does our problems start in the defence...

[floyd the barber]

think its time to get arbeloa bk in the side..

 

Carra has done a decent job, ut we lose so much with our arbeloa chasing up the flanks..plus him and kuyt have a great understanding which was utilized well before he got injured..

 

Also we have to solve our center back problem......who plays there? well if carra isnt right back then hes a certain starter...but who alongside..

Hyypia has done an excellent job when we`ve seen him this season but recent games and hes starting to show effects..

Agger - is he injured? contract disputes?

Skrtel obviously making a bit of a comeback form injury..didnt seem himself today..

 

so..

Rafa needs....

 

---------------------reina------------------

arbeloa-----carra----skrtel-------aurellio-

kuyt-----masch-----alonso--------reira---

-----------------gerrard--------------------

------------------torres---------------------

 

if kuyt isnt available...then benyoun plays on the right hand side

reira - babel

masch or alonso out - lucas

gerrard - keane

torres - babel , n`gog

 

 

time to go back to the formation that did so well the 2nd half of last season and the good parts of this...

Rafa needs to keep this formation for every game....if a player is injured/suspend, then just a replacement should be able to just slide into that position..

 

todays 4-4-2 even though it looked good on paper...didnt work

Its something we are not used to and the players seemed at odds, including running into the same position..

 

We have lost our grip and have been poor at home especially this past month.....yet are still within touching distance of the top...

 

The stoke away was acceptable to me, i wasnt too downhearted by that....stoke are a good team which they have proven against other top clubs this season.....but our home performances have seriously let us down..

 

The players need to take a long hard look at themselves and realise this is the best chance we`ve had to win the league since the season after the treble..

 

Before the season started i just wanted us to seriously challenge...

Now....and i will be dissapointed if we dont win it and will forever feel that we have thrown it away.....

[Hassony]

I was hoping that Arbeloa plays, I think Carra does a decent job on the right but Arbeloa is a better right back, and we need Carra in the middle

[Magic8Ball]

I was hoping this would be a thread on why we need someone like Agger - I still feel the defense is a little too far back and doesn't help the midfield build play

[fred milne]

I was hoping that Arbeloa plays, I think Carra does a decent job on the right but Arbeloa is a better right back, and we need Carra in the middle

Agree with that. The sooner we can get Arbeloa back in the side and Carra partnering Agger in the middle the better. Aurelio will do at LB until Insua returns.

[Tosh]

Agree with Fred.

 

Skrtel looked horrendous on the ball yesterday, really bad and I was hoping Rafa would put Carra in the middle and bring Arbeloa on (he certainly was warming up (or keeping warm))

 

 

We could do worse than Arbeloa and Insua out wide and Carra/Agger in the middle. Injuries have not helped this so far this season

[beejay]

I thought Skretl was excellent but Carra is a fish out of water nowadays as a full back and has to go back into the centre. Everton's only threat was down our right and in the last 10 mins it looked from where I was standing (at the other end on the kop) like Benayoun was playing right back, f*ck knows where Carra was.

 

I'm not Arbeloa's biggest fan but he has become a better player in his absence and should start from now on with Agger or Skretl (both are good enough) partnering Carra and Aurelio/Insua at left back

[Hassony]

I'm not Arbeloa's biggest fan but he has become a better player in his absence and should start from now on

 

what does that mean?

 

 

Arbeloa has been one of the best right backs in the league this season

[fred milne]

I thought Skretl was excellent

Last night?

[Gunga Din]

I was hoping this would be a thread on why we need someone like Agger - I still feel the defense is a little too far back and doesn't help the midfield build play

 

 

the defence is where is should be. its the rest of the team that is 10 yards too far back. we are far too defensive, set up not to lose rather to win

[Hassony]

the defence is where is should be. its the rest of the team that is 10 yards too far back. we are far too defensive, set up not to lose rather to win

 

We had Torres, Keane, Kuyt, Reira and Gerrard yesterday in the team, thats a pretty attacking line up, unfortunatly most of them played well below their standards

[Ragnor the Horn]

I thought Skretl was excellent

 

He scared the life out of me every time he had the ball especially in the 2nd half.

[beejay]

Last night?

 

Yes. In fact Sami was the one who was a bit off last night - apart from his pass of the season to Torres which was amazing, he must be cursing Fernando for missing that cos that through ball would have been replayed again & again.

 

As for Skretl, he did fine other than in the last few mins when everyone decided to pass sideways or hoof

[Swipe]

Skrtel was a liability last night.

 

Looked like giving away a foul every time he went into a challenge

[Flasher]

We had Torres, Keane, Kuyt, Reira and Gerrard yesterday in the team, thats a pretty attacking line up, unfortunatly most of them played well below their standards

 

 

Happens to often though. Why do we not get the best out of these players more often?

[Hassony]

Happens to often though. Why do we not get the best out of these players more often?

 

thats not really true, otherwise we wouldn't have the same number of points as united

[beejay]

Skrtel was a liability last night.

 

Looked like giving away a foul every time he went into a challenge

 

Nonsense. It's called competing for the ball - which a few more of our team should have been doing, especially in the 1st half when their yard dogs were bullying us

[tomas]

Well i'm no expert on defending, but I think Skrtel was the worst player on the pitch last night. Loads of bad decisions and sloppy passing.

[D.Boon]

Arbeloa cant come back quick enough.

[Gunga Din]

Well i'm no expert on defending, but I think Skrtel was the worst player on the pitch last night. Loads of bad decisions and sloppy passing.

 

Skrtel was our best defender last night. Hyypia never won a header for the first hour, meaning Skrtel was having to get to a lot of breaking balls.

[Owen1978]

I think one major problem is the lack of pace in our full back positions, also our defence minded game doesnt help, i.e

do we really need every single player back during corners? etc...

Edited January 20, 2009 by Owen1978

[beejay]

Skrtel was our best defender last night. Hyypia never won a header for the first hour, meaning Skrtel was having to get to a lot of breaking balls.

 

 

It's uncanny how people see games so differently. Me & my mates came away saying thank god Skretl was back because Carra & Hyypia were so out of sorts. He did whack a couple of clearances against a blue a&se when he should have looked for the safer option but overall he was solid & was attempting short balls into the midfield rather than lumping it long.

 

Yet when I read this thread & the match one, there are loads saying how sh*te he was. Maybe its the telly coverage

[floyd the barber]

i personally thought both hyypia and skrtel had poor games.......certainly not up to the standards we know they can reach.

[Paddy 66]

We need to get Carra and Agger back as our CB pairing again, we really miss his ability to bring the ball out of defence and it means our midfield have to drop deeper to pick the ball up off the CB's.

 

For what its worth I thought Skrtel had a poor game and worried me when he had the ball.

[abc]

Our main problem is that there is an alarming lack of movement off the ball. I say alarming but it really isn't - this has been a problem for the longest time.

 

Skrtel was having issues passing the ball last night partially because of the lack of movement ahead of him.

 

This is and has always been a problem that only the manager can fix. If he's not instilling it into the players' games due to an inflexibility of tactics (focusing on keeping shape etc) then we will continue to come unstuck.

 

I watched Man Utd against Bolton on Saturday and with 15 minutes to go they were already committing players in the opposition box, at one point 4 were in the box ahead of play. There was movement off the ball all over the pitch.

 

We have a very strong group of players. The manager unfortunately is not willing to let them play to the best that they can.

[JRC]

I thought all our defenders looked unnecessarily nervous last night - even Pepe. I've not seen Sami bullied as much as that for a long time, and Carra is starting to look what he is - a CB playing out of position - after some pretty good displays at RB at first. I thought Arbeloa was going to come on at one stage, either for Sami or Skrtl.