Blackburn Post-Match

[Fredo]

We do need other players to share the goalscoring burden as most players should have more goals than they do.

As for Downing I don't think he was as bad a people like to make out, I thought he put some decent crosses in yesterday, but was far from outstanding IMO he will play better when the team plays with more confidence, but he isn't a player who can make things happen on his own to inspire the change of confidence.

Thought that Downing was OK but refrained to saying it as in the heat of the moment most people were slagging him off. I thought that if he had played on the left maybe we would have got a break as he got into great positions but was always looking to use his left foot. I don't think I saw Maxi and him switching wings once yesterday which was a bit odd.

[Vermilion]

When did he really go off the boil, when did the goals really dry up for Suarez, was it around the time Evra piped up ?

The subconcious mind is a powerful thing.

[Exiled_red]

Hmm I'm not convinced of that

I think hes a very good player Suarez but the more I watch him the more I think he will be difficult to partner

for all his ability hes generally greedy and wants to take the chances on himself which he invariably misses

He frequently gets in great areas to hurt teams but he tries to take too much on when a simple ball/pass might be the option

That's part of the reason why I think Carroll and some of the others are struggling, they don't know what to expect from Suarez, it will take alot longer for our players to develop an understanding with him than it would for a more traditional or predictable forward, I think this is a part of the reason why Carroll and Downing are having difficulties settling into the side.

[Exiled_red]

Encouraging thing though is that we are still trying and confidence seems to be high as we're battering most teams. So, we need to keep trying the same things with maybe a cooler head in terms of awareness in front of goal. We shouldn't stop playing the way we are.

Agree with all this especially the highlighted bit

We lack compsure for me

Its interesting to hear Kenny saying that also

I also think we lack an old/experienced head in the team who can calm things down and have a word with people when needed, someone like an Alonso or a Sami Hyypia. The older players we have in the team either don't have the experience of playing at the level Sami and Xabi did or don't have the experience of the pressure of having played at a club like LFC for a few years. The most experienced players we have Gerrard and Carragher are 'reactionary' type players who get fired up rather than calming things down which I don't think helps when we start to panic.

[Bender]

We seriously need to spend again in January to make up for the ****e we bought in the summer, we need someone who can just SCORE!!!!!!

what and buy more expensive ****e ............... so far they have all proved bad signings apart from suarez

[Exiled_red]

When did he really go off the boil, when did the goals really dry up for Suarez, was it around the time Evra piped up ?

The subconcious mind is a powerful thing.

He had 4 goals in 8 Premier League games up to the Man Utd game and 1 in 10 Premier League games since...

[Chazza]

How many assists does Suarez have in the league?

1 away to West Brom (According to ESPN Soccernet)

[The Birdman]

I find it amazing posters slag of Carroll for not scoring yesterday and defend Suarez.
Carroll hasnt played regularly had 3 attempts and hit the target with 2, Suarez plays every week had at least 7 attempts at goal and missed the target with all of them.
ALL of them, Suarez snatches at chances, simple as that.
No composure whatsoever

[Lecter]

I also think we lack an old/experienced head in the team who can calm things down and have a word with people when needed, someone like an Alonso or a Sami Hyypia. The older players we have in the team either don't have the experience of playing at the level Sami and Xabi did or don't have the experience of the pressure of having played at a club like LFC for a few years. The most experienced players we have Gerrard and Carragher are 'reactionary' type players who get fired up rather than calming things down which I don't think helps when we start to panic.

Not convinced of that

There are two things we lack and one could be an excuse for the other

Firstly our decision making in the final third is poor, it doesnt matter which player you choose generally their decision making is sub-par

By decision making I mean you get in a position of threat and there are times when you should pass, there are times when you should shoot etc... generally we choose the wrong option. Even older players like Kuyt & Bellamy are making these wrong decisions

Then we have decision making in front of goal - this is composure - ie times when you should just **** it and times when you should pass it into the net. Currently we are consistantly making the wrong choice - from Suarez's decision the other week at Villa when he turned Dunne inside out only to **** the ball hard as he can against the bar - to Carrolls 1st half chance yesterday where he took a touch when he should have gone first time. Some of this could be to do with confidence but I'm not sure

That stat of Suarez only having 1 league assist is interesting (I thought he had far more than that)

[danperkins]

nail on head there, 'in theory' it looked great..... not withstanding both are not very good

55million

45 appearances

5 goals

0 assists

Resale value 20m if we are lucky.

I think its safe to say that is ****ing abysmal

it's glaring statistics

[Vermilion]

He had 4 goals in 8 Premier League games up to the Man Utd game and 1 in 10 Premier League games since...

Tells it's own story then that stat does'nt it.

I think hes quite an emotional lad inside, and this is hurting more than he's outwardly letting on.

[danperkins]

Tells it's own story then that stat does'nt it.

I think hes quite an emotional lad inside, and this is hurting more than he's outwardly letting on.

definitely not a coincidence that his form has dipped.

[dww]

What else do you think is wrong? We are creating plenty of chances, I'd be more worried if we weren't creating anything.

In a similar way I have gone past thinking that our poor finishing is down to bad luck, we either have players whose finishing ability needs to be improved, or we have psychological problems with it.

I think it is a variety of things, including:
No one follows up on shots, so we get fewer 'cheap goals'
For whatever reason Suarez is **** at finishing for us.
No one makes the sort of runs for us into or around the six yard area that resulted in goals for Ba and Dempsey for Fulham (on a good day I'd excuse Maxi from this criticism) - again they were comparatively easy to finish.
Carroll mostly looks terrified - composure is often a key part of finishing and that attitude can't help.
We cross from too wide a lot of the time. It has helped Bale a lot this season that he has started cutting in more to cross.
We have no natural finisher/poacher

[kopash]

Not enough bodies in the box means our players are often crowded out when having these "chances". Most the time they're a 50/50 at best, not a player clean through 1 on 1 etc. We lack creativity generally and it boils down to 2 things. Wide men not good enough and lack of quality finisher (Suarez is not one yet). Also could argue Adam is not required standard in CM to be main passer dictating play though he has done ok so far. We have a lot of rebuilding to do still and a lot of our recent spending has simply not been good enough

[danperkins]

Not enough bodies in the box means our players are often crowded out when having these "chances". Most the time they're a 50/50 at best, not a player clean through 1 on 1 etc. We lack creativity generally and it boils down to 2 things. Wide men not good enough and lack of quality finisher (Suarez is not one yet). Also could argue Adam is not required standard in CM to be main passer dictating play though he has done ok so far. We have a lot of rebuilding to do still and a lot of our recent spending has simply not been good enough

with everything.

Adam looks much better with a DM beside him to clean up, Spearing back instead of Henderson is a minor positive, as he can protect the back four better than Hendo who is very lightweight, but Lucas is a huge loss. With Stevie back fit (hopefully stays that way) it will be interesting what role Kenny will be Adam. For me this is the strongest and most dynamic starting 11:

-------------Reina--------------
Johnson-Skrtel-Agger-Enrique
----Gerrard---Spearing--------
Maxi-------Adam------Bellamy
------------Suarez--------------

IMO Adam would excel not having any defensive responsibilities, and with his left foot, be nice to see him closer to goal, plus his defensive game is awful.