Liverpool V Boro

[Red Nick]

I looked at the team before the start and you looked at the players and it looked a very good team with two obvious glaring deficiencies in Kuyt and Benayoun and as the game unfolded it was clear that if we are to play 4-4-2 this season then those two players shouldnt start. To be fair with the exception of Skrtel and Carra eveyone else was awful so I am not pcking on them in particular.

 

There was one moment in each half that summed up the brillance and averageness of Dirk Kuyt, the first being a crunching tackle in midfiled then ran into free space but with no pace or vision the opportunity had lost itself and in the second half another great midfield tackle to win the ball and then he goes and gives the ball straight back. For me if he has a future at LFC its at RB where we dont have any quality at all on the basis than Finnan is no longer wanted and I havent seen Degen yet.

 

We have 6 points when we should have 2 points and there is so much more room for improvment and if I was Manu or Chelsea id be worried about how good we could be.

[Woo]

How did Villa and Barry do again today against the mighty Stoke?

 

Are you the one hamstrung was talking about? That got banned of RAWK or another forum? If so its really not a matter of time before youre gone off this one aswell.

 

Or are you related to Xabi D?

[Code]

I have no idea as the final result will never tell you the full story...we won today so alonso must have been good..is that how it works?

 

Alonso was vital for our winner today, first he broke up play, then he made himself availible to collect the pass after first having played it out wide to El Zhar, then he hit the cross Gerrard scored from.

 

He was also involved in our first goal as he was in Boro`s goal.

 

He did not have his best game but he kept trying to get things going, I wish I could have said the same about all the other players around him.

 

I also have noticed no one have said anything about when Gerrard lost possession of the ball just outside the box even if he had all the time in the world to pick a pass.

 

Patchetic double standards, thats what it is.

[Bourbon]

Yep, Utd and Chelsea pick up their fair share of shitty wins; great to see us doing the same without some key lads back, a settled formation and even a further dip into the (quality end of) market again.

[RobbieOR]

Alonso was vital for our winner today, first he broke up play, then he made himself availible to collect the pass after first having played it out wide to El Zhar, then he hit the cross Gerrard scored from.

 

He was also involved in our first goal as he was in Boro`s goal.

 

He did not have his best game but he kept trying to get things going, I wish I could have said the same about all the other players around him.

 

I also have noticed no one have said anything about when Gerrard lost possession of the ball just outside the box even if he had all the time in the world to pick a pass.

 

Patchetic double standards, thats what it is.

 

He didnt he was rubbish and he very rarely looked for the ball.

[Bourbon]

Did you go, Al..?

 

My ticket source was having a christening for his kid; had to tellyclap it.

 

How did my mate Dossena look up close...? (as a player, of course)

 

Blank this Code blert.

[Randy Marsh]

Poor performance on the whole as a team, and some shocking individual displays. Xabi was out of sorts (not suprising given the current situation the poor lads in), Yossi was non existant, Dirk got more involved as the game went on, Arbeloa was poor, Dossena looked slow and was caught out of position on numerous occasions but did show some flashes of promising attacking play and Stevie clearly wasnt fit. Keane and Torres showed some promising link ups and worked hard but the midfield isolated them i felt. Not enough support from the wide areas. A top quality attacking wide man is a priority this week IMO, not second choice players. If the money is there then we need to break the bank because that player could be the real difference for us.

 

I'd like to say aswell, hats off to Boro. They come here and attacked us and cut our defence open on numerous occasions. Fair play, they've definately improved as a side since last season.

 

I have to say though that i'm absolutely delighted. 5 minutes to go and 1-0 down, i couldnt see us scoring if we'd have played all night. But once again we've played poorly, as we did in Sunderland and in Belgium, and come away with the results we needed. 2games played, 6points and still in second gear. Definately alot more to come from the side, and winning when playing poorly is definately a habit to be in. Maybe, just maybe, we might see a challenge come May....

[Red Nick]

If I was Rafa Id send a Video file of Xabi's performance today and say thats why I wanted to swap him for Barry.

 

I for one have been consistent in that I was happy to sell Alonso but I didnt want us to buy Barry.

[Crazyhorse7778]

Sooner the better Masch and Lucas are available.

[Joe Strummer]

Just got back from the game so not had the chance to read all this thread. First half wasn't that bad, some nice link up play from Torres and Keane that didn't quite come off. Fair play to their two bruiser centre halves who both had excellent games. In the 2nd though we were simply awful. Alonso and Gerrard had stinkers, Gerrard wasn't fully fit to be fair but Alonso was simply woeful, at fault for their goal, if his passing isn't up to scratch then basically he offers nothing else, every corner he took failed to clear the first man, he was second to every 50/50. We can't get Masch back soon enough into that midfield.

 

I'm also worried about the full back area. Dossena and Arbeloa aren't good enough, let's hope Degen comes through and Aurelio stays injury free. Benayoun offered little again and is not good or strong enough for a starting 11 position.

 

Nevertheless two wins from two games is what matters and I wouldn't give either of our performances a 6 out of 10. Let's step it up now in Europe on Wednesday.

[PaddyWhacked]

I thought there was many positives to take out of the game. In previous seasons I think we would have lost that game.We just to have more players on the pitch who csn do damage.

Lots of Positives from the game:-

 

Torres and Keane are going to be class given time.

Dossenna looks much better than Riise or Aurelio.

Skirtell is great cover for Carra

 

If we bring in one creative player I think we might just challenge this year

[05 Milan]

Come on now, you can't possibly know if Dossena is good enough or not..???!!!

[Woo]

Got out of jail there thanks to Stevies brilliance. Such a calm head where Im sure most people would have smacked the ball and hoped, he had the ability and composure to calmly curl in into the corner. Wonderful strike.

 

All the top teams get wins like that when they play bad, and its something weve done twice, which pleases me. Im sure we would not have won one of our two games last season if we played like that. Of course Id rather we play well and hammer teams, but we really need to be able to get results like that when playing poorly.

 

I think Alonso struggled today, especially with Gerrard next to him not being fit and being his normal dynamic self. I really want Barry to come (but not at the expense of Xabi). And I was (as I always have been) impressed by Downing. Id love him on the left side.

 

The wide positions are a major problem. Lets face facts. Kuyt is most definately not a right midfielder. He always puts a shift in, but hes wasted at right mid. Id much rather see Pennant play right mid as thats where he plays and can play very well there at times.

 

And Yossi isnt really a wide left player either. I think hes hit and miss there. Much rather have him on the right side if hes going to be played there. When Babel came on he hardly touched the ball which frustrated me. When El Zhar came on it was refreshing to see someone willing to take a man on and beat him. He showed enthusiasm which I was pleased with.

 

I like Arbeloa but I think he struggled second half of last season, and also so far this season I think hes looked shaky. I hope he improves his form, as I dont think Finnan will be here beyond the window. Or Degens going to have to play well from the off to save Carragher being played right back most of the season.

 

And Robbie keeps trying to hard. He needs to try and relax and just play his natural game. He showed a few glimpses of class, and Torres just again got the shit kicked out of him by Huth and Wheater. Typical Mike cunting Riley fucked us on so many decisions it was untrue. He was dying to blow the final whistle, but he had to add the time on cos of Boros pussying about in stoppage time.

 

Im pleased weve two wins out of two. But extremely dissapointed with the performances. But then lets hope we can get the wide positions sorted. Offload the few players who clearly aernt in Rafas plans and push on for this season.

[Crazyhorse7778]

Dossena and Arbeloa are not good enough, let's hope Degen comes through and Aurelio stays injury free.

 

I thought The Doss was one of our better players today, particularly in the first half.

[Son of L8]

Xabi did look the worst of a bad bunch today, but he didn't have a lot to work with either. I think it's fair to say that if he's going to be a consistently effective player in the Premiership, he needs two things -- good protection from a midfield partner who can do the dog-work, and consistently intelligent movement ahead of him. Sitting back there alone against a team applying midfield pressure, with the flanks occupied by two invisible men, he's never really going to be able to exercise his advantages and his weaknesses will be exposed almost every time.

 

He can be an effective player if used intelligently, but he isn't everything for every situation. Today's set-up was more or less out of necessity, with two centre-mids missing and an un-fit Gerrard required further up the pitch to make up for the deficiencies of our wide men, and it didn't do him any favours. Mascherano can't come back soon enough, both for Xabi's sake and the teams'.

[Stu Monty]

What's with Agger not playing again?

[Woo]

Did you go, Al..?

 

My ticket source was having a christening for his kid; had to tellyclap it.

 

How did my mate Dossena look up close...? (as a player, of course)

 

Blank this Code blert.

 

Aye Dom ive got a season ticket this season.

 

Sold some fanzines for a bit before the game for Dave, so i anyone bought one by the car park on the corner of the kop and anny road, that was me.

[Woo]

Just got back from the game so not had the chance to read all this thread. First half wasn't that bad, some nice link up play from Torres and Keane that didn't quite come off. Fair play to their two bruiser centre halves who both had excellent games. In the 2nd though we were simply awful. Alonso and Gerrard had stinkers, Gerrard wasn't fully fit to be fair but Alonso was simply woeful, at fault for their goal, if his passing isn't up to scratch then basically he offers nothing else, every corner he took failed to clear the first man, he was second to every 50/50. We can't get Masch back soon enough into that midfield.

 

I'm also worried about the full back area. Dossena and Arbeloa aren't good enough, let's hope Degen comes through and Aurelio stays injury free. Benayoun offered little again and is not good or strong enough for a starting 11 position.

 

Nevertheless two wins from two games is what matters and I wouldn't give either of our performances a 6 out of 10. Let's step it up now in Europe on Wednesday.

 

How can you say Dossenas not good enough?

 

What the whole 3 games?

 

I guess Keanes shit aswell then?

[Woo]

What's with Agger not playing again?

 

No idea Stu, suprised me that aswell.

[Randy Marsh]

What's with Agger not playing again?

 

Fitness i think. I still think he's looked a little rusty in recent games, which is wholely understandable. Its lucky we are blessed with such a class act as Skrtel who slots in with equal competence.

[Dan Vito Corleone]

That was fucking rubbish.

 

I'm made up we won but we were so, so poor. I actually thought we played well up at Sunderland in the second half last week, but after the first ten minutes today we were large appalling. We started off really well and looked in the mood to cause a bit of damage, but then there was that fairly long stoppage whilst Dossena needed treatment. After that we were awful, we appeared to lose all our momentum and never really regained it.

 

The signs are there that Torres, Keane and Gerrard are on the verge of clicking. That will come, I would love it to fall into place at Villa next week and us thrash the small time cunts off the field, with a taste of it against Leige on Wednesday. The midfield today were largely very, very poor, the only one who can come out of it with credit was Kuyt, who was our MOM. He played very well and was the player showing the most urgency. Benayoun was rubbish, Gerrard didn't look fit and if he was then he has no sharpness about him, and I haven't got words to describe how bad Alonso was. I have never seen him play so bad, it was a lazy, shoddy display, considering he has the biggest point of all to prove to his manager. I am not singling him out for blame, but it was his dire passing that saw Boro take the lead, and I don't recall a single pass finding a red shirt, and the amount of times he got caught in posession was scary. It was just abysmal from him. He is so much better than that.

 

It is blinding - we need someone who can create. And if Alonso is going to turn that in every week, we need a central midfielder who can keep hold of the ball. The sooner the window shuts the better, as far as he's concerned. He might have been treated shabbily over the summer but there was no excuse for how poor he was today, he was just shocking.

 

HOWEVER, we kept on going until the end. That Manc cunt Riley had a shocker, and I thought he was about to give a handball against Pogatetz but it went in anyway and so he didn't have a decision to make. Luckily for him, he got every other decision wrong. Boro went and made the injury time for us with players feiging injury, so they got exactly what they deserved.

 

Very lucky and very poor. If it was the Mancs or Chelsea it would be the sign of a team that never stops or knows when its beaten. Because it is us, it will be "Kop Crisis." Bollocks to them, I'll sit top of the league, even if only for a few hours, and I'll continue to buzz off winning and then watching Reina go sprinting the full length of the pitch.

 

We can and will do better though, and we will have to in coming weeks.

[RedBrian84]

Another very shakey performance from the lads there; that's three in a row now. Now, we can look at it in one of two ways- the first way would be to get all panicky and start to slate the team for another disjointed performance, coupled with some less-than-ordinary displays, particularly from Gerrard and Dossena (Gerrard looked a little lost today, did he perhaps pick up a knock with Ingerlund? Because he looked rather sluggish until the final ten minutes and then he looked like he wanted to get more involved), as well as a few others. We can complain about the service to Torres and to Keane as welll.

 

OR

 

We can say, "fuck- another less than brilliant performance, but six points from six, against two very tricky sides both of whom have strenghtened their sides over the break and looked to try and take the game to us, to their credit. We survived and came away with six scrappy points but that's all that counts at the end of the day. Also, it will take time for the lads to adjust to the 4-4-2 after being away from it so long so this again is another positive. Babel is back, and el Zhar looked lively off the bench. We have Mascherano and Lucas to return from the Olympics so things are looking rosey! And we didn't allow an international break to distract our league performance. And of course, our two most influential players got our goals and won us the game" (providing the Peter Crouch-hating Dubious Goals panel doesn't take it off Carra)

 

I'll be looking at the second of the alternatves.

[grazywalker]

Had my nephew with me so left with 2 minutes to go ,so missed the goal.However when walking back there was a lad with his son*,who must have been 5* and as soon as the cheer was heard he turned round to his son and said " I missed that because of you ,you shit".I could not believe it when he repeated it again.I mean why would you say that ?

The lad did have a cracking perma tan though to be fair to him.

[Joe Strummer]

Dossena was average today, just like the rest of them but I can tell he won't be good enough. Not strong enough, he was barged over in the 1st half against some lightweight on the right, is shit in the air and not that good going forward. I've seen him play 5 or 6 times now and keep hoping him to do well but am always left disappointed. Most Reds I know agree with me.

[Crazyhorse7778]

Well, that's that then.