Are we suffering from complacency?

[dunlop liddell shankly]

Looking at some of the performances from some of our players this year, I honestly believe that some are so certain they're playing the following week that they don't have to put the effort in.

Players like Kuyt. He knows that no matter what, he's playing. Mainly because we don't have another real option down the right. The summer of 08, he was the target for Liverpool fans because of only scoring three league goals in 07/08. (Two penalties against Everton and one of his shin from two yards out against Newcastle) But last year he had his best season, so the light was taken away from him and faults. This year, he knows he's probably one of the first four names on the team sheet no matter how bad he is.

Insua I think has also fallen into this unfortunately. Up until the last two months he has been trying to make the left back slot his own, now he's done it he looks totally lost. But he is another who'll play regardless because of Aurelio's injury record and the fact that Dossena would be behind Tom Hicks in the pecking order if he decided to give himself a contract.

I thik Masch was complacent at the start of the season. I'm not gonna blame his early season form on the Argies not qualifying. But he then got that kick up the arse by Rafa by being dropped a few times and Stevie being dropped back to partner Lucas. That, along with Aquilani's return and coincedently Argentina's qualification, seems to have perked him up back to near his best.

[gareth g]

Yes I would agree with that Billy, If it wasn't for the injury crisis, Rafa should drop a few more of the players to give them a kick up the arse.

[corballyred]

I think our problem instead of being complacent I think we might need to face facts some players maybe just are not good enough to be honest, While Kuyt had a great season last season always felt we needed a genuine right midfielder someone that is pacy and can cause a threat.

Insua has a lot to prove still not sure he is top drawer, to be honest I would put Lucas Ngog Riera Babel Kotis Voronin into the bracket of a lot to prove still.

When I look at some of the teams we have put out recently they are among the weakest Liverpool sides I have ever witnessed, and a lot of the time I'm left wondering how many of the players we have fielded would actually get in the opposition side who we are playing.

[ed603em]

corballyred - I agree. I read a few weeks ago an article on Rafa saying that really he should be congratulated on having done so well last season in getting to second place with (what the reporter felt) was a fairly mediocre squad. I think there might be some merit in that. We do have some world class individuals but we also have a few who really don't look up to it. Lucas, Insua, Riera etc really do remind me of the likes of Torben Piechnik, Mark Walters etc in that I feel I'm constantly really straining to find something positive to say about them!

[jindaldhruv]

I'm in two minds about this to be honest.

A good point already made is that players like Mascherano and Kuyt seem to be certain of their place in the team, have hardly any competition for their positions and hence have not been performing up to the mark.

On the other hand, I think its more of personal mistakes and lacklustre displays that have been the problem this season. It maybe argued that this can be traced back to complacency, but that is just one way of looking at things.
As of now, its more of lack of confidence, injury problems, an almost 'unwillingness' while playing, that has to be taken care of.

Hope its not a case of complacency for players like Mascherano because that can be sorted out only by bringing more competition for those positions so that players fight for their place in the squad. And seeing our current financial problems, that will be a hard thing to do.

[Singh_YNWA]

I agree... Rafa always mentions there are competition for places but some players are one of the 1st names on the teamsheet no matter how they are playing... Rafa needs to chop and change around the team because every position at the moment is not producing goods.

[corballyred]

Wouldn't put Masch in the same bracket as Kuyt Masch has been our best player the last month Kuyt has played 1 good game all season.

[gareth g]

I agree... Rafa always mentions there are competition for places but some players are one of the 1st names on the teamsheet no matter how they are playing... Rafa needs to chop and change around the team because every position at the moment is not producing goods.

The only thing I see wrong with that is the word rotation, the press would love It.

[rossphillips1988]

I agree that Kuyt in particular has looked far too assured of his place, but I share corballyred's sentiments about Masch, too much of a competitive nature to become complacent in my opinion.

[Singh_YNWA]

The only thing I see wrong with that is the word rotation, the press would love It.

Exactly

[stuey]

We are suffering from a shitload of injuries and two f**king nobhead owners who don't know their arse from their elbow when football is mentioned and consequently don't have a clue about any solutions.

[bad boy bubby]

I'm on record here, time and time again suggesting we give our kids a chance. Unlucky as we have been, the team that's taken to the field are left wanting and whilst I'm not 100% sure that complacency is rife; dropping a few out of form players, whilst promoting young talent can do no harm. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Put it this way; if your car wasn't firing on all cylinders you wouldn't keep driving it in the hope that it would 'fix' it's self. Not when all it may take is a couple of new parts anyhow.

[JD]

What's Babel's excuse then?

I don't think complacency is the problem.  Although with injuries it's a shoe in for some players.  I hope Aurelio gets fit - he deserves to replace Insua.  I hope Johnson, Agger and Kelly all get fit.

With a fully fit squad I think plenty of the first team players will be looking over their shoulder.  Honestly, having been at the Birmingham game and watching yesterday's game I honestly do not believe the problem is a lack of effort from the players. 

I do seem a team trying out there - injuries and results have destroyed confidence though.  The only player I saw against Man City who didn't look like he could be arsed was Babel.

[philH]

I don't think Kuyt is being complacent, he is still working his b*llocks off. But ever since he came back after playing for Holland against against Australia he has been cack, and subsequently a rest may help him to get some of his zest back.
Would agree with the point about Insua that Aurellio if fit should be getting his place back. Insua look's a few pounds overweight to me.
I think Masch has been one of our best players since Argentina sorted out their world cup qualification, and doesn't deserve to lose his place.
Lucas isn't a bad player, and has played quite well recently, But for Heaven's sake surely Tuesday is the time for Aquilani to make his full debut

[adammac]

It is a interesting point you bring up but the way I see it is there is only a few players who could suffer from this sort of thing. Kuyt, Carra and Lucas who have been in the side for a majority of the games and have had all indifferent form. Insua has played most of the games yet the fact is if Aurelio gains full fitness then he will be back into the LB slot.

[wallbanger]

yes  your right these players still pick up there wages regardless of performances. do like cappelo has done with the england team. he has taken control of the players no favourites selection based on performance. its obvious some guys have to be dropped, I believe in nurturing the youth prospects who have shown promise guys like pacheo,kelly ayala. feel sure they could do better than some of the regulars who have got to comfortable but dont produce end product

[crouchinho]

A very good point, Billy.

With Riera and Benayoun out, Kuyt has no competition whatsoever. And it's not like Babel is going to start ahead of him, either. We do, and for a long time, need a top class winger to come in, preferably on the left as we have Kuyt/Benayoun to fight it out for the right.

Add to that, when you have the likes of Babel, Voronin and Dossena it doesn't help.

[cezar_sl]

We're suffering from "Win, lose, I still get my money"

[Billy1]

 I would like to see Kelly given a run at Right Back and Johnson moved to right wing,this would enable RAFA to put KUYT on the bench.Hopefully this would give Kuyt the kick up the arse he needs and get him back to the form he showed last season.I wonder if we paid players a basic wage for playing and they get a bonus if they draw and extra again if they win.The basic wage need not be the same for all players,for example you would not expect Insua to get the same basic as Stevie or Torres.I do not think we should confuse complacency with lack of effort as we have had from some players this season.Lastly if any player is not willing or unable to put his body on the line for the cause of Liverpool Football Club then they should be got rid of.

[barrymanulow]

Complacency :    "  feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, ..."

Last season we finished the year in a positive mood. We had beaten our greatest rivals twice, and finished close enough to winning the title to justify the feeling that this season could well be our year. We appeared to have the measure of Chelsea, at least on a psychological level after seeing off Mourinho, Grant, Scolari and Hiddink.
Man Utd were losing Ronaldo, and Tevez,  Chelsea were starting to look old, and Arsenal continued to be the selling club, ensuring no title would come Wenger's way anytime soon.

Benitez signs a new deal locking him to Liverpool for 5 more years, and even becomes an expert at singing the anthem (YNWA)  Our squad was young, and we had arguably the most deadly pair in the world up front.

So have we become complacent?

Has the manager become complacent?  

My view is that when you sign a Manager on a 5 year deal you are always going to be risking complacency. Clearly the fans are impatient, and want urgency, and in my view Rafa's body language and general decision making has definitely smacked of a degree of complacency.  
He is in a position of ultimate power, whereby every week he can come out and simply hide behind the fact that he is unlucky with injuries, and deflect the blame over to the owners who have starved him of cash. He can do this with much justification, because basically we know it is true.  He signs a player who he realises wont have much impact on this season, but what the hell when you have 4 more seasons to win a title.

Have the players become complacent?

When you are automatically on the team sheet on the back of poor performances of course you become complacent. You look at the last 5 minutes of the Man City game where we swamped them in search of a winner and wonder why they cant do that from the start. To my mind this lacking of urgency definitely smacks of complacency.

Have the fans become complacent?  

It seems the fans have been sucked into a "victims mentality" Many have retreated into almost a shell shocked state and are becoming almost too frightened to even dare criticise anybody.
We live in a world whereby "any criticism of Rafa Benitez would see you disappear from your house in the night and never be heard of again."
How dare we criticise Lucas, who's only crime in life is to masquerade as a Brazilian, surely the fact that he is incapable of tackling, nodding a simple header into the net, or making a creative pass that splits a defence open is all irrelevant.
How dare we criticise Kuyt, a man who runs his socks off, and never lets the keeper have a moment of peace when it comes to quickly releasing the ball. The fact that he is not scoring, not passing the ball to his team mates, and not creating any menace down the right hand side is all irrelevant.
How can we possibly criticise Carragher, or Steven Gerrard. These men have done more for this club than any two players have ever done for Liverpool. Surely it is time for someone else to step up and do something while they have a slight form slump.  

Well at least some consolation can be taken from the fact that we allowed to

"Criticise the owners and Ryan Babel for all this mess."  They can be our scapegoats for the foreseeable future.
So as we slip ever deeper into the "victims mentality", ask yourself the question

Have we become complacent?    

[Kieran578]

I think that the years of pressure from some quarters on Rafa to take on a more expansive form of play (and the fact he bowed to the pressure)  has had the unintended effect of making us far too loose defensively - I think a return to the mechanical work-man-like Liverpool of maybe a year ago is called for.....at least until things are stabilised

[macca8]

I don't think complacency being our worst enemy right now. Sure there are some of the lads who are playing below par but to assume they are being too complacent is just now quite accurate. We are suffering from a disease called inconsistency. When we won against the Scum everyone starting to assume things will be back as usual, Liverpool will turn this bad luck around but yet we failed to produce what we called a competitive streak of performances. We severely lacked in creativity especially in the central area of the pitch. As the problem grows, our lack in urgency especially during some of the games saw us losing games we are not supposed to lose. It's only during the final 10 minutes of the game when we could see our lads pushing and attacking while almost 70 minutes we continued to play our usual game, backpasses and slow tempo build ups. Even if we got 2 creative players out there, there's nothing they could do when we still playing a one pass up two passes back game.

While last season we had two different set of holding midfielders in Alonso and Masch, now we had two in the similar mould. Both Masch and Lucas were not offensive, mostly they stood their ground and stayed in their own half. Last season we saw our midfielders being aggresive and always pounding on rebound but now there's a huge gap between our striking and midfield area. They rarely joined the attack and losing the midfield command to the oppositions. While Lucas is improving and Masch being the best of both, but still lack of creative movement between them cost us. Passes were thrown in every direction but sometimes our failure to hold possession made us pay. We are too dependent on Torres. Without him out injured, our striking options are crap. N'Gog is still learning while Voronin fast becoming a waste of money. We could convert Kuyt back to a striker but he lacks the pace and creativity needed. Even there's glimpses of Kuyt not being the Kuyt we used to know last season. Fatigue, declining performance whatever you want to name it, the fact is Kuyt has not been the same player he used to be. He looked like out of sort sometimes. Maybe some rest could perk up his fighting mood but do we really need to risk of resting our main players when the fact was we have sh*tload of injuries and our subs are substandards?

If complacency is indeed our main problem then it should be the wrongdoings of the owner not the players. Look at Chelsea for instance, each and every player in that squad knew deep in the heart that they are not the untouchables. They have replacements of same quality if not better. And compare that to us. Take Kuyt for example, who do we have who can operate as good as Kuyt on the right side. Apart from Glenny, El-Zhar is far from being good. He didn't have the finesse yet the creativity. In almost every department we didn't have ample players who can give a competitive challenge to our main squad players. Apart from our left backs, left wing and midfield area, our subs are worthless. We didn't have an in depth squad to begin with. We could only buy one 20 million worth of player per season and spent some on squad players who didn't even appeared in the initial Rafa's wishlist. Money don't guarantee you success but it sure hell guarantee you the best players available. It's the Americans fault of their lack in financial support for Rafa and yet dumping mounting debts on the club.

But in all, I still don't see complacency being our arising problem. Right now being too inconsistent plus lack of urgency, creativity, mediocre performance, sh*tty owner and current injury woes cost us dearly.