Tactics...

[peekay]

Couple of things about today's game:

1) Why play a central defender with absolutely no pace with a left back who has never won a one on one with an opposition player.

2) Why play a lone striker for the entire match who was not capable of controlling a football. I have been applauding Kuyt's effort for this season but today he was unacceptable. To play a lone striker at the very least you should have the ability to trap a ball and lay it off. Today the balls were bouncing of Kuyt in random directions. As for his shooting today

We were brilliant in the middle. Xabi was imperious and Gerrard was very very good. But that does not help when we are **** at the two ends which matter. We had an open left hand side and a striker who was incapable of controlling the ball today. And thats why we dropped points.

[Mattshark]

Nope, its a mental thing. We don't have the bottle. Can't take the pressure and nor can Rafa.

Yeah that is why he won two league titles in Spain .

[Mystery]

I don't think the performance today was that negative, we created plenty chances and had good possession and control of the game the problem was that we didn't have someone capable of putting the ball in the net. I am confident that if Torres has been fit, we would have played the same system but the result would have been different

I know what you're saying, and I've been saying it to myself for ages, but the thing is that we're not creating enough chances.

We played well when we were two down, but after Gerrard's second goal we faded away. We had some shots from distance and Sami's header in the post, but that's about it.

If Torres had been fit and played, I'm sure the result whould have been different, but the reality is that he's injured and Rafa blew this up totally.

I feel we've got players such as Kuyt, Benayoun, Keane and Babel who's not creating enough for us to win. It seems like they're happy if then can win a throw-in ffs! I don't know how many times I've said to myself this season that I could have done some things better than these guys and I'm not even good!

Another thing: When you clearly can see that some things are not working after 25-30mins, why don't just make a substitution at half time? Why do we always have to wait 'til we've got half an hour left to make these changes? And as for today: It's horrible that Keane was left on the bench for 90mins!

[billy_mac]

Its crackers. The only thing that will win us a league and lose us the league is RAFA!

Hull are a good team, but not good enough to be shown the respect by the team selection and tactics we set out.

Still top somehow, we'll see how lucky a manager Rafa is because he certainly isn't the cleverist.

Dossena can ask the back of it, a left footed left back lunging in with his wrong foot after showing the opposition the line. The only reason carra scored was because he was just about to roar at him for being a plonker and got confused when the ball arrived.

I can't write anymore, its like a broken record going round. AGGGHHHHH!!!

[Joe King]

Yeah that is why he won two league titles in Spain .

Totally different pressure. He has spent loads of money here and is expected to deliver results. In Spain, the team was ready made for him.

[tsb]

Nope, its a mental thing. We don't have the bottle. Can't take the pressure and nor can Rafa.

Is 100% bang on. We're great at chasing - look how quickly we got back into the game today! If Rafa had told them it was 3-2 at half time instead of 2-2, we would have scored another.

[Nick77]

Oh & another point I forgot 2 make:

Why is our best headerer (Gerrard) taking all the set-pieces??
Without Hyppia or Agger to cross to, we have absolutely no chance of scoring from a set-piece...

[CincyRed]

I think in the end Kuyt should have taken at least one of his myriad chances today and that was the difference. Even with Rafas tactics, we still created a host of chances in the second half as we were boss in midfield, but we couldnt finish them. Don't get me wrong, Rafa got it totally wrong today, but despite that, we still should have won.

I think one of the main problems is that there doesnt seem to be any reward for playing well. Fair play, Rafa is the only one that sees them everyday, but id think their match performances should count for something. Babel had one of his best games this season against PSV and he only got 8 mins today. He surprised me by his ability to play on the right and clearly fills a need there with Kuyt up top. Why Benitez wouldnt reward this, is beyond me. I also think that while Benayoun has real invention, he is frequently more frustrating than Luis. He was so today, bc despite being in several good positions, his only contribution was the pass to gerrard for the 2nd goal.

Also why has rafa not figured out that he has to play a real center forward in the lone striker role. I thought that maybe he finally figured it out when he allowed keane to play off ngog in midweek. I cannot understand why Rafa would not have opted for one of kuyt or keane to play off ngog today. ngog took his goal well on tues, but overall lacked a good touch and solid decisions. He did however offer more significant shape to the team and provided a good focal point up top. and undoubtedly with a run in the side his form would increase.

But the problem is, its same story as stoke, west ham, spurs, and fulham. Its amazing to be sitting two points clear considering that, bc other than a handful of games this year we have been dross. It doesnt seem like any player is capable of the consistency theyve had in the long runs we had to close the last two seasons. And the problem has consistently been finishing, with Rafa's tactics frequently getting in the way. Even though there is undoubtedly more quality in the side that 3 years ago, we suffer the same disease of not being able to break down teams who play with men behind the ball.

I think that this talk of not being able to win without having challenged and not having the bottle are also spot on. I agree that we have greater experience under pressure than most teams because of the our exploits in europe, but the only times we have gone on great runs in the league have been after we were totally out of the race. maybe it will take the pressure off if the chavs win tmrw and we can just concentrate on staying with them again. but it sure is disappointing a week the manager said that he wanted to be leading at xmas and when we have been at least joint top all season.

I do think rafa is the man to take us to number 19, but i wish he would get over his stubbornness and learn some man management. I'd be happy if he let Sammy pick the side.

[1 True Red]

The point about being ten pts clear is spot on.

I really don't see any defense to Rafa's tactics today. Playing 1 striker at home to those sides only makes sense if that one striker is Torres and we play the 4231. But it hasnt been. After the midweek game, to not Babel on the right and one of Keane or NGog from the start was shocking.

Rafa once (again), got his tactics totally wrong IMO

Lets face it people, we haven't a hope in hell of winning the title if Rafa keeps making these expensive cock ups, how can he go from a winning formation (as of the PSV game), to the shambles of todays selection!

When most of us have already realised, Kuyt is absolutly useless as a lone Striker, then why does Rafa play with a lone Striker when clearly there's is a International footballer sitting on the bench wondering what he has to do to get a game.

FFS Rafa, get it sorted, we know you have it in you so, stop the meddling so much, pleeeeeeeeeeease

[Maxiedge]

Cant spend20m on a striker and leave him on the bench at home against a team like Hull.

It's defensive tactics I'm afraid from in the main a defensive manager

Rafa and Keane have fallen out. No other explaination. I've mentioned this before but as soon as I saw Keane mouth a few words when being subbed, I knew things would never be the same again.

[tommyg]

Rafa once (again), got his tactics totally wrong IMO

Lets face it people, we haven't a hope in hell of winning the title if Rafa keeps making these expensive cock ups, how can he go from a winning formation (as of the PSV game), to the shambles of todays selection!

When most of us have already realised, Kuyt is absolutly useless as a lone Striker, then why does Rafa play with a lone Striker when clearly there's is a International footballer sitting on the bench wondering what he has to do to get a game.
FFS Rafa, get it sorted, we know you have it in you so, stop the meddling so much, pleeeeeeeeeeease

learn about a mystical place known to some as the "back of the net"

[flyboy]

Rafa is a proud man...too proud for his own. freezing both babel and keane out has cost us dearly.he'll have to put his ego aside ....for good.