we all know rafa starts off by emphasis by protecting the back (the duo mascherano or lucas) & the high pressing game, but with strategy to unstuck opponents by unleashing alonso/gerrard/torres. We all know the goals, & points tally were great & if only some 'luck' came by, the accumulated points (preseason) in 1-2 seasons if i'm not mistaken would have nicked us the title.

we know what roy does best, so i won't go there

both Dalglish ^ rodgers i suppose do emphasise on (more) attack (at lot if they can) but the ratio of conversion hasn't been the best to look at.

the protection at the midfield has been... well, to some extend, ill luck as we had to lose a reliable defensive midfielder to injury most of the season.

in some extend, i think the link may be right.







i just hope we dont shoot ourselves on the foot as it seem so (in the eyes of the lfc fans) ever since the cowboys decided to think of their own bank account/lavish travels & not the welfare of the club

This post has been edited by koolspyda: Dec 6 2012, 03:48 PM

I think it's a given that we need a realiable goalscorer but I also posed the question a couple of weeks ago, of bringing in another defensive midfielder. Reina enjoyed his best seasons playing behind Sami Hyypia and Jamie Carragher. Now he sees the backs of Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel who I think we'd all agree are a solid combination. However, Pepe has not had the best of times so either a) he is out of form, b) Agger and Skrtel aren't as good as we think they are, or c) we simply don't have a good covering player in front of the back four. In the past, Reina's defence has been shielded by the likes of Dietmar Hamann, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano. Lucas struggled at first and then got crocked after coming off arguably his best season in a red shirt.

Personally, I think it's a combination of a) and c). If we aren't scoring, we'd better not be conceeding.

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Added on December 6, 2012, 4:14 pmKick-off is 2am tomorrow kan?

This post has been edited by Duke Red: Dec 6 2012, 04:14 PM

d) All of the above.

For Reina, every players has his days of being down. For him, this is the significant moment of whether he will recover and continue to make it to legendary goalkeeper status or just a talent moving downscale and playing for lower teams.

For Agger and Skrtel part, defending set piece / corner is still a weakness. They need to improve on this to be world class defenders.

For covering of back four, I think we all can see how Lucas try to cut off the opposition early at the top rather than allowing them to be near the shooting range.

For scoring part, bottom line, we dont have midfielders who can score apart from Botak Jon and Steve. Sterling is a prospect. We need scoring midfielder to fit the style we play. Suarez is already reaping the benefit of this style of play but the midfielders have yet to come with their own tally.

Reina's form has been suspect for almost 2 seasons which is a concern. Ever since we blocked his move to Arsenal, he hasn't appeared content to me. He doesn't talk to the media as much as before. In the past he would talk about upcoming games and how happy he was at the club. I like Pepe and I hope his future gets sorted out. He needs to put in a few more impressive performances.

I agree with you completely on our frailties in the air. I brought up this issue some months back and even suggested that Skrtel looks like he has lead in his boots. Both of them are 6'3", and are pretty big lads. However our airspace is far from secure and we've conceeded a few goals from balls pinging about in the box. This is why we had so much trouble with Fellaini and struggle against teams that play direct football. Watch out because we've now got Big Sam's West Ham to contend with this weekend. Monday morning game... sigh...

You are also right to suggests our men in the middle need to up their game and contribute in the goals department. Jonjo has been guilty of scuffing some guilt edged opportunities and Gerrard simply hasn't been hitting them like he used to. Sterling is a bag of tricks and I think he needs to be a little less flashy, and more direct. Instead of dancing about around the box, he needs to make a beeline for goal.

In any championship winning team, we all have seen teams knowing to 'WIN', and win ugly if needs be. so far, only our disliked rivals have displayed this (either 'Win' or 'lose', & win even if they are behind, not once but couple of times. No draws so far for them at this stage). They say they make their own 'luck', even if kicking, badgering, or whatever it takes to snatch points..



Our team has been displaying a mid table mentality. safe, lots of possession, in the hope of 'death to the opposition' by chalking impressive stats of possesion! It's not wrong, brendan came from managing club striking a balance to survive in top flight. In time, its a learning curve for both rodgers & our new recruits, i suppose rodgers have to instil the 'winning mentality' to the team.

Very often, we see gerrard been criticised by frowning, showing too much emotions when losing possession or seeing his team mates making mistakes. at least to me, he is showing more 'concern' or 'passion' (even if its seemed negative by some fans).

Who "likes" to lose?

i haven't really seen *downing, hendeson, adam(?), reina too of late (?) throwing shirts or displaying much disgust (not a lot anyway) when the (ref) decisions are against us. (*just throwing some names up for discussion sake, or am i partially right?? )

Hopefully the learning curve get is short for us & we can look to take more risk to win & attitude/passion to win

This post has been edited by koolspyda: Dec 6 2012, 04:43 PM

Its the combination of lack of DM to provide adequate security blanket for the 2 CBs and also the fact that the players have found it difficult to 'grow' given how we've chopped and changed managers in the last 3 years. Rather than expanding one idea, each of these managers came and completely altered the team's character and method of play.

Rafa's team was about balance and resilience. Hogdson was about archaic static 442 which was completely incompatible to the team he inherited. Dalglish brought some positive changes but he never seem to have settled to one particular tactic. It's 3-5-2 for a week, then 4-3-3 the next week, and then 4-4-2 the following month.

With Rodgers, we know he prefers to setup shop with 4-3-3, and he has pesisted with it for majority of the time. I think realistically, the players will need at least a full season to fully grasp BR's system. I get upset and frustrated with the team and BR at times this season, but i think the reality is that people will make mistakes before they become better at something.

If he's unhappy, then it's all down to us. He was one of the most loyal servant ever but we keep failing him. Now we are not even in contention for Champions League anymore, something of which Reina desires a lot. If he wants to leave, I wont blame him. I can totally understand at the age of 30, he wants to push his career a step up. But in order to do that, he still should put in good performances to secure a good move.

Since last season, we were struggling to defend set piece properly. We used to have our left back and right back standing next to Reina, but that strategy was not in use sometimes which left me mystified. We often let the big size fellas run pass us easily and get a free header. That is dangerous. While Agger is the most suitable for pass and move style, Skrtel I feel should step up and take the responsibility of clearing out corners consistently like Hyppia.

For the scoring part, some of us here suggested that we get Huntelaar, Sturridge, Theo, etc and the goal problem will be solved. Far from the truth. We may get a little bit more but not enough to get us vital results.

We are playing the kind of football that can draws goals from Forwards to Midfielders to Wing Backs to even Defenders and yet, only Luis is doing the job of scoring consistently. In fact we can see sometimes players like to look up and see where Luis is instead of positioning themselves to take a shot. It's just really a confidence problem.

We need to get the whole team to start threatening the opposition goal from left, right and centre and not just passing infront of them.

got match tmrow morning??

Here is a pretty extensive interview with Pepe from a year and a half ago when King Kenny was at the helm.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/ma...reina-liverpool

For those that are too lazy to read the whole piece, I've picked out a few sentences with stand out to me.













I mentioned earlier that he just doesn't seem happy anymore and by reading this article, perhaps it has to do with the fact that his mates have left while he stayed behind, and we didn't show much ambition when Hicks and Gillett were in charge.

The tone and manner of his answers in this interview suggests to me that he is slowly paving a way to the exit door. He sounds almost sad in this interview. He's seen how Torres was villified, leaving 3 weeks after declaring that he'd stay at the club and I'm sure it would break his heart if Liverpool fans treated him the same way. He's very careful with this choice of words when he's asked questions about the possibility of leaving. Mostly open ended answers like, "you never know", "i can't say for certain" and so on.

If an offer comes in January, I'm pretty convinced he'll take it. He talks fondly of his mates leaving and I'm sure he envies them winning trophies at clubs who are consistenly in the Champions League like Chelsea, Barcelona and Read Madrid. Not convinced he's willing to hang around until we do so again. It could take years.

nobody likes to look back in regret (esp playing professionally & being at the top).

There are those who deserves better.

We had many false dawn, unfortunately more of doing patch(ing) up the core of the team.

right now, we are building for the future (with so many youthful players at the core)

I might want to see us win things instantly but at times am realist. hopefully we see reina faith is repaid sooner (given that playing career of the goal keeper can extend even longer then that of strikers)

Next morning, A Win will put us through.

What if we draw one one ?

2.00am Live on Astro...

If we draw (score doesn't matter), YB must draw or lose. We got a better head-to-head record against them.

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-new...is-not-for-sale

i would except YB to win tonight...so that means BR's personal psychiatrist would have to work overtime

the most transfer rumours dat i love

http://www.express.co.uk/football/view/362...iverpool-return

This would be fantastic if it happens. Another 2-3 years with Liverpool will help the club and also Joe Allen to grow into a great player.

You know what, I want Kaka..!!

some ppl i know would welcome alonso back with open legs

Well there is a possibility no matter how remote.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/362761?

just saw some highlights of the celtic game...king kenny was there enjoying himself.