Not a happy bunny after Sheff Utd game. Houllier needs to hear what everyone is saying. WE HAVE NO WIDTH. We have to start being ruthless and stop trying to rely on summer signings. Get Riise back in at left back and, if fit, Babbel back in at right back. Carragher is a good steady Eddie player but he is a squad player and that is all. I would be very inclinded to play Gerrard and Murphy in the middle while Haaman is unfit and try playing some wide players like Patrik Berger or Diomede on the left, Partridge or Smicer (more of a link player though) on the right. Play Heskey and Owen up front, maybe the added width might suit Heskey more cos we always rely on Owen's pace too much. Maybe you could then rotate the forwards between Heskey, Owen, Barros and Mellor. Get rid of Diao and Diouff cos they can't seem to settle at all. The major issue is that we need a good winger maybe Rommedahl or even Michoud (great left foot). I know this might not be what everyone wants to hear but Houllier might have to go. Seems less intense since his big op. Bring back the bootroom boys and maybe give Sammy Lee the chance he deserves.
Sigh … fresh from the offal site message boards are we? Or no - let me guess … liverworld.com? Pardon me for ragging on a newbie and welcome to this board and all that, but could you be any more clichéd? Let’s see - “we need width”. Yes, we know, everyone knows, so does Houllier. He tried to sign Duff, remember? He has openly stated that he is in the market for a wide player AT THE RIGHT PRICE and has, in the interim, deployed a new formation that has Diouf and Smicer playing wide of a central striker and, as anyone who has seen our recent games will now, seen the fullbacks push on much more. It’s far from perfect, but can we now please ask all the stating the obvious crowd to stop acting as though they have just unearthed some mighty, untold truth that no one else had ever thought of? Get Riise back in at left back … dearie me. For one, Riise is on the bench because he has been shit all season and for two, he is not a full-back, he is a midfielder. If anything, play him on the left of midfield. But only when he starts proving himself worthy of a starting role again. Babbel is NOT fit, therefore he is not playing. Carragher is every bit as consistent and effective a defender as Hyypia and Henchoz, only more versatile. There is no justification for dropping him, given the current squad. Our full-back positions are in need of improvement, but until we buy in the summer, his position can not and should not be in question. Berger is out until March after knee surgery in the States, Diomede is a joke and, in any case, Bruno Cheyrou is next in line for a role on the left of midfield. Partridge is at Coventry and Houllier already is playing Murphy and Gerrad in the middle, with Smicer on the right in Hamann’s absence. Heskey? When he’s in the team everyone can’t wait to get him out, as soon as he is benched, everyone clamours for him to be back in again. Baros and Mellor both have more solid claims to a regular role in the team at the moment. And in any case, one of the arguments most consistently levelled at Houllier is that he swaps things around too much - and yet here we are discussing the wholesale disembowelment of the entire team, from strikers backwards. Get rid of Diao and Diouf? What - after three months? Bloody hell. For a start, both are now showing signs of finally settling and for a second, you don’t get rid of players who have only just arrived in England because, in the first three months of their stay they have not immediately adjusted to the game in this country. By that logic, Henry, Pires and Wilthord would be back in France by now. We laugh at other teams for being so intemperate, but some of us are seemingly not capable of learning the lessons after all. And finally, the Houllier must go argument. The rancid cherry atop the pile of manure. Sammy Lee? Jesus! “The bootroom boys” - who are they? A new boy band. Or do you mean we should bring back Roy Evans. Hey - maybe Souness would like another crack at it? As I said, sorry to jump on you so early and welcome to the boards and all that, but you need to pull a whiter rabbit than that out of the old pop-up. PS - the result last night means jack. We’ll batter them at home and be off to Cardiff again come March. Then who cares?
Firstly I accept your comments but tend to disagree with some. True Riise would be better playing left mid but the matter of the fact is that he is the best left back we have. He is better than Traore and Vignal forever seems injured. Secondly people seem to forget what an asset Heskey is. Last season he didn't score alot of goals but the amount of balls he flicked on or nodded down for Owen was awesome. Lastly Matt says everyone from Houllier to liverpooltv.net sasy we need width, so why is it that our main target at the moment is a forward (Tonge - Sheff Utd). p.s. don't count your chickens until they have hatched.
Ahhh... it's not the supporters' fault. I'd go from "anybody is better that Heskey" to "I guess not" and back and forth if I were a 'pool supporter.
Micheal Tonge is a left-sided midfielder, not a forward. We are interested in him because he is quick, strong, two-footed, versatile and can, as we have learnt to our cost, find the back of the net. As to Heskey, if you look at last season's Opta assists chart, he is not even in the top 15. This whole "he sets up goals" thing is a complete myth. What's more, he doesn't even do his primary role well - he is supposed to score goals. Last season he got 9, including a barren spell of 1 in 35. Gary bloody Speed got 8. When on form, he is awesome. But he has not been on form for 18 months now. With Mellor and Baros playing well, plus Diouf finding his feet, Emmo has to be fifth choice striker at the moment. The best left-back we have is Jamie Carragher. And as I said, the LB position has already been identified as the prime focus for strengthening in the summer.
You consider Phillip Neville worthy of a weekly wage as a footballer. What place do you have in this discussion - or indeed any other like it? Thanks though. Always good to get input from the lower orders.
You're contradicting yourself here. You're complaining about a lack of width, yet you're singing the praises of someone who causes us to play Route 1 Longball. That said, as regular readers here know I like Heskey a lot, I just don't like the way we play him - Target Boy. We've taken the menacing pace he had at Leicester out of his game (he did have one very nice run with the ball last night, though) and replaced it with "Knock it down so Michael can score." Dave
Part of Liverpool's problems is that, as much as I admire Houllier, I'm not convinced that the man knows his starting first XI. If the entire squad was injury free, I don't know if he would pick the same team two games running. And this brings me to the next point. When Jack Charlton was manager of the Republic of Ireland, he once said he picked his team with a view to doing the job he wanted his team to do, not with an eye on the opposition. (He started to lose the plot when he picked the team to counteract the opposition.) I think Houllier has fallen into that trap somewhat, in that he picks his team with the opposition in mind rather than having a consistent game plan in mind, match after match.
I think that's a good part of it. To use a sportscaster cliche I hate, we haven't "imposed our will" on any team since the 0-0 draw with Sunderland. And I don't know if the reasons for it are because of Houllier's rotation, lack of motivation on the part of the players, or just plain stupidity.
Why doesn't Gerard Houllier play Jamie Carragher there anymore and someone like Marcus Babbel or Abel Xavier (if fit) at right back?? Does anyone here rate Djimi Traore at all??
I do. He has performed as well as the team around him - earlier in the season he was consistently impressive when used, lately he has been less so. Plus, let's not forget that he is a centre-back, not a full-back by trade. It is constantly being said - we need to strengthen at full-back. But in the interim, Traore is no worse a bet than Xavier or Vignal. Babbel's continuing struggle with fitness is a real shame in this context (as a fit Babbel would allow GH to do exactly what you propose) but that's life.
Re: Re: Liverpool's Weakness I do. And have defended him on a different thread recently. You only had to see the Villa game in the Worthington Cup to see that Babbel is not ready yet. We all want to go back to 2000 and Jamie at LB and Babbel at RB, but his fitness doesn't allow that right now. Jamie and Stephane made the errors in the Sheff Utd match not Traore. Traore's weakness is more one of distribution going forward. But name me a Liverpool defender who can pass well decently from the back? Again we are back to Babbel and maybe Xavier. (His one-two with Murphy earlier in the season) As good as Sami and Henchoz are as defenders neither one adds much to our creativity out of the back.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Liverpool's Weakness Make it three, its hard to replace the man who, after Kahn, was the best player on a WC final team.
Unfortunately as soon as Hamman gets the ball he looks for Sami and Stephane. I'm a United fan who was forced to cheer for Liverpool this season (Gerrard & Owen were supposed to be the cornerstones of my Fantasy League team). I have seen most of Liverpool's league games this year and like most struggling teams their problems aren't very complicated but fixing them is a bit of a bugger. Liverpool's recent 'success' was built on a very sound defence with a reliance on Owen for goals. Both of these have fallen apart this season so more is expected from other players. Most of them aren't able to provide more. The one who I think could is Hamman. When healthy he has to push forward more both in his runs and his passes. In the early part of the season when things were going well for Liverpool he was getting forward much more. Since then he rarely strays more than 10 yards from the back two and 90% of his passes are square or backward.
Since we're on the subject of Didi Hamann--and the Reds' plight--check this out: http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N138448030110-0850.htm Hamann says: "Nothing seems to be working for us at the moment and we are lacking self confidence. It's clearly a psychological problem." ----
It's funny how little Didi has been mentioned during this recent bad form as a possible solution. His health seems to almost coincide with Liverpool's ups and downs. I really think his return will do a alot.