Liverpool - The verdict

davygravy said:
Have they really? Their success is based very much on the players that got them up.

Callum Robinson is now out on loan at West Brom. Their record signing in January back on the bench for the game on Saturday. McBurnie is in and out the starting line up. Even Lys, who some feel has turned into Ronaldo since he went there, is not always in the team. Their other two January signings have barely been seen and their probably best player, Henderson, isn't even there's.

I admire Wilder totally and their team is doing great but that isn't really down to their signings this season.
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He's talking rubbish. Also the Lys Mousett love in has died down somewhat.
 
And to add to other comments Neil....I said at the time....that first post about this match was always going to attract attention. It wasn't the right moment to bring out the whole 'squad / signings' thing again.
 
SlowDownDerek said:
He's talking rubbish. Also the Lys Mousett love in has died down somewhat.
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Yeah, Lys looked like a world beater in a few games but an unused sub on Saturday I see.

I am very pleased they are doing so well, I like Wilder and I think its quite similar to when we came up. Different style of course but showing lower league players can come and do well at the top division.
 
MB1980 said:
You could argue that if you dont perform, by definition it isnt the best squad, but I think on paper this is the best squad ability wise that we ve assembled, better than at least 6 sides in this league.
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Although we may not have improved significantly in terms of absolute quality, surely nobody can doubt that we have more depth of quality now, with everybody fit. Stacey, Mepham and Kelly all look like more than capable replacements for Francis / Daniels or whoever else of the old guard has a spell out injured. In recent seasons we really were scraping the barrel when something happened to one of our stalwarts. Unfortunately Stacey, Mepham and Kelly have had their seasons disrupted by injuries, but with them fit ( and Danjuma who has hardly played for us ! ) we do have better players waiting for their opportunity to play, surely ? I imagine the plan was to gradually phase them in and move the old guard more and more towards a role on the bench but injuries this season have often left us with few options.
With everybody fit we would have some pretty talented players left sat on the bench IMO. Players who can make a difference. I think that was the plan for moving forwards, but injuries this season have messed it up a bit.
 
RobTrent said:
What do you think it is? Personally I think we've got our best ever squad but also that other teams are better.

Hope that helps.
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Im going to muddy the waters further by saying it might be the best squad but not the best team.

Maybe if all fit, on form and full of confidence with a solid run of the same eleven that may change. But it hasn’t happened at any single point this season.
 
RobTrent said:
You made one comment about playing well yesterday, and the rest was negative.

As I said, I don't doubt that the league shows that we are one of the teams that have been pretty poor. I disagree that its such an easy problem to solve. In my opinion Palace away was terrible, and our poor away record is really disappointing, and if I averaged points-per-miles I'd give in tomorrow!

You post your thoughts and people respond. Thats how it goes. Not everyone agrees with my archaic thoughts on VAR or Sweet Caroline, but I don't think its technological evangelists ganging up on me.
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Palacexaway really made people realise just how much we’d lost our way and how poor we were ...
We need to turn in the polar opposite performance against them Saturday and show what we are really about .
And Rob , don’t worry as all is sane people agree completely with you on Sweet Caroline ;)
 
thegazzyb said:
Although we may not have improved significantly in terms of absolute quality, surely nobody can doubt that we have more depth of quality now, with everybody fit. Stacey, Mepham and Kelly all look like more than capable replacements for Francis / Daniels or whoever else of the old guard has a spell out injured. In recent seasons we really were scraping the barrel when something happened to one of our stalwarts. Unfortunately Stacey, Mepham and Kelly have had their seasons disrupted by injuries, but with them fit ( and Danjuma who has hardly played for us ! ) we do have better players waiting for their opportunity to play, surely ? I imagine the plan was to gradually phase them in and move the old guard more and more towards a role on the bench but injuries this season have often left us with few options.
With everybody fit we would have some pretty talented players left sat on the bench IMO. Players who can make a difference. I think that was the plan for moving forwards, but injuries this season have messed it up a bit.
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I think Kelly is open to debate as he hasn't actually played a PL game yet and could turn out to be sh#t at this level, although as he's not ex-Liverpool he might be fine.
 
Interesting analysis on MNF on Sky just now. Carragher pointing out that when Cook went off we found ourselves with 2 left footed CBs, and would it have made more sense to put Ake at right CB, as he's the more experienced player and could cope better with that. Showed the goal Simpson's mistake lead to and the awkwardness of him using his right (or not unfortunately). Put the point to Sven G E who agreed and said you can't really blame the player, he felt sorry for him. Ouch, not good feedback for Eddie.
 
Put it in the mixer said:
Interesting analysis on MNF on Sky just now. Carragher pointing out that when Cook went off we found ourselves with 2 left footed CBs, and would it have made more sense to put Ake at right CB, as he's the more experienced player and could cope better with that. Showed the goal Simpson's mistake lead to and the awkwardness of him using his right (or not unfortunately). Put the point to Sven G E who agreed and said you can't really blame the player, he felt sorry for him. Ouch, not good feedback for Eddie.
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Sven isn’t exactly an expert on AFCB...

I believe we played Ake once on the right hand side of a centre back pairing and he had a poor game. Howe has never wanted to do it again.

There’s also an argument for making one change rather than shuffling the back four for one injury.

Simpson could also have easily given it away on the left hand side of defence. The error was not playing it first time, not his positioning on the pitch.
 
DJ said:
Sven isn’t exactly an expert on AFCB...

I believe we played Ake once on the right hand side of a centre back pairing and he had a poor game. Howe has never wanted to do it again.

There’s also an argument for making one change rather than shuffling the back four for one injury.

Simpson could also have easily given it away on the left hand side of defence. The error was not playing it first time, not his positioning on the pitch.
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Yes can see your point re shuffling the defence, can't really disagree with that. Although the error was that his second touch should have been a right footed clearance instead of trying to take it past Mane on his more comfortable left. 1st touch wasn't that bad, 2nd was the killer.
 
Put it in the mixer said:
Yes can see your point re shuffling the defence, can't really disagree with that. Although the error was that his second touch should have been a right footed clearance instead of trying to take it past Mane on his more comfortable left. 1st touch wasn't that bad, 2nd was the killer.
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His first touch was poor.
 
I’ve not seen the conversation but as stated I’m inclined to agree with Carragher and Sven.

IMO improving the weakest link in your side is more important than protecting the strongest link. Of course Simpson might still have made that error but I’d back Ake to be more effective on his weak side.
 
Tinpot Club said:
I’ve not seen the conversation but as stated I’m inclined to agree with Carragher and Sven.

IMO improving the weakest link in your side is more important than protecting the strongest link. Of course Simpson might still have made that error but I’d back Ake to be more effective on his weak side.
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Equally, Ake had to become the martial of the defence, something I personally think he’s underperformed in doing previously.

Against Liverpool was his best performance in doing this. Would he have been as affective if concentrating on also shifting across to right side of the centre back pairing?
 
Put it in the mixer said:
Interesting analysis on MNF on Sky just now. Carragher pointing out that when Cook went off we found ourselves with 2 left footed CBs, and would it have made more sense to put Ake at right CB, as he's the more experienced player and could cope better with that. Showed the goal Simpson's mistake lead to and the awkwardness of him using his right (or not unfortunately). Put the point to Sven G E who agreed and said you can't really blame the player, he felt sorry for him. Ouch, not good feedback for Eddie.
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I never understand how PL footballers - or any professional footballer for that matter - can be “one-footed”

Surely you’d practise and practise with the other one to make it at least useable??
 
adam0102 said:
I never understand how PL footballers - or any professional footballer for that matter - can be “one-footed”

Surely you’d practise and practise with the other one to make it at least useable??
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Bit like bowlers who “can’t bat” in international cricket...
 
His first touch being poor didn't bother me, these things happen. His then attempted dribble around Sane was what cost the goal and this did annoy me.

Once he's made the mistake, if he gets the ball again, a safe play should be made, whether it's a pass to the side, back or hoofed forward or out of play.
 
SlowDownDerek said:
He had a poor touch and gave it to their forward. An individual error and nothing else. He's a central defender, he will get the ball passed back to him fifty times a game. He needs to be able to control and pass the ball.
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Totally agree but the pass to Ake was there, Simpson had already shown nerves a couple of times, Lewis Cook should have made a different different decision. It's the same as when we all blamed Francis a while back for a dodgy pass to the keeper. The outfield players have to make better informed decisions. Let Simpson settle for 5 minutes before putting him under pressure unless there's no other choice.

Obviously the blame still lays with Simpson, but why put him under pressure when he's clearly nervous? It was needless.
 
Silent AFCB said:
Totally agree but the pass to Ake was there, Simpson had already shown nerves a couple of times, Lewis Cook should have made a different different decision. It's the same as when we all blamed Francis a while back for a dodgy pass to the keeper. The outfield players have to make better informed decisions. Let Simpson settle for 5 minutes before putting him under pressure unless there's no other choice.

Obviously the blame still lays with Simpson, but why put him under pressure when he's clearly nervous? It was needless.
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I don't think "making a decision" in a fast-paced game is quite as easy as you make it sound. Simpson made a mistake with his first touch, and Lewis Cook didn't really have a lot of time to consider different options before receiving the ball.
 
RobTrent said:
I don't think "making a decision" in a fast-paced game is quite as easy as you make it sound. Simpson made a mistake with his first touch, and Lewis Cook didn't really have a lot of time to consider different options before receiving the ball.
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Rubbish. If I can avoid stepping in dog poo at the last second they can avoid passing to a player for 5 minutes while he sorts himself out.
 
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