Liverpool FC Forum

by **Bad Bob** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 9:53 pm

How great was it to see Stevie square up to Bikey today as well? Nice to see the captain fired up like that! Now, all we need to see is him defend a teammate like that, not just himself!

by **destro** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 9:54 pm

bavlondon wrote:anyways focus on the win people ..be happy .
we won ! 3 points ...job done
torres ..1st player to get 20 in d league since fowler

Its a great achievement for a player who is new to the English game, I have to admit I thought he would take at least a season to settle in I even said that given the games Voronin would out score Torres :lookaround

Owen scored 19 League goals back to back 2001/2002 ( one penalty ) 2003/2004 ( two penalties ) and finished on 28 total in the same two seasons. Torres is on 20 League 27 total already ( no penalties ) Fowler's highest is 28 League 36 total ( one penalty ) :oh:

by **destro** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 9:55 pm

Not seen the game yet but my Man U mates are saying Gerrard got booked for diving

is that true ?

by **LFC2007** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:13 pm

That's another win that extends this little run we've been on. The effects of rotation are kicking in :;):

It's even better that we had to come from behind to get the win, that'll do us no harm going into this run of games against tougher opposition .

Reading came back into it too much for my liking second half, and we should have seen the game out more comfortably, but other than that it was a fairly assured performance all round.

Mascherano scored a cracker, and an important one because it was at the right time - the longer the game went on they'd have felt more confident about getting a result. He's shown in the past that he's got a powerful strike, but he hasn't taken enough shots on goal, and when he has done, he hasn't been near enough to the goal or well-set for the strike to get enough accuracy on the shot. He showed good skill to engineer the shooting position and was advanced up pitch enough to test the 'keeper this time. I hope that gives him a bit more confidence to have a dig in future, he's got the pace to get back into position should we get hit on the break, so I hope he tries a shot more often.

by **holylamb2006** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:20 pm

Not seen the game yet but my Man U mates are saying Gerrard got booked for diving is that true

If he did dont mind them cos Ronaldo dives 20 times a game so just keep on saying '' Ronaldo you cant say anything ''

by **Yari7** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:33 pm

Emerald Red wrote:
Yari7 wrote:If we beat United next week whcih is a tall order, we will only be 5 points away from United, but they willl hvae a game in hand.

As I have been saying, if were able to turn 2 or 3 out of those 11 draws this season into wins, we would be challenging.

Why is it a tall order?

Well, we haven't really done well vs Man Utd over the past few years under Rafa. I can see us drawing against them.

by **bigmick** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:48 pm

LFC2007 wrote:That's another win that extends this little run we've been on. The effects of rotation are kicking in

They certainy are. For four seasons now some of us have been imploring the manager to pick a settled team. If you build it, the points will come we have said. Some of us have gone so far as saying we aren't overly concerned what the make-up of that settled team actually is, that group of players who become accustomed to playing together in a particular pattern, so long as we pick it and broadly stick with it.

Settle on a formation, on a pattern we have said, play like with like so the players get used to each other, and then the momentum will come. When the momentum comes, do as little as possible to disturb it. Cling onto it like it is a treasure and ride the wave for as long as you can. Belief and momentum are wonderful things, once you have them you can go behind and pull yourselves back, you can find late winners, and you hold on when you are in front.

Seldom have I agreed with you more LFC. Rafa's current policy on rotation is finally starting to kick in. You never know, we might even be able to start picking up the occasional point away at the other big clubs if we go in with the same attitude. There'll be no Bolo Zendens in central midfield this time around, no Steven Gerrards playing on the left wing. No, hopefully this time, for the first time since Rafa has been manager, we'll simply pick a settled team with which we have have had some success, and see how they go. Lets face it, we can't do any worse at those grounds than we have after four years of approaching the games with a multi rotational mindset.

And as Chelsea loom into the title race, three points or so off the pace now, I can't help wondering what might have been for us. Nobody will convince me they are a better team than we are. They've certainly had lots more injuries than we have, as well as losing a bunch of players to the African Nations Cup. They've a manager who has been in charge five minutes, and we've outplayed them in both league games this season. How cruel an indictment of rotation would it be if they were to eventually prevail as Champions.

If only we had seen the light earlier. If only we had realised that you can change the team, you can rest players without having to smash the structure of the unit to pieces each time you do it. If only we had understood the dynamics of momentum and belief much earlier. Still, like you LFC I'm not going to complain. It's taken four years for the penny to drop, and now it's finally dropped I hope it stays there. If it does, we might just challenge for and quite possibly win the league next season.

by **LFC2007** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:54 pm

bigmick wrote:
LFC2007 wrote:That's another win that extends this little run we've been on. The effects of rotation are kicking in

They certainy are. For four seasons now some of us have been imploring the manager to pick a settled team. If you build it, the points will come we have said. Some of us have gone so far as saying we aren't overly concerned what the make-up of that settled team actually is, that group of players who become accustomed to playing together in a particular pattern, so long as we pick it and broadly stick with it.

Settle on a formation, on a pattern we have said, play like with like so the players get used to each other, and then the momentum will come. When the momentum comes, do as little as possible to disturb it. Cling onto it like it is a treasure and ride the wave for as long as you can. Belief and momentum are wonderful things, once you have them you can go behind and pull yourselves back, you can find late winners, and you hold on when you are in front.

Seldom have I agreed with you more LFC. Rafa's current policy on rotation is finally starting to kick in. You never know, we might even be able to start picking up the occasional point away at the other big clubs if we go in with the same attitude. There'll be no Bolo Zendens in central midfield this time around, no Steven Gerrards playing on the left wing. No, hopefully this time, for the first time since Rafa has been manager, we'll simply pick a settled team with which we have have had some success, and see how they go. Lets face it, we can't do any worse at those grounds than we have after four years of approaching the games with a multi rotational mindset.

And as Chelsea loom into the title race, three points or so off the pace now, I can't help wondering what might have been for us. Nobody will convince me they are a better team than we are. They've certainly had lots more injuries than we have, as well as losing a bunch of players to the African Nations Cup. They've a manager who has been in charge five minutes, and we've outplayed them in both league games this season. How cruel an indictment of rotation would it be if they were to eventually prevail as Champions.

If only we had seen the light earlier. If only we had realised that you can change the team, you can rest players without having to smash the structure of the unit to pieces each time you do it. If only we had understood the dynamics of momentum and belief much earlier. Still, like you LFC I'm not going to complain. It's taken four years for the penny to drop, and now it's finally dropped I hope it stays there. If it does, we might just challenge for and quite possibly win the league next season.

by **Bad Bob** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:57 pm

destro wrote:Not seen the game yet but my Man U mates are saying Gerrard got booked for diving is that true ?

They're winding you up, mate! :sleep

He did go to ground when Bikey tripped him and that earned Bikey a booking--which the big man reacted to rather angrily. I thought he was going to snap the ref in two across his knee when the book came out of the pocket!

by **Effes** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:58 pm

Hello "iiiii"

I see you are browsing - what's your opinion mate?

by **Yari7** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:15 pm

I hear that Ryan Babel had a great game today. If it is true then thats a good sign. I really think that Babel is a player that can make a difference for us next season. I know that Marco Van Basten hailed him as the next Thiery Henry. If that is true, then Babel has a bright future.

by **bigmick** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:20 pm

Yari7 wrote:I know that Marco Van Basten hailed him as the next Thiery Henry. If that is true, then Babel has a bright future.

It's nice of Van Basten to say that. Mind you, we did at one time have the next Zinadine Zidane on our books so until Babel starts to display slightly more Henriesque tendencies than he currently does, I wouldn't quite be reaching for the old Ray Bans just yet regarding his future.

by **ruskiy playmaker** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:24 pm

Yari7 wrote:I hear that Ryan Babel had a great game today. If it is true then thats a good sign. I really think that Babel is a player that can make a difference for us next season. I know that Marco Van Basten hailed him as the next Thiery Henry. If that is true, then Babel has a bright future.

He was alright, had two dangerous shots on goal I think, but he's still frustrating to watch at times. He could be a top class wide player but right now he's very raw, you can tell that he's strugling in getting used to the league.

by **RedBlood** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:24 pm

babel has massive potential but to compare him to henry is unfair....he should be allowed to develope without that kind of pressure

i feel rafa has found a formation that suits him and he will only get stronger the more he plays and finds his feet in the prem....people forget the lad is 20 and he has made a very good contribution for one so young in his first season imo

by **Kharhaz** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 12:38 am

Well, after finally proving the einsteins at Virgin Media wrong about my modem not being able to cope with a 20 meg connection they finally sent an engineer around in which he said straight away nope cant handle it ! So my new modem installed and finally getting the speed ive been paying for all this time.

My point being I was able to watch the match on sopcast with no delays. Thanks for the link saint !

The game itself I thought we did really well. Alonso is finding his fitness and form and the rest of the new players seem to be settling in and looking quality. Babel is looking the part on the wing and I think next season he will really shine. Mascherano, reading what rafa said on the lfc.tv site if he adds goals to his game I think whatever price we paid for him is a snip. There were times when reading seemed to gain the upper hand but the defence was very good and skrtel is making sure agger isnt missed, another solid display. All in all good result and good performance considering what we are usually like after champs league game.

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