Utd - Liverpool post match

[BobTheCharmer]

Which one?

FA Cup. Our name is on it.

[little dave hedgehog]

But we'll get there in the end

The league is ours

we will get there in the same way that derby earned at least one more point than they had at this stage a couple of years ago

[kemm1]

if we dont win thats our season over before weve even got started!

it wouldnt be so disheartening if we were actually playing like we wanted to win. i havent seen us play so lackluster and badly since souness was manager.

i think roy's partly to blame, he must be the most un-inspiring person alive1 i want to fall asleep when he talks.

Sunderland will be difficult, so it is a good barameter, those are the teams who think they can finish ahead of us now.

I'm not sure how inspiring Roy is but I don't rate him, never did. I'll make the usual statement of 'I hope he proves me wrong' and all that jazz but I really doubt it.

[DannyMan2006]

In the previous thread, people were arguing that we were going backwards...

I'm not sure that we are going backwards. Whenever you get a new manager you have a period of uncertainty where players aren't sure of their roles, and the manager isn't sure how to get the best out of the players. When Rafa took over, we conceded some soft goals from zonal marking while the players got used to it (until Pellegrino came and sorted it IIRC), and we're conceding soft ones now from man-marking while the players get used to it.

Similarly, it's clear that the players aren't yet used to the patterns of play that Roy wants. We are playing some good stuff in spells, but at times are looking totally lost. I'm not sure this is going backwards though - to me it looks like just a transitional phase while we adapt to a new manager with new ideas.

The league at the moment is meaningless. If we are still in the bottom half in 6 games time, then I'll start to worry. But at the moment we've played City and United Away, Arsenal at home, and Birmingham are a tough side to beat at St Andrews too. By contrast Chelsea have beaten the might of West Ham, West Brom, Wigan and Stoke before today's formality against Blackpool.

We need to win our next two home games, against Sunderland and Blackpool, and hopefully build from there. It's far too soon to be making some of the ridiculous comments that some have made on here though, regardless of our disappointment at losing to THEM.

I'm worried that Roy seems to think that Skrtel is better than Agger, and I hope he never, ever, plays Poulsen and Lucas together at CM again, but otherwise, I think we should give him the time to develop his side.

All true. New manager = New system.

We have to be realistic in some sense though. After coming second we sell maybe the best deep lying play maker in the world and replace him with Aquilani. We make a profit in the transfer market.

Yet we as fans expect us to improve and challenge for the title.

After coming seventh we sell maybe the best defensive midfield player in the world and replaace him with Poulsen. We ma e a profit in the transfer window.

Yet we as fans expect us to imrpove and challenge for 4th place.

-------

Last season we blamed Rafa. This season we blame Roy.

[kemm1]

FA Cup. Our name is on it.

OK, if you say so.

[Icon]

**** All Cup(s)?

[kemm1]

All true. New manager = New system.

We have to be realistic in some sense though. After coming second we sell maybe the best deep lying play maker in the world and replace him with Aquilani. We make a profit in the transfer market.

Yet we as fans expect us to improve and challenge for the title.

After coming seventh we sell maybe the best defensive midfield player in the world and replaace him with Poulsen. We ma e a profit in the transfer window.

Yet we as fans expect us to imrpove and challenge for 4th place.

-------

Last season we blamed Rafa. This season we blame Roy.

I don't 'blame' either.

I supported Rafa all the way to the end and I never rated Roy.

The source of the problems are Hicks and Gillette of course, any idiot can see that.

[little dave hedgehog]

eleven **** players, one **** cup?

[peekay]

In the previous thread, people were arguing that we were going backwards...

I'm not sure that we are going backwards. Whenever you get a new manager you have a period of uncertainty where players aren't sure of their roles, and the manager isn't sure how to get the best out of the players. When Rafa took over, we conceded some soft goals from zonal marking while the players got used to it (until Pellegrino came and sorted it IIRC), and we're conceding soft ones now from man-marking while the players get used to it.

Similarly, it's clear that the players aren't yet used to the patterns of play that Roy wants. We are playing some good stuff in spells, but at times are looking totally lost. I'm not sure this is going backwards though - to me it looks like just a transitional phase while we adapt to a new manager with new ideas.

The league at the moment is meaningless. If we are still in the bottom half in 6 games time, then I'll start to worry. But at the moment we've played City and United Away, Arsenal at home, and Birmingham are a tough side to beat at St Andrews too. By contrast Chelsea have beaten the might of West Ham, West Brom, Wigan and Stoke before today's formality against Blackpool.

We need to win our next two home games, against Sunderland and Blackpool, and hopefully build from there. It's far too soon to be making some of the ridiculous comments that some have made on here though, regardless of our disappointment at losing to THEM.

Good post. I ( and I think DannyMan) posted similar sentiments last week. We should give him some more time and I think the next few fixtures will be the acid test for Roy.

Sunderland (h), Blackpool (h), Everton (a), Blackburn Rovers (h), Bolton Wanderers (a)

If we are still playing like relegation contenders with no attacking instinct whatever, I think I will start loosing faith with Roy as i think Roy will struggle to match Rafa's first season if that happens. We cannot keep on using the excuse, XXX is a tough place to go so we should be satisfied with a draw. It is one thing going to places like Birmingham, playing for a win and ending up with a draw. It is unacceptable with our team going to Birmingham and playing for a draw.

Another thing which worries me is that with a new manager we always see something positive, some attacking zip. With Rafa our first PL season was awful but we always had some wonderful performances interspersed in them which promised a lot - Norwich at home, Spurs at home, Arsenal at home. I haven't seen anything from Roy's LFC to suggest that he will be a better manager.

[BobTheCharmer]

OK, if you say so.

I do Kemm, I last had a feeling like this in 1991 and we won it that footballing year thanks to Rush and Thomas.

[Darkon]

We were very poor today, we created nothing besides a couple of standard situations.

Very dismayed at the game, and we are really not top-4 material as it looks right now judging on the start of the season...

not many can be proud of the game they played today and especially the defense were poor...

[DannyMan2006]

I don't 'blame' either.

I supported Rafa all the way to the end and I never rated Roy.

The source of the problems are Hicks and Gillette of course, any idiot can see that.

I think Rafa needed to come higher than 7th to keep his job. If Aquilani comes in and has a good season we probably do.

I think Roy needs to come top 6 minimum, but at least needs to challenge for 4th, especially if City don't make as much head way as people thought they might do after splashing the cash.

atm we're 12 places off, but it's only three points. So game on now with this run of fixtures coming up.

[JohnDoe]

Sunderland (h), Blackpool (h), Everton (a), Blackburn Rovers (h), Bolton Wanderers (a)

Draw. Win. Draw. Win. Draw.

[Slinky Skills]

It is a very worrying time for Liverpool Football Club.

I don't think I've ever felt so low as a Liverpool fan. Yes we have had difficult games so far but we are nowhere near good enough at the moment.

It's a hard one to tell, my head is saying 'Yes' we will improve and I keep telling myself that but my heart is saying 'No' we won't.

We're a mess, the whole club is in tatters and until those two cunts **** off and a new stadium is built and some much needed funds injected into the squad we are on a downward spiral.

It is very worrying and not nice. I feel so low at the moment it's hard to go on. The team is not playing as a team, there is no confidence or self belief and this is being passed on to the fans. Anfield is a very subdued place to be, the general atmosphere surrounding Liverpool Football Club is not one that is positive, the future looks bleak.

I think we all need to try and be more positive now, we have to be, it's all we can do. Hopefully things will sort itself out for our great club and the future will deliver better things all round.

YNWA.

[Exiled_red]

We were awful today, we got two goals from set pieces but never looked like creating anything from open play! If it was just the game against Man Utd at Old Trafford, I wouldn't be too worried, it's more the fact that in our opening 5 Premiership games we have only scored 4 goals, regardless of who the opposition is we should should be getting more goals that that, it's not like we've created alot of chances and wasted them, we've barely created anything.

Defensively we've been poor aswell. The defending of set pieces has been awful! I know that changing from zonal to man marking will take time for the players to adapt, and that mistakes will occur due to individual errors, whatever the system, but United's first goal today was only partly due to an individual error (By Torres) but the biggest problem for me was why was Torres marking Berbatov? It should be a defender, and that is a managerial or coaching error IMO. Also on the subject of the first goal, what was Konchesky doing? I'm assuming he was on the post, if so he should be within touching distance of the post all the time, standing behind the keeper is pointless, if he'd been where he should have been he'd have cleared that.

I was one of the Rafa backers on here last seaso, I could see that he had his problems and made mistakes, but when Roy came in I expected him to change things and make us play a different way, I knew he wasn't as tactical a coach as Rafa was, but I was willing to accept that if we were playing a different way. At the moment it seems like we are playing exactly the same way as we did last season, but with less tactical planning or awareness, and that worries me. Hopefully Roy will change the way we play, but I'm not sure he's going to because as far as I can see we don't have the players to play a different system. We are crying out for width and creativity, we have little of either at the moment as far as I can see.