Liverpool - safe from relegation?
Ok, its a bit tongue in cheek, but seriously, if any other team had such an abysmal away record then they would be worrying about relegation. I reckon that the only reason that Liverpool aren’t in the Relegation zone is the effect of the twelfth man (the crowd) at their home games.
You could argue that Liverpool were facing Man United at the weekend, so they were never going to have an easy game, but that disguises many issues, not least that in order to become Premiership champions you have to beat the others who would challenge you for that position.
It also ignores that fact that Liverpool have been beaten easily by their rivals Everton, and also by Sam Allardyce’s ragtag mob and would have even been beaten by lowly Sheffield United, if the referee had not given the most dodgy penalty since the Juventus match fixing scandals of last year.
There have been numerous debates (most of them on here) about why Liverpool are doing so badly, but at the end of the day, the fact is that unless their away form picks up then they may be out of the Champion’s League places this season, or maybe even out of Europe all together.
The reasons put forward for Liverpool’s form have ranged from playing Gerrard out of position, Sissoko’s lack of passing ability, to Rafa’s rotation policy to Reina putting his clown’s outfit on on his travels, but at the end of the day, is the team good enough?
Rafa clearly thinks so. After yet another away defeat he stated that he had “a better squad than last season”, but has he? Yes he’d made some great signings, such as Agger, but what about some of the others such Bellamy or Pennant?
We all know the mistakes that Houllier made in the transfer market, but has Rafa been guilty of throwing the baby out with the bath water? Look at some of the players he chose to move on; Cisse, Hamman, Murphy?
Is the squad better than last year? How many goals did Cisse contribute? Is Bellamy a world class player? If Crouch put away half (or even a third!) of the chances he was given would Liverpool be in this mess? Would Owen have made the difference? (why bring Fowler back but ignore Owen?)
To be honest, the “this squad better” argument is a red herring, Liverpool have still got the talent to match any team in the country, but they’re just not cutting it. So who is at fault? Gerrard? Sissoko? Reina? Bellamy?
Of course if could just be that the team is going through yet another transition period ….or could it be that Rafa is the one who’s getting it wrong…
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17 opinions for Liverpool - safe from relegation?
Londis23
Oct 23, 2006 at 12:53 pm
Who knows what’s happening but I don’t think the players are pulling their weight. You can talk tactics and transfers but against Utd there was no passion and desire (and coherence - a lack of willingness to adapt and take on the opposition).
Clearly, there is a lack of quality with some of the signings. If we had the budget of Utd, Chelski etc we could spend 15+ million on star players. We need investment, simple as.
More importantly, I think we need to go solid, 4-5-1 away from home - like last season for many games. Bellamy would make a decent right forward, Gerrard in the hole and Kuty/Crouch/Fowler as the front man. Drastic measures are called for to get some away points.
I still have faith, but the players must pull their weight and be proud to wear that badge. They must also start keeping the ball.
marcus
Oct 23, 2006 at 1:34 pm
Yesterday was an embarrassment.
IMO Stevie G should be in the middle playing as an attacking midfielder and we should go from there (although dropping momo or xabi is a bit ruthless but maybe what needs to be done, maybe they can rotate). We need to change our style of play and use the wingers we have bought and see what they can do. This is what it looked like we were gonna do when we played Chelsea in the community shield but we have not played like this since then
having bought the players we just look out of our depth by not playing to our strengths.
Defensively we’ve looked suspect for most games this season. That first goal was League 1 (3rd division) standard defending.
Anyone who saw Real v Barca or Arsenal play knows how far away we are from any kind of coherence. (we played a similar system to arsenal but with a defensive mindset and alot less movement instead of how they use it)
Worse of all was that the Scum didn’t play that well or need to
I have fears about Wednesday
Sack the Juggler
Oct 23, 2006 at 2:43 pm
Londis - do you think that the lack of cohesion or spirit stems from Stevie G being upset at not being allowed to orchestrate the team?
Marucs has a good point about where he should be playing but as Jamie Redknapp pointed out over the weekend, Stevie G had that “what am I doing here?” look on his face at the weekend.
When he’s miffed at the team or other players it seems to bring the whole team down, and lets face it, if you were Stevie G and you saw the team playing like they didn’t know each other then you’d want to take the game by the scruff of the neck, so being stuck out on the wing must be soul destroying.
I’d drop Sissoko. He’s a great tackler but so are Alsono and Gerrard, the difference is that Sissoko can’t link up with the front play so it leaves them a man down going forward.
Bet we see Sissoko start on the bench for the next four games.
Londis23
Oct 23, 2006 at 3:12 pm
Not sure to be honest. I think good players should be able to adapt and Gerrard is given licence to roam, he just didn’t seem up for it.
I’m not sure about him in the middle either. Against Blackburn he seemed to be involved in a midfield scrap and rarely got forward. I think in that game we missed Sissoko.
I’ll leave it up to the manager but I’m guessing Sissoko won’t drop to the bench. I’m sure Stevie G will miss the League cup and some fringe players may play themselves in contention.
I don’t know if you can help but can you send a video of Didi Hamann to Sissoko - lessons in how to pass short and simple and keep possession.
Sack the Juggler
Oct 23, 2006 at 3:14 pm
“I don’t know if you can help but can you send a video of Didi Hamann to Sissoko - lessons in how to pass short and simple and keep possession. ” :)
andy - Who dares wins
Oct 24, 2006 at 8:43 am
not relegation but at the moment we look like being out of the champions league places at the end…. the players need to start to pull their weight and show some desire to win… maybe raffa should suspend all pay untill they win a match… that might work.. or we could just start everygame 3-0 down, we seem to win the ones we should lose and lose the ones we should win… football is a strange game but as always in raffa we trust
Sack the Juggler
Oct 24, 2006 at 8:56 am
Andy - I heard a rumour from some Liverpool fans at the weekend - see gossip pieces above - which might help explain the dip in form…
Ejaz Khan
Dec 25, 2006 at 7:47 am
I know your piece was written a long time ago
But just look at the log now..Liverpool’s 3rd and on a brilliant winning streak.
It wasn’t a matter of poor players,Managers, rumours,etc
It was just, a MATTER OF TIME !!
Go REDS
YNWA
fool
Jan 4, 2007 at 12:56 am
What a tosser for writing this tripe. Oh how a few weeks changes things and players recover form!
Dick!
Sack the Juggler
Jan 4, 2007 at 11:05 am
Hi Fool - the name clearly suits you - I would have had a lot more respect for your rantings if you hadn’t waitied until Liverpool had reached 40 points and were therefore safe from relegation before you posted your tripe on here….
Ejaz Khan
Jan 4, 2007 at 11:53 am
Good things come to those that wait
YNWA
Sack the Juggler
Jan 4, 2007 at 12:21 pm
very true Ejaz - you best get waiting then….
Ejaz Khan
Jan 4, 2007 at 12:49 pm
wait …………wait ……… wait …..
nope nothings changed, you’re still an idiot
Sack the Juggler
Jan 4, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Ejaz - I refuse to enter into a battle of wits with an unarmed man - jog on boy
Ejaz Khan
Jan 4, 2007 at 2:16 pm
How can you fight a battle of wits when you haven’t got any
Unarmed ? do you think i’m typing with my toes ?
LOL
Sack the Juggler
Jan 4, 2007 at 2:30 pm
oh the irony…
Ejaz Khan
Jul 24, 2007 at 7:58 am
Hi !
Just wondering if you going to write another Liverpool Relegation piece this season …please do… we all need the laughs !!
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