Different options?

[stuartb]

Im glad Rafa played the team he did - we went for it with 3 strikers but its not always going to work against the lesser teams.

That being said - what we lack right now IMO is options from the bench. Normally we could bring on Crouch or Bellamy to change things up but today i kept thinking as I watched the game that we didnt have a positive option on the bench. I think the game was made for Garcia coming in at 60 mins or so to change things up but as hes injured we were a bit lost for options.

To move us forward we need that depth and diversity to come in and change things up and to that extent we dont quite (yet) have the options we need to come in. Yes Garcia is injured but who would you have brought on today to change things other than him? Aerilio maybe - Bazza Kewell if fit? but aside from them we aren't quite there yet.

I think that to challenge next year we need more options and I think Rafa sees that - hence the new faces in the transfer window. Its not doom and gloom - still a rebuilding exercise but we are getting closer and barring a bad start im hopeful we will be challenging through 2007-2008.

Walk on

[Bob]

Welcome to the site.

You're so right, the options on the bench were truly terrible today. Only Fowler came on... and let's face it he's not going to change a game.

I was even calling for Zenden... bloody ZENDEN to come on to give us something on the left, and take the responsibility off Pennant.

[Guest]

Welcome to the site.

You're so right, the options on the bench were truly terrible today. Only Fowler came on... and let's face it he's not going to change a game.

I was even calling for Zenden... bloody ZENDEN to come on to give us something on the left, and take the responsibility off Pennant.

Anyway ... I'm drowning my disappointment with loads of beer. That should help me forget that performance today.

[Graybach]

Welcome to the site.

You're so right, the options on the bench were truly terrible today. Only Fowler came on... and let's face it he's not going to change a game.

I was even calling for Zenden... bloody ZENDEN to come on to give us something on the left, and take the responsibility off Pennant.

I really thought he would score when he came on. I just thought that it was most probably his last Mersey Derby and a Fowler winner was on the cards.

I was disapointed with the options on the bench too.

[FowlerLeftFoot]

if crouch could finish that simple tap in in the last minute off a fowler superbly chested thru pass, u would have thought differently....

Welcome to the site.

You're so right, the options on the bench were truly terrible today. Only Fowler came on... and let's face it he's not going to change a game.

I was even calling for Zenden... bloody ZENDEN to come on to give us something on the left, and take the responsibility off Pennant.

[blacky]

We have a large squad now but it's full of "Squad Players" and short on experience and quality. I think this will be addressed during the summer

[dww]

To be fair our squad is full of good players, but what we lack is a number of flair players to unlock defences. At the minute we only have Garcia.

The problem is that it is hard to find flair players who will settle quickly into the english game which is what we need. There are literally no players in the PL who are not at Man Utd, Chelsea or Arsenal and thus unavailable to us who would considerably improve our squad in this regard.

[stuartb]

To be fair our squad is full of good players, but what we lack is a number of flair players to unlock defences. At the minute we only have Garcia.

The problem is that it is hard to find flair players who will settle quickly into the english game which is what we need. There are literally no players in the PL who are not at Man Utd, Chelsea or Arsenal and thus unavailable to us who would considerably improve our squad in this regard.

Agreed. A few times I was crying out for Pennant to take on their left back and though his crosses arent bad he cant pass a man. To your point - a Wright-Phillips or similar might at least put the opposition on the back foot as they arent sure if hell cross or take them on. Pennant is so predictable in that he wont/cant go past someone

[alunevans]

Its often the case that we harp on about personnel and formation, but for me the way we 'played' today was the problem. We were predictable and uninventive and played too little football.

I hate it when we just launch it and roll the dice to see what happens.

Our season doesn't rest on this so I'm not angry or gutted as some have professed to be. But I also don't know why Rafa thought that launching the ball for nigh on 90 minutes was the best way to take them apart.

It was dull and it failed. I think we could have achieved more if we'd got the ball down and tried to move it around. They coped with the high balls very easily indeed.

[Joey Jones]

Its often the case that we harp on about personnel and formation, but for me the way we 'played' today was the problem. We were predictable and uninventive and played too little football.

I hate it when we just launch it and roll the dice to see what happens.

Our season doesn't rest on this so I'm not angry or gutted as some have professed to be. But I also don't know why Rafa thought that launching the ball for nigh on 90 minutes was the best way to take them apart.

It was dull and it failed. I think we could have achieved more if we'd got the ball down and tried to move it around. They coped with the high balls very easily indeed.

Agreed.

I'm sure that Everton's defence enjoyed the game today, because overall they were comfortable with what we threw at them.

[AFII]

The game today showed the type of striker we are missing very much. A tough penalty box striker like Klose, Toni or Trezeguet.