Game thread: Mancs away

[Wor Horse]

I think Pepe is in good form too.

 

Apart from the Birmingham game he's really not.

[Red Phoenix]

This club.....makes me feel so shit because I love it so much. I guess that's the price we pay. Good times are truly good, bad times the same. Feel like I could cry at the moment, but I won't because being a soppy twat won't help anyone.

[Pidge]

I'm a little bit drunk. All I feel like doing is pissing my pants and sitting in the warm urine until it gets all cold and uncomfortable. Ohhh, bastard! Wasn't expecting the bowel movement as well. What a fucking day.

 

By rights, this should be the end of the thread. Brilliant.

[Red Phoenix]

By rights, this should be the end of the thread. Brilliant.

 

Haha, probably. Was gonna say something else but forget it! Torah you just hit the nail right on the head. Acceptance is a bitch.

[Byrnie]

I think he was by a mile our best defender today.

 

Carra is finished, but have to say that Maxi is utter shit. And I am saying this for months.

 

Martin, you were shit today.

[KopOut]

Ok, before I go : I'm surprised at one thing. How little service Nando got. Am sick of it. People who say Nando is doing shit just no, I cannot be bothered even talking about it. He is not getting service, just like he wasn't right back when Robbie Keane was playing for us. We're a fucking mess.

 

Half our problem is supplying the strikers. And it makes me feel ill nearly every match. Maxi, Cole, Gerrard, Jova, etc. We still do not do it right.

 

yeah I really noticed this in the world cup too. No service for nando - david villa was a selfish prat who went for all the glory, not a team player at all, and Nando suffered because of it. How can you hit your form if you don't hardly see the ball?????

 

I'd rather see a 3 - 4 - 3 formation, and lose every game 4 - 5 or 4 - 6 than this boring single striker defensive mentality....haha still get beaten 3-2 anyway !!!

[Randy Marsh]

Apart from the Birmingham game he's really not.

 

I wonder whether the goalkeeping coach situation could maybe have something to do with Pepe's less than 100% start to the season (although he's still been outstanding in the main).

 

Pepe always spoke glowingly about Xavi Valero as his coach, providing him with an in depth knowledge of his opponents before every game, advising him on whether it's best to go to ground or stay up when Jermaine Defoe was baring down on goal, that kind of thing. He attributed his good form and golden glove awards on the defense and coaching team.

 

I just wonder whether John Achterberg will provide that level of expertise, as all I've seen him do up to now is lump in a number of under hit crosses to Brad Jones in the half time warm up and struggle to retreive the ball after mis-controlling Jones' throw back, hardly inspiring stuff to say the least.

[VladimirIlyich]

Thought Roys subs were erratic.

Great sub getting Ngog on for Maxi,who has been garbage in a Liverpool shirt and i can understand Agger coming on for Konchesky,who had a nightmare,but the Meireles for Jovanovic cost us a draw.

I would have liked to have seen Babel come on to get at their defence with his pace against the OAPs.

We need a second Gerrard who can play centrally and just behind Torres too.

I thought we largely won the central midfield battle but got punished down the sides big time,3 goals and all from crosses.

[Guest TK-421]

david villa was a selfish prat who went for all the glory, not a team player at all, and Nando suffered because of it.

 

Hah, that's got to be one of the very wrongest things I've ever read on here. David Villa is a great team player, always has been. Did you hear him moan about being stuck out on the left for Spain, even though he's probably the world's greatest natural finisher? Did ye shite.

[VladimirIlyich]

Thought Roys subs were erratic.

Great sub getting Ngog on for Maxi,who has been garbage in a Liverpool shirt and i can understand Agger coming on for Konchesky,who had a nightmare,but the Meireles for Jovanovic cost us a draw.

I would have liked to have seen Babel come on to get at their defence with his pace against the OAPs.

We need a second Gerrard who can play centrally and just behind Torres too.

I thought we largely won the central midfield battle but got punished down the sides big time,3 goals and all from crosses.

[piscinin]

Thought Roys subs were erratic.

Great sub getting Ngog on for Maxi,who has been garbage in a Liverpool shirt and i can understand Agger coming on for Konchesky,who had a nightmare,but the Meireles for Jovanovic cost us a draw.

I would have liked to have seen Babel come on to get at their defence with his pace against the OAPs.

We need a second Gerrard who can play centrally and just behind Torres too.

I thought we largely won the central midfield battle but got punished down the sides big time,3 goals and all from crosses.

 

I thought that too until I watched the game again and it was clear for large stretches of the game they were letting us have the ball because they knew we couldn't hurt them the way we were setup. Torres received 7 passes all game.

 

The crosses thing is something I just can't work out. Before we got Konchesky, I noticed Agger was always moving into the center leaving open spaces out wide, I assumed it was just him operating on a center halves autopilot, taking his mark from the six yard box and clogging up the middle. But Konchesky has been doing the same thing!

 

When your wingers are playing as deep as ours are you've got to think they are supposed to be dropping into that space but that hasn't been happening consistently (although, ironically it did happen for the final goal). TBH I think the understanding between the full backs, wide midfielders and DM just isn't there. Its a problem thats much bigger than just Konchesky if you ask me. Its also the kind of teething problem you would expect at this stage, so fingers crossed.

[Randy Marsh]

The goals that we have conceded in the league this season have pretty much all been from wide areas.

 

Arsenal's was ultimately from a cross, albeit a freak mistake from our goalkeeper had a lot to do with it.

 

City's first was from a pull back cross, their second from a cross from a corner kick

 

All 3 of the manc's goals yesterday stemmed from crosses, one being from a corner.

 

The only goal we've not conceded from a cross was City's penalty.

 

That to me tells it's own story. We are playing a game which invites teams on to us, but do not have a defence good enough to contend with this.

[VladimirIlyich]

The goals that we have conceded in the league this season have pretty much all been from wide areas.

 

Arsenal's was ultimately from a cross, albeit a freak mistake from our goalkeeper had a lot to do with it.

 

City's first was from a pull back cross, their second from a cross from a corner kick

 

All 3 of the manc's goals yesterday stemmed from crosses, one being from a corner.

 

The only goal we've not conceded from a cross was City's penalty.

 

That to me tells it's own story. We are playing a game which invites teams on to us, but do not have a defence good enough to contend with this.

 

Very good point and thats because we have full backs who are better going forward than defending.

I would play Kelly behind Johnson on the right while Konchesky would be an option on the left of midfield too.

Left back is still a big problem as i think Jovanovic looks poor so far and that doesnt help whoevers at left back.

[piscinin]

Very good point and thats because we have full backs who are better going forward than defending.

I would play Kelly behind Johnson on the right while Konchesky would be an option on the left of midfield too.

Left back is still a big problem as i think Jovanovic looks poor so far and that doesnt help whoevers at left back.

 

That was my abiding thought of the City game. Agger was having a tough time and Jovanovic was in the vicinity supposedly making it 2 of ours to one of theirs, but he really didn't do anything but observe. To be fair he is a forward so I can understand him struggling with that side of the game, but then thats why you have DMs to help out.

[AussieRed]

I thought that too until I watched the game again and it was clear for large stretches of the game they were letting us have the ball because they knew we couldn't hurt them the way we were setup. Torres received 7 passes all game.

 

The crosses thing is something I just can't work out. Before we got Konchesky, I noticed Agger was always moving into the center leaving open spaces out wide, I assumed it was just him operating on a center halves autopilot, taking his mark from the six yard box and clogging up the middle. But Konchesky has been doing the same thing!

 

When your wingers are playing as deep as ours are you've got to think they are supposed to be dropping into that space but that hasn't been happening consistently (although, ironically it did happen for the final goal). TBH I think the understanding between the full backs, wide midfielders and DM just isn't there. Its a problem thats much bigger than just Konchesky if you ask me. Its also the kind of teething problem you would expect at this stage, so fingers crossed.

 

Players play in the space they are comfortable in. Cole started as a wide player but played mainly in the middle. We do not have natural wide players to stretch the defence and create space.

[piscinin]

Players play in the space they are comfortable in. Cole started as a wide player but played mainly in the middle. We do not have natural wide players to stretch the defence and create space.

 

Lets not even get started on our "width" in attack. I still don't understand why our "wide" players are now starting 10 yards infield of where they were last year. It may be true that they aren't naturals at stretching etc, but thats moot if they are playing as auxiliary central midfielders more often than not.

[MLB]

I made this point before the game. Can't remember if it was in this thread or Dave's match preview one, but it was entirely predictable. They were always going to hurt us on the wings, and to be honest, I'm not sure there was even a way for us to counteract it given the players we have. Of course I think defending a bit higher up might have helped. It would have been a bit of a gamble, but it would have allowed us to do more in the attacking third in the first half. But rather than focus on the full backs (who can't stop every cross making it into the box, let's face it) I think the problem is with our wide midfielders. If we had quality players with pace there then it would give the oppositions wide players and full backs much more to think about it. They would be less inclined to go forward if they thought we could hurt them with pace and skill on the counter. We just don't have that right now though, and it's a glaring defficiency that was obvious before the season even started. I would have loved us to have gotten, say, and N'Zogbia or Ben Arfa or someone like that. We needed two wide players really, but even just one would have helped. Without that I think we're going to really struggle both offensively and defensively in those areas this season.

[Scouse_Datcha]