Tom
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 02
Location: Wirral, Merseyside
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Dr Pepper
King Kenny plays 5 at the back and Kuyt alone up front against Stoke at home
Then he plays a front 3 and isolates Adam in the middle away at Bolton.
That is unforgivable to me.
Stoke away at the big clubs sit back, stay tight, try and force an error - then punt the ball forwards towards the land of the giants and get them to hold it up. Why an earth you would need 5 men in defence at home to stoke is beyond me. I guarantee no other club in the top 6 has played 5 at the back at home to stoke since they came in the league
Then you go to Bolton, a team that actually has some good technical players in the midfield who can counter attack with the ball on the floor .... and he leaves you completely isolated in midfield and defense, plays a front 3 and you get raped on the counter attack.
25 goal in 22 games, after he has spent £100 million on his choice of forwards and midfielders
Im not saying sack him - because Liverpool need stability (the same as Arsenal do) at the moment - you have to back these managers to pull you out of this as fans, not just assume someone else will always do better....but you have to question how well Dalglish is going to do at Liverpool ...he looks slightly unhinged to me at the moment
[Edited on 23-01-2012 by Dr Pepper]
He had his hand forced in both games to an extent though, and please read this rather than automatically thinking 'no'. We have for the most part played expansive, and posession based football this season. I'm sure you'll probably argue that point because of the lack of goals but i've watched every game this season and our game plan with Lucas and/or Spearing in the team was working very well to a point. We had the best defensive record in the league but were also playing decent football, just ultimately we weren't able to finsh chances in many games. If you look at City, United, even Swansea, Norwich at home, all draws but all games we should have put to bed given the volume of chances we created but didn't, it was only the Tottenham game to that point where we hadn't played well (we'd also beaten Chelsea away twice in just over a week). Our home form sparked a lack of belief for many players and they lost confidence, especially the forwards. We then lost Lucas for the season and Spearing was in and out because of bans/injuries. Fast forward 6/7 weeks and we've been even more up and down, just a bit more down in the last couple of weeks. I think it's fair to say Kenny got it wrong against Stoke at home - that formation had worked away at Chelsea last season but in hindsight it was a crap decision at home against a very static Stoke. He had to change it up for Bolton, but the way he set-up wasn't through arrogance, he needed a response from the players and even without either of the 2 DM's available our posession based game should have been enough to compete in a more 'open' game than Stoke. Simply put we started terribly, mistakes galore (mostly from the normally reliable full backs) and we played right into Bolton's hands. If you watched the game you'll have seen that we actually dominated the last 20 mins of the 1st half and outplayed them (and scored), but not because Bolton were sitting back with 10 men behind the ball. After the HT break we came out and just weren't at the races at all, second to every ball, more mistakes etc. The players in that game were at fault, they let their heads go down after they showed they were capable of competing in for that spell in the 1st half. Bolton played quite well too, mind.
The issues we have in the attacking department I believe are a mixture of too many new, unfinished players trying to settle into a team and a massive loss of confidence for some players through their inability to finish chances early in the season, and a mismatch for one player/the system in particular. Kenny has to take some flack for signing some of them, but players like Downing and (more recently) Adam just haven't performed to the level they've shown they can on a consistent basis.
He has got work to do, but he needs time and a couple of players, and he'll get it because he's earned patience with our fans. If some of our players start playing well we can definitely spark us back into form, Suarez will be like a new signing too but even if that happens we are still a working progress, it's going to take time to see the best of some of our young players so I don't expect us to go and win the league next year like Ben is suggesting.
quote:
Originally posted by Marc
I feel sorry for Tom carrying the banter burden now Cosmo is no longer with us (God rest his soul)
I genuinely hope Liverpool beat City this week btw (feel dirty typing that!)
 That must of hurt Marc 
quote:
Originally posted by Ben J
Tom rage quit yet?
Nah not yet, got any new jokes today?
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Rick Draper
Member
Registered: 10th Feb 01
Location: Cheshire
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by The TimesMario Balotelli’s agent raged last night against the Manchester City forward’s impending four-match suspension, accusing the FA of discriminating against overseas players and threatening to find his client a new club.
Mino Raiola also made the astonishing claim that Howard Webb, one of the most respected referees in world football, should be banned for life over his handling of Balotelli’s alleged stamp on Scott Parker during City’s 3-2 Barclays Premier League victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Could not have put it better myself.
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