posted Sep 26, 2007

weeBG1 has spiced things up a bit hasnt he! he talks a good talk but alas i feel the bush speech comment may be slightly true in so much that his facts are not entirely there! come on the pool, i feel a strong puish for the title coming and a good run in all cups which will further reinforce benitez position as a classic liverpool mgr, just thank god we dont have roy evans anymore! houllier gave us some good times like winning enough silverware to melt down and set up a jewellers in hatton garden! nice one gerard and keep it up rafael.

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posted Sep 26, 2007

Indeed Torres is a world class striker, no doubt about that and we are glad to have him in our squad. But believe it or not the same player you think could have won us the maximum points at Anfield against Birmingham was quite sloppy earlier in the week when he played his first champs league in Anfield outfit against Porto whiles Kuyt did quite well. Now tell me, assuming you were Rafa, would you have given Torres the nod after that abysmal performance? If critics attributes the display against Porto as a general performance by the team why can't we tag Birmingham's the same but rather the refusal of Rafa to start Torres. I'm not dowm playing his quality, he is a great player by all standard but we are talking about 11 players who failed to perform not a single who was left out in the starting line up. 1/3 of the full 90 minutes was enough time to make a difference.Though Torres is our record signing and a good player let's leave the technical aspect of the team to the manager, Rafa and it's still early days... let's wait till the middle of the season, may be we might find a stronger point to criticise than this.

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posted Sep 26, 2007

Far from the fever that's taking place over Torres "mistreatment" by Rafa, I'd rather make another assessment about the overall situation inside LFC.
So far, prior to yesterday win, despite the fact we made three draws in a raw, we still be the first defence in EPL and the only squad that got two away wins announcing a new dynamics for a new era.
In my view LFC are dealing with other big serious issues than Torres's one.
How many have alredy noticed that there's no continuity between our sideliners (RB-RW/LB-LW).
Worse,our left side is the weakest one in Europe if compared to major teams'one.

Ok, we lost Kewell for two seasons in a row and we still use Arbeloa as a left back which is a perilous choice given the fact he plays mainly with his right foot.

Besides, both CFC and MUTD deprived us in-extremis from Malouda(left winger) and Heinze(LM/LB),although it is a big loss,we don't complain, this the rule of the game,war at every stage...

But what hurts a lot is the fact that all our opponents of the day are aware we have the best midfieldrs on the pitch a team could afford, that's why they all manage to widen their play by using their wingers.
And think what could happen to us if Arbeloa is still covered by slowy Hyypia instead of Agger(Injured).
The other day against Porto, we haven't seen much of our midfielders cos Quaresma and Sektioui stressed well on Finnan and Arbeloa all the time with the result we know.

Since,Arbeloa moved to RB position vs Birmingham and then to centre back yesterday with the end result we saw(the first two goals conceded in open play after two corner balls).

Despite all this misfortune, neither Arbeloa nor Rafa were criticised for that.

And believeme,if someone should complain,it would be Crouchy. When he was sent off the pitch vs Pompey we immediately lost the midfield battle,and we really suffered the last fifteen minutes.

He's still the only one who could play between lines and grab the ball in aerial struggles any time all the time which is very helpful to a team loosing its balance.
Yesterday he showed his ability to capture the difficult balls and give them back to his team-mates,meanwhile you all noticed how he well played between lines instead of both Voronin and Kuyt.It is my way to remind Rafa that long ball system isn't useless sometimes.

Finally comes the time to make serious choices for our future, should we buy a new left winger by xmas,or should we rely more and more on Torres as did Arsenal with Henry in a recent past?

Torres' treble yesterday especially his first and second goals reminded me the way Henry was scoring his goals just few years ago.

So if we use Torres as did Arsenal with Henry, there will be no major rotation policy. A policy which is the bedrock strategy of Rafa that brought to LFC some silverware with the so called average players seasons past.

Today we have world class players and we are at cross-roads, so what shall we do?

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posted Sep 26, 2007

great comments momoofalgiers, brilliant analysis of the current situation which unfortunately does mean we will ose some important games this season but what the hey! lap it up while it lasts

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posted Sep 26, 2007

what about recent signings babel and Benayoun? both play very well on the wings, a few more games under their belt and i think they will easily solve the problem down the flanks

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posted Sep 26, 2007

Are the referees blind in England!The two Reading defenders were trying to bully Torres off the ball at every opportunity.Torres was kicked around the park by Michael Duberry and Andre Bikey,yet Torres showed pure class with the way he just picked himself up from their brutality.I know English football is very physical, but the referees should stop that kind of bulling. I see in England a lot of injuries happen to players only because the referees has not bothered to stop it.It is football, we are playing and not Rugby! Something has to be done or Torres is going to get a nasty injury from some defender who is not playing football, but kicking people around.

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posted Sep 26, 2007

I don't think the issue is Torres alone, rather sticking with inferior players to start multiple games. In particular, it was quite shocking to me that in the three drawn games last week, the one constant was Pennant! I can't watch all of LFC games here in the USA but every time I've watched a game with Pennant, he comes out as a guy who just dribbles and dribbles until he loses the ball, or until he is under pressure and can't produce a decent cross. Notice the last game against Reading when he did not play, LFC ends up scoring four goals! At least Benayoun can score goals and is more imaginative going forward

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posted Sep 26, 2007

"Torres is top notch! Maybe the new Henry in the Premiership?"
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Henry had about 20 shots on goal & scored 0, in Barca's 4-1 thrashing of Zaragosa this evening.

He was even reduced (!) to throwing himself about in the penalty area, but it was still Messi who stole the show with 2 great goals.

Rossi also scoring for fun in Spain. Looks like Fergie messed up bad there!

Nani & Andie - Sounds like the Flowerpot men!

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posted Sep 27, 2007

I honestly believe it was a big mistake of Rafas to leave Torres out of the Birmingham clash. Whilst acknowledging his poor performance against Porto I would add that no-one played well in that game. We didnt play badly against Birmingham but just didnt create chances. Rafa said after the game we didnt take our chances, but there werent any!
I would personally start playing Babel up front with Crouch of Voronin and keeping Torres paired with Kuyt.
I would play Benayoun more regularly as he has the skill to unlock defences with maybe Pennant or Kewell on the left.
Need a big win this weekend.

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posted Sep 27, 2007

"I honestly believe it was a big mistake of Rafas to leave Torres out of the Birmingham clash. ... Rafa said after the game we didnt take our chances, but there werent any!"
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If there weren't any chances then Torres couldn't have taken them anyway!!!

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