BookableOffense

Am I off, or did it just seem like a bit of a day when everyone was worn down. Raul went missing after that one challenge, which I didn't think was going to be as much of a problem as it was; Gerrard didn't seem settled, didn't seem particularly fit either, never really got into his passing game. Kuyt had a bad day. Cole looked sharp as the link-up man and as wreckless and inconsistent as ever tracking back. Today was a day when our lack of width seemed to particularly hamper us. Johnson's runs before Kelly got hurt seemed to add a bit of pace, but he still likes to cut in as if he's in the positions he takes up as a fullback--it seems to have been met with some successes and some failures. Not a fun one to watch today, but it seemed inevitable, I suppose. The squad is still a work in progress. Hope this stretch of bad form, bad fitness and bad luck does not continue. Hope we get to have a look at Carroll soon.

1. Lucas 2. Carragher 3. Raul

Had a good cynical chuckle over this.

The guy on the Main Stand side was even more incompetent, he was absolutely dreadful. Richard Keys and Andy Gray were unavailable for comment. Had a laugh at that.

Yes, I think we're arguing the same point after all. Lucas will never be as good as either Mascherano or Alonso, and even if his newfound confidence and decisiveness continues to grow, he'd never be more than a nice compliment to a midfield player of great ability. Worthy of a place in a lot of teams for his passing and general awareness, but it just doesn't look like he'll ever be able to run the show against the better teams. Still like the guy a lot. But he doesn't make me forget Xabi Alonso's better games in a hurry. Edit: sorry to keep getting off topic; in my mind, the ideas of Lucas' limited potential and Adam's reasonably limited potential is linked. I just keep talking about half of it though.

I suppose I phrased it badly. Lucas is the superior footballer, but the point, I suppose is that Darren Fletcher is a good player for his club and for his country. That's the same thinking that applies to Charlie Adam. I reckon Kenny can get good games out of Adam. I'd certainly rather see Adam sitting deep for us than Poulson. People say that's not enough to bring him to the club, that's well and fine in the abstract--but let's be practical. I want to see our team perform well sooner, rather than later. And if Adam, or any player for that matter, comes to Liverpool, does his best and outlives his usefulness? He becomes a squad player or he moves on. If we've managed to turn profit on players like Voronin, etc. over the years, I don't understand why we don't think we could do the same with Adam.

I don't think that's true. He's certainly better than Darren Fletcher, and in terms of club form, regularly outperforms his compatriots Sandro and Ramires (though, it's reasonable to say that Ramires is at the distinct disadvantage of having had significantly less time to find form in a new league). Indeed, Lucas is a regular in the Brazil squad. He's not a spectacular, not a total world-beater, but I think certainly merits his place in the team.

Don't agree about Rossi? Silliness. Rossi has boatloads of technique, wonderful finisher.

Having puzzled over it for a while, I think that's the best way to sum it up. Fair enough if that's red, but you always got the feeling that it was never anything but a red for one of ours, at worst a yellow for theirs. Karmic law would've had us believing the Mancs have 457 overdue red cards (an average of one a game for each start Scholes has made). Still a bit borderline for me, but at least there was more of a case for straight red than say, Cole vs. Arsenal back at the beginning of the season. At least the King is back, and it feels a bit like the real Liverpool Football Club again. Onward and upward.

Well said.

He just sounds like a real manager. That's something we haven't had in quite some time.

Best idea I've heard all day.

I would've been highly suspicious of his singing it right upon his arrival.

Yes. That.

Watching a good baseball game is akin to watching a good penalty shootout. Same mentality. You know the action that will happen is very simple, you know the choices and percentages each action involves, but there is a great deal of tension and room for error, trickery, bad luck, etc... It's all about that buildup of tension and sudden release, which makes it somehow very exciting, even though most of it seems like people standing around waiting for something to happen. Good pitching is not all that unlike a good freekick--they're both about what spin you put on the ball, what the opposition thinks you're going to do, how you execute, etc...and a pitcher who can make the ball move a great deal at high speed and place it properly is about as rare as a freekick taker who can do all of the above at an above average level. There's lots of different kinds of good hitters and good pitchers too. Ichiro, the Japanese fella, is worth taking a look at; never hits the ball very hard--in fact, he's already taken a step towards first base on the run when he hits it, but he gets lots and lots of hits, and becomes a very valued player without ever hitting lots of homeruns. Like all sports, it seems boring and endlessly Byzantine if you don't really know what's going on. But if you know why each little thing is important, you start to really feel tension over the details and it becomes thrilling to watch.

I think that says it best.

I'm of the opinion that Broughton, Purslow and Ayres should be at this moment applauded for doing something to change. If the change does not go well, we will have to search for another solution, but doing nothing would change nothing. I live in America, follow baseball & have done so since 2002. (The Red Sox are my team, it must be said.) I like John Henry as an owner, for the most part. He's proven, I think, that he'll put forth the finances to back a risk. They once paid $50m+ just to talk to a well-regarded Japanese player, who they eventually signed. Seems like the organizational philosophy is to be aggressive with the cash they can afford (they're not wreckless with spending, but consistently among the top two or three spenders, year-to year), but they seem to do so with an eye towards a philosophy on the field with their purchases. In baseball, they've found a very talented young General Manager. They trust him, they back him and the organization has flourished. He is a younger, academically inclined sort of man. He studied under a sort of numbers-crunching fellow that one might be tempted to call an Arsene Wenger of baseball. I imagine they'll look for someone who is fairly like-minded as a manager (they might not look for a new manager right away). Rafa Benitez, actually, fits their sort of approach. I certainly don't mean to say they'll bring him back, but the ruthlessly logical approach Benitez seemed to trust is more the sort of thing that goes on with the Red Sox organiazation, when it comes to player development and acquisition. Provided that, with Liverpool,they bring in the right sort of footballing brain, I see this as a welcome relief. It's true that it's one set of Americans for another, but not all Americans are the same; Hicks was a known compadre of the former president Bush. In either case, it was certain we would go nowhere under Hicks and Gillett. As it stands now, we have a change coming up. It is a most welcome one for the moment.

Not sure he needs so much sticking up for, judging by most reactions to today's performance. He did a lot better than I thought he'd do. After Masch and Momo, having a holder, rather than a destroyer is a nice change. Can only hope the rest of the season finds Poulson paired with a few creative folks--either on the wings or in the middle.

God I hope so.

On the one hand frustration. On the other hand, I know that the back line will settle down (very much liked the look of Johnson today, hope that continues); the midfield problems can be resolved with the personnel we have--let's hope we get it right quickly. Up front, I'd still like to see us bring in another striker, but it seems a bit unlikely at this point. Vorro...could've been worse. Babel intrigues me--if I were still working in the garage I worked at, it'd be an intriguing in the sense that, like I did with many problems that didn't make sense, I'd bang my wrench against the tool cart until the solution became apparent. I don't suppose you can do that to footballers? On the other hand fucking fucking shit.

Babel on for Gerrard...??????? ??????? ??????? are we sure that's our Rafa down there on the touch line?

Pepe. Pepe. Pepe. Thank God for Pepe.

Apparently not with Ronaldo's bird (if the tabloids are to be believed ... er ...) Reina--stuff of legend.

Worst coverage ever. That beats watching the 06 WC here in America as well. Eric Wynalda's commentary makes Andy Gray seem downright enlightening (a renaissance man) and Marcelo Balboa did his best to live up to the legendary American football commentary. Olympic commentary as a general rule is complete shit though. What makes it fantastically awful is the wonderful commercials advertising their own channel during play--I missed a goal because they wanted to encourage me to watch the channel I was already watching :wallbutt: Ah lamentable this fate. To get any football here one must (quite literally) pay through the ass...then again, is that different anywhere else? :whistle: O the fates have cursed mankind--I feel like I'll be watching these kind of telecasts in hell.

Dirk, I just noticed your quote beneath that post--fantastic movie, that.