Liverpool 2010/11 Season Thread

[hudson]

I like what Gary Neville said on Sky Sports MNF earlier. He said that he's not having it, blaming the signings. He said, Suarez, cracking signing, Downing good (he talked how he played against him), Carrol; much more to come, only young. Same for Henderson, young and much talked about throughout England U21s. Adam a snatch for 5-6m.

He thinks the problem is Dalglish not stamping a routine formation, too many chops and changes in both squads and formations. Went on to compare against championship winning formations. Formations that didn't change much throughout the season. Even mentioned Dalglish's Blackburn being a good winning example.

Reckons he (Neville) couldn't tell you from week to week which players will be playing and what formation. Not enough identity, routine.

[nakamura]

Neville is a cracking pundit I think. He has been very fair in everything he has ever said about Liverpool which is impressive considering he spent the best part of 15 years trying to wind them up.

[Adrock]

Neville, sadly, seems about right in what he said. That could be down, a lot, to injuries. Henderson is a young player who is gonna be blooded into the team slowly and as a replacement for when Gerrard, Lucas or Adam aren't available if things go to plan. Sadly this season they haven't and Liverpool have struggled to field a full strength side all season. That is not to excuse the vast majority of results this season, even when the injuries the team is still capable of beating most teams in the league, or at least should be on paper.

As an aside, as Carroll gets tons of abuse (even by myself), there were some interesting stat's about Carroll's starts and the numbers of games the team win when he starts :

Carroll starts vs Teams higher in PL than Liverpool (All Comps v Arsenal, Chelsea, City, United, Newcastle, Spurs)
P8 W5 D1 L2, Win%=63, Points Per Game = 2.00

Carroll starts vs ?the rest?
P14 W8 D4 L2, Win%=57, Points Per Game = 2.00

No Carroll start vs Teams higher
P6 W1 D3 L2, Win%=17, Points Per Game = 1.00

No Carroll start vs ?the rest?
P12 W6 D3 L3, Win%=50, Points Per Game = 1.75

So essentially when Carroll starts Liverpool accrue more points. Cant really argue with those kind of stats and its a bit mystifying. The only reason I can think is that the current team is not set out for a lone striker and when Suarez players alone there is simply not enough support up top, that is always the case and could be seen against Wigan on Saturday in the first half.

Maybe I'll have to reassess Carroll's contribution to the team some more and see what happens.

But yes, this current Liverpool squad is definitely at the beginning of their growth period. Dalglish should have one more season to see what he can do. If he fails bring back Rafa (I seriously would, think he is an amazing coach) or for everyone else a manager who can create something with a young dynamic team.

And one final mention, Raheem Sterling is surely gonna feature a lot more now the season is just about finished. His pace looked explosive when he came on and that could be a difference for the team.

[hudson]

Neville is a cracking pundit I think. He has been very fair in everything he has ever said about Liverpool which is impressive considering he spent the best part of 15 years trying to wind them up.

When he was announced that he was going to be a pundit, I along with every other L'pool fan dreaded the thought, but from day one, I have championed his punditry.

More Ray Wilkins instead of Alan Smith, please Sky.

[EJG1980]

It's definitely too early to be judging whether Liverpool's signings are a success or not. Quite a number of players Comolli was involved in signing for Spurs seemed poor at first but have gone on to be excellent for us.

[Nu-Eclipse]

And one final mention, Raheem Sterling is surely gonna feature a lot more now the season is just about finished. His pace looked explosive when he came on and that could be a difference for the team.

Really wouldn't want to see him overplayed - desperately needs to be nurtured properly, imho.

We've ruined too many young potential talents in recent times by overplaying them...Le Tallec, Sinama-Pongolle and Insua come to mind.

[Tetsuo]

I'm not sure how accurate this has turned out to be?? From here, it seems like the price-tag is a bit of a millstone and he's not got the confidence to try things that change a match. He's been part of a team of newbies and injury-replacements, without much time to seriously bed down. Seems like he's having another trough (although he finished last season strongly). Any thoughts chaps?

You pretty much nailed it mate. It was quite unerring to read, actually.

The thing that I've noticed all season with him is that his play is always cautious and often he has the demeanour of someone who is frightened, especially when it comes to attacking. I'm sure that's down to confidence, but I don't remember any games he's not been started by Dalglish this season, so I don't know what it's down to as he's been given plenty of bedding-in time. I can't deny I've felt very frustrated watching him.

Still a young lad though, and he is technically one of our most skilful players so maybe there is time for him to come good. He's obviously an investment for the future.

[DeathAdder]

I took the most recent match, rather than one which I knew would prove my point, as that was, naturally, the easiest one to find data for.

A quick look at The Sun, chosen because it was high in the search rankings, rather than to annoy Liverpool fans, gives the following.

WBA - 138 on target of 383 total shots

Liverpool 146 on target of 427 total shots

Well, I suppose the gap is much wider now, after you had 12 shots on target to WBA's 4.

Oh well

[Nu-Eclipse]

The "Roy Hodgson Defence Force" are clearly loving yesterday's result.

[paul]

Fancy sticking a link to that rag on a Liverpool thread.
And to refer to it as 'annoyance' just misses the point completely: you clearly have no idea how reviled that excuse for a newspaper is.

[Stoppy2000]

Fancy sticking a link to that rag on a Liverpool thread.
And to refer to it as 'annoyance' just misses the point completely: you clearly have no idea how reviled that excuse for a newspaper is.

It might be reviled but does that make the stats untrue? I despise the sun also by the way. In fact all of the tabloids.

[DeathAdder]

Well, there was nothing to stop whomever I was talking to from providing a link to his stats about how much better Liverpool's attacking football was (at the time) than West Brom's. And the links are clearly marked so nobody need click on them if they don't want to.

[hudson]

I think our pass completion was 3.9% tonight. Abysmal.

[Kit]

Fair bit of news. Steve Clarke has gone (a shame imo) and Joe Cole looks set to return as he's apparently highly rated by Rogers. I know there's a few on here that think Joe Cole is piss poor, but I think he's one of the best technical players England has to offer. Hope he starts next season all guns blazing as I'd like to see him do well at Liverpool.

[Nu-Eclipse]

High time this thread was revived!

Nuri Sahin's press conference. Could he start against Arsenal at the weekend?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19400925