Liverpool FC vs MUFC - Post Match thread

[dww]

Really? They only bothered us off a set piece.

Good teams often have a spell when they concede a goal, exactly like we did when we spent the last 10mins battering them.

I thought they had several chances where the final pass/shot went wrong. But I guess I'd have to watch the game again to be sure.

[Neil Young]

Also depends on what you mean - they seemed completely in control of where the game was played and we didn't seem to know how to change that. Under Rafa when we came under pressure we seemed to have a plan that involved letting them have pressure in areas they were less likely to hurt us, this weekend they seemed to take complete control of the game.

If it was a one off then it would be fair to suggest that they are just a good enough team to do that but we have let several other obviously weaker teams do it too.

I agree. We have consistently failed to respond to half time tactical changes by opponents and yesterday we failed to respond to their changes quickly enough. I don't know how much the players on the pitch should be blamed for that and how much it comes from the management (via instructions or through substitutions).

[Arn]

Also depends on what you mean - they seemed completely in control of where the game was played and we didn't seem to know how to change that. Under Rafa when we came under pressure we seemed to have a plan that involved letting them have pressure in areas they were less likely to hurt us, this weekend they seemed to take complete control of the game.

If it was a one off then it would be fair to suggest that they are just a good enough team to do that but we have let several other obviously weaker teams do it too.

We do lack a midfield pacemaker and Agger must play when fit. When Agger isn't playing then Reina is the one that almost always set up the attacks from the back. When Agger is playing then he is the one doing it 20-25 yards higher up the pitch. That is a big difference.

It slow us down very much when Agger isn't playing. To start our attacks takes two three extra seconds and that is all the time the opposition need to organize the defence.

Agger is as important for out attacking play as he is for our defensive play.

[Arn]

We are very easy to find out at the moment. That is a big problem.

[The Birdman]

My only gripe with Downing is that for me his starting position is about 10 yards too close to Enrique or at least it was in the Man U game.
If he plays that bit further up he can come short before spinning in behind, by starting deep he only has 2 options - 1. cutting inside into a packed midfield or 2. running in a straight line on the outside.

Not once did Smalling have to worry about the space in behind him which in turn made it easier for him to occupy a tucked in position next to Ferdinand

[dom9]

I agree. We have consistently failed to respond to half time tactical changes by opponents and yesterday we failed to respond to their changes quickly enough. I don't know how much the players on the pitch should be blamed for that and how much it comes from the management (via instructions or through substitutions).

Yes, it was certainly too late by yesterday. Perhaps they realised that all hope was lost by then.

[Neil Young]

[Suarez]

As others have mentioned, we need to be more clinical with our finishing. Bellamy needs to start more imo, he and suarez could be made for each other. Doesnt leave a lot of time for the big man though does it.

[Exiled_red]

I do think that at times we concede posession to easily and generally don't have enough possession in games, Under Rafa we were controlling the game by completely dominating possession.I guess you could counter that by the critisism we had under Rafa for having alot of possession but not doing anything with it and playing to many sideways passes etc. I guess the more attacking or adventurous the football you play is the more likely you are to lose the ball, the problem for me is that we aren't creating that many chaces. I would be happy to have less possession and create more chances (to some extent at least) but at the moment we are doing neither.

Also I don't really like the fact that we are playing 4-4-2 alot of the time, I don't think it brings the best out in a number of our players. We still have a number of players who we don't know what to do with.

It's difficult to judge Saturday's game because we were playing against a good side that were for large parts of the game playing rather defensively, after being over-run by us in this fixture in previous seasons they went of a more solid approach which made it a more difficult game than we might have been expecting - In many ways it would have suited us if they had played a more attacking style, and I think the fact that they didn't surprised us.

[Craig_H]

Saying we let them do it is a bit silly really, they're the best team in the country!! They didnt get there by having a load of crap players or giving up once they go behind, they were always going to have a little spell. We looked like we'd comfortably seen it out until slack marking from a set piece, they hardly bothered us inplay.

Even allowing for the fact that Kenny didnt make any changes after their subs, it's still the mancs, the league champions and they're always going to have a spell in games.

FWIW, after they scored, we could/should have scored on any one of three separate occasions, so i wouldnt put it down to anything we did wrong, or Kenny did wrong, other than sloppy marking at a set piece.

[Arn]

I do think that at times we concede posession to easily and generally don't have enough possession in games, Under Rafa we were controlling the game by completely dominating possession.I guess you could counter that by the critisism we had under Rafa for having alot of possession but not doing anything with it and playing to many sideways passes etc. I guess the more attacking or adventurous the football you play is the more likely you are to lose the ball, the problem for me is that we aren't creating that many chaces. I would be happy to have less possession and create more chances (to some extent at least) but at the moment we are doing neither.

Also I don't really like the fact that we are playing 4-4-2 alot of the time, I don't think it brings the best out in a number of our players. We still have a number of players who we don't know what to do with.

It's difficult to judge Saturday's game because we were playing against a good side that were for large parts of the game playing rather defensively, after being over-run by us in this fixture in previous seasons they went of a more solid approach which made it a more difficult game than we might have been expecting - In many ways it would have suited us if they had played a more attacking style, and I think the fact that they didn't surprised us.

A reason to why we had a lot of possession under Rafa was probably because the opposition let us dominate the games. We still had a slow back four and the rest of the team wasn't that much quicker. The best way to hurt us was to attack us on the break.

Pace is still a big problem. We still need quicker players. A problem under Rafa was also that we didn't had that many creative players like Suarez. Torres and Gerrard was more or less the only ones after Xabi and Garcia left.

Benny stood out as a very creative player but in reality he isn't that creative. He stood out because so many of our players had very little creativity.

We still have a problem to create chances. What would happen if Suarez gets injured? We need to sign more players like him to get quicker, get more creativity and be more difficult to read.

The opposition know what they will get from Downing, they know what they will get from Adam, they know what they will get from Kuyt but they don't have a clue what they will get from Suarez.

They can set up a tactic against players like Downing, Adam and Kuyt but can't set up a tactic against Suarez.

They can set up a tactic against Carra and Skrtel but they can't set up a tactic against Agger.

We need more creativity all over the pitch. In defence and attack.

[cream]

My only gripe with Downing is that for me his starting position is about 10 yards too close to Enrique or at least it was in the Man U game.
If he plays that bit further up he can come short before spinning in behind, by starting deep he only has 2 options - 1. cutting inside into a packed midfield or 2. running in a straight line on the outside.

Not once did Smalling have to worry about the space in behind him which in turn made it easier for him to occupy a tucked in position next to Ferdinand

They both seem to want to occupy the same space, they don't seem to have a good understanding at the moment.

[dom9]

A reason to why we had a lot of possession under Rafa was probably because the opposition let us dominate the games.

Disagree.

Liverpool squeezed the pitch in every direction (remember people complaining about no width?), and worked their socks off. We also had the likes of Hamman, Alonso, Sissoko and Gerrard in the mix, with Kuyt doing similar on the right.

[Mostar]

As I said it's still early and it's a work in progress.

Wingers especially have times where they go off the boil and this seems to be one of those times (I still think he's doing ok) I think once this team settles down a bit more we'll see more and more of him also having Gerrard back will help no end with our attacking play improving

Absolutely. He needs time to gel, learn Kenny's system and adjust to play with Enrique as 2 of them will be difficult to contain once they get use to each other.

They both seem to want to occupy the same space, they don't seem to have a good understanding at the moment.

That is exactly the key for me. They are presently not on the same page and they need to communicate better.

Plenty of times, they either crowd the space to the point that they cannot combine or one is too slow to provide the support when needed (I remember a couple of moments in the first half when Downing was little bit upset with Enrique for not running down the flank when he went inside and then when he was isolated on the wing and was looking to pass but Enrique stayed far back).

Still early days so we have to be patient.

Give them time and they will huge for us once they learn to play with each other.

[Baracus]

I agree. We have consistently failed to respond to half time tactical changes by opponents and yesterday we failed to respond to their changes quickly enough. I don't know how much the players on the pitch should be blamed for that and how much it comes from the management (via instructions or through substitutions).

Thats a great last point.

I can't remember Kenny frequently giving instructions out in many games to players or a key player during a game.

I can remember bodge face rubbing

However During the days of Ged and Rafa they always took an opportunity to discuss things with 'their' captains [xabi then masch imo ] during pauses in the game.

Maybe it will change now that Gerrard is back