Liverpool 2010/11 Season Thread

[mr_sockochris]

I think Sky only employ Redknapp to balance out the Gray bias

[SharkSkin-Man]

Jesus, after watching MOTD how the hell did Fellatio manage not get sent off? A donkey of a challenge in the 50/50 with Kyrgiakos and kicking Kuyt in the face is clearly not enough to warrant a red card.

[nakamura]

Jesus, after watching MOTD how the hell did Fellatio manage not get sent off? A donkey of a challenge in the 50/50 with Kyrgiakos and kicking Kuyt in the face is clearly not enough to warrant a red card.

Yep Kyrgiakos was a poor challenge but Felliani was a complete over the ball stamp and it amazes me he didn't go. It certainly was a fiery game.

[abigsmurf]

Think the thought process was that had Kyrgiakos not done that challenge, Fellani would have never made contact.

[saif]

He still went in with a stamping action. Kyriagos slid in, Fellaini stamped in. If Kyriagos was a red, Fellaini's was aswell. He also kicked Kuyt right in the head before that!

I don't know how well it came off on telly, but Masch was superb. Playing right back, he just kept control of that side and really geed everyone up. Very good performance with 10 men and then 9 men for the last 30.

[Adrock]

I'm quite upset I didnt get to watch the match on Sky now, what with Redknapp supposedly being his stupid self again and Lucas playing very well.

Hoolak, I imagine you watched it, what was your view on the Lucas performance? He is being lauded quite a bit from other comments I've read.

[Stoppy2000]

Pienaar should of been sent off for that horrible stamping studded tackle, so the soft foul on Gerrard is fine. Gerrard made a meal of it, but that's what a team scrapping through a season do when they're one nil up, one man down and close to holding out for a win.

Hope that explains things Stoppy. Other teams do it, maybe you hate Gerrard and are just angry that we won?

Not really I understand totally that football has now sadly got to the point where unless you dive the ref doesnt give free kicks but Gerrard has in the past made out that he would be disappointed if any of his team did such things. Just a hypocrite thats all.
Everton were rubbish and as a neutral it was not really much of an exciting game. Though I imagine to the non-neutral it was nail biting stuff. Like the spurs match was to me later on.

[hudson]

Hoolak, I imagine you watched it, what was your view on the Lucas performance? He is being lauded quite a bit from other comments I've read.

Yeah, he had a good game again. There are still times when I shout out and say "You're ****e!" when he porks a simple pass up. However, these were outweighed by his great work in breaking down or making it difficult for Everton to go through the middle.

I still don't rate him a highly as some people do. I'd still like to think we can get our confidence up bit more and hopefully play a more creative player in front of a defensive MF rather than the two holding MF. Ideally, Masch and Aquilani. Will Masch be here next season? I'm not too sure, so maybe I'm going to have to learn to try and love Lucas...(vom').

[mr_sockochris]

He has his uses. His strengths are certainly of the defensive nature. I have no issue with Rafa playing Lucas over Aquilani in games like Stoke away or the Merseyside derby where the midfield is a battle. And in fairness to Rafa, Aquilani played against Bolton at home, Villa away and in the Spurs game recently where 2 defensive minded midfielders aren't really needed so maybe it's a case of playing one or the other depending on the type of game it is.

It'll be interesting who plays against Arsenal. Aquilani would probably have more time and space against them but a bit of a midfield battle often disrupts Arsenal so he could go with Lucas....

[Adrock]

I think, against Arsenal, Lucas will play. Mainly because Man U and Chelsea have both shown the best way to stop Arsenal is to pack the centre of the park and stop them walking through.

That obviously lends itself to Mascherano and Lucas doing jobs on whoever plays in that central role for Arsenal. Of course, that means we're gonna have to try and catch Arsenal on the break, which is exactly what Chelsea and Man U did.

Im not confident of a result against Arsenal. A win would be amazing, we'd only be 2 points behind them then. Dragging them right into the fight for the Champions League places.

[EJG1980]

It is funny how, even though Liverpool are meant to have had a terrible season while people have been praising Arsenal and even mentioning a possible title challenge every now and then, there's only five points between them.

[abigsmurf]

It's been a weird season, the top 4 have all had runs of bad performances, it's just Liverpool's stood out in particular. That said, pundits are pretty reluctant to change their views on teams, regardless of the reality. They've all being acting like Man U have been cruising for the title, ignoring the fact that Chelsea haven't dropped off of top (except when they didn't play).

Liverpool could really close the gap on Arsenal this week but conversely, losing to both Arsenal and Man City (two tough fixtures in a busy couple of weeks) will put them back in trouble.

[mr_sockochris]

It has been a bad season, but that's what happens when your best 2 players are missing through injury so much. I know i've said this before but would Chelsea be sitting top now if Drogba and Lampard were out injured every few games? Probably not. Would Utd be anywhere near the top of the league if Rooney missed as many games as Torres has this season? I seriously doubt it.

Not that I think we'd be top had Gerrard and Torres been fit all season, we've had some awful performances even when they have both played, but I do think we'd be a handful of points better off.

[hudson]

Just shows you how important it is to have players of similar quality ready and waiting. But is it that easy? Surely players of Gerrard's and Torres' calibur don't sit on the bench waiting to come on? We need better potential back up. While N'Gog is learning and showing signs of goodness, as is other new talent in Pacheco and Nemeth, we need someone more established. Robbie Keane was probably meant to play that role. Crouch did it well, but we got rid. I didn't want to see Crouch go. Anyway, I'm rambling...

[mr_sockochris]

Well that's the thing, it's hard to find quality that will happily sit on the bench when Torres is fit. Crouch didn't like it and Robbie Keane had had enough after just 4 games of being out of the team. Plus then there's the issue of finding someone that doesn't cost the earth thanks to our money problems. Even if we could find £20m for someone, he can't just sit on the bench waiting for Torres to get injured. Unless Rafa uncovers a hidden gem in the transfer market I think it's just a case of playing N'Gog as much as possible and hope that improves him (much like Lucas). I like him anyway, he might not be the most 'dangerous' striker ever but he can play on his own, holds the ball up pretty well and has a decent enough size/height to challenge in the air. Not blessed with super pace but he's quick enough and works hard

On a side note, Chamakh is available for nothing at the end of the season. I know he wants to go to Arsenal but he wouldn't be a bad signing for us...