Talk is easy, I want to see it on the field, there is too much talk about possession football, Swansea football.

As I said earlier post (last week or so), do not carry away, over-optimistic until 5-8 matches had played.

We may talk about relegation battle after 5-6 matches.
Sorry do not mean too pessimistic, until seeing some positives sign about the how the team play, it is too early to talk so much about possession football.
Be realistic, instead being in dreamland of possession football.

Exactly. This whole tiki taka fantasy is frankly speaking....quite an unrealistic pipe dream to indulge in at the moment.

Fix the god damn midfield first.

Yeah. It's quite frustrating. I thought Borini would solve our problem after seeing his fantastic debut goal. Apparently not. And all the news about Caroll being forced out is disturbing. Ever since Owen and Torres, we dont have a person that contributes 30 a season. It's not even alot to ask. Messi got like more than 60 goals last year alone and Ron also. That's the total number of goals the whole Liverpool team managed to score last season. Pathetic!

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Added on August 22, 2012, 5:38 pmUnfortunately, it is not going to happen overnight. Right players need to come in to suit with the formation. And we are begging for the right results along the way. Someone has to start the foundation or else we will forever be playing Kiki Lala, not Tiki Taka.

Possession football is not about being stylish. It is the best defense rather than kicking the ball away and praying. I almost fainted when I watch the way we played against AC Milan in 2005 CL final. We won. It was lucky. 9 out of 10 we would have lost if we play like that.

This post has been edited by dillonyong: Aug 22 2012, 05:38 PM

owh ya, dont get carried away by our winning on pre-season, so i guess, we do the same when we are losing game to WBA rite?

Oussama Assaidi is not eligible to play in Liverpool's Europa League play-off matches against Hearts.

The Morocco winger, who became the club's third summer signing on Friday, is cup tied having featured for Heerenveen in the qualifying rounds.

However, he will be available should Liverpool reach the group stages.

awww...

Haih,dunno wat to say abt tis fella,when playing for Lille he seems ok bt after coming back terus injured. Is english football too much for him?

This post has been edited by kcmy: Aug 22 2012, 06:56 PM

Ok, since scoring goals is something so difficult to come by and if I'm BR I'll DEMAND the following no of goals from each player from the 38 matches and it's a minimum target that every player will have to meet, failure which it'll have an impact on their pay rise :-

Johnson : 5
Agger : 3
Skrtel : 3
Enrique/Kelly : 3
Lucas : 3
Stevie : 8
Allen : 6
Downing : 5
Borini : 8
Suarez : 16

Defence : 14 Goals Midfield : 17 Forwards : 29

That comes to a grand total of 60, which may propel us to a top 4 finish. Please don't ask for any basis how the figure comes about and please also don't condemn the estimation and feel free to adjust to your liking. The estimation it purely based on what I felt each of the player is capable of achieving and that we are not going to get in a prolific striker. Some, will have lots to say about Downing, if he can't do it this season he'll need to get lost and let someone else do the job.

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Added on August 22, 2012, 8:29 pmToo much of a coincidence that he gets injured so often, the old saying ... "lightning doesn't strike twice" .... but it's like 4 times already. When Chelski gave him to us FOC, they may already know something that we don't. There's no free lunch in this world.

This post has been edited by redkop63: Aug 22 2012, 08:31 PM

Some said Carroll is not fast enough, he doesn't have the pace, he is not suitable for BR's football.

When you take a look at Fellaini vs Man Utd, it is amazing what a big player can do. He is winning most of the high balls, he is building up plays, he is tormenting the MU's defense. Take note that he is not fast also, albeit with a little flair.

I am not saying that Carroll should be like Fellaini, but sometimes big guys are efficient in terms of tactical approach.

This post has been edited by terriez: Aug 22 2012, 08:52 PM

is the heart match on thurs or friday morning?

Oh no no no no. This is a flawed reward system there, something I learned studying in business.

Every individual will act to maximize their own utility. By giving them a min target in which failure to meet will impact their pay rise/bonus will only result in failure. I can only see one thing resulting from that, that is everyone bombing forward at every opportunity, not passing the ball, taking a shot whenever he sees fit, no care for defense since the objective now is to score goals and earn a pay rise.

It would make more sense to give defensive players bonuses for completing their defensive task and vice versa. Then you can add in extra bonus for goals scored for defenders but the main priority must still be defense for them. In addition to scoring assists should also be rewarded. To encourage them to score goals you can set a bonus rate for winning at a certain goal margin, example: winning by 1 goal gives each participating player $1, 2 goals for $2...

This post has been edited by Cloud0890: Aug 22 2012, 10:01 PM

what about getting into CL next season and everyone gets a payrise?

Well said to some forummers...players need to be attached/set with 'goal' targets...probably something prev managers forgotten to do...having a target for defenders, full backs, wingers, DM etc etc...may actually improve our play...rather than seeing our holding midfield/flank going sideway or all the way back to Reina, haizzz,, ohh and did manage to catch MU vs Everton...and well done Everton, they attack with one touch,penetrative passes and most importantly Moyes fully exploited Fellaini, its very hard for Manure's defense to get the ball from him,.,,why cant our manager convert Carrol into someone more dangerous than Fellaini!!??? Maybe our criteria for selecting a manager to replace KD should be based on ability to work and integrate current big signing!! Need to hammer this to the Yanks.. Y put a 30million striker on the bench, but play a 11 million new signing....are we putting 30million to rot!!??? I am not championing Carrol and belittling Borrrini...but it gets kinda tired when each new Liverpool manager makes questionable decision and signings...KD's included...I am all for Suarez^ Carrol ^ Borrini formation..and I personally think Suarez and Borrini can interchange and play between the lines and in between gaps...unlike carrol, both are mobile and i am sure will find ways to get into dangerous position...whereas Carrol, from the matches that I saw, i think he is excellent with his head and good with his feet..He can play as main man or he can even drop to midfield i.e like Felaini - keep the ball and bring others in....Hope BR will exploit this, as I think we have the armor and weapon to be competitive, but somehow manage to shoot ourselves in the foot all the time....

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/...an-soon?cc=3436

Possession football, like pass between midfielders is useless to win a match.
That's why I personally do not fancy using stat alone to judge a player.

A playmaker or creative midfield can always try some brilliant passing, defence splitting passing move, but low in pass conversion (as difficult to make it perfect each time), but he is not a poor player, as long as 50% of the pass is indeed create chance for teamate to score, he is a good player.
vs
B midfield, always play safe, short passing, pass between midfielder teamate and defenders, he may chalk up passing completion rate 99%, but is not an effective midfield to win you a match.

You need slick passing, creative passing, brilliant 1-2 movement, off the ball movement, make opponent defenders out of position, create space, opportunity to shoot, only then this kind of possession football is useful to win you a match.

Swansea were newly promoted then. 11th place is quite an achievement.

Possession football is also important for defense. It may not win you a match, it may save you from losing. Of course the boys have not master it correctly yet. Dont judge so quickly.

I think managers nowadays are a confused lot.

Said this many many times before, but aren't good managers the ones who make the most out of what they have instead of making wholesale revamps? As much as I dislike his approach SAF is probably one of the 'genuine' managers around - just how many times has he adjusted Utd's game plan/style to suit his squad. Sure, the fundamentals are the same and some would argue that it is his assistants who are doing the actual work, but there is no arguing that over the past 15 or more years he is miles ahead of the rest.

Managers nowadays are so apt to clear 'deadwood' and bring in people who play 'my way'.

To put things into perspective - I'm an ex auditor from a big 4 firm. I've recently joined an upcoming SME as a troubleshooter and have noticed that we are severely lacking in the accounting department when it comes to knowledge and approach. But that does not mean that I am to recommend that everyone be reassigned or sacked do I? I need to guide the department and give everyone a chance to catch up. Only then do I reassess and see if I need to bring in a new accountant, no?

TS, pls update us on the game against Hearts later tonite/next morning

thanks

what was Rafa's Valencia called then? hmmm... tiki taka or not, our recent best years were when Rafa still had Alonso. Liverpool were so interesting to watch especially during those european nights

I believe it was Tinker-Tinker. Because he keeps changing the starting eleven every week. He's a tactical genius. Miss him.