Post-Match - Bolton (a)

[FatTony]

What? He is our CB and was standing ball watching for the first goal just 2 yards away from the scorer (not the only one at fault I know but hardly a positive sign). The 2nd goal he was easily beaten in the air by Davies and resulted in another ****ty goal.

Tidy game? Brave and dominant? My arse

Despite what you made of him, this was his first ****ing game for ****s sake. He's only been in the country a week.

The first goal was the result of Insua not standing his ground being knocked off out of the way.

Supporter my arse, you haven't even given him a chance.

[andrewces38]

Very good summation of the match, got to agree about Lucas, I like him and always thought he could develop into a decent player but he does need to start proving it and soon. If Aquilani turns out to be as good as he appears then Lucas will have to stand up and be counted if he wants first team action. He'll never have a better time to get a run of games to gain confidence.

Rafa's position is worrying, the transfer fund debarcle seems to show there's something not right behind the scenes but then again if Rafa was to walk because of a lack of support from H&G I believe he would have gone by now. I can't see H&G wanting Rafa out after recentley giving him a contract so maybe they're at a status quo now and it'll settle down until the next transfer window and by then hopefully the squad will look better with the three A's back in contention.

Who'd have thought we'd have a defence problem at centre back, but from set pieces there is an obvious problem. I'm confident that Rafa will sort that out on the training ground and when Skrtel & Agger are both fully fit and the Bubble is up to speed with the premiers pace it'll be tightened up considerably. It should have been sorted during pre season training but that seems to have been a problem this year, the team haven't come out all guns blazing maybe that's down to the behind the scenes wrangling maybe Rafa was close. Who knows ?

I was thinking about this last night and I have never realised it until I was watching the Villa game, But why dont we employ people on the posts at corners?. It's not as if we dont have enough bodies back defending corners or set pieces , we never leave anyone up-field , Im thinking at at least 3 goals conceded that anyone on the post would have cleared or at least had a chance to clear. It might not be new it's that I have never noticed this before .

Also shock horror..........................Is it time that carra takes a break, we rested Skittles , or a change of plan from the Villa game , If all 4 CB's were fit would Carra be at risk at missing out?, IMO we would not be a weaker side without him on current form and he was totally at fault for Skrtyl's injury May I add ON CURRENT FORM what do you think about both points?

[RedReet]

Our defence looked shaky at every set piece and the second Bolton goal was a joke. Sending off was deserved, I don't know what the muppet on the BBC is on about. Davis was dishing it out all afternoon and Lucas was going forward in the clear. It was a yellow. Here are my players ratings:

Reina 8 - Made an incredible save when it was 1-1. Confident throughout and was excellent with the ball at his feet today.
Johnson 9 - Excellent. Got us back in with the goal and hit some beautiful crosses. He is a quality player. Defended well and shows his intelligence. Some great runs in the box. Guy on tv made the point that Rafa's big signings have been excellent. This was one of them.
Carra 4 - Poor. He is important to us because he organises the defence. But he is not getting those last ditch tackles in at the moment. He was the worst of our two centre halves today
Kyriakos 7 - Thought he did well. He lost one header to Davies and it resulted in the second goal. He is certainly good in the air and it was an honourable debut. May struggle with pacey forwards though. Certainly a reasonable backup and might be a threat from set pieces.
Insua 9 - What can I say about this kid. He was exceptional. Great first touch and provided good wing support. He and Riera seem to work well together.
Riera 7 - I thought he was a threat when he was on. Attacked the defender at will. Tired at the end.
Kuyt 6 - Poor first half where he tried hard, but kept giving the ball away in the last third. Second half he was much better. Should have hit the target with one effort but his layoff on the chest to Torres was class. Involved in the failure to add a fourth.
Bennyoun 5 - He did ok but I think we could have paid for his wastefulness. Came on when the game had opened up so it was a nice time to come on. Had some chances but the part at the end where he tried to backheel the ball to Voronin as the 4 players in the box tried to walk the ball into the net was a joke. I think if they had equalised there would have been a lot of people annoyed with what went on then.
Masch 7- Dominant in midfield. Hardly put a foot wrong and did his job to perfection
Lucas 2 - Spent the first half hiding. Gave away a stupid free kick where Reina bailed him out. When they went to 10 he has more space to play his sideways passes. His only contribution was to get tripped. I have given up on him and anyone who can see him influencing games is not watching the games I am. He is Rafa's stubborn streak.
Gerrard 6 - Was totally marked out of the game first half. When they went to ten, he dominated. Dropped back to where Lucas was supposed to be and showed him how to dominate a match. Totally influential for the last 3 minutes. Hit the bar and then had some wild efforts but read the BBC description of his goal.
Torres 7 - Great header to knock it down for Gerrard. Was a threat throughout but missed some decent chances first half. Fought on all game and his finish was exquisite. Should have scored more but we got away with it.
Voronin 5 - Didnt do much really.

...can't wait for Aquilani.

Another steady if not spectacular performance. Although we need a lot more from him, again he didn’t do much wrong during the game.

The free kick was a bit harsh, even Gerrard thought so, as have all the commentators I’ve heard so far. Interesting that you mark Lucas down for a free kick that came to nothing, but don’t seem interested that the ‘exceptional’ Insua gave away a cheap free kick that actually resulted in a goal?

I also seem to remember him playing a lovely defence splitting pass to put Torres through at 0-0 and was also involved when Gerrard hit the bar and Torres missed the half volley from about 8 yards. That’s just off the top of my head, and admittedly isn’t enough, but I can’t remember too many mistakes to mark him down to a two.

And as you’ve already mentioned, he made probably the most telling contribution in getting Davis sent off.

Some people need to change the record.

[dww]

I like Insua a lot but he does need to work on using his body better given that he is the first Argentinian pygmy to play in the PL. He was at fault for the first goal. Elmander is twice his size but in the end he knees the ball across goal and it was at a height where Insua could have challenged but got his self in the wrong position to do so.

He is good in the tackle and going forward, keeps position pretty well but he is going to be targeted in the air and at the minute (admittedly along with a few others) he is not dealing with it very well. That said I do like him a lot and given our disjointed play he has contributed well.

[-V-]

Btw, what the hell is Kevin Davies still doing at Bolton? A tough ******* like him would do a great job for any big club. He's been getting praise from all his opponents for about 10 years now and he's still at ****ing bolton

[dww]

Btw, what the hell is Kevin Davies still doing at Bolton? A tough ******* like him would do a great job for any big club. He's been getting praise from all his opponents for about 10 years now and he's still at ****ing bolton

If he'd regularly scored the 10+ goals he did last season I suspect he would be at a bigger team. As it is his game is limited and even the likes of Everton tend to want more pacey movement from their forwards to allow the rest of the team to play off them.

[tomasjj]

But no matter how good you are as a defender, one **** up un does all the good work you do and that was nearly the case for Kyrgiakos when he got out muscled by Davies for the second goal.

So...who missed to pick up the second ball?
Fair, he lost that duel, but no one was there to whack the 2nd ball away, which is usually his partners job.

[-V-]

If he'd regularly scored the 10+ goals he did last season I suspect he would be at a bigger team. As it is his game is limited and even the likes of Everton tend to want more pacey movement from their forwards to allow the rest of the team to play off them.

He's not pacey but he struggles to score 10+ every season because he gets no service. He has to scrap for balls each and every time. I wouldn't mind Torres working off Davies. Davies is the kind of player who would do all the hard physical work and take the pressure off Torres, give him knock downs to run onto and create a shed load of goals for us. Imagine Torres and Gerrard running onto his knock-downs, he's the kind of target man every big club could do with. An aerial threat too which we don't have. Although he's his own man I would say he is more of a Kuyt than a Crouch

He should be at a big club

[dww]

So...who missed to pick up the second ball?
Fair, he lost that duel, but no one was there to whack the 2nd ball away, which is usually his partners job.

To be fair Carragher got knocked as Kyriakos went for the ball in front of him and then tripped as he tried to get across. Clearly the problem lay in the communication but they are new to playing with one another. I guess the worry is that it comes after the Skrtel incident. However as defenders get older sometimes they have to play themselves into form. It is pretty clear than no one but Johnson in the squad is on their game at the minute.

[Craig_H]

He's not pacey but he struggles to score 10+ every season because he gets no service. He has to scrap for balls each and every time. I wouldn't mind Torres working off Davies. Davies is the kind of player who would do all the hard physical work and take the pressure off Torres, give him knock downs to run onto and create a shed load of goals for us. Imagine Torres and Gerrard running onto his knock-downs, he's the kind of target man every big club could do with. An aerial threat too which we don't have. Although he's his own man I would say he is more of a Kuyt than a Crouch

He should be at a big club

Never thought i'd say this, but i'd have Davies at Liverpool.

[dww]

I think his lack of technique and movement would be shown up if he was at a really big team. He would do fine but probably worse than Crouch IMO. I'm not sure any of the systems employed by the big teams would suit him.

[RedReet]

Never thought i'd say this, but i'd have Davies at Liverpool.

Think we already hoof the ball a bit too much without having another reason to do so.

[JohnDoe]

Kevin Davies. **** me, are people here desperate for a striker or what.

[DannyMan2006]

I've been saying the same thing for years with regards Davies. For me he's done enough in the past to make the England squad ahead of some of the others who did.

I think most clubs would look at his style of playing though and wonder if he would get away with it in Europe, but he did well when Bolton made it a few years back. Problem is Davies would probably cost more than he is worth. Bolton would want a lot of compensation because if they sold him I reckon they'd struggle to stay up.

[Marky]

Agree, Kevin Davies is a very useful player. Not only is he big and strong, he's great at holding onto the ball, bringing others into play and upsetting centre backs.
I would be all for it if we signed him.