Are There Any Black Cats Left In Liverpool?

[Nebraska Red]

because it looks like Rafa and a bunch of other Liverpool FC people have been ruuning over them in droves.

 

either that, or we are breaking mirrors at an alarming rate.

 

how many more of these freaky injuries are we going to sustain?

 

Rafa finally gets a decent looking side together and within 17 minutes, all his plans go out of the window.

 

is it just bad luck, or have we really pissed off the football gods?

[Zoob]

For all people may say about Rafas transfers, tactics or team selection, I can't help but feel we have had the most spectacular bad luck this season, and this more than any other factor has contributed to where we are.

 

The injuries to Torres and Gerrard,

So many other injuries - Agger, Johnson, Skrtel, Kelly, Riera, Benayoun, El Zhar, and of course the usual injuries for Aurelio. And it's not as if injuries to players like Kelly and El Zhar have destroyed our chance of winning the league, but with our squad already so depleted, every injury has a negative impact.

 

 

And the nature / timing of some of the interviews - Carragher and Skrtel breaking each other in the first game of the season. Agger getting such a freak head injury from the sort of incident that happens so often in a match, Riera and Benayoun both doing their hamstrings in the same game.

 

And then there's some pretty freakish defeats / draws - Lucas own goal vs villa, denied ridiculously obvious pen vs spurs, a beach ball scoring against us vs Sunderland... And all the time we're having this absurd bad luck and United have scored 10 or so goals thanks to deflections and OGs.

 

Still waiting for that whole 'it all evens itself out in the end' thing to take effect...

[New York Red]

We've had terrible luck, no question.

 

But we've had crappy management too. From our owners not realizing that we were two signings away from winning the league, to our manager buying a key player who was injured (on top of some ropey signings in the past), to some key players of ours taking a serious dip in form.

 

We've had bad luck. But Liverpool Football Club is in sh*t shape right now. Makes no mistake about it.

[Ethan]

f*** all to do with luck - its the half a*** attitude thats going on in our squad.

 

luck is a f***ing excuse - nothing more.

[johngibo YPC]

f*** all to do with luck - its the half a*** attitude thats going on in our squad.

 

All the players are committed

[Davvo]

All the players are committed

 

You're right to call the poster out for a pile of s**** retort, as we are indeed suffering horrendous luck. I'd question as to whether Babel and Voronin are committed however. Infact I'd go as far as to say they most definitely are not. Babel couldn't get off the pitch quick enough yesterday, delighted to be free of the pressure to perform no doubt.

 

Masch also seems to me to be forcing himself to play aswell as he can, inspite of a desire to be elsewhere. He's not the natural dynamo he has been. Like I say though, he is visibly putting in effort, just a little short of his full effort though I think.

[surf]

All the players are committed

 

perhaps, but the mentality in yesterdays game was wrong. we were playing really well the 20 minutes leading up to the goal, after we scored we stopped playing and let city back into the game.

[johngibo YPC]

You're right to call the poster out for a pile of s**** retort, as we are indeed suffering horrendous luck. I'd question as to whether Babel and Voronin are committed however. Infact I'd go as far as to say they most definitely are not. Babel couldn't get off the pitch quick enough yesterday, delighted to be free of the pressure to perform no doubt.

 

Masch also seems to me to be forcing himself to play aswell as he can, inspite of a desire to be elsewhere. He's not the natural dynamo he has been. Like I say though, he is visibly putting in effort, just a little short of his full effort though I think.

 

Fine. So we have two players who are half arsed (who barely play) and one who put a big effort in yesterday, but could maybe have out in a bit more this season

I'd say thats a million miles away from a 'half arsed attitude going on in our squad'. Which was my point.

The commitment of the players is nowhere near the biggest problem at our football club at the moment. Confidence, luck and general quality are all much bigger issues. And thats not even getting into off the field issues

[CarraLegend]

Theres absolutely nothing wrong with our effort, the manager hasnt lost the players or any other similar nonsense that keeps getting spouted. Confidence is just shot and we are struggling to see matches out. It dont help when your defence is seemingly altered every game.

 

I think Insua is the only defender who has been available all the time which says it all.

[David Hodgson]

You're right to call the poster out for a pile of s**** retort, as we are indeed suffering horrendous luck. I'd question as to whether Babel and Voronin are committed however. Infact I'd go as far as to say they most definitely are not. Babel couldn't get off the pitch quick enough yesterday, delighted to be free of the pressure to perform no doubt.

 

Masch also seems to me to be forcing himself to play aswell as he can, inspite of a desire to be elsewhere. He's not the natural dynamo he has been. Like I say though, he is visibly putting in effort, just a little short of his full effort though I think.

 

Masch's effort was awesome yesterday. I don't think this run is about luck or lack of commitment, it's about confidence, or rather the lack thereof.

[David Hodgson]

Theres absolutely nothing wrong with our effort, the manager hasnt lost the players or any other similar nonsense that keeps getting spouted. Confidence is just shot and we are struggling to see matches out. It dont help when your defence is seemingly altered every game.

 

I think Insua is the only defender who has been available all the time which says it all.

 

Yes, all true. The fear I have is that we are trapped in a vicious cycle and we are going to need serious luck/will to get out of it. The negative cycle is that once we started getting injuries and bad results, that the results force the need to bring back players too soon, the injuries recur, the lack of resources becomes more apparent, and the poor results continue. The more they continue the less the confidence is in all concerned. The players start not to trust each, the manager and themselves.

 

All have to dig really deep now, or this situation will spiral out of control. 1 win in 10 is a bona fide crisis for a team at the bottom of the table never mind one which started the season with title challenging credentials.

 

As I said, I think we need a series of really good breaks now, or this wagon is going to come off its rails.

[Gunga Din]

Yes, all true. The fear I have is that we are trapped in a vicious cycle and we are going to need serious luck/will to get out of it. The negative cycle is that once we started getting injuries and bad results, that the results force the need to bring back players too soon, the injuries recur, the lack of resources becomes more apparent, and the poor results continue. The more they continue the less the confidence is in all concerned. The players start not to trust each, the manager and themselves.

 

All have to dig really deep now, or this situation will spiral out of control. 1 win in 10 is a bona fide crisis for a team at the bottom of the table never mind one which started the season with title challenging credentials.

 

As I said, I think we need a series of really good breaks now, or this wagon is going to come off its rails.

 

agree with this. and what now happens is that every game looks tricky. Everton away is always sticky, but then we go to Portsmouth in the league, and what should be a formality is all of a sudden a tricky game,then its Arsenal at home, another .game we could easily not win.

[CarraLegend]

Indeed, we desperately need a Lyon result, not just to stay in the CL but to give us a mental boost, if we beat Debrecen 15-0 but Fiorentina win it'll dent morale again. Somehow keeping the CL place alive and a win in the Derby could turn the season but then we've been saying this for ages.

 

The other side of that doesnt bear thinking about. While a lot of the problems are our own fault a bit of luck would be nice.

 

As it is im expecting Fiorentina to score a 95th minute winner from a goal kick that takes 10 deflections and Everton to beat us, probably a 94th minute set piece from that c*** Cahill.

[Davvo]

Theres absolutely nothing wrong with our effort, the manager hasnt lost the players or any other similar nonsense that keeps getting spouted. Confidence is just shot and we are struggling to see matches out. It dont help when your defence is seemingly altered every game.

 

I think Insua is the only defender who has been available all the time which says it all.

 

Not known anything like this current injury situation. A settled back four is the first basic ingredient of a good side, and since the first game we've been f***ed. No wonder confidence is low, infact I'd say it's actually higher than could be expected. We needed something good to happen like that goal for skrtel yesterday, that could have been a turning point, then it goes down hill again.

 

Signs are good from the players in general though, we'll pull out of this soon.

[D.Boon]

Masch also seems to me to be forcing himself to play aswell as he can, inspite of a desire to be elsewhere. He's not the natural dynamo he has been. Like I say though, he is visibly putting in effort, just a little short of his full effort though I think.

 

Despite his man of the match performance yesterday?

[Gunga Din]

Despite his man of the match performance yesterday?

 

i think his performance stood out more yesterday because so many players around him had poor games

[D.Boon]

i think his performance stood out more yesterday because so many players around him had poor games

 

I think he has been our best player for the last 3 or 4 games despite "not wanting to be here"

[Hassony]

Masch's effort was awesome yesterday. I don't think this run is about luck or lack of commitment, it's about confidence, or rather the lack thereof.

 

a lot of rubbish is being spouted about masch this season, he has been getting back to his best over the past 6 weeks and there is no problem with his effort

[Mike]

a lot of rubbish is being spouted about masch this season, he has been getting back to his best over the past 6 weeks and there is no problem with his effort

correct. i think it was on this forum where some were claiming lucas the better player. f*** me silly.

[sean]

He was outstanding, I was watching his movement off the ball yesterday and he completely smothered Ireland for the most part.

[Davvo]

Despite his man of the match performance yesterday?

 

Not sure how what I said precludes him from putting in a man of the match performance, and I wouldn't argue he was our best player yesterday. I'm talking about the season as a whole, and I'd still rather we kept him in the side alongside Aquilani, with Lucas dropping out. That performance yesterday was the norm last season, it's been the exception so far this, but hopefully he continues at that level.

 

I really don't think he's helped by having Lucas on his turf, he needs his partner in there to be someone who can use the ball better.

[Hassony]

correct. i think it was on this forum where some were claiming lucas the better player. f*** me silly.

 

I like Lucas, but he is probably a 6.5 player, with few 7/8s and a few 5s

 

Masch is world class, there aren't many better in the world in his position

[Guest PaulMcC]

Mascherano has been very good for at least a month now.

[Rimbeux]

Wallowing in luck doesn't win you games. No doubt we have had many injuries, but lets not imagine we have much worse than anyone else, or one win in ten is an inevitable result of having a few out. These are challenges that are part of football and having the mental strength to get over it separates the absolute best. The biggest issue is the performance, form, quality of our defenders.

[Knox_Harrington]

The biggest issue is the performance, form, quality of our defenders.

Yes.