We have no pace.

[Resu]

I was thinking the same thing during the game.
and it`s not only top speed, but the pace out of the blocks.
If you look at a few of the 50-50 duells their player stood up up whilr ours had to commit a tacle to get to it. So even when we won the ball we had a player on the ground while they had one still on his feet ready to win it back.

Against quick opponents passing has to be 100%, or they`ll catch you out, while against some of the slower moving players we have the passing only needs to be 90%.

The 2nd half was like men against boys. Slow clumsy men try to catch fast and agile boys.

BTW, Aresenal doesn`t bring that many young players from they own ranks, but Wenger is the best in the business at spotting talent at a young age.

[Rich]

I'd argue that Riise is fast, he just hasn't got great acceration.

I'd say Rafa's ideal defence would have:

Reina (in top form acts as a fantastic (fast) sweeper)

A top draw attacking RB with pace - Carragher - Agger - Riise.

We have four of them already.

[dww]

Another thing thatd be nice to have is defenders that can score.

Hyypia has shown on the odd occasion that he can have a crack and is potentially dangerous from a corner. Riise is good for a couple of long range efforts. But thats it. Carra is useless at shooting. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if he and finnan moved forward and attacked with the team. They are so one dimensional. Maybe that makes them easier to play against, cos they're all so predictable.

Personally I'd be happy If we replaced our whole back line except for Riise and Agger. Carra is a good squad player but isn't as good as his peers of King, Ferdinand, Terry, Campbell.... The thing he does have in abundance is heart, which im not discounting, its a valuable asset. I just don't believe he has the ability to match it with talent.

I think that Carra would make the ideal partner to all of the defenders you mention (with the exception of Ferdinand). He hasn't been on form this season but for the past two seasons his reading of the game and blocking have been exceptional. All of the top teams play with one dominant centreback and one to mop up - i.e. Terry and Carvalho, Ferdinand and Vidic, arguably even Arsenal with Gallas and Toure (although the argument worked better when it was Campbell with Toure), I think Carra is the best mopping up CB in the premiership. I think this season his confidence has taken a knock post world cup and the poor form of the rest of the team has made it hard fot him to recover.

At home our fullbacks seem capable of adding someting to the midfield, it baffles me why they don't in our away games. I think during the season Rafa will again try to fit Aurelio into LB and next season will look to buy a RB who is more comfortable on the ball that Finnan in the future. Personally I think he is grooming Peltier in that position as well. Hopefully he might get a few PL games to see how good he actually is.

[FowlerLeftFoot]

Our defence is one of the slowest if not the slowest in the premier league.

[Mumsafan]

Our defence is one of the slowest if not the slowest in the premier league.

Matched only by our attempts to find investment

[Fiddy]

I'd argue that Riise is fast, he just hasn't got great acceration.

I'd say Rafa's ideal defence would have:

Reina (in top form acts as a fantastic (fast) sweeper)

A top draw attacking RB with pace - Carragher - Agger - Riise.

We have four of them already.

Agree with all that. And where's this idea come from that Riise is slow?! As you point out it's his acceleration that isn't great, but once he's up to speed he's no slouch at all.

Think someone like Alves or Richards would complete the above picture quite nicely, but either would cost some significant dinero....

[Joe Le Toff]

At home our fullbacks seem capable of adding someting to the midfield, it baffles me why they don't in our away games.

IMO, its all about the tempo we play at when we are away.

The fascination to play compact with 2 banks of 4 has got to stop.
Rarely do we see us with an overlapping full back away from home or god forbid, a runner from midfield. All of our efforts seem to be based on not conceding, the passing is slow and sideways, no movement etc, just playing possession football which lets be honest we really arent that good at.
When we do get it forward we then play percentages which ends in a 30 yard shot into the stand from one of the usual suspects.

We need to play with the same speed of thought and movement away that we do at home. Pace is an issue i agree but IMO spped of thought and and movement are just as important and these qualities desert us when we play away for some reason.

[friedk]

We bought pace, Bellamy, Pennant and Gonzales all have tremendous pace, but they are not using it correctly. I still think our new recruits deserve time though, at this stage of his first season Finnan was being described as one of Houllier's worst ever buys, but eventually went on to become one of the best RB's in the league. Even if you play in the same league, when you move to a new team it often takes time to adapt to their way of playing.

I still think those three can come good, although I do worry for Pennant's lack of goals.

Pace is not the problem, it's movement. We seem to have that at home, but on our travels we are far too static.

[dww]

It just seems like it is a mental thing away from home this season. Hard to tell what is causing it, but I think it has had an effect on how well the new players have settled in. I think if the old guard found some form we would see more from the new signings.

Then again maybe the new signings have upset the team mentality.

[publiusscipio]

my point exactly.

We need som more pacier players who can pass and move and defend with speed.

Some pacier players or some more pacy players, preferably the former.

[FowlerLeftFoot]

Being Liverpool, with such a huge following all over the world, thats unbelievable, really.

Matched only by our attempts to find investment