Liverpool Rumours And General Discussion 2007/2008

Statso

Torres picked up a knock as did Gerrard. Would you prefer losing them for the United game? If we beat Marseille and then United next week everyone will be creaming their pants over Rafa.

Tusky

What worries me more than the fact that we are losing 3-1 to Reading is that we had more than 20 minutes to try get back in the game and we still didn't really look like scoring. The formation didnt work from the start and I felt things should have been changed sooner.

Voronin, Riise & Sissoko are all players that I wouldnt mind seeing leaving the club and they all started today. Riise has been shocking all season and he was no better today.

Chardee MacDennis

i would add crouch to that list. i have always liked him but he offered nothing today, except hitting the post there!!!

i have to say all the stuff that has gone against us today it would be hard to motivate yourself on the pitch - still no excuse for losing to Reading.

Jazzy

how voronin got 90 minutes is beyond me

Tusky

This is worse than just a loss as Utd, Chelsea, Portsmouth & Everton all picked up points. We are no longer unbeaten, we no longer have the best defensive record in the league & we dont have the best GD anymore either so its a big blow. If we can beat utd & Marseille then the result wont be quite as bad in the grand scale of things.

However, if we lose to Marsille and don't get a result against utd it will be a massive blow for the club.

machiavellianme

17 million for Mascherano? Let Lucas have his chance

whatawaster

Jazzy wrote: »

how voronin got 90 minutes is beyond me

he wasn't nearly the worst. Riise should never play for us again, he is atrocious, offers nothing anywhere on the field. Sissoko as well. Crouch was also worse than Voronin.

mike65

Nuts.

Regardless of starting 11 or the subs why was the formation so foolish? And not changed during the game?

Mike.

mayordenis

PHB wrote: »

Mourinho did for most of last season. It's a very continental formation

no he never plays with 3 out and out strikers, you're 100% wrong, if he did it would only be out of injury crisis, no 4-3-3 is consistently played with all 3 up top being strikers, mourinho would always if had a choice play robben, swp, joe cole etc. as 2 of the 3. you're wrong so wrong it hurts.

Esse85

Too many average players in the team.

Tusky

mike65 wrote: »

Nuts.

Regardless of starting 11 or the subs why was the formation so foolish? And not changed during the game?

Mike.

I agree with the sentiment with your post but its not exactly correct. The formation changed to 4-4-2 when Babel & Kewell came on but it was fairly late at that stage.

1 Arsenal 15 11 4 0 32 12 20 37
2 Man. Utd. 16 11 3 2 29 8 21 36
3 Chelsea 16 10 4 2 24 9 15 34
4 Liverpool 15 8 6 1 27 9 18 30
5 Portsmouth 16 8 6 2 28 14 14 30
6 Man. City 15 9 3 3 19 15 4 30

Heres the table, kind of depressing that even if we beat utd next week we are simply back the to situation that stood before the game today. 3 points behind with a game in hand.

mike65

I was relying on radio commetary, it sounded like the 3 forwards were in a line no-one picking up from deep.

Sissoko OUT
Riise OUT
Crouch on the bench/europe
Voronin bench

Mike.

machiavellianme

mike65 wrote: »

it sounded like the 3 forwards were in a line no-one picking up from deep

It may have sounded like that, but it looked far worse. We had one striker today, who sadly went off early and left us in trouble. Once Stevie and Torres went off, it was back to the same rotten form of old. We need to sell half of those who played today. Harry and Babel looked ok in their cameo but nothing more. Bar Hobbs, the rest were atrocious. I never thought I'd be wishing Pennant would come back.
Based on Voronins perfomance, both he and Kuyt (who thankfully didnt play today) are the same player type, running around like headless chickens and taking ridiculous shots that are going nowhere. They should both be sold on and give one of the reserves a shot if nobody else is available.

~Rebel~

Might be good business to sell Voronin over the summer, make a bit of a profit on him (probably get 6mill or so if people are willing to spend that on lesser strikers), and bring in another top notch one like Anelka or Huntelaar.

The second half today was terrible though. Knocks to Torres and Gerrard effectively ended the game. the ref got so many decisions wrong, consistently in Readings favour. Riise, Sissoko, Voro and Crouch were all pretty bad. I dont think more then 1 of these should ever be on the pitch at the same time.

Hobbs was decent at least so thats one plus to take.

yayamark

After a great few months reality sets in and within a weeks time depression could be setting in.

Im an optimist ans a realist and have to say there is a lot of dead wood at the club everybody knows who they are, you have to look at utd and arsenal with some envy with their class and consistency.

I know its only our first loss in the league but look where we are with only one loss. if we beat marselle and utd it will be great but if we dont season over

Pepe LeFrits

yayamark wrote: »

if we beat marselle and utd it will be great but if we dont season over

Liverpool's season effectively hinges on those two games. Win them both and this result will be forgotten.

Tusky

Doom & Gloom brigade are back it seems. Result today was disappointing but lets not over react. The season is not over, its our first league defeat.

Lets not sell half our team just yet :rolleyes:

Chardee MacDennis

that performance has really annoyed me, we looked like liverpool of the last few seasons at too many times over that game esp when Torres came off, stevie didn't do much but for the goal and hitting the bar.

Reina 6
Arbeloa 6
Riise 4
Carra 6
Hobbs 6
Sissoko 5
Gerrard 7 (only for the goal really)
Mascherano 6
Voronin 5
Torres 7
Crouch 5

Kewell 6
Babel 6
Hyypia 6

we lose to united and I think we're out of this tbh...

lets hope a good result in Marseille spurs us on for the weekend.

jesus_thats_gre

Twas a poor performance by Liverpool where quite a bit when against us. Any other day we would have won this one with the same performance. Not the end of the world.

zing

Just didn't understand the formation today. Why two defensive midfielders and no wide players ? Only reason I can think of for the two DM's is to try and offer extra protection for Hobbs ? But if so then the front 4 would have needed to attack more and wingers would surely have made more sense with Torres up front and Gerrard playing off him. Even Lucas alongside one of Momo/Masch would have made more sense ?

Then again I'm not sure the players understood what they were meant to be doing either.

yayamark

Tusky wrote: »

Doom & Gloom brigade are back it seems. Result today was disappointing but lets not over react. The season is not over, its our first league defeat.

Lets not sell half our team just yet :rolleyes:

no tusky i havent said season over just disappointed i said if we lose the next 2 games its season over

it makes the next 2 games all the more exciting

Come on!

darkskol

I just hope this defeat does not batter Hobbs confidence too much. It was good to see him start but what was with the formation today

Dub13

Looks like Rafa underestimated Reading.

whatawaster

Call_me_al wrote: »

that performance has really annoyed me, we looked like liverpool of the last few seasons at too many times over that game esp when Torres came off, stevie didn't do much but for the goal and hitting the bar.

Reina 6
Arbeloa 6
Riise 4
Carra 6
Hobbs 6
Sissoko 5
Gerrard 7 (only for the goal really)
Mascherano 6
Voronin 5
Torres 7
Crouch 5

Kewell 6
Babel 6
Hyypia 6

we lose to united and I think we're out of this tbh...

lets hope a good result in Marseille spurs us on for the weekend.

Reina 6
Arbeloa 5
Riise 1
Carra 5
Hobbs 7
Sissoko 4
Gerrard 6
Mascherano 5
Voronin 5
Torres 7
Crouch 4

Kewell 6
Babel 6
Hyypia 6

PHB

Might be good business to sell Voronin over the summer, make a bit of a profit on him (probably get 6mill or so if people are willing to spend that on lesser strikers), and bring in another top notch one like Anelka or Huntelaar.

Isn't there some rule against selling on Bosman players within a certain time period or something?

oobydooby

This is very deflating after all the optimism. Still, at 3-1 I think Benitez gave up and cut his losses. Gerrard was gonna run himself to bits trying to save that match - it might have paid off, but Benitez seems like the kind of gambler who believes in mathematics rather than gut feeling.

A lot of our players were very poor. Momo disappointed again; sad to say I'm beginning to come around to the view of those who call for his sale. I guess Rafa will play Kuyt on Tuesday, another player whose confidence seems fragile. Like my own at the moment:(

Chardee MacDennis

no defender in a defence that concedes 3 goals should get a 7. hobbs didnt make many mistakes but shouldnt be given a 7 that.

i thought mascherano was good he broke up a good bit of play but did put a few passes astray. arbeloa didnt look that bad either.

torres did really prop us up today.

~Rebel~

PHB wrote:

Isn't there some rule against selling on Bosman players within a certain time period or something?

I think its within 1 year, which is why I suggest Summer rather then now.

whatawaster

Call_me_al wrote: »

no defender in a defence that concedes 3 goals should get a 7. hobbs didnt make many mistakes but shouldnt be given a 7 that.

i thought mascherano was good he broke up a good bit of play but did put a few passes astray. arbeloa didnt look that bad either.

torres did really prop us up today.

didn't do anything wrong and i generally just felt sorry for him stuck in the middle of all that chaos. Arbeloa constantly gave Convey too much space. Constantly.

Melion

Good to see the doom brigade back again, where have you all been for the last few weeks?

An Citeog

oobydooby wrote: »

This is very deflating after all the optimism. Still, at 3-1 I think Benitez gave up and cut his losses. Gerrard was gonna run himself to bits trying to save that match - it might have paid off, but Benitez seems like the kind of gambler who believes in mathematics rather than gut feeling.

Imho, that's one of his weaknesses. He seems quite risk averse and is always thinking 2 steps ahead. That can help sometimes but not when there's a job to be done.

Unearthly

Melion wrote: »

Good to see the doom brigade back again, where have you all been for the last few weeks?

maybe the same place the possitive brigade have gone today

yayamark

I think people here are misplacing doom with reality!

Zapp Brannigan

wow Benitez got that very wrong! Sissoko should have been sold in the summer and we coulda got a bit of money for him, now we'll get nothing for him. He offers absolutely nothing going forward and I cringe everytime the ball is passed towards him.

Very uninspired performance from everyone all around though, hope for a bounce back against Marseille on tuesday or else it's bye-bye CL and then that would put the team on a serious downer for the Utd game.

RE*AC*TOR

Dissapointing game for Liverpool, combination of not playing well enough, getting dodgy decisions against us, and general lack of luck, conspired to a somewhat misleading scoreline. These things happen occassionally.

On to Tuesday.

mike65

I can only hope for failure of Tuesday, it might be the difference between still having a chance at the title and not. If every CL game means fielding weakened teams in odd formations then better off out of it.

The CL means nothing until the PL is won again.

Mike.

kaisersose77

PHB wrote: »

Isn't there some rule against selling on Bosman players within a certain time period or something?

Rangers got Boumsong on a free and sold him for £8million without about 6/7 months from what I can remember

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Alain_Boumsong

Suprise, Suprise who his agent was/is

"However, as Boumsong was a free agent with no price to be paid to his club Auxerre, his agent, the Monaco based Scot Willie McKay negotiated the best sign-on fee to the player for Boumsong from Rangers, based in Glasgow, Scotland."


He must represent every African player that plays in France

Guy:Incognito

whatawaster wrote: »

Reina 6
Arbeloa 5
Riise 1
Carra 5
Hobbs 7
Sissoko 4
Gerrard 6
Mascherano 5
Voronin 5
Torres 7
Crouch 4

Kewell 6
Babel 6
Hyypia 6

What Gives Riise a 1 over anyone else? Especially Sissoko?

As for the 3rd goal, cant blame Riise. It wasnt his player to begin with. Whoever was supposed to be marking him wasnt. Riise passed by 2 Liverpool players to set off running after him Cant do much about not being as quick as someone else b ut he tried to catch him.

Melion wrote: »

Good to see the doom brigade back again, where have you all been for the last few weeks?

You can ttry to deflect all you want but at the end of the day we lost 3-1 to Reading. Thats bad.

Making sure this was won and going into the Utd match positvely beats the hell out of resting, loseign and going into the Utd match on the back of a defeat whichever way you look at it.

mike65 wrote: »

I can only hope for failure of Tuesday, it might be the difference between still having a chance at the title and not. If every CL game means fielding weakened teams in odd formations then better off out of it.

The CL means nothing until the PL is won again.

Mike.

Was about to say something similar. Rafa needs a bit of a kick up the hole. I really thought he was copping on there for the last few weeks but it looks like it was afluke, maybe brought on by injuries.:(

d22ontour

zing wrote: »

Just didn't understand the formation today. Why two defensive midfielders and no wide players ?

Must have had the United game on his mind.

Tusky

zing wrote: »

Just didn't understand the formation today. Why two defensive midfielders and no wide players ?

Id say the thinking was - 3 strikers, therefore we would need 2 dms for cover and would use Riise & Arbeloa for width. Didnt really work though. At the end of the day, its Reading. They are **** and dont think a single one of them would get into our squad.

Why the need for the change of system and new tactics ? Why not just a 4-4-2 and twat them ?

mike65

Doyle over Voronin/Kuyt! Hunts tasty in the tackle and can cross as well.

Mike.

An Citeog

Doyle, Shorey and Hahnemann as second choice keeper instead of Arphexad number 2!

Guy:Incognito

An Citeog wrote: »

Doyle, Shorey and Hahnemann as second choice keeper instead of Arphexad number 2!

I could be our number two ahead of Arphexad, but then again that wouldnt be hard seeing as he left about 4 years ago,

Intjande is the name you were lookign for

Tusky

mike65 wrote: »

Doyle over Voronin/Kuyt! Hunts tasty in the tackle and can cross as well.

Mike.

Wouldnt have Doyle over any of our strikers. Who would Hunt oust ? Pennant, Benayoun, Babel, Kewell ? Dont think so.

An Citeog

Stekelly wrote: »

I could be our number two ahead of Arphexad, but then again that wouldnt be hard seeing as he left about 4 years ago,

Intjande is the name you were lookign for

Actually, I think you'll find I meant that Itandje is Arphexad #2. Sits on the bench all the time, never gets on and if Reina ever did get injured, you'd be fairly fúcked! Just like good auld Pegguy back in the day!

An Citeog

Tusky wrote: »

Wouldnt have Doyle over any of our strikers. Who would Hunt oust ? Pennant, Benayoun, Babel, Kewell ? Dont think so.

I'd choose Doyle over Voronin any day of the week. What about Nicky Shorey? Like Riise except he actually manages to hit the target with his shots!

Guy:Incognito

An Citeog wrote: »

Actually, I think you'll find I meant that Itandje is Arphexad #2. Sits on the bench all the time, never gets on and if Reina ever did get injured, you'd be fairly fúcked! Just like good auld Pegguy back in the day!

Ah fair enough, I assumed you'd just missed an "at" out in there

lordgoat

Anyone else think that gerrard could have done a lot more for the first reading goal?? (to prevent it i mean, i don't mean help reading, well i suppose he could have taken the penalty)


And his free kick lead to the second?

Blinkers.

Thanx 4 The Fish

Well he should have tracked back with his man and so Carragher would not have to take him down.

Robbed of two penalties mind, not happy about that.

event

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

Robbed of two penalties mind, not happy about that.

the first on torres wasnt a penalty, can see from teh side angle that sonko (i think) gets a touch on the ball