Liverpool FC

[The Baron]

He he he

http://www.boxofficefootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Everton-joke.jpg

[The Baron]

For those who are interested, in the last 2 seasons his Fulham record away from home was:

Played: 38
Won: 4
Drawn: 15
Lost: 19
Goals Scored: 23
Goals Against: 49

[MANTIS01]

This is my worry with Hodgson. I get surrendering possession to Chelsea and playing on the back foot. Tactics were bang on with this current team as we cannot match them. But the same tactics vs Wigan? An unchanged XI that looked knackered after 25 mins? Kuyt of for Poulsen with 20 mins to go at 1-1?

It's just small club 'mentalitee'! I don't care if this ends 5-1 to us, this is not the way we should have played tonight.

I thought Gerrard had a couple of good chances to put the game to bed but missed. Lucas was sloppy. Liverpool conceded possession cheaply and dropped off throughout the game. Personally I think it's a good idea to stick with the same side that just beat the champions when you're trying to put a run together. But it seems playing in front of a crowd of 16,000 on a bastard cold night in Wigan doesn't inspire the sort of performance playing Chelsea at Anfield in front of 45,000 did. It's difficult to have the confidence to make risky attacking subs when your players are donking the ball off to the opposition all over the park. Closing the game down and making it unbeaten in six is ok for Hodgson but he's clearly frustrated with his players lethargy and lack of fitness. He needs to do more cross-country in training imo.

[kinboshi]

Poulsen for Kuyt - was that really the right substitution at that point in the game?

(especially as Kuyt was still looking sprightly and scored an offside chance immediately before the change was made)

[The Camel]

I watched the whole game (weird how you can see your choice of 5 prem games in Amsterdam but can only watch the odd one in England).

And the thing which struck me most about Liverpool is that Carragher has completely gone at the game. This has to be last season in the Premiership if Liverpool are going to improve next season.

[kinboshi]

I watched the whole game (weird how you can see your choice of 5 prem games in Amsterdam but can only watch the odd one in England).

And the thing which struck me most about Liverpool is that Carragher has completely gone at the game. This has to be last season in the Premiership if Liverpool are going to improve next season.

Did you see him on Sunday?  Was very good in that game.  Lucas the same.  I just don't understand the contrast between Sunday and last night.

[The Camel]

I watched the whole game (weird how you can see your choice of 5 prem games in Amsterdam but can only watch the odd one in England).

And the thing which struck me most about Liverpool is that Carragher has completely gone at the game. This has to be last season in the Premiership if Liverpool are going to improve next season.

Did you see him on Sunday?  Was very good in that game.  Lucas the same.  I just don't understand the contrast between Sunday and last night.

Maybe it was just Rodellga had a really good game, but he ran rings round Carra all night.

[The Baron]

This is my worry with Hodgson. I get surrendering possession to Chelsea and playing on the back foot. Tactics were bang on with this current team as we cannot match them. But the same tactics vs Wigan? An unchanged XI that looked knackered after 25 mins? Kuyt of for Poulsen with 20 mins to go at 1-1?

It's just small club 'mentalitee'! I don't care if this ends 5-1 to us, this is not the way we should have played tonight.

I thought Gerrard had a couple of good chances to put the game to bed but missed. Lucas was sloppy. Liverpool conceded possession cheaply and dropped off throughout the game. Personally I think it's a good idea to stick with the same side that just beat the champions when you're trying to put a run together. But it seems playing in front of a crowd of 16,000 on a bastard cold night in Wigan doesn't inspire the sort of performance playing Chelsea at Anfield in front of 45,000 did. It's difficult to have the confidence to make risky attacking subs when your players are donking the ball off to the opposition all over the park. Closing the game down and making it unbeaten in six is ok for Hodgson but he's clearly frustrated with his players lethargy and lack of fitness. He needs to do more cross-country in training imo.

Mostly agree but the same XI with a day less rest than Wigan was a bit daft imo. Also the lack of need for a DM on the right flank etc (Figueroa is not Ashley Cole). But he must be losing his hair trying to manage our lot right now coz whatever he put out should have won.

[The Baron]

I watched the whole game (weird how you can see your choice of 5 prem games in Amsterdam but can only watch the odd one in England).

And the thing which struck me most about Liverpool is that Carragher has completely gone at the game. This has to be last season in the Premiership if Liverpool are going to improve next season.

Unfortunately I am agreeing with this. His mashalling of the defence is first class and he's still great at one off-backs to the wall stuff, but for me he's not first choice. Or second. He's not lived like a monk like Sami Hyypia - he wont go on until he's 36. Our defence has been awful for two years roughly (statistically speaking) - we don't have centre backs that are good enough. They're generally so slow we don't have the ability to play a high pressing game. The Houllier 'score and sit' tactics are back and it's not all Hodgson's fault.

[The Baron]

I'm probably harsh on Carra there but he definitely cannot do 3 games in 7 days. More like one a week for the best results.

[The Baron]

Tomkins summing up how some of us feel I think:

Now that the Reds have got some kind of foothold under Roy Hodgson, unless results take a disastrous turn for the worst, the 20 game mark appears to be the fairest time to draw further conclusions.

(And as such, I’m not going to say too much until then, for fear of repeating myself; I will of course continue to interact with subscribers of this website and write about Liverpool FC, but not analyse every last performance in a make-or-break fashion.)



If the Reds win six of the next nine, that’ll mean a 50% win rate after 20 games.

Four out of 11 is not good enough, no matter the circumstances, especially with six of those games at home. But the weirdness of the season as a whole – with good teams dropping lots of points – means that all is not lost.

(Spurs struggling to cope with both Champions League and Premier League exertions, as my followers on Twitter will know, is something that I predicted.)

If Roy suffered the consequences of the negative energy of the old owners, he now has the positive bounce of the new ones. Therefore, 20 games should see how it all evens out.

Right now, everyone is trying their hardest to keep their place at the club, when under Gillett and Hicks, getting out seemed the sensible option. But boosts only last so long. While I believe that the long-term strategies and stability of NESV will obviously benefit the club, things will probable die down a little in that regard, once the euphoria wears off.

So far Liverpool have scored just 12 goals in 11 league games. It’s not been since Souness’ awful time in charge that the Reds had a negative goal difference after 11 games (1992/93). That suggests that the balance still isn’t right. But the first two-goal victory of the season came against Chelsea, and that’s not to be sniffed at.

As fans, we’ve been used to our team winning 47-66% of league games each season for the past five seasons (average of 58%), so 36% doesn’t make for great reading. But each win from now on has the chance to improve that figure. Beat Wigan and it becomes 42%; lose, and it’s back to 33%.

Talking of percentages, having 35% of the possession at home against any team does not fill me with the greatest confidence, but right now, any kind of win will do; it’s just a question of what such an approach can expand into. That’s where some concerns remain.

The only great attacking display the Reds have put in this season was against a Blackburn team shorn of its two key defenders, but that remains the blueprint of what to do to weaker opposition at home. Reproduce that more often than not at home, and we might be onto something.

It’s fair to note that a couple of times in the last two league games the Reds have broken brilliantly – each time, against Bolton and Chelsea respectively, Maxi went close to scoring. That side of the game is a lot better.

But perhaps more encouraging, after the way the Reds sat off teams in the early part of the season, was that against Napoli and Chelsea, goals were scored by winning the ball due to pressing in the final third.

Each time, it took one pass to Gerrard and Torres respectively to result in great finishes.

My one major concern with Roy Hodgson remains the ability to get the team to play possession football in the right areas. There’s not been a lot of impressive interplay in the final third, and little outstanding creativity between the lines to unlock defences who have men behind the ball. Still Pepe Reina is booting it upfield more than passing the ball.

With a preference for solid defenders and defensive organisation, the Reds are going to be fine at that end of the pitch.

But you need footballing defenders to help break down massed defences; to alter the shape, and get in behind teams. Especially as the midfield, while strong and fairly well balanced, isn’t exceptionally creative right now, so there’s not a lot of compensation. Good teams tend to have a footballing centre-back, and full-backs who can get in behind the opposition.

I always likened Houllier’s (similar) style to ‘underdog football’, because it worked best when teams came and had a go, and the Reds weren’t expected to do a lot. Soak up the pressure, and hit on the counter: bingo.

At the weekend, Liverpool were underdogs for a home game; the worst ever odds on a Liverpool home win, I believe. The Reds had so little of the ball that the odds ended up making sense; but on the day, Torres made the difference. In terms of effort and finishing, the Reds deserved the win; on overall play, perhaps less so.

As confidence picks up, it can lead to improved displays; so we could have that to look forward to. But also picking up are expectations, which can lead to inhibited displays. A major criticism of Roy Hodgson has been that in trying to keep expectations manageable he’s tried to convert them to more of a level associated with Fulham. That just won’t wash.

Personally, I’m back to giving Roy the benefit of the doubt, and seeing how it goes. I don’t have especially high expectations, but they’re better than they were a few weeks back. If he fails to deliver, NESV have no vested interest in keeping him – he wasn’t their appointment in the first place, so they don’t have to protect their own reputations by keeping him.

If he delivers, they’ll make a decision based on his record and his ideas for taking the club forward. Of course, these will need to mesh with those of Damien Comolli, whose Spurs record is examined in great detail here.

Therefore, Roy deserves credit for hanging in there, altering his tactics to at least some degree, ditching his worst signing, and starting to ‘get’ a bit more of what the job is about. To expect people to just switch from horrified – as many were by the start – to overjoyed in a couple of weeks is a bit much.

However, as long as the Reds maintain some steady progression, then even with the occasional setback I think everyone will be happy … for this season at least.

[kinboshi]

Surely Wigan and Chelsea is a horses for courses scenario?

I get playing Meireles in front of Kelly against Ashley Cole but to stick him on the right again tonight? Surely Vs N'Zogbia a similar cover was needed for Konchesky (who was comfortably owned tonight) and the right side should have been a point to attack from? Maybe Kuyt on the right with Torres and N'gog up front? Even Babel would have worked I think.

And somebody for the love of God please get The Greek and Agger fit quickly!

Even though he was pants tonight I fear for our season if Gerrard gets injured.

Not good news with Agger.  Out for at least another two months, and that seems to be an optimistic minimum.

Apparently he's talked about quitting football altogether as well.  Shame, as he could have become a top class player, but it seems his career is to be blighted by injury.  Reminds me of Rob Jones.

[The Baron]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=840417&sec=england&root=england&cc=5739

[77dave]

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/reds-to-don-poppy-shirts

Respect, hope they raise a lot

[gatso]

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/reds-to-don-poppy-shirts

Respect, hope they raise a lot

nice gesture and all that but wtf do you use to autograph black shirts?