oh yea.i thought today is thursday. too many holidays.lol

What happened to Walcott rumors? He still hasn't signed a new contract at Arsenal right? Between him, Sinclair and Johnson, who would you guys prefer to sign right now?

Btw, can't imagine what Dempsey's feeling right now. Become a rebel at Fulham by refusing to play, LFC haven't make a bid and then watch his team win 5-0 on opening day while LFC were suffering at WBA.

Walcott and Johnson = Injury prone but lightning fast with quick feet. Often enough, their pace alone change the game and influence the result.
Sinclair = a more steady pair of legs. Not sure if he can be of such big influence as Walcott and Johnson but certainly not as injury prone as them.

Indecisive. Cant we have them all? Damn, John Henry. We need players.

From what I've seen Sinclair has much more pace and acceleration in him than Johnson. Him and Walcott are the more direct type while Johnson is one with more flair and dribbling skills.

Looking at price and potential ability, I rate Sinclair higher at the moment. Question is does he want to trophies on the bench or does he want to play? City can offer him championships, CL, playing alongside big name players bla bla but we can offer him a system and boss he is familiar with and first team football because looking at the way Downing and co are performing, its not difficult for him to get a starting 11 spot.

How about Nathan Dyer for the right midfield?

And now Gaston Ramirez news is back. Sickening. All rumors. No solid transfer movement. Just purely rumors.

wingers? i think we are in dire need of dirk kuyt. why did we ever sold him? i even remember cruyff saying he would play kuyt at RB. heck i might!!

This post has been edited by Petre: Aug 22 2012, 02:10 PM

I don't really see the merit in swapping fullbacks. I feel that in a day on age where teams adopt more central skewed attacking formations e.g. 4-3-3, a team's width is provided by its attacking fullbacks. However when your right back has no left foot as is stuck out on the left, it feels unnatural for him to go wide and whip a cross in with his weaker leg. The only time I think it' beneficial for a right footed fullback to play on the left for example is when he's up against a winger/forward who drifts infield e.g. if we were playing against Downing who when on the right flank, tends to drift infield. If the opposition team plays a natural right footer on the right flank for example, then you're best off having a left footed, leftback mark him rather than a right footed one. This is why teams have their wingers swap wings during games, to catch the marking fullback on his weaker foot.

To answer your question therefore, I'd only play Flanaghan on the left if he were marking a left footed player. Since we have no width on the left with Downing on the right and no other left footed wingers in the team, I'd much prefer Enrique or Robinson there or we'd never get any crosses in from the left.

Dawson was never really "good". I reckon he's a decent squad player especially given our lack of viable options with Carra getting old and Coates struggling with the pace of the Premiership. He reminds me of a Gerard Pique who has the turning circle of a truck.

we had the best defence last season....yet we lost.

like ive said before, last season line up + lucas wouldve done it. We r trying to rebuild every season n all the learning of previous season has gone to waste.

good point. the reason i would move GJ back to his more familiar RB position is i think he is almost useless going forward in the LB position. correct me if i'm wrong. enrique is still injured correct? hmmm. because we wont be playing carra in the LB position, i think we might see the same back 4 that finished the WBA game

This post has been edited by Petre: Aug 22 2012, 02:35 PM

Well not winning isn't really losing. However my point is that we should build from the back. The defence to me is like our foundation since the intention is to start playing from the back. This is in contrast of course to the old Brazilian philosophy of scoring more goals than your opponent does.

last season was promising build up for me. I was utterly hurt by King Kenny sacking coz i believed that he had something coming. The low conversion rate n no. of woodwork hits rlly dissapointing but i believed the fix wasnt so far away. Rebuilding will take more time n work.

Has anyone read why Murinho is supporting Liv this season?

http://sulia.com/channel/liverpool-fc/f/8d...?source=twitter

This post has been edited by dv8syun: Aug 22 2012, 02:44 PM

Precisely which reinforces my point of having right-footed fullbacks playing on the left. The only notable exception I know is Philip Lahm who is actually equally as good with either foot.

In today's game, Carra would be totally innefective on the left. The only reason he was decent for us in that position is because Houllier liked to play a flat back four, as we had wide players like Berger, Ziege, Kewell, Riise (who played on the left wing sporadically), Barmby and Smicer. The current squad has no width which is why we need fullbacks with a little more pace, stamina and guile in attack.

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Added on August 22, 2012, 2:51 pm

I agree. I thought we were on the right track but it was the bottom line in the end that did Kenny in. If the first game against WBA was anything to go by, we're still struggling to score. Hope Rodgers sorts it out for his own sake. I doubt the owners will be any more forgiving with him than they were with Kenny.

This post has been edited by Duke Red: Aug 22 2012, 02:51 PM

yeah...Suarez really struggled to read wuts Downing and Borini will do at the front with him. Suarez looks really dissapointed.

we played alot of tiki taka at the back n in d midfield. but when WBA got the ball they run with it thru Lukaku and co and created a good oppurtunity and break our defence apart with it

If it were up to me (and it obviously isn't), I'd like to see Suarez and Borini flanking Carroll against City. If we are persisting with Suarez - Borini - Downing, I'd like to see Borini switch places with Suarez. The latter is better at creating opportunities and given his struggles in front of goal, maybe we'd be better off having Borini lead the line.

Carroll couldve been an asset if we know how to fit him...like Felaini for example.

4-3-3 against City is suicidal. I cant see how your formation can work. We leave a big gap for Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri to walk right over us.

4-3-3 going forward with Gerrard supporting the front 3, with Lucas and Allen protecting the back four. Also, it means we defend high up the pitch using our fowards. Formations should not be taken at face value anyhow. A 4-3-3 attacking formation can easily morph into a 4-5-1 when being pegged back. I just think that sitting back and inviting City forward is fatal.

I agree.

Obviously City are favourites against us. So rather than sitting back and inviting city to attack (which they can, and will), Its a better idea to go for it (cautiously of course) with the 4-3-3 (diamond-ish) formation and as Duke said... revert to 4-5-1 when City are attacking.

I saw a proposed formation earlier which listed 5 actual midfielders in Henderson, Shelvey, Gerrard, Allen and Lucas. The problem with this is not only are they all better players in the centre of the park, we also do not have to pace to counterattack. Having forwards like Borini and Suarez track back to midfield at least means we'll have the pace to hit them on the counter, beating the offside trap. There is little point in chocking the midfield when we have no outlets when gaining possession of the ball. Suarez and Borini or both adept at making runs in behind defences.