West Ham Vs. Liverpool 19/09/09

[mattyq]

At 31 Carra should have at least a good 2 years left so i'm putting his dodgy display down to just a bad game.

However, if he doesn't improve quickly he'll have to expect to lose his place despite his past awesomeness. Sentiment should have no place in creating a mean back four.

Other than that a very good win. As usual there are far too many overly negative divs

[Torvald Utne]

We were shit this time last year nick, we were praising the team for it's new found never say die attitude though...we were being sloppy but fighting back with late goals.

[Troubadour]

I'd agree with that. They have to be the favorites for the title...

 

I'd put them as favourites, too, and I agree that they have the strongest pool of first team players of all the six or so sides who have a shout of finishing in the top four. But bear in mind that they are exactly the same side as the one that started incredibly well last season with a coach who (as everyone said at the time) was a proven winner. They're a threat, they'll be there or thereabouts, but they're not invincible. The ACN and age will catch up with them at some point. It's how they deal with that which will define their season.

 

Ancelotti has had a lot of success, no doubt about that, but his domestic record isn't great. One title in nine years at Juventus and Milan? Everything's subjective. Not saying he isn't a good manager, obviously. Just not sure it's all as rosy at Stamford Bridge as perception seems to suggest it is.

[Red Nick]

We were shit this time last year nick, we were praising the team for it's new found never say die attitude though...we were being sloppy but fighting back with late goals.

 

A difference for all to see, as you say we were being sloppy rather than poor defensively, we were defending a lot better this time last season.

 

I certainly didnt think that we couldnt win the league because of our defence this time last season.

Edited September 19, 2009 by Red Nick

[shanks59]

Three stand outs for me:

 

(i) Torres back to his best.

(ii) Carragher had one of his worst halves EVER

(iii) We still cannot handle crosses

[King Emlyn]

I didn't see the game as I'm in work but I have to say, no matter how poorly Carragher may have played, he deserves more respect than some so called supporters on here give him. He's been a tremendous servant to our club and the least he deserves is respect for 13 years service and counting.

.

 

Nut and indeed shell.

[SpeedyG]

I'd put them as favourites, too, and I agree that they have the strongest pool of first team players of all the six or so sides who have a shout of finishing in the top four. But bear in mind that they are exactly the same side as the one that started incredibly well last season with a coach who (as everyone said at the time) was a proven winner. They're a threat, they'll be there or thereabouts, but they're not invincible. The ACN and age will catch up with them at some point. It's how they deal with that which will define their season.

 

Ancelotti has had a lot of success, no doubt about that, but his domestic record isn't great. One title in nine years at Juventus and Milan? Everything's subjective. Not saying he isn't a good manager, obviously. Just not sure it's all as rosy at Stamford Bridge as perception seems to suggest it is.

 

I was hoping that too, but they only play crap teams during that period.

[Anubis]

Carra was dreadful in the first half, nothing wrong in saying that. I just hope this fantastic servent to my club, does not go down the same root as Neal,Lee, Barnes, Nicol and Whelan.

 

If its his last season then so be it, its up to the manager to drop him, but this lad has been an absolute credit to our football club.

 

Yup.

[Kevin D]

I love match threads, always top entertainment. Imagine if we weren't one of the best teams in the world. Very pleased that we won, before the match I couldn't stop thinking that if we didn't that could well have been it with regards to the title.

[RyanLFC]

Carra was dreadful in the first half, nothing wrong in saying that. I just hope this fantastic servent to my club, does not go down the same root as Neal,Lee, Barnes, Nicol and Whelan.

 

If its his last season then so be it, its up to the manager to drop him, but this lad has been an absolute credit to our football club.

 

Its criticism but very well put. Repped.

[Ian Sea]

Carra was dreadful in the first half, nothing wrong in saying that. I just hope this fantastic servent to my club, does not go down the same root as Neal,Lee, Barnes, Nicol and Whelan.

 

If its his last season then so be it, its up to the manager to drop him, but this lad has been an absolute credit to our football club.

 

That's what I was talking about earlier - criticism but with the deserved respect.

[The Party Boy]

We do seem to have a lot of goals in us this season. Is it 16 goals in the league in 6 games? Not bad going and if we can sort the Achilles heel of our set play defending we should be set. Having Agger and Aquilani in the team should make us more potent going forward too.

[George Costanza]

 

If its his last season then so be it, its up to the manager to drop him, but this lad has been an absolute credit to our football club.

 

Spot on Al. I think Carra still has 2/3 season left in him but his position is no longer assured or at least shouldn't be anymore.

[Guest]

As Dave said in one of his match reports recently, you can accuse this Liverpool team of a lot of things, but a lack of character is not one of them.

 

Having said that, I much prefer it when we score the winner later than that and against 10 men, then there's much less to worry about!

[drewy]

We do seem to have a lot of goals in us this season. Is it 16 goals in the league in 6 games? Not bad going and if we can sort the Achilles heel of our set play defending we should be set. Having Agger and Aquilani in the team should make us more potent going forward too.

 

Agreed, having Agger back would bolster the defence as well.

 

Set plays have been a problem for a while, not enough of our lads attacking the ball.

[Jerzy Dudek]

Spot on Al. I think Carra still has 2/3 season left in him but his position is no longer assured or at least shouldn't be anymore.

 

2/3 seasons but in what league? Can you really see him playing for Tranmere? I think he'd rather retire.

[bossy]

From the Guardian:

 

Cue Benítez again: "I'm sure he'll be one of the best. He was very cheap [£26.5m]." Before, he gushed further, and a puzzlingly: "Its not just on the pitch. He's very professional and a perfect husband, so sorry for the [single] women."

 

Ace. He's all ours lads.

[ATXRED]

...Set plays have been a problem for a while, not enough of our lads attacking the ball.

 

This is something that bothers me, no one on our team seems to be able to judge the flight of the ball on corners. It's ridiculous. For their goal, we had Torres, Gerrard, Carragher, and Skrtel all right there, and every single one of them misjudged the flight. It's embarrassing.

[sir roger]

Strange game , we seemed very weak when they came at us , even though we lined up practically with 3 central midfielders.

 

Think Jamie & Martin were poor but to be fair Carlton Cole is underrated in my opinion & the Circus Tumbler / Usain Bolt hybrid on the wing was a handful.They were also both much better 2nd half.

 

On the bright side , we seem since Real Madrid last season to have found the key to 'scoring for fun' and the times we have scored 3 or 4 since then must be close to a record. I would assume it is harder to find this than to sort out the defensive problems , so I remain positive.

 

I also remember that the main gripe of a lot of the forumites was that Rafa would never 'have a go' & were quite happy to lose a few more goals to score even more than the opposition and in essence this is what is happening.

[Guest]

[Red Phoenix]

Very pleased that we won, before the match I couldn't stop thinking that if we didn't that could well have been it with regards to the title.

 

Yeah, same. If we'd lost and Chelsea had won later, them being on double the amount of points might've been just too much for the team to take mentally.

[Faustus]

Very good game and I'm made up we got a result there. I know somebody on here put up a stat saying we usually win there, but for some reason, I never look forward to a trip to West Ham.

 

Made up for Fernando. Seemed a much more positive performance from him in terms of attitude and body language and I'm pleased his endeavour got the reward it deserved.

[hamstrung]

From the Guardian:

 

Cue Benítez again: "I'm sure he'll be one of the best. He was very cheap [£26.5m]." Before, he gushed further, and a puzzlingly: "Its not just on the pitch. He's very professional and a perfect husband, so sorry for the [single] women."

 

Ace. He's all ours lads.

 

Just read that report it in the Observer.

 

It also (bizarrely) suggested West Ham were the better team in the second half. It was a pretty snide in places. Who is Jamie Jackson?

[Guest]

Just read that report it in the Observer.

 

It also (bizarrely) suggested West Ham were the better team in the second half. It was a pretty snide in places. Who is Jamie Jackson?

 

West Ham were absolutely out on their feet in the second half.

 

We seemed to have the ball for almost the entire second 45.

 

The only question was whether we could break them down.

[Juan Galonso]

I am not writing Carra off because of his performance yesterday. I reckon professional footballers have teams they don't enjoy playing against and/or don't play well against. Remember Rushie v United. Compared to his Everton record. Chalk and cheese. Whu couldn't one of the greatest goalscorers ever never score v United until 1992 but bang them in for fun against Everton?

 

Carragher has a habit of making mistakes against West Ham. The own goal in the Cup Final, the pen he gave away there in 07-08 in the last minute with a clumsy challenge, last year getting caught on the ball before the lad ran through and fell over his feet and yesterday.

 

It will take more than one bad half to convince me he is on the wane. I sometimes think it is a psychological thing with players and West Ham are just one of those opposition tbhat bring out the worst in Carra for whatever reason.