Liverpool - the new Valencia

[Figaro]

It's all happening again.

 

For periods of the game on Saturday, especially in the second half we played like Valencia under Rafa.

 

Same as the Chelsea and Newcastle game.

 

Patiently moving the ball about. Changing tempos. Off the ball movement. Hussling midfield.

 

Deja vu.

[Poolfrog]

It's all happening again.

 

For periods of the game on Saturday, especially in the second half we played like Valencia under Rafa.

 

Same as the Chelsea and Newcastle game.

 

Patiently moving the ball about. Changing tempos. Off the ball movement. Hussling midfield.

 

Deja vu.

 

Didn't you just say that?

[Benitez]

fecin hell, am I in a time warp here

[Figaro]

Substitute Crouch for Carew and Kuyt for Kluivert and it becomes even more confusing.

[Huyton_Red]

It's all happening again.

 

For periods of the game on Saturday, especially in the second half we played like Valencia under Rafa.

 

Same as the Chelsea and Newcastle game.

 

Patiently moving the ball about. Changing tempos. Off the ball movement. Hussling midfield.

 

Deja vu.

 

Aye Figaro, but this is a new improved version.......

[Falconhoof]

I was thinking the same myself on Saturday.

 

Even in the 1st half when the final pass didn't quite come off you could see the signs that we are developing something that will be hell to defend against.

There's an added dimension to the way we work the ball around now and you can see there are little passes that don't quite come off yet but when the team beds in it will be devastating.

 

The way Kuyt can drop deep, move to the flanks or get behind the last defender provides so many more options.

 

There's something about the way our defenders are bringing the ball forward and linking with the midfield that adds a fluency to our play.

[Swagger]

I was thinking the same myself on Saturday.

 

Me too. I think we are still somewhat short of Valencia at their best under Rafa, but we are gradually getting there.

[Guest HarveyBirdman]

Substitute Crouch for Carew and Kuyt for Kluivert and it becomes even more confusing.

 

 

Kluivert never played for Rafa's Valencia Figaro

[Cooldude]

We're just a very flexible team with many options, if the match demands us to sit back, drop men behind the ball and defend, we'd be top class at it. At the same time, we can step up a gear whenever we wish it and create a couple of clear cut chances (Which atm we aren't consistently clinical enough to take those chances)

 

Just like that great Valencia side, we're a very will oiled machine that can cope with almost every match situation with perfect control over our own tempo.

[Figaro]

Kluivert never played for Rafa's Valencia Figaro

 

he was the only K I kould kome up with

[Guest Anders Honoré]

I was thinking the same myself on Saturday.

 

Even in the 1st half when the final pass didn't quite come off you could see the signs that we are developing something that will be hell to defend against.

 

I was fairly impressed by our first half performance, tbh. We lacked some penetration but other than that, you could see 'the machine' working with perfect efficiency. Everytime spurs got the ball, they were closed down. Lots of times they simply had to give it away or were forced to pass it back to the backline. And this happned in all lines. Even their backfour couldn't keep hold of it. Defensively, we gave them the same treatment as Valencia gave us when we played rafa's team in the CL.

And add to that that we kept posession well, I thought we had a great foundation for winning the match. We were in perfect control of the game for 90 minutes really.

Edited September 25, 2006 by Anders Honoré

[Falconhoof]

I was fairly impressed by our first half performance, tbh. We lacked some penetration but other than that, you could see 'the machine' working with perfect efficiency. Everytime spurs got the ball, they were closed down. Lots of times they simply had to give it away or were forced to pass it back to the backline. And this happned in all lines. Even their backfour couldn't keep hold of it. Defensively, we gave them the same treatment as Valencia gave us when we played rafa's team in the CL.

And add to that that we kept posession well, I thought we had a great foundation for winning the match. We were in perfect control of the game for 90 minutes really.

 

 

Thats how I saw it too. At some point i'm going to look at the match again as I recorded it. I want to see if the view differs from how I saw it at the game and how it came across on tv. From all the people who say Spurs edged the first half or that Jenas miss was a turning point, i'm starting to wonder if the Sky commentary influences people's some view of the game ?

[Kopfaithful]

Thats how I saw it too. At some point i'm going to look at the match again as I recorded it. I want to see if the view differs from how I saw it at the game and how it came across on tv. From all the people who say Spurs edged the first half or that Jenas miss was a turning point, i'm starting to wonder if the Sky commentary influences people's some view of the game ?

 

i've only seen the game at the stadium and not had the commentators influence me. personally i thought the 1st half was very even, both teams seemed to be happy to pass the ball about with very little end product. i thought our closing down was quite poor 1st half and that had the knock on impact to our whole tempo. but from the 1st kick of the 2nd half, we seemed to step it up. i thought it was only matter of time till we scored and remember thinking when we got a corner after about 10 mins of the 2nd half, what a good opening 10 mins it was to the half. as for the miss being a turning point - it was because they should have scored and then we did instead 30 seconds later. that chance should be a goal and it was effectively a 2 goal swing in less than a minute, so in that respect it was a turning point.

[Jacko]

The 2nd half reminded me of how we were starting games at the end of last season when we went on that run. I know it's a cliche but for this team it's all about playing at a high tempo. When we play as we can we are starting to look like that Arsenal side of a couple of years ago and I say that as the highest compliment because that was the best football I've ever seen. The obvious question is can we maintain that tempo firstly for 90 mins then for more than one game at a time and then over the course of a season.

[genghis]

Not wishing to be the bringer of doom to a positive thread, but only a few games ago (after the derby and the chavs) everyone was saying how far we had to go.

 

I think we can only lay claim to the "new Valencia" tag when we've reproduced this form away from home a few times - like Rafa's Valencia did in *that* game at Anfield.

 

(but I do like where we're heading, obviously! )

[Jimi Rojo]

Lets be frank - they toyed with us that night - we were just chasing shadows - brilliant performance.

 

I think we're very close to doing that now, but its a different league and we still tend to go for the long ball where as that valencia were masters of keeping the ball

[Dave_the_Red]

It's all happening again.

 

For periods of the game on Saturday, especially in the second half we played like Valencia under Rafa.

 

Same as the Chelsea and Newcastle game.

 

Patiently moving the ball about. Changing tempos. Off the ball movement. Hussling midfield.

 

Deja vu.

 

 

It's just wonderful isn't it?

[Guz]

I liked the way we hassled the Spurs team in midfield on saturday but being honest, in the first half they had long periods of posession, although they didn't do much with it. And everytime we did get the ball in the first half, one of two things happened - we kept it in defence patiently before giving it away cheaply or we just tried to do things too quickly and gave it away cheaply. It was one of two extremes.

 

2nd half granted, we were excellent.

[Foo]

Still a good distance from the Valencia around 2002, they were a *very* solid unit, and Liverpool is not there. Yet.

 

 

Oh and I remember the Valencia - Barcelona game where V. won 3-0 or something (??), when Cuper was manager. Mendieta was very very good in that game.

[Guest Banjo]

Liverpool - the new Valencia

 

Rafa certainly doesn't agree with you.

 

Only recently in a .tv interview, he said that Liverpool aren't close to the level of his Valencia team.

[Shadow Moon]

I liked the way we hassled the Spurs team in midfield on saturday but being honest, in the first half they had long periods of posession, although they didn't do much with it.

According to the end of match stats I saw on the ESPN Starsports telecast, Spurs had 51% of the ball possession. I am not sure whether to believe that.

[Guest AnfieldGrass]

 

Rafa certainly doesn't agree with you.

 

Only recently in a .tv interview, he said that Liverpool aren't close to the level of his Valencia team.

 

Is right. A few years off yet if you ask me. Having said that, to be fair to Rafa who managed it in less time in Spain, it was easier for a "Rafa Valencia" style machine to make an impact in La Liga than it will be in the tougher English premiership.

[fyds]

According to the end of match stats I saw on the ESPN Starsports telecast, Spurs had 51% of the ball possession. I am not sure whether to believe that.

According to Sky, we had 52% so someone is wrong. We had the ball almost all of the second half so I tend to think it was possibly higher than that in our favour.

[Maldini]

I've said for years most media outlets just guess those possession figures, they vary wildly from paper to paper.

[fyds]

Yep. I made it 3-0 to us, we hit the post twice, had a pen turned down and forced several good saves from Robinson. Those stats do me nicely.