The Two Main Problems...

[Guest Budo]

1) TOTAL CONFUSION on the left between JAR and Aurelio.

 

2) Sami... I love ya man. What a leg! But it's time to hang up yer boots.

[allez les rouges]

1) TOTAL CONFUSION on the left between JAR and Aurelio.

 

2) Sami... I love ya man. What a leg! But it's time to hang up yer boots.

 

1) wrong riise went forward to try and close down a player leaving a guy behind him in achers of space. a simple pass and they had exposed our back three because riise was now near the halfway line.

 

2) Sami made one mistake as far as i could tell. the second have incident when the sun was clearly in his eyes and blackburn nearly scorred. apart from that i though he had a very good game. nobody got past him

[Guest Cardie]

1) TOTAL CONFUSION on the left between JAR and Aurelio.

 

No there wasn't.

[floyd]

No there wasn't.

looked better when they swapped

[allez les rouges]

looked better when they swapped

 

they did, especially riise in teh second half. he bacame an attacking threat.

[Hassony]

1) TOTAL CONFUSION on the left between JAR and Aurelio.

 

2) Sami... I love ya man. What a leg! But it's time to hang up yer boots.

I suppose you got that from the 10 minutes or so on MOTD

[Lee W]

We've looked vulnerable all season down our left-hand side. Early doors yet, but I'm really not sure about Aurelio at all. The whole defence (even Carra) has looked uncertain aswell, with some of it stemming from Reina's slight dip in form. The whole team seem to be lacking the swagger we saw for most of last season - even class acts like Alonso and Gerrard look unsure and out of form, by their own standards.

Edited October 15, 2006 by Lee W

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

not just this season down our left. Every season.

 

I think Reina has lost confidence in the defence & maybe a bit of the same the other way. One moment in the 1st half, Sami (I think it was) was tracking back with an attacker with a long-ball coming through. It was bread & butter, Reina started to come, Sami had it covered but looked like he was going to leave it & the attacker could easily have benefited from both indecisions

[anfield]

There is only one problem: our lack of creativity

[Maldini]

They're really not the two main problems.

[Foo]

Imo the last five percents of effort are not there yet. And they are important.

[Guest Sabre]

Personally think that Aurelio and Riise work well together.

[Maldini]

Imo the last five percents of effort are not there yet. And they are important.

I agree. The luck is going against us, but you earn your luck through hard work, and we're just not working quite hard enough.

[sean]

JAR our best player I thought on Sunday.

We lack creativity and we don't use Bellamy as much as we should. If ever there was an example for using the captian wide right with a licence to drift, Saturday was it. All to often on the periphery of the game and he vacated the middle section far too often in the hope of getting on the end of a through ball. Left Xabi 2 on 1 then and they found it far too easy. If he goes missing from the right we can at least cover it. We lack a spark, but wouldn't be too down yet.

[Leo No.8]

I don't think we've found the right balance through the side at all - for me that is the main problem.

 

Far be it from me to jump on the media bandwagon, in fact it pains me to agree with them but we do need to establish some continuity in the side. I know Rafa won La Liga by rotating the way he is now, but I think its time to look at it and say maybe what worked there just isn't working here.

 

We aren't creating clear cut chances, and when teams don't create clear-cut chances you're relying on an opposition defensive error or scoring a cracker. You look at the games we have won; West Ham when Agger scored an absolute belter out of nowhere and we caught them old again straight away. Spurs when Jenas missed that absolute sitter and we went straight up the other end and scored, then a defensive error with their offside trap and Riise's belter finished it. Really I think you could only look at Newcastle as a fairly comfortable win, and to be fair they look an absolutely shocking side.

 

For me the reason we are failing to create clear cut chances is the team aren't gaining an understanding of each others runs, nor are players able to play themselves into any form. There's no flow to our play, its very disjointed and results mostly in long range efforts. The movement and inter-play just isn't there and that is because we're seeing different players in most positions from week to week.

 

On the contrary to players being able to find form, Crouch was scoring every week, looked full of confidence then spent 6 games hardly being used, whilst Bellamy was struggling and seemed to be playing week after week. Gerrard has been moved around too much, his selection on the left against Boton for me was inexplicable. Gonzalez has looked to give us balance on the left, and has scored a couple already yet has hardly played otherwise. Last season we looked so much better with Kewell on the left because the side was balanced - Gonzalaez raw though he is, would offer the same rather than playing Aurelio there who for me has struggled and looks like an attacking left-back to me.

 

Rafa has assembled a great squad here, the best we've had for a long, long time despite our current position. But at the moment you have to say his usage of that squad has been very poor. It seems to have been based solely on fitness and the opposition - for me sometimes you have to throw that out of the window and look at who our players in form are, put out our best side and have faith in their ability to beat the likes of Bolton.

 

I would want to see a settled back four of Riise, Agger, Hyypia and Finnan, and a balanced, attacking midfield of Alonso, Sissoko, Gerrard and Gonzalez with the only rotation being of the front men. I'd like to see that team have a run of five or six games unchanged barring injuries and suspensions with Garcia, Pennant, one of the strikers and Aurelio being used as subs who can change the game.

 

These players need to be allowed to play as a team, because at the moment they are just a bunch of disjointed individuals. New players are still bedding in, but you have to look at the rotation issue as well as being the major reason we are in mid-table.

[Huyton_Red]

I would want to see a settled back four of Riise, Agger, Hyypia and Finnan

 

are you f'ckin mad ?

 

Hyppia in and NO carragher

[Leo No.8]

are you f'ckin mad ?

 

Hyppia in and NO carragher

 

Neither has looked great but for me Carra has looked even more wobbly than Hyypia this season so far. You could certainly attribute more goals to him than you could Hyypia to date.

 

That alongside the fact that we look susceptible aerially when Hyypia doesn't play means, yes I would leave Carragher on the bench for a while. He had a nightmare in the cup final, then was poor in the world cup and doesn't look to have come out of that run at all.

 

I love Carra as much as anyone but he's not untouchable and is badly out of form at the moment, has been for a good while now.

[Figaro]

Hyppia is well off his best form.

 

Fabio Aurelio still hasn't settled.

 

Gerrard is not having as much influence on proceedings as he did last season.

 

We are not taking chances - be it through bad luck, bad finishing, good goalkeepeing.

 

We still have a problem with corners and crossing - basically we don't know how.

[Earl Hafler]

I've yet to see us play well for more than 45 minutes in one match. In the league we have beaten Newcastle ( one of the worst clubs this season ) Spurs ( in poor form ) and West Ham ( also in poor form )

 

Some poor decisions, some bad luck, the rough end of the stick with fixtures but all that is out of our hands. What is in Rafa's hands is the team selection and i don't think he's helped matters by constantly tinkering with defence and attack.

[Koogan]

Sami has been booked more often this seasonthan he used to (internationals included) and that could be a sign of... something.

 

Also, he has not been scoring at all lately (international excluded...).

 

2+2=?

 

But still, the main problem is further up the field. A top team like us should be averaging two goals a game and we're not even close to that.

[Alonso]

I would want to see a settled back four of Riise, Agger, Hyypia and Finnan, and a balanced, attacking midfield of Alonso, Sissoko, Gerrard and Gonzalez with the only rotation being of the front men. I'd like to see that team have a run of five or six games unchanged barring injuries and suspensions with Garcia, Pennant, one of the strikers and Aurelio being used as subs who can change the game.

I agree with you altho would like to see Kuyt alongide Bellamy as the striking partnership. With Kuyt's ability to play through the middle and link up play and Bellamy's running the channels, this may then allow Gerrard to come inside from the right and link up with Kuyt or get into the box and not have to be stuck out wide for 90 minutes. Given time so an understanding can be formed could prove a very dynamic, flexible forward set of players and very difficult to mark with the interchanging. With Gonzalez getting forward and into the box from the left would give good balance too. The pace and movement would also help Alonso out as he'd have options ahead of him and Momo alongside protecting him!

[Bootle Buck]

Our defence isn't the rock it was last season and has shown vunerabilities. They haven't been helped by a continuous change in LB and R and L midfielders. Carra excels when he is allowed to be the spare man. However far too many times when one on one this season he has failed to clear the ball. Finnan also when left one on one has been lacking. It doesn't help when the midfielders in front of them have been off form or constantly changed. I'm with Leo in the comments about having no balance and understanding. We look like a team of individuals trying hard to prove ourselves rather than a solid unit that can control games and kill off the opposition. Having to worry about giving up cheap goals has sent a lack of confidence throughout the team that wasn't there last season. We looked capable of winning games regardless of how the opposition played or how our own form was. Let's hope Rafa can get it right again.

[Guest DandyW]

We have one main problem: Peter Crouch.

Our football is based 100% on the skills he don't have. This is our major problem and has caused at least a seasons setback in the Rafalution.

[honourablegeorge]

We have one main problem: Peter Crouch.

Our football is based 100% on the skills he don't have. This is our major problem and has caused at least a seasons setback in the Rafalution.

 

That's just nonsensical.

 

Crouch has his shortcomings, but he was a big part of everythign we did well last season. To suggest he's held us back is laughable.

[Amit83]

riise and kewell w(hen fit) had a really good understanding down the left hand side last season and this was instrumental on that long run of wins at the end of the season. aurellio at times looks good but doesn't pose that atacking threat when playing left mid. this has affected the balance in the team and as much as it hurts to say, i think its time for sami to take a back seat, he has been a great servent to the club but i feel this will be 1 season too many for him and we will drop point as a result.

YNWA