Unirea Urziceni (h) 18th Feb

[Paulie Dangerously]

Hells bells. Reira, Aquiliani and Kuyt (of course) all terrible least night. Reira not involved enough, and making wrong decisions, Aquiliani ineffective and unable to influence the game at all, and Kuyt just the same as usual, giving the ball away almost constantly and this week added not tracking back to his rich canon.

 

You've got to raise your game Rafa. That was poor last night. There was very little movement from the forward players (Gerrard excepted). That team were playing the first game after an extended break, and we made it remarkably easy for them.

 

The man stunk. He's a winger who can't take a man on. When you get replaced by Babel and it looks like a good sub then you know you're shit

[The 5th Benitel]

We're a bad team that plays appalling football. Cant wait for this season to end but unless there are some major changes i cant see how it'll be any different next term. The lack of fluid, creative play is down to the managers philosophy and his inabilty to bring in quality creative players. People can point to lack of funds all they want but in the last two years we've had two £20m flops and an £18m right back so you cant excuse struggling to have have more than a couple of decent attempts on goal in entire games.

[hamstrung]

"What do you think of it so far?"

 

"Rubbish!"

 

[jackofdk]

I didn't see the first 30-35 due to streaming problems. The rest, however, was just yet another master class in dull, slow, unimaginative football. The way we move the ball around when the opponent sits back is so predictable that you can tell what the next couple of passes will be most of the time.

 

And when we finally do get a cross in due to our players afterall being of a much higher quality than their's, we only have two or three players in the box. At home. Against Unirea.

 

As for the team selection, according to the poll on here, a large part of the forum knew better than Rafa, as Pacheco made a difference when he came on. There might be a point in that his good performance was down to him being brought on an not started, but I don't think that was the case yesterday. He should've started as the way this game was always going to be played suits him very well. That way we could've had Gerrard in the middle as well which also proved to be much more efficient than our starting duo (I won't even slate Aquilani, as you can't really expect much of a player badly out of match practise.)

 

In one definition of an idiot it is a person who keeps doing the same and expects different results. Sadly that applies quite well to Rafa sometimes.

[cmuller]

Riera was truly awful. He's one of those players where you can tell from the very first time he gets the ball in a game whether he's bothering that day or or not. Coupled with the fact he's not actually that good means he's only worth a place when he's on absolute top form - something we haven't seen in ages.

 

On Aquilani, part of me feels a bit sorry for him. Masch hardly ever passed to him when he got in decent space (it was really blatant last night - not sure what's going on there? Maybe it's as simple as Aquilani not shouting for the ball but it was strange as it happened numerous times). The overall lack of movement around him and the fact our players are so often so far apart from one another means what appears to be his natural game of short, first-time passing is ineffective.

 

He just looks lost at the moment - more so every game he's played. As if he doesn't know or can't do what the manager is asking from him. Gerrard isn't going to be moved back into midfield allowing him to play further forward, so I do wonder what's going to happen to him.

 

The match itself was shocking - don't we play 5 a-side in training any more? Eveything we do is so long and so reliant on someone doing something special. A world away from the style of football of Rafa's Valencia.

[Fowlers God]

So terrible that from 75 minutes I fell asleep and woke up at 87 minutes. I missed the goal and hearing that it was Ngog didnt even rewind to see it as I new it would have been poor. (was I right?) This sums up the match for me, falling aslepp and I wasnt even drinking.

[Whelan]

Aquilani looked good one minute, some nice passes then looked lost the next, incidently the same as Gerrard and Mascherano!

 

Riera was awful, Babel looked interested when he came on and I would start him on Sunday, with Kuyt up front.

 

I'm going against the grain here, but I thought we were okay, opened them up more than enough times but either failed to hit the target or the keep pulled of a great save, not great but decent.

[Bob]

obviously we were very poor last night, and no excuses, but wasnt that referee bent?

[ZonkoVille77]

Is anyone honestly surprised at that result and performance? It's been the standard this season and I can't really see it getting any better until Rafa decides to pick a formation that actually works for us.

[SiliconeSoul]

Riera and Kuyt were dogshit. We have the slowest, most uncreative wide players in football.

 

Kuyt playing every minute of every game is just taking the piss now. We're carrying him.

[Tom R]

aquilani is fucking shit, people.

 

The sooner you reconcile yourself with that, the happier you will be.

[SiliconeSoul]

He isn't.

[Tom R]

Danny Murphy is better than Alberto Aquilani.

[Tom R]

He isn't.

 

he is.

 

Can't tackle. Can't pass. Weak on the ball. Weak off the ball. Weak in the air. Zero creativity. and above anything, and utterly unforgiveable, he's gutless and hides from the ball.

 

He's shit.

 

Another Benitez masterclass.

[SiliconeSoul]

Complete and utter balls.

 

By the way, those Romanian bin men had played only two games in 3 months, and yet they looked fitter and sharper than us.

[Christian]

It was so simple. All we had to do was feed it wide to Babel who would hurtle past their full back. And that was it, and that's how we won. We just don't attack with any sense of penetration at all, unless it's with a bit of pace from Gerrard, Torres or Babel. Or a hint of trickery from Yossi. How many years on and still no wide players who can actually beat a man and get the bloody ball into the box?

Just like to add that Aquilani is perhaps the worst signing in our history. He doesn't have any energy, any dynamism - just nothing. I am not convinced AT ALL that he was even scouted. Along the same lines as Dossena, I think we thought "Italian international therefore must be good".

This summer will be huge in our history you feel

[Carra_is_legend]

I'm still prepared to wait on Aquilani before I make a final judgment but I have to say I have seen NOTHING from him to suggest he will be a top player for us.

[diamondjoe]

I watched more of that show on C4 about the gypo's weddings than the 2nd half and that is a damning indictment.

Right now we are a shit team with shit owners playing shit football.

And I don't see any bog roll on the horizon.

[Whelan]

Just like to add that Aquilani is perhaps the worst signing in our history.

 

 

Good job you added 'perhaps' to that sentance, otherwise that would have been the most stupid post in the history of the Liverpool Way.

[jackofdk]

It was so simple. All we had to do was feed it wide to Babel who would hurtle past their full back. And that was it, and that's how we won. We just don't attack with any sense of penetration at all, unless it's with a bit of pace from Gerrard, Torres or Babel. Or a hint of trickery from Yossi. How many years on and still no wide players who can actually beat a man and get the bloody ball into the box?

 

Agree completely. Penetration, or lack thereof, is still our biggest problem on the pitch.

 

And I'm not holding my breath waiting for Rafa to put it right in the next transfer window.

[Whelan]

In the past 25 years I can think of John Barnes and McMannan who provided width and were genuine world class wingers. Before John Barness we had Ronnie Whelan, Sammy Lee, Ray Kennedy, Steve Nicol, Craig Johnson, non of whom are wingers.

 

If anybody can suggest a winger that will do all of the above then I am open to thinking this has been a lapse in our scouting, but I agree with Rafa when he explained that one of the reasons behind Glen Johnson is to negate the lack of quality wide players available to him.

[jackofdk]

In the past 25 years I can think of John Barnes and McMannan who provided width and were genuine world class wingers. Before John Barness we had Ronnie Whelan, Sammy Lee, Ray Kennedy, Steve Nicol, Craig Johnson, non of whom are wingers.

 

If anybody can suggest a winger that will do all of the above then I am open to thinking this has been a lapse in our scouting, but I agree with Rafa when he explained that one of the reasons behind Glen Johnson is to negate the lack of quality wide players available to him.

 

It doesn't have to be wingers. Just players who can create space for themselves through guile and or pace (like Glen Johnson, actually).

[Whelan]

It doesn't have to be wingers. Just players who can create space for themselves through guile and or pace (like Glen Johnson, actually).

 

I agree!

 

I think we lack pace as well, people say we don't go at teams but you look at the pace on view last night and think 'Well they might be actually'.

 

I knew Aquilani would get stick this morning, I watched him last night and you could hear the groans, but Gerrard was just as shit, and so was Mascherano, and that is not a one off for either of them this season.

 

If the others are forgiven for their past endevours then I agree, but don't start criticising a player who has just come back from injury, straight into a team out of form and without Nando, Gerrard etc.

 

There was flashes last night, a couple of quick balls out wide, a couple of good runs trying to link up play and of course there was the miscontrols, the lack of awareness. That was a positive team last night, I would personally have put Gerrard on the right and put Kuyt up front with Patches behind. But I thought it was a typical awkward performance in Europe.

[jackofdk]

I agree!

 

I think we lack pace as well, people say we don't go at teams but you look at the pace on view last night and think 'Well they might be actually'.

 

I knew Aquilani would get stick this morning, I watched him last night and you could hear the groans, but Gerrard was just as shit, and so was Mascherano, and that is not a one off for either of them this season.

 

If the others are forgiven for their past endevours then I agree, but don't start criticising a player who has just come back from injury, straight into a team out of form and without Nando, Gerrard etc.

 

There was flashes last night, a couple of quick balls out wide, a couple of good runs trying to link up play and of course there was the miscontrols, the lack of awareness. That was a positive team last night, I would personally have put Gerrard on the right and put Kuyt up front with Patches behind. But I thought it was a typical awkward performance in Europe.

 

I'm not into all this Aquilani bashing either. But I do think he was the wrong player to buy. We should've brought someone who'd give us some of the penetration we lack and who could deputise for Torres upfront when needed. I can't look past Tevez, though he might have gone for the money at City anyway.

 

Oh, and obviously dropped Gerrard back for most games.

[Whelan]

I'm not into all this Aquilani bashing either. But I do think he was the wrong player to buy. We should've brought someone who'd give us some of the penetration we lack and who could deputise for Torres upfront when needed. I can't look past Tevez, though he might have gone for the money at City anyway.

 

Oh, and obviously dropped Gerrard back for most games.

 

Aquilani was a surprise to me, but I didn't watch Italian football. The reasoning is sound, the one valid criticism of Alonso was his lack of impact in the last third, so if you shift the emphasis from the back by moving Mascherano back to receive the ball, you are in theory becoming more creative further forward.

 

I can see why he was relectant to break up Gerrard and Torres, but the injury was a risk, and it has backfired. No two ways about it, we have a player who has not really contributed, and we look better when Gerrard moves back, which in turn, emphasises the lack of options up front.

 

Tony Barrett is pretty convinced that the Jovetevic deal fell through, which for 7 million is ridiculous as that would have made such a big difference for very little outlay.