Having a moan

[Slim]

Over four hours since it finished and the depression shows no sign of easing.

Tell me about it Shaggy. When the game ended I wasn't as depressed as I am now. Any away game now I dread and I wasn't expecting anything after we went a goal down. Now I think the whole 'Sunday night back to work tomorrow' thing is kicking in, and that combined with yet another heartless display on the road means my depression is getting worse as well.
At the minute I simple HATE football! It has ruined an otherwise great weekend.

[Red Chilli]

I'm dreading next week, we never do well up there

[royzared]

bugger

NUFF said.

[dww]

I think Zenden played better than Gerrard today. I'm not sure that Zenden was the right choice today as i thought we needed someone more athletic and physical but he is a decent enough player. He was good at Middlesborough in central midfield and in a team who were playing well would fit neatly into our system as a stop gap. However key players like Gerrard, Alonso and Carragher are playing poorly and Zenden isn't good enough to make up for this.

[Shaggy]

I think Zenden played better than Gerrard today. I'm not sure that Zenden was the right choice today as i thought we needed someone more athletic and physical

Who though?

[dww]

I hope it was me but currently it is hard to tell.

[Diego]

Thanks Shaggy, that's a first for me.

The games we've lost we've been out battled and on occasion also out-classed.

i agree with you there mate, rafa seem to have a tactical insight, but his motivational skill and to get the men to die for the ball and most of all the shirt seems to be out of place...

thats what ferguscum and maurinho do best, the tell them to fight, and almost every time they've beaten us it's cause they out fought us, they were playing football, whilst we were playing chess...

[alunevans]

You reckon he'd play a ****e player or a player off form and risk defeat just to prove a point? Sorry, but I don't buy it. Only a complete idiot of a manager would do that.

I agree. I don't buy that either. But then again, only a complete idiot of a manager would put Zenden in centre mid over Gerrard. He must be the only football manager on the planet who'd even consider it.

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

I agree. I don't buy that either. But then again, only a complete idiot of a manager would put Zenden in centre mid over Gerrard. He must be the only football manager on the planet who'd even consider it.

Yeah but with Garcia out who was going to play on the right?

Pennant?

It really was pick your poison time. It was either hope Zenden is solid in midfield, aloowing Gerrard to be released further forward by playing on the right. Or put Stevie in the middle and play Pennant and basically allow him to act as Arsenals 12th man.

I agree with what you are saying though Al about Stevie. What is Rafa doing?

[alunevans]

Yeah but with Garcia out who was going to play on the right?

Pennant?

It really was pick your poison time. It was either hope Zenden is solid in midfield, aloowing Gerrard to be released further forward by playing on the right. Or put Stevie in the middle and play Pennant and basically allow him to act as Arsenals 12th man.

I agree with what you are saying though Al about Stevie. What is Rafa doing?

When faced with a choice of having a weak spine or a weak flank, always opt for the weak flank. It may be pick your poison time, but its a pretty straightforward no brainer of a decision.

Rafa is getting a lot wrong lately is all I'll say.

[desertscouser]

I agree. I don't buy that either. But then again, only a complete idiot of a manager would put Zenden in centre mid over Gerrard. He must be the only football manager on the planet who'd even consider it.

Alun mate, when I saw Zenden's name on the teamsheet I was furious. When Alonso and Sissoko are playing then fine, I understand Gerrard playing on the right. It makes sense to me. But when either of them are unfit and the alternative to Gerrard playing in his favoured position is Zenden then it's a no brainer, Gerrard has to play in the middle. I blame yesterday's humiliation on the players as well as Rafa with the latter deserving all the criticism he gets.

[Depth_Charge]

Not only have they caved in like they did at Old Trafford.

Not only is the technical ability shown abysmal.

Not only is this a training ground game for Arsenal.

But we have played like animals with it. It's like watching Everton.

Disgraceful.

I can't abide a cave in. And we've done it twice now against top opposition. The moment we concede the goal we collapse.

Something is seriously wrong here. Its not the defeats in themselves, although thats bad enough. It's the gutless way we've been defeated, and its the doggish way we've played.

Standing up and being counted doesn't mean kicking **** out of the opposition .

On so many levels this performance has been a disgrace, and that's viewing it kindly.

Spot on (unfortunately)

[Neil Young]

That is actually a very good and interesting point. I too always felt those Italian sides were vulnerable against good English sides. Hmmmm........

I understood that Sacchi based the style of play of his Milan side on...LFC. He got them to play 4-4-2 and at a fairly quick tempo (very quick for an Italian side).

[Mumsafan]

Why do Dickheads feel the need to phone somebody they don't know and complain?

[alunevans]

Alun mate, when I saw Zenden's name on the teamsheet I was furious. When Alonso and Sissoko are playing then fine, I understand Gerrard playing on the right. It makes sense to me. But when either of them are unfit and the alternative to Gerrard playing in his favoured position is Zenden then it's a no brainer, Gerrard has to play in the middle. I blame yesterday's humiliation on the players as well as Rafa with the latter deserving all the criticism he gets.

Quite. I do personally favour Gerrard in centre midfield. I think he's a very rare once in a generation player and I think he's better in his own position. That's just my view. I do however see the logic of playing Sissoko and Alonso in the centre and Gerrard right when the midfield two are playing well, and when we STILL havent got a good right midfielder.

Not saying its what I'd do, but I see the logic and there's a sense to it.

But Zenden?

I think the problem is that whenever someone managing LFC acts like a pillock and does something nobody else in football would sensibly contemplate, the tendency is for many to proclaim him a genius and a revolutionary.

It happened with Ged too. He'd turn footballing logic on its head and everyone would say how clever he was.

We've seen a lot of that with Rafa too, from his transfer negotiations over the past two seasons, to decisions like yesterday.

A bad decision is a bad decision, and for my money, Rafa is making a string of them at the moment.

Yesterday's team selection has rocked my faith in him. Not destroyed it but its took a substantial blow. It's hard to believe that anyone who chooses a crap left midfielder in the spine of a side instead of one of the best central midfielders in Europe knows what he is doing.

Some decisions are just beyond the pale.

I'm not saying he should go either by the way before the all or nothing brigade jump on me. But he needs to stop this "too clever by half" idiocy. Because it IS idiocy.

I'm also tired of people putting the argument that Gerrard isn't very good and so doesn't deserve to be central midfield. That's bollocks. He's outstanding and has carried this mediocrity of a football team for about four seasons.

My bigger fear is that I reckon something bigger is amiss at Anfield at the moment. The problems we have are beyond Gerrard's position. The side surrenders shockingly easily in games where you'd expect pride to be on the line. I suspect behind the scenes that team relationships are problematic. This is not a side standing together and fighting for each other and that worries me far more than the idiotic team selection we had yesterday.

Though if decisions like that shake MY faith in the manager's judgement, you have to wonder how many of the players saw the team sheet yesterday and went