I knew that we'd not be getting into the top 4 this year. But I'd prefer to attempt to win the Europa (just ask the Spanish teams how much it means - Atletico is actually playing well in the league this year - as it raises the profile of the club) and finish 10th than 'save' our best players for the league and finish 8th while not winning anything. As an aside, I don't see why we don't try to win this game. Win and we essentially guarantee our progression in the competition. I thought Coady was quite good. I thought it was allen out there as I tuned in late, but was quite happy to hear the announcer say Coady. Hendo seems to have no confidence. As others have said, as soon as he receives the ball, he is unwilling to have a look to see if a pass going forward is 'on'. Dozens of times I yelled at the TV yesterday, as he had options ahead of him, he just chose to give it to one of the back 5 instead. And then, much to my surprise, he finally decided to attempt a defense splitting pass! Then I realized he was in on goal... Whether we have Shelvey, SG, Sahin playing at the tip of the midfield 3, all drop so deep as to render them ineffective. When they should be playing and moving freely like Ozil for Real, they tend to hang within 8 yards of the guys behind them, instead of those in front of them. To me, that is the biggest flaw as we try to implement this system. We leave ourselves with so much possession in our own half rather than our opponents. Let's just hope we beat chel$ki with our first team. If not, we have to question why BR would accept defeat in both these matches.
Its not only this game its quite the feature in any game he plays. Either he is being coached badly or he himself has no confidence whatsoever. We can stick to the latter. One touch football is useful if it is moving in the attacking direction but Henderson tends to shift the ball to the side or the back or variations of the two. He is instinctive he shows flashes of that but he needs to learn by actually making forward passing mistakes which might sound counter intuitive. To me he wants to play the safe pass all the time and we are in no position to have a player do that regularly as then the attacking instinct is lost. I think three issues that he might have with regards to his confidence. 1. Being bought at a stupid price might have given a feeling of "yep I made it". Not along the Carroll lines of course but the price has put him under pressure from day one. He has not contributed a significant much in terms of assists and very little in terms of goals. 2. Rodgers apparent favouritism towards Shelvey. Now if I or any of you was in Rodgers position you would pick Shelvey over Henderson anytime of day. Why? Henderson is safe minimal reward, whereas Shelvey is riskier and a bigger chance of reward/success awaits. 3. Psychologically he just does not seem there. It probably got worse when he was being shipped to Fulham for Dempsey. Whether that was a rumour or reality it must be lingering in his mind. I want him to succeed just as much as anyone else but just look at the likes of Suso, Sterling, Wisdom, and Shelvey. Cost near to nothing in transfer and are onwards to being established players in the team for the long term future and these are the younger players. To be fair to Henderson he has to compete with the likes of Gerrard, Sahin and Allen but he is not pushing his way hard enough into the team and when he gets the chance he is not as influential as Shelvey. As much as I hate to admit if Henderson does not show substantial improvements (remember players younger and inexperience then him are improving as the season progresses) he might find he is the new Spearing of the team. I have thought hard about this and still cannot find why we bought him in the first place but that is what it is.
Henderson was poor last night, but overall he's done OK in his limited appearances this season. A big problem for him is the lack of stability when he comes into the team as sometimes he's partnered with Allen, Sahin or last night Coady with the whole team chopping and changing. Saying that I'd be very surprised if he was still here come Feb as the manager needs funds and I'm sure he must realize that 6 months ago he was in the England squad and his career will only go backwards the longer he stays.
We looked a young side learning each other's tendencies/runs. Which we are. Appears our midfielders suffer a bit of selective myopia - if they intend to pass it long, they do. If they intend to pass short, they do, but I don't think we've been good at reversing intent upon spying a good runner. That is to say, for example, if Shelvey possesses, and intends to make a lateral or diagonal pass to Suso, that's what he does, and misses the better option of spying a runner through the lines. This is the type of synergy and chemistry which will take time to develop. I'm seeing players make runs into space, but they're just not getting the ball. Head up, trust each other, make runs into space. We went there to draw the match, and almost succeeded but for Traore's fantastic skill and Coates' boner (let's not forget he's also quite young). That's not an awful result, but it should have been 2-0. Success this year depends almost exclusively on Suarez's health, keeping speed on the wings, and bringing in or discovering a player with a big knob who can bang them in.
In fairness to all the players, they really haven't spent time together as a team. We're (BR that is)having to put teams on the pitch that have to be introduced to each other just before the KO. (Alright, that was a joke, OK) But you must get what I mean. Obviously BR had Chelsea on his mind when he put that team out and if he'd have had a striker to put on with them, it could have been different. Sometimes I wonder about JonJoe! You could say that for Anji as well. Eto's is a shadow of the guy who was in so much demand just a couple of seasons back and Traore couldn't find the handle either. His one touch to get behind would have beaten any CB and Brad came off his line a tad to early, he wasn't expecting that touch either. BR and all of us know that with a full team we could get back to the top of the group next match. The sky hasn't fallen.... yet. And that reminds me, Skyfall is in the cards for me today, got a biz lunch then a free afternoon so, we'll James Bond it...
I just watched a comedic movie and chuckled a few times. That gif made me laugh harder in a split second.