Fri 30 December 20:00 Liverpool vs Leicester City

[Jose Jones]

5 minutes ago, an tha said:

It isn't even hard to imagine how good we would be with an improved midfield.

 

We'd be superb.

Do you reckon? 
A lot more was wrong than just the midfield, pre-world cup.

[an tha]

13 minutes ago, Jose Jones said:

Do you reckon? 
A lot more was wrong than just the midfield, pre-world cup.

I do.

 

The other issues are IMO mostly knock on effects caused by the problems with the midfield.

 

IMHO fix the midfield - you fix us.

[Jose Jones]

1 minute ago, an tha said:

I do.

 

The other issues are IMO mostly knock on effects caused by the problems with the midfield.

 

IMHO fix the midfield - you fix us.

You are a bigger optimist than me.

I think only Alisson played to form in the first bit of the season. Every single other player was worse than their normal level. Can’t blame it all on the midfield, even if that was the worst of all.

[TheHowieLama]

1 minute ago, Jose Jones said:

You are a bigger optimist than me.

I think only Alisson played to form in the first bit of the season. Every single other player was worse than their normal level. Can’t blame it all on the midfield, even if that was the worst of all.

 

I'd give Robbo a pass but true - alot maybe down to the confidence of the team as a whole.

Three big guns in Salah, VvD and Fabinho for sure.

[an tha]

3 minutes ago, Jose Jones said:

You are a bigger optimist than me.

I think only Alisson played to form in the first bit of the season. Every single other player was worse than their normal level. Can’t blame it all on the midfield, even if that was the worst of all.

Defenders are exposed because they get no protection - even the best can't cope if continually put under it, outnumbered and faced with players swarming at them bacause they have walked through the open door that is our midfield.

 

Our attack suffers because we don't win as many 2nd balls/win turnovers and transition into attack as quickly as we did when we had midfielders who won the ball and did so aggressively and quickly and set us moving again whilst teams were out of shape - meaning the space we used to exploit and get loads of does not happen anymore as much/teams are set more.

 

Fix those things and we are better going both ways....all it needs to fix them is midfielders with legs, engines, physicality and who can win 2nd balls and sense and deal with danger.

 

 

[Jose Jones]

15 minutes ago, an tha said:

Defenders are exposed because they get no protection - even the best can't cope if continually put under it, outnumbered and faced with players swarming at them bacause they have walked through the open door that is our midfield.

 

Our attack suffers because we don't win as many 2nd balls/win turnovers and transition into attack as quickly as we did when we had midfielders who won the ball and did so aggressively and quickly and set us moving again whilst teams were out of shape - meaning the space we used to exploit and get loads of does not happen anymore as much/teams are set more.

 

Fix those things and we are better going both ways....all it needs to fix them is midfielders with legs, engines, physicality and who can win 2nd balls and sense and deal with danger.

 

 

Yep, but even considering all that…..

Hopefully we sign a couple of midfielders and find out who was right.

[an tha]

4 minutes ago, Jose Jones said:

Yep, but even considering all that…..

Hopefully we sign a couple of midfielders and find out who was right.

Aye

[dockers_strike]

Very disappointing performance tonight. 3 goals scored, won 2-1 and we didnt even score!

 

Finishing from both Mo and Darwin was disappointing and we'll need a big improvement if we are to get the win I hope we get at Brentford even if Toney is injured.

 

Passes all over the field tonight not getting to a red shirt. Dont know if the groundsmen havent cut the grass as short as usual as loads of passes looked under hit?

 

The players look short of self belief to string a sequence of 10 or so consecutive wins together.

 

Andy Robbo had a dreadful first 25 minutes and his decision to rush out trying to play the offside put him out of position when the pass eventually came through to Drewsbury Hall.

 

We could be playing all night on that performance and still wouldnt have scored. Well unless the Leicester lad Faes had stuck another past Ward!

 

Of the games we've played since the re start, Im beginning to think nothing much has changed from the first part of the season. I still think we'll finish in the top 4 but it's going to be awfully close, not get distracted and likely depend on united and spurs dropping points unless Gakpo has a stunning effect.

 

We're 5 points behind Newcastle and the game at SJP middle of February is looking like a virtual 6 pointer. Fail to win there could be disasterous come the end of season. They could implode but they have the look of a team that has confidence of the 'big mo' being with them, as wrighty says.

 

The medical department's decision not to put Diaz under the knife as soon as he did his knee at arsenal looks to be a very, very poor decision.

 

MoTM looks to be Thiago.

[halewood pete]

3 precious points

[Saintslfc13]

2 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

 

I'd give Robbo a pass but true - alot maybe down to the confidence of the team as a whole.

Three big guns in Salah, VvD and Fabinho for sure.

I think Fab and VVD were saving themselves for the WC and I understand Fab knew he was probably going to be a benchwarmer in Qatar but it doesn't mean that it still wasn't on his mind. I know it's not what anyone wants to believe but it's just how I felt the whole time and their performance against Villa in particular seemed to fit with that.

[CapeRed]

First half was very poor , we didn’t press and the mf was nowhere. I thought we pressed a lot more in the 2nd half but our passing throughout the match was sloppy. Tonight illustrated the glaring need for a mf refresh I thought.

[HBenn]

3 hours ago, razor said:

 

Good spot.

 

I would also have accepted a frazzled Warren Beatty.

I thought David Luiz was back. 

[Trojan1892]

Midfield was a fucking joke again, the amount of times Henderson and Elliott lost the ball tonight was embarrassing.

Thought Thiago was excellent, hopefully we’ll have Fabinho back Monday but regardless whether we do or not I’d start Bajcetic.

[VladimirIlyich]

10 hours ago, Jose Jones said:

You are a bigger optimist than me.

I think only Alisson played to form in the first bit of the season. Every single other player was worse than their normal level. Can’t blame it all on the midfield, even if that was the worst of all.

I agree. Matip and VVD have been pretty below par also. Obviously their lack of protection plays a big part but there are others too. How do we overlook how bad Oxtail Chamberpot is every time he plays? He really is poor.

[stringvest]

4 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

I agree. Matip and VVD have been pretty below par also. Obviously their lack of protection plays a big part but there are others too. How do we overlook how bad Oxtail Chamberpot is every time he plays? He really is poor.

 

He was poor, but when there are others stinking the place out more, he's going to get away with it. 

[gkmacca]

On a positive note, some of the things Thiago did were just breathtaking. Just a slight adjustment of his feet, not touching the ball at all, and an opponent stumbled past him. He needs someone else to be doing a lot of the dirty work he was obliged to do last night, but he's one of those players, like Molby, who seems at times to have an extra few seconds to make his decisions. It's just a treat to watch him play for us.

[VladimirIlyich]

3 minutes ago, gkmacca said:

On a positive note, some of the things Thiago did were just breathtaking. Just a slight adjustment of his feet, not touching the ball at all, and an opponent stumbled past him. He needs someone else to be doing a lot of the dirty work he was obliged to do last night, but he's one of those players, like Molby, who seems at times to have an extra few seconds to make his decisions. It's just a treat to watch him play for us.

It's a shame those appearances are so stuttered and staggered by injury.A great player to have but not one to hang your hat on.

[gkmacca]

2 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

It's a shame those appearances are so stuttered and staggered by injury.A great player to have but not one to hang your hat on.

Yes. Much more integral than Litmanen - another one I loved watching - but you can't help wishing Thiago had arrived a couple of years earlier.

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

35 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

I agree. Matip and VVD have been pretty below par also. Obviously their lack of protection plays a big part but there are others too. How do we overlook how bad Oxtail Chamberpot is every time he plays? He really is poor.

Doesn’t even look like a footballer, should stick to social media the useless fucker.

[gkmacca]

On Wout Faes: Never heard of him before. Sounds like an anagram. His own anagrams include Faust Woe and Sweat UFO.

 

He also looks eerily like Alan Brazil in his Ipswich days, which ought to scare the lad to bejeezus:

 

 

 

 

 

[DJLJ]

Trent has been very very poor also. No assists since last season. When he isn’t contributing anything going forward, then we might as well go with Gomez attorney RB, atleast we will be a bit better defensively. 

[Jordy Brouwer]

1 hour ago, VladimirIlyich said:

I agree. Matip and VVD have been pretty below par also. Obviously their lack of protection plays a big part but there are others too. How do we overlook how bad Oxtail Chamberpot is every time he plays? He really is poor.

 

Because he is harldy involved in anything. 

[Scott_M]

I actually thought the 2nd half was steady away last night.

Didn’t really give up any chances, defence and Alisson were largely untroubled, Mo, Nunez & Hendo all went close / should have done better.

 

Obviously it wasn’t great, I thought we closed it out Ok.

[VladimirIlyich]

14 minutes ago, DJLJ said:

Trent has been very very poor also. No assists since last season. When he isn’t contributing anything going forward, then we might as well go with Gomez attorney RB, atleast we will be a bit better defensively. 

Trent did play well defensively last night,I thought. I think Gomez came on to stop Trent trying to play his more open and attacking game when not needed at the time.

[sir roger]

I thought TAA got down the right wing a lot more than pre-WC which is a plus for me, and defended fairly well against z speed merchant in Barnes.

 

Re the Ox, there was one incident in the first half where I laughed out loud. He took a pass by the corner of the box and hoofed it half way up the Kemlyn for no obvious reason.