Liverpool FC Forum

[babu]

This year Spurs will finish abover Arsenal and in the top 4.

feckin hell GBJH,

i'll make a bet with you they don't. Too many people writing off Arsenal's chances this season.

[RedorDead]

The fixture list was also very generous to man utd, we had a stinker of a list as well as internationals, if they had the list we had they would have had as much as a bad start as we did. We far behind last season because many of our player were knackered and that was at the start of the season.

We should have slaughtered Sheffield United in our first game no excuses.

yeah its just another excuse, people need to stop making excuses for our form and where we finished last season.

world cup, new players, fixture list etc etc etc, the fact is we finished where we did because our manager does not even know what our best team is, because he chooses to worry about the likes of bolton rather than let them worry about us, because he shackles the players, because he persists with kuyt, becaus we dont have a goalscorer.

anyway he has had 3 seasons now, lets hope he has finally learnt that we have to play attacking football with a steady team in order to perform well in the premier league.

i have said it before that his mind is on europe because he is not english, my mind is on the premier league. i hope no he realises the league is important

I think fixture list is a fairly weak excuse too.
We were out of it because of terrible away results to Sheff Utd, Everton, Bolton, Borough and not picking up anything off Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal away...yeah, it was a tough start....but then wasn't it tough for Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea having to play us so early? They all won though.
I think rotation played a part but other than that there aren't any excuses....the team lacked a little depth but for whatever reason we just weren;t up for it early on, psychologically the squad wasn't prepared. Man Utd and Chelsea always start strong and keep it going, we have to start with that attitude from the kick off against Villa and just keep it going.

[The Manhattan Project]

I think too often Rafa gives the other teams too much credit and respect.

He adjusts the system to accomodate teams like Everscum and Bolton.

Our attitude should be "we are going to kill these bastardos" and make THEM change their system to contain us. Throw them off their usual game and we should set the tone of the match.

[crazyhorse]

Macca makes valid points, and the story has been twisted anyway.

Anyone who says he was a and not a good player for us or Madrid know nothing about football. In his prime Macca would have walked into any club side, and during euro 96 was one of Englands best players. He is an intelligent man who wrote for the times for several seasons (if he does not still now) and I consider his points to be accurate. If we do finish in the top five it still means we can win the league!

[Naomi]

Our attitude should be "we are going to kill these bastardos" and make THEM change their system to contain us. Throw them off their usual game and we should set the tone of the match.

Exactly right IMO. Respecting your opponents is fine, but giving them too much respect can be your downfall

[Wilhelmsson]

I think too often Rafa gives the other teams too much credit and respect.

He adjusts the system to accomodate teams like Everscum and Bolton.

Our attitude should be "we are going to kill these bastardos" and make THEM change their system to contain us. Throw them off their usual game and we should set the tone of the match.

Yes, this true and I support this, however it’s good to have a manager who can also highlight a teams strengths and look to his players to extinguish these strengths and its good to have a manager who can identify a teams weakness and look to exploit this.

Rafa could take a leaf out of Shanks’, book.

“Football is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes, of controlling the ball and of making yourself available to receive a pass. It is terribly simple.” - Bill Shankly.

[joko]

i happen to read macca more since he's got some business here in hk. he's a nice bloke, he only tried to be neutral in his opinion. he also praise torres capture as 'the correct decision' for the title challenging.

[Sabre]

I think too often Rafa gives the other teams too much credit and respect.

He adjusts the system to accomodate teams like Everscum and Bolton.

Our attitude should be "we are going to kill these bastardos" and make THEM change their system to contain us. Throw them off their usual game and we should set the tone of the match.

The way I see it Manhattan, Rafa changes the team after asking this question "How we fúck them best?"

If they advance the defence like Wigan used to do, then you can always pick Torres over Crouch to make more damage. If they put 10 men behind the ball I'd think of Crouch as the best to make the first one.

The "we have our style and we must not change it" is something that every top club in Europe say in different languages in Spanish is "tenemos nuestro estilo y no lo cambiamos" and Milan must say something like "tenuti le esttillo e no cambiatto"

But that attitude worked once, but not anymore, lesser teams are stronger teams than they used to be, and top clubs do well in analysing their opposition and try to find the best way to beat them. Subtle details are the ones that make you beat Chelsea in a semifinal. That doesn't go against having a winning mentality from moment one. I think we just need to be on the fight from moment one and not having a disadvantage from the very start, but I don't find a bad thing that Rafa respects and analyses the opposition.

[The Grudge]

I think too often Rafa gives the other teams too much credit and respect.

He adjusts the system to accomodate teams like Everscum and Bolton.

Our attitude should be "we are going to kill these bastardos" and make THEM change their system to contain us. Throw them off their usual game and we should set the tone of the match.

The way I see it Manhattan, Rafa changes the team after asking this question "How we fúck them best?"

If they advance the defence like Wigan used to do, then you can always pick Torres over Crouch to make more damage. If they put 10 men behind the ball I'd think of Crouch as the best to make the first one.

The "we have our style and we must not change it" is something that every top club in Europe say in different languages in Spanish is "tenemos nuestro estilo y no lo cambiamos" and Milan must say something like "tenuti le esttillo e no cambiatto"

But that attitude worked once, but not anymore, lesser teams are stronger teams than they used to be, and top clubs do well in analysing their opposition and try to find the best way to beat them. Subtle details are the ones that make you beat Chelsea in a semifinal. That doesn't go against having a winning mentality from moment one. I think we just need to be on the fight from moment one and not having a disadvantage from the very start, but I don't find a bad thing that Rafa respects and analyses the opposition.

That simply highlights that fact that you are easily pleased!

LFC should now be good enough to go out and thrash almost every team in the league(or in theory) anyway.

Our squad is vastly superior to the likes of Everton,W Ham,Fulham,A Villa etc...These games are the ones that we should be winning and comfortably.

I agree with the sentiment in the original post above...LFC should be and can be hammering teams off the park.

Over cautiousness is not neccessary against teams that we play week in week out...weaker teams!

Did'nt a great man once say..'The best way to defend is attack'?

A lot has changed since then but the fact remains that if you bully and scare your opponents off the park,create and score goals YOU WILL WIN!

[Sabre]

A lot has changed since then but the fact remains that if you bully and scare your opponents off the park,create and score goals YOU WILL WIN!

Yeh, like Manchester did in San Siro, so confident with their shíte, how could they change their game.

It was 3-0 if I recall correctly.

Analysing the opposition and get the things right to beat them have nothing to do with being easily pleased. It has to do with doing the correct things to win. If you think that it's all about mentality reaching to finals, and aswell not winning the league then I disagree. It has to do with how you train, how deep is your squad, and how much money you have to buy a man in a position you think it needs to be improved.

Bullying out and scaring out  are playground concepts. we are talking about serious top european football here. Let's be serious The Grudge Expecting the opposition being scared and easy games will lead you to Real Madrid-esque failure, knowing well the oppo, buying the right men, putting them in the pitch accordingly to their weak points and training hard will lead you to success.

Maybe that's the reason Liverpool is reaching CL finals as of late, because if it was a matter of pride and history, they would have been 8 times more in the CL final in the nineties.

[puroresu]

A lot has changed since then but the fact remains that if you bully and scare your opponents off the park,create and score goals YOU WILL WIN!

Yeh, like Manchester did in San Siro, so confident with their shíte, how could they change their game.

It was 3-0 if I recall correctly.

Analysing the opposition and get the things right to beat them have nothing to do with being easily pleased. It has to do with doing the correct things to win. If you think that it's all about mentality reaching to finals, and aswell not winning the league then I disagree. It has to do with how you train, how deep is your squad, and how much money you have to buy a man in a position you think it needs to be improved.

Bullying out and scaring out  are playground concepts. we are talking about serious top european football here. Let's be serious The Grudge Expecting the opposition being scared and easy games will lead you to Real Madrid-esque failure, knowing well the oppo, buying the right men, putting them in the pitch accordingly to their weak points and training hard will lead you to success.

Maybe that's the reason Liverpool is reaching CL finals as of late, because if it was a matter of pride and history, they would have been 8 times more in the CL final in the nineties.

So Utd playing the same attacking way home and away had nothing to do with them scoring the most amount of goals and winning the league.  Arsenal playing the same attacking way home and way led them going a season unbeaten.

Surely the last two seasons have showed that we have been far to cautious in too many league games.  Carry on with this and the results will be the same. The negative attitude does not work. 

I dont buy all this 'teams come to anfield with 10 behind the ball' as some sort of excuse either.  Teams go to Utd, Emirates, and chelsea playing that way yet I dont hear the same excuses.  Some weaker teams will come to Anfield and put plenty men behind the ball but thats no excuse for the lack of guile, flair and imagination.

[puroresu]

Spurs will not finish above Arsenal.  Arsenal still have more quality in there side than spurs.  Van persie will be a superstar this season!!

Why does everyone think Van Persie is going to be the business this year, it not as if he hasnt been around before, he is not a new signing for them and I cant see him scoring 15 Prem goals this season

Van Persie hit 11 league goals before the injury last year.  He would of easily scored 15 last year.  Arsenal will still create the most chances of any side in the league.  Van Persie can put those chances away.  If Eduardo is a good finisher he will get plenty goals as well.  That side makes too many chances for a striker not to score a minimum of 15 goals.

[66-1112520797]

Surely the last two seasons have showed that we have been far to cautious in too many league games.  Carry on with this and the results will be the same. The negative attitude does not work. 

I dont buy all this 'teams come to anfield with 10 behind the ball' as some sort of excuse either.  Teams go to Utd, Emirates, and chelsea playing that way yet I dont hear the same excuses.  Some weaker teams will come to Anfield and put plenty men behind the ball but thats no excuse for the lack of guile, flair and imagination.

Good points and I agree with the sentiments.

Its okay for us to play the way we do in Europe, thats fine. But not the same way in the league two different games. The European where the technicality of football is higher than say your run of the meal Prem game, is perfect for Rafa and his "over" analysed chess like tactics.

But for the Prem IMHO those tactics are not needed as much and Rafa should trust his players enough to play without the shackles and tactics they do in Europe. As technically we're better than most Premiership teams so we dominate more in possesion when needed. Thus the crying calling for guile, skill, attacking creating and end productivity is needed.

[Owzat]

BTW i also don't think we will win the premier league

I'd be interested how many of those who think we'll win it thought that last season, season before, season before that...................

As the saying goes, "throw enough darts at the board and you're bound to hit the bullseye at least once"

[puroresu]

Surely the last two seasons have showed that we have been far to cautious in too many league games.  Carry on with this and the results will be the same. The negative attitude does not work. 

I dont buy all this 'teams come to anfield with 10 behind the ball' as some sort of excuse either.  Teams go to Utd, Emirates, and chelsea playing that way yet I dont hear the same excuses.  Some weaker teams will come to Anfield and put plenty men behind the ball but thats no excuse for the lack of guile, flair and imagination.

Good points and I agree with the sentiments.

Its okay for us to play the way we do in Europe, thats fine. But not the same way in the league two different games. The European where the technicality of football is higher than say your run of the meal Prem game, is perfect for Rafa and his "over" analysed chess like tactics.

But for the Prem IMHO those tactics are not needed as much and Rafa should trust his players enough to play without the shackles and tactics they do in Europe. As technically we're better than most Premiership teams so we dominate more in possesion when needed. Thus the crying calling for guile, skill, attacking creating and end productivity is needed.

exactly.  In Europe I see where Rafa is coming from. Its the league where things need changing.  The lack of genuine chances created in some games is shocking. This season i hope things are changed its just whether its in Rafa's makeup to not be so cautious