Topic: Liverpool v West Ham - Round the Scoreless Table

[Thog]

Also why do the players look so tired even though we're playing one game per week? All this possession football you'd think we would be fresher and fitter going into the latter stages of the game but right from the off against West Ham they looked off the pace. Had they been fresh, I think we may have got the win. We need a bigger squad with more quality next season so we can rotate to prevent burn out - for example Suarez hasn't been at his best since Kenny's first few months in charge in my opinion, he'd probably have even more goals if he was. I've been saying this for a while, and Sunday was probably one of his worst performances since signing. It's clear Rodgers doesn't fancy his current bench options otherwise he would freshen things up I think - he always talks about the squad being too shallow.

[007.lankyguy]

Also why do the players look so tired even though we're playing one game per week? All this possession football you'd think we would be fresher and fitter going into the latter stages of the game but right from the off against West Ham they looked off the pace. Had they been fresh, I think we may have got the win. We need a bigger squad with more quality next season so we can rotate to prevent burn out - for example Suarez hasn't been at his best since Kenny's first few months in charge in my opinion, he'd probably have even more goals if he was. I've been saying this for a while, and Sunday was probably one of his worst performances since signing. It's clear Rodgers doesn't fancy his current bench options otherwise he would freshen things up I think - he always talks about the squad being too shallow.

Whoopsie daisy

[PhaseOfPlay]

Also why do the players look so tired even though we're playing one game per week? All this possession football you'd think we would be fresher and fitter going into the latter stages of the game but right from the off against West Ham they looked off the pace. Had they been fresh, I think we may have got the win. We need a bigger squad with more quality so we can rotate to prevent burn out - for example Suarez hasn't been at his best since Kenny's first few months in charge in my opinion, he'd probably have even more goals if he was. I've been saying this for a while, and Sunday was probably one of his worst performances since signing.

Were out for the Grand National at some point?

They looked short of ideas, not short of legs. Against Villa we kept up a good pace for the whole game. If we were jaded, West Ham would have had more of the ball, but they couldn't get into the game because we dominated possession. At the same time, they didn't have as much running to do, as they were camped inside their own box. So relatively, we tired in the end of the game, but in terms of the overall season, we are still in good shape.

[Djimi Smicer34]

We need a bigger squad with more quality next season so we can rotate to prevent burn out - for example Suarez hasn't been at his best since Kenny's first few months in charge in my opinion, he'd probably have even more goals if he was.

 

[steveeastend]

Also why do the players look so tired even though we're playing one game per week? All this possession football you'd think we would be fresher and fitter going into the latter stages of the game but right from the off against West Ham they looked off the pace. Had they been fresh, I think we may have got the win. We need a bigger squad with more quality next season so we can rotate to prevent burn out - for example Suarez hasn't been at his best since Kenny's first few months in charge in my opinion, he'd probably have even more goals if he was. I've been saying this for a while, and Sunday was probably one of his worst performances since signing. It's clear Rodgers doesn't fancy his current bench options otherwise he would freshen things up I think - he always talks about the squad being too shallow.

In this game we played pressing AND a direct game. We had more possession but not from controlling the game and starting attacks from variations in pace, we kind of tried to run them down similar to last season.

It´s impossible to play like that for the entire 90 minutes without being fucked around 70th minute..

Our attacking play still lacks patterns although Rodgers has tried a lot so far this season, but the quality of our attacking players is not on the same level and for that it all looks kind of chaotic sometimes.

With a player like Ince instead of Downing or Sturridge on the wing, and a quality attacking midfielder in front of Lucas and Gerrard we would have battered them.

It´s still very important lessons for Rodgers to see what our players are capable of or not. He tries a lot of things simply because the squad is just too inconsistent.

[Aristotle]

Anyone notice by the way how Lucas does virtually all of Carragher's heading for him these days?

He's always been pretty average at that though hasn't he? 10 years of playing with Hyypia tends to overshadow that fact, then he had Kyrgiakos and even under Kenny Skrtel finally showed he can head the ball. He's always in the right position to win them but he's got incredibly weak neck muscles (assuming because they're all around his vocal chords). He gets to the ball a lot and fails to clear it from danger. It's a growing testament of Lucas though as well. The wee Brazilian's positioning and leaping is superb.

*edit: Average doesn't have to mean bad. He's not bad at it, but as an aerially dominant cenber back he's not and hasn't been.

[John C]

.

I know the lads on TAW briefly touched upon it. 

I think someone from TAW regurgitated most of the post completely.
A sobering situation backed up by the fact that I was offered an ST yesterday.

My advice to you all would be to give it another season, it could turn out to be dreadful advice but if the right acquisitions are made in key areas next season could be a bit more fun.

[Yorkykopite]

My advice to you all would be to give it another season, it could turn out to be dreadful advice but if the right acquisitions are made in key areas next season could be a bit more fun.

But it can't be the quality of the football. Can it? Liverpool under Rodgers are serving up much better fayre than the Kop have been used to for years. They watch a player - in Suarez - who is the most entertaining footballer seen at Anfield since Barnes. True enough we're not competing for the league title this season, but the reality is that we've only been competitive in April once since Kenny resigned (the first time). So it can't be that.

It's just that the structure and composition of the home crowd has changed so much. It's older, it's wealthier, it's less local, it's more cynical. The passion that used to be a ritual at Anfield has slowly ebbed away. It's the same at most of the other grounds too, mind.

[John C]

But it can't be the quality of the football. Can it? Liverpool under Rodgers are serving up much better fayre than the Kop have been used to for years. They watch a player - in Suarez - who is the most entertaining footballer seen at Anfield since Barnes. True enough we're not competing for the league title this season, but the reality is that we've only been competitive in April once since Kenny resigned (the first time). So it can't be that.

It's just that the structure and composition of the home crowd has changed so much. It's older, it's wealthier, it's less local, it's more cynical. The passion that used to be a ritual at Anfield has slowly ebbed away. It's the same at most of the other grounds too, mind.

I think its started with the football yorky, it hasn't been great at home for a number of years but in particular since teh start of 2012 its been awful at times at home - so whatever occurs away is irrelevant to the Anfield faithful. The price hikes are demoralising people and factor in the ageing crowd if thats a certainty then we have a deepening problem.

My point was that its a bit premature to jib it yet, see what happens. If the owners & BR get it right in the summer the whole dynamic could change, if they don't get it right then  both parties will be contributing to the further depletion of something that was once special. And there'll be more than ones & two's saying they're fed up, many people who are not even on a forum to tell you will just walk with their feet.

I don't want to come over all a@a but we could be on the brink of revival or drastic regress - because without a solid fanbase the complexion of our club may change.

I don't want to be as dramatic as others because I'm a bit less cynical about the groaners, I posted often about the Echo articles from the 1946/47 title winning campaign when it reported weekly about the "doom merchants of Anfield". I'm not sure its a new phenomena - I could be wrong?

btw, I wasn't as enthused about our performance on Sunday as other posters, something was missing more than invention imo.

[Prof]

Were out for the Grand National at some point?

They looked short of ideas, not short of legs. Against Villa we kept up a good pace for the whole game. If we were jaded, West Ham would have had more of the ball, but they couldn't get into the game because we dominated possession. At the same time, they didn't have as much running to do, as they were camped inside their own box. So relatively, we tired in the end of the game, but in terms of the overall season, we are still in good shape.

My comment in the post-match was this:

I thought we played really well.  The areas I've been most concerned with (particularly defensive transition) were managed really well.  We created loads of good positions, but West Ham defended well and rode their luck.

The key thing for me was Sturridge coming on when he did.  He was the ace on the bench, and if he'd been able to come on as a game changer instead of Assaidi, we might have seen a different result.  They were knackered for the last 15 minutes and a completely fresh Sturridge could have given us the equivalent of Man Utd's impact striker (Solskjaer, Tevez or Hernandez).  As it was, the players we had who could have unlocked them were also pretty tired.

The concept of possession football is to work the oponents so much, they get tired, and you can kill them at the end (if you haven't already).  We are so close to being able to do that, we just need a bit more depth to affect the latter parts of the game.