There is nothing wrong with our midfield

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

There are pages and pages of thoughtful knowledgable fans saying we will struggle to finish top 4 this season, saying that Henderson/Allen/Borini (delete as appropriate) are useless, saying that Downing/Carroll will be outstanding players for us (I may have been one of those). Thoughtful and knowledgble people are not always right.

Surely you see the difference between predictions and looking at something that just happened and evaluating it?

 

They weren't poor and they weren't less than the sum of their parts, if they were we wouldn't have been top at Xmas.

I take that as a bit of an insult. I don't, even for a second, believe you fall for that yourself. That's idiotic, and you're not an idiot. You want to give a lecture about other influences - Gerrard, Sturridge's injury, young squad, training, etc - and then you come out with 'if they were we wouldn't have been top at Xmas. Fuck. Me. If Arsenal really had no guts they wouldn't have been top. If Chelsea really did have poor strikers, they wouldn't have been top. That's the biggest lot of shit I've ever heard you come out with.

 

You should believe that when I repeatedly say I think us scoring more goals and playing better is mainly due to other reasons, that I believe its mainly due to other reasons.

I'm talking about the way the midfield performs. Funny, though, that us scoring more goals, winning more games, etc is down to other things, but being top at xmas means the midfield was hunky spunky. By far the weakest posts I've ever seen from you.

 

You said that it is Gerrard and Lucas as a defensive pair that you have a problem with, they did not play as a defensive pair against Stoke as Lucas was one of the 2 alongside Henderson.

 

Even excluding Stoke, seeing that Lucas came on against Villa after we had conceded 2, and only for 20 minutes, from then to the end of the season, I make it 14 goals conceded in 12, thats 1.16 per game, still more than the 1.15 up to the Stoke game.

Oh please. Of course I didn't include the Villa goals. The very fact you have to try to pull 0.01 goals out leads me to believe you're well on the ropes. But no, you're still wrong.

 

So here are some facts. We've been scoring more. We've been conceding less. We've been getting clean sheets more regularly. We've gone from 4th to 1st. We're pressing teams in a way we just weren't able to before. We're hammering top sides. Most of all, the midfield and the midfielders who play there, especially the captain, is playing much better. You can deny the size of the shift all you want; it is there to see.

[MLB]

So, what have we learned from all this?

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

That the midfield is working much better, if a bit on the thin side. Also, whack in a 60m bid for Pogba. It'll probably be rejected, but fuck it.

[Paul]

Boys, is it not possible that you're both over-intellectualising all this? Can we not just say, "Fuck it: we're gonna win the league because we're a fucking boss team with great players and a great manager!!!" Low press? Trequartista?* Shanks has just been a little bit sick in his mouth. In his grave.

 

 

 

 

 

*That one must have been in there somewhere.

[Jairzinho]

Take your match going, ceefax generation, book reading, twitter ignoring, normal fan bullshit and fuck off, Paul.

[TheHowieLama]

Pass and move on.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Good God, I used to love Ceefax as a kid. Sat watching it, waiting, then flicking between pages to refresh... OMFG WE SCORED!!

 

More exciting than the game.

[deiseach]

I don't know about anyone else's telly, but on mine if there were three sub-pages on the Ceefax score page and Liverpool's score was on the second one, every time I'd bring the page up it would start on the third one. EVERY GODDAMN TIME.

 

As you were.

[Etienne77]

Flash scores has stepped in for me now. It's fucking boss as you end up staring at the scoreline waiting for the goals to come. Fulham was good as the clock was winding down then boom 3-2.

 

I can't listen on the radio. Too nerve wracking. Just go on flash scores and peep through your fingers.

 

It's been fucking marvelous this season.

[Jairzinho]

Flashscores provides a hideous immediacy to losing football bets.

[Major Tom]

 I can't listen on the radio. Too nerve wracking. Just go on flash scores and peep through your fingers.

Excellent.

[TheHowieLama]

We are about to find out.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

We are about to find out.

Hopefully we can cover for the loss of Hendo. Big loss.

[MLB]

We will need Allen and Lucas to step up big time. I'm not too worried about Norwich but it would be a massive bonus to have him available for Chelsea.

[Captain]

I have no problem with his red card, I guess neither does he.

[TheHowieLama]

Said in the match thread the kid was absolutely spent after 60 minutes - never seen him like that.

[VladimirIlyich]

Just because we are doing brilliantly doesnt mean all is rosey in the middle.

During our glory years the club always strengthened the team even when in a position of strength,usually as champions.

What we have is working but it would be naive to think that what works now will continue to work for the coming seasons also.

[Etienne77]

Queer how things work out. When we were playing one up front the midfield more than made up for lack of strikers.

 

I was worried how we would fit the two front men in without leaving ourselves exposed.

 

Henderson was pivotal in us playing with this set up, His work rate and closing down turned me among many to alter my opinion of the lads contribution to the cause. Fair play to the lad

 

If Sturridge is missing for the next game then Lucas and Allen either side of Gerrard with Coutinho and Sterling either side of Suarez will work out really well.

 

That is enough to see off Norwich and solid enough to get what we need from the cockney shower of shite.

[stringvest]

Thought Henderson wasn't great today. Looks like he's struggling, whether it's a stamina thing, or whether he's carrying a niggle, recent games have seen him struggle.

Providing Sturridge is ok I expect Allen to take Henderson's place and it will be business as usual.

[aws]

Henderson's been winding down slowly over the last few weeks. Really good season from him but I think the effort's been catching up with him.

[DJLJ]

Just because we are doing brilliantly doesnt mean all is rosey in the middle.

During our glory years the club always strengthened the team even when in a position of strength,usually as champions.

What we have is working but it would be naive to think that what works now will continue to work for the coming seasons also.

Totally agree with this. It works, but doesn’t mean we can’t and shouldn’t be looking to upgrade if possible. We should always try to upgrade on all the places and for me, one of the places we can upgrade is in midfield.

[The Woolster]

Thanks for that. I went out of my way to show you a bit of respect by expounding on my views a while back on the MF, even when you were being hypocritical, two-faced and a bit of a prick,

 

I think we should clear something up here, am I hypocritical? Hell yeah, every football fan is a hypocrite, those who post of forums or social media probably even more so, anyone who thinks they are not hypocritical in some way, is a bit deluded if you ask me.

 

Was i being hypocritical in situation you are talking about? Not really no.

 

It. Was. A. Joke!

 

There was a couple of posts about people using the stats I sometimes post to fit their agenda, the comments were clearly jokes, and I don't even think they were really aimed at anyone, and if they were it was some genteel wumming at worst, you seemed to take this personally and asked what agenda they were talking about, so I continued with the genteel wumming as it looked like you'd taken the bait by saying that your agenda is to always be right and win the arguement.

 

To show that I wasn't being serious, in my next post, which was pretty soon after, I started it by essentially saying "Now, lets go back to me proving how right I am" with in brackets "(perhaps I have simlar agendas...)". I thought you would notice that by taking the piss out of myself for doing something that I had said that you do, that I wasn't really being critical and that I was just joking around with some forum banter.

 

I actually did the very same thing with my first post back in this thread. I referenced the last para in a piece on TAW by Rory Smith which says  

 

This is what it is to be a fan, now. This is a lament for how things used to be, but it is laced with understanding, because no matter how much you love your club, how well you want them to do, your first loyalty is always to yourself. You want to be proven right. Your cachet, your reputation, your standing in the vast, sprawling online world, depends upon it. You want to be right. Even if that means your team going wrong.

 

I then said "Not having a go at anyone, as we all do it..." And in my next post I bumped my first post in this thread to show just how right I was.

 

You questioned why someone would smugly bump themselves (talking about me), and as I said "I bumped my post as a laugh, to take the piss out of those who've been posting, and to take the piss out of myself, not to be smug." It amuses me how everyone, including myself, argues their point on the internet to the death, and I think it deserves to have the piss taken out of every now and then because it is actually riduclous if you think about it, but if I do take the piss out of someone for doing it, then its probable that I will also have taken the piss out of myself at the same time to show I'm not really being serious.

 

What really seemed to get your goat up at the time, and I presume is the source of the accusation of two faced-ness and being a prick was what I said on Twitter. Well, the thing is.

 

It. Was. A. Joke!

 

You see, I know that you (or at least that you did) follow me on Twitter, and I thought that you would know that I know that you follow me on Twitter seeing that you get a notification every time someone follows you. So when I asked the guy on Twitter for a chart that he was kind enough to supply, and I knew that I was going to say that I got it from Twitter, I was more sure than Lucas' pass percentatge that you was going to check my time line, which you did, so I left a little message for you:

 

"the passing chart might just be the arguement winner! Altho the guy won't admit it"

 

I thought you would realise that was a joke as you would know that I know that you follow me, especailly as its written in a style that I would never write in, at least I'd like to think so anyway. I guess it was a little elaborate though so I can see how that might have been missed, so that was probably my fault. Having said that, I don't really see why it got to you so much.

 

The genteel wumming in the tweet was independent of the genteel wumming in the thread, but as it was only a couple of hours beforehand, it may well have fuelled what I siad in the thread, I may have just been in a wumming mood. But like I said, it was not meant seriously and I thought that would be realised.

 

I didn't condescend or belittle, I instead wrote a considered reply.

 

I dunno, I think (and apologies for the lack of context, although I do think I've set the scene with what I've said above) that the below could be considered condescending and belittling

 

But whilst we're playing a game of ‘critique your posting style’, I'd quite like to actually hear your opinion on the subject when you share stats. You've not done that in this thread from what I’ve read. From my experience, it's something you don't offer very often. You know, the thoughts you’ve actually formed in your own mind.

 

I don't know this because you don't seem to offer much of an opinion. You don’t seem to offer anything in the way of original thought. All I've seen from you is repetition of somebody else's statistical work.

After some introspection, I've come to terms with it though, so don't worry about it.

 

 

Yet, what, because I've quoted something you didn't like you feel the need to patronise me? Nice one.

I patronised you because you quoted me without even attributing the quotes to me and did it in a very patronising way.

 

So to have a go at me for patronising you, well, I think thats a touch hypocritical...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mattyq]

Wheels within Wheels

The internet is a serious business, Woolster

This is also a joke

[The Woolster]

It most certainly is.

 

I often think of this when I have one of these discussions, usually when my wife is having a go at me for coming to bed late.

 

[Boss]

Lucas is shite and that should be the definitive nail in the coffin, as far as this ridiculously drawn out debate is concerned. He lost his marker every time, lost possession countlessly with no urgency to get it back, he didn't even track back after they scored, a complete liability and he needs to be sold.