FA Cup Final

[kalasoma]

kenny looks a beaten man, needs to resign now. give the kids a chance in the last 2 games

 

He needs to resign now with two matches left, and play the kids? Or you want him to resign afterwards? Silly.

[KopOut]

A game of two halves.

 

I liked the starting line up, and obviously Gerrard was being asked to play just behind Suarez, and Stevie started briskly straight up the middle (for me, this was why Spearing was in the team; to provide balance to SG's attacking mid line-up, as Shelvey is too much in the same vein as SG), but after several heavy tackles (Chelsea deliberately targeting him) it's fair to say he was fucked and had to fall back into a holding midfield position, leaving Suarez completely alone. Chelsea got this spot on, because Stevie cannot take the hammerings of yesteryear anymore. It stuck out like dogs balls today.

 

The first goal was a soft one and for me ENRIQUE was guilty of yet another piece of marking, and a poor tackle. Does everyone realise we only play two at the back, because Johnson and Enrique are absolutely shit defenders?? Where was Aurelio, with his experience and cool head (and lethal left foot)??

 

As for Pepe, how many times have we seen him fail to cover his near post?? It's a credit to the brilliance of Agger that we only conceded two goals, and apart from the second goal where Drogba managed to literally inch the ball through a small gap under Skrtel, i thought he too (Skrtel) had a fine game.

 

I felt Spearing started well, with some good passes and he actually thought about what he wanted to do, but we were clearly shell shocked after that first soft goal, and with Gerrard taken out of the game by heavyweight stomping, we had nothing left to give by half time. I have nothing to say about Henderson and Downing, as they were anonymous, except, if you pay 20 million for a player, YOU HAVE TO PLAY HIM. You can't pretend he isn't there, or doesn't exist: he's expected to to turn out and earn his match fees. Personally, I doubt that Henderson's salary is all that high, so, yes, the money is spent, and we must develop him over the next few years.

 

I'm glad Andy Carroll was on the bench, because he clearly got a great view of how crap we were, and how pathetic was our 'cut and thrust'. It galvanised him. I've never seen him come on more fired up than today. The lad may yet have a future here, because he made John Terry look like a schoolboy, for that goal. He's coming along nicely.

 

Bellamy can't play for ninety minutes (the knees), but Dirk came on too late for me; however, Kenny would have been thinking about extra time, because there's no doubt the momentum and possession were with us late on. Unfortunatley not to be, even though we were all over Chelsea like a rash in that second half (READ: same set of players that couldn't be fuckin' arsed in the first half)

 

This team has been Jeckyl and Hyde all season. It amazes me how different we can play from one game to another, and even within ONE game (as we showed here). It's been a huge and continuing problem for us.

 

Onwards and upwards.

[Anubis]

Arrived at Wembley and thought 'it's not all that' from the outside. Yes, the arch looks impressive, especially when lit, but the ground itself looks like a soulless concrete lump with glass stuck on it, and pretty desolate. And why build a modern stadium with huge parking facilities, but leave the access roads as narrow little streets incapable of meeting the traffic demands?

 

Inside I think it's quite impressive. Hugely expensive, but quite impressive. Had a seat in Block 505 which is the upper tier. It's unusual to sit that far from a pitch, but the view was excellent and I didn't feel divorced from the game at all. And nice to see that you can have toilets at a football ground that aren't shite.

 

As for the game. Rule number one - if you don't turn up for 60 minutes you're not going to win anything. And that's on Kenny, I'm afraid. The team selected was way too cautious and gave too much respect to Chelsea.

 

Suarez was isolated, had no support, and the team looked clueless as to how to advance the ball.

 

It says much that Glen Johnson appered to be the only person with any intent to get forward when he could.

 

Spearing's has huge heart, but isn't the level we need. That was a big gaffe that let the Chelea midfield in with a free run on our defence. I don't blame Enrique as he clearly went to try and intercept the ball but changed tack when he realised he wasn't going to get there. I thought he'd done enough to lessen the angle and give Pepe a chance, but I have to say that Pepe was down way too early and I thought that was poor goalkeeping.

 

Henderson was doing better than Spearing. He offered nothing going forward, but was making his tackles and doing his bit to keep Chelsea at bay, and both made a bit more effort towards the end of the half when they combined to try and put Suarez in.

 

Suarez himself was off the boil. Although looking more lively once Carroll was on, and little he tried was coming off.

 

Bellamy was faring little better and I thought this was probably his poorest game for us, but I don't feel like being too critical given how well he served us this season.

 

Gerrard had been dropping too deep to get the ball throughout the game, which is never a good sign as it shows we're struggling, but once Carroll was on I thought that he had more purpose about him.

 

Downing - even when Carroll was on he didn't seem able to raise his game, and I'm afraid he's one gamble that hasn't paid off. Just nowhere near the mentality needed to play for a club like Liverpool and to handle the expectations involved.

 

Carroll was excellent when he came on. He looked every inch the player we thought we'd paid for. His touch, control, and passing were sure, and he took his goal very well. I haven't read the thread but saw some comments above about the non-goal. Cardie, if you're criticising him for celebrating that you're behaving like a fucking idiot. Most of the ground thought it was in at that point, and it certainly looked in from where I was sat. Having watched the replays since I have to say I can't say for certain that al lof the ball is over the line, and it wasn't given, so it doesn't matter. But it doesn't detract from an excellent performance by Carroll, who dragged the whole team up to the standard we'd needed from the outset. I did think that when it wasn't given everybody thought it wasn't our moment, and a little bit of the collective belief went out of us. Had it been given, I think we'd have gone on to win the game in normal time.

 

As for Chelsea, despite better control of the ball in the first half they did nothing with it except for the goal. What they did do was come out of th blocks in the first fifteen minutes of the second half, while we were still strolling round as we had been in the first. But once Carroll scored they shat themselves, as did their fans, and they were visibly shaken and in a panic. From then on they became less interested in getting the ball forward, and more interested in breaking our momentum and time wasting. Thankfully, it also meant that parading Torres was a luxury they couldn't afford.

 

As for Chelsea fans - what a thoroughly horrible set of gobshites. Those stickers were provocative and could have caused a lot of trouble. They treat football like it's an outing to the cinema - I couldn't beleive some of them were strolling across the car park with us when there team were about to lift the FA Cup inside the ground. And at least they provided me with one amusing memory of the final - have you ever seen anything so amusing and truly pathetic as their synchronised plastic flag waving to Blue Is The Colour? They were even giving little up-and-down movements of the flags to the beat of the music. I was pissing myself laughing. I only hope someone has it up on Youtube. Cunts.

 

Anyway, I'm done, and I'm off to watch the Avengers.

[navbasi]

Great post Anubis.

[MLB]

Didn't read this thread yesterday but I bet NV still found reasons to criticize Andy Carroll.

[Guest davelfc]

First thing I did when I sat in my seat yesterday was snap that shitty fucking flag on a stick and throw it on the floor. If you were there yesterday and waved it, you're a cunt and everyone else there knew it.

[Guest davelfc]

Arrived at Wembley and thought 'it's not all that' from the outside. Yes, the arch looks impressive, especially when lit, but the ground itself looks like a soulless concrete lump with glass stuck on it, and pretty desolate. And why build a modern stadium with huge parking facilities, but leave the access roads as narrow little streets incapable of meeting the traffic demands?

 

Quite, also no toilets outside (except in mcdonalds)

[Newport]

Wtf has Shelvey done not to get in ahead of Henderson or Spearing!? I hope he along with Sterling, Suso and Coady get some real good play time for the last few games.

 

I think it's about his lack of experience from big games, but I think we missed the creativity in defensive midfield to create anything and he could have brought that confidence and willingness going forward that wasn't there in the first half.

 

There was hardly anything coming from the middle which left our best attacking players isolated with no balls coming forward which resulted in Gerrard having to drop down and try to do the job Henderson and Spearing should be doing. Add that to Enrique and Downing messing up most of their chances to create something by wasting a lot of time on the ball giving Chelsea the time to track back and defend comfortably.

[Paco]

what stickers were they wearing?

[whistler]

Downing has nothing; no balls, no form, no brain, no quality. It's a wonder that he can run fast in a straight line - just enough to convince Gerrard to try pick him out (that got fucking annoying). He doesn't want to take responsibility for anything, Enrique knows it, and that's why he's constantly shifted into a no man's land as opposed to picking his moments to go forward (like he does when he plays with Bellamy). I remember a moment in the first half when Downing put in one good cross from deep and nobody was there, you wonder why?

As for Henderson, he just looks like a young Michael Carrick; if he was playing for one of the twatty London sides, the press would convince the idiots that he's the next big thing (a la Kyle Walker), but he's just not got anything about him and is a boring fuck too.

Spearing was bad beyond belief, if we had one anchorman we would have won yesterday.

[whistler]

Ashley Cole has 7 FA Cup winners medals , thats mental.

 

Yeah, but he cheated on Cheryl :( let's boo him next time!

[Paco]

Downing has nothing; no balls, no form, no brain, no quality. It's a wonder that he can run fast in a straight line - just enough to convince Gerrard to try pick him out (that got fucking annoying). He doesn't want to take responsibility for anything, Enrique knows it, and that's why he's constantly shifted into a no man's land as opposed to picking his moments to go forward (like he does when he plays with Bellamy). I remember a moment in the first half when Downing put in one good cross from deep and nobody was there, you wonder why?

As for Henderson, he just looks like a young Michael Carrick; if he was playing for one of the twatty London sides, the press would convince the idiots that he's the next big thing (a la Kyle Walker), but he's just not got anything about him and is a boring fuck too.

Spearing was bad beyond belief, if we had one anchorman we would have won yesterday.

 

I agree he has no balls but he actually won a tackle in the build up to carrolls goal which was probably more amazing to me than wor horses footwork and finish.

 

I think bosingwa is having a bit of a renaissance for chelsea but he's suspect defensively and always has been but we didn't cause him many problems yesterday.

 

disappointing result but I wasn't really confident we'd win so not entirely surprised.

[Faustus]

what stickers were they wearing?

 

They were plastering them everywhere:

 

Ashamed of nothing

Offended by everything

Justice for the 39

 

A truly vile and despicable club. Everything about them is truly deplorable.

[Randy Marsh]

The official website is full of the usual "we will bounce back from this" drivel which they're now trotting out on pretty much a weekly basis after the latest pathetic defeat. Infact we've had it twice this week, and will probably have it on Wednesday morning after Chelsea turn us over again at Anfield. Utter bollocks.

[FrenchEyeGlass]

The official website is full of the usual "we will bounce back from this" drivel which they're now trotting out on pretty much a weekly basis after the latest pathetic defeat. Infact we've had it twice this week, and will probably have it on Wednesday morning after Chelsea turn us over again at Anfield. Utter bollocks.

 

I'm just tired of our club telling us we're good when we're crap.

 

Kenny: "I don't think the first hour was a true reflection of the quality we had out there."

[s(k)aturation]

The "New" Wembley.

A 5.15 kick-off.

Another top flight match being played across London on the same day.

 

This didn't in the slightest resemble the big occasions I remember watching as a lad.

 

Especially the result.

 

I wonder whether I'll ever get the "Old" Liverpool back.

 

PS. Fantastic post relating your experience and opinions, Anubis. Along with Andy Carroll, the only two highlights of the day.

[Newport]

This acceptance of mediocrity, and even worse at times, is the most concerning thing about this season. We've gotten worse since the start of the season and there are hardly any signs of progress other than Carroll's performances.

[Randy Marsh]

This acceptance of mediocrity, and even worse at times, is the most concerning thing about this season. We've gotten worse since the start of the season and there are hardly any signs of progress other than Carroll's performances.

 

That's it in a nutshell.

 

We tolerate mediocrity and glorify what is ultimately failure however we dress it up.

 

We hide behind the excuses, forever convincing ourselves as a club that we are hard done to, that we haven't had the stroke of luck or the bounce of the ball, that things are about to pick up and we'll soon turn the mythical corner.

 

We are all guilty of it, the club, the players and supporters.

 

I've read posts telling us that we are impatient, we are far too critical and we are expecting too much. Rubbish in my opinion. We are too patient as a club, and not critical enough. Why shouldn't we expect And demand better? We are the most successful club in British football history for fuck sake.

 

We are living off our reputation and our name, hiding behind our history. History won't win us football matches today. We are not entitled to success just because we are Liverpool Football Club. We became who we are because we demanded the best, set high standards and lived by them. Now we don't. We accept failure and underachievement. We sign second rate footballers and are surprised when they fail. We have been planning to leave Anfield for ten years, have wasted £70m on pretty pictures and we don't have so much as a single brick to show for it. Amateurish decision making and mediocrity is rank throughout all aspects of the club, from top to bottom.

 

Until we start demanding the best and stop accepting second best we won't be going any where .

[njackets]

Can I just say anyone who boo's anyones National Anthem is a cunt! Keep your shitty politics away from Football in my opinion like!

[TheHowieLama]

Agger is boss and I fear it will be hard to hold onto him this summer.

[Tommy Lawrence]

The official website is full of the usual "we will bounce back from this" drivel which they're now trotting out on pretty much a weekly basis after the latest pathetic defeat. Infact we've had it twice this week, and will probably have it on Wednesday morning after Chelsea turn us over again at Anfield. Utter bollocks.

 

Pravda.

[KopOut]

That's it in a nutshell.

 

We tolerate mediocrity and glorify what is ultimately failure however we dress it up.

Why shouldn't we expect And demand better? We are the most successful club in British football history for fuck sake.

We are living off our reputation and our name, hiding behind our history. History won't win us football matches today. We are not entitled to success just because we are Liverpool Football Club. We became who we are because we demanded the best, set high standards and lived by them. Now we don't. We accept failure and underachievement. We sign second rate footballers and are surprised when they fail. We have been planning to leave Anfield for ten years, have wasted £70m on pretty pictures and we don't have so much as a single brick to show for it. Amateurish decision making and mediocrity is rank throughout all aspects of the club, from top to bottom.

 

Until we start demanding the best and stop accepting second best we won't be going any where .

 

Liverpool supporter's expectations are always in the stratosphere, and, with the exception of a S.G. wonder goal in the cup Final V West Ham, and about a 10 minute miracle in Istanbul, our success was all over 20 yrs or so ago.

 

It's the expectation and the demanding that brings about the collective clinical depression that this club's fans have. The degree of a depression, is correlated to the difference between desire and reality.

 

Expect nothing, and you wont be disappointed.

[Dicko]

Liverpool supporter's expectations are always in the stratosphere, and, with the exception of a S.G. wonder goal in the cup Final V West Ham, and about a 10 minute miracle in Istanbul, our success was all over 20 yrs or so ago.

 

It's the expectation and the demanding that brings about the collective clinical depression that this club's fans have. The degree of a depression, is correlated to the difference between desire and reality.

 

Expect nothing, and you wont be disappointed.

You know we had to beat teams on the way to those finals.

Just saying like.

[Newport]

Agger is boss and I fear it will be hard to hold onto him this summer.

 

Unfortunately you are right. He should be playing for the kind of club we want to be. For once his injury record might actually help us.

[Saintslfc13]

Liverpool supporter's expectations are always in the stratosphere, and, with the exception of a S.G. wonder goal in the cup Final V West Ham, and about a 10 minute miracle in Istanbul, our success was all over 20 yrs or so ago.

 

It's the expectation and the demanding that brings about the collective clinical depression that this club's fans have. The degree of a depression, is correlated to the difference between desire and reality.

 

Expect nothing, and you wont be disappointed.

 

If we expect nothing why even bother watching football?