Topic: Liverpool 1 - 1 Sunderland, (Suarez, Larsson) - Post Match

[SpartanTree. No deccies or lights.]

I'm not one for knee jerk reactions anyone who knows me on here.

But im gunna say something I will stand by for the rest of the season. Andy Carroll will be the biggest transfer flop in the history of this club.

Nowhere near good enough, and not one who will improve vastly either.

35 million for someone with extremely limited technical ability

He worked hard and covered alot of ground during the game.  Had a perfectly good goal disallowed (which would have put a completely different slant to the second half) and generally won his share of headers and kept the ball pretty well (apart from the last 10 mins).

Had his goal stood I think peoples reactions would've have been quite different.

[Trump's tiny tiny hands]

I think the thing that disappointed me the most, in both halves, was the poor ball retention. I was probably spoiled by Benitez, but I was used too 60-70% possession at home, with questionable offensive moves. Now we are down to 50% possession at home, but still lack attacking prowess.

Gave so much possession away with short or wayward passes in the second half. Forcing it while running out of gas? Maybe. Lacking the organisation and clarity of thought to keep it simple? Definitely. The distances our midfield players were trying to pass the ball over grew bigger and bigger. More mistakes occurred because our shape went to all buggery.

[Juan Loco]

Dont think its fair to call Bob a wum mate,hes far from it

Miserable bastard about everything though

[MKelly34]

Can I ask why it would be 'Embarrassing' ?

Because we are Liverpool mate. Would be the third season straight without Champions League. And we will have the risk of losing Suarez and Reina.

Also, we spent a lot of money. Not finishing in the top 4 would be controversial at least.

[mobydick]

STOP COMPARING US TO THEM.

Don't shout at me. My expectations are different to yours, live with it.

I'm not comparing us to them, you're doing that. I'm just pointing out that A draw is not the end of the world.

[kred]

Disappointing, and Carroll seems almost like he has no pace. Don't want to attack our #9 but he really isn't what Nancy was.

He is a heavy player and you can tell with him running in a lumbering way. 

[SpartanTree. No deccies or lights.]

Beat Arsenal and we'd have got 4 points out of two games vs Sunderland (home) and Arsenal (away). Doesn't look that bad.

Stop being so positive.  This isn't the place for that kind of thing.

[Bonaqua]

Flannos mistake was a result of the entire team's poor play in the second half. Second half was nothing but a nightmare. Needs to be adressed asap

[walshys_mullet]

A few things really.

Firstly you see the importance of a good pre season. Its not just about fitness - as you saw second half when we looked directionless. To me thats down to the lads not having enough playing time together. We looked good first half but lost our way second.

The second point is Adam. Like last week, he was sitting deep with whoever was partnering him. He is a better attacker than he is a defensive midfielder because he cant tackle. Today he sat back for most of the game with Lucas and we lost some attacking thrust.

Thirdly. The sodding referee. I couldnt give two hoots about what people think of blaming the refs for our downfall, but those three sods today, cost us the game. How the hell Richardson got a yellow i will never ever, KNOW. He booked him therefore it was a professional foul so why no red? And Carrolls goal, absoloutely NOTHING wrong with it. All afternoon Dowd gave them freekicks for minimal contact especially Sessegnon and Gyan who seemed to fall over in the breeze. Nothing changes as far as im concerned concerning Premier referees, all of them are, excuse my language, fucking shit.

[Alan B'Stard]

I hope to god I am wrong. But the lad is unbelievably one dimensional. And I don't just say that on the back of today obviously.

He is not even dangerous in the air, his size makes him a threat but his actual technique when it comes to heading isn't there yet. Thats something he can work on, but im not sure what other areas he can improve significantly.

I'm sorry, I just don't see it. I admire fans for being optimistic but he will be a marginally more effective Kevin Davies I reckon with a good left foot.

He is not fit to lace the boots of the lad he replaced (whom i will not mention of course )

As I have said, I think he is technically an extremely limited player. His physicality is an asset but im uneasy about the temptation players seem to have to emply a "lump it forward" attitude. Kenny likes to play a passing game and I don't think Carroll is the right fit for that philosophy.

Apologies for not toeing the line, but its just an observation.

He worked hard today sure, but we need more. I will stand by my assessment so fire whatever insults ye want.

He is 22 get off the lads back and don't judge a player who has played a handful of games for the club!

[Purdy]

New signings were fairly impressive, particularly Enrique and Downing, felt Lucas and Adam didn't gel at all.
Ref was a massive c*nt, linesman too, Carroll goal disallowed for what? Did linesman have shortman syndrome?
Flannagan obviously needed subbed off, he has shown great potential and a bad day will happen to everyone but should've been off the pitch.

I suspect a Sunderland DVD of that the way their fans were acting.

[RideTheWalrus]

Brilliant first half, ran out of steam at half time and it just got worse. Think criticism of Carroll's harsh, when there's no runners off of him after Suarez came off, what can be expected?
As fitness levels increase, we'll get better. Much reason for optimism.

[petrichor]

beat Arsenal in the emirates and it will all be forgotten , we are due a win there!

we have many lessons to learn from today's performance and hopefully the lads won't forget them
otherwise we may win at emirates based on adrenaline and drop points in the next

[Snoopy29]

Let's try to remember how many draws the mancs started with last season.

Never EVVERRR

think like that..

it's only going to loose concentration on the team..

This is not about united or any other team, it's about LFC mate!

Come on!!!

The midfield was holding back, that was the main problem, and the tempo lost, everything else followed that, and so, the whole team started to cling on, and lost the structure.

There were even times where sunderland started to feel hungry about scoring more goals!

Everything is to do with mentality, and structure, once the structure (in the middle) got lost, along with the defensive line being so deep, the team lost it's form.

The team has the potential, those saying the team isn't good enough, I disagree. The first half tells you everything. The team can do well if it wants. It's up to their mentality, and structure, communication, fitness. Ofcourse there are more attributes than this, but the ones I have said, you could tell straight away, the team had lost focus from then on in.

Love the team, but, just think, the team isn't showing it's true potential. The pass and touch, football needs to come back again, but that was obviously hard once adam and lucas stopped closing in, and attack, when it should have been meireles in there instead of lucas or adam, and keep either adam or lucas on, so that, atleast in the middle, there was some attacking options.

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

I hope to god I am wrong. But the lad is unbelievably one dimensional. And I don't just say that on the back of today obviously.

He is not even dangerous in the air, his size makes him a threat but his actual technique when it comes to heading isn't there yet. Thats something he can work on, but im not sure what other areas he can improve significantly.

I'm sorry, I just don't see it. I admire fans for being optimistic but he will be a marginally more effective Kevin Davies I reckon with a good left foot.

He is not fit to lace the boots of the lad he replaced (whom i will not mention of course )

As I have said, I think he is technically an extremely limited player. His physicality is an asset but im uneasy about the temptation players seem to have to emply a "lump it forward" attitude. Kenny likes to play a passing game and I don't think Carroll is the right fit for that philosophy.

Apologies for not toeing the line, but its just an observation.

He worked hard today sure, but we need more. I will stand by my assessment so fire whatever insults ye want.

[Mizerooskie]

Are you joking? Wes Brown misjudged the flight of the ball & jumped for it too early while Carroll came into the back of him, that wasn't an aerial challenge, that was Carroll using his size to his advantage, still piss poor defending though. If Brown had just stayed planted & backed into Carroll he could of cleared that ball with ease.

Not joking at all.  Two men went up for the aerial ball, one man came down with it.  Brown was put off by Carroll's physical strength.  Anywhere else on the pitch, and no foul would have been called.

I just find in silly that so many on here will be disappointed with a striker's performance if he doesn't score.

There would be absolutely no Carroll bashing if that goal stood.

[Aristotle]

I dunno, he looks very static to me, seems to have a heavy touch and headers a lot of ball over the bar.

I mentioned this earlier I think many of his headers flattered to decieve. The crosses he was connecting with were bad, he was making headers that he had to drop back and put all momentum into connecting with the ball rather then steering it in the back of the net.

[Redcap]

We should have lead 3-0 and been a man up by half time. This much cannot be disputed.

Having said that, we were garbage in the second half, and I found it quite baffling how incapable all of our players were.. including our most reliable players like Lucas, of stringing two passes together. Horrific.

Dowd never ceases to amaze me with how utterly shit he is. How Sunderland managed to not only finish with 11 men on the pitch, but also with less yellows than us, is something to wonder.

I was really disappointed Aquilani wasn't given a chance. Don't want to post speculation about what it means, but it was a bit sad.

[Mutton Geoff]

As i said earlier nobody seemed to notice how well Sunderland played second half, closed us down took away any space in midfield they were quicker into the tackle than us and just maybe shock, horror, deserved the draw! Some here think teams should just lie down and let us screw them at Anfield this is a tough league so nobody will do that!

Had we finished this game off in the first half as we should have and with luck would have, then i dare say we would be winning the league in here! Also i dare say a few people would not be posting as well?

[Dentron]

When we play along the ground, we are fantastic. When we launch the ball around in the air, we are not.

[teri_ma_ki]

Does anyone know why flanno played ahead kelly .. if not because of injury that was a pokr decision by the management

[Blarf]

Gutted.
Adam was outstanding,but the result never came.Was more or hoof ball after Luis got subbed.

Sorry but could you explain how Adam was outstanding!? I agree that his performance was kind of promising but it wasn't great to be honest.

[Coolie High]

Can't for the life of me why Aquilani was eft out the squad, currently he is the best midfielder we have after Gerrard, and after him its Mereiles who for some reason was left on the bench. I don't think Kenny has to play all our new signings at once, to be honest i would much rather we line up how we did to the back end of the season, Spearing is better than Adam in the position he was occupying today, he is more composed on the ball and does more defensive work. Also i would like to see Mereiles come in for Henderson and for Kuyt to replace Caroll, that way we could cut out the penchant for us to hoof the ball long everytime.

[Sir Capon of Debaser]

Miserable bastard about everything though

[Mizerooskie]

I hope to god I am wrong. But the lad is unbelievably one dimensional. And I don't just say that on the back of today obviously.

He is not even dangerous in the air, his size makes him a threat but his actual technique when it comes to heading isn't there yet. Thats something he can work on, but im not sure what other areas he can improve significantly.

I'm sorry, I just don't see it. I admire fans for being optimistic but he will be a marginally more effective Kevin Davies I reckon with a good left foot.

He is not fit to lace the boots of the lad he replaced (whom i will not mention of course )

As I have said, I think he is technically an extremely limited player. His physicality is an asset but im uneasy about the temptation players seem to have to emply a "lump it forward" attitude. Kenny likes to play a passing game and I don't think Carroll is the right fit for that philosophy.

Apologies for not toeing the line, but its just an observation.

He worked hard today sure, but we need more. I will stand by my assessment so fire whatever insults ye want.

Not even dangerous in the air?  Surely you're joking?

[Macphisto80]

I think the best thing for people do (which I often do) is just wait for the hysteria to calm down before posting in a match thread on here. I find that even if you leave a reasonably balanced post talking about the football, it will invariably get buried 30 seconds later in a heap of shit, making it not very worthwhile posting at all. Let the knee jerkers fuck off first, then say your piece.

[Redeo]

Any insight on these questions, anyone?

Why was Kelly not playing?
Why was Aquilani nowhere to be seen?

[Aristotle]

He cleaned someone.....can't remember who but the ref played advantage......then the ref brought the play back and booked him.

Is there any rule about that? It seems refs almost always give yellows when a foul is skipped and an advantage is given. Even if the foul is marginal compared to others before it

[The Red artist.]

I'm not one for knee jerk reactions anyone who knows me on here.

But im gunna say something I will stand by for the rest of the season. Andy Carroll will be the biggest transfer flop in the history of this club.

Nowhere near good enough, and not one who will improve vastly either.

35 million for someone with extremely limited technical ability

I'm not one for knee jerk reactions anyone who knows me on here.

But im gunna say something I will stand by for the rest of the season. Andy Carroll will be the biggest transfer flop in the history of this club.

Nowhere near good enough, and not one who will improve vastly either.

35 million for someone with extremely limited technical ability

Oh dear! absolute rubbish. Tell me, would you be saying this had his goal been given today, like it should have done.

[krispy.red]

Almost no through balls the entire match. Cross, cross, cross was all we did. Meireles needs to played in the middle, so wasted on the outside.

[istanbulism]

Some might say its premature, but I've said it since day 1 we signed him, Carroll is not fit enough to lead our line..

[ghost1359]

Beat Arsenal and we'd have got 4 points out of two games vs Sunderland (home) and Arsenal (away). Doesn't look that bad.

Not really the point though is it? This result if anything will be all the more frustrating if we do beat Arsenal

[Pacman.]

He worked hard and covered alot of ground and generally won his share of headers and kept the ball pretty well (apart from the last 10 mins).

You do realise you've just described a 35 million pound player, right?

[LiverpoolForever]

 We need to be patient , teams are made in partnerships and we had 4 out of 5 of them as virtually brand new. Confidence and trust in each other will only come with time , there is inevitibly going to be a bedding in ,gelling period , we got to be patient the squad is strong and well balanced now have faith.

Like i said its fine to ask questions about the 2nd half but some of the over-reactive , knee-jerk reactions on here are staggering.

[imnofreak]

Some of the reactions in this thread are fucking embarrasing. Seriously, it's one fucking game and you're all going on like we got our asses whipped.

I want success just as much as the next guy but these overreactions accomplish nothing.

Calm down.

[hoonin]

If I were the RAWK mods I would already have a contingency plan in case we lose to Arsenal.

Plan A is to dispense with the morons.
Plan B is just to redirect all traffic to TLW

[AnyGivenSunday]

That was a bit disappointing, probably disproportionately so, seeing as we're all so pumped for this season and for the first time in a long while just able to concentrate on football matters with optimism.

I was really impressed with how we played for the first 30 mins.  Adam was dictating play, Downing looked very good, and Suarez was well... Suarez.

Unfortunately we let control of the game slip in the second half.  No doubt part of that was due to Sunderland stepping up their game, but also due to us appearing to retreat a bit too much.  The defence seemed to back-off too much and resorted to the long ball far too often.

I really feel for Flanagan.  He had a decent first half but really let the mistake get to him, which is understandable for a young lad.  I was surprised to see him start ahead of Kelly, but he's got my full support and I'm sure we'll see him put in some solid performances - and even more solid tackles! - as the season progresses but I think today he showed he's not quite yet ready to be a regular starter.

All in all lets take it on the chin and put things right against Arsenal.  Come on you Redmen!

[Purdy]

A few things really.

Firstly you see the importance of a good pre season. Its not just about fitness - as you saw second half when we looked directionless. To me thats down to the lads not having enough playing time together. We looked good first half but lost our way second.

The second point is Adam. Like last week, he was sitting deep with whoever was partnering him. He is a better attacker than he is a defensive midfielder because he cant tackle. Today he sat back for most of the game with Lucas and we lost some attacking thrust.

Thirdly. The sodding referee. I couldnt give two hoots about what people think of blaming the refs for our downfall, but those three sods today, cost us the game. How the hell Richardson got a yellow i will never ever, KNOW. He booked him therefore it was a professional foul so why no red? And Carrolls goal, absoloutely NOTHING wrong with it. All afternoon Dowd gave them freekicks for minimal contact especially Sessegnon and Gyan who seemed to fall over in the breeze. Nothing changes as far as im concerned concerning Premier referees, all of them are, excuse my language, fucking shit.

Those Sunderland forward two were such a pack of fucking cheats and the fat fuck Dowd bought it everytime, nevermind the red.

[jambutty]

The only thing missing from this game was the fukn beachball.

Shoulda been 4-0 at the half.  Downing's ball watching was equally responsible as Flanno as only yorky seems to have noticed.

2 points blown.  We have to develop the killer instinct.

[Macphisto80]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Whoppers! *drolls*