Liverpool Rumours And General Discussion 2007/2008

Davei141

YES! Peno saved

RE*AC*TOR

really have to stop conceeding penalties.

also i reckon torres on for crouch.

please.

dardoz

very umimpressive first half. Crouch +voronin is easily being dealth with. The only person getting any space on the pitch is Pennant and he isn't making much of his opportunities.

We really don't look like scoring with the team set up as it is. I hate to say it, but its fairly obvious who our best strike pairing is now.

mike65

Can't follow this match anywhere except on line, was Kanu actually onside and was Arbeloa outpaced by Kanu? :eek: That usually why a shirt tug happens!

Mike.

Davei141

Anyone else getting pissed off with crouch falling to the ground anytime somebody near him?

Chucky the tree

Crouch will never be good enough to a first team regular.

mike65

Liverpool have managed just 5 shots on goal which is 4 more than Pompey.

Nil-Nil anyone?

Mike.

Davei141

Looking that way its been terrible

el rabitos

just plain crap performance, alot of huff and puff and nothing dangerous really in the final 3rd. back where we belong right now, which isnt top.

RE*AC*TOR

rafa put out the wrong team.

full stop.

mike65

Agreed, Rafa thinking about the CL is frankly stupid if the Prem is the real target this season.

11 points from 5 games, crisis!

Mike.

el rabitos

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

rafa put out the wrong team.

full stop.

i'd have been happy to see that team start against porto, but torres, gerrard and maybe even babel should have started today. rafa still doesnt get it

today was a huge test. not good enough for what we want imo.

shatners basoon

Wooo top of the table again:p
In fairness we've always struggled in these games so to come away with the expected point is acceptable in my opinion, provided we win at home 4 points from pompey is still a good return:D
I was surprised by the line up alright, Crouch isn't exactly the type of striker you want in these games playing against such a physical side, think it was a bit strange not starting Torres considering his recent form but maybe he wanted to rest him a bit or something- Rafa baffles some times! Think we missed mascherano too, think he'll be vital for the tough away matches.

Daemonic

Damn that was an ugly game to watch, neither team deserved a point for that.

Chardee MacDennis

that was rubbish in fairness. torres and reina will the be the only ones that come out of that game looking respectable.

very annoyed with the team put out - have to start playing our best eleven.

did anyone else notice the massive gap in the middle of the pitch between our midfield and the attackers. what the hell was that?

AdrianII

brutal game

crouch, vorinin, yossi and sissoko were tripe today

we have a crisis at anfield now

least its birmingham next week

PHB

Very odd decesions from Rafa today, given up an early lead

yabadabado

that was poor stuff why cant rafa start his 1st xi and then change it around if the game is wrapped up.think liverpool will be pretty much similar to last season dropping pts away to lesser teams

DeadSkin

Daemonic wrote:

Damn that was an ugly game to watch, neither team deserved a point for that.

Yeah it wasn't purty.
But a good result away to Portsmouth.
They had a couple of chances there that had Reina beat, just went wide of the post, I think it was Utaka and Benjani. Also they missed a penalty, so not all bad.
Have to agree we should have started Gerrard and Torres if the Prem is our target this year.

Mr Alan

long as we win our next two games against birmingham and wigan, i wont be too worried about this result, still have a game in hand on a few of the big teams around us.

was suprised Torres didnt start alright, but i reckon to start Gerrard might have been a bit much, he still has a broken toe remember and he has had two massive games in the last week, Alonso & Momo should have been enough in the middle.

reina is a legend.

as for the gap, xabi needs to push a bit further up the pitch imo, the attacking side of his game almost seems to have vanished at times.

think Crouch might leave us in Jan (maybe even to pompey)

Mr Alan

PHB wrote:

Very odd decesions from Rafa today, given up an early lead

still top of the league with a game in hand if i'm not mistaken?

Chardee MacDennis

arse go above us if they win - which they are doing at the moment

Mr Alan

yea- just saw they went ahead again there

lookin forward to motd tonight

say this on another forum: the 5 changes Andy Gray didnt shut up about . . . .

Carra for Sami. Er...

Momo for Mascherano, who was just back from Australia.

Yossi for Babel - much of a muchness there.

Voronin for Kuyt - as above.

Crouch for Torres - the only one to take issue with, although Torres did take a knock with Spain.

And Gerrard was never going to start after playing 2 games in a week after being injured.

true enough imo

tibor

The team was set out very negatively from the get go today.

With Xabi and Momo both laying deep, Rafa obviously expected Portsmouth to come and have a go, and hit them on the break with a long ball up to Crouch having Voronin running off him. It should have been obvious that this wasn't going to work after 20 minutes.

Pennant and Yossi didn't provide the width expected when we had possesion(how many times did you see Pennant on the ball in the centre circle?!) which led to the game getting very compressed and messy.

We were rarely able to string more than 4 passes together. Whether it was a symptom of Crouch being on or not I don't know, but players just kept looking to play long balls up top ignoring the easier options. There was no patience in our build up play, everyone looking to get rid of the ball asap - on several occasions Pennant and Yossi swung in poor crosses from deep to an empty box instead of attempting to take their men on, or keeping posession with a simple pass inside. Our movement off the ball was non-existent for large periods of the game.

Yet again in a PL away game we really missed the drive of likes of Gerrard(on a good day) to get a hold of the ball and dictate the play.

All in all, very sloppy, but not the end of the world.
Still very early days...

~Rebel~

mike65 wrote:

Rebel if you think my starting 11 looks right bar Torres then I'll put that in my Fantasy Rafa page, God knows you're doing better then me right now

Mike.

Sorry about that Mike! I still think your team would have been much the better one. Bad selection from Rafa today, dare i say even stupid. We had much stronger teams out against much weaker opposition. Having Sissoko AND Crouch with no Gerrard or Torres playing limits us a lot.

We were pretty lucky to even get the point really, Pompy probably deserved the 3.

mike65

The only good news is that the Porto game line up is easy to predict now

Mike.

~Rebel~

Heh, i suppose, i still bet there'll be something that catches me..maybe Crouch rather then Kuyt starting with Torres. Or Riise in for LB or LW. Nothings ever as easy as it should be to predict with Rafa! Is any other team like this?!

Zapp Brannigan

Annoying. Rafa shows his priorites again.

Though it's not the end of the world I suppose, we still have that game in hand, but don't Arsenal have that aswell?

Kanney

Yeah Arsenal do have it. Chelsea just dropped two points at blackburn so not all bad.
I didn't like the line up.
I thought Yossi and Crouch had terrible games, Gerrard and Torres looked sharp on their introduction.
Pepe Reina, again saving us, superb keeper. I was surprised Rafa took off Pennant for Stevie, altho worked out well when Xabi had to go off, if that is a serious knock, we have plenty of cover, i love this squad.

Mr Alan

tbh, it might be a fortunate accident if Alonso has a little knock, give Masch and Stevie a little run in the first team together

KdjaCL

millersangel wrote:

tbh, it might be a fortunate accident if Alonso has a little knock, give Masch and Stevie a little run in the first team together

:eek:

besides cesc scholes and alonso i be hard pressed to find the best passer of a ball in the PL.

How could you want him dropped :eek:


kdjac

Mr Alan

i agree he is a magnificent passer of the ball, but simple fact is he has been doing a lot of the simple things wrong for a while. he is still among the top midfielders in Europe, but we are in a fortunate position to have Masch, who is also of that class, and Maschs higher work rate increases the freedom Gerrard has.

i think Alonso has it in him to be among the best in the world, all i was saying is that a time on the sidelines might increase his desire to achieve the greatness he is so definately capable of . . . . when was the last time he played a game like this, which was almost par for the course when he arrived . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US7eiFGiCG4

KdjaCL

old school midfield = one player gets the ball and gives it to better players who create things ie alonso. Sissoko was todays problem.

I watched the game today and tbh he wasnt the problem with liverpool going forward he made perfect passes albeit to players who were not as good as others, sissoko was more interested in diving for free kicks wheares gerrard would have went for the shot.

benayoun was on the left when he is right footed so left arbeloa screwed when he needed an option inside, crouch is crap when the ball is played to feet so i doubt Alonso being dropped would have changed todays result, a striker and a left footed left sided player would have won the game.

masch should have played instead of sissoko which would have given alonso more freedom, crouch should never play in the PL ever but thats a different thread


kdjac

Mr Alan

dont think momo has it in him to dive tbh, think he is just so clumsy running with the ball he falls over!

you're definately being harsh on crouch, but today made it perfectly clear that he is now our fourth choice striker, but i cant think of a better 4th choice in world football off the top of my head!

maintain wat i first said, i think alonso gettin a break for a few games might be beneficial to both him and liverpool.

agree if masch was playing today it would have made a massive difference but, he played a game in Australia on wednesday night so dont think it was reasonable to expect him to get a run out.

tibor

KdjaCL wrote:

old school midfield = one player gets the ball and gives it to better players who create things ie alonso. Sissoko was todays problem.

I watched the game today and tbh he wasnt the problem with liverpool going forward he made perfect passes albeit to players who were not as good as others,

What match were you watching??

He gave the ball away a lot. Never demanded the ball from his team-mates, was rarely free in attacking positions, general movement off the ball was very poor. But, so was the rest of the team. I'd like to put it down to him being told to play a cautious defensive game(well, apart from the giving the ball away), but he hasn't played a good game for us in what? 18 months or so?

benayoun was on the left when he is right footed so left arbeloa screwed when he needed an option inside,

Benayuon and Pennant swapped over every 15 minutes or so, as our wingers tend to do in every game.

crouch is crap when the ball is played to feet

You have to be kidding?
He has one of the best first touches in the squad.
His link-up play is (usually) superb.

a striker and a left footed left sided player would have won the game.

Very easily said. The team as a whole played badly, what we were missing most was someone in the middle of the park to take charge, get their foot on the ball, pick out the simple passes, maintain posession and keep portsmouth under pressure.

Attractive Nun

millersangel wrote:

i cant think of a better 4th choice in world football off the top of my head!

Thierry Henry? Saviola? Julio Cruz/David Suazo? Pizarro? Defoe? Alan Smith (;))?

But I will at least give you that he is better than United's fourth choice striker, mainly because I'm not sure if that player even exists (Dong?).

I actually think Crouch is a decent enough player, though I'm not really sure why - he just seems to get his share of goals whenever he's given the chance, and I guess that's what a striker is supposed to do.

Mr Alan

Henry is not 4th chioce
havent seen enough of the nest two lads to comment.
pizarro is not 4th choice, he is second choice from wat i can see
crouch is better than Defoe and Smith (who is playing midfeild for Newcastle?)

DSB

Crouch is better than Defoe? Are you actually serious?

Mr Alan

deadly

~Rebel~

Liverpool sign Ayala for defence! :eek:

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_2733281,00.html

Mr Alan

didnt he play in one of the preseason friendlies for us? on trial?

Malice

DSB wrote:

Crouch is better than Defoe? Are you actually serious?

Are you claiming that Defoe is better than Crouch?

Kanney

~Rebel~ wrote:

Liverpool sign Ayala for defence! :eek:

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_2733281,00.html

Please specify which Ayala, nearly wet myself if it was The Argie legend.

DSB

malice_ wrote:

Are you claiming that Defoe is better than Crouch?

Yes definitely.

copacetic

Kanney wrote:

Please specify which Ayala, nearly wet myself if it was The Argie legend.

never heard him described as a 'starlet'!

Malice

DSB wrote:

Yes definitely.

That's a great reply. :rolleyes:
So, in the interest of provoking some discussion, what makes Defoe a better player than Crouch in your opinion? Is it his goal scoring record at Premiersip level? European level? International level? His ability to create chances for others? Or is it just to do with the fact that his feet don't stick out the end of the bed?

mike65

Damn I thought it was that Ayala!

Defoe has yet to show himself to be much better than decent striker who if not English would cost about 4-5 million to buy. Crouch is also a 'decent' striker but one with a few more strings to his bow. That said I think he's a gonner in January.

Mike.

copacetic

mike65 wrote:

That said I think he's a gonner in January.

Mike.

Personally I think we should just sell him Mike, no need for him to sleep with the fishes.

mike65

Heh! hey its not like Liverpool need the money!

He'll go to either Pompey or Man City I'd say.

Mike.

Zapp Brannigan

~Rebel~ wrote:

Liverpool sign Ayala for defence! :eek:

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_2733281,00.html

Ah ye git! I thought it was Roberto and nearly leapt for joy!