Momo

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

Christ - his passing's getting worse.

 

He's suffered his fair share of injuries since he joined & he's way off form at the mo, but Carra was shaky after his early-season injury, so I think he needs to play his way back in.

 

I'd start him on Weds & tell him not to get feckin booked.

 

He wasn't as poor as the ref though...

[anny road]

he actually played some effective passes yesterday, but it was 50/50/.......he played a through ball second half to kuyt which was lovely...

 

we know it is something he needs to work on and he will

[Bailo]

He is the new scapegoat.

[Morgul]

Apart from the lovely through ball to Kuyt he was absolutely dreadful yesterday.

[Guz]

Didnt watch the game yesterday but he's had a really poor season this year IMO. Highlights have deffo been Charity Shield and Barca away but he was very hit and miss before his injury aswell.

 

Still, he's young, 2nd season is always hard and all that. Hopefully he comes back a better player next year because he was fantastic last season.

[Fitz]

He is the new scapegoat.

No he is not but his passing has been absolutely abysmal.

[muleskinner]

He is the new scapegoat.

 

That would be Riise.

[Maldini]

We all dream of a team of scapegoats, a team of scapegoats, a team of scapegots

[McBain]

A scapegoat? We won!

 

This argument has been made and made and made and it's a bit like groundhog day. Half the forum forgives him for his passing problems because of his workrate and commitment and youth, and the other half says he shouldn't be in the team until he learns how to pass no matter how hard he works.

 

Personally i'd have Bill Murray in the side before him but hopefully the threat of Mascher will force him to improve.

[Guest Prongsy]

It amazes me that people only see his missed placed passing and not Gerrard's and Alonso's and even Mascherano's.

[Mike]

why is he a scapegoat?

[Guest Prongsy]

why is he a scapegoat?

 

Because there's not much else to complain about after a 4-1 and a 3-0.

[Mike]

Because there's not much else to complain about after a 4-1 and a 3-0.

 

his passing isn't very good. even his parents would admit it. it's hardly a scapegoat.

[Guest Prongsy]

his passing isn't very good. even his parents would admit it. it's hardly a scapegoat.

 

His passing abilities have been completely blown out of all proportion. He made several very good passes yesterday and a couple of dodgy ones, just the same as Gerrard and Mascherano did.

 

I've looked, and there isn't many threads slating them.

 

Is passing he strong point? no. Is it as bad as people make out? definitely not.

Edited April 8, 2007 by Prongsy

[Mike]

His passing abilities have been completely blown out of all proportion. He made several very good passes yesterday and a couple of dodgy ones, just the same as Gerrard and Mascherano did.

 

I've looked, and there isn't many threads slating them.

 

Is passing he strong point? no. Is it as bad as people make out? definitely not.

 

ive no axe to grind either way, however, comparing the passing abilities of gerrard and mascherano with momo makes me question your sanity OR you have a teenage crush on our Malian monster.

[Rimbeux]

It amazes me that people only see his missed placed passing and not Gerrard's and Alonso's and even Mascherano's.

 

Do you think that's really true, and his passing game isn't significantly worse or less good than the other midfielders.

[Bailo]

He's the current guy we could sell and not be any worse off, even when we win we have the same old stuff trotted out (passing etc). It was Garcia last season, Momo this. We know his passing aint great, but cut him some slack!

[Guest Prongsy]

Do you think that's really true

 

It is true, it is clearly true.

 

and his passing game isn't significantly worse or less good than the other midfielders.

 

 

"Is passing his strong point? no"

 

The whole thing stinks of "who isn't 100% the best at everything in there position? Momo, burn the witch".

 

The villagers are getting restless.

 

Rafa doesn't seem too blinded by it. He has pushed Gerrard out to the right and as soon as he recovered from injury, he was straight back out there.

[Rimbeux]

He's the current guy we could sell and not be any worse off, even when we win we have the same old stuff trotted out (passing etc). It was Garcia last season, Momo this. We know his passing aint great, but cut him some slack!

 

 

I think you're over-sensitive. Plenty of players (most if not all the squad) have had aspects of their game questioned repeatedly, things that go beyond form, it's not about scapegoats, it's about how they can improve. It's normally basic stuff that you can assume the coaches work with them on, so you look for improvement, Gerrard being one example.

 

People used to question Gerrard's choice of passing, too many attempts at the killer ball, no longer, he's worked on it, up to this season there was lots of opinion that he couldn't play a disciplined central midfield role anymore, he's shown he can. Crouch is another, his with heading ability, coaches work on him, he seems to have cracked it.

 

Not sure what you expect, that because the fault is well known, that it should be accepted and ignored?

[Guest Kaizer]

We are talking about a box to box midfielder that used to be a striker, so far in his Liverpool career he has played 69 matches(58+11), scored 0 goals and got 2 assists.

 

Its eye catching stuff, but unfortunatley not in a positive way, he needs to improve his passing and his shoting, he also needs to get into the box more to be an alternative for crosses and passes.

 

He played in Kuyt with a beauty yesterday, so its not just doom and gloom with him going forward, but with Mascherano being brought in he really needs to step up a few gears to be seen as an real asset from my point of view.

[Rimbeux]

It is true, it is clearly true.

"Is passing his strong point? no"

The whole thing stinks of "who isn't 100% the best at everything in there position? Momo, burn the witch".

The villagers are getting restless.

 

Rafa doesn't seem too blinded by it. He has pushed Gerrard out to the right and as soon as he recovered from injury, he was straight back out there.

 

 

How about it affects how well the team play if he passes like that, even to the extent his team sometimes choose not to pass to him when he's in the best position.

 

Clearly he's not in the squad on his passing ability, clearly he has a lot to offer in terms of work, tackling and physical presence, but it's nonsense to suggest he's not got a major weakness to work on.

[KD07]

I think the thing is with Momo, the fact that his passing comes under such scrutiny on a regular basis is ironically due to his best quality, which is his fantastic ability to battle and regain possession. Being deployed as a so called 'one man wrecking crew' all over the pitch, his first pass after regaining possession is crucial because otherwise, it negates all the hard he had done to win it in the first place. And when he wins it high up the pitch, which is a regular occurrence given his fabulous engine, the onus is on him to make that pass count. While other players have their own array of abilities to be utilised when the team is on the attack, Momo's lack of composure and vision lets him down more often than not, which leads to the breakdown of any given sortie in the opposition half. There have been occasions too when his own failure to make that simple pass have led to the team being put under immediate pressure, which again leads to him having to chase it down all over again.

[Falconhoof]

He's on piecework. He gets £50 for every tackle and passes it back to the other team so he can go in hard and earn more cash for his goggles.

[RafaShanks]

Jesus, give the guy a break. He's only 22 and will only get better.

 

Why isn't Xabi getting any stick? He hardly scores and has looked very indifferent recently.

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

Momo's a fine player & hopefully a fine player for us for years to come.

 

Every player misplaces passes, just Momo sometimes isn't within 10 years of the intended target or he way overhits it giving the recipient a nightmare job to do anything with it.

 

I think he's better alongside Xabi - Momo does the crunching, Xabi the distribution. That said, this hasn't been Xabi's best season...

 

Oh well, time to play bang into form...