was i alone in thinking yesterday.........

[AFII]

I love it when we worry about the opposition more than they worry about us. Oh for the days when we picked our best team and let the opposition worry about us..........

We couldn't pick our best team against Blackburn.

[fred_plasticine]

you only need to look at the players to see they're lacking confidence. our attacking play is far too static at the moment there's no movement, no players trying to beat their markers instead we try to go through the middle and it doesn't work. creativity is what we need but there's noone there to provide.
i don't know if lucas would have offered us some stability and neat passing but momo was alright at last. you sometimes wonder if kuyt is a striker by trade and gerrard's shooting is shockingly poor considering they way he can strike a ball.
as for the long balls - it doesn't have anything to do with crouch. it's players like riise and especially hyypia and carra who senselessly hoof the ball upfield every other time they're on the ball and give away possession. it does my head in why rafa allows this to happen. another culprit there is gerrard who's attempted killer balls do not find their target more often than not.

[einar]

you only need to look at the players to see they're lacking confidence. our attacking play is far too static at the moment there's no movement, no players trying to beat their markers instead we try to go through the middle and it doesn't work. creativity is what we need but there's noone there to provide.
i don't know if lucas would have offered us some stability and neat passing but momo was alright at last. you sometimes wonder if kuyt is a striker by trade and gerrard's shooting is shockingly poor considering they way he can strike a ball.
as for the long balls - it doesn't have anything to do with crouch. it's players like riise and especially hyypia and carra who senselessly hoof the ball upfield every other time they're on the ball and give away possession. it does my head in why rafa allows this to happen. another culprit there is gerrard who's attempted killer balls do not find their target more often than not.

Lets not forget that it is the player with out the ball who has to make him self available to the player with the ball. So it is not all down to Carra and Hyypia.

[kewellnthegang]

We couldn't pick our best team against Blackburn.

i think we know what he means

and by picking kuyt in front of crouch imo we didnt pick our best team for the blackburn game

[fred_plasticine]

Lets not forget that it is the player with out the ball who has to make him self available to the player with the ball. So it is not all down to Carra and Hyypia.

fair point mate.
but how many times a game does it happen that we press the oponent and either hyypia or carra receive the ball near the halfway line and instead of controlling the ball and looking for a player they instantly play a long ball upfield.

[Reece]

fair point mate.
but how many times a game does it happen that we press the oponent and either hyypia or carra receive the ball near the halfway line and instead of controlling the ball and looking for a player they instantly play a long ball upfield.

Don't forget Riise too

[einar]

fair point mate.
but how many times a game does it happen that we press the oponent and either hyypia or carra receive the ball near the halfway line and instead of controlling the ball and looking for a player they instantly play a long ball upfield.

That happens, yes. I would agree that there are better ball playing centerbacks around then Carra and Hyypia. And dare I say it, I think that when we do replace Carra we will be a better team.

But this for me is the problem all over the pitch. For some reason the players are not moving properly without the ball. All to often for me we see the players gravitating away from the ball when the should be doing the opposite.