Liverpool vs Wolves Post Match Discussion

[little dave hedgehog]

I thought insua had a good match though. Stood his ground reasonably well, put a good ball in after making himself lots of space on the wing, contributed pretty well for me.

Aquilani gave the ball away a lot but that was pretty clearly because he was tired. I expected him to start getting worse in the 2nd half.

The appalling thing though is that nobody was really trying to play a final ball. We seemed content to knock it backwards and sideways as soon as we got to the edge of the area and nearly every time they were able to break us down and turn the ball over while we thought about maybe trying to pass forwards. That's a problem.

Great to get the points, but we have work to do if we want to break down better teams.

I'm sure they know that, though, so I guess I trust them to get it sorted.

[Mattshark]

I thought insua had a good match though. Stood his ground reasonably well, put a good ball in after making himself lots of space on the wing, contributed pretty well for me.

Aquilani gave the ball away a lot but that was pretty clearly because he was tired. I expected him to start getting worse in the 2nd half.

The appalling thing though is that nobody was really trying to play a final ball. We seemed content to knock it backwards and sideways as soon as we got to the edge of the area and nearly every time they were able to break us down and turn the ball over while we thought about maybe trying to pass forwards. That's a problem.

Great to get the points, but we have work to do if we want to break down better teams.

I'm sure they know that, though, so I guess I trust them to get it sorted.

I think that, that is a confidence problem.

[Guest]

I thought insua had a good match though. Stood his ground reasonably well, put a good ball in after making himself lots of space on the wing, contributed pretty well for me.

Aquilani gave the ball away a lot but that was pretty clearly because he was tired. I expected him to start getting worse in the 2nd half.

The appalling thing though is that nobody was really trying to play a final ball. We seemed content to knock it backwards and sideways as soon as we got to the edge of the area and nearly every time they were able to break us down and turn the ball over while we thought about maybe trying to pass forwards. That's a problem.

Great to get the points, but we have work to do if we want to break down better teams.

I'm sure they know that, though, so I guess I trust them to get it sorted.

Our final ball being poor is mostly associated with low confidence I reckon.

The real feature of Rafa's system along the years has been our ability to control games, keep possession, even if it can get tedious with the sideways passing, and never let the opposition hurt us in critical areas on the pitch.

I think we did that well today, though once or twice Wolves threatened in the first half but on the whole that was a massive improvement. It was even better than our previous home win against Wigan.

We just need to reciprocate this away from home and convert from the chances we get.

[little dave hedgehog]

ehhh, i dunno. i can see that controlling games is good for us, but if you can shake another 5 or 6 chances out of the game without conceding possession too much, i would think you should go for it. if we'd looked forward when their backline was still in transition, we could have popped them for 5. we seem to always want to hold the ball in areas where it's not doing us any good.


again, i get that this is to slow the game down, but i feel like it's too predictable to always play one of 2 ways. hold the ball up outside the box and see what happens, or getting a man over on the wing to cross. that's all we do.

[Molby]

Our final ball being poor is mostly associated with low confidence I reckon.

The real feature of Rafa's system along the years has been our ability to control games, keep possession, even if it can get tedious with the sideways passing, and never let the opposition hurt us in critical areas on the pitch.

I think we did that well today, though once or twice Wolves threatened in the first half but on the whole that was a massive improvement. It was even better than our previous home win against Wigan.

We just need to reciprocate this away from home and convert from the chances we get.

Just thinking the very same there Pete.....we really need to build on this and pick up another 3 on Tuesday at the Villa.

[BigChief]

I predicted a 4-0 but we only got 2-0. Still at least Rafa showed some team selection common sense due to injury (i.e. only one of Mascherano/Lucas on the pitch at a time please, please, pretty please, Rafa). Dropping Kuyt was long overdue (by about six weeks) and the team played better, more watchable, football overall as a result.

[Liverpel]

Gary Lineker is a prick.

[-V-]

3 points so Im satisfied. Im tired but quick run through anyway

Positives-
Aquilani showed himself to very skillful, some great touches and did ok for his first league start.
Lucas worked his socks off and did the Mascher role very very well.
Insua was awesome for the first goal, great play
Pepe is a legend for running all that way to correct the ref and then take 30 minutes of abuse from the wolves fans lol
Our centre backs looked dominant today


Negatives-

I was down by the touchline and couldn't quite believe just how lazy Johnson was. In the first half we had tons of space down the right side and he stood in his own half doing nothing when everybody else was looking for him to provide an option down the right. Lazy or unfit im not sure.

We were never going to score until that sending off. It was the same old same old until the red card. Torres upfront alone is a joke. Gerrard isn't performing and the rest of the midfield doesn't do enough so Torres should have a partner, he was so frustrated today chasing for scrappy balls over the top

Aurelio playing as left winger or even left wing forward? Not attack minded enough so another reason why we should not be currently using 4231 but rather 442

[little dave hedgehog]

it really looked to me like johnson maybe wasn't feeling well or something?

he's supposed to be quick, but people outran him all day.

[-V-]

I dunno, he was just unwilling to move. Everyone was looking round waiting for him to move forward onto the ball but he just wouldn't provide the option. He wasn't marking anyone because Wolves were sat deep, but he mostly just stayed back in his own half. Unfit? Lazy? Eat too much? I dunno

[little dave hedgehog]

the thing that sticks out in my mind was at some point in the 2nd half, he knocked the ball bast their left back and tried to run around him, but never got out of 3rd gear, and never made it to the ball. looked like he just couldn't run. for whatever reason.

we've all been there, you have off days... i haven't seen him play quite that bad before, and i'd gladly believe he just had a bad day.

[Mattshark]

3 Torres upfront alone is a joke. Gerrard isn't performing and the rest of the midfield doesn't do enough so Torres should have a partner, he was so frustrated today chasing for scrappy balls over the top

He can clearly play there happily, at the moment he just doesn't look fit.

[Kinell]

it really looked to me like johnson maybe wasn't feeling well or something?

he's supposed to be quick, but people outran him all day.

Why was Johnson's arm so heavily strapped?

Why was Reina's neck warmer covering a big plaster on his neck?

And is it just me that can't imagine Wolve's goalie as a kid? So stocky and looks more like a bikey!

[little dave hedgehog]

hahnemann didn't used to be that big. i made note of that during the game. he looks like an old outhouse now.

[reds123]

I still think that against team like Wolves, it is better to play 4-4-2, Ngog and Torres upfront! Rafa tends to complicate things with Torres as the main striker!