Right hand side

[AJ The Red]

Something has got to be done about our right side with SG there.

 

Is it Rafa thats wrong or SG lacks the discipline to do the job properly?

 

A few times last night when the ball was on the left SG decided to tuck

in the middle and the ball finished exactly where you would expect a

right winger to be.If pennant had played there for 90 i bet we would

have had more joy than we did on that side.

 

Rafa is tacticaly well aware and im sure he must see the same things as

us but still keeps playing SG there, imo SG doesnt have the disciple to do the

job.

 

Im not blaming him for wanting to be involved in the middle , thats his

prefered postion and sometimes im glad he wonders but at times its to

the detriment of the team.

 

I just hope we see a few switches for the return leg

[smithdown]

Finnan was missing. Arbeloa wasn't as confident holding the right side while Gerrard went on a wander.

[owenthomas]

is exactly how i saw it too..

[fred milne]

The Times is saying Rafa spent most of the first half bellowing at Gerrard to stop wandering in-field.

[Alonso]

The Times is saying Rafa spent most of the first half bellowing at Gerrard to stop wandering in-field.

Wouldn't suprise me.

[The Invisible Man]

This is the problem with having so many central midfielders. It is hard to drop Sissoko, but if you play Gerrard in the middle you have to drop one of Mascherano and Alonso as well.

[Alonso]

This is the problem with having so many central midfielders. It is hard to drop Sissoko, but if you play Gerrard in the middle you have to drop one of Mascherano and Alonso as well.

Not if you play Gerrard behind one of the strikers (Crouch) and Pennant on the right.

[Kahnee]

This is the problem with having so many central midfielders. It is hard to drop Sissoko, but if you play Gerrard in the middle you have to drop one of Mascherano and Alonso as well.

 

Dropping Alonso might help shake him out his current lull

[jimmylibel]

Dropping Alonso might help shake him out his current lull

 

Thought he was one of our better performers last night.

[Guest Anders Honoré]

Dropping Alonso might help shake him out his current lull

 

didn't realise he was in a lull, tbh.

[Stevie H]

The Times is saying Rafa spent most of the first half bellowing at Gerrard to stop wandering in-field.

could see rafa doing it. shouting 'stevie' and doing that dragging towards himself thing he loves. gerrard going into the middle left us with no out ball on the right side, so everything ended up going to zenden. stevie annoyed me with that last night, it was bloody beckhamesque.

[Kahnee]

Thought he was one of our better performers last night.

 

The bar wasn't exactly high, but his passing seemed off to me, and hasn't been up to his usual consistent standard recently. Not saying he's been awful, just not as classy as we know he can be

[fred milne]

didn't realise he was in a lull, tbh.

Me too. I thought he was our best outfield player last night.

 

Since his debut season, opposition managers have wised-up to the threat he poses when left unattended - Scharner was doing a man-marking job on him on Saturday until the 2nd goal went in.

 

However, he's still contributes a great deal and if it ever came down to a choice between him and Sissoko/Mascherano to partner Gerrard in the middle I'd go for Alonso every time.

 

P.S. You can't help but contrast the passing options he had outwide last night (Zenden and a big gap where Gerrard was supposed to be) with those Carrick had the night before (Giggs and Ronaldo).

Edited April 26, 2007 by fred milne

[anny road]

thats b****x (the rafa / stevie bit)

 

Rafa was doing what he ALWAYS does and thats gestures the players to shuffle across as the play comes towards him, he does it all the time...

[jimmylibel]

The bar wasn't exactly high, but his passing seemed off to me, and hasn't been up to his usual consistent standard recently. Not saying he's been awful, just not as classy as we know he can be

 

I agree his passing has been a little off, but his application was there. And he certainly didn't hide last night.

 

could see rafa doing it. shouting 'stevie' and doing that dragging towards himself thing he loves. gerrard going into the middle left us with no out ball on the right side, so everything ended up going to zenden. stevie annoyed me with that last night, it was bloody beckhamesque.

 

Didn't realise Rafa was doing that but you could certainly see the lack of an 'out' ball on the right was hampering Mascherano and Xabi's passing. Gerrard wasn't moving enough for me in the first half, was sitting in behind players too often instead of getting into space.

[CarraLegend]

I see Lampard took another snidey dig at Alonso last night, what a horrible set of c**** they are.

 

Cole and Drogba are just baffling, both on yellows so they spend the whole game diving about. The ref sussed it which was great but took no f***ing action.

 

Seeing Terry, Lampard, Drogba and co in tears is going to be f***ing brilliant on Tuesday.

[oran]

i am very,very disapointed (sp).

we must play gerrard in the middle!he always drifts to the center and we end up with 1/2 RW and 1/2 CM.there is no way rafa doesnt see it.but then again,he doesnt see how useless zenden is.and dont tell me he is a squad player!he was in the starting line-up and played 90 mins in the champions league semi final!!!!!i am very disapointed (sp) with our approach to the game.we looked clueless going forward.i dont think all our strikers are good enough,but its not all their fault.how can you expect bellamy to do something when he just hoof the ball for him and he comes up against terry and caravalho (sp)???

[Guz]

If Rafa was telling Stevie to stop cutting inside all the time (sure he did it a few times, he always does), he'd do it, he may be un disciplined sometimes but he's not an idiot.

 

There's no point playing Gerrard on the right if we don't let him roam, he cant beat a full back very often and he doesn't see enough of the ball. It's pointless especially when the other side of the pitch is so ineffective (as has been the case at times this season and was again last night). But at the same time, anyone bar Finnan will find it difficult to play behind someone who is given lisence to roam because it's so difficult to decide when to stay back but when to burst forward. It's not as easy as just seeing a gap and running into it because you have to know where the rest of the defence is and the positions of the central midfielders. The balance we had last season was thanks in a large part to Kewell keeping width on one wing and allowing Gerrard to drift with Finnan patrolling the right wing.

 

I had a feeling we may have seen Gerrard on the left yesterday since Pennant is in some decent form and will always keep his boots white. I take the point about playing him out of position but I thought he did pretty well out there earlier in the season when we lost 1-0. It's all about balance at the end of the day and if crosses are coming in from one wing and someone is keeping a wide position then you need something a little bit different on the other side.

[12twelve]

I think the key is when he should drift in and when not to.

 

A lot of the times Gerrard just drifted in while we're trying to keep posession, which didn't help when we don't have an outlet on the right, Arbeloa or not.

 

If the ball was switched to the left and a cross/pass is expected I don't see any problems with him coming inside (like the Kuyt cross to him)

 

But when Xabi and Masc are having the ball in the middle of the park, Gerrard needs to learn to let them have it and stay wide to give them an option to pass to.

[Ginu]

Gerrard drifting into the middle is exactly how we play when he plays on the right but Finnan usually pushes up to cover the right hand side and we missed him tonight. Arbeloa wasn't ready for the match or doesn't have enough experience with Gerrard ahead of him. Usually Finnan pushes up into right midfield and Carra shifts over to cover right back. We do it quite a lot actually.

Edited April 27, 2007 by Ginu

[Red]

I got the feeling Gerrard really did not want to be out on the right and went infield at every opportunity and the whole team suffered because of it.

[12twelve]

that's what he's been doing in the first half this season, and i have to say it's no coincidence that the team suffered from it.

[John am Rhein]

The Times is saying Rafa spent most of the first half bellowing at Gerrard to stop wandering in-field.

 

Dead right Benitez. Hopefully he'll have torn him a new one in training as well.

 

We should make Carragher the captain after this season.

 

If Rafa was telling Stevie to stop cutting inside all the time (sure he did it a few times, he always does), he'd do it, he may be un disciplined sometimes but he's not an idiot.

 

Not sure I agree with you there. Perhaps not an idiot, but sufficiently full of his own importance to think he knows better than the manager.

[Guest ziggystardust]

I see Lampard took another snidey dig at Alonso last night, what a horrible set of c**** they are.

 

Cole and Drogba are just baffling, both on yellows so they spend the whole game diving about. The ref sussed it which was great but took no f***ing action.

 

Seeing Terry, Lampard, Drogba and co in tears is going to be f***ing brilliant on Tuesday.

 

 

not going to happen mate.

[John am Rhein]

They may not be in tears but they won't be going to Athens