Sunday, September 29, 2013

I just can't get enough!


So this is what we've been missing. This, in my opinion, is what has caused Liverpool to sit back deep and soak up pressure for entire second halves of earlier games. Old Trafford was all about the return of Luis Suarez, but he showed us why he is so important tonight. He, quite simply, gives the team an astounding number of options up front. In Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, Liverpool have two extremely good strikers with complementary skills. Complementary being the key word here. Suarez is undoubtedly a much more complete player than Sturridge, but he does not offer us what Sturridge does. Add Philippe Coutinho into the mix, and we potentially have the best attacking trio in the league.

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Let us compare tonight's game with the game against Aston Villa, Liverpool were camped in their own half for probably the entire of the second half. Simon Mignolet had to make a couple of heart stopping saves to deny Christian Benteke. How many heart-stopping, "here we go again" moments did we have tonight? The problem against Villa was that we did not have an outlet up front. Sturridge is not the kind of player who can hold the ball up for you. But tonight, when we were under pressure at the back and our defence had to kick it up front, who was there to hold up the ball or do one of his clever turns around defenders? Luis Suarez. He eased the pressure on the defence time and time again and that was exactly what the third goal came from. Yes, Sturridge had a goal and two assists, but Suarez was the more complete player.

For me, our defence was also quite pleasing to see. Toure, Skrtel and Sakho seemed brilliant at the back. I don't quite remember seeing a Liverpool center back in the recent past who has looked quite as assured with his tackling as Mamadou Sakho. He will be an asbolutely inspired signing for Liverpool! He is a beast in the air, tackles confidently and solidly all day long and passes the ball to Lucas/Gerrard. Good enough for me. I just feel the return of Agger in place of Toure will give us greater stability at the back and add an extra body to midfield with his runs.

Despite what people think, the 3-4-1-2 formation seems to be suiting the players we have at our disposal quite well. We have excellent center backs to choose from. We seem a little short in midfield with Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson and Allen though. I just feel we haven't quite gotten our midfield formula right yet. Lucas and Gerrard does seem our best pairing in the center of the park as of now though. I am eagerly awaiting the return of Glen Johnson though. He will give us that extra attacking threat in the final third which Henderson, for al his running, does not currently from the wing back position. And believe it or not, Jose Enrique does seem a better player when Suarez plays! That cross to Suarez between the two Sunderland center backs!

Onto Crystal Palace next week! Win that game, and we will be in a very, very good position going into the international break indeed and two weeks closer to Philippe Coutinho's return. Top four aspirants? I'm starting to think that Rodgers' Revolution is taking shape!

PS: Read this post on Empire Of The Kop!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Lack of cutting edge costs Liverpool


How many sides can truly go to Old Trafford and say they dominated them for long periods? Because we really did, didn't we? More possession, almost the same number of shots on and off target and hitting the post. We dominated them for long periods of the game and were only let down by a lack of quality in the final third. That was probably or best 11, though I expect Coutinho to come in for Henderson in midfield when he is fit again. Despite the loss, there were several aspects that I was extremely pleased to see:

1. A 3-5-2 formation - I really do believe this is the best formation for us to play with the personnel we currently have. Having said that, we drastically need Aly Cissokho to get fit as quickly as possible. He has a very realistic chance of displacing Jose Enrique on the left. Enrique was defensively poor again last night, leaving Hernandez loose in the area from a corner, which is as open an invitation as is needed for the Mexican to score from inside the box.

2. The defence - Enrique's error aside, how good did that defence look! The only thing I would change is throw in Agger in place of Martin Skrtel. We do need a play who can bring the ball out from the back.

3. Lucas - I thought Lucas was absolutely excellent yesterday! He did his job well, and even got involved high up the pitch once in a while!

4. SAS - The looked really good together, didn't they? I think Brendan Rodgers has done a brilliant job in supplementing the talents of Luis Suarez since arriving. Now, we have a front three (Suarez, Sturridge and Coutinho) which is on par with the best in the league. Let's just hope they all get enough games starting together soon!

Suarez looked short of match fitness. That will improve over time. But the real concern for me was how tired Daniel Sturridge looked last night. We know he hasn't missed any games for Liverpool, he's played a couple with niggles, and the one break he did get (international weekend) he spent working hard to get upto match fitness for Liverpool. Could it be that this is finally taking a toll on him? I certainly hope not, because we will need our front three players fully fit and firing to have any sort of chance of gatecrashing the top 4.
Onwards and upwards to managerless Sunderland next weekend! Though that is exactly the kind of game we have known Liverpool to lose in the recent past!

PS: Read this post on Empire Of The Kop!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Well that was dire, wasn’t it?

Should we call it a bad day at the office? Maybe, but how bad was that?! We are lucky that Suarez is back for the next game or we could have been in very, very serious trouble over the short term. The side lacked creativity of any sort in the absence of our two attacking talismans and frankly speaking, Wednesday's trip to Old Trafford doesn't fill me with confidence even with Suarez returning. I'm not trying to be overtly negative. I know we can only get better than this because that is the worst I've seen us play for a long, long time.

Our troubles were apparent the moment I looked at the team sheet. In the absence of Philippe Coutinho, I was looking forward to Henderson playing in his position, Sterling starting to provide pace down the right and Joe Allen alongside Lucas and Gerrard in the middle of the park. Instead we saw a yet again ineffectual Iago Aspas and four center backs in our back four. As soon as I saw Sakho and Toure at full back positions, I knew that we would have no penetration from the flanks, which is a very key part of our game with Enrique and Johnson. With our full backs taken out the game as an attacking threat, it was left to just our front three of Sturridge, Henderson and Aspas to provide the spark in front of goal, but that was never going to happen without the usual numbers that we get into attacking positions and without a creative player to create goalscoring opportunities.

PLAYER REVIEWS:
Simon Miglonet - Can not be spoken of highly enough. The triple save in three seconds was an absolute blinder as was a finger save from an Osvaldo shot. Is reinforcing my belief of him being a brilliant shot stopper and may well be Liverpool's best bit of summer business.



Mamadou Sakho - Anonymous at left back. Made an absolutely fantastic last ditch tackle to deny a goalscoring opportunity after being shifted to center back. Seems like a typical slow but extremely powerful defender. I enjoyed a brilliant and perfectly clean tackle by him ending up with a Saints player on the deck.

Daniel Agger - Was at fault for the goal. Defensive set pieces have been our Achilles' heel for what seems like time immemorial now!

Martin Skrtel - After a beast of a performance against Manchester United, I would say he was our poorest player in defence yesterday. Game was typified by a moment in which he let the ball run behind him from a back pass and turned only to find it had run out of play.

Kolo Toure - Struggled at right back even though he fared better than Sakho at left back. Made one or two decent attacking runs but not enough to pose a constant threat.

Lucas Leiva - Did what he always does well. completed 43 of his 45 passes in the game. Can't fault him for the midfield looking very weak.

Steven Gerrard - Probably the poorest player on the pitch last night, the Liverpool captain will want to banish this game from memory with a win against Manchester United in the League Cup. 1-0 down, chasing the game, he gave the ball away constantly and needlessly and invited unnecessary pressure at a time when Liverpool should have been the team applying pressure.

Jordan Henderson - Had an ok game. Nothing special. I was looking forward to seeing him in this role seeing how well he linked up with Coutinho behind Sturridge in the last game but nothing to shout about here.

Victor Moses - Being billed as someone who would provide and strong and pacey option up front upon his signing, Moses really didn't do enough for me. There were flashes of potential, but nothing that would make anyone sit up and take notice of him in this game. Chelsea won't be too disappointed with having sent him out on loan.

Iago Aspas - Nondescript.

Daniel Sturridge - Tried to do it all by himself and ended up trying too hard at times. Was selfish, which I didn't like. I understand that he is on fire, but there were occasions when he could have passed to a teammate in a better position rather than going it alone.

SUBSTITUTES:
Raheem Sterling - I thought he was bright after coming on. Definitely injected pace on the right and cannot be expected to turn the game on his own at this stage in his development.

Jose Enrique - That he is a better option than Sakho at left back speaks volumes of the paucity of our options in full back positions. Is decent defensively, but is a real liability going forward. The overriding image I get in my head when I think of him in an attacking position is either a backwards pass or a cross that goes over everyone's head and out.

Luis Alberto - Might have been a decent starting option. Not given enough time to show what he can do after scoring a hat-trick for the U21's.

MANAGER REVIEW:Two simple points of concern.

1. This may be in hindsight, but tactics were way out of order. Four center backs made no sense right from the word go and took too long to introduce Enrique and a measure of normalcy to the lineup. Square pegs do not fit in round holes.

2. I'm just speculating here, but Steven Gerrard recently said that this is the most gruelling pre-season he has ever had. Look at our players who have been injured or played with niggles so far this season - Johnson, Coutinho, Toure, Cissokho, Coates, Agger, Sturridge, Enrique. Enrique supposedly didn't start yesterday because he had a knock to his knee. Coincidence? I pray to god not else we will tail off very badly because the games will keep coming thick and fast.

I don't feel entirely confident for the United match because I don't think the problem of width will have been addressed by then. However, let's all just take a moment to remind ourselves that Manchester United have David Moyes as their manager and laugh!

moyes

PS: Read this post on Empire Of The Kop!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Of Coutinho, Henderson and new signings


It is testament to how expectations have risen at Anfield after they won their first 3 games that they were expected to comfortably beat Swansea last night. Yes, we gave them a 5-0 drubbing last season, but that was at home and with Swansea missing a host of key players a week before their League Cup final. Make no mistake, the Liverpool that we have known between January 2013 and Rafa's last season in charge would have lost that game. As it is though, we have drawn at a stadium where the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea also drew last season, while Arsenal lost. It is a little bit worrying how we tail off so badly in the second half of games this season though. Last night though, that had a specific reason, and one reason alone.

Philippe Coutinho. This lad is such a talent it is unbelievable. He doesn't have much pace but runs like the ball is tied to his feet. He has the awareness to spot a pass and the cleverness to quickly twist into any space available. He has the ability to thread passes through the eye of a needle and is a constant roving, attacking menace in the final third. And that is exactly why Liverpool's performance tailed off so poorly in the second half. Coutinho went off injured, and there was nobody left to keep the probing of Swansea's defence up. Iago Aspas is a nifty little player, but he has looked out of depth in the last two games. There was no cohesion to the forward play at all, we just kept gifting the ball back to Swansea time and time again. Aspas and Sterling were absolutely anonymous after coming on, and Sturridge looked absolutely knackered, playing as he is not being fully fit. All of these factors led us to being fairly toothless in attack in the second half.

Jordan Henderson. How much can this guy run? How long? Would he last if every game was 120 minutes long? These are the questions that run through my mind when I think about Jordan Henderson. The amount of effort he puts into every game is absolutely incredible! Other aspects of his game have tremendously improved as well. Did anyone notice the sublime one-two with Coutinho that ended up with Coutinho shooting straight at the keeper? Fantastic player to have in the side, and could potentially play in the number 10 role if Coutinho is injured for a few games.

All of which brings us to Victor Moses. He provides us pace and power up front, and trickery on the wings. Took his goal well yesterday and should've had an assist to his name as well for the brilliant cross which eventually forced Vorm into a save from Sturridge's header. Solid debut.

Our other debutant last night was Mamadou Sakho. Interesting player, isn't he? As he stepped into the side in place of the injured Daniel Agger, he showed glimpses of why Liverpool swooped for him as soon as he became available. He has power and a commanding aerial presence we have long lacked. It does seem to me that he will take a little time getting up to the speed of the Premier League, but that is only to be expected. He threw himself into challenges a couple of times which led to Swansea shots but was very good in the air. Just seems to be lacking a little bit of match sharpness at this point in time but made a couple of absolutely fantastic tackles late on.

We're back at the top of the table (for now). While no one is, or should be expecting us to stay there, it does provide something for Brendan Rodgers to build upon. We have our top league goalscorer from last season, Luis Suarez to come back after one game. If we are 4th or near in January, expect more signings to take us a notch higher. In the current scenario, it is hard to be anything but positive about this campaign.

C'mon you Redmen! Let's go get that fourth spot! Or who knows, even higher.

PS: Read this post on Empire Of The Kop.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Time to remake Anfield into the Bastion of Invincibility



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YESSSSSSSS!!!!! GET. IN!!!!! *breathes*
Right! That was absolutely heart-stopping at times, especially when van Persie hit the side netting and Nani stung the hands of Simon Miglonet. But boy, oh boy, what a win! That was much like the last game against Aston Villa, only we did it against Manchester United! To be honest, Villa scared me more than United did today. United were absolutely toothless tonight. Much of that was down to our new-found defensive resilience. The pleasing part, however, is how we have now stifled the threat of two of the most potent attacking threats in the league, Christian Benteke and Robin van Persie. Even though United dominated possession in the 2nd half, they really had both fewer shots and fewer shots on target than us over the course of the game. So ignore the "we played better than you" argument. They had more of the ball, but they did nothing with it.

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The defensive resilience that we saw in pre-season looks to have spilled into the season as, at the time of writing, we are the only team in the league with a 100% record with Tottenham currently losing 1-0 to Arsenal. We are also the only team in the league to have 3 clean sheets in 3 games. Martin Skrtel seemed to mention in a post-game interview that they'd been working on defending during pre-season and has it paid off and how! The team look less shaky from set pieces and aerial balls into the box. That could also be due to the change in goalkeeper. Mignolet now looks to be very good business, though it is still early days. Glen Johnson was absolutely phenomenal. There have been question marks over his game intelligence, but he was flawless today. How Henderson did not bust a lung, I do not know. Stevie G was absolutely immense in midfield, with his squaring up to van Persie a particular highlight! Martin Skrtel, making his first start since that unfortunate Oldham game, was a beast at the back and kept van Persie at bay all match long. THAT is more like the Skrtel we know, the Skrtel of two seasons ago. Danny Sturridge got a special birthday goal despite a slight thigh injury. Countinho and Aspas weren't in the game too much, but they will help unlock defenses of 'lesser' sides coming to Anfield to play for a draw.

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On the 100th birth anniversary of the legendary Bill Shankly, we beat the old enemy again. It may have been a scrappy 1-0 but I'd take that all season long. Long live this grit, determination and team spirit. C'mon you Redmen!!!!
PS: Stats courtesy of the fantastic Stats Zone app.
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