Liverpool FC Forum

by **Leonmc0708** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 10:12 am

Fo Dne wrote:Make no mistake, with this squad of players we will have done well to finish 3rd this season which is where i see us ending up.

Benitez should go now and give us a chance to build for next season. We need to line up a replacement now and it needs to be someone who knows and understands the club otherwise Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carraghers best years will pass us by and we'll have no-one to replace them with.

You are a complete tool.

by **RedEire** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 10:13 am

For the first time ever, i am beginning to question Benitez and his tactics. It is apparent he has yet to learn how to put out a team that is capable of breaking down a team that comes to defend. The last few games that both Riera and Benayoun have played, they have consistently cut back inside rather than go down the touch line - this just completely crowds out the area just outside the box that the likes of Gerrard and Alonso need and use to attack from midfield. Surely as a coach/manager, you instruct your wide players to stay wide and if they dont- then get them the :censored:

off. How many times last night did Gerrard or Alonso find themselves in front of goal and faced with 4 or 5 West Ham players - if players were out wide - at least two would have to go out and mark them. A couple of times in first half Arbeloa went looking to give ball down the wing to Benayoun but he was not there - where was he

Cutting across the middle of the West Ham box blocking the space that Kuyt and Keane need.
As for replacing Keane with Ngog with 25mins to go - how can you defend this action - while Keane has not played well, and is struggling to score, to replace a tried and trusted premiership scorer when you need a goal with a kid who has played 1 min of premiership football is absoulte horsesh!t - i am sorry if this annoys people but seriously (while i hate to make comparisons) this would not happen with Man Utd or Chelsea.
What has Babel done to upset Benitez that he only gets 5 mins in a must win game? Surely he would have been a better choice than Ngog. Put him upfront with Keane dropping back into the hole and replace Benayoun with Kuty outwide. As someone said earlier Kuyt seems a better wide player than striker and at least he stays out wide.

All in all it was an abject performance with really only Hyppia coming off with any real praise - there is still games in the old timer still - only got beaten once by Bellamy in the second half but still put in a great performance. Definitely 2 points dropped - we must surely bounce back and secure all three points V Blackburn on Saturday - if not then we can kiss our top three position goodbye:(

by **tubby** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 10:21 am

For the first time ever? This isnt the first time he has done this and im sure it wont be the last. As for Kenny being a manager in this day and age I think it would just be a Keegan at Newcastke type job. Id rather have Mourinho.

by **RedEire** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 10:35 am

Its the first time i have had serious doubts that Benitez knows how to close out games against weaker teams especially at home. The mindset of the players must be right - i.e. get out and win this game. Everyone knows that you cannot have your wide mean continually cutting back inside congesting the midfield - understandably if you do not have any wide players but both Riera and Benayoun are wide players - they must be instructed to do this by manager or else drop them - simple as. The only crosses that came from either right or left were from Dossena or Arbeloa - our two full backs. Rafa as the manager has to take the share of the blame for this drop of points. As said before- he has not learnt his lessons from the Stoke game earlier or the other numerous games last year that we drew when playing teams that, by and large, our competition dismiss on a regular basis.
If we have any serious intentions of competing for top three position - we must beat these teams and beat them well. When was the last time we went out and beat a team comprehensively ? West Ham had the best two goal chances and only pure luck saved us from Bellamy's effort. We have hardly sent out a warning to Chelsea and Man United and we certainly did not ram Michael Ballacks words back down his throat - we actually probably re-inforced them and have given further belief to the other teams like Hull, Sunderland, etc that will be coming to Anfield to play, that these team have an actually chance against us. This is wrong - we wont them absolutely sh!tting this fixture and that Anfield is the last place on earth they want to be for fear of conceding goal after goal. If i was Phil Brown or Roy Keane, i would be actually looking forward to playing Liverpool becuase he cannot beat mediocre/poor sides. :angry:

by **bigmick** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 10:52 am

Eire I'm not sure I agree with your premise about wide players hugging the touchline when teams come to defend. I'm actually a fan of wide players tracking inside and opening up angles for full backs to move into. I think the key is that when they go infield, they don't stand next to the centre forwards but sit off by ten yards or so and create angles. Similarly, I'm a fan of centre forwards coming out of the channels in such circumstances and running the channels which have been vacated by the wide men.

The key to breaking down well set defenses is imaginitve movement and perceptive passing. Ask them a question by both keane and Kuyt vacating the central area, ask Collins and Upson whether they want to track out of the "D" while Gerrard is marauding. Ask Lucas Neil and the left back who kept handballing it but who's name escapes me if they want to track in with wide players. Bomb the fullbacks on and load up the back post for the opposite side, but don't attack in straight lines with set patterns or they'll push you into areas which they want you to go all day long.

That would be my only criticism last night, we didn't seemingly alter our style to counter theirs. They played very well but we did little to move them out of their comfort zone.

by **dame** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:05 am

hope this is a learning exercise for the team...the team have very little experience of playing for top spot...Agree that even SG show his nerves...his reaction after the air-shot shows that he thinks it is the end of the world for missing that shot. It is very rare for SG. The pressure get the better of him last nite.

Lucky that we are still in a good (not advantageous) position after the lesson. Thou we lead the table, i do not think we have any breathing space....we still need to play Arsenal away in christmas. Chelsea and MU finished 1st round big-4 matches already. Look at the Christmas schedule, I m surprised if we are still top after christmas.

With a second thought, it is too optimistic to expect us to take the top spot in Dec and lead all the way till may, isn't it?
Let's hope the team to pick themselves up, continue working hard and grinding out results like the Man City, bolton, MU and Chelsea matches. Stay in the leading pack until May is good enu for me and then anything can happens.

by **puroresu** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:14 am

The ball has to be moved a lot quicker v sides like West Ham. We dont pass the ball quick enough and drag defenders into positions they dont want to go to. It was just huff and puff and hope SG saves us again.

by **Leonmc0708** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:18 am

You could not make it up.

Only at Liverpool, with Liverpool fans would you have people calling for the head of the manager AS WE GO CLEAR AT THE TOP OF THE LEAGUE.

Fickle Fans.

by **Leonmc0708** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:19 am

Leonmc0708 wrote:You could not make it up.

Only at Liverpool, with Liverpool fans would you have people calling for the head of the manager AS WE GO CLEAR AT THE TOP OF THE LEAGUE.

Fickle Fans.

Disclaimer (s). . .

I would love us to win every game, however I know we cant.

I feel we have performed poorly against Stoke, Fulham and West Ham at home this season.

by **Effes** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:49 am

Calling for Rafa's head is way over the top.

But the fella can be called to question over those 3 nil-nil home games.
I can accept one as long as we make ammends in the next few.

by **Roger Red Hat** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:54 am

lets go kick fk outa blackburn on saturday.

7-0 to the reds.

by **RedEire** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:59 am

While I am not calling for Rafa's head, i would like to see us play (a) better, quicker and direct football, and (b) show a bit of guile when faced with a team that defends deep. This has been our Achilles heel for the past year or so, and I would like to see the team showing something that tells us that they are improving this by beaten the likes of West Ham, Fulham and Stoke at home. I think rafa is being outthought by his own tactics - whenever we went to Barca, Chelsea, etc in CL we played a similar style with us defending deep and hoping to catch them on the break. Now teams are doing the exact same to us when coming to Anfield and a top manager should be able to come up with the tactics to outdo these teams.
Bigmick, yes it is good to see our full backs overlapping and putting in crosses but that is not their primary duties - one of the main jobs of a winger is to keep the formation wide - draw the defense out and create space for strikers to move into, and take on the full backs and put crosses in for strikers and central midfield to latch onto. By and large our wingers are cutting in more times than going out wide and this in turn completely congests the space between the half way line and oppo's box. At one stage last night only everyone bar Reina and Rob Green were in this space and we could see the likes of Alonso and Gerrard getting frustrated as there was no one out wide to receive the ball so they just tried their luck with speculative long shots that did not even hit the target. That is not top 3 style football and definitely not a team thats is looking to win Premiership. This is not a one off though and that is why I am frustrated - we do not seem to have learnt from earlier mistakes and we need to and fast

by **Scottbot** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 12:02 pm

Ciggy wrote:That team was carrying two passengers last night, Keane & Benayoun, I am sorry but I just dont know what the point of Benayoun is he is not good enough to even be part of this team.

It's not saying a great deal but Bennayoun was oner of our better players last night. He was no more a passenger than anyone else who played. His work-rate was tremendous (the best in the side I thought) and had it not been for a fantastic save from Green, we'd all be talking about his spectalular volley to win the game.

by **Bam** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 12:13 pm

It's not saying a great deal but Bennayoun was oner of our better players last night

I actually thought that to. While he isnt spectacular he was one of the better players amongst an average bunch.

by **red_guy** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 12:14 pm

Effes wrote:Calling for Rafa's head is way over the top.

But the fella can be called to question over those 3 nil-nil home games.
I can accept one as long as we make ammends in the next few.

Precisely dude. To the people who think there's a manager who can do better in the 2nd half of the season after 'sacking' rafa.... who might that be? For sure if that ridiculous thing happened, we surely end up lower than top 4. As for me, just hoping that the gaffer and the squad had learned their lesson well and do something about it. Anyway cheers...hope we're still on the top spot until the end of the season.

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