thoughts on the game..

[floyd the barber]

had a feeling we would lose, we`ve been poor in pre-season plus wasnt confident regarding our 2 center backs and when i saw babel starting.. i was more worried!

 

...skrtel hasnt played much going into this game....and Carra...well love him but he doesnt fill me with confidence anymore..

 

im actually not that dissapointed we lost...weird, but i have always thought we would take awhile to get going this season then find our stride come november....and no i dont think this will leave us with too much of a gap to make us, this title for me will go right down to the wire......

 

Did we miss alonso?? of course we did, his creativity was sorely lacking 2nd half...and it wasnt until benyoun came on that we would looked dangeous..

 

saying all the above....lucas had a decent game today, got stuck in well played some nice passes and was energetic....no hes not alonso, but i feel hes a far better player than he gets credit for...and given a consistent run in the side, he might suprise some people.

 

Gerrard did ok, dont really understand all the bad coments against him....maybe because we expect so much..

 

 

Babel well surely his time is up...yet another great chance for him today and he blew it....was awful and offered nothing!!

 

Reina was f`king fantastic...best keeper in england by a mile.

 

Insua and johnson i thought were both excellent....im very happy with them as our first choice full backs...thought kuyt and johnson especially had a great understanding...

 

But yes we do have some issues..

 

center back could be a real problem for us this season.....

 

Carra - doesnt seem the same player to me that he was a couple of seasons back, looks like hes put on some weight is hooting it more than ive ever seen him do so before....only thing saving him right now is his passion..and of course being a local.....yet we all know hes first choice so whatever we say wont chance that, i just hope he finds the form of a couple of seasons back....dont think im being too harsh?!?!?!

 

Sktel - got banged up a bit today..hopefully nothing too serious...though he does seem to consistently pick up niggily injuries...great player when fit

 

agger - our most classy of the 3, yet most injury prone....becoming a bit of a worry this..cos hes potentially our best center back when fully fit

 

 

we definetly need a couple more players in the next couple of weeks.....our squad looks seriously thin, looking at our bench today scared me to bits..

 

 

anyway didnt think we were that bad today.........just a fine bit of tuning and all will be ok

Edited August 16, 2009 by Lets get Masched

[Falconhoof]

Big picture = biggest spending clubs over a period of time tend to be more successful. Unless you are holding a position of strength then you'll need to spend a lot to get to the top. There are exceptions but thats the trend.

Its trends, its balance of probability and we might buck those trends but we are pushing water uphill with these owners.

[Hassony]

regarding reina. Not one word of praise from the sky c**** at half time, imagine if foster had made those two saves

[Nebraska Red]

regarding reina. Not one word of praise from the sky c**** at half time, imagine if foster had made those two saves

 

they had so much more negative stuff to discuss.

 

Reina has to be the number 1 keeper in the PL.

[Kring]

Lucas wouldn’t get into the first 11 of any of our rivals! I don’t see where all this hype comes from….

[carrafan]

Lucas wouldn’t get into the first 11 of any of our rivals! I don’t see where all this hype comes from….

 

Really? Arsenal have Denilson and Song in midfield, Chelsea have Obi Mikel and United Anderson.

[Kite]

Thought we were s****.

 

No point having Lucas and Masch on the pitch together at the same time, unless perhaps we are protecting a lead. Think that was a clear lesson from today. Neither seems to have much poise or creativity. Gerrard didn't look fit and shouldn't have played, perhaps could have been more effective if sprung from the bench. Babel should have been pulled much earlier, Yossi was outstanding, it was a shocking waste to have him on the bench whilst Babel was being so ineffective.

 

All in all a crap team performance but the main blame lies with squarely with Rafa, stuck with ineffective selection/tactics whilst the team also didn't seem to have a f***ing clue what it was at out there. Very poor. It's one thing to claim that he doesn't have the squad to win the Premiership or the necessary backing from the owners - something I'd totally agree with - but that is no excuse for such a badly organised performance like today. Just rubbish.

 

One golden moment was Johnson though.

[New York Red]

I have been intoxicated with the potential of Babel. I'm done with him after today. The experiment should be over. Ship him out.

 

God I'd love to have Sneijder though. I was picturing him on the field today and he would do so well for us.

Edited August 16, 2009 by New York Red

[anfield]

No movement as a team. This has been a problem ever sinve GH. Players put crosses in or get into attacking positions only to find no support upfront.

[Dan]

Big Glen, Reina, Mascherano and Yossi the only ones to come out of that with any credit. Not good enough from the rest.

 

Babel is an absolute pussy.

 

The sight of Voronin coming on made me want to weep.

 

Lucas was too lethagic on the ball imo. Didn't get it out of his feet quick enough. He'll need to improve or its Gerrard dropping back for me with Yossi in behind Torres.

 

Roll on Wednesday.

[Loblaw]

Deja vu really. Played like we did for much of last season, with Xabi in the side FWIW, except the last minute get out of jail card didn't come out.

 

It's one game and all that. But just watching us, there was nothing there to suggest we are going to approach these games any differently than we did last year, or the four previous. It was the same turgid, rigid, non football we see all too often as Liverpool fans.

 

Of course it all changed when we had to take the game to Spurs, we looked like maybe creating something then. As we did when it started to look like United would run away with the League last season. We react to situations rather than having the courage to play our football form the first minute to the last.

 

 

Ah, Rafa and his shackles.

Edited August 16, 2009 by Loblaw

[Benzo-13]

Last season Babel played v Spurs in the league cup and their fullbacks were briefed to keep him wide.

Çorluka played him like a fiddle doing the same thing.

[Zoob]

Under Rafa, we always tend to start the season looking very dis-jointed. Last season we scraped wins against Boro and Sunderland in games we easily could have drawn or lost.

 

I know the whole scape-goat / pic your player to blame thing is totally counter productive, but Rafa must be pulling his (remaining) hair out in terms of Babel. Playing him rather than Benayoun should have meant Babel going all out to repay the faith shown in him, but at times it was like we were playing with 10 men. Benayoun, Riera and even Dossena should be ahead of Babel when it comes to who plays left midfield.

 

There was a point in the first half where through a pretty aimless long ball, it looked like Babel was - or should have been 1 on 1 with their keeper - but it was as if he made no effort to get to the ball, either to try to control it or poke it past the keeper. Don't think I've ever seen a player go backwards in his 'progression' as much as Babel, and I had such high hopes for him.

 

Still it's fekin annoying to have another game where we can say we played crap, but the ref cost us. It was simply that he could't award the away side 2 pens, even though they were both as nailed on as you're likely to get.

[Bootle Buck]

Rafa was way too cautious for a good part of the game and it was one we never really looked like winning. The key to our season to be honest is the form and effectiveness of Torres and Gerrard. Today both of them had quiet games. I am a little worried about Torres form. He hasn't played well since the Utd game. He looked very frustrated today and got nothing out of Ledley King. Didn't think our formation helped him though. Babel is a complete waste of time and has had too much time to prove himself. Ship him back to Holland immediately. I think we will struggle to challenge for the title with too many perfromances like today.

[floyd the barber]

Rafa was way too cautious for a good part of the game and it was one we never really looked like winning. The key to our season to be honest is the form and effectiveness of Torres and Gerrard. Today both of them had quiet games. I am a little worried about Torres form. He hasn't played well since the Utd game. He looked very frustrated today and got nothing out of Ledley King. Didn't think our formation helped him though. Babel is a complete waste of time and has had too much time to prove himself. Ship him back to Holland immediately. I think we will struggle to challenge for the title with too many perfromances like today.

 

torres is world class...havent got any worries about him, he put himself about today just didnt get given many opportunities...

 

Babel though is so f`king annoying, there is definete talent there.....he seems to lack any sort of confidence.

[Zoob]

torres is world class...havent got any worries about him, he put himself about today just didnt get given many opportunities...

 

Babel though is so f`king annoying, there is definete talent there.....he seems to lack any sort of confidence.

 

Rafa bigging him up in press conferences and picking him ahead of Benayoun should have given him confidence. Think it's his complete absence of a football brain rather than confidence that is the problem. Never seen a player make so many wrong decisions, run nowhere with the ball then lose it and never seen a player with pace use it so infrequently. Jesus, I imagine Cisse would bring more benefit / end product to the team in that position than Babel is.

Edited August 17, 2009 by Zoob

[Magic8Ball]

torres is world class...havent got any worries about him, he put himself about today just didnt get given many opportunities...

 

Babel though is so f`king annoying, there is definete talent there.....he seems to lack any sort of confidence.

Babel's not so effective when he can't cut in - keep him wide and he tends to drift out of the game

[Stevie H]

babel's not effective at all. he's a dead loss.

[cymrococh]

babel's not effective at all. he's a dead loss.

Complete waste of a shirt.

[Red]

I've not seen the game yet, (first season without live match access ), but Babel looked pretty good in pre-season and had most fans thinking this might be his year. Obviously, going by what I've read, he was pants, but I wouldn't be too critical toward Rafa' (if anyone was), for thinking he was worth a starting place. Other than that I'm not gonna' comment, 'til I've seen the full 90.

[fred milne]

Yossi was outstanding, it was a shocking waste to have him on the bench whilst Babel was being so ineffective.

Aye. Torres, Gerrard and Yossi should be starting every game. That's where our real ability lies in the final third.

 

To play Babel ahead of him when we were missing Agger, Aurelio and Aquilani was an odd decision.

[Mr Makaveli]

I also predicted that we'd lose this game and for the same reasons as yourself. I am also not TOO disapointed. It would have been nice to get off to a winning start but for me the tie just sounded bloody awful cause Spurs have some great players in their team... away too.. not a good opener.

 

What we have to do now is get maximum points off stoke at home. we have to do this and in fricken style too. If the lads want the title, it's these games that we have to dominate in and no more pissing away points in draws...

 

a nice win and our team will be confident and our season can finally start.

[Mr Makaveli]

Aye. Torres, Gerrard and Yossi should be starting every game. That's where our real ability lies in the final third.

 

To play Babel ahead of him when we were missing Agger, Aurelio and Aquilani was an odd decision.

 

Agreed. How Yossi is not a starter every time is a joke. He's been mocked by everyone but last season he showed his class and its a disgrace that he wasnt started yesterday. he has the heart and the ability to carve his way through defences.

[Leo No.8]

We looked a different team when Benayoun came on.

 

Appalling decision to start wth Babel who as per usual ran down blind alleys and gave the ball away incessantly. He's such a moronic footballer, I just can't see what he did to deserve inclusion for such a big game.

 

In addition, the problem was compounded by the fact that Rafa refuses to make tactical substitutions before about 25 minutes to go. Benayoun should have been on at half time, his intelligent movement between the lines made a big difference.

 

Babel as it stands is an impact sub who can start against some of the poorer teams who lack pace at the back. He was the wrong choice for that game - with Alonso gone, Aurelio and Agger out, we needed the guile and intelligence Yossi provides.

 

Instead of complaining about penalty decisions, Rafa should be looking at why we were very much second best against an average Spurs team. But for Reina we'd have been well out of it by the time Voronin got knocked over in the box.

 

Incredibly disappointing start - what worries me is this isn't entirely a one off; we played exactly like we have in pre-season. I thought we'd get it together by the time the league started, but seemingly not.

 

Stoke is a very big and potentially quite awkward game now.

[psl]

He's been mocked by everyone

 

Not everyone.