Liverpool FC Forum

by **hobbes** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:06 am

Sincerely, I dont think bad blood has to do with anything. Its all game tactics.

But IMO its a genuine error not starting Ciise. Sometimes managers makes choices like that. Rafa might want to surprise MU by his selections. Thats all. I was even surprised to note Sissoko did not start.

Be that as it may.. I do agree Luis Garcia seem to be Rafa's blue eyed boy. Luis Garcia is not outstanding agaianst MU. If he plays like this for some time, Rafa might just put him on the bench like most games last season.

Crouch definately not as good as Ciise. Ciise is better. Ciise pulled a surprise run the minute he arrived at Anfield. He has the pase we need. Sinama and Ciise wil make a good pair.
Crouch as I have been saying is not up to my expectation.
I dont know whether you guys agree or not. ? Any player would do what he is doing up infront. Nothing outstanding yet. In a big big match like with MU I would definately expect Ciise to start and play with 2 strikers. LIverpool has too many strikers who cannot play alone. Crouch cannot play alone.
We palyed a 4--4-1-1 formation which is good. It can be easily converted into a 4-4-2, with two strikers. Sadly, Luis Garcia failed to provide the support that Crouch needs.

I find rather amusing, Garcia did not pass the ball to Riise at all when he could have. Riise was shouting and asking for it. Garcia might have something as against Riise. Lol . :laugh:

Garcia continues to make horrible mistakes and keep loosing the ball to easily.

On the other hand Riise and Gerrard were outstanding with the passing and control. They made impacts stronger than Garcia and Crouch.

In any event I have to admit that overall it was a good fight. The lads did try to win. Hence I dont feel so bad by taking 1 point. If they played like what they did as against Midleborough then I would be furious. I would pat on their shoulder and say good job. At least for breaking Keans' toe
:grinning:

by **Chelsea forever.** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:51 am

Rotation rotation rotation rotation. Mourinho does it and so does Benitez. Cisse isn't going to start in every game and neither is any other striker in our squad. Mourinho rotates Crespo and Drogba every other game, and Benitez is going to do that for the most part with Crouch,Cisse and Morientes.

Cisse played in the last Premiership game [against Spurs] and he was ineffective. It all depends on the opposition and the tactics

A.B.

I agree that Rafa is going to rotate the squad and understandably pick players based on opposition and tactics which is a very wise thing to do. But why play Crouch in a 4-5-1 at home?

I must admit that defensively there has been a mammoth of improvement from last season. 0 goals conceded is something to be very proud of. My criticism of the MAnu game was in relation with you going forward, and some people misunderstood that or maybe I didn’t get it across right. Anyway, back to the defense - I think there has been a great improvement - its clear for people to see that you are more compact and opponents find it difficult to break you down.

But the major question is in attack, and so coming back to the topic - Cisse and Rafa. I don’t think its as simple as rotation here. Its not as simple as Cisse starts and Crouch starts based on opposition. There is a clear sign in discontent in Cisse. All managers rotate players, Jose does, Jol does with Defoe - Mido - Keane and the 4th, Fergie does with Park and Ronaldo - but none of these players show a clear sign of frustration or discomfort due to this, not even the great Ryan Giggs who has now become 4th choice.

Thus, I feel this is more than just simple rotation. It could be that its simple rotation and Cisse doesn’t understand that and isn’t happy with that - but he is a professional and has played long enough to realize that rotation will happen in a big squad of a big club. It could also be that he knows Rafa's first choice is Fernando and then Crouch for away games and if its a 4-5-1 he wont really get enough games, or it could be that Rafa and him have had a spat and there has been clarity on him leaving this summer - after all Rafa did say in this window that he expects bids for Cisse, maybe he didn’t get the right one and is waiting for that this summer.

So I think the problems is beyond rotation, and thus a unhappy Cisse will find it difficult to perform even when he starts.

Cheers

by **66-1112520797** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:54 am

A.B. wrote:Rotation rotation rotation rotation. Mourinho does it and so does Benitez. Cisse isn't going to start in every game and neither is any other striker in our squad. Mourinho rotates Crespo and Drogba every other game, and Benitez is going to do that for the most part with Crouch,Cisse and Morientes.

Cisse played in the last Premiership game [against Spurs] and he was ineffective. It all depends on the opposition and the tactics.

Why the f#ck do we have to copy Chelski please dont compare us to them :no

by **Starbridge42** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:54 am

I think hes jsut making the point we arent the only ones to rotate players

by **Ola Mr Benitez** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:58 am

Cisse is on his way, apparently in some rag of a sunday paper it was saying Raffa is sick of him as he cannot understand simple tactics. He is supposed to been having one on one taining sessions to try and get him to understand what Raffa wants from him but can't seem to understand.!!

Now this could just be paper talk, as we all know how much :censored:

there is in the papers but it does maybe give us a reason why Raffa doesn't seem to want to play him.

Crouch I think will be the first name on the sheet for strikers as althought to us (the paying public) he does not seem to be doing much I am sure he is just following Raffs instructions. The ball is aimed up to him and he is supposed to pass it on to one of our midfielders who are running into an offensive position. However that didn't happen yesterday against Man U. Our midfield where no where to be seen and eventually Crouchypants lost the ball.

Garcia was awful, and again Gerrard was pretty absent (as he always tends to be in the big games). Although he did seem to be playing a lot deeper.

I would have thought against Man U at home he would have played 4 across the middle, (Alonso, Gerrard, Sissoko and Garcia... who would have been substituted at half time). Let Sissoko play the deeper holding role allowing Gerrard to get forward and support Crouch and Cisse, however if Raffa doesn't think Cisse can understand his tactics maybe he is just not willing to let him play.

by **bigmick** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:45 am

Clearly at the moment Rafa and Cisse are not exactly drinking buddies. Of course Benitez is going to rotate the squad but for whatever reason he doesn't rate the Frenchman and I will be amazed if he doesn't get sold in January. Cisse is a talented but infuriating player and the only aspect of the way the whole thing is being handled which |I would have misgivings over is the fact that he will be getting sold as damaged goods somewhat. It may have made more sense not to jettison him so obviously and to play him more often and sell as "fit and firing on all cylinders". When you have jokers like some of the managers at top clubs in France with money burning a hole in their pockets, this could make a couple of million quid difference to the fee.

by **Ciggy** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:50 am

bigmick wrote:When you have jokers like some of the managers at top clubs in France with money burning a hole in their pockets, this could make a couple of million quid difference to the fee.

Luis Garcia was being interviewed the other day on SOCCER AM and was saying Cisse is the lazyest in training. This was not meant to be the way he got himself fit and up and running after his broken leg.

by **The_Rock** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 3:33 am

cisses_gona_get_ya wrote:Luis Garcia was being interviewed the other day on SOCCER AM and was saying Cisse is the lazyest in training. This was not meant to be the way he got himself fit and up and running after his broken leg.

jus wondering.....was it a tongue in cheek comment ?

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