Who has performed consistently well this season?

[silverlining]

This place is full of threads with the usual (and some not-so-usual) favoured scapegoats: Lucas, Kuyt, Carra, (if you're a cunt like dougie et al), Voronin.

 

But let us be honest. Who has played consistently well all season?

 

Torres (carrying injuries)

Reina

Magic

 

That's it

 

The rest have been either:

 

Injured (Riera, Agger, Gerrard, Purple, Aurelio, Agger)

 

Inconsistent (Benayoun, Gerrard again, Masher, Babel, Aurelio again)

 

Woefully out of form (Kuyt, Carragher, Skittles, Babel again, Riera again)

 

Playing to their usual level of anywhere between "utter shite" and "average" (Lucas, Zorba, Insua, Voronin)

 

It's a perfect storm of shitness and even though I'm guilty of it too, it really is unfair to pin it all on one player.

[House of Dirk]

You pretty much have it there.

[Brownie]

I agree but I wouldn't say that people are trying to pin everything on one player. If people look at the team and see weak players then they will highlight that as and when that player performs poorly.

 

The likes of Kuyt and Lucas aren't just in poor form though (obviously that's just my opinion), the evidence suggests that their standard level is much lower than others.

[silverlining]

I agree but I wouldn't say that people are trying to pin everything on one player. If people look at the team and see weak players then they will highlight that as and when that player performs poorly.

 

The likes of Kuyt and Lucas aren't just in poor form though (obviously that's just my opinion), the evidence suggests that this is their level.

 

Dirk Kuyt had a very, very good season last year, in terms of goals and assists.

[Brownie]

Dirk Kuyt had a very, very good season last year, in terms of goals and assists.

 

I agree and that bit in bold is the key for me. You simply cannot argue with his statistics from last year.

 

Did he consistently perform at a high level though? Not in my opinion. I was delighted with the goals and assists column but his overall play was nothing of that level.

 

I said in the summer that we would be debating Kuyt as long as he's here because that's just what he is; a player who has a standard level much lower than our best players. Sometimes he'll hit purple patches and other times he'll be unable to control a football for 90 minutes.

 

He'll never be out of the spotlight because his performances will always encourage debate.

 

That's just how it is.

[aws]

It depends what you mean by "playing well".

 

If you're judging by some objective test e.g. "title standard" then the answer is Reina, Johnson and Torres (when fit).

 

If you're judging by what people might reasonably expect of each player then I'd add Lucas and maybe Insua.

 

Everyone else has either suffered from injury or under-performed or both.

[Brownie]

It depends what you mean by "playing well".

 

If you're judging by some objective test e.g. "title standard" then the answer is Reina, Johnson and Torres (when fit).

 

If you're judging by what people might reasonably expect of each player then I'd add Lucas and maybe Insua.

 

Everyone else has either suffered from injury or under-performed or both.

 

That's a good point. I always go for the 'objective test' bit because I hope we are aspiring to be title winners. If you are altering your perception of a player because you don't think he's that good, then it defeats the object for me.

 

You either want to be the best or you don't.

[Xherdan]

Voronin has been consistently fat.

[JustTosh]

Who has performed consistently well this season? Pepe

Who's had his ups and downs? Johnson, Torres, Insua

Who has performed consistently bad this season? The rest

[Hooch]

Reina, and then Torres and Johnson to a lesser extent, and then Gerrard to an slightly lesser extent.

[silverlining]

That's a good point. I always go for the 'objective test' bit because I hope we are aspiring to be title winners. If you are altering your perception of a player because you don't think he's that good, then it defeats the object for me.

 

You either want to be the best or you don't.

 

Yeah but also, it's very rare for any trophy-winning team to have XI "world-beaters" isn't it?

 

There's always at least one perceived "weak link" (accurate or otherwise)

 

cf Ray Houghton, Ferreira, Brown, Neville.

 

And when there isn't a weak link as such, there's often "the worker", perhaps less extravagantly gifted than his team-mates, but does an invaluable job.

[El Rojo]

Voronin has been consistently fat.

 

Ryan Babel has been consistently phat, boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

[JustTosh]

Voronin has been consistently fat.

 

At least he's consistent. As you say consistently fat. I'll add consistently bad, consistently out of form, consistently not scoring, consistently trying to be a Petit look-a-like and consistently being picked by Rafa to consistently piss us all off.

[Brownie]

Yeah but also, it's very rare for any trophy-winning team to have XI "world-beaters" isn't it?

 

There's always at least one perceived "weak link" (accurate or otherwise)

 

cf Ray Houghton, Ferreira, Brown, Neville.

 

And when there isn't a weak link as such, there's often "the worker", perhaps less extravagantly gifted than his team-mates, but does an invaluable job.

 

I agree. We have far more than one though, unfortunately.

 

If we had a world class attacking midfielder (of the standard of Torres and Gerrard) playing on the left, and if Aquilani turns out to be world class, then maybe we'd be in business.

 

I think we could win the league with Kuyt playing on the right, but we'd need to have that brilliant player on the left that I mentioned, and also be incredibly lucky with injuries.

 

History has shown that when our best players are either injured or out of form, the likes of Kuyt aren't good enough to step into their shoes.

[Strontium]

Top 10 Liverpool performers this season

 

1. Pepe Reina

2. Fernando Torres

3. Glen Johnson

4. The kitman

5. Er...

6. That's it

[silverlining]

Top 10 Liverpool performers this season

 

1. Pepe Reina

2. Fernando Torres

3. Glen Johnson

4. The kitman

5. Er...

6. That's it

 

The kits *have* looked very nice

[Original202]

I think Lucas has done very well this season. He's not been outstanding, but I think he's been consistent and is starting to look much more comfortable at this level.

 

He's always going to be a bit of a scapegoat though and the good he does rarely gets mentioned, yet the odd misplaced pass is used to judge him.

 

I think there's a good player starting to emerge. And I never thought I'd say that a year ago. He's not a player who catches the eye, but he's doing a good job in the middle and is always available for a pass.

 

Other than the obvious he also deserves a mention.

[Barrington Womble]

I agree and that bit in bold is the key for me. You simply cannot argue with his statistics from last year.

 

Did he consistently perform at a high level though? Not in my opinion. I was delighted with the goals and assists column but his overall play was nothing of that level.

 

I said in the summer that we would be debating Kuyt as long as he's here because that's just what he is; a player who has a standard level much lower than our best players. Sometimes he'll hit purple patches and other times he'll be unable to control a football for 90 minutes.

 

He'll never be out of the spotlight because his performances will always encourage debate.

 

That's just how it is.

 

personally i think kuyt is a player who's performances are enhanced the better quality player/team that surrounds him. his main attribute is his work rate, when surrounded by players with great ability and movement, he is able to put his energy into positive things - what he lacks in ability, is made up in stamina, movement and running. He's using his best attributes in areas of the pitch where it matters - hence his goal and assist return last year. when he is surrounded by players who are not as good and the team is playing not as well, he becomes little more than someone who covers the right back. he doesn't spend enough time in the last 3rd of the pitch and because he isn't a defender, so his decision making in deeper areas of the pitch is not good, he is prone to making fuck ups such as the one at fulham on saturday or his uncanny ability to seem to see about 4 different passes and while he dithers, he trips on the balls and watches the oppo nick it and steam towards goal. kuyt can be an important player for us, I have no doubt he look at his level at a team fighting relegation.

 

as for consistent performers - i think only reina can carry that award. I don't think anyone else has been close to their usual consistent best level (although clearly torres has done well considering his injury).

[Brownie]

personally i think kuyt is a player who's performances are enhanced the better quality player/team that surrounds him. his main attribute is his work rate, when surrounded by players with great ability and movement, he is able to put his energy into positive things - what he lacks in ability, is made up in stamina, movement and running. He's using his best attributes in areas of the pitch where it matters - hence his goal and assist return last year. when he is surrounded by players who are not as good and the team is playing not as well, he becomes little more than someone who covers the right back. he doesn't spend enough time in the last 3rd of the pitch and because he isn't a defender, so his decision making in deeper areas of the pitch is not good, he is prone to making fuck ups such as the one at fulham on saturday or his uncanny ability to seem to see about 4 different passes and while he dithers, he trips on the balls and watches the oppo nick it and steam towards goal. kuyt can be an important player for us, I have no doubt he look at his level at a team fighting relegation.

 

That's how I see it too.

 

Personally I think it would be much better if we had someone of real GENUINE world class quality out there who would consistently score and create goals in all circumstances.

 

Look at Torres. He's clearly injured yet he's scored important goals in our last few games. That's what genuine world class talented players can do.

[silverlining]

 

kuyt can be an important player for us, I have no doubt he look at his level at a team fighting relegation.

 

 

Kuyt would certainly be much the same player in a title-winning team as much as a relegation-threatened team, agreed.

 

I still like him.

[Guest LFD]

I don't agree Skrtel and Kuyt have been woefully out of form. Can't remember the last time Skrtel was at fault for one of our goals to be honest.

 

I agree with the general point, it is unfair to blame one individual, such as Voronin or Lucas for the current situation.

 

We've had key players injured, key players out of form, the back up for Torres has not been good enough and we are missing our best 'footballers'.

[Tyler Durden]

That's how I see it too.

 

Personally I think it would be much better if we had someone of real GENUINE world class quality out there who would consistently score and create goals in all circumstances.

 

Look at Torres. He's clearly injured yet he's scored important goals in our last few games. That's what genuine world class talented players can do.

 

Of course it would be much better but other then you lending rafa £30 odd million what choice do we have? We all know what world class players can do and we all know how much they cost.

[Delmar]

This place is full of threads with the usual (and some not-so-usual) favoured scapegoats: Lucas, Kuyt, Carra, (if you're a cunt like dougie et al), Voronin.

 

But let us be honest. Who has played consistently well all season?

 

 

I'll change the ratings a bit, as being injured has nothing to do with who is good or not, injured players don't play or even if they do, that should not count for or against them.

 

Playing well:

 

Torres

Reina

Johnson (it is cringeworthy to call him Magic...)

 

Playing OK:

 

Lucas, Benayoun, Insua, Agger, Ngog

 

Playing inconsistently:

 

Mascherano, Aurelio, Kuyt, Riera, Kyrgiakos, Degen, Gerrard

 

Playing woefully out of form:

 

Carragher, Skrtel, Babel

 

Should never be playing:

 

Voronin

 

Then you have the kids for the little time they played, Kelly was excellent, Spearing underwhelming, Eccleston can't really say, Ayala OK. Dossena hasn't been around much, Aquilani good 15 minutes.

[Brownie]

Of course it would be much better but other then you lending rafa £30 odd million what choice do we have? We all know what world class players can do and we all know how much they cost.

 

I'm not saying that Rafa should just go out and buy a world class player. I realise it's not that easy.

 

What i'm saying is that after seeing a player perform inconsistently for three years and show that he isn't world class, it would be nice if the manager realised this and tried to get someone else in who potentially is.

 

We've needed better quality out wide ever since Rafa took over.

[Guest LFD]

Playing woefully out of form:

 

Carragher, Skrtel, Babel

 

 

Please explain as I don't understand.

 

He was brill against Chelsea, despite coming back from injury.

 

When was the last time he was at fault for a goal? Let alone anymore.

 

He's been fine but injuries have hindered his season, unlike Carragher.