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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 2,886
Under 23 Player
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Under 23 Player
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 2,886 |
the torres we're seeing right now is far from the same torres we saw in his 1st season. he doesn't seem to have the same pace but all the injuries would be the natural answer to why he's not performing at the moment. lets just hope he can find his way back to the form which made him the best striker in the league... His pace was electrifying in the WBA game, I don't agree with all the negativity at all. The manager has stated a number of times he's not at full fitness, had a game mid-week for Spain and Birmingham who are unbeaten at home in 17 I believe, obviously got it right tactically on marking him out of it with a quality row at the back. Even Owen at his best used to struggle in some games. We're 4 games in FFS and Torres is expected to conjure the Harry Potter stuff basically single handed. Some realism is needed very quickly on the boards.
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
George Washington
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 34
Trialist
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Trialist
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 34 |
RebelRed
Torres was very poor, OK he got very little service but his body language was terrible. Stevie didn`t have any influence on the game until he went into midfield late on (why isn`t he played there everyweek?) I will say though that you highlighted Johnson as going AWOL at times, basically he is an awful defender and now seems to have lost any confidence going forward, Jova is another headless chicken and Maxi struggled to get into the game because he was covering johnson backside for most of the match.I do not agree at all with the Lucas finally went off comment as it reads that you are blamming him for a virtual all round poor performance. The boy continues to do his best for the cause (OK he should not be a first teamer) while others with more experience and ability continue not to perform to theirs. Raul did more in 15 minutes than Poulson, Maxi, Jova, Gerrard did in 90 and that says it all.! Couldnt agree with you more, Torres's body language was awful. He just hasnt been the same player since the season we came 2nd..obviously he has had alot of injuries so hopefully thats whats wrong with him not his attitude. But having been watching sky at the time I agreed with Redknapp.It was just so frustrating to watch, felt id just love to see one of the young lads out there working their socks off for a place on the team. On the team overall I taught you cant blame Lucas or Poulsen, if you but 2 DMs in there its going to be hard for them to create! Taught Gerrard looked alot better when he dropped back into midfield and would play him there no matter what, and have Cole behind Torres(if he gets his act together) Plus I think its Babels time to get a run either right wing or behind the striker..As in at least 3 games in a row, it wont happen though!
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thundyr
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thundyr
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I think we're all thinking and saying the same thing here: Liverpool will never challenge for anything while we barely manage to create a handful of goal-scoring chances per game. It does not matter who our striker is: the fact that N'gog has scored three and been awarded a penalty to Torres's lone goal + barely anther effort on target speaks quite loudly about how wrong our setup is. We need better service, and service does not come from an attacking midfielder; that guy needs to receive the ball in space as well.
Who is our most effective player? Reina.
Ok, who is our most effective outfield player? Gerrard, by a country mile. So why is he placed where the action is not? With Alonso, Gerrard was a mere pass away and was therefore able to knock in 20 a season as well as give Torres a good few sitters to tap in. But with Lucas, Gerrard might as well not be on the pitch. And if we're playing with 10 men without Gerrard all the time, how is Torres going to score from open play on anything other than a counter-attack? If his head is down it's because he can see where people should be running, should be passing, but no one is doing it. We hoof it up because passing it through midfield yields fewer goals.
We must must must stop the 2 holding midfielder approach where one is Lucas. Lucas is generally ok if he's committed to being defensive - he and Gerrard in midfield with Cole ahead should actually be fine. But when he needs to be a play-maker he's poor in every department, including defense!
Torres's head will come up quickly enough when he can see efficient movement of the ball behind him, and his eagerness to be there will follow in short order. But regardless of who wants to play where, the shortest route to that is Gerrard as CM.
I have high hopes for this:
------Meireles--------
--Cole-------Gerrard-- (both free roles)
-------Pacheco--------
with wingbacks to overlap (and maybe even play Babel and Torres up front), but watch it take another 20 games to materialize, if ever.
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Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 41
Trialist
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Trialist
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 41 |
I have high hopes for this:
------Meireles--------
--Cole-------Gerrard-- (both free roles)
-------Pacheco-------- There have been plenty of midfield wishlists and everyone of them different. That's telling in itself. It's going to take time to bed in the new players (Meireles, Poulsen, Cole) as well as find out about the existing ones (Pacheco, Babel, Lucas). If the fans can't agree on a midfield, I think the same is true of the manager at this point. Remember Hodgson is a conservative manager so you have to try and think like him when putting together your midfield. You can't expect him to chuck a kid like Pacheco in against the Mancs, or even an unproven (to him at least) Babel. To me he sees Lucas able to do a job, he knows Poulsen well and what he can do, he knows Gerrard will deliver, he thinks Meireles will be good enough, he hopes Cole will finally deliver, but after that Roy has too many unknown quantities, and when you are in his shoes you can't afford to get it wrong, as I see it, a point gained is better than getting his selection wrong and losing 2. Against the Mancs it will probably be something like a holding player (Lucas/Poulsen) with Gerrard and whatever wingers he decides to go with with Cole in behind Torres. Don't think he will risk Meireles from the start yet.
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 12,422
1st Team Regular
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1st Team Regular
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 12,422 |
The first word that sprung to mind when I read your question asking how good Redknapp was at his peak is, decent. A decent player at best.
The player that most resembles Redknapp's playing style now is Xavi Alonso. In fact that's a perfect description of him. A Xavi Alonso type player but with nowhere near the game intelligence Xavi has nor the consistancy in accuracy of Xavi's long/short range passing. Redknapp was also more conservative in the forward passes he made. Prefering to keep possesion by playing the easier ball from side to side rather than the Xavi type killer pass to a striker/winger.
On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being Xavi at his best, Redknapp was probably (at the peak of his game) a 6.
Hope that helps. thanks mate, so basically his alonso but without the passing ability, so his more like Gareth barry
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1,036
Under 23 Player
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Under 23 Player
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1,036 |
Yep but without the tackling ability
What do you mean my birth certificate expired?
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Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 41
Trialist
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Trialist
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 41 |
thanks mate, so basically his alonso but without the passing ability, so his more like Gareth barry He's more akin to Scott Parker if you ask me.
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1,036
Under 23 Player
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Under 23 Player
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1,036 |
Fernando Torres: THAT 4-1 win at Old Trafford reignited my Liverpool careerMore of the same please Nando, I would very happy with another 4-1 trounching of the mancs.  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footbal...o=feeds-newsxml
What do you mean my birth certificate expired?
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thundyr
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thundyr
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There have been plenty of midfield wishlists and everyone of them different. That's telling in itself. I have several wishlists myself! But they feature the same two permutations: 1 DM, and Pacheco. The point with the diamond suggestion here is simply that Roy will gravitate to 4-4-2 on occasion, but since we lack width we need to be strong in the middle. The other thing about the various posts on midfield selection is that they are linked entirely to the poster's chosen formation: my preference is for either 4-3-3 or 4-1-2-3, but Roy is defensive-minded and is unlikely to try either until next season. But if you look close enough there are significant amounts of agreement between us: Gerrard+Raul as the engine-room, Carra+Agger, Johnson picked primarily as an attacker, 1 striker, 1 youth player to start. Finding the balance between these things is obviously not something we armchair pundits can do because we are not on the training ground (for eg I do not think we can afford to play Johnson in games where neither Poulsen nor Lucas start, but I may be completely wrong about Raul's ability to both defend and attack, and would be wary of picking Gerrard as the DM because I believe he has much more value going forward). Obviously we expect Roy to try (or have already tried) these permutations on the training ground, but we also expect them to be more effective than what we have seen in the last two games. But we could be completely wrong and are simply too terrified to admit that maybe Lucas is the best player we have in his position in terms of the team dynamic. Were that the case we would need to change formation, and after 6 seasons of Rafatastic Spanish football it will take significant time to change.
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Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 869
Under 18 Player
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Under 18 Player
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 869 |
On form or not Torres will rise to the occasion against the scum and terrorise Vidic as he always does
<3 LUIS SUAREZ <3
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