I hope everyone realises that this team contains eleven players. Of course Gerrard is not beyond reproach by any stretch of the imagination, but his 'laboured' approach is a culmination of many problems. The personal ones, I know nothing about, if indeed there are any, but the on field problems are there for all to see. As Steven retains legendary status among the fans, we are always expecting him to pull us out of the sh*t. He's been doing it for years, but guess what?, he's f**king human, just like the rest of us. And the fact that we are so heavily reliant on Steven and Fernando just lends weight to the 'Liverpool are a 2 man team' argument.
I think it just goes to show how inferior our squad has been over the last few years. How many players in our squad have the ability to win a game by themselves? Torres and Gerrard, and that's it. One of the main problems has been the lack of service to Torres and Gerrard from central midfield and the fact that Gerrard has to come back looking for the ball instead of being fed the ball. Anyway, back to the topic in hand.
Rafa has to do a couple of things to try and get this season back on track. The first is to stop being so f**king 'stubborn'!. His constant persistence with Insua, Kuyt and Lucas is destroying us. Insua is having too much being asked of him this season and it's starting to tell. If Aurelio is fit enough to start a game then why the f**k is he starting him on the left wing? It baffles the f**k out of me, it really does. Was Aurelio not the left back for us last season? The season when our defence was the cornerstone of our late challenge for the title? Insua needs to lay off the pasties and get in the gym.
Then there's Dirk Kuyt. Is he Rafa's secret f**king lovechild or something? Has had a shocking season so far. Looks a very troubled man, his confidence has evaporated into thin air. It's not like we don't have any other wingers here, would love to see Pacheco get a run of games and give Kuyt a chance to recuperate. I feel sorry for Dirk, when he signed for us I bet the last thought that crossed his mind was that Rafa would try and convert him into a right winger. I use the word try as Kuyt is a long way off being classed as a winger.
Then there's Lucas Leiva, 23 years old next week, the 'Marmite Man' and the only player on the forum with a 'Development Thread'. The only reason Lucas is playing consistently is due to Rafa's safety first policy. I have loved looking at the posts showing Lucas as being one of the most accurate passers in the Premiership this season, has given me a good laugh. If you were to take away the passes that Lucas made immediately back to the defence and the sideways 5 yarders to Masch, Kuyt and Yossi, then that would account for at least 65% of those passes. On occasion it has entered my mind that he has the DNA profile of a crab. This is where the stats fail to tell the truth.
Many posters have mentioned Rafa's 'over defensive' approach this season, and I have to agree that this system is zapping the players confidence, that's all the players, not just Lucas. The Insua-Aurelio, Johnson-Kuyt and Mascherano-Lucas combinations are living proof of this problem. This defensive attitude will destroy any chance we have of winning anything this season.This, and his blunt refusal to place his trust in the youngsters and the 'Academy'. The same Academy that he claims is so important to the club, the same Academy that he has only just recently re-vamped by the way. In a way this can be perceived as being 'hypocritical' on Rafa's part.
I watched a programme the other night about American Football and this particular programme focussed on the 1976 Oakland Raiders. What interested me most about the programme was something the head coach said about his players. He was reminiscing about that great team and when asked why the team were so great at the time he said this, "When I brought in these players I had to accept that these players were 'artists', and artists have to be allowed to 'express themselves', if I inhibited their ability to express themselves then I would effectively have a team of 'robots' ". A great speech I thought it was and so very very true.
If you want a right winger, buy a right winger. Don't buy a striker and convert him into a winger. If you believe the kids are the future of Liverpool Football Club, then let them have the chance to express themselves. The general consensus on the forum is that Lucas is a 'creative' midfielder, well I beg to differ. If this is true then why is Rafa moulding him as a defensive midfielder? Is he moulding Lucas as a direct replacement for Masch?, as he feels confident that Aquilani can fill the 'Alonso' role. If he trusts Insua at left back why does he play Aurelio ahead of him. If he trusts Johnson then why does he play an out of form Kuyt ahead of him? This in turn leads to a lack of crosses from the wingers as they are preoccupied with babysitting the full backs.
Rafa's mindset is more a case of ' we must not lose ', rather than ' we must win '.
This has to change, and very soon.
« Last Edit: Jan 03, 2010 08:38:03 pm by hardcoresoldier »
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