He can come in later and make few good passess last 10-20 minutes.And if he do this right, he would be a good replacement.

Remember Macalister..Had Murphy been around.. He would definateltreplace Macalister in years to come.

by **A.B.** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 5:37 am

Hamann is a defencive midfielder, his job is to protect the back four. He did his job.

by **Santa** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 5:39 am

Sorry but your understanding of the game is sadly lacking. Hamann was immense yesterday. Rafa will continue to play Hamann in tough matches to keep tight control of the game. This will allow both Xabi and Stevie to be deployed in a more forward (and treatening) position and do the damage. However, if we do have Cisse and Milan available, I would still play Hamann but adopt a more adventurous formation later on. Agree Garcia didn't play his part and contribute yesterday. A very frustrating player to watch.

by **hobbes** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 5:52 am

Sorry to disagree guys.

But Hamann.. not for me as a starter. If he did his job, how could J. Cole score from out of D box. Nunez has to come from the extreme right to block . Watch they reply. Cole had a clear shot from the centre.

Any way I am not saying he is bad.. I am just saying he should not have strted early. If he starts early he must be replaced

by **A.B.** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 5:58 am

Without Hamann, Arsenal would had been much more of a threat when they played against us. Without Hamann, Chelsea would had been more dangerous from the midfield. And in case you forgot, Joe Cole's shot was deflected.

by **laza** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 7:15 am

Garcia is always going to be a frustrating player, those type of mercuial players are but they also the type of players who can turn a game.
While i certainly agree he has to work on his finishing, lets not forget he is yet another who has only returned from a injury layoff
Hamann is class , end of story and his unsung defensive work will never get him the headlines but without him Gerrard and Alonso wouldnt be able to do half the things they do

by **whylongball?** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 8:06 am

hobbes wrote:Sorry to disagree guys.

But Hamann.. not for me as a starter. If he did his job, how could J. Cole score from out of D box. Nunez has to come from the extreme right to block . Watch they reply. Cole had a clear shot from the centre.

Any way I am not saying he is bad.. I am just saying he should not have strted early. If he starts early he must be replaced

u reaally dont know know abt soccer. Hamann was solid , did his job very well. end of

by **Djiin** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 9:10 am

Sorry to disagree guys.

But Hamann.. not for me as a starter. If he did his job, how could J. Cole score from out of D box. Nunez has to come from the extreme right to block . Watch they reply. Cole had a clear shot from the centre.

Any way I am not saying he is bad.. I am just saying he should not have strted early. If he starts early he must be replaced

dude i dont agree with u!..hamman have been solid it should have send diao out instead of nunez. dioa is a hatchman,he can break that @#$% lampard's leg :angry:

..nunez is abit soft with tackling..

by **bigmick** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 11:48 am

Hobbsy mate you are wrong. It's pure and simple. If you thought that Hamann was rubbish yesterday, and partially base your opinion on a wayward shot and a misguided notion that as defensive midfielder he should be blocking Cole's shot then you lack understanding of the workings of the game. I'm going to leave it and I'm trying to be as polite as I can but suffice to say its a good job Stu's not around.

by **supersub** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 11:54 am

I'm not going to take the bait...Hamann was magnificent! it's that type of game he relishes.

by **woof woof !** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 12:10 pm

I thought that Haman proved that we still need him and we should be looking to hang on to him for another season at least. As for the comments regarding Rafa's tactics and selection . I thought he got it dead right , another day another ref and we would have been 2-0 up at half time.

by **Jari's mullet** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 12:19 pm

Hamann had a good game yesterday, he broke things up and didnt allow Chelsea to establish a rhythm.

I would have started with Mellor rather than Pongolle though. Pongolle is good running onto balls but receiving them to his feet, his touch isnt good enough and he certainly cant hold it up, he doesnt have the patience to wait for support. He also seems to chase shadows when the opposition gets the ball, I cant recall him making one challenge, at I think Mellor would have chased, pressurised and made one or two tackles.

Traore didnt inspire me with confidence in the first half, he looked shaky with the ball at his feet, his touch was sadly lacking. Having said that he did do better in the 2nd half, he made some good tackles, headers and one or two crosses

Hobbes you implied that Mellor has got lucky in the past late doors in a game, I assume you are talking about the Arsenal game. hmmmm lucky???, I would like to see what you qualify as a quality strike.

by **fivecups** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 12:21 pm

Yep, sorry but your logic makes no sense whatsoever.

You seem to be advocating a 4-4-2 starting line-up. That was impossible yesterday given that Baros was injured and the fact that we were facing 2 of the best wide men in the world. Their midfield would have run riot and we would not be here saying we were much the better team who deserved to win.

As said Hamaan was immense. I suggest you rewatch the game and focus on his contribution and how well suppressed the Chelsea midfield were.

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