http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/dec/30/liverpool-newcastle-united-premier-league
I am really happy to see the back of a win last night. I thought it was a great win and I one person I would like to point out having a decent game was Jay Spearing. People were lamenting me when I mentioned he may come in and fill the void left by Lucas when he got his cruciate ligament injury but I thought he showed yesterday why he can come in and do a job.
Mr. Spearing was unlucky to come out of the Fulham game with a sending off and I think it is unlucky that the games rules have changed so much that once can not have a proper "English" tackle in the game anymore. The way the game has changed in the last 10 years is for the better, yes, due to less injuries and due to more focus on a technical game but I also think it has gone one or two steps to far.
When Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo came to England they had to change their games and stop diving as much as they did in their domestic league before moving to the big stage. That is slowly going away. As reffing gets stricter and the game get softer players like Suarez can get away with complaining after every call and falling over way too easily.
There is a fine line between hard and fair challenges and those that can injure players and I think we are in danger of loosing part of "English" footballs' soul when challenges such as spearings where he gets all ball first and player afterwards gets awarded a 3 match ban and it should at most maybe be a yellow card.
Personally I do not think there was a danger of injuring anyone in that challenge and he kept his boot on the ground when he tackles for the ball. It is only afterwards due to the angle he has to attack the ball his foot bounces back off the ground and it looks like a seemingly reckless challenge (according to many media).
In the end many that loves the Spanish game talks about the finesse and the great quality of the footballers but few talk about why so many chose not to switch over to making that league their favourite. I think it has to do with the physicality, the propensity to go down and the play acting that we are in danger of adopting on a great scale in the English game as well.
Gerrard is being widely heraulded after a 30 minute substitue performance which was good yes, and in which he scored a goal yes, but people should remember that Gerrard at times has changed his game and dove in interest of winning free kicks and penalties for his team. I lost a lot of respect for him when he did that however there is no question he is great footballer. Both him and Suarez have way too much quality as genuine footballers and need not go down so easily to try to win calls. They would gain a lot more respect if they tried to keep on their feet.
Torres learnt this at Liverpool but lost some of his hard work ethic and belief in the team and ability to never stop runing. I want to give credit to Suarez for keeping that never say die attitude alive.
Now back to the game....
It was good to see Bellamy play a great game up front. I believe I have mentioned before here that I probably see him as the most out and out goal scorer in our team and yesterday he showed why. I hope Kenny continues to play Bellamy and Carroll together up front in the games to come maybe with an exception of the games against City coming up as that is likely the best team we are going to come up against. Gerrard will likely play more of a role in those games but I suspect Kuyt may also come into the "up front mix" quite a bit since he has not had too much playing time as of late and looked fresh when coming on yesterday.
This is the benefit we finally have now. We can stick on Maxi, Kuyt and Gerrard and the team is not all that much weaker.
The fact that we lost Lucas has hurt us yes but it has also given us a chance to play some of the players that needed playing time (Spearing, Henderson [wasnt starting many games when Lucas was fit] and Shelvey.
Gerrard coming back will limit Shelvey's playing time unfortunately and I do not think he Jonjo will get much of a game in the next few games so perhaps it would have been better to have left him at blackpool but having said that Gerrard could easily (with his prone record for getting hurt) get injured again and Jonjo would then be much needed.
Henderson played an ok game again last night as he has continued to put in performances once he got into the centre of the pitch but once he was back on the wing it changes the shape of Liverpools game in my opinion. Henderson is much more of a centre midfielder than a winger and that is one of the dangers of Gerrard coming back and Spearing playing well is that Henderson is more likely to get pushed out on that right wing again if he is going to get playing time.
We had Downing (who had an average game last night) covering the right wing in the past two games and he was for the most part back on the left yesterday. I like Downing on the right cause he has the instinct to stay wide (more so than Kuyt and Henderson and even Maxi).
Wide players that likes to hug the line gives us much more shape and despite Downing having only an average game he gives the team the fluidity and shape it needs.
When he switches over to the right wing and choses to go inside with the ball we have a Glen Johnson bombing forward and overlapping to provide the wide crossing option right behind him first then. Kelly has the ability to do the same while being more safe defensively.
Mr. Johnson was another one who had an average game offensively last night but I thought he has improved defensively in the past 3 games. I say that despite him struggling on one or two occasions against Gutierez yesterday.
It is one thing to play well defensively against blackburn, wigan and for the most part newcastle but the real test will come against City on the 3rd and again against the league leaders another 2 times in the Carling cup before 26. Jan.
It has surprised me that Kelly has been left on the bench all through the xmas period.
A way to give Kelly some game time would be by playing Glen Johnson on the right wing with Kelly behind him.
That may have been what would have solved a few problems in the games against Blackburn and Wigan but hard to say without seeing it in action.
Skertel played yet another good game yesterday and proves why he has become one of the best defenders in the PL. (Liverpool currently has the best defensive record in the PL with least number of goals conceeded).
Agger played ok although I thought he could have done more on the own goal. He was also a bit unlucky for it to go in off his arm the way it happened.
Enrique had another great game and provided some great crosses into the box.
Carroll played well and completed the trio of decent performances from former Toon players. I thought with a bit of luck his header in the bar could have gone in but I still believe John Aldridge is right in that Carroll needs to more runs from farther behind in the box and come and attack balls with all his power and presence and he will get more goals. It is about positioning and experience hopefully. The fact that he will continue to get playing time now that Suarez is out can only put him in good stead and will give him that confidence and hopefully a goal or two that will hopefully make him a better player for us going forward and push us into the top 4 [after all we should be there if we could have converted one or two more chances or even had a bit more luck against City, United, Sunderland, Norwich, Fulham, Blackburn or Wigan - all games we did enough to win in my opinion.]
People that disagree please look at the chance statistics and Liverpools statistic for posts and bars hit vs. other teams in the PL.
In the end I am just happy we finally scored some goals yesteday, in a game where we didn't play as well as we have in many of the games mentioned above but we converted chances at Anfield.
Comments and thought are always welcome...on my twitter or by email.
YNWA,
Stian
@sga555
sga555@gmail.com
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