So Newcastle (Premier League)
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So I'd think I'm one of the more unlikely to have a knee jerk reaction but that was utter dross.
I actually thought we were more likely than not to get beat in this one. Newcastle are on a roll and we're going the other way.
It's not really the loss that irked it was the way we did it. That was a shambles.
I thought Moreno played fairly well save for disastrous five minutes where he created more chances for Newcastle than they did in the other 85.
But apart from that 5 minutes we had absolutely nothing in our play. Forget the lack of cutting edge - we didn't even have an edge. The majority of our players looked to pass it backwards rather than forwards; there was no movement getting in behind; Sterling was either shattered or leg-tied to his defender. Coutinho couldn't do anything right; Borini did nothing when he came on other than fall over and run.
The only ones who came out of it with any credit were Gerrard and Henderson. They were at least looking forwards and trying to get something happening.
Even when we went a goal down we still passed it backwards. With 7 minutes to go Lovren and Skrtel passed it back and forwards between themselves with one touch and pass about 4 times. When Lovren - he clearly had nobody in front of him - passed it back to Skrtel I nearly ruined an expensive laptop.
The thing is, nobody in that team is blameless and Mario is certainly not worthy of being singled out on the performance but he has disrupted our entire display. This guff about we need to see him play with Sturridge - one player isn't going to make that much difference. Mario and Lambert should be the plan B strikers. Borini shouldn't be a plan at all. Unfortunately the only striker we have who can work with plan A is made of glass. That's not the club nor Brendan's fault but not planning for it is. Most of us noted before the season that Sturridge would not last anything like a season and yet we didn't look for someone who can fit in with our style of play.
I've watched Everton a couple of times now and they must be thanking everyone that we signed Mario because Eto'o looks as close as we'd likely get to fit in with Sturridge. He wasn't a big name but I wanted him - was happy to get both he and Mario but he should have been our priority.
I actually thought we were more likely than not to get beat in this one. Newcastle are on a roll and we're going the other way.
It's not really the loss that irked it was the way we did it. That was a shambles.
I thought Moreno played fairly well save for disastrous five minutes where he created more chances for Newcastle than they did in the other 85.
But apart from that 5 minutes we had absolutely nothing in our play. Forget the lack of cutting edge - we didn't even have an edge. The majority of our players looked to pass it backwards rather than forwards; there was no movement getting in behind; Sterling was either shattered or leg-tied to his defender. Coutinho couldn't do anything right; Borini did nothing when he came on other than fall over and run.
The only ones who came out of it with any credit were Gerrard and Henderson. They were at least looking forwards and trying to get something happening.
Even when we went a goal down we still passed it backwards. With 7 minutes to go Lovren and Skrtel passed it back and forwards between themselves with one touch and pass about 4 times. When Lovren - he clearly had nobody in front of him - passed it back to Skrtel I nearly ruined an expensive laptop.
The thing is, nobody in that team is blameless and Mario is certainly not worthy of being singled out on the performance but he has disrupted our entire display. This guff about we need to see him play with Sturridge - one player isn't going to make that much difference. Mario and Lambert should be the plan B strikers. Borini shouldn't be a plan at all. Unfortunately the only striker we have who can work with plan A is made of glass. That's not the club nor Brendan's fault but not planning for it is. Most of us noted before the season that Sturridge would not last anything like a season and yet we didn't look for someone who can fit in with our style of play.
I've watched Everton a couple of times now and they must be thanking everyone that we signed Mario because Eto'o looks as close as we'd likely get to fit in with Sturridge. He wasn't a big name but I wanted him - was happy to get both he and Mario but he should have been our priority.
Unfortunately, we can't blame Woy for the lack of passing, pressing and playing as a team.
We can try though.
It's because Moreno has only one foot, and this is when that glaring weakness haunts you, like when Riise headed in the own goal instead of clearing with his right peg. This was a ball that had to be cleared with a right footed swing but Moreno needed a right foot touch so he could swing at it with his left. Cost us a goal there.
But the problem started way earlier. I probably need to watch the goal again to confirm this, but what I remember seeing is that they overloaded us 4 on 3 on the inside right, because Coutinho had decided to go lazy and jog back instead of being responsible and chasing back after losing the ball, and because Gerrard didn't step up earlier to fill the space ahead of him. I was seething when they broke free and kept coming closer and we didn't do anything but just kept sinking deeper.
I think we screwed up taking Allen off, even though he had an off game. Sterling was totally anonymous this game, and if we wanted to go two up with Borini, he'd have been the right one to yank. Introducing Lambert for Coutinho was just some random WTF moment of desperation. The Brazilian had been off-colour this game, but if you wanted to go two up, then you still needed someone to create the opportunities. As shit as he'd been, he still was the one trying to make things happen, albeit without much success. It made a lot more sense to use Lallana to me.
Terrible game anyway. Totally FUBAR.
Again: 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss in our last five league games.
Inconsistent, not a crisis.
Inconsistent, not a crisis.
I said the same thing a week or two ago that he doesn't really know what to do. He's lost without Suarez doing his stuff and is utterly clueless defensively. What exactly is IT that he's doing right? Can't sefend. Can't score. Worst of all, it's showing no signs of improving.
He pissed me off when he utterly ruled out getting a defensive coach in. Another few games of this shit and he better swallow his pride and get a coach in. Either that, or we are screwed.
That's..... just so..... utterly wrong.
The only one who actually made anything happen in the opposition area today was Gerrard. Are you trying to be a paper fan boy or something? He was nowhere near our worst today.
I think we would have been a lot better in the first half without Joe Allen. All he does is run around making his tippy-tappy passes in his own half.
Since internationals started, we have lost Studge and Sterling looks REALLY knackered.
Hendo seems to think he's really england's saviour and isn't bothered to put in the effort he used to anymore.
So yeah, all Hodgson's fault.
I'm not saying having Sturridge back won't help, but you all really think he'll be some massive difference maker? I don't see it.
It'll force him to approach matches differently. He really has to give this Mario alone up top a rest.
He is fairly good at putting the ball in the net though.
Actually I should have redone that. If we wanted to take Allen off, we could've introduced Lallana instead. If we wanted to bring in Borini, then take off Sterling. Bringing in Borini for Allen basically just made no sense because Sterling was having a worse game than Allen. For all his poor passing today, Allen was the hardest CM at work in tracking their players' runs at us when they came forward.
Personally I think Sturridge's return will make a difference, both to our ability to take chances but I think he will also give a boost to the rest of the team.
Ha!
A like just for the use of the term FUBAR. Great, great movie.
Coutinho should never have started but for different reasons than I originally thought. I truly expected Newcastle to be all over us in tempo from the off and thought Phillipe had to be off until about 50 minutes. As it was that never eventuated but Coutinho doesn't like intimidating environments and he looked out of sync from the first moment.
Bring him into games like this when there's a bit of fatigue and some space to be used.
That would have worked well when they bought Borini and/or Lambert on.
Thought we were very poor from Mario all the way to the kit man in this one. Didn't deserve a thing and got what we deserved.
What the hell is a paper fanboy? I thought that the worst performance today was Johnson but thats no surprise and he will be dropped for Manquillo, but that was as poor as Ive seen from Henderson in some time, not sure how you got the idea he emerged from that with any credit. The Gerrard problem is more of an ongoing one, he no longer has the legs to carry the ball forward so he either offloads a short pass and we continue in that vein or he tries a raking cross field ball to Sterling who is marked by a player a foot taller than him and never going to win a header. He hasnt got the legs to press when we are defending and he cant get forward and support the attacking play when we are in possession, Im not really sure what Gerrard is bringing to the team right now.
He certainly was the hardest worker in terms of tracking opponents but he was an utter liability trying to hold onto the ball or find a player. Got done, out muscled or found an opponent time and time again. They should have taken him off after the head clash.
Going white? So it's good old fashioned jealousy then. I see.
For someone who can't get forward Gerrard was the only player we had who got into their area with the ball and tried to create something. He was the only one really showing guile in that part of the pitch.
Where Sterling was in the opponents pocket at least Henderson was coming around the back and trying to create some space and movement.
The only outlet we've had in numerous matches this season has been Gerrard's passing - long or short. He's certainly a long way off his best but he's been a long way from our worst. He's not the one who's slowing us down with the ball and that's where most of our problems are stemming from.
Where Sterling was in the opponents pocket at least Henderson was coming around the back and trying to create some space and movement.
The only outlet we've had in numerous matches this season has been Gerrard's passing - long or short. He's certainly a long way off his best but he's been a long way from our worst. He's not the one who's slowing us down with the ball and that's where most of our problems are stemming from.
That was the biggest shitfest I've witnessed in a long time. Lazy, cowardly and worryingly absolutely not one positive thing to take out of the game. It was obvious we were going to lose from 10mins in. A fucking shower. See you all in a few days when I've done kicking the shit out of my Samsung TV.
Highly dissapointing, complete lack of goal threat and poor as ever we were at the back.
It's fair to say that after 110M pounds worth of players we can expect more than sitting around waiting for a prima-donna striker made of glass to get fit, it is now November and we simply haven't started to play yet this season, i was comfortable thinking that weve just been unlcky as i found it hard to believe that all of the thrilling progress could be lost in such as short few months but without Suarez we are pretty much nothing.
As we will not be able to undergo wholesale change at Christmas having already wasted more than i care to think about in summer, its pure Spurs bullshit this, it makes Dalglish's dog end season look quality.
A few adaptions we need to do right now:
1. Until we can get a good goalkeeper, (dear Santa...) stop shilly shallying back there. You may rightly point out Mig made 2 excellent saves today, in fact it was probably his best performance i've seen from him possibly our MOTM but In truth I expect a goaly to make good saves. Mig is patently incapable of being the distributor we expect him to be, recognise it finally and just accept it and move on. This is actually a fairly simple fix in the short term, instead of insisting on playing to his weakness we need to stop including Mig in the tiki-taki at the back, its pointless in terms of play or retention of ball, we dont have the pace to utilise the imainary gap it must be designed to encourage and anyway Mig just doesn't have the skill to get us on the front foot from there. It's a luxury we cannot afford right now and a shit luxury at that. Start playing the percentages it would be much much better. It's just plain nervy to watch him and there is no fucking need to play it back to him in the first place. There were 3 occasions today where a defender passed it back to him and after some totally unnecessary fluffing around it was pinged long and out...It is definitely an instruction from Rodgers and it is not working nor arguably it has it ever worked. I love Cruyff turns but Cruyff turns just to play the ball to somebody who could easily have had the ball in the first place?...WHY?
It's infuriating, hopeless and invites pressure and swells optimism in our opponents. It is simple to fix, just don't fricking do it!
2. Two up front is essential with what we have available currently as Ballotelli lacks the discipline to play through the middle on his own. I have no real clue exactly how we should/could sort that out but then thats why we have a manager on millions of pounds a year. Over to you Rodgers. p.s. having spent 110M you should have
an idea....
3. Somebody should hobble Glen Johnson... or just drop him... whichever... he's not fit for purpose... more than that he's not fit!I think he should lose a stone or two... his left leg might do.... I give up... at least if we were forced to suffer the mistakes of a youngster in his stead at least they MIGHT get better in time, they have the benefit of hope.
4. Forget the CL and get back to concentrating on the Prem as of right now. Barring a ludicrous miracle we will get another massive beating on Wednesday and if form is anything to go by, and it clearly is, we will get taken roughly from behind next weekend also.
IF its true that we benefitted from having just the one game a week then fine... just play the one game a week. Play the kids 10 behind the ball with a prayer in our hearts and try to get things right for Chelsea instead, they will be 15 points clear otherwise. 15 points clear after 11 games.
Not a happy camper.
It's fair to say that after 110M pounds worth of players we can expect more than sitting around waiting for a prima-donna striker made of glass to get fit, it is now November and we simply haven't started to play yet this season, i was comfortable thinking that weve just been unlcky as i found it hard to believe that all of the thrilling progress could be lost in such as short few months but without Suarez we are pretty much nothing.
As we will not be able to undergo wholesale change at Christmas having already wasted more than i care to think about in summer, its pure Spurs bullshit this, it makes Dalglish's dog end season look quality.
A few adaptions we need to do right now:
1. Until we can get a good goalkeeper, (dear Santa...) stop shilly shallying back there. You may rightly point out Mig made 2 excellent saves today, in fact it was probably his best performance i've seen from him possibly our MOTM but In truth I expect a goaly to make good saves. Mig is patently incapable of being the distributor we expect him to be, recognise it finally and just accept it and move on. This is actually a fairly simple fix in the short term, instead of insisting on playing to his weakness we need to stop including Mig in the tiki-taki at the back, its pointless in terms of play or retention of ball, we dont have the pace to utilise the imainary gap it must be designed to encourage and anyway Mig just doesn't have the skill to get us on the front foot from there. It's a luxury we cannot afford right now and a shit luxury at that. Start playing the percentages it would be much much better. It's just plain nervy to watch him and there is no fucking need to play it back to him in the first place. There were 3 occasions today where a defender passed it back to him and after some totally unnecessary fluffing around it was pinged long and out...It is definitely an instruction from Rodgers and it is not working nor arguably it has it ever worked. I love Cruyff turns but Cruyff turns just to play the ball to somebody who could easily have had the ball in the first place?...WHY?
It's infuriating, hopeless and invites pressure and swells optimism in our opponents. It is simple to fix, just don't fricking do it!
2. Two up front is essential with what we have available currently as Ballotelli lacks the discipline to play through the middle on his own. I have no real clue exactly how we should/could sort that out but then thats why we have a manager on millions of pounds a year. Over to you Rodgers. p.s. having spent 110M you should have
an idea....
3. Somebody should hobble Glen Johnson... or just drop him... whichever... he's not fit for purpose... more than that he's not fit!I think he should lose a stone or two... his left leg might do.... I give up... at least if we were forced to suffer the mistakes of a youngster in his stead at least they MIGHT get better in time, they have the benefit of hope.
4. Forget the CL and get back to concentrating on the Prem as of right now. Barring a ludicrous miracle we will get another massive beating on Wednesday and if form is anything to go by, and it clearly is, we will get taken roughly from behind next weekend also.
IF its true that we benefitted from having just the one game a week then fine... just play the one game a week. Play the kids 10 behind the ball with a prayer in our hearts and try to get things right for Chelsea instead, they will be 15 points clear otherwise. 15 points clear after 11 games.
Not a happy camper.
You know you're in for a shitfest of a season when the geordies just beat you.
Few things...
The GK and the centre back pairing dont have the guts to own that ball and bring it out competently.
Plug in someone like Xabi Alonso in this side and see it.......fuck it i cant be bothered with this shit. Im just going to bite my nails till i run out of fingers or up until we start playing better.
The GK and the centre back pairing dont have the guts to own that ball and bring it out competently.
Plug in someone like Xabi Alonso in this side and see it.......fuck it i cant be bothered with this shit. Im just going to bite my nails till i run out of fingers or up until we start playing better.
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