I am sick of saying…

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‘we should have won that game!’

Why? Because we’ve had 60% possession and 15 more shots than our opponents in said game?

We need as fans and players to stop and think, wait just because we’re Liverpool Football Club, that doesn’t give us the divine right to win games against Stoke, Norwich, Swansea, Blackburn, Sunderland and Wigan etc with ease. We need to start digging in and digging out goals, I’ve just watched a game in which Dirk Kuyt misses chances of ease and Andy Carroll failed to make an impact in another game after coming on as a substitute. The most disappointing thing about that is that it’s hard to argue that they’re to blame for this.

In the summer we went out and bought some of the players that in the 10/11 season created the most chances for their respective clubs, Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson. All three have put in shifts, but for a club like Liverpool a ‘shift’ is not enough.

When we bought in Luis Suarez I thought, thank goodness we aren’t going to be seen as a ‘one man team’ like we were for a time under the guidance of Steven Gerrard. Sadly it’s becoming more evident that when Luis Suarez doesn’t play we struggle to even pull off shots on target. Even when Suarez DOES play we still fail to find the net.

It speaks volumes when you reveal that Norwich, Newcastle, Bolton and Blackburn are just some of the teams that have scored more goals than us this season. We’ve spent millions and millions of pounds and for what? To build for the future? Or to be 13 points off the top of the Premier League as I write this?

I love the club but I dare say that if Kenny Dalglish wasn’t in charge we’d be giving whom ever was absolute pelters. We are by know means close to the time under Roy Hodgson and for that I’m incredibly thankful but we’re just not good enough. After spending over £120 million pounds are we really seeing the results that even the management team expected? Of course not but the question is surely why?!

If I were John Henry and co. I’d struggle to release more funds for more future improvement. It’s a worry because we do need a striker to relieve some pressure upfront and a defensive midfielder is a must for 6 months and beyond due to the Lucas injury. It’s interesting to see Raheem Sterling train with the first team recently, maybe a sign of things to come. Last year we stood out for developing our youth, are we going to put more trust onto young shoulders? Only time will tell.

 

To summarise, right now we’re not good enough, we’ve heaps of potential but we need to attract more players of quality and to do that we need Champions League football. I think it’s good to spark debate with this posts and so I’ll put it to the fans, what needs to be done?

 

YNWA

Ben Carr – @DoctorBenjy on twitter.

54 Comments

  1. Couldn’t agree more with you . I feel more pressure needs to be put on Kenny and his tactics , we all love Kenny but when do we question his constant changing of the squad ? Henderson had is best game as a red today and it still wasnt worthy of a starting spot . I am all for developing the youth but he does not need to play every game , bellamy should be starting a lot more games as should maxi. Carroll is showing signs of aggression which is great but he needs to score at least every other game. Kuyt has been a magnificant player for LFC for years but his time is up and he needs to move on . Overall questions need to be asked about Kenny and his entire idea of where LFC is going. Bottom line

  2. We need a striker but not one of the style of Darren Bent or even Jermaine Defoe. We lack competition and depth in attack and this is the only position in which this seems to be an issue. It may sound stupid but we should buy a few strikers from abroad who aren’t proven and bank on one of them pulling through. It may be too late for this window but what are we paying Damien Commolli to do!? This tactic worked for Benitez where Ngog and Voronin are rubbish but Torres is prolific. We have to do something

  3. Put Daglish out and bring in rednapp ;) The latter has done better with tottenham than Daglish did with LFC.. Absolutely gutted with the team’s perf. Carol is shit, henderson..no cmments. MayB lfc should’ve given Pacheco a chance to b part of lfc 1st team, he played gr8 for the reserves some time back.

  4. Well Ben,

    i have mixed feelings about your article which is, mainly, interesting and good.
    Where you’re wrong:
    1.No we shouldn’t have won the game: statistics are sometimes not revelant of a dynamic. You can have the ball 60% without being dangerous. You can have 15 shots more than your oponent without deserving a goal. Because, and we saw that, we didn’t create a dynamic to score: bad passing, no moves upfront: we almost were not dangerous. It would be interesting to see how many saves have done the two goalkeepers.
    2.No we didn’t spent millions and millions to be Champions: we are 13pts behind, well, it could be more, our aim is the 4th place. It’s not my aim, nor your aim: it’s lfc aim, and players have to fight for it. The title is not our target, don’t forget that.
    3.No we didn’t spent 120 millions: in fact, yes, but you should not forget that: we sold players, and some of them whith high wages we’ll not have to pay anymore. In an old article (should I have to find it?) it was estimated that, since JH arrived, the economic balance between spent and (received+no more spent money) is almost ZERO. That means that JH has made LFC economicaly competitive again.

    Where you’re right is:
    1.Yes, we can’t blame Kuyt or Carroll today: because we didn’t create dynamic, or not fucking enough to deserve just one little goal. Poor performance from the players which were not good enough, even not more than Stoke. Poor supporting from the fans at Anfield, as many times. Of course they pay to see a match, and have the right to say that they pay enough to see the reds playing good first. But, as LFC fans they HAVE to support and sing everytime, in every matches, even if we play bad. And more: they should sing louder when we are bad. Fact is that we are the best supporters away, and absolutely sleeping at home against small teams. Well each part of LFC, players and fans have to look at themselves first.

    2.Yes, we should give more chance to youngsters: to be honnest when you think our performance against top four teams, mainly, we were at the right level. Should we have to spend more money in january? Only for a striker in my opinion, because we don’t score enough. But at the other places on the pitch, i think we should wait until this summer and give more chance to Sterling, and Suzo (for exemple) against small teams when Seniors fail.

    3.Yes It speaks volumes when you reveal that Norwich, Newcastle, Bolton and Blackburn are just some of the teams that have scored more goals than us this season. It’s a cruel reality, but a real report. Don’t forget that we have the record of woodworks: of course it’s not an excuse, but, if we have scored 33% of our woodworks, we should be more confortable in ranking. But we didn’t, and it’s our main problem (excepted today when we were bad). That’s why we need a striker…

    To complete, my feeling is that, even if we have the King (and we are lucky and delighted to have him, with his staff), delighted too with Comolli, with John Henry who are real professional and bold competitor (economic and sportive). After all that, we are missing one crucial thing: to be consistent.
    We will not win all matches, but how can we be brillant on saturday and poor three days later? One player can fail, of course, but how can all a team show so much passion against big teams, and appearing so boring against small ones. Have they real excuses?

    The team need more character, need more Gerrard like, more Suarez like, more Kuyt like, more Bellamy like. We are not lacking many things to be honnest, because we are not far from the fourth place, but if we cannot win match like this afternoon, we’ll miss the target.

    The King is an absolute professionnal, intelligent, he got talent, and he’s enough reasonable to bring a staff where he’s lacking quality. He supports the players when some of “so called” fans want their head. And he’s surely the most and first frustrated with the result(s).

    We need to be more consistent, simply. And show in everymatch that we want to win. Just “want”, whatever happens next, there’s no regrets when you created opportunities to win and finally failed. Football is not a science, and an absolute capricious sport sometimes.

    We need more character to convert draws in victories, and woodworks in goals. The players have to want MORE the victory. Supporters have to support more the team at Anfield. And then you’ll see that we have almost all needed to reach the fourth place… in my opinion.

    Today, I hope the King gave all players a rough kick in their ass for the 2pts wasted.

      1. Great analyze Kuduz,
        Great arguments Kuduz,
        Great education Kuduz,
        Surely you’re a true fan and should be should be considered as an exemple…

      1. Thank you for such a detailed reply, only one issue. You say we didn’t spend millions? Well we did, if a business rakes in money from sales then that’s great but it’s still going out and spending the money when it could have perhaps been spent more wisely. Just because you’re ‘breaking even’ doesn’t mean you’re not spending.

  5. As 4 me,kenny daglish is nu jst gud enough 2 handle dis players we hav got.even if we buy a striker nd a defencive midfielder,we wil stil struggle.al we need 2 do is 2 bring in a gud coach.kd is too dull 4 my liking.we’ve got quality players bt he can nt jst bring out d best in dem.surez is a gud goal scorer bt even wen he plays 4 liverpool,he struggles 2 score.if i wer wd henry,i wil be plannin on hw 2 kick kd out of dat sit nd bring in a quality coach.if we do nt sack kd nw,we would nt qualify 4 d champions league dis season i bet u.

  6. Kenny Dalglish really screwed it up since he took over. He let Fernando Torres to go and then he spent 35,000,000 to bring in an unrated forward where he could save those money and bring in Kun Aguero; instead of spending money to bring in real wingers he spent 20,000,000 and brought an AM who is struggling to cross the ball in the box. I was one of those who were against of offering a permanent managerial role to Kenny Dalglish. I am still staying firmly on that position and I believe it is time for Damiel Comolli, John W. Henry, and Thomas Werner to reconsider the position of Kenny Dalglish. LFC needs a world class manager; LFC needs JOSE MOURINHO!

  7. To lose points at home is frustrating to all fans. we definitely need a new striker. Andy Carroll has no pace, no ball control. Give sterling a chance. I think that our youth
    team will beat our first division team.

    disappointed Liverpool fan

  8. What needs to be done??? It’s simple. Kenny should now simply stick with the combination that wins games. I am sure no-one knows which set of 14 players win us games consistently. The team is kept changing every other game for no apparent reason. Everyone knows what Bellas is capable of doing. Everyone knows what Maxi is capable of doing. When these two are in the team, the team wins or at least plays fantastic attacking football and loses playing fantastic attacking football. Not what we have witnessed today!!

    A piece of advice to KK: Please create a nucleus of players which includes Bellas and Maxi in order to produce consistent winning results. Also Charlie Adam should warm the bench and Jonjo should get the nod ahead of him. It’s time Raheem Sterling is introduced as a sub. He has a “John Barnes” sparkle and creativity in him.

    I stand to be corrected on my suggestions above.

    YNWA.

  9. Lots of good points and 0bservations for the most part. As for those that say get rid of KD, I would disagree. The teams he puts out on the pitch are good enough to win. Some of the tactics and formations, ok, leave me scratching my head too, but let’s accept that he’s seen their form at training, and he thought it would work. Let’s look at the players who are not performing…Todays corners and crosses were rubish for the most part. How many of the corners were easily scooped up by their keeper without a red shirt troubling him? 75% easily…that’s not good enough, and that’s what cost us 2 points today. On a positive note’ I really liked how Coates looked, and it looks like Carroll is finally working hard off the ball. That will bring positive results in the future…YNWA…

  10. The crosses go in but there is no one there and if there is they are useless. We are not direct enough, Most teams know where we are coming from and can sit tight and defend. Too often players do not know what to do with the ball. One of the few players who gets it right is Jose Enrique. He is a pleasure to watch.

  11. What we need is a footballing philosophy …. a system …. a way we want to play from now on …..

    We change it every single game and play with different players all the time …. there is no consistence, but you need that, if you want to grow as a team !!!!

    Kenny makes a mess out of it unnecessarily. He also keeps playing players who aren’t performing to the standard of Liverpool Football Club !!!!

    Also, what’s the reason for not having more players than one in and around the box when we attack ?? – You will always struggle to break teams down and score, if that’s your chosen style of play.

    We aren’t adventurous enough in our attacking play too …. always backwards and sideways passing without making any runs into channels …. another point is, that we can’t play one touch football …. we always need to take a touch to control it and only then we move it on …. we also doesn’t have any players, who are able to dribble past players except for Suarez and Gerrard to an extent. Simple put, there is not enough skill in our team !!!! We don’t have anything special to offer to make it hard for our opponents, what are the second most predictable team in the league behind Stoke (without Suarez) ….

    What we really need is;

    – A certain philosophy, system or way of playing football and stick with it !!

    – A more aggresive playing style, being more adventurous in our attacking play (committing more players forward).

    – Better attacking players !! We need players, who have great dribbling skills, are creative and have pace …. players, who can take on and beat players actually unlike Downing, Kuyt or Maxi …. those are the players, which are feared the most, like our own “Luis Suarez” !!!!

  12. We dont nid to buy in jan he said.as far as kenny’s concened Andy carroll is playin’ some of the best football he hve nvr seen in his life

    1. KKD is a consistently inconsistent manager i have ever seen. How do you expect your players to perform better where they barely play together? Lfc will always struggles to win until KD stops changing players and formations. JH need to consider his position, because the way things are going now with lfc, even top six will be a huge ask for lfc!

  13. Will people get it through their thick fukin heads we didn’t pay 35m for Carroll…Chelski did…we made 30m profit for Fernando..worth the risk…If he comes good he will be fukin awesome ..now all of you fuk off and show some loyalty or go support the blue shite

  14. When I saw the team the Manager selected today I knew he was not taking Stoke serioulsy – a team about 5 points adrift of Liverpool.

    If I were Mr Henry I would not supply Comolli & Dalglish with any more money. Three players were signed in the Summer who are not fit to wear the Reds shirt yet no action has been taken to replace them with players who are.

    I suspect John has already said enough is enough if you do not make the top four you are out. Pity we have to await the inevitable!

  15. I said it.kD is not a gud manager bt a morale giver.we need Rafa back.Rafa won’t spend dat huge amount on dez rubbish(hendo,adam,downing and carroll)we need foreign player no mre british player.

  16. Denyze91

    Fully agree.

    Andy Carroll’s position perplex’s me to the point it gives me a massive headache. He has all the physical attributes to be a handful for any Centre back yet, mentally he is the complete polar opposite. He isn’t going to become a technically gifted, quick-footed, Pacey, goal poacher that we need. He isn’t going to be the type of player who ghosts past players with the ball stuck to his foot. BUT what he can do is put himself about. Psychologically, he can get the upper hand over any Centre back if he just used the physical attributes that he has.

    Once you have won the Psychological battle with the defenders they become increasingly more aware of the fact that; 1) You will win some of the duels on the floor or in the air.
    2) You do have the ability to cause serious problems
    This adds up to the that the centre back can and in many cases, will make a mistake.

    £35 million is way too much. When you look at the other strikers with similar Physical attributes such as, Mario Gomez, Cavani, Ibrahimovich and Llorente. These players were the least likely to join for one reason or the other. Reasons range from the Lack of European competition, just joined a club, or infact Wage demands.

    So in a way Kenny had little choice but Carroll, If that was the type of player he was targeting and based on his Newcastle Performances he was certainly inclined to have a look. BUT the price does stick out and maybe in hindsight he wouldn’t of gambled on him after all. Seeing as it was on the last day and with what happened with Torres I can see why he bought him, even for such a high price.

    It’s not all Carroll’s fault though. more often than not the crossing either hits the first defender or goes across and out for a throw-in. So although he can undoubtedly do more, the other players can also do more for him.

    Kuyt has really irritated me ever since we signed him. Before we signed him I said that we shouldn’t, I wished that we wasn’t the team interested. I knew that he was lacking in technique. I knew he was slow, ponderous and wasteful on the ball and for £10 million I was hoping that we would be after someone else. All of the above really has proven me right. All really apart from the price and his worth. He has been a fantastic servant to the club. He has worked his socks off and come up with very important goals.

    My problem is though more than anything, he seems to be absolutely useless when Liverpool play against lower opposition. Teams that give you no space what-so-ever and work hard all over the pitch seem to highlight his shortcomings. He isn’t technically good enough to hold the ball up, dribble out of situations or pass in short spaces and 1-2’s. He is very one paced which means he cannot change the tempo of play in the last third because he usually loses the ball or gets closed down quickly.

    Against the bigger sides he is very useful because of his work-rate and his lack of technical ability is less apparent as the better sides aim to play their own game, instead of stopping your team playing yours. This is were I feel he should be used more from now on. He isn’t getting and younger and he does seem to be slowing down more. I feel we could use some youthful exuberance. Something that will make us less predictable, in turn making us try new ways in creating chances and catching tight defences off-guard. Someone like Toni Silva, or Raheem Sterling. Some say they are still too young but they are clearly players that have the attributes that we are lacking going forward. Pace, close control at speed, trickery, bravery, eye for a pass and just as importantly an eye for goal.

    I know this is long but bare with me:

    Today I think Dalglish got it all wrong tactically and with his selection. We played in a 3-5-2 formation. It never really worked because when you use just your Fulbacks for width, it pushes the rest central, thus packing the center of the park and limiting the amount of space we have to create. Secondly we started with Kuyt and for reasons I state above he should of been on the bench from the start. Downing was limited due to being forced central which negated his main traits. With playing a 3-5-2 it limits the amount of players we get in the box for crosses. Today a lot of the time we had crosses going in and no-one in the box to get on the end of them.

    Henderson should have played in the deeper role and Gerrard should of been pushed further forward. Gerrard is more assured in the final 3rd and his quality of passing, vision and experience meant that he was the best person for unlocking a tight defence. This and his ability to score out of nothing.

    In my opinion for what it’s worth we should have started with a 4-3-3. Downing-Carroll-Bellamy as the front 3 and Gerrard just behind them with Henderson and Adam sitting deeper.

    On Transfers:

    We need a striker and realistically we cannot be aiming at the likes of Mario Gomez, Cavani et al until we get Champions league football.

    Jackson Martinez looks like a very good player. Sort of in the mould of Demba Ba as in Quick, strong and good with either foot. Also though from what i’ve seen he is very strong in the air. Has a leap on him and very good direction when heading the ball.
    Granero, again looks like a very good player. Has an eye for goal but also can play in short spaces and rotate positions to bring other players into the attack.

    (I know it is all speculation. I know that we are not entirely certain that we are actually going to sign anyone. These above I’ve mentioned are just mere suggestions based on what I have seen personally and from “reports” that are doing the rounds.)

    Sorry it’s so long!

    Thanks

    Andy
    @heathyaaj

  17. all i know is, all summer i looked forward to this season and now i can’t wait for it to finish, we need major surgery, i adore kk, but, i just don’t see a blueprint for what we are trying to become, constantly changing tactics and team. we need a identity on the pitch. i do wonder what benitez would of done with all that money( and have a owner backing him 100%)and where we would be now, tactically he was second to none.

  18. Blah blah just riot liverpools games like they did to roy hodgson and get a new coach with game plans of football of today, YNWA or be like fergie buy off refs dan u win games

  19. We play scared. scared to turn the ball over and scared to take people on. Henderson is young true but we need a center mid who yes can keep the ball but also isnt afraid to take somebody on and be dangerous. and its funny because i feel he play’s differently for the under 21 team. In my opinion a player like shelvey would be better in that role right now. he is fearless and can play a pass as well as just being more positive. Henderson is so negative it frustrates the shit out of me. Now Adam can pick a pass anywhere on the field… except the final 3rd. where his crosses and free kicks (all year) have been downright UGLY. That and the fact he also lacks the skill to take people on and create, puts him on my subs bench as well. The team in general needs an attitude change. that includes kenny. Who i respect as a coach and think he can do the job. The whole pass and move and 60% possession thing is great but it is ok to lose it in the right spots attacking and doing the right thing. Not whiping in crap balls and having shocking 1st touches but more taking people on and getting in dangrous areas of the field so u dont have to cross the ball from such a distance everytime. Anyway… obvious that we need more from this team and maybe adding a few more will do the trick. I wont start naming off names but i will say our club shouldnt have to resort to picking up the scraps from the best teams. we should be able to get the best. Its hard without CL but that isnt far away with the right people. Does anybody else realize that Andy Carroll really cannot jump at all. Yes there are people drapped over him 85% of the time but im willing to put money on him having one of the lower verticals on the team if they ever do that sorta testing. Height is one thing but can you use it? Im done with my rant. Just had to get it out

  20. All need to be done is very simple. Sack kenny now & bring back Benites or better still buy Frank Ricard. If lfc want to make it to CL.

  21. Another predictable performance from a very average squad. Tactics so negative I thought GH was back in charge.Time for a change at the top. Sorry KK you are a legend, but the task of taking LFC back to the top is beyond you. Prove me wrong by all means, but I can’t see it. Another season slowly ebbs away. ( No I haven’t forgotten about the mighty Carling Cup)

  22. Totally agree with this article.I’m one of Kenny’s biggest fans but I don’t think he should be immune from critisism. There’s been a massive impovement in terms of the style of play from the dark days of Hodgsons tenure but to be honest when you spend 100 million I think we should be expecting more that we are currently getting. For all the good passing football we play this isn’t the first game that even before half time I’m wondering where the hell a goal is going to come from. I’m fast losing patience with Carroll and Downing in particular. I honestly believe Henderson will blossom into a very good player. I might get stick for this but even though Rafa bought some flops can anyone say we wouldn’t be challenging right now if he had 55 million to spend on a winger and a striker?

  23. The fact is simple, you want a top team? buy top players, we have only two of those in midfield and in offence, Gerrard and Suarez, not enough, look at the the Tottenham midfield, way better than our. And we have poor management, cause if you spend 40 millions for Carrol (same of Torres), 20 for Downing (29 years old mediocre player) when with your overall cash (70 millions for Carrol & Downing plus Adam) you could have buy players like Higuain, Tevez, Hernanes, you’re a joke. Now i hear about Bent…go for it, so we’ll do another useless move throwing away 20 millions again, however even this year we’re going to finish in 7th behind Tottenham ecc…maybe even behind Newcastle…so then no Champions League=no great players will come=our great players will go, BRING BACK RAFA PLZ. Kenny is out of active football from 20 years, the football specially in england is change and RAFA IS FREE so plz don’t waste the chance

  24. Who says “we have great or good enough players” should take few minutes and compare our midfilders (and wingers obviusly) with those of Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchesters, we don’t have TALENT AND SPEED which are indispensable in modern football, and there’s no “time to see the team improve…” (which is the same thing i heard last year with WOY) cause there’s SIMPLY no material to improve, Downing: he’s already near 30, no potential and i’m not happy to have spend 20 millions for a 29 years old BABEL. Carroll: i laugh hard when i read people say “he doesn’t do this and that…”, he’s an old school striker without speed and technic (as everybody should know, NOW, AND LAST YEAR WHEN KENNY did a mistake buying him, it seems that someone still thinks we bought a brazilian striker or Torres, Drogba…) so you must put him in the condition to score BUT if we don’t have players (except Suarez and Gerrdard) who make plays like beat the difender with dribbles and speed to create space it’s a problem.

  25. It is so painful to see a great club like LFC go through all dis bull shit,I felt like crying after watching my club draw at home again against stoke city.my friends we need to say the truth(KD does not have what it take to mange a team like LFC)we need an ideal coach of great such of J Moriho,dis is liverpool,not QPR or bolton.KD must go if u love liverpool…NWAL

  26. Carlos Tevez is fucking FREE at the moment..talks with AC milan broke down..we need a goal scorer…Tevez is a goalscorer..why the fuck are we not bidding for him…i see Dalglish is dumb and i dont care bring back rafa!!

  27. The problem with KK is that he did experiment alot on all these players in Carrol,Downing,Henderson and Adam..Raul Miereles was at least better off Henderson having spent 20million on him the mistake KK did was he should have bought a right winger rather than a midfielder we dont need upcoming talents if we wanted upcoming talents we should look into our reserve team bring out one or two prospective players or more develop them into first team and see what we get or probably send them out on a loan at least we would have saved the club some money and the owners would have been delighted.i can sense the Owners are even skeptical to bankroll any more signings because of less impact of signings kk has made and i sense the owners would leave the fans to be the judge as they wouldnt want to cause any unrest in the club by sacking kk.i see they would leave him see out his contract and might not review it otherwise he wins silverware..i would have imagined if only we still had Rafa and having a transfer war chest of 100-120million he would have turned us around magnificently and got us up the table..Infact if only we qualified for champions league spot i dont see us getting anywhere with this team as we might be disgraced in Europe..

    1. Downing, statistically was one of the best wingers last season and created a lot of chances. This season, statistically he has created chances yet we haven’t been able to finish. If some of the chances created hit the underside of the bar or, if the opposition Goalkeeper didn’t make a blinding save then we wouldn’t be talking about this.

      What would’ve Rafa been able to do with the supposed £100-120 million considering we are not in Europe?. We can not and will not be able to attract the best players if we are not in Europe. The only way is to pay silly wages and our sensible owners will not allow us to do that with the “Fair play Rules” coming in.

      With the departures of Meireles and Aquilani we DID need another Midfielder as we had no real chance of keeping these players. I wished we’d had signed Javi Martinez instead but with the Home Grown rule in place, Henderson was an ideal candidate. HE had an excellent season last year, as did Charlie Adam, Downing and Enrique so he had the prior knowledge to the fact that they had talent and can maintain form.

      “we dont need upcoming talents if we wanted upcoming talents we should look into our reserve team bring out one or two prospective players or more develop them into first team and see what we get or probably send them out on a loan at least we would have saved the club some money and the owners would have been delighted”

      So if we had the players coming through and then sent them out on loan, what sort of state would we be in now if we didn’t get another midfielder in? Lucas’ injury, Gerrards problems, Spearing’s been injured aswell. Whou would we have left? Bringing them in is all well and good but there is no guarantee that they will succeed.

      This season is all about stability. Getting ourselves back in a position where we can attempt to challenge for European Football. We are a step away from the Carling Cup final which will take us into the Europa league next season (If we win it). This will allow us to attract more players. We are also still in the FA cup which I am actually fairly confident that we can go far. We are 6th yes, but we have one of, if not the best defence in the league. We are controlling games and keeping the ball on the deck much more. Apart from the Tottenham game and Stoke yesterday we have for the most part been the better side in the rest.

      Gerrard has just recently come back now and he is yet to play a run of games with Suarez so that’s something to look forward to. From what I’ve heard we are in for another Striker. The problem is that we might have to wait until the summer before someone decent comes up.

      We have had to rotate the midfield and try different things upfront due to Suarez’ ban, Carroll struggling and injuries in midfield to the likes of Lucas, Spearing and Gerrard.

      The only real problem we have is that we haven’t been taking our chances. We have hit the bar more often than any other team this season (17-18 times). We have been awful from the Penalty spot when we get the chance (Thanks to Gerrard I’m not sure it will be a problem now) All this and not forgetting how well Goalkeepers have performed at Anfield this season. We need to be more clinical and also a bit of luck.

      For everyone else who has said that we played 5 in defence.

      WE DIDN’T. We played 3-5-2, with Johnson and Enrique pushed higher up the pitch to provide width. It was an attacking move, not defensive. Also Kuyts positioning as a striker was awful!. He was way too deep which meant we had no one of note in the box. For other tactical problems read my other post further up as now I can’t be bothered.

  28. Dalglish has to go, dalglish must go, dalglish needs to fucking get the fuck out. I saw this coming ever since the summer transfer window. When you see the likes of joe cole,aquilani and miereles give way for downing,adam and henderson says it all. Imagine you had joe cole,aquilani , merieles and gerrard and not forgetting lucas as your midfield players, who is mancity or man utd? Dalglish is just one tribalistic fellow, if you want british players or your so called home grown, what happened to the reserves, if they play alongside experienced players why wouldn’t they turn out good? Look how spurs made sure modric didn’t go, now where is spurs on the table? Dalglish is one proud man. Why couldn’t he reject torres and miereles transfer request? I’m sorry to say I can’t see liverpool even coming 6th….thank you dalglish and comoli for ruining the season I fervently looked forward to…..FYI: no one can tell me otherwise which would make me go contrary to my point of view.

    1. 1. Joe Cole wasn’t going to get first team football and he wasn’t going to get any better.
      2. Aquilani wanted to go back to Italy.
      3. Meireles was promised bonuses etc and he never got it so he asked to be transferred.

      Now, let’s have a look at Modric. He wanted to leave for different reasons, mainly due to the fact that Chelsea was offering him alot of money and Champions league football. How is this the same as wanting to go home (Homesick Aquilani) and broken Promises (Meireles). They would’ve been disruptive and that is something we cannot afford.

      He couldn’t keep Torres due to many reasons.
      1. Loss of Form
      2. Loss of interest
      3. No Champions League Football
      4. Injury Problems
      5. Bad Attitude
      6 £50 Million!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      If you haven’t realised already, there is a new rule about the amount of Home Grown players that you have to have registered. The thing is if you are under the age of 21 (I think it’s 21) then you don’t have to be registered on the 25 man list. This is mainly due to the fact that younger players get played less often and are mainly deemed not ready as is the case with a lot of our reserve players.

  29. Andy i agree with Aquilani, Meireles, Joe Cole (he’s playing in France so…plz everyone who says “he’s doing well…”, he’s doing an average job in a poor league)…but i can’t agree on Downing, you say “statistically was one of the best wingers last season and created a lot of chances”, ok, but make a cross is one thing and make RIGHT cross is another, i prefer a player that makes 3 crosses out of 7 than a player that makes 1 out of 9, and you can’t say that he’s creating chance because he’s not, i see no right crosses, no dribbles, no personality and no potential to develop since he’s 29, onestly i see the same thing that i saw with Babel but he was still young with much more potential than Downing. Than you say “What would’ve Rafa been able to do with the supposed £100-120 million considering we are not in Europe?”, i only know that Rafa was able to take here the best players from around the world even when we wheren’t in Champions L. and he was able to create a two time Champions finalist in few years

    1. Stuart Downing is 27. Only Malouda, Nani and Ashley Young had more goals and assists combined last season.(Ashley Young took penalties and free kicks around the box too).

      kenny for some reason has had Downing playing on the right a lot this season and it’s not like we have had any players getting into the box who are a threat in the air.(Apart from Carroll who hasn’t really started that much and has been pretty poor positionally)

      ” only know that Rafa was able to take here the best players from around the world even when we wheren’t in Champions L. and he was able to create a two time Champions finalist in few years”

      Rafa joined in 2004 when we was in the Champions league and we made the Champions League each year until the start of the 2010/2011 season. What players have left during and since then and what massive players came in apart from Suarez? There was a reason why Reina, Alonso, Mascherano, Torres, Aquilani signed. There is also a reason why all but 1 remain. (Although Reina has admitted at times he wanted to leave too and Aquilani had other reasons to why he left).

  30. My mistake, he’ll be 28 this year, but this doesn’t change the point about his season and he’s too old for improvements, his last season was good in a middle level team, we’re not that team…i think that Kenny use him a lot in right cause since we have poor creativity he wants to have the chance that Downing could move in center to take some shots…about Rafa, yeah, you have a point here for your correct knowing (i’m a LFC fan from the quarterfinals of the Istanbul year so i don’t know some things of before) but even here the point is (as you said) “we made the Champions League each year until the start of the 2010/2011 season”, those players signed with us for Champions League for sure but also because a great manager was here, great players are more attracted by great managers cause they’re sure that where is a great manager there’s chance of high level, now you’ll see PSG with Ancelotti, and yes, they leave cause no CL but with Rafa last year i’m sure that was possible to see here more good players

  31. The recent off field changes:

    1. Ownership
    2. Sponsership (Standard Chartered)
    3. Manager and Coach changes (KD and Clark)
    4. New Kit sponser (Warrior Sports)
    5. South American partnerships
    etc etc

    the above changes were all crucial to LFC getting back to the glory days. Without these changes, on the pitch we would still struggle. All the current successful clubs, have the management side working well.

    LFC have made tremendous strides to get this in order, and the only item to be completed is the the new stadium project. With the decisions over the last week, this is going to be wrapped up shortly.

    KD didnt take the job for a season, he took it on for the next 3 years. Everything is shaping up quite nicely. I believe that we should step back and see the strides already made. We already have a winning season in my books. The younsters we bought (carrol, henderson, coates,and the other new signings) are for the long run. On the field, we can see that the mindset has changed, the willingness and the YNWA spirit is back. Lets give KD and the players all the support. We want to win, not just this season, but future seasons as well.

    Lets go reds…….YNWA.

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