Did Danny Murphy have a point?

[Antynwa]

Towards the arse end of last season Danny Murphy came out, to much criticism at the time and said Liverpool weren't playing under pressure last season, and this season would be different. Granted we have a few new players, but does his point still stand?

 

Riding the wave of the takeover and Kenny's return, we played some excellent football, and only spells have we replicated the intensity we played with last season.

 

The players are under pressure no doubt, agitation is till in crowd if we're not 1-0 up with 30 minutes to go. I think it's fair to say the pressure is on, and I think it's fair to say some players are feeling it more than other, Carroll especially. Which begs the question, is Kenny, and our players under more pressure than ever before? This isn't thread having a pop, it's merely saying is the honeymoon period over now? I'm personally somewhat pleased with the majority of what I've seen, I know this is a work in progress and I know we are a top striker away from really competing.

 

I think our performances in the cup will be our best chance of securing European Qualification. I really don't think we will make fourth unless we invest money in a striker. So it really adds more impetus on the cup competitions.

[razor]

Yes, but only on his hairline.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Murphy left because he wanted a British manager and British player. Not arsed beyond that.

[Hades]

He was right. We shipped fuckloads of goals in preseason and the fear of conceding goals has taken over to the point where we don't even bother committing midfielders into the box. This has put extra pressure on the forwards because every miss gets magnified and they lose confidence. A vicious cycle has started and I'm afraid I've seen no signs the manager understands the problem, let alone knowing what to do about it.

[ritchie]

Analyse the results last season under Kenny and this season and there isn't much difference. We were beating the top teams and getting really good wins but slipping up against shite like Wigan, West Ham and West Brom.

 

Kenny is struggling to get consistency and a balanced team into Liverpool. When it works it's great like last season (United and City at home, Chelsea away) and this season (Chelsea away, City away, Arsenal away, City at home) but we're struggling against shit teams.

 

Murphy is a little-England tosser anyway who gave a shithouse interview about Rafa doing other peoples dirty work.

[Jairzinho]

No.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Analyse the results last season under Kenny and this season and there isn't much difference.

 

Except that we were the team who picked up most points in the league whilst he was manager.

[Jonny83]

In hindsight he probably did to a certain extent.

 

Other factors need to be looked at though, such as the loss of Meireles and the reduced involvement of Maxi and Kuyt.

 

Also our run at the end of last season saw the likes of Kelly, Spearing, Flanagan and Robinson coming in and making a mark. We've seen less of them this season for various reasons. I'm not saying they're the answer, but the fact that they could come in last year with little to play for and perform basically uninhibited would likely affect them even more so than our established players.

 

All our new buys, whether you believe they are a downgrade on what they've directly replaced in the first team, or whether you merely believe they are adapting to how we play and that we're a team in transition as a result, has to have had an effect.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if mentality has played a part though. A bit like how we started scoring for fun under Rafa once we were essentially relying on a Manc collapse for the 2008/9 title.

 

Maybe we'll see come the end of the season though - if we drop out of contention for fourth and subsequently start playing teams off the park again, that'll say something, although even that could be put down to our new buys finally gelling I guess, if things play out that way (they probably won't now I've wrote this!)

[Guest San Don]

I think murphy was talking shit then and I still do.

 

So we werent under pressure playing for a manager who'd been out the game for a few years, a team that still had the weight of expectation of the fans that we should be playing better and higher up the league, that a Liverpool team never plays without pressure in one form or another?

 

Yeah, he was talking out his anus.

[ritchie]

Except that we were the team who picked up most points in the league whilst he was manager.

 

I don't know if that's strictly true but nobody was consistent last season. United won the league by default almost and even they picked up less points after new year.

 

From the first 18 games this season we were only two points short of the 33 points from the 18 league games under Kenny last season - and we're also on the verge of a cup final from a very tricky run of draws.

Edited January 16, 2012 by ritchie

[shouter]

He was right. We shipped fuckloads of goals in preseason and the fear of conceding goals has taken over to the point where we don't even bother committing midfielders into the box. This has put extra pressure on the forwards because every miss gets magnified and they lose confidence. A vicious cycle has started and I'm afraid I've seen no signs the manager understands the problem, let alone knowing what to do about it.

 

Understands the problem? Are you for Fuckin real? The man knows more about football than you me and virtually everyone else for that matter. This was one of the reasons I was a bit sceptical about him coming back because of retards Like you and the sky generation want it all yesterday pricks. We or shall I say you and people like you don't deserve him and you didn't deserve Rafa. What you do deserve is a never ending revolving door manager policy and no Fuckin success.

[silverlining]

Understands the problem? Are you for Fuckin real? The man knows more about football than you me and virtually everyone else for that matter. This was one of the reasons I was a bit sceptical about him coming back because of retards Like you and the sky generation want it all yesterday pricks. We or shall I say you and people like you don't deserve him and you didn't deserve Rafa. What you do deserve is a never ending revolving door manager policy and no Fuckin success.

 

How did you come up with your user name?

[Timão]

Understands the problem? Are you for Fuckin real? The man knows more about football than you me and virtually everyone else for that matter. This was one of the reasons I was a bit sceptical about him coming back because of retards Like you and the sky generation want it all yesterday pricks. We or shall I say you and people like you don't deserve him and you didn't deserve Rafa. What you do deserve is a never ending revolving door manager policy and no Fuckin success.

 

Somewhere in there is a valid point amongst all the anger but 6 manager in 21 years is hardly 'revolving door'.

 

Calm down.

[shouter]

Somewhere in there is a valid point amongst all the anger but 6 manager in 21 years is hardly 'revolving door'.

 

Calm down.

 

No I mean that's what will happen if the doubters and hacks ever get there way and he is hounded out.

[Funkasy]

Danny murphy was right, and it happens every fucking year, as long as we are in for a titel shot we mess up and play very strange football, and when we are 15-20 points from the top, we start playing very very good football and everyone thinks we are gonna take it into the next season, but it NEVER happens.

[Il Fenomeno]

Not really. The team is totally different from last season. Last season the success was based on Lucas, Spearing, Meireles, Maxi, Kuyt and Suarez playing good football.

 

For most of this season we've been playing Downing and Henderson/Bellamy on the wings with Carroll and Suarez up top and Adam and Lucas in midfield. The only players that were here last season and have been playing week in week out are Lucas, who's now injured, and Suarez.

[lebron]

Not really. The team is totally different from last season. Last season the success was based on Lucas, Spearing, Meireles, Maxi, Kuyt and Suarez playing good football.

 

For most of this season we've been playing Downing and Henderson/Bellamy on the wings with Carroll and Suarez up top and Adam and Lucas in midfield. The only players that were here last season and have been playing week in week out are Lucas, who's now injured, and Suarez.

 

This

[Hades]

Understands the problem? Are you for Fuckin real? The man knows more about football than you me and virtually everyone else for that matter. This was one of the reasons I was a bit sceptical about him coming back because of retards Like you and the sky generation want it all yesterday pricks. We or shall I say you and people like you don't deserve him and you didn't deserve Rafa. What you do deserve is a never ending revolving door manager policy and no Fuckin success.

 

He knows more about football but that also makes it harder for him to admit a mistake. Carroll, Downing, Henderson and Adam do not belong in our best XI and the pressure of having to play those one-dimensional, non-performing players is costing us.

 

Reinstate the old guard, get back to pressing and harrying teams and I'm almost certain we'll start scoring goals freely again. Blaming missed chances for a worse scoring record than Norwich, Sunderland, Blackburn and Bolton is either delusion or lies.

[TheResonator]

Not really. The team is totally different from last season. Last season the success was based on Lucas, Spearing, Meireles, Maxi, Kuyt and Suarez playing good football.

 

For most of this season we've been playing Downing and Henderson/Bellamy on the wings with Carroll and Suarez up top and Adam and Lucas in midfield. The only players that were here last season and have been playing week in week out are Lucas, who's now injured, and Suarez.

 

Agree with this. Our starting eleven this year has not been as good as it was last year. It's less cohesive and depressingly lacking the game intelligence of players like Meireles and Maxi.

[05 Milan]

Cracking under pressure, insufficient quality in the squad. You can call it a lot of things.

[Guest TK-421]

Agree with spud and antynwa 100%.

[xerxes]

I think that it is true that the second half of last season was “just for fun”.

 

We do not know how much FSG’s business plan involved investing for progress, and how much depended upon putting the basics right, and hoping for/relying upon organic growth.

 

The average FSG investment was under £10m, from very rich men – small beer. I don’t think that Kenny is, or will be, under pressure from the owners unless we start a Hodgsonesque spiral towards the relegation zone.

 

Pressure may come from the fans. But the combination of Kenny’s status, and the unhappy recent experiences with G&H and Hodgson will mean that Kenny will have plenty of time, and grace, to make progress.

[shouter]

He knows more about football but that also makes it harder for him to admit a mistake. Carroll, Downing, Henderson and Adam do not belong in our best XI and the pressure of having to play those one-dimensional, non-performing players is costing us.

 

Reinstate the old guard, get back to pressing and harrying teams and I'm almost certain we'll start scoring goals freely again. Blaming missed chances for a worse scoring record than Norwich, Sunderland, Blackburn and Bolton is either delusion or lies.

 

No he just dosent like being critical of his team in public. It's the way he's always been. What he tells us and the media and what he thinks privately are , 2 different things. Ha ha liar or delusional, they are 2 words I would never use to describe Kenny dalglish. You don't realy know a thing about him do you.

[razor]

Agree with spud and antynwa 100%.

 

And not with me?

 

 

That's one heck of a point. Eddie Munster is jealous.

[Lario]

Football team played better when under no pressure shocker!