Agger and Yossi

[RedReet]

That's a fair enough point. But as I disagreed it was a penalty it would have been harsh having a go at Carra because a ref made a mistake and gave a penalty against him.

However, had Carra mistimed the challenge, we could be talking about something else completely, but as I said before, we could say the same of any challenge in the box.

Carra is a player who plays at the top level. If he mis-times challenges he can expect to get criticism. If he gives a poor performance he deserves the criticism. But he got the challenge spot on and had a great game, so he deserves all the praise he gets.

Aye, it would have been, but that's football.

Anyway, great to see him play well, great to see Agger back and great to get a clean sheet again.

[DannyMan2006]

i'm not blaming carra for our bad form/results.but he has not been upto his usual standard.and he did admit to a couple of his mistakes ,bad first half v west ham and the mistake in injury time v chelsea.

But we beat West Ham and were already on the way to defeat against Chelsea.

[DannyMan2006]

Aye, it would have been, but that's football.

Anyway, great to see him play well, great to see Agger back and great to get a clean sheet again.

Do you think people would be sticking the boot into Carra if the ref ****ed up and gave a penalty?

Only a complete moron would even contemplate it. But judging by some of the select few on this site, you're probably right

[javier_monsterano]

But we beat West Ham and were already on the way to defeat against Chelsea.

so that makes his mistakes alright

[RedReet]

Do you think people would be sticking the boot into Carra if the ref ****ed up and gave a penalty?

Only a complete moron would even contemplate it. But judging by some of the select few on this site, you're probably right

Of course they would. Him, Lucas and Kuyt would have cost us the match.

[dww]

i'm not blaming carra for our bad form/results.but he has not been upto his usual standard.and he did admit to a couple of his mistakes ,bad first half v west ham and the mistake in injury time v chelsea.

I think the problem has been more holistic than that. Each players bad form has a knock on for others. If you were to view the central defense and screening midfielders as a unit that has to balance defense with the starting of attacks it is clear that Skrtel, Carragher, Mascherano and Lucas are not the best suited foursome to play together and that hasn't helped any one of them find top form in my view.

Agger coming back and a game where midfield was a battleground helped people perform. We now have have to build on this.

Singling out Carragher to my mind is a bit unfair. He gets picked up on when he plays badly to me mind partly because he is one of the few leaders in the team and because of his past high standards.

[DeeTheDog]

Great to see Agger back playing, the international break was a godsend in that respect; with two competitive 90 minutes under his belt, indeed Mascher looks like he has a huge weight off his shoulder now that Argentina have qualified.

He does ooze class and his reluctance it aimlessly punt the ball down the field meant we could maintain possession and not waste energy trying to retrieve the ball from United. Further it meant that when United midfield or centre back pairing did have the ball we had our midfield swarming around them and making them squander possession and ultimately forced them to play long balls.

Finally, for the first time this season we actually looked assured defending set-pieces. United have a number of player who are adept in the air and they had a number of set-pieces in dangerous areas, yet we seemed to manage well.

Fingers crossed he can stay fit.

[DannyMan2006]

so that makes his mistakes alright

No it means they weren't costly. Which proves my point, his bad form has not been as bad as people make. Fans have been quick to blame Carra for our bad results, but he wasn't at fault as much as poeple make out.

[red g]

No it means they weren't costly. Which proves my point, his bad form has not been as bad as people make. Fans have been quick to blame Carra for our bad results, but he wasn't at fault as much as poeple make out.

Johnson is a fine example of this.....he can bomb forward on the right, score 2 goals in a game.......but concede from his side and thats all people focus on.

negative neds all over the place and if it costs us a goal or 3 pts bound to look at it more closely.

[BigChief]

Thank goodness it wasn't just me then. Strangely enough I thought Agger was the better of the two CBs, despite Carra's heroics. Agger was never out of position, intercepted as well as Hansen and Hyppia used to in their heyday, and was always calm under what pressure they offered. Made Insua's life easier by covering for him too.

Couldn't for the life of me understand why Yossi was taken off against Lyon. Rafa's learned his lesson and put him in the correct position to reap the dividends. Like I said in the pre-match thread, Yossi was the only/main reason I'd be watching the game (as opposed to nervously keeping up to date on the radio). The Beardsley comparison is perfect.

[javier_monsterano]

No it means they weren't costly. Which proves my point, his bad form has not been as bad as people make. Fans have been quick to blame Carra for our bad results, but he wasn't at fault as much as poeple make out.

Im not one of them who has blamed carra.The whole team has not performed.it's all behind us now and from now on i expect to read nothing else but who was the better player in each match.let the good times roll

[the rev leeroy brown]

yossi must surely now be considered one of the 5 defo starters for us now. reina, agger, gerard, torres and now yossi simply put MUST start every game when fit. agger gives us some composure at the back and a good footballing brain to bring the ball into play. and yossi reads the game better than anyone else in our squad. he knows what torres will do before fernando does.

[red g]

yossi must surely now be considered one of the 5 defo starters for us now. reina, agger, gerard, torres and now yossi simply put MUST start every game when fit. agger gives us some composure at the back and a good footballing brain to bring the ball into play. and yossi reads the game better than anyone else in our squad. he knows what torres will do before fernando does.

reina

Johnson Agger Carragher Aurelio
Mascherano
Benayoun Aquiliani Riera
Gerrard
Torres


there is a lot of goals in that team , if thats our strongest 11 at the moment ......!!!

[the rev leeroy brown]

reina

Johnson Agger Carragher Aurelio
Mascherano
Benayoun Aquiliani Riera
Gerrard
Torres


there is a lot of goals in that team , if thats our strongest 11 at the moment ......!!!

there is defo some goals in that team. i'd be strongly tempted though to switch benni for riera on the left and bring kyut into the 11.

[Marky]

reina

Johnson Agger Carragher Aurelio
Mascherano
Benayoun Aquiliani Riera
Gerrard
Torres


there is a lot of goals in that team , if thats our strongest 11 at the moment ......!!!

Very strong team but what exactly has Riera done to deserve a starting place?
Plenty of goals although Kuyt is far more likely to score than Riera.