Liverpool Thread - Premier League Champions* 2019/20 (Part 2)
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Good article/interview with Rafa:
https://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/20120322/rafa-benitez/
I know why he's biding his time but I'm not quite ready to join in the 'Kenny Out' brigade...
https://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/20120322/rafa-benitez/
I know why he's biding his time but I'm not quite ready to join in the 'Kenny Out' brigade...
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Decided not to post yesterday as I'm not really sure I would have had anything nice to say.. But here's a few thoughts about the game/ season.
Think we can afford to give Skrtel some leeway seeing as he's been easily our most consistant player and an absolute beast. Its a shame that Lucas, and more recently Agger and GJ, got injured cos nobody was f**king scoring past them. (That being said, the players on the pitch yesterday have no excuse for what happened. And, with the greatest respect, it was QPR...) But, f**k it. We lost having any chance for fourth when RvP scored in the last minute against us at Anfield. Even though we should still try and win, hopefully it will stop papering over the cracks and Kenny and Clarke will realise they need a few more players yet. Regardless, the players should be embarassed by what happened. But we shouldn't be. We're supporters of Liverpool Football Club. Never, in my life, have I been embarassed to be a Liverpool fan. That being said, I hope the players f**king walked home because they were pathetic for 15 minutes.
Hate all these stats coming out comparing Hodgson and Dalglish. Yes, football is a results business. But you're blind as a f**king bat if you can't see an improvement in our play. You all say "yeah, same old story, dominate and then fail to win". At least we are domintating, for a start. And, at the end of the day, it is Kenny. And you know what? He f**king loves the club. I believe he will learn from his mistakes. And, at the very least, we should give him time to mould his team. And before you scream "Hodgson, Hodgson" at me, no. Let us not forget the players he brought in. Or, perhaps even worse, that he wanted to sell Lucas for peanuts. aAnd Agger because he "passed the ball out of defence".
I think its obvious we need a really good finisher to play next to Suarez. Somebody like a Falcao (
) or a Cavani type player. . It does frustrate me seeing Gerrard playing so deep as well. Because positionally he's all over the place in the middle, and often gets forward so much he lets the other side's midfield waltz through. Put him up further forward. AND STOP PLAYING HENDERSON ON THE RIGHT. I love Hendo, and I think he's gonna be a superb footballer. But I just wish he would play in the middle rather than out right. Because he's not great out there, and we are lacking something in the middle.
) or a Cavani type player. . It does frustrate me seeing Gerrard playing so deep as well. Because positionally he's all over the place in the middle, and often gets forward so much he lets the other side's midfield waltz through. Put him up further forward. AND STOP PLAYING HENDERSON ON THE RIGHT. I love Hendo, and I think he's gonna be a superb footballer. But I just wish he would play in the middle rather than out right. Because he's not great out there, and we are lacking something in the middle.The thing that really f**ks me off is the way we drop back a lot when we take the lead. We invite pressure on ourselves when there really is no need. Consequently, stuff like that happens. Other teams know they have a chance. That really annoys me. We do it so often.
There's actually a great article on RAWK about stupid football, really good read.
Oh, and also set pieces. But, this is Liverpool, so thats just about a given 
How many corners do we have every game and nothing comes from them?! And then defending them we always concede from them too! So annoying.
How many corners do we have every game and nothing comes from them?! And then defending them we always concede from them too! So annoying.And yup, paulm, Coates is an absolute monster. The kid will be some player. He was starting a lot of games at the Copa for the winning Uruguay team. Hate people who say he 'might not be ready' for a trip to Stoke away or something. The lad has played against Argentina- in Argentina- for Uruguay. And won.
Maybe if you need cheering up, you should go read Luis Garcia's tweets. Top lad and really appreciates what an honour it was to play for Liverpool.
Aha, most of it probably doesn't make sense but I feel better already. Onwards and upwards (please!)
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Good article/interview with Rafa:
https://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/20120322/rafa-benitez/
I know why he's biding his time but I'm not quite ready to join in the 'Kenny Out' brigade...
https://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/20120322/rafa-benitez/
I know why he's biding his time but I'm not quite ready to join in the 'Kenny Out' brigade...
"In theory, weren't the funds from the sale of Alonso more than enough to cover the purchase of both Aquilani and Jovetic? "You are right. In theory," is Benitez's response."
Love Rafa. Such a genuine guy. A legend, for me. Good read that.
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Another good article by Dan Kennett on Suarez and his scoring:
https://tomkinstimes.com/2012/03/luis-suarez-9-or-10/
https://tomkinstimes.com/2012/03/luis-suarez-9-or-10/
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I'm with you on this one. Yesterdays result was dreadful, no denying that. Not at all. However, for the most part we played some scintillating football and got to where we needed to be at 2-0 up.
Two of our biggest failings this season have been scoring goals (capitalising on our attack) and a mental weakness that has seen us capitulate several times, yesterday probably being the worst.
Injuries to Gerrard, Agger, Lucas, GJ & Carra's lifecycle coming to an end have been killer. (Note how all these are/were integral first team players) Meaning Kenny's had to try and perform miracles with his squad players and youngsters. No doubt on paper that we would should be doing better but can't expect a $7m Charlie to be an elite $30m Alonso and a 22year old promising youngster in Henderson replace a Gerrard while predominately playing out of position.
What am I saying? We are about 8months into a complete rebuild. Reading that article from Rafa shows how close we got to pushing on for the title before it was pissed on by the first yanks. The Club got badly burnt and it's going to take time to rebuild, I honestly think it'll be another 3 years yet.
Is Kenny blameless? No. He's made mistakes no doubt but so have Rafa, Houlier and all those before them. Lots of talk about Kenny's signings this and that but lets not put all the blame there. Where's the responsibility of our Director of Football? Still a bit early to throw the new signings out of the cot. Henderson, Coates, Carroll all have a lot of growing up to do but how well we do in the market this summer will define the next couple of years.
We need the striker to replace Torres and work with Suarez. We need someone special in midfield to work with Lucas and someone wide as we still haven't replaced Barnes in my opinion (see Rafa's comments on searching high & low for a winger).
Compare our overall play to last season, we're ahead. Just not on points. We have a damn trophy finally and still in the running for another. Not a total loss lads. We'll get there, but removing Kenny ain't going to change much. Still got the same players to work with and it'll only set us back yet another step.
It's going to be two forward and one back for a while. Get used to it.
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EN , I'm not ( and have never been) embarrassed to be a Pool fan.I'll watch and love the club til I die.BUt , doesn't mean I'm not pissed off when I see a performance like that ( and against Bolton , earlier).DOesn't also mean that Kenny should be questioned.Yes , we're playing better.And yes , we were all over the Arse and should never have lost that.But we did.
For Chissakes , this was a poor QPR team. 2-0 up with f..k all time to go and we lose 3-2???
We really should be going to places like Loftus and winning 3 nil or better. Ain't happening this year.
We really should be going to places like Loftus and winning 3 nil or better. Ain't happening this year.I never thought I'd say this a year or so ago but God we miss Lucas. No natural DM in the side.ChArlie did well at Blackpool because he was given a free rein to wander about.He had grafters alongside him.But he is defensively weak and gets found out when he has to do holding role.Unconvinced about Henderson as yet.He certainly isn't a winger but I do think he has a good football brain.CM may well be his best spot- time will tell.But , we haven't adequately covered for Lucas and only now are we really seeing what he brought to the style of play. Pepe hasn't exactly had a stellar year either.
But , f..k it , we've won one cup , still in with a shout of another , Jr's long sleeve replica top arrived yesterday ( he'll be stoked to get it) and we still watch every game .
Oh, , I have a mate at work who's a Wolves fan- he's filthy at me , thinks we threw it just to spite him
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Forgot to pose a question that's bugging me and seems to going under the radar...
What's happened/happening to Pepe? It looks like he's in no man's land with his positioning sometimes. Is it a drop in form or the fact that without Agger/Skrtel the defense has been a bit shyte and leaving him high n dry?
What's happened/happening to Pepe? It looks like he's in no man's land with his positioning sometimes. Is it a drop in form or the fact that without Agger/Skrtel the defense has been a bit shyte and leaving him high n dry?
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Forgot to pose a question that's bugging me and seems to going under the radar...
What's happened/happening to Pepe? It looks like he's in no man's land with his positioning sometimes. Is it a drop in form or the fact that without Agger/Skrtel the defense has been a bit shyte and leaving him high n dry?
What's happened/happening to Pepe? It looks like he's in no man's land with his positioning sometimes. Is it a drop in form or the fact that without Agger/Skrtel the defense has been a bit shyte and leaving him high n dry?
Think its largely down to Valera leaving. Seem to remember everyone raving about him- particularly Pepe. Used to give pointers as to which side strikers preferred to shoot etc etc.
But nobody is really helped by the opposition defence or midfielders running through regularly.
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I'm with you on this one. Yesterdays result was dreadful, no denying that. Not at all. However, for the most part we played some scintillating football and got to where we needed to be at 2-0 up.
Two of our biggest failings this season have been scoring goals (capitalising on our attack) and a mental weakness that has seen us capitulate several times, yesterday probably being the worst.
Injuries to Gerrard, Agger, Lucas, GJ & Carra's lifecycle coming to an end have been killer. (Note how all these are/were integral first team players) Meaning Kenny's had to try and perform miracles with his squad players and youngsters. No doubt on paper that we would should be doing better but can't expect a $7m Charlie to be an elite $30m Alonso and a 22year old promising youngster in Henderson replace a Gerrard while predominately playing out of position.
What am I saying? We are about 8months into a complete rebuild. Reading that article from Rafa shows how close we got to pushing on for the title before it was pissed on by the first yanks. The Club got badly burnt and it's going to take time to rebuild, I honestly think it'll be another 3 years yet.
Is Kenny blameless? No. He's made mistakes no doubt but so have Rafa, Houlier and all those before them. Lots of talk about Kenny's signings this and that but lets not put all the blame there. Where's the responsibility of our Director of Football? Still a bit early to throw the new signings out of the cot. Henderson, Coates, Carroll all have a lot of growing up to do but how well we do in the market this summer will define the next couple of years.
We need the striker to replace Torres and work with Suarez. We need someone special in midfield to work with Lucas and someone wide as we still haven't replaced Barnes in my opinion (see Rafa's comments on searching high & low for a winger).
Compare our overall play to last season, we're ahead. Just not on points. We have a damn trophy finally and still in the running for another. Not a total loss lads. We'll get there, but removing Kenny ain't going to change much. Still got the same players to work with and it'll only set us back yet another step.
It's going to be two forward and one back for a while. Get used to it.
Cracking post, agree with just about every word 
It does make you sad that Torres didn't want to give it a try. You really have to think him (in his 'Pool form) and Suarez would have been mental good.
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Think our defence has actually been OK this year. Don't we have quite a good goals against record? Pepe just been unlucky?
My questions is why would we not give some of the youngsters a go? We have guaranteed Europenext year and are not able to get champions league so what is the harm. Bring on Suso, Coady, Flanagan, Sterling?
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EN , I'm not ( and have never been) embarrassed to be a Pool fan.I'll watch and love the club til I die.BUt , doesn't mean I'm not pissed off when I see a performance like that ( and against Bolton , earlier).DOesn't also mean that Kenny should be questioned.Yes , we're playing better.And yes , we were all over the Arse and should never have lost that.But we did.
For Chissakes , this was a poor QPR team. 2-0 up with f..k all time to go and we lose 3-2??? We really should be going to places like Loftus and winning 3 nil or better. Ain't happening this year.
We really should be going to places like Loftus and winning 3 nil or better. Ain't happening this year.I never thought I'd say this a year or so ago but God we miss Lucas. No natural DM in the side.ChArlie did well at Blackpool because he was given a free rein to wander about.He had grafters alongside him.But he is defensively weak and gets found out when he has to do holding role.Unconvinced about Henderson as yet.He certainly isn't a winger but I do think he has a good football brain.CM may well be his best spot- time will tell.But , we haven't adequately covered for Lucas and only now are we really seeing what he brought to the style of play. Pepe hasn't exactly had a stellar year either.
But , f..k it , we've won one cup , still in with a shout of another , Jr's long sleeve replica top arrived yesterday ( he'll be stoked to get it) and we still watch every game .
Oh, , I have a mate at work who's a Wolves fan- he's filthy at me , thinks we threw it just to spite him
Understandably pissed off too. Sorry if I came across as having a go, just don't really like the word 'embarassed' when talking about the Reds haha. I agree entirely, no way should we have drawn that game, let alone lost it. Same story for much of the season too. But its clearly a rebuilding season for us. I agree about the holding midfielder. Spearing can do a job, but he's nowhere near the level of Lucas (most aren't tbf). And yeah, Charlie Adam is one of my pet hates.. Even his set pieces are sh*t this season!
Exactly mate. We're lucky to be born Reds and have faith in the King- he'll get us back where we belong 
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Hate all these stats coming out comparing Hodgson and Dalglish. Yes, football is a results business. But you're blind as a f**king bat if you can't see an improvement in our play.
Kenny secured a good shirt sponsorship deal too, I'm told.
Arsenal2012-03-23 11:56:43
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Think our defence has actually been OK this year. Don't we have quite a good goals against record? Pepe just been unlucky?
My questions is why would we not give some of the youngsters a go? We have guaranteed Europenext year and are not able to get champions league so what is the harm. Bring on Suso, Coady, Flanagan, Sterling?
Yup. Seemed to me we suffered a bit when we lost Lucas. And has been much worse with the loss of Agger (and GJ) *waits for some statto to come in and prove me wrong*
I think maybe some of them. Defo think we should give players like Shelvey and Coates more of a run out. Flanno too, perhaps, while Kelly and Johnson are injured. But still think its a good time for players to prove we should give them more chances. Carroll, Downing, Adam etc all need to show they can play for this club and may as well give them a go. Give Sterling a run out at some point too 
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Hate all these stats coming out comparing Hodgson and Dalglish. Yes, football is a results business. But you're blind as a f**king bat if you can't see an improvement in our play.
Kenny secured a good shirt sponsorship deal too, I'm told.
I was told Kenny won a trophy? Maybe just rumours though.
I was also told that it was the same trophy in which Mr Hodgson got knocked out of by Northhampton at home...
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Should all just take a minute and think.
Time to give the Owners, Kenny and the players time.
The owners only took over 18 months ago so we can't expect them to make us into title contenders in that space of time . Lets face it under Hicks and Gillett we were a sinking ship heading towards the relegation zone.
As for the King give the man sometime to shape the squad into his team. It takes time to change the shambles that uncle Roy called a squad into one that can compete and beat the likes of United , City, Arsenal and Spurs and get a consistency of performance.
Also remember the UEFA and Premier rules around having 8 home grown players in a 25 man squad. This is a Restriction that Benitez and Houllier didn't have to contend with. Both would have struggled to name 8 home grown players in there squads as there was an over reliance on French (Houllier) and Spainish (Benitiz) talent. In order to address this problem and comply with this rule Liverpool have purchased players that a) meet this criteria, b) are willing to come to a club with no Euopean Football and c) that fit into the style of play that both the King and Clarke want to play.
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Hate all these stats coming out comparing Hodgson and Dalglish. Yes, football is a results business. But you're blind as a f**king bat if you can't see an improvement in our play.
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I was told Kenny won a trophy? Maybe just rumours though.
I was also told that it was the same trophy in which Mr Hodgson got knocked out of by Northhampton at home...
It's true. Long may his reign continue.
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CHeers TK , great stuff.
Agree about Coates 100%- needs to start , lets see what he can do.
Shelvey , hmm- every time I've seen him , I've had mixed opinions.But he was playing out of his skin at Blackpool , just in behind the front 2. So lets stick him there and see what he can do.
Agree about Coates 100%- needs to start , lets see what he can do.
Shelvey , hmm- every time I've seen him , I've had mixed opinions.But he was playing out of his skin at Blackpool , just in behind the front 2. So lets stick him there and see what he can do.
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What better way to celebrate an unexpected win against Liverpool than to lose to Blunderland and Cisse sent off yet again for yet another two footed challenge.
Proud to have attended the first 175 Consecutive "Home" Wellington Phoenix "A League" Games !!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
The Ruf, The Ruf, The Ruf is on Fire!!
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