Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 5:48 amBamaga man wrote:Emerald Red wrote:Emerald Red wrote:It's not over yet, lads!
Was I the only one to say it?
Give yourself a pat on the back.
Oh, sarcasm. Clever.
Oh, sarcasm. Clever.
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LIVERPOOL VS MIDDLESBROUGH - Saturday august 23rd 3pm ko
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Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 5:48 amOh, sarcasm. Clever.
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 6:09 amFan-feckin-tastic
we gotta keep winning games like that.
we gotta keep winning games like that.
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 6:12 amWe were extremely lucky yesterday......
Seeing as Masch wasn't available and the fact that Agger is not quite match fit as well as the fact that Babel probably hadn't gotten over his jet lag yet, I don't see what better team Rafa could have put out. Having said that, our shape yesterday was horrendous and at times we were devoid of ideas. Fullbacks down the wings don't seem to be working but it's early in the season so I'm not too concerned on that front as we'll need time to bed in these new ideas and for the lads to wrap their heads around the concept and to know where their team mates are going to be when we are different phases of the game (attacking, defending etc).
Still, I'd have thought that the lads would have been better drilled than what we showed.
We were dead lucky and didn't deserve the 3 points but am happy that we DID win in the end. Good feeling to be top of the table even though it's likely that it'll only be for a day.
2 games in the league, 2 wins, 2 goals plucked out of the sky by our 2 best players.
If we're gonna be true challenges, we need to stop depending on ONLY Nando and Stevie pulling rabbits out of hats. We're a better team than that and we need to start playing and behaving like we actually believe it.
Seeing as Masch wasn't available and the fact that Agger is not quite match fit as well as the fact that Babel probably hadn't gotten over his jet lag yet, I don't see what better team Rafa could have put out. Having said that, our shape yesterday was horrendous and at times we were devoid of ideas. Fullbacks down the wings don't seem to be working but it's early in the season so I'm not too concerned on that front as we'll need time to bed in these new ideas and for the lads to wrap their heads around the concept and to know where their team mates are going to be when we are different phases of the game (attacking, defending etc).
Still, I'd have thought that the lads would have been better drilled than what we showed.
We were dead lucky and didn't deserve the 3 points but am happy that we DID win in the end. Good feeling to be top of the table even though it's likely that it'll only be for a day.
2 games in the league, 2 wins, 2 goals plucked out of the sky by our 2 best players.
If we're gonna be true challenges, we need to stop depending on ONLY Nando and Stevie pulling rabbits out of hats. We're a better team than that and we need to start playing and behaving like we actually believe it.
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 6:50 amIm delighted we played cr@p thanx to Boro they played really well kept us out of the game.
Made up with the 3 points.
But that Bennynoon was absolutly woeful yet again.
I dont know why Rafa didnt drag him off at half time he was dreadful.
Made up with the 3 points.
But that Bennynoon was absolutly woeful yet again.
I dont know why Rafa didnt drag him off at half time he was dreadful.
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 7:12 amEmerald Red wrote:Bamaga man wrote:Emerald Red wrote:Emerald Red wrote:It's not over yet, lads!
Was I the only one to say it?
Give yourself a pat on the back.
Oh, sarcasm. Clever.
How ironic
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 7:21 amBamaga man wrote:Emerald Red wrote:Bamaga man wrote:Emerald Red wrote:Emerald Red wrote:It's not over yet, lads!
Was I the only one to say it?
Give yourself a pat on the back.
Oh, sarcasm. Clever.
How ironic
Well done both!!
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 7:50 amcredit where credit is due... he took out arbeloa and put on elzhar and you could then tell that we were going all out for the win. Thought Babel should have come on earlier but nonetheless having won the game i have to say.. well done late on Rafa.
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 7:59 amI thought the Italian was good in the first half , showed some neat footwork and his crossing is deffo better than any left back we have had in the last few seasons. Not afraid to venture forward and defensively he was a rock , in the second half not so much as they brought on Mido and possibly if masch ahd played , he would not have allowed Mido that much space to shoot and would have closed him down . the game opened up . I think a few more games for the italian and he could prove to be a rock 
. Mascherano returns and we should have a solid team , i think we need to drop xabi alonso , at the moment with the way he has played , he's not doing himself any favors . I would like to see carragher move to right back for the next game and the fixed cente back pairing being the big Dane agger and skrtel .
. Mascherano returns and we should have a solid team , i think we need to drop xabi alonso , at the moment with the way he has played , he's not doing himself any favors . I would like to see carragher move to right back for the next game and the fixed cente back pairing being the big Dane agger and skrtel .Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 8:02 amaCe' wrote:credit where credit is due... he took out arbeloa and put on elzhar and you could then tell that we were going all out for the win. Thought Babel should have come on earlier but nonetheless having won the game i have to say.. well done late on Rafa.
His substitutes were absolutely spot on in these last 2 games . He really went for it with 3 at the back , maybe kuyt has a makeshift right back , who exchanged flanks a couple of times with beanyoun and babel , and was still able to perform , make crucial tackles and start counter attacks . El zhar looks like a different man , he now can actually beat his man , he should be given a run out in cups and against lesser teams .
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 9:09 amThe elation of winning lasted a few seconds before a different feeling kicked in, one of realisation that we were lucky and while winning while you're not playing well is a good thing, you need to play well in a lot more games to win the league
A syndrome that a lot of our players suffer from. Then again GB did what Alonso has done in the past, given away possession with a relatively short pass, and that cost villa.
Kuyt and Benayoun need to stay wide, it's not Benayoun's game. I thought Babel should have started on the left, maybe his fitness after his trip was in doubt.
How close are we to the 'Owen & Fowler can't play together' style comments? (there you go, that could start the ball rolling) It was better, however isn't that what pre-season is partly for?
I thought defensively we looked all at sea, both in the first half when they played like strangers, and in the second half when we looked very vulnerable down BOTH flanks. I thought the introduction of Aurelio while derided by some was a very astute move by Rafa and at the moment I would prefer the Brazilian to the Italian defensively (not often you hear that!)
A great result from a poor game in which I thought we sorely missed Masch and possibly even Lucas?
Didn't anyone other than Rafa believe it when he (reportedly) said it? We need to start scoring goals, to score them we need to create them and that's not the forte of the full-backs, CBs, Benayoun, Alonso or even Kuyt - although our 'strikers' are somewhat better at it.
As I mentioned in Ace's thread, this is our ninth league game unbeaten. Last team to beat us in the league was the mancs, couple of league games' time and we face them at Anfield. It would be nice to have at least 10 points from our first four games with at most one draw. I reckon we may be back to Torres on his own up front for that one, the run of the next nine league games could shape our title challenge - or derail it.
NEXT NINE LEAGUE GAMES - WITH LAST SEASON'S RESULT
31/08 Aston Villa (a) W2-1
13/09 Man Utd (h) L0-1
20/09 Stoke (h) N/A
27/09 Bitters (a) W2-1
04/10 Man City (a) D0-0
18/10 Wigan (h) D1-1
26/10 Chelsea (a) D0-0
29/10 Portsmouth (h) W4-1
01/11 Tottenham (a) W2-0
P8 W4 D3 L1 F11 A5 PTS 15
Room for improvement, definitely could do without the same run of results from the mancs up to Chelsea, even if we did win the Stoke game - LWWDDD (too many draws)
s@int wrote:I thought we played too narrow today, players had no room to move and so most of the passing was to feet and to players standing still rather than moving.
Alonso started well but once he came under pressure the old problems seemed to surface, hurried and harried his passing suffered and he was caught out more than once in possession.
A syndrome that a lot of our players suffer from. Then again GB did what Alonso has done in the past, given away possession with a relatively short pass, and that cost villa.
s@int wrote:I actually thought Kuyt had a decent game, certainly a lot better than he did at Sunderland, while the less said about Benayoun's contribution the better.
Kuyt and Benayoun need to stay wide, it's not Benayoun's game. I thought Babel should have started on the left, maybe his fitness after his trip was in doubt.
s@int wrote:Keane and Torres showed glimpses of what may come later, with a few exchanges of neat quick passes, but overall still seem someway away yet. I am a little concerned that Torres is getting too much "stick" from overly robust CB's at the moment, in part due to Keane taking up similar positions which congest the space which Torres needs to avoid the challenges.
How close are we to the 'Owen & Fowler can't play together' style comments? (there you go, that could start the ball rolling) It was better, however isn't that what pre-season is partly for?
I thought defensively we looked all at sea, both in the first half when they played like strangers, and in the second half when we looked very vulnerable down BOTH flanks. I thought the introduction of Aurelio while derided by some was a very astute move by Rafa and at the moment I would prefer the Brazilian to the Italian defensively (not often you hear that!)
A great result from a poor game in which I thought we sorely missed Masch and possibly even Lucas?
s@int wrote:I really don't think the fullbacks playing as wingers idea is going to prove successful, and we need at least one wide player if we are going to maintain our position at the top.
Didn't anyone other than Rafa believe it when he (reportedly) said it? We need to start scoring goals, to score them we need to create them and that's not the forte of the full-backs, CBs, Benayoun, Alonso or even Kuyt - although our 'strikers' are somewhat better at it.
As I mentioned in Ace's thread, this is our ninth league game unbeaten. Last team to beat us in the league was the mancs, couple of league games' time and we face them at Anfield. It would be nice to have at least 10 points from our first four games with at most one draw. I reckon we may be back to Torres on his own up front for that one, the run of the next nine league games could shape our title challenge - or derail it.
NEXT NINE LEAGUE GAMES - WITH LAST SEASON'S RESULT
31/08 Aston Villa (a) W2-1
13/09 Man Utd (h) L0-1
20/09 Stoke (h) N/A
27/09 Bitters (a) W2-1
04/10 Man City (a) D0-0
18/10 Wigan (h) D1-1
26/10 Chelsea (a) D0-0
29/10 Portsmouth (h) W4-1
01/11 Tottenham (a) W2-0
P8 W4 D3 L1 F11 A5 PTS 15
Room for improvement, definitely could do without the same run of results from the mancs up to Chelsea, even if we did win the Stoke game - LWWDDD (too many draws)
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 10:49 amAlonso started well but once he came under pressure the old problems seemed to surface, hurried and harried his passing suffered and he was caught out more than once in possession.
I think that Alonso started relatively well and had 20 awful minutes, worse than his average last season for instance. He fixed the disaster a bit by being the man putting the ball on the box in the last two goals, despite in one of them he was just lucky. Even Gerrard was lost in some minutes and gave away a couple of crucial balls, but he redeemed by winning us the match alongside Carra
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 10:50 amSabre wrote:Alonso started well but once he came under pressure the old problems seemed to surface, hurried and harried his passing suffered and he was caught out more than once in possession.
I think that Alonso started relatively well and had 20 awful minutes, worse than his average last season for instance. He fixed the disaster a bit by being the man putting the ball on the box in the last two goals, despite in one of them he was just lucky. Even Gerrard was lost in some minutes and gave away a couple of crucial balls, but he redeemed by winning us the match alongside Carra
Its all about Alonso for you isnt it, what about Liverpool FC.
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 11:04 amYou tell me Braga man, I was watching the game yesterday with the mates here, you weren't 
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 11:29 amSabre wrote:You tell me Braga man, I was watching the game yesterday with the mates here, you weren't
How do you know that toasterhead ?
I didnt see you beside me this morning in the casino while watching the game. If you would of been there you wouldnt be at a computer now.
Like I said its not all about Alonso Elephant head, its LFC aswell.
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 11:49 amBad day in the casino I see
It's not a game for idiots, those lose most of money.
Anyhow, if it's about LFC, and I agree that, stop telling me how bad I am and let's discuss something about LFC, Alonso, Gerrard, Dossena, whatever. I actually was agreeing S@int in that Alonso lowered his performance a lot, and IMHO, too much. If Alonso had lost many balls like the one that led to the goal yesterday, his season wouldn't have been below average, but awful.
It's not a game for idiots, those lose most of money.
Anyhow, if it's about LFC, and I agree that, stop telling me how bad I am and let's discuss something about LFC, Alonso, Gerrard, Dossena, whatever. I actually was agreeing S@int in that Alonso lowered his performance a lot, and IMHO, too much. If Alonso had lost many balls like the one that led to the goal yesterday, his season wouldn't have been below average, but awful.