Following on from the "Tactics or Personal" thread... If you were manager of Liverpool, (or any club) and your players went through a terrible slump like Liverpool are going through where nothing seems to go right, what would you do to try and get your players to turn things around on the pitch?? Obviously you could look at buying someone who can play in a position where you are most deficient, but there isn't always that quality player available in the transfer market when you need them. I would pick my best available 11 and not change it for a minimum of 5 games, thus giving my players the confidence that they aren't going to get the arse if they make a mistake and also the time to develop an understanding with each other. These players don't just lose their ability overnight... as a manager you have to belive that is true and show faith in your team, but how do you get them to repay that faith is the big question!! What does everyone else think???
I think that's the key, my friend... building the confidence in the squad back up to where it should be. Houllier has quality players, undoubtedly. They're just lacking confidence. I think with a win here and there, and immediately at that, they'll have the pizzazz and flair back within their collective being. But you're right about the confidence factor... Michael Owen is a feared striker, but when was the last time he actually followed up by striking fear into the hearts of a Premiership opponent by sticking two or three in the back of a net? It's been a while... Cheers, William
Michael Owen scored a hat-trick against Manchester City earlier in the season but like his fellow teamates, Owen has been out of form of recent times. He did score the 2 goals in our UEFA Cup wins over Vitesse in December... When is he due back, does anyone know??
I think he might be due back whenever he gets quality service from his teammates. And likewise, that's a matter which concerns total team confidence, and perhaps leadership, too. Does Liverpool have a true midfield leader? Because if they do, then he hasn't been able to rescue his teammates out of the current malaise they've been in. Cheers, William
Michael Owen was on the subs bench at Sheffield United the other night so I would expect him to start against Aston Villa on Saturday. As for our midfield leadership, Steven Gerrard or Dietmar Hamman would be the 2 but with Hamman out injured and Gerrard not in great form, we've really struggled to control possession in games.
Hamman's return could very well be the presence this team needs on the pitch. I look forward to his return.
Our problem has been personnel—in the sense that we’ve been plagued with injuries to key personnel all year long. Every team faces this at some point in the year, but I think we have faced it to an unusual degree this season. Because of the Bigsoccer crash, I have to rely on memory here, but virtually every decent player in the squad has missed significant numbers of matches—three or more, at least—except Riise, Murphy, and Traore. Carragher was out at the beginning of the year; Babbel has been effectively out all year; Henchoz missed three or four games; Hyypia played hurt for some of that stretch and then had to take a couple of games off (rib injury, as I recall). And Xavier has been out since the second month of the season. These defensive gaps have pushed Riise to left back—which compounds our midfield problems. Gerrard has had his problems on and off. Hamann’s absence, which continues, is a real blow to the side. Berger, like him or not, is a competent player who has seen almost no action due to his knee. Smicer lost a few weeks as well. Heskey and Owen haven’t been partnered together consistently for most of the year. And Heskey has been stuck out in left midfield more times than I care to remember. Baros, Diouf, and Diao are not up to their full potential in the EPL yet—I hope (if they are, I would consider that pretty bad news for us). Then, injuries aside, we have had periods of sharp drop-offs in form from Owen, Dudek and Gerrard. Hindsight is 20-20, of course, but to lose Litmanen, Barmby, and even Wright—without really getting replacements for them—is costing us dearly. We lacked cover in key positions going into the year, and the injuries have exposed it. ----
Yes, but Riise IS a left back. When a natural left back is so crucial to our midfield as to be considered irreplacable (which I think he is right now), you have some SERIOUS issues with said midfield personnel. If we had 4 decent players, Riise could go back to LB where he belongs, and offer us even more wing creativity and attacking depth. As Gene Hackman's character said in Crimson Tide said "You can teach a horse to deal cards if you want to, it's simply a matter of voltage." We either need our current midfielders to start performing, with or without changes to GH's metaphorical cattle prod, or go find some new horses. I'm not advocating one solution or the other, but it needs to be one of the two. Injuries have hurt, yes, but we still have what SHOULD be, on paper, a top 3 squad, even minus half our starters. They are playing like relegation contenders. Unacceptable.
I've seen Liverpool three times on Comcast this season, which shows one random Premiership game a week. I saw Liverpool vs Southampton in August - they played very well if I remember correctly. I was truly in awe and really wanted to see them again. I then saw Liverpool vs Bolton in September and they again played pretty well winning with the late Heskey goal. I then saw their game against Newcastle last week, though I was not suprised because of what I had seen on Bigsoccer. From an outside fan I can see how unfortunate it is what your team is going through as I think they're a wonderful team both on paper and the field when healthy. I hope they recover soon and that Comcast shows some of their games. Back on topic, I've got a question about Riise. I've seen him play very little, but I read a column on soccernet praising him a lot after the Liverpool derby with Everton saying that he was probably Liverpool's best midfielder that day and that its shocking that GH doesn't start him regularly. How true is this?
I think Riise is best as a midfielder. The club Web site lists him as able to play either position, which he has. But in my view, he's cover as a full-back, and should be a regular at left-sided midfield. It's just that given our thinness in the back this year (which I mentioned on another thread), Riise has been pressed into service in the back. It's one of—but by no means the only—reason for our recent poor form. As for watching the Reds, if you're getting the DC-Baltimore Comcast, I just noticed that they'll be carrying the Aston Villa match on tape-delay. Here are the details: Wed Jan 15 10:00AM Pacific Wed Jan 15 11:00AM Mountain Wed Jan 15 12:00PM Central Wed Jan 15 01:00PM Eastern Length: 2 hr D Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic (Baltimore, Washington) English Premier League Liverpool vs Aston Villa http://www.soccertv.com/england.cfm ----
Most of us would say 100% true. However, see my above comments. He is unquestionably a talent, and should be used often. But he alone doesn't come close to solving our problems.
For the record, Riise is a midfielder by training. Indeed, it wasn't until he went to Monaco that he played anywhere other than CENTRAL midfield. Tigana deployed him on the left, both as a wide midfielder and, later a wing-back. It is by that route that he made it to the LB positon at Liverpool.
Not all that close. Certainly, they will not let him go during this transfer window and any move in the summer depends on the Blades' final position. If they make it into the Premiership (on current form a sound bet through the play-offs) then Tonge will be going nowhere. If they narrowly miss out, they will also probably be keen to retain him for at least one more season. Only if they crash and burn between now and May will a move come about, IMO.
If I were houlier I would sell all of the players well cheap insult the board, piss on the kop and then resign after stealing what ever money was left in the kitty...but that's just me.... long continue the slump!
I think things are coming along now. Gerrard has started to play better, allthough his form is still off. Murphy has continued to play well, Owen and Heskey are healthy again, hopefully they can be paired for a few games to see what happens. As much as Mellor has impressed, Houllier needs to stick with a partnership up front and let them play for a few games - off course this supposes no one gets hurt. I would like to see Riise up in midfield, but right now, I think he's needed in defense more then in midfield. We have three healthy bodies on defense and Henchoz will miss the 4th round tie at Palace due to suspension. I'm not impressed with the coverage we have back there and sadly, only feel comfortable when Carragher, Henchoz, Hyypia and Risse are our back 4. That said, I'm really getting tired of seeing Diao in midfield. Clusy touches, challenges, etc... But what to do for two midfield spots when Gerrard and Murphy are the only two to trust, again supposing Gerrard's form continues to improve. Djouf and Cheyrou? Diao and Smicer? Smicer and Biscan? I don't really know, but I'd play Djouf and Cheyrou on the wings until Didi is redy to return.
sorry, didn't mean to troll, but I couldn't resist tempting fate with Liverpool's bad slum continuing and all...I'm quite sure you fans are enjoying looking up the table at the moment.
Let's see, our team's on its worse run of form in something like 50 years, your team was playing better than it had in over a decade... and how many more points in the table to you have on us? Oops. I mean "point," in the singular. Nice FA Cup run, too, I might add. You made Shrewsbury fans very happy. Come May, that may very well be your side's greatest accomplishment on this year.
Gee, that's great. In an unrelated note, that bruising around your sister's navel means that you're mounting her incorrectly.
Look on the bright side ... So since the World Cup, Leeds have sold the following players: * their first-choice center-back -- Rio Ferdinand * a tricky forward, not quite first choice -- Robbie Keane * their best holding midfielder -- Olivier Dacourt * their best box-to-box goalscoring midfielder -- Lee Bowyer * their best finisher -- Robbie Fowler So by my reckoning, the closest equivalents for us would be: * our first-choice center-back -- Sami Hyypia * a tricky forward, not quite first choice -- Milan Baros * our best holding midfielder -- Didi Hamann * our best box-to-box goalscoring midfielder -- Steven Gerrard * our best finisher -- Michael Owen How would we feel if we'd lost Hyypia, Baros, Hamann, Gerrard and Owen in the last six months? That's with no-one coming in, and only the prospect of Malcolm Christie's possible arrival to alleviate the gloom. Now THAT is a "club in crisis".