Game Thread: v West Brom (h)

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

With about a minute to go, Kuyt got the ball under control in midfield. Instead of holding onto it, he tried to release Gerrard with a long pass over the top, giving it straight to Carson.

 

Just a guess of course, but if I had been a defender, I would have bollocked my team-mate for it as well. Bit rich coming from Carra though, as he does that at least 10 times every game (giving the ball to the opposition I mean)(6). Probably why Kuyt looked less than happy about the message...

 

Away from home yes, as the opposition is then in row Z. (6)(6)

[bastard oot]

Good to see that some chooses to look at the positives. Not taking the piss, I mean it. Still my honest opinion is that this was an utterly shocking performance. For long periods it looked like the only thing we were capable of was to sit back and defend. Then hope for some magic from Gerrard/Torres on the break. Remember this was West Brom. Probably one of the 3 worst away teams in the league. They could easily have won it, looked the better team for most of the game. Call me a negative bastard, but I really thought this was piss poor.

 

I doubt anyone will argue that it was piss poor.if we hadnt won it would have been a disaster,as it turns out we are level on points with city and spurs having only really played for the second half against arsenal.maybe we will finally get a bit of luck this season which could be the difference between getting top 4 and not

[DJLJ]

I am glad to see Torres now being left up by the half way line when there is a corner against us. Atleast he will keep 2 of them busy while they worry about his pace. Good sign that we might become a little more adventurous than last season.

[Captain]

I thought we were quite shit today, albeit a bit less shit after the break. But at least we got the result, so it could have been worse. Thank fuck for Torres, he delivered.

 

If I never see Poulsen and Lucas together in midfield again, I'll be a happy man.

[lebron]

Good to see that some chooses to look at the positives. Not taking the piss, I mean it. Still my honest opinion is that this was an utterly shocking performance. For long periods it looked like the only thing we were capable of was to sit back and defend. Then hope for some magic from Gerrard/Torres on the break. Remember this was West Brom. Probably one of the 3 worst away teams in the league. They could easily have won it, looked the better team for most of the game. Call me a negative bastard, but I really thought this was piss poor.

 

Our first few games under Roy has been as bad playwise as anything under both Ged and Rafa. Must admit that I'm sceptical to this being corrected, as the way we play now is similar to all the Hodgson teams I've watched. It's all about being compact and defensively structured. I'll support Roy (as I have other Liverpool managers), but the decision to replace Rafa with him still baffles me.

 

On a side note, man marking at defensive set pieces won't work very well for us if our players keep holding the opposition players as much as they did today. WBA could have had 4 or 5 penalties from Skrtel and Carra alone (and probably would have if it had been Riley/Webb/Bennett and we had played away from home).

[piscinin]

I thought we were quite shit today, albeit a bit less shit after the break. But at least we got the result, so it could have been worse. Thank fuck for Torres, he delivered.

 

If I never see Poulsen and Lucas together in midfield again, I'll be a happy man.

 

Scary thing is that was probably our most defensively secure midfield line-up and the amount of unpressured possession WBA, yes WBA, had around our penalty box was alarming.

[VladimirIlyich]

I think I now realise why we bought Meireles.

 

It needs to be Lucas or Poulsen not Lucas and Poulsen.

 

Hopeful Mereiles will change things centrally for us.

[BCM]

Thank God we were playing West brom at home today, thats about the best i can say.

 

Also two Dm's at home against shite, and 442 away to city, wonder if Purslow is going to start slagging the manager again..............

 

Oh and thank god for Torres, his face at half time said it all. Have a bad feeling this is his "farewell" season

[MLB]

Our midfield was truly, truly awful today. I honestly never want to see Lucas in a Liverpool shirt again, but none of them are good enough really. Jovanovic and Poulsen are new so perhaps deserve a bit of leeway, but neither should be regular starters for us. The sight of Kuyt in the first 11 is starting to really depress me as well. For me we need to sign at least one wide player with a bit of pace and skill or our season is going to be utterly turgid and depressing. Playing Cole and Maxi there won't really make us any less narrow either, although they might provide a bit of extra quality. Just think about it though...... a whole season of Kuyt and Jovanovic as our first choice wide players. It doesn't get much more depressing than that.

[Tepid water]

I suppose being positive the team lacks confidence and a few 1-0 wins will bolster that. We certainly did better than the likes of shitty and spurs after midweek European games so it is good to win.

 

On a negative point we were totally shite like we were last season and we would struggle to score more than once at a Silvio Belosconi's party for young ladies.

[Kevin D]

Both Raul and Konchesky in the crowd.

 

Fuckin daytripping cunts stopping locals going the match.

[Brigant Moloch]

[YOUTUBE]A-PII2rSLVo[/YOUTUBE]

[LaurenceCrewe]

Not great today by any stretch of the imagination but 3 points on the board, Kuyt seeming alot better in the role he plays for the Dutch and with two players comfortable on the ball (Cole and Meireles) and a proper left back to come into the starting 11, not just the 18, i'd say it's not all doom and gloom on the pitch

[lyricallylethal]

I suppose being positive the team lacks confidence and a few 1-0 wins will bolster that. We certainly did better than the likes of shitty and spurs after midweek European games so it is good to win.

 

On a negative point we were totally shite like we were last season and we would struggle to score more than once at a Silvio Belosconi's party for young ladies.

 

The team lacks confidence?? oh funny how Purslow told everyone on 5 live that there mood in the camp was much better now that Roy had come in. Well where is this new found good mood? because it certainly reflected in the play I have seen so far it has been utterly abysmal.

 

Funny how the Rafa knockers "oh but compared to last season today was better", RAFA is fucking gone and it is Roy's team and i have seen no bounce in style, no change in formation or tactics for the better if anything it has got worse.

[bastard oot]

Fuckin daytripping cunts stopping locals going the match.

 

haha and the 3000 empty seats wont stop people (locals or oots) saying they couldnt get a ticket.and they said a boycott wouldnt work:whistle:

[m0e]

The team lacks confidence?? oh funny how Purslow told everyone on 5 live that there mood in the camp was much better now that Roy had come in. Well where is this new found good mood? because it certainly reflected in the play I have seen so far it has been utterly abysmal.

 

Funny how the Rafa knockers "oh but compared to last season today was better", RAFA is fucking gone and it is Roy's team and i have seen no bounce in style, no change in formation or tactics for the better if anything it has got worse.

 

The team selection was a joke.

 

How does he justify 2 up front away at City and then revert to that shit today?

 

Should have played Kuyt behind Torres with Maxi on the right and Gerrard Poulsen central.

 

Thats was shocking and in some ways worse than the City game.

 

Commentator on Abu Dhabi tv said West Brom had to be careful as Liverpool may hit them on the counter!

 

And that was before we went one up!!!! He was right of course, as we countered from a decent attack by them to score the goal. Embarrassing.

 

They even had more shots on goal, which is unheard of in this type of fixture.

 

Roy must know he's not here long-term so I wish he'd just go for it and let the players express themselves.

 

Of course with Joe Cole and Meireles in for Jova and Lucas, we may see some improvement, but it doesn't explain leaving Babel and Maxi on the bench in favour of two defensive midfielders against a team like that.

[lyricallylethal]

The team selection was a joke.

 

How does he justify 2 up front away at City and then revert to that shit today?

 

Should have played Kuyt behind Torres with Maxi on the right and Gerrard Poulsen central.

 

Thats was shocking and in some ways worse than the City game.

 

Commentator on Abu Dhabi tv said West Brom had to be careful as Liverpool may hit them on the counter!

 

And that was before we went one up!!!! He was right of course, as we countered from a decent attack by them to score the goal. Embarrassing.

 

They even had more shots on goal, which is unheard of in this type of fixture.

 

Roy must know he's not here long-term so I wish he'd just go for it and let the players express themselves.

 

Of course with Joe Cole and Meireles in for Jova and Lucas, we may see some improvement, but it doesn't explain leaving Babel and Maxi on the bench in favour of two defensive midfielders against a team like that.

 

We aren't supposed to question his team selection and the inept performance of the team because it just isn't 'the liverpool way', but getting a 3rd rate manager is and buying mediocre players suddenly has become the liverpool way.

[sir roger]

Very scrappy start to the season but probably to be expected after our practically having no pre-season.

 

We have 2 weeks now to see the final shape of Roy's squad going forward & despite a poorish start we are mid-table with most of our immediate rivals & have muddled our way into the group stages of the Europa League so I am not going to flay myself too much at this juncture.

[RedKnight]

A lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth in this thread. Sub-par performance but it's early days and the team is quite clearly in transition.

[Code]

Awful game really, when are we going to start to play some exciting attacking football?

 

Lets start at the back.

 

People can moan as much as they want about the Konchesky signing, but personally I cant wait to see him in the team so we can sort out the current mess we are in.

 

Skrtel needs to get out of this team and that faster than the speed of a bullet, he is a liability and only a ref who did not make any decisions whatsoever helped us not concede at least one penalty today from his reckless defending, he does not cover his zone and he cant clear the ball with his head to save his life, the constant shirt pulling needs adressing as well and that fast.

 

Agger is not a left back in a million years so get him back central where he belongs to help steady the ship and get someone in there who is able to carry the ball forward and make a pass along the ground.

 

Getting Konchesky in will be a relevation for this team both of our attacking and defensive game.

 

Our central midfield today was just crap really, did Lucas or Poulsen get into the box once from open play? Poulsen gave away posession to easily and Lucas gave away silly free kicks as usual, but this was hopefully the last time we will see this combination and getting Meireles in there will hopefully help us get some drive and defence splitting passes from our CM, lacklustre is the best thing I can say about Lucas and Poulsen today.

 

Our lack of pace out wide is another major worry, the less said about Kuyt and Jovanovic the better it is.

We really need a player with the pace and skill to go past players out wide, we have not had one since we sold McManaman in 99, some might argue the case of Berger but the point still stands.

 

I guess we can only get better when our new signings are ready but I have to say Hodgsons lack of substitutions annoyed me massively in the second half.

 

I thought Olsson had a great game for WBA, but if we had brought on a player or two who actually could have challenged them out wide to open up their defence we might have been able to trouble them a bit more giving Torres and Gerrard a bit more space in the middle to do their thing.

 

Hodgson went for the strategy of not changing things hoping we would hang in there even if we gave away space all over the place in our back four and in the space beween defense and midfield.

 

Personally I would have liked to see him try to change things through attacking WBA a bit more, especially in the wide areas and as I said to my friend early in the second half I would bring on Maxi, Babel and Pacheco for Jovanovic, Kuyt and Lucas to give WBA something completely different to deal with and a few players that actually could help us take advantage of the fact WBA did not come to Anfield just to defend.

 

I understand this might be easier said than done especially when you sit on the bench, but it also confirms a lot of the doubts both myself and a few of the Norwegian experts who all have worked under Hodgson earlier have expressed about his ability to change his tactics and set up to this new environment where we should just go out and hammer some of the teams we are up against, will he want to take these chances or will he play it safe more often than not through his conservative views of the game.

 

Its some time until the next game now and hopefully we will see a different team by then because what we have delievered so far will get us nowhere.

[lebron]

The team selection was a joke.

 

How does he justify 2 up front away at City and then revert to that shit today?

 

Should have played Kuyt behind Torres with Maxi on the right and Gerrard Poulsen central.

 

Thats was shocking and in some ways worse than the City game.

 

Commentator on Abu Dhabi tv said West Brom had to be careful as Liverpool may hit them on the counter!

 

And that was before we went one up!!!! He was right of course, as we countered from a decent attack by them to score the goal. Embarrassing.

 

They even had more shots on goal, which is unheard of in this type of fixture.

 

Roy must know he's not here long-term so I wish he'd just go for it and let the players express themselves.

 

Of course with Joe Cole and Meireles in for Jova and Lucas, we may see some improvement, but it doesn't explain leaving Babel and Maxi on the bench in favour of two defensive midfielders against a team like that.

 

 

The most annoying line from the Rafa-haters the last couple of years (just ahead of "release the shackles" though). I have been pondering for a while whether the players (even our "stars") are good enough for such a change to have any kind of success. Part of me want to believe they are, but I'm finding it more and more likely that Rafa had us punching well above our actual weight, and that the times we actually blew the opposition away were as much down to opposition teams being weakened or out of form as it was to us playing well.

 

We all know we have a severe lack of pace in our team/squad, but I think we lack a whole lot of technical ability as well. The first factor leads to our pressing being slow, so we struggle to get hold of the ball, and when we finally get it, we lose it just as quickly due to poor technique. The movement is cause for concern as well.

 

Being outpassed and outshot (are those real words?) at home to WBA? Shocking!

 

Oh, and people are going to realise the importance of Mascherano to our side pretty quickly, even at home against poor opposition. He wasn't the most creative or accurate passer of the ball, but his quick feet and aggression won us countless balls over the years. I'm afraid Roy isn't going to correct this anytime soon either, as neither Poulsen nor Meirelles are ball-winners in that sense. We could put in a sneaky bid for Anthony Annan of Rosenborg BK, he'd do a great job for us. A few PL clubs checking him out, all have pulled out because of his size though (he's about the same as Masch)! Apparantly they want Yaya Toure's as DMs....

Edited August 29, 2010 by lebron

[bastard oot]

it is cause for concern but trying to be positive we cant play that badly many times this season so a 1 0 and 3 points will do nicely today.not exactly a honeymoon period though

[VladimirIlyich]

3 points and a win in our 3rd league game,I'm happy with that.

 

Talk about doom and gloom on this forum,everybody is waiting for Roy to fail and will all be delighted to say 'I told you so.'

 

At least afford the man a season the way we've done with past managers.

This fellas come in at possibly the worst time in our history so FFS give him a chance.

[Jamie-H]

Just got in from the game. First half yes we were awful. Second half a little better. But in each league game under Roy so far, our first halves have been awful.

 

My concerns so far this season is a) lack of strength and character our midfield has of keeping hold of the ball and winning it back, b) lack of width and c) just looking a mid table team.

 

I cannot understand why our "wide" midfield players are being asked to play so central. They are clearly being told to play an "inside" right/left midfield postion, but surely if doing this then we should be able to win and retain the ball in midfield far better than what we have seen so far this season? So far its not working.

 

At City I thought perhaps Kuyt's head was turned by the interest from Inter and that he was forgetting he should be looking to be an option on the far right. Perhaps that was not the case as again he refused to play out wide today and the same with Jovanovic. When Maxi came on he again played inside right so it is obviously a tactic drilled into the team from Roy. I dont think this is going to work? The full backs arent getting forward enough and we are becoming incredibly predicatable already which is very alarming.

 

Already we have found out Agger is not a left back. I thought it would suit him but I have been proved wrong. Lucas and Poulsen today were dreadful in the middle together.

 

On the plus point although we seem to be lacking a lot of quality in the first 11, it seems Roy is looking to get new recruits in as quickly as possilbe. I am intrigued watching us so far and obviulsy I am hoping we will improve under Roy. Some of the football under Rafa last year and Houllier's final season or two are the worst I have seen from a Liverpool team and at times I became so frustrated watching such dire performances I questioned myself why I was going week in week out. It will be an interesting few months ahead. I hope we can make strides quickly under Roy or we are going to have to settle for a mediocre season again.

[goatboy59]

Anyone called rentokil yet?

 

Real cockroach infestation on here of late.