Been away now I’m back!

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been away, not in body but in mind. Frustrated at team selection and the obvious lack of manager player relations. Now The King is back and hope and passion is restored. Though if RAFA had come back the same would be true!

After two games, too soon to gauge an opinion on what Kenny will do, we finally have a full week of training and a chance for Kenny to talk to the team, see the players and for us fans to see his influence. This was evident today when Mieriles was played forward in midfield. I have thought all season he is wasted on the right as have many of you, but when he has played central without an attacking role he seemed unsure. Now his job is to get forward and he did a wonderful job today linking the midfield and attack. My only concern was he went absent in the second half, maybe this was team anxiety but more likely he ran himself to stop, I shall concede it was a bit of both. Not sure about replacing him with Jonjo but glad that switch was made, Pacheco would have been a more welcome sight, but I feel Kenny is holding back the next batch of kids and now going with Jay and Jonjo.

What happens when Gerrard is back, well for me I would like to see him replace Jay or Lucas. I would choose Lucas as he still seems negative and weak at time, works hard as does Jay but is not good enough or strong enough to control the central area. Jay as well can be weak but has good vision when on the ball and is more direct in mind. If I had to choose I would leave Lucas out for couple of games and give Jay the chance to control the area between defence and midfield.

Now we concede two goals at the start of the second half, was this because we lost Agger and therefore a bit of disorganisation was the result. We know Kenny wants Agger in his backline, but surely if he is ill it is better to have continuity throughout the match. I would not blame it all on the back four though, but several times I noticed huge gaps where the midfield duo of Lucas and Spearing had committed forward when the situation did not call for it. Everton came through the middle drew our guys in narrow then sent it wide, you could see there was not two rows of red for them to play around. I think that is our main problem the lack organisation between the back four and midfield. When we won the ball in our box, why were our boys standing waiting for the ball? Move out to receive the ball away from danger, or to increase numbers further up the pitch when the ball is cleared from the box, stop mucking around with it in the box, get it out, all of you get out and look for the attack!

In all the performance was whole lot better, more possession, more chances and a defence that is slowly gaining confidence. I would not like to see any more change to the starting line up, apart from Gerrard in for Lucas, leave Raul as the link to Torres and keep the kids for the second half, Jonjo, pacheco and maybe Ince on the bench, Skrtle as I would rather Kyri starting alongside Agger.

YNWA and the King is back!

10 Comments

  1. I hv to disagree about lucas, he won many tackles that last game, jay spearing has limited by his physhic against larger opponent, not a mascherano muscle type, and Kelly slipped his foot so many time that cost us the second goal :(

  2. What a load of garbage! Lucas played well and being a CM is not about being direct, you need a player like Lucas to do the simple things to allow the more creative players to flourish. I’m sick to death of watching, first Carra, now Skrtel, lump it 40 yards at Torres head, if all we have is players like Gerrard and Jay in CM thats what will happen, they both look for the hollywood ball so if we’re under pressure they will more often than not give the ball away. The only threat Everton carried was long balls as we are one of the shortest sides in the prem and set pieces, so this rubbish about drawing players blah blah is wrong, were you watching a rerun of a previous Derby?! Johnson, although he did well, is not a LB so he tends to play narrow, thats the main reason for any team getting down the flanks the last few games, i didn’t see any team get in behind Kelly with him nowhere in sight. You talk about being unable to counter, yet we’ve actually done that pretty well except for some passes going astray, that has nothing to do with players positions, look at Blackpools first goal, we were about to break down field with numbers over, but a stray lay off from Torres left us in trouble. Skrtel was at fault for their first goal, he was marking Distan but let him get away from him so his challenge was nothing more than a token, he was also at fault for at least one of Blackpools goals. We need new players, mainly wingers who can actually take a man on, a LB as we really only have Aurellio and we need at least 1 CB, Skrtel is a liability and for all Soto’s heart, he’s not of the required standard. OOnly thing i agree with you about is that the preformances have improved and it’s obvious that with time, Kenny should turn this around as we’re playing in the right way, we defend at least 10 yards further up pitch compared to Woys tactics and the quick tempo passing game has made us so much more dangerous.

  3. Stevie I am not asking questions, I’m showing my view on tactics and selection. It’s my opinion and yours is yours, but from what you say in reply it seems you feel the midfield was weak, bit it Lucas or Spearing, we agreed.
    As for my grammer, I agree, but that has nothing to do with my opinion so don’t care. But if you must know, I’m not a typist I grew up with pen and paper. I also have very stiff sore neck and wrote in pain and rushed.
    Take in the thoughts of a fan don’t take digs at his writing, especially when you do not know me!

  4. did you watch the game Jay got caught out a few times where as Lucas was on a par with Kelly for man of the match so get of the fellas back and give him the credit his performances this season have deserved

  5. Jay played play well considering he’s been out because of injury but Lucas worked his socks outs too and deserves praise. When Carragher returns he should play along Agger. Johnson did ok for a left back but we desperately need a left-footed winger and a second striker, possibly Suarez. Van Bommel would also be a good aquisition. Yes, he’s 33 but remember Mcallister anyone? He was instrumental in the treble winning season.

  6. Thought last nites performance was a step up to what I have
    been watchin over the previous weeks but I have to admit I was
    surprised at Kenny bringin on soto at the start of the second half.
    The man has limited capabilities but always gives his heart and
    soul with each performance, but Aurelio was on the bench and surely
    would last 45 mins wouldnt have been sitting their otherwise, so my
    question is why not him come on and revert Johnson to his natural
    right back role and push Kelly into the centre wit skrtel as is
    that is his natural position as well. Any takers on solving that
    one

  7. Both Lucas and Spearing had solid displays.

    But I would rather Gerrard replace Spearing, solely because Lucas has worked hard for this spot in the team. He has also played against big oppositions, unlike Spearing, who features sparingly in big matches.

  8. Haha, nowhere did i mention you using bad grammer, so ranting at me about it is just plain silly. Also, opinions are fine, as long as they have some basis in fact, but i’m sorry, most of what you said was factually incorrect so i have the right as a fan to stick up for my team and it’s players when someone who’s supposed to be a fan is berating them. As you can see by the other posts on this article, no one agree’s with your assessment of Lucas. You seem to me to be like many in the media, infact your opinions seem to be groomed by the medias opinion, you give Jay more credit than he deserved and put Lucas down as Jay is a nice local lad and Lucas is a foreigner, not just foreign, but a Brazilian that doesn’t do step overs and flicks. If you think i’m saying the midfield is weak from what i said then you seriously need to buy glasses, i said a midfield of Gerrard and Jay would be weak, that doesn’t imply the midfield is weak, it’s about balance, you know, like how Lampard and Gerrard can’t play together as it doesn’t give the side balance. With the CM’s we have our best imo would be Lucas as the holder, Mirelles as the playmaker, sitting around the centre circle dictating play and Gerrard as the more attacking, box to box player. Anyway, as i said, it’s plain to see that our biggest need is NOT a second striker, Torres plays best as a lone front man (as shown by his goal record for Spain where he plays as part of a front 2 with Villa) our biggest need is wingers, has been since Rafa first arrived, right side may be ok if we play Kelly at RB and Johnson as a RW, but that would then mean we’d need a LW AND a LB as Konchesky is not good enough and Aurellio is injured more often than not so cannot be relied upon. We should never have loaned out Insua, although last xseason he wasn’t too great, he started off well but with the injury to Aurellio, he went from being backup to playing every game, so it was no suprised when his performances went down hill as he’d not played a full season before. Personally i’d just be looking at a top draw LW this window, imo we could survive till summer and then just keep Insua, and buy another LB. One other problem with have is Soto is not good enough, Skrtel has goine backwards and is a liability and Carra is in decline which means we have only Agger of the required standard and he’s another injury prone player so at least 2 CB’s are a must this summer.

  9. Steve, I think he thinks you are me. I mentioned his grammar on the Facebook post linking to this article.

  10. Ok let me clarify, Lucas is not shit, never said he was. Yes he played well as did Jay. But Lucas has had his chances and improvemnt is slow, Jay is showing some improvement this season and I would just like to see him get a couple of games on the bounce to see if he is consistent.

    I also think Lucas is better as an attacking midfield, he seems more relaxed and has an even bigger smile, I just don’t like his inconsistent performances, sometimes he holds really well and covers, but in the Everton game both he and Jay where caught out a couple of times. Maybe I should have pointed out that maybe one or the other was supposed to be holding, if so they need to communicate!

    I never hate a player just like to see consistancy, Gerrard included. He has been non exsistent at times when he has played this season. Was that the manager or his fitmess, guess we will soon see!

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