Where Are The Goals ?

Where Are The Goals ?

It has been so frustrating this season for everyone connected to Liverpool Football Club, with the lack of goals. With seven games drawn at home and a severe lack of goals the problem has to be rectified very quickly if Liverpool is to achieve their ambition of claiming a top four place in the league.

It has really been a conundrum this season, why Liverpool is struggling to score goals. Dalglish strengthened his squad in the summer by buying some good attack minded players, with the likes of Downing and Adam to help provide the ammunition for the strikers. But the creativity has not been a problem for Liverpool , it is taking the chances that is the problem.

The strike rate percentage is by far the poorest in the league. But there has been so many excuses made for the lack of goals, like, bad finishing, and bad luck, and great defending, and great goalkeeping. But whatever the reason, it has to be rectified very soon because you can’t rely on the defence to not concede in every game, although praise has to go to the defence, which has been superb this season.

Goal scoring was not expected to be a problem this season with Suarez, Carroll, Bellamy and even Kuyt as options in attack. But with all Suarez’s brilliance and great form showed, he has been guilty of being very wasteful in front of goal. Andy Carroll has not got going at all and is not looking like a good investment at the moment. Craig Bellamy has been good since he arrived for a second spell at the club, but he has bad knees and therefore has to be used sparingly. Dirk Kuyt has not featured regularly so far this season and has still to find the back of the net after finishing top scorer last season.

Many people have said that Liverpool have struggled to break down teams that set their stall out to defend at Anfield. It might sound strange but I have felt that in every home game except the Stoke and possibly the Swansea match, we should have won. We have created plenty of chances to win these games, it is just that the ball won’t go in the net. It is very frustrating and Dalglish keeps preaching that the goals will come, but it is a big concern the longer the problem goes on.

I just think we have been very unlucky this season with the amount of times we have hit the woodwork and the number of times we have faced goal keepers that have been in unbeatable form. But then “you make your own luck” in football, we keep hearing. It is true and we need to be far more clinical in front of goal and I think we need to bring in a predatory striker this month or we could struggle to finish in the top four. It is easier said than done though to buy a top quality striker in January.

All we might need is one game where everything we hit flies into the net and that just might be the catalyst to end our goal drought and give confidence to our strikers. But one thing we can be certain of is that Dalglish will be doing all he can to get Liverpool scoring again.

website at www.anfieldnews.com

The Daily LFC: 24th January 2012 – Liverpool F.C. News update

Happy Birthday Luis Suarez

Kenny is determined to work to put it right more…
(YNWA)

Great pictures of Lucas on his return to Liverpool more…
(Great to see)

Lucas is excited to be back more…
(We all are)

There have been two fixture changes more…
(I hate it when they do that)

Sammy Lee has returned to Bolton more…
(Congrats and good luck) 

And the bookies are claiming the Martin O’Neill is favourite to be next LFC manager more…
(Cut the crap please)

Congrats to our fans in Indonesia and Big Reds for winning the Goal.com 2011 Best Supporters forum more…
(YNWA)

We are being linked with Mauricio Isla more…
(I also heard this from other sources)

Nani will most likely miss the game against us on Saturday more…
(Ah poor baby) 

Harry Redknapp is being accused with opening an account in Monaco to avoid paying taxes more…
(Over the sale of Crouch?)

And finally more stuff to make us proud to be Reds more…
(YNWA) 

On Twitter @empireofthekop

Bolton Wanderers 3-1 Liverpool Match Report

Bolton Wanderers 3-1 Liverpool Match Report

Liverpool travelled to Bolton in search of their first league win of the New Year. Bolton have had a tough first half of the season as they languish near the bottom of the table, but they have picked up in recent weeks. Liverpool have had a good recent record at the Reebok Stadium looking for their 5th consecutive win at the venue and hoping to keep in the chase for a top four place.

The Team

Dalglish made four changes to the team that drew with Stoke last weekend, with Bellamy, Carroll, Agger and Maxi returning to the team as Liverpool looked to continue their good away form. The defence had a familiar look to it with Agger returning alongside Johnson, Skrtel and Enrique. Adam partnered Gerrard in the middle of midfield with Maxi and Henderson alongside them. Bellamy would support Andy Carroll up front.

The Match

Liverpool looked shaky from the start and they were rocked in the 4th minute when Bolton took the lead when Davies ran right through the heart of the Liverpool defence before stabbing a low effort into the bottom corner.

Moments later Eagles muscled past Enrique before shooting right across the face of goal as Liverpool struggled to cope with Bolton’s bright start. Then Maxi handled a long clearance from Reina as he tried to control. Bellamy and Henderson had efforts blocked as Liverpool tried to respond.

Liverpool had a shout for a penalty when an Adam free-kick ended up hitting Knight on the hand but referee Friend waved away the appeals. But Liverpool fell further behind when Reo-Coker fired passed Reina after a pass from Eagles.

Liverpool responded in the 38th minute when Carroll flicked on a long ball to Bellamy who ran through on goal before chipping the ball past the advancing Bogdan to give Liverpool hope. With Liverpool down 2-1 at the half Dalglish would be hoping for better in the second half.

But in the 5th minute of the second half Bolton took a 3-1 lead when Steinsson smashed a volley low into the Liverpool net after a Wheater knock down from a corner. Dalglish brought on Kuyt and Downing as he hoped for a comeback but the closest the visitors came to goal was a long range effort from Agger which hit the top of the crossbar. It was a very disappointing day for Liverpool as they were well beat.

Summary

It was a very disappointing result and performance from Liverpool against a Bolton side who has been struggling this season. I couldn’t fault Dalglish’s team selection, and I was pleased to see Maxi return to the team. The poorest performance by far this season and the defence was terrible considering how strong they have been all season. League results need to pick up quickly or fourth spot will be a pipe dream.

Man Of The Match – Bellamy – played well, scored a good goal, always shows a fighting spirit.

written by Jamie McLaughlin website www.anfieldnews.com

The Daily LFC: 23rd January 2012 – Liverpool F.C. News updatr

West Ham are also interested in Jelavic more…
(Humm)

Lucas has returned to Liverpool more…
(We miss you) 

Nigel Reo-Coker takes a swipe at Bellamy more…
(Who is the Coker?) 

On Twitter @empireofthekop

Who Would You Have Bought?

So much vitriol has been poured on the internet by the all-intelligent LFC fan over the past 18 hours or that it is not funny anymore. You can criticize a criticism-worthy performance all you like. I mean I am boiling from within but there are somethings that don’t make any sense at all.

Why would anyone start calling Kenny names or demand a sack all of a sudden? Well some games haven’t panned out well and some signings haven’t lived up to their potential but to be honest, they’ve not lived up to the expectations that we’ve had about them.

I’ve tried to be patient with the new players understanding that almost the entire front 5 or 6 are new and need to play for much longer together to be productive. But 6-7 months have been a fair wait and for them to have put in a performance like yesternight isn’t acceptable and they definitely should have done better.

Look guys, the signings haven’t turned out well that’s true but I should add ‘yet’ to be fair. Retrospective is a good thing but lets rewind a few months and go back to summer. What was the target then? A top-4 finish (I’m sure it is still the target and it is yet achievable). Do you need European players to take you there? May be but more importantly, and to be sure, you need performers who have done well in the Premier League. Who would you then buy from? PL clubs, obviously. Which clubs? Well some of the rivals we will not do business with so we go to clubs like Sunderland, Aston Villa, Newcastle. And we buy their star performers. Not just best, we buy the Player of the Years from these clubs. If you go back, you will make the same decision. It’s easy to say Aguero and Mata but remember you need them to be willing to come to you for you to sign them. They wanted fatter cheques and Champions League. Nor did Young and Jones want to come here. Nobody thought in the last windows that Ba would have been good.

The only players who have signed last year and have impressed are Jose Enrique and Luis Suarez.

The most blatant oversight I think was a Defensive MF cover when we had only one.

The other problem is that Kenny probably has to understand his MF better. Gerrard is wasted if he isn’t upfront servicing Carroll. Henderson on the wings is wasted as well like Raul Meireles was last year. Charlie Adam can only play in the hole. If we thought Aqua’s position in the team was threatened because of a certain Steven Gerrard who plays in the position Aqua plays in, then I don’t see any reason to prompt enrolling Adam. Kenny said last night that the players took this game lightly but to be honest I’ve felt that about LFC on a whole thru the season. In the bigger games they seem so well prepared and tactically stout but someone shuts shop against them and they forget how to form a move.

The other real problem that I’ve noted is the lack of strikers. Last January we had 3 – Torres, Babel and N’gog. Since then we’ve sold off all of them but only bought one out and out striker in Carroll. Suarez and Bellamy are more of wide players or secondary strikers.

Every good team has two players for each position and every good player can play in two positions. Both of these seem to be missing at LFC at the moment except for defense. And when defense has an off day like yesterday, we’re in trouble. I can’t see it not happening again.

As I’ve said, Kenny shouldn’t be immune from criticism in case of defeat if he gets credit for all the wins. But calling him names or demanding sack is over the top to be honest.

However, impatience is something we can do without. Manchester City couldn’t attract top players till this summer. They were transfered to the Sheikh in 2008. They played Europa in 2010-11 and even after 35 games of 2010-11 Premier League season they weren’t sure of  Champions League qualification. I am not saying that we will take that long but just giving a parameter for comparison. If you want to compare Aguero to Carroll, and why did we not sign him, you also should then have the same patience levels.

YNWA

Kaushal

Match Report: Bolton 3-1 Liverpool

By The Mighty Reds Blog

Bolton lifted themselves out of the relegation zone on Saturday after a commanding display to shock a poor Liverpool side at the Reebok. The result means, Liverpool are still searching for their first Premier League win of 2012.

Maxi Rodriguez and Daniel Agger returned to the Liverpool starting XI after missing out last week, while Craig Bellamy was given the nod over Stewart Downing. David N’Gog was given a place in the starting XI for Bolton against his former club.

Liverpool found themselves under pressure straight away as the home side took the lead just 4 minutes into the game through Mark Davies. Owen Coyle’s side almost doubled their lead just moments later when Chris Eagles shot wide from a difficult angle after sloppy defending from the ever reliable Jose Enrique.

The Trotters pressed Liverpool hard and forced them to make mistakes to which the Reds succumbed. Liverpool misplaced passes, mistimed tackles (Charlie Adam in particular), and were forced to make sloppy defensive errors.

And on the half hour mark, the home side, deservedly, doubled their lead when Nigel Reo-Coker slotted past Pepe Reina. Liverpool responded instantly, as Carroll’s clever flick on was collected by Bellamy, who after out-pacing the Bolton defense, scored with a delicate chip over Bodgan, eight minutes before half time.

Craig Bellamy’s delicate finish counted for nothing as Liverpool were well-beaten by the Trotters.
Any hope of a Liverpool comeback in the second half was quickly undone when Steinsson restored Bolton’s two goal cushion after some poor defending by Liverpool from the corner. With just 25 minutes left to play, Kenny changed things up with the introduction of Stewart Downing and Dirk Kuyt for Maxi and Charlie Adam, however it didn’t affect the balance of play that Kenny was hoping for. Daniel Agger hit the crossbar late on before Chris Eagles went close again before the full time whistle.

After the game, an angry Dalglish threatened to axe the players who were not performing to the level he expected. He said: ”If anybody has any aspirations of staying any length of time at the football club then they’ll not be here for much longer if that’s the way they want to perform. We expect a much higher level than that.”

You can follow me on Twitter: @UmarKhurrum