Babel, Benayoun and Crouchy

[RafaShanks]

What do the above have to do to get a game?

 

Babel might be raw, but he's defintely a talent, but had hardly figured so far this season. Considering the lack of left sided attacking options, it's even more astonishing he hasn't been given more opportunities there.

 

Yossi is also a talented player and can't get a game. I love his style and is a goal threat and can unlock defences.

 

As for Crouchy, we all realise that he's time at Anfield is almost certainly up due to no fault of his own.

 

The continued selection of of Kuyt and Voronin ahead of the three above players is doing my feckin head in, especially after watching our devoid attacking ideas in the past few weeks.

[Guest GrandpaSimpson]

Babel - think he is being brought in to the side at the right pace, would have come on today if it wasnt for injuries.

 

But agree Benny should be more of a regular and Crouch should have played more games than he has, but least he came on with a bit of drive and passion today.

[meepins]

What do the above have to do to get a game?

 

Babel might be raw, but he's defintely a talent, but had hardly figured so far this season. Considering the lack of left sided attacking options, it's even more astonishing he hasn't been given more opportunities there.

 

Yossi is also a talented player and can't get a game. I love his style and is a goal threat and can unlock defences.

 

As for Crouchy, we all realise that he's time at Anfield is almost certainly up due to no fault of his own.

 

The continued selection of of Kuyt and Voronin ahead of the three above players is doing my feckin head in, especially after watching our devoid attacking ideas in the past few weeks.

Stubborness or is he favouring conservativeness over a balanced team.

[Swipe]

I agree that much of our problems are down to Rafa's stubborness and his obsession with trying to be clever as well as picking his teams based too much on the opposition

[Nebraska Red]

you have to wonder why Babel and Benayoun did not start given how we were set up to play today.

 

looking at the side before kick off, I expected Voronin and Torres together up front and Kuyt wide on the right.

 

instead we had Torres up front on his own and 2 forwards playing out wide and looking useless.

 

baffling choices to be honest.

[Guest Ant]

You Answered that in your thread title mate.

 

Rafa likes proving the media wrong, despite what he says alot of what is said gets to him.

 

Remember the 99 Consecutive Team changes? But he kept the same side as to not give them the '100' headline?

 

Yossi has played I have been very impressed along with Babel.

 

I Don't think Crouch is good enough but he has been better than the other when he has been on in terms of performances, his attitude towards him has been nothing short of awful, and vice versa in his interviews, but you can see where he is coming from.

 

I was very shocked to hear Babel was not starting today, he was a bright spark in Istanbul.

 

The bottom line is players never seem to play the next game if they play well the previous, their is no consistency in the team selections and their is no time for partnerships to be developed.

 

It's very frustrating...

 

You only have to look at Arsenal today, they knew who was playing and where, as for us we were all muddled up

Edited October 28, 2007 by Ant

[alias75]

Certainly think Benayoun is a better option than either Veronin or Kuyt in todays team, its not as if hes not a hard worker anyway but he has been one of the better technical players for us.

 

As for Babel i think hes still being used sparingly and Crouch obviously doesnt have a future here and to be fair to Rafa he hasnt done a lot when he has played.

[galés rojo]

Kuyt and Voronin were playing in defensive roles today, albeit high up the pitch. Benayoun and Babel do not defend or work has hard so they didn't start play.

 

I would pefer to have Babel, Benayoun etc playing however that would required us to have had different tactics/mentality for today. As far as carrying out the managers tactics,roles etc the selection was the correct one as he picked the players who defend better.

 

Whether those tactics are correct is another point entirely.

[Guest Portly]

I thought Crouch did very well when he came on today. Apart from his genuine goal threat, he held the ball up well, which is important when you are playing against a strong defence like Arsenal's, and also laid the ball off well. When he is on the field, things start to happen. There is no justice in him warming the bench all season. If Rafa was really rotating the squad, Crouch would have had more games than he has.

 

He's a victim of heightism.

[stonty]

Its all too bewildering, we're starting to look like a train wreck

[alias75]

Kuyt and Voronin were playing in defensive roles today, albeit high up the pitch. Benayoun and Babel do not defend or work has hard so they didn't start play.

 

I would pefer to have Babel, Benayoun etc playing however that would required us to have had different tactics/mentality for today. As far as carrying out the managers tactics,roles etc the selection was the correct one as he picked the players who defend better.

 

Whether those tactics are correct is another point entirely.

 

Think Benayoun is very hard working in fact an ideal Rafa player, he has good technical ability, a good tactical sense and he works very hard. Not sure why he hasnt figured more, maybe with pennant out he'll get more games.

[Toni]

Nah.

 

In Kuyt and Voronin we have very two hard-workers who although playing uo front were continously needed to track -back down the wing today. Yossi/babel/crouch would not hve benna ble to offer or matchj their tremendous work-rate. I critise Rafa however for not putting on babel instead of alonso. Arbeloa was not match-fit and it was too early in the game to defend a one nil result.

 

I like Yossi and am sure he will feature much more now that pennant is injured.

 

Babel musnt be rushed too much.

 

As for Crouch think he s only good for the last 15mins whenb we want to score. His frame can pressure opposition defenders to commit mistakes.

[So Cal Red]

Stubborness or is he favouring conservativeness over a balanced team.

 

imo, its the conservativeness approach when what we need is better balance to the side.

 

i'd like to see Benayoun, Babel, & Crouch get a solid run of games but i doubt it'll happen.

[Coyler]

Its all too bewildering, we're starting to look like a train wreck

"All too bewildering"?"Train wreck"? Ant saying on another thread that he was "numb with devastation"?

 

What match were you all watching at all?

[galés rojo]

Think Benayoun is very hard working in fact an ideal Rafa player, he has good technical ability, a good tactical sense and he works very hard. Not sure why he hasnt figured more, maybe with pennant out he'll get more games.

 

I agree that Benayoun is hard working, but Voronin and Kuytis more willing to curb there atacking instincts.

 

I feel the biggest problem is not our overly defensive approach but our manager being unwilling to let us counter attack.

[Guest Ant]

"All too bewildering"?"Train wreck"? Ant saying on another thread that he was "numb with devastation"?

 

What match were you all watching at all?

 

Same match as you it all depends how you percieve it

 

I can see where he is coming from because I can't see Rafa changing his policy and I can't see the players doing otherwise, it just isn't good enough and I feel a sense of Deja-Vu compared to other seasons.

 

Honestly whats different, do we look different?

[meepins]

"All too bewildering"?"Train wreck"? Ant saying on another thread that he was "numb with devastation"?

 

What match were you all watching at all?

I think it's the shock of seeing where the standard is really at. We aren't anywhere near using the possession in the same way.

[alias75]

I agree that Benayoun is hard working, but Voronin and Kuytis more willing to curb there atacking instincts.

 

I feel the biggest problem is not our overly defensive approach but our manager being unwilling to let us counter attack.

 

Thats a pretty strange comment since those two are supposed to be forwards and Benayoun is an attacking midfielder, maybe that says more about what Rafa is asking from his players? i dont want forwards that are hard working midfielders.

 

I think its all about getting the balance between attack and defence right, on paper it looks like we have the players, play the back 5 with Alonso and Mascherano (when fit) and then any 4 from Gerrard, Babel, Benayoun, Torres, Kuyt, Veronin, Crouch, Pennant etc.. give them licence to attack knowing the cover is there.

[Hassony]

Same match as you it all depends how you percieve it

 

I can see where he is coming from because I can't see Rafa changing his policy and I can't see the players doing otherwise, it just isn't good enough and I feel a sense of Deja-Vu compared to other seasons.

 

Honestly whats different, do we look different?

 

we are undefeated with more than 1/4 of the season, we have won 5 out of 6 away games, we have torres up front, we have the best keeper in the league, carra and gerrard look like coming back to form, we weren't great today but still created good chances and alumunia made few good saves.

[Coyler]

Same match as you it all depends how you percieve it

 

I can see where he is coming from because I can't see Rafa changing his policy and I can't see the players doing otherwise, it just isn't good enough and I feel a sense of Deja-Vu compared to other seasons.

 

Honestly whats different, do we look different?

We looked totally different to-day with Alonso and Mascherano in the middle. We started well and for all Arsenal's passing (and there was probably too much of it due to the very early goal) they really didn't do much until the second half. We looked much calmer than we have been of late.

 

You'd think it was the Alamo the way people are talking about it but I can't wait to watch the whole match again because although we were playing on the break it wasn't really backs-to-the-wall stuff.

 

We didn't look particularly ingenious up top but we did play some nice stuff, at the start and in the second half particularly.

 

Alonso's injury is the only thing making me numb. We always knew that Arsenal can play pretty with no end product and that's what they did for most of the match. With Alonso coming back (even though he started slowly) I could have said to you that we looked different in that we had a bit of brains to us in the middle and the shape that came with it. I could have said that we'll see results with a more solid midfield. With Agger coming back and Torres available up front we would at least be attempting to carry out whatever plans we have with the necessary personnel.

 

Now, however, I can't say that.

[Guest Ant]

we are undefeated with more than 1/4 of the season, we have won 5 out of 6 away games, we have torres up front, we have the best keeper in the league, carra and gerrard look like coming back to form, we weren't great today but still created good chances and alumunia made few good saves.

 

One point about this un-defeated business, we have lost enough points to equate for 2 losses.

 

Apart from that I agree with what your saying, but I always thought we had the best goal keeper in the league.

 

Nothings different, infact if you use last seasons corresponding fixture as a bench mark we have gone backwards!

 

4-1 to 1-1?

 

[Guest Portly]

Reluctantly, I can't help concluding after today's match that Arsenal are still a better team than us. They are physically stronger, faster and pass the ball better. Our players gave their all, but we were outclassed, and in the circumstances a draw was a good result. I can't really see us winning the Premiership this season, and if we don't, I would much rather Arsenal won it than Man United or Chelsea.

[Swipe]

Can't quite grasp what has happened to us at Anfield.

 

Chelsea and Arsenal are the only teams that we would usually even contemplate getting anything fro us at Anfield.

 

Every other team we've faced this season on our place should have been dispatched, yet we find ourselves with one win at Anfield all season, going into November

[Hassony]

One point about this un-defeated business, we have lost enough points to equate for 2 losses.

 

Apart from that I agree with what your saying, but I always thought we had the best goal keeper in the league.

 

Nothings different, infact if you use last seasons corresponding fixture as a bench mark we have gone backwards!

 

4-1 to 1-1?

 

 

last season arsenal weren't intersted when they came to anfield in the league, the fa cup game was probably more of a fair comparison (with dudek instead of pepe)

 

i think most people from both sides woud have taken a draw today

 

the blackburn game is massive now with arsenal and manure playing each other

[stonty]

"All too bewildering"?"Train wreck"? Ant saying on another thread that he was "numb with devastation"?

 

What match were you all watching at all?

 

 

I was watching match where most of our players were 2 yards slower than the opposition, when we did have the ball they had hadn't a clue what to do with it, another game where then looked liked they'd only met each other 30 minutes before kickoff, thats the match I was was watching (once again) & its a bitter pill to swallow