Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

[manwiththestick]

Excellent today I thought.

[Lee909]

Yeah him and Hendo both very good

Gini was fine too, does alot of off the ball work. Think he is far better in that deeper role and Hendo far better in one of the more advance giving him license to harry all over the pitch

 

I said last year i liked Chamberlain and thought he would be far more effective in the middle in a three but was a fair bit hesitant on the price and thought we got screwed a bit considering the length left on his contract but as the seasons gone on he has just got better and better. Starting to look like he might chip in with a few more goals too know he is finding some consistent play and confidence

[sir roger]

His fitness levels are immense.

 

I reckon all of AOC , Hendo & Wijnaldum & Milner will be here next year , and it will be Keita &

A N Other in with Can & Lallana out.

[mgw100]

Very impressive today and he's now contributing in most of the matches he plays in. Klopp's judgement vindicated once again

[KMD7]

He's a great lad.

[Grinch]

First half - best best hes ever played in a Liverpool top. Second half was wank; nothing came off for him but he kept trying and had a few moments very late on.

 

A good 45 mins every week would certainly be an improvement in his consistency.

 

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

[AngryOfTuebrook]

MOTM today. The best of a solid midfield.

[Jennings]

He brings an attacking/positive dimension to our midfield. I like the jib of his cut.

[Guest]

He brings an attacking/positive dimension to our midfield. I like the jib of his cut.

I think you mean the jib of his cut.

[Jennings]

I think you mean the jib of his cut.

 

Yes. That too.

[corro]

First half - best best hes ever played in a Liverpool top. Second half was wank; nothing came off for him but he kept trying and had a few moments very late on.

A good 45 mins every week would certainly be an improvement in his consistency.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

Nailed it Grinch. Well said. Best best. Like it.

[Ne Moe Imya]

Turning into a really good player.

 

Somehow Klopp has gotten ahold of him and convinced him to drive at defenders rather than just looking to complete the pass, to take a risk every now and again. When he came from Arsenal it was the one thing that was disappointing about him - he was just so timid!

 

Looking like a new man, running at defenders, making good decisions about when to pass, and over the past month he's even added covering his fullback defensively so he's not exposed one-on-one.

[Gym Beglin]

*rubs hands together*

[Walter Sobchak]

He’s playing with a level of confidence that I never saw in him at Arsenal.

 

I genuinely think he loves it here and will run through brick walls for this team and manager.

 

I really like him.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[The Guest]

Not being smart defensively is not necessarily a barrier to playing deep. Gerrard was never particularly clued up defensively but under Rodgers managed to make a go of it, similarly Henderson is a defensive midfielder but doesn't exactly have the intelligence or nous of Lucas.

 

That said I wouldn't play him in that position, and after a slow start has in my opinion been excellent.

“Gerrard was never particularly clued up defensively”

 

I don’t know what would be worse. Whether you actually watched him and thought that or whether like some fucking braindead drone you just believe the Manc rewriting of his career. Any Liverpool “fan” who comes out with that sort of complete nonsense about Gerrard is a complete retard in my eyes and it actually baffles me.

[The Guest]

He was my MOM today. He was absolutely all over them.

[BCM]

You can tell that shirt is feeling very light on his shoulders at the moment. Klopp has worked absolute wonders for his confidence.

 

Im telling you right now.  Players will be falling over themselves to join us this summer.

For the first time in a decade i can see consistent success on the Horizon, regardless of how this season finishes

[KMD7]

You can tell that shirt is feeling very light on his shoulders at the moment. Klopp has worked absolute wonders for his confidence.

 

Im telling you right now. Players will be falling over themselves to join us this summer.

For the first time in a decade i can see consistent success on the Horizon, regardless of how this season finishes

Yep. Obviously have to still make top 4 this season (or win the cl!) yet but I agree with all that. Exciting time to be a Red.

[Grinch]

“Gerrard was never particularly clued up defensively”

 

I don’t know what would be worse. Whether you actually watched him and thought that or whether like some fucking braindead drone you just believe the Manc rewriting of his career. Any Liverpool “fan” who comes out with that sort of complete nonsense about Gerrard is a complete retard in my eyes and it actually baffles me.

Spot on

[aRdja]

http://www.espnfc.com.au/club/liverpool/364/blog/post/3457029/alex-oxlade-chamberlain-and-trent-alexander-arnold-earn-top-marks-for-liverpool

 

MOTM apparently. I didn’t watch the game as I’m on the other side of the world at the moment. But very happy for him. He’s been our best midfielder now for the last three games he started. What he needs to show now is that he could also play well against teams who park the bus.

[aRdja]

“Gerrard was never particularly clued up defensively”

I don’t know what would be worse. Whether you actually watched him and thought that or whether like some fucking braindead drone you just believe the Manc rewriting of his career. Any Liverpool “fan” who comes out with that sort of complete nonsense about Gerrard is a complete retard in my eyes and it actually baffles me.

I don’t think he was amazing defensively. He only ever really excelled in a two man midfield alongside a brilliant defensive player in Didi Hamann. Rafa tried pairing him with Xabi and it didn’t really work. There’s a reason why Rafa then played him on the right and later in a free role to great effect. There’s a potential for a good discussion on this, so I’m not sure why you tried to stifle it.

[3 Stacks]

First half - best best hes ever played in a Liverpool top. Second half was wank; nothing came off for him but he kept trying and had a few moments very late on.

 

A good 45 mins every week would certainly be an improvement in his consistency.

 

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

 

You can admit you were very wrong on him, you know. It won't kill you. 

[Jay86]

Don’t know people were so against him from the beginning, he’s always had the talent but has had niggly injuries and played wrongly as an out and out winger. I’m not sure if I’ve said this already on this thread but I’ve wanted him and always thought he’d make a great Cm since I seen him at Euro 2012 I think it was against France where he picked the ball up and drove right into the heart of their team, he ran half the pitch with the ball and I thought he looks quality, he was only 19/20 at the time I think and I never understood why Wenger never played him this way.

 

Anyway he’s been amazing for us since he’s worked his way into the team and I think at the moment he’s the favourite to play with Keita and a new No.6, yesterday especially first half he was immense and you also have to admire the guy himself, for a son of a professional footballer, a multimillionaire, a multimillionaire singer girlfriend and a professional footballer himself to be so humble and down to Earth is something to admire about him, he’s a future captain.

[Anny Road]

I don’t think he was amazing defensively. He only ever really excelled in a two man midfield alongside a brilliant defensive player in Didi Hamann. Rafa tried pairing him with Xabi and it didn’t really work. There’s a reason why Rafa then played him on the right and later in a free role to great effect. There’s a potential for a good discussion on this, so I’m not sure why you tried to stifle it.

If he had been played left back he would have been the best left back at the club and at times was.

He offered so much dynamism further up the field his defensive qualities are down played.

[The Guest]

I don’t think he was amazing defensively. He only ever really excelled in a two man midfield alongside a brilliant defensive player in Didi Hamann. Rafa tried pairing him with Xabi and it didn’t really work. There’s a reason why Rafa then played him on the right and later in a free role to great effect. There’s a potential for a good discussion on this, so I’m not sure why you tried to stifle it.

What is “amazing” defensively? As much as I loved Hamann and hated Lucas they were both limited players physically and technically. In Hamann’s case that didn’t make him a bad player. He did play in a negative Liverpool team which sometimes played 4 centre backs and 4 centre midfielders. He was positioned as the most defensive and did his job.

 

Although Houllier and Benitez were both negative managers they both used Gerrard completely differently. Houllier signed a lot of shite and Gerrard was basically deployed as a box to box midfielder to change the game at both ends of the pitch and to cover up the failings of the shite players we had. Gerrard excelled defensively and offensively in a 2 man midfield for those years. He was an absolute wrecking machine at both ends and was the reason the club was in a competitive position when Benitez took over.

 

I was going to put this at the end of the post but it feels more apt to put it in now. Fans who come out with this “Gerrard was poor defensively” line always strike me as either someone who became a fan after the champions league win and subsequent years or somebody who is so far up Benitez’s arse every single opinion they hold factors it in in case what they are saying somehow criticises their deity. Gerrard was a brilliant tackler and probably the best all round complete midfielder the premier league if not the game has ever seen. He was that good he could and did play in various positions all over the pitch in massive games not just against fucking Bolton. He did that because he was “amazing” defensively and offensively. Just because Benitez decided to use him in attacking positions doesn’t suddenly eradicate these facts. The fact we went on to win nothing in his peak years suggest that probably wasn’t the best use of him but that’s for another discussion.

 

Unlike Houllier, Benitez didn’t want Gerrard playing as a box to box player (at least from the start of games anyway). He liked 2 player to sit in front of the defence with a third midfielder further up. I know I’m stating the obvious here but it’s hard to judge the knowledge or intelligence of somebody when having to explain the argument to people who come with this crap about Gerrard.

 

In my opinion it stifled Gerrard and the team. People say it’s because he didn’t trust him defensively. I don’t think that’s the case I think he just thought I can get more goals out Gerrard further up the pitch. The problem this then brought was that instead of Gerrard opening up teams from midfield with players in front of him he had one player in front of him and we struggled to break down teams a lot more than people care to remember. A lot of the time in this period one of the other midfielders was sacrificed for a forward and Gerrard was played in the 2 which was how Liverpool then went on to win the game. It happened one and again yet all anyone will tell you is how great Gerrard and Torres were together. They actually weren’t that great. I’ve said it before and people ignore it. Gerrard assisted Torres once all season in the league in 08/09. We come back from losing positions something like 12 times that season because of the negative tactics Benitez employed which were only rescued by Gerrard dropping into a 2 in midfield. This isn’t including the games where we weren’t losing and didn’t end up breaking the teams down. It’s what cost us then league title that year and it’s why Gerrard said after a few years with Rodgers he felt he would have won league titles under him at his peak because he would have used him better.

 

I know people disagree with a lot of these specific points and it’s been gone over time and again but I just find it irritating that the fallout of Benitez pushing Gerrard up the pitch is this laughable view that Gerrard was poor defensively. If Gerrard had played as a defensive midfielder his whole career he be revered by all these hipster retards that have Makelele down as some footballing god as better than he’s viewed now because he went further up the pitch. Standing in front of the defence and tackling people if you can tackle is literally one of the easiest jobs in the game and Gerrard could have done it with his eyes closed. The argument should be “shut down” because there isn’t an argument. If you think there is then in my opinion you’ve literally got no clue about Gerrard or you’re a Manc.