Liverpoool v Man City Post Match thread

[red g]

I'd happily let Arsenal have the ball all day long as they were clueless in possession and only created one chance against us in the 86th minute

Against City the scoreline does flatter them somewhat. We gave away a crap early goal from shocking defending then two set-pieces - the poor defending using the silly man-to-man marking at a corner for one and then a daft penalty for the other. Those incidents apart they created hardly anything in open play and it was Hart who was flinging himself around making crucial saves, not Reina.

It was 4-4-2 that did for us yesterday and there's no way we'd have played so limply had we played 4-2-3-1. It goes without saying that I didn't hear any criticism from the Sky Sports drones about the failure of the man-for-man marking at a corner, nor any criticism of Hodgson for not making substitutions early (Gray always but always sneered at Benitez for waiting until the 65th minute at the earliest), nor any criticism for playing the thoroughly discredited, 80s throwback system of 4-4-2.

yes, or Stevie G's postion. Both smug cunts were lapping up how Roy get the tactics right prior to the game, yet most on here knew what was going to happen and it did.

[red g]

[QUOTE=Fierce;1689438]

Add to that Carra's ridiculous hoofing of the ball every 2nd or 3rd touch. ****ing hell Jamie, there are 9 players in front of you, surely you can pass it to one of them on the ground?

Anyone with any semblance of footballing knowledge would see that midfield couldn't cope with those 3 strong defensively minded midfielders. It was obvious after 30 mins, why wasn't Poulsen introduced?

Woeful performance from the lot of them

Hodgson, it's early days, but you need to learn from this. Man City are NOT the team to be experimenting against[/QUOTE]

I suppose when he was with Fulham they played one way all the time i am led to believe and if they got beat, well it was sort of expected many times.

I am flumoxed at how badly he got it wrong yesterday. It really has got me questioning the appointment more than ever.

[PTP]

Wasn't good was it I wonder if the Masch pulling out stumped him and he felt he needed to change the tactics to get what he saw as the best side on the pitch.

Just a thought but I do think Masch pulling out really screwed us over last night.

have to agree - it can't of helped anyone involved.

the team, if the early reports to be believed, was supposed to be

reina

johnson
carra
skrtel
agger

mascher
poulsen

kuyt
gerrard
jovanovic

torres.


A much better looking set up for away from....then mascher threw his toys out the pan and it just seem to **** it all up....almost like he's (hodgsons) just compleltey panicked....it's happened to me albeit on **** 11 a side sunday league game - where i've had a team picked then one of your best players can't make it and you have to amke last minute changes - hodgsons obviously panicked - he prob felt that mascher out, he couldn't parnter lucas and poulsen together in a big match (which is strange because it would have been the 'on paper' logical move) - he then seems to have **** himself with aurelio at left back - he probably felt both mascher and poulsen would have allowed for adequate cover of the full backs. Then there is the mental effect on other players - just when torres/gerrard probably saw a bit of light round the corner, they realise that in a massive massive game, one of their best team mates, has ****ed them over.



ah well - to sum it up....it was just a monumental cluster ****

[Maxiedge]

Congrats on 10000 posts Vermillion.

City are a team with alot of momentum (cash) behind them. Whilst I was pretty positive before the game, it looked like the Mascherano incident put a downer on the whole side and might have even forced a change of tactics. The game comes down to such minor details as our old manager would say.

[Exiled_red]

have to agree - it can't of helped anyone involved.

the team, if the early reports to be believed, was supposed to be

reina

johnson
carra
skrtel
agger

mascher
poulsen

kuyt
gerrard
jovanovic

torres.


A much better looking set up for away from....then mascher threw his toys out the pan and it just seem to **** it all up....almost like he's (hodgsons) just compleltey panicked....it's happened to me albeit on **** 11 a side sunday league game - where i've had a team picked then one of your best players can't make it and you have to amke last minute changes - hodgsons obviously panicked - he prob felt that mascher out, he couldn't parnter lucas and poulsen together in a big match (which is strange because it would have been the 'on paper' logical move) - he then seems to have **** himself with aurelio at left back - he probably felt both mascher and poulsen would have allowed for adequate cover of the full backs. Then there is the mental effect on other players - just when torres/gerrard probably saw a bit of light round the corner, they realise that in a massive massive game, one of their best team mates, has ****ed them over.



ah well - to sum it up....it was just a monumental cluster ****

With hindsight I'm not convinced that was ever going to be the team, because if it was, when Mascherano pulled out surely he would have just switched him and Lucas? That wouldn't have required much of a change to the system. Why drop Poulsen as well and go with no real defensive midfielder?

[RichC]

have to agree - it can't of helped anyone involved.

the team, if the early reports to be believed, was supposed to be

reina

johnson
carra
skrtel
agger

mascher
poulsen

kuyt
gerrard
jovanovic

torres.


A much better looking set up for away from....then mascher threw his toys out the pan and it just seem to **** it all up....almost like he's (hodgsons) just compleltey panicked....it's happened to me albeit on **** 11 a side sunday league game - where i've had a team picked then one of your best players can't make it and you have to amke last minute changes - hodgsons obviously panicked - he prob felt that mascher out, he couldn't parnter lucas and poulsen together in a big match (which is strange because it would have been the 'on paper' logical move) - he then seems to have **** himself with aurelio at left back - he probably felt both mascher and poulsen would have allowed for adequate cover of the full backs. Then there is the mental effect on other players - just when torres/gerrard probably saw a bit of light round the corner, they realise that in a massive massive game, one of their best team mates, has ****ed them over.



ah well - to sum it up....it was just a monumental cluster ****

you agree with this completly - I think the sooner Masch is gone the better now - complete and utter scum bag seeing as he's gone from a bench warmer at Wham to captain of the Argies and playing for one of the biggest sides in world football - disrespectful to the club, the fans and also his team mates - that said he should rot in the reserves until someone offers what we want, I'd rather he did that for 2 years than getting screwed over transfer cost wise.

Hopefully now Roy knows he can't pick Masch we'll see a more settled side and the folly of this game will be consigned to the memory banks.

[Maxiedge]

have to agree - it can't of helped anyone involved.

the team, if the early reports to be believed, was supposed to be

reina

johnson
carra
skrtel
agger

mascher
poulsen

kuyt
gerrard
jovanovic

torres.


A much better looking set up for away from....then mascher threw his toys out the pan and it just seem to **** it all up....almost like he's (hodgsons) just compleltey panicked....it's happened to me albeit on **** 11 a side sunday league game - where i've had a team picked then one of your best players can't make it and you have to amke last minute changes - hodgsons obviously panicked - he prob felt that mascher out, he couldn't parnter lucas and poulsen together in a big match (which is strange because it would have been the 'on paper' logical move) - he then seems to have **** himself with aurelio at left back - he probably felt both mascher and poulsen would have allowed for adequate cover of the full backs. Then there is the mental effect on other players - just when torres/gerrard probably saw a bit of light round the corner, they realise that in a massive massive game, one of their best team mates, has ****ed them over.



ah well - to sum it up....it was just a monumental cluster ****

I think that's pretty close to the truth apart from Poulsen starting. I think if he was match fit he would have started ahead of Lucas yesterday.

[Fierce]

With hindsight I'm not convinced that was ever going to be the team, because if it was, when Mascherano pulled out surely he would have just switched him and Lucas? That wouldn't have required much of a change to the system. Why drop Poulsen as well and go with no real defensive midfielder?

This.

What. The. ****.

Unless Poulsen pulled up in the afternoon, it's just insanity

[Reece]

empireofthekop

The 6 players on the City bench cost more than our starting XI

[barnes10]

i felt we were going to get taught a lesson.

its about time the chickens came home to roost. man city are a team powering towards a title challenge this season if not next. i rate a lot of mancini's signings and think he'll o a great job there.

us on the other hand are gearing up for mediocrity so i dont know why people are surprised. if we went to chelsea and got taught how to play we wouldnt be that suprised. so i think last night was a combination of us showing our limitations (tactics as well as cohesiveness) and city showing us they are growing.

so we'll do well to hang in to get 4th and city will probably get into the top 2. fair enough really. expectation management time.

[DannyMan2006]

Terrible result, but it wasn't as bad as the scoreline suggests.

I think had we had a good left back on show yesterday the game would have been a 0-0 tbh. They created nothing against elsewhere on the pitch, watching last nights game was like watching Insua last season.

It's depressing to think that we've known we needed to buy a left back since about January and yet we are still yet to bring one in.

Minor point, their first goal, Kuyt was tracking Barry but then just stopped following him and allowed him to wonder into our box unmarked. If Kuyt follows him they don't score. For me Kuyt is all about hard work as he pretty much offers little elsewhere at times, so to see him mess up their did not impress me.

Which brings me nicely onto the next point. We need at least one talented winger. Again, it's something we have known for a long while. We were just incapable of creating them any real bother on the wings, we just came inside where Citys srength is. Kuyt and Jova will struggle to break down a decent side.

On Jovanovic, he was poor last night, but I think that was mainly down to his opponent. Jova for me is all about using power and pace, against Richards he met his equal both in terms of speed and strength. As he lacks trickery he was ineffective. Against less physically impresive full backs I think he'll be okay.

On the corner. Richards was climbing all over Agger and it should have been a free kick. Nothing more to be said.

On the penalty decision, correct one. Was a silly tackle by Skrtel. If you slide in the box you have to be certain or have no other option. Neither applied.

-----------

Solution?

It involves cash. We need a LB, a winger and still need cover for Torres. Salcido, Turan and Toivonen would probably keep me happy enough. Though of course are squad would still be short of quality in some areas.

[The Birdman]

i felt we were going to get taught a lesson.

its about time the chickens came home to roost. man city are a team powering towards a title challenge this season if not next. i rate a lot of mancini's signings and think he'll o a great job there.

us on the other hand are gearing up for mediocrity so i dont know why people are surprised. if we went to chelsea and got taught how to play we wouldnt be that suprised. so i think last night was a combination of us showing our limitations (tactics as well as cohesiveness) and city showing us they are growing.

so we'll do well to hang in to get 4th and city will probably get into the top 2. fair enough really. expectation management time.

I sort of agree except that before the season started I didn't think we would get into the top 4 and now I'm convinced we wont and that's not being negative just realistic.
My massive problem is that every single sensible person could see that 4-4-2 against Man City's 4-3-3 was never ever in a month od sunday's going to work.
I don't think we can blame Mascherano pulling out as that is too easy, he had Poulson on the bench to come in and sit or he could have played Kuyt/Maxi wide of the 3 with the other in the whole or Babel left with Jovanovich off Torres or Ngog. Christ even Babel off the front man.

It's a poor excuse to say he didn't have options, plus Hodgson is the one who is pushing Aquilani out the door, he would have been ideal to play in the role off the front last night.

I can take getting beat, I can just about except that City had 3 shots on target and scored all 3 but what I can't except is a vastly experienced manager picking a formation that has been proved time and time again to not work in modern football

[-V-]

Regardless of the formation and tactics, the individual performances were horrendous. There was no drive, no desire, no passion, NOTHING! The passing was absolutely shocking and the reaction times from players was a joke. It was as if they were all drugged up and didn't know where they were.

Kuyt barely touched the ball the whole game
Jovanovic was abysmal
Johnson ****e as usual away from home
Skrtle, probably the dumbest player in our team. ****ing hell put Danny Agger back in the centre of defence where he belongs. Agger is our best defender and he should be in the centre partnered by whoever is deemed good enough.
Gerrard was the only player who was even trying to score
Our front 2 were not being given the ball fast enough and they were getting enough support. I couldn't believe how slow we were to move the ball around

[DannyMan2006]

My massive problem is that every single sensible person could see that 4-4-2 against Man City's 4-3-3 was never ever in a month od sunday's going to work.

I can take getting beat, I can just about except that City had 3 shots on target and scored all 3 but what I can't except is a vastly experienced manager picking a formation that has been proved time and time again to not work in modern football

Spurs played 442 v City last week and were much the better team. Man Utd play 442 on a regular basis and do very well in this league. If Berbatov or Hernandez have a good season they'll play 442 in most games as well.

And we weren't out played all over the park by City. We were just exposed in areas where we were weak. Our wide players had the ball and created nothing. City just fed Johnson and he tortured Danny Agger. It wasn't the system that let us down, it was a weak link at LB.

Had it been the system that was poor we would actually have seen City getting shots off and troubling us. Aside from the first goal, they had about two other shots, neither of which troubled Reina. The other two goals came from dead ball situations.

[Exiled_red]

I think had we had a good left back on show yesterday the game would have been a 0-0 tbh. They created nothing against elsewhere on the pitch, watching last nights game was like watching Insua last season.

It's depressing to think that we've known we needed to buy a left back since about January and yet we are still yet to bring one in.

I think that's a good point Agger was very poor last night, and I could only imagine the slagging that Insua would have got had he played like that. The left back position needs sorting out urgently. Does anyone know why Aurelio didn't play? I fear though that this close to the deadline we are unlikely to bring in more than one player for the first team and I feel we need about 3