What an emotional roller coaster the last 7 minutes of that game.
Again we played a 4141 today (or some would call it a 451 and others yet would call it a 4231 with one of the two deepest midfielders pushing forward.
What irks me more than anything is his lack of movement and specifically movement inside the box. That is where he has to learn and look at the robbie keane of old. There you have a striker that is not specifically that quick off the mark but he is quick in his thinking and for that reason he gets in the right positions to score a lot of goals in the box.
I thought to use my good mate Anil's words diabolical in that first half.
Ballotelli had his worst game for LFC and showed the worst side of himself sulking, not showing for the ball, asking for it to be played into feet and blaming his poor performance on anyone but himself.
Things changed when Coutinho and Allen came on second half. They were both excellent but our best player in the last 40 minutes was Sterling and that won him the man of the match award.
Ballotelli is a pretty static striker and movement is crucial when you play alone up front.
The idea was that Gerrard was going to show up in the hole and use his vision, passing and technique to get on the ball and feed folks in. In addition he was going to support mario but QPRs 3 defensive mids were excellent. Leroy Fer, Sandro and Carl Hendry was as aggressive as can be and won nearly all 50/50s in that first half.
They had a high line of pressure and Liverpool were caught on the back foot. Had it been for luck and deperate last ditch defending by the likes of Skertel, Johnson and Mignolet we would have been 2-0 down in that first half and conceded more in the second.
Luckily Rodgers changed things around in second half and it won us the game. Gerrard was back in the defensive mid role, showed up and started orchestrating things in midfield second half. It helped us that Sandro went off although that did not happen until the 60th minute.
Can was in that role in first half and although he did not do much wrong he was constantly forced to turn back with his passing or move the ball sideways because QPRs pressure was so high and so agressive. It helped us that eventually they tired.
I thought Isla was a constant threat down the right for QPR (our left) and Enrique really struggled to deal with him. That continued when Vargas came and and Enrique falls asleep on Vargas second goal and lets him fly in and volley it home unpressed or undeterred.
Ballotelli for me today needs to analyse and look at his game and work on his movement more than anything. Attitude will come if he does because if he starts running into the channels more, across defenders and gets a step on a defender he can become a top class striker.
It is clear that he lacks confidence but that is not the frustrating thing for me. That he misses the chance that Lallana sets up with his shot is unfortunate and yes frustrating but it happens when strikers have an immense amount of pressure on him.
I am going to make a bit of a statement which may surprise people. Ballotelli was very close to having his breakthrough game today. If you look at his chances especially the lallana one, the own goals and the flick right in the 92nd minute when QPR had gotten back to 2-2 they very quickly could have gone another way. With confidence I think he sticks the lallana one and the 92nd minute chance away.
Although the person hitting the cross did well on QPRs two own goals, I think Ballotelli actually creates the defenders mistake there. If he is not in the right position to receive those crosses the defenders never throw their feet in. That goes for Dunne's fist own goal where ballotelli stands right behind ready to pass it into the net and the second one where sterling, btw realising how much ballotelli needs a goal, squares it for him and caulker has to interveene and ends up passing it into his own net.
Any of the analysts on tv are not going to talk about that. And to be fair to them I do not blame them right now but I hope that Rodgers sees this as they analyse the game.
I thought Glen Johnson had his best game for ages today. He was available on the right wing, had some decent defensive interventions and did not concede possession nearly as much as many of his team mates.
Lallana to me looked tired after the international break. Lovren and Skertel looked ok but shaky throughout. I think Bobby Zamore had a great game first half.
Mignolet had a great game apart from the one where QPR hits the bar and he comes out to punch it. Today showed his strengths and his weaknesses but to be fair to him I think he is very much part of the reason we were able to get the three points.
We win on a really poor day and need to be better going forward.
First half was atrocious and the experiment to play Gerrard further up the pitch simply does not work.
Ballotelli is best when there is a man alongside him (someone with pace who runs in behind). He is a very static hold up player with a good shot from distance who needs to work on his mobility and work rate. Today he did not work as hard as he has been doing, apart from maybe the first 20 mins. Then his attitude went and so did his work rate.
I.e. he will work well with Sturridge and guys like Immobile or Stephan al sharavi. Not like Borini and Lambert (who happen to be our only options).
That is the biggest difference from last year. We do not have guys that can run inbehind. I think one of the analyst on Canadian tv pointed it out or perhaps it was Rodgers in the post match internview.
We look a lot better when coutinho and allen come on and Sterling was back to his best last 40 minutes. Before that he was pretty annonymus.
Enrique and Henderson both gave the ball away again and again and Can is not a man with passing range. Henderson improved when the team did in the final 35 minutes of the game.
Moving Gerrard back into the holding role was the right way to go about things.
Anyway, we get a win, my betting account says $400 at the moment and I am a happy man.
We desperately needed Sturridge back from injury and todays game shows it. Shame he got a calf injury in training on Tuesday but we will have to soldier on.
I suspect we will do more work on the training ground this week.
Enrique was terrible today IMO. No idea why Moreno did not play. Maybe injury? Glen Johnson had his best game for ages. Saves a goal, set up one goal if not another.
Your thoughts?
YNWA,
Stian
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