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Jace:
Talkin about hockey. Sorry for the confusion. The Sabres are the only good thing to come out of Buffalo and they are sucking when I watch them.
Christophe:
Then what is it that you should stop doing
scarred:
--- Quote from: Jace on 26 Nov 2009, 03:35 ---Talkin about hockey. Sorry for the confusion.
--- End quote ---
the_pied_piper:
--- Quote from: Inlander on 25 Nov 2009, 16:05 ---You must be watching different footage from what I'm watching.
--- End quote ---
In the first second or two he gets the ball trapped under his feet, swivels his head and luckily finds where it is. In that situation it often tends to confuse not only the player with the ball but also the defenders so I presume that is why they all rushed out at him. From this he is able to get through them and he then finishes the move very well.
--- Quote from: Ptommydski on 25 Nov 2009, 15:37 ---There's obviously been a lot of uncertainty regarding the owners and that has filtered down into the staff. A couple of great players went out of the door and the ones that came in haven't filled the void. Half the first team is out injured right now and there clearly isn't enough money on the horizon to bring in suitable replacements. I feel sorry for Benitez right now, he's playing against a marked deck.
--- End quote ---
I would love to place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the owners (and some of it they definitely deserve) but Benitez as a manager is incredibly defensive even with a full-strength squad. Last season we drew 11 games, at least 8 of which we should have won (Stoke and Hull to name a couple) and even lost a couple we shouldn't have. At the same time we had the best results against teams in the top 4 and still finished 4 points behind eventual winners Manchester United.
This season we have already lost 5 games, more than double the amount we lost in the whole of last season, although we have beaten Manchester United again. The blame also has to be shouldered by some of the players but so far this season Benayoun has turned into the player he was at West Ham, Insua has become the first-choice left back although only 20 and done a great job and Gerrard and Torres have played brilliantly although injured. The players I would lay some blame on are Lucas, who is just not good enough, Mascherano, who for some reason doesn't seem to want to be there and Carragher, who seems to have completely lost his touch though isn't helped by being played at right back when his complete lack of pace suggests to a sensible manager that he cannot be played there.
In the season we won the Champion's League (2004-05) we finished 5th in the league, an effort most fans would deem unacceptable even with winning the European competition and almost couldn't enter to defend the trophy. That year we lost 14 games and finished behind city rivals Everton which made it even worse but we had a squad that was much worse then. With the addition of Torres the idea was to mount a real challenge for the title, something that can only be done if you play attacking football to try to win as many games as possible. This is Benitez' fault; that we do not attack lesser teams in order to win comfortably and this is why we are again out of the title race before Christmas.
the_pied_piper:
--- Quote from: Ptommydski on 26 Nov 2009, 10:20 ---Lucas and Mascherano are players who I don't expect to see in side ostensibly competing for the title.
--- End quote ---
Lucas yes but Mascherano is a player who could be the perfect partner to Gerrard if he wanted to be. A defensive minded midfielder who could prevent attacks from happening before they become problematic but sadly not of the same ilk as Alonso who could also have started a move at the same time. Losing Alonso is a major part of this season's problems.
--- Quote from: Ptommydski on 26 Nov 2009, 10:20 ---Also, the striker situation continues to be weird.
--- End quote ---
This is where I blame Benitez most as he refuses to play 2 strikers as strikers. Either one is out on the wing, in front of the midfielders or who knows where but he never plays 2 strikers on the shoulders of the defence and, as such, the opposition defenders can push forward further.
--- Quote from: Ptommydski on 26 Nov 2009, 10:20 ---Glen Johnson is another problem. He's a great player on his day but he's spent his entire career at Anfield thus far out of position. Great, he's scored a couple of goals already but that's not actually his main role at the club. I'd argue that him being forward so often is stretching an already brittle defence.
--- End quote ---
This I agree with in part. Johnson not being a great defender does cause problems but calling a defence of Agger, Skrtel and Carragher brittle is not really accurate (unless talking about their bones but thats another matter).
--- Quote from: Ptommydski on 26 Nov 2009, 10:20 ---It's mostly the injuries though. Half the team has been out for most of the year. It's no coincidence.
--- End quote ---
The main problem with this argument is that it seems to me that you are saying it is acceptable for bench players to not live up to expectations. At a top 4 club in the Premier League I would argue that any bench player should be able to fit comfortably into any relevant vacant position that needs filling. For example, Babel should be able to fit into the striker's role easily as he cost £11.5 million and was expected to be as good as Torres (we know that this isn't true but slightly beside the point) but he hasn't lived up to those expectations at all and I would blame the players on the bench just as much for not wanting to be as good as the starting 11 as I think that if they did then they would get a chance to play (god knows he rotates the team enough for this to be true).
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