Liverpool vs Blackpool post match

[SimonNo7]

---------------Reina--------------
Kelly---Carragher---Agger---Aurelio
-------Spearing---Meireles--------
Johnson------Gerrard---------Cole
-------------Torres---------------

We need a left back. And Poulson and Lucas are crap so id give Spearing a little go in the holding position (plenty of passion). At least until Poulson remebers how to play or we get a better option in.

The right is open for some experimentation. Between Kuyt, Johnson and Kelly.

The big thing for me is Gerrard needs to get in there with Torres and support him like he used to. Meireles can play the Alonso role, he is composed and can pass.

The top and bottom of things though is we need to sort the off the ball movement out. Players are hiding and leaving each other to do the work on their own.

This for me is the biggest thing of all and was exactly the same last season under Rafa which is why I'm wondering more than anything whether it is to do with the players just not being good enough rather than the managers.

I pointed out yesterday in the game when we were 2-1 down and should been harassing them constantly the ball got played out wide to one of their players and ours just stood ****ing still expecting something or someone else to do the work. This wasn't tactics it was just plain couldn't give a ****.

[Mattshark]

This for me is the biggest thing of all and was exactly the same last season under Rafa which is why I'm wondering more than anything whether it is to do with the players just not being good enough rather than the managers.

I pointed out yesterday in the game when we were 2-1 down and should been harassing them constantly the ball got played out wide to one of their players and ours just stood ****ing still expecting something or someone else to do the work. This wasn't tactics it was just plain couldn't give a ****.

We didn't do that last season though, and we certainly wouldn't have lost at home to Blackpool last season. Under Rafa very few teams won at Anfield, it was a fortress. Under Roy it might as well be an away game for us.

[Lecter]

This for me is the biggest thing of all and was exactly the same last season under Rafa which is why I'm wondering more than anything whether it is to do with the players just not being good enough rather than the managers.

I pointed out yesterday in the game when we were 2-1 down and should been harassing them constantly the ball got played out wide to one of their players and ours just stood ****ing still expecting something or someone else to do the work. This wasn't tactics it was just plain couldn't give a ****.

I still think its tactics

If your whole philosphy is retreat to your 18 yard box and defend balls into the box there is no need to press / close down anyone further up the pitch

I've watched the game yesterday in its entirety and to be honest the simplest changes would have had positive effect

We should move 10-15 yards higher up the pitch, order the holding player to HOLD and close people down

Its simple but its the anathema of Hodgsons principles

[Lecter]

We didn't do that last season though, and we certainly wouldn't have lost at home to Blackpool last season. Under Rafa very few teams won at Anfield, it was a fortress. Under Roy it might as well be an away game for us.

We never sat off teams under Rafa like we are doing now

Even in the event of his defence retreating deep the midfield would still be closing down and pressing

We are so passive under Roy it is frightening

[SimonNo7]

We didn't do that last season though, and we certainly wouldn't have lost at home to Blackpool last season. Under Rafa very few teams won at Anfield, it was a fortress. Under Roy it might as well be an away game for us.

No we didn't do that last season when defending but boy did we do it when going forward. I lost count the number of times the players would just stand still waiting for the ball to come to them rather than making spaces for the pass or their team mates. Aquilani was like a breath of fresh air when he played. Yes he wasn't completely at the races but what he did in terms of moving to create space was ten fold what most of the others did. The only other place I saw movement, consistently, was between Gerrard and Torres. The rest were like statues.

[Mattshark]

No we didn't do that last season when defending but boy did we do it when going forward. I lost count the number of times the players would just stand still waiting for the ball to come to them rather than making spaces for the pass or their team mates. Aquilani was like a breath of fresh air when he played. Yes he wasn't completely at the races but what he did in terms of moving to create space was ten fold what most of the others did. The only other place I saw movement, consistently, was between Gerrard and Torres. The rest were like statues.

We did going forward last season yes. Though I though Gerrard was one of the worst culprits last season.

[SimonNo7]

I still think its tactics

If your whole philosphy is retreat to your 18 yard box and defend balls into the box there is no need to press / close down anyone further up the pitch

I've watched the game yesterday in its entirety and to be honest the simplest changes would have had positive effect

We should move 10-15 yards higher up the pitch, order the holding player to HOLD and close people down

Its simple but its the anathema of Hodgsons principles

I know what you are saying Lec and I do agree mostly, we are definitely not pressing like we used to, especially when it comes to defending but again as I said yesterday, this particular bit of non action wasn't tactics, well not in my eyes, it was more like not giving a **** or maybe defeatism.

[SimonNo7]

We did going forward last season yes. Though I though Gerrard was one of the worst culprits last season.

To be honest, Gerrards almost lethargic approach to playing for us this season and last is extremely worrying. I know he does still get us out of the **** a lot but the number of times he also goes missing is frightening. It's almost as if he's saying, 'why should I bother if the rest of them can't be bothered'. He just doesn't seem to be commanding enough from a captain's point of view to me.

[Fredo]

Bunked!

Link

Liverpool's squad cannot be blamed for Roy Hodgson's troubles

Even after defeat to Blackpool at Anfield, even after reviewing a league table which ranks Liverpool the 18th best team in the league, even after seeing another atrocious performance, even after hearing the chants for Dalglish, nobody even tried to ask Roy Hodgson whether he was considering bringing his 14-game tenure on Merseyside to an abrupt halt.

Everyone knew the answer, anyway. Hodgson would not dream of committing an act tantamount to cowardice. A man of short fuse, he would treat such an enquiry with disdain. Nobody at the club has even whispered the suggestion that he may not be long for this job, that his reign in the Boot Room will not last beyond the autumn.

Even the Merseyside derby on Oct 17, a game which looms with rare dread in Liverpudlian minds, is unlikely to change that. Even if Hodgson was to take his Premier League record at Anfield to played eight, won one, even if Liverpool trudged back from Goodison Park still marooned in the bottom three – and, on current performances, there is every reason to believe they still will – he would not find himself under any pressure from his employers, and they would not expect to find him wracked with self-doubt.

Instead, he will be given more time aplenty, the excuse used no doubt being the legacy of failure he inherited, the poor resources at his disposal, the paucity of quality in Liverpool’s squad, the time required to right such wrongs. Such an idea has reverberated around the red half of Merseyside for years, ever since Hodgson’s predecessor Rafael Benitez failed to keep pace with Chelsea and Manchester United. The only problem is that it was bunk then and it is bunk now.

Liverpool’s squad is full of internationals. The side that fell to Blackpool started with 11 on the pitch, and four more on the bench. The likes of Daniel Agger, Fabio Aurelio and Ryan Babel were not even accounted for, while those who have not yet received international recognition are youngsters of promise, rather than journeymen of regret.
True, international honours are no guarantee of quality. Few would suggest that Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Lucas, Brad Jones and Milan Jovanovic are the sort of players of which title dreams are made. This is, of course, quite correct. But they are still all Premier League class – not Champions League class, not title class, but Premier League class – and they should all be capable of partaking in a win against Blackpool, despite Ian Holloway’s side’s impressive performance.

The debate last year, the reason for Benitez’s dismissal, was that he had failed to build a squad capable of challenging for the Premier League title. This was eminently fair. What he had built, though, was a squad not vastly inferior to those at Tottenham, or Manchester City, or Aston Villa, and better than those at Sunderland, Birmingham and Everton. Liverpool had, and have, the look of a team that should be challenging for Europe. After all, the majority of the side is the same as that which finished second just 18 months ago.

What the debate never used to be was whether this Liverpool squad was good enough to stay in the Premier League. Or, if that is a little knee-jerk, whether this squad was good enough to finish in the top 10. Of course it is. It boasts the best goalkeeper in England, if not Europe, Pepe Reina, one of the totems of the last decade, in Steven Gerrard, and, when fit, arguably the finest striker in the world, Fernando Torres. That it is failing is not testament to a dearth of quality. The players are not performing to the best of their abilities. That is the fault of the manager, and no-one else.

[Arn]

[JHP]

---------------Reina--------------
Kelly---Carragher---Agger---Aurelio
-------Spearing---Meireles--------
Johnson------Gerrard---------Cole
-------------Torres---------------

We need a left back. And Poulson and Lucas are crap so id give Spearing a little go in the holding position (plenty of passion).

Spearing was of course sensational against Northampton.