Utrecht 0-0 Liverpool: Post match Déjà vu

Christ, whatever your opinion on Roy is, watching Liverpool this season has been downright depressing. That may be because Roy hasn't got a hold of the squad just yet, or it might just be the brand of football he plays, but either way something has to change.

The lack of width in our team has never been so exposed. We just don't look dangerous and I'm struggling to remember a single time we had the defence turning and running backwards toward their goal.

Torres needs to get his head up for the whole game from now on. When we're playing as sh*t as we are right now, we're relying on him to put away chances like the one he had today (which admittedly was stopped by a fantastic save from their keeper). But for long periods tonight his movement was poor and he didn't look interested.

Having said that I'm not blaming him for our poor performances, obviously, it's the team and the whole squad that isn't playing well. They just don't look like a team right now.

*edit* By the way, how Cole is in the running for MOTM is beyond me. He didn't look very dangerous and his final ball was completely off, having said that at least he could control a ball, which is more than can be said for a number of players in our squad.

What a sh*t, sh*t performance.

Sad thing is that was our near full strength team barring Gerrard.

Just too depressed to make any analysis on the game.

I must admit I did die a little when I saw Lucas and Poulsen in the middle, knew it was going to be a long night.

The one positive for that game was the fact we kept a clean sheet; at a time when our form is poor and we're conceeding too many goals it was good to come away with a clean sheet.

The performance itself wasn't the best and I see the doom mungers are out quick to stick the old knife into Roy. In fairness to them he should never be playing Poulsen and Lucas in midfield together. We can all talk about the poor signing of Poulsen and a preference of playing Lucas but the fact of the matter is, it doesn't matter who's the better out of the two neither of them in a million years are good enough to be playing central midfield for us. I don't understand Roy's decison to play Merieles wide right? He should have been playing through the middle at least. We didn't have anyone in the center of midfield who could put their foot on the ball and orchastrate our passing. Because of this I think we lacked the composure to fully dictate the game and get our confidence up.

The midfield personal picked was a bit of a disaster for me and it didn't help the fact that amongst most things needed at the moment confidence looked low and giving away possesion and creating little chances doesn't help confidence levels.. Torres' work rate was good I felt even though his touch is still looking poor and Kuyt really in all honesty wasn't much better than Lucas or Poulsen. Cole too, tried like Torres but didn't really link up or have an imposing threat on the game and all round it was a 6 out of 10 team perfromace.

Can't wait to see Gerrard back in the middle on Sunday!

What is Roy playing at? Happy with a draw? Yes, happy with a point against Birmingham and Sunderland (at Anfield) as well.

It's understandable when you face teams in the calibre of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Barcelona or Real Madrid. Not freaking, Utrecht. (No disrespect to them).

It was a depressing performance by Liverpool once again. Manager picks the wrong starting XI, puts players at the wrong places, puts in the wrong tactics and persists with that for 80 minutes.

The one positive for that game was the fact we kept a clean sheet; at a time when our form is poor and we're conceeding too many goals it was good to come away with a clean sheet.

The performance itself wasn't the best and I see the doom mungers are out quick to stick the old knife into Roy. In fairness to them he should never be playing Poulsen and Lucas in midfield together. We can all talk about the poor signing of Poulsen and a preference of playing Lucas but the fact of the matter is, it doesn't matter who's the better out of the two neither of them in a million years are good enough to be playing central midfield for us. I don't understand Roy's decison to play Merieles wide right? He should have been playing through the middle at least. We didn't have anyone in the center of midfield who could put their foot on the ball and orchastrate our passing. Because of this I think we lacked the composure to fully dictate the game and get our confidence up.

The midfield personal picked was a bit of a disaster for me and it didn't help the fact that amongst most things needed at the moment confidence looked low and giving away possesion and creating little chances doesn't help confidence levels.. Torres' work rate was good I felt even though his touch is still looking poor and Kuyt really in all honesty wasn't much better than Lucas or Poulsen. Cole too, tried like Torres but didn't really link up or have an imposing threat on the game and all round it was a 6 out of 10 team perfromace.

Can't wait to see Gerrard back in the middle on Sunday!

Exactly. Why can't Roy freaking see that? Never in a million years Poulsen or Lucas will dictace the game, orchestrate our passing or dominate the midfield. I'm sure Meireles could have done a better job. I really can't understand what Roy is doing but probably neither does he.

And the fact that he keeps doing this week in, week out is not a good sign because we're not improving at all.

What is Roy playing at? Happy with a draw? Yes, happy with a point against Birmingham and Sunderland (at Anfield) as well.

It's understandable when you face teams in the calibre of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Barcelona or Real Madrid. Not freaking, Utrecht. (No disrespect to them).

It was a depressing performance by Liverpool once again. Manager picks the wrong starting XI, puts players at the wrong places, puts in the wrong tactics and persists with that for 80 minutes.

Exactly. Why can't Roy freaking see that? Never in a million years Poulsen or Lucas will dictace the game, orchestrate our passing or dominate the midfield. I'm sure Meireles could have done a better job. I really can't understand what Roy is doing but probably neither does he.

And the fact that he keeps doing this week in, week out is not a good sign because we're not improving at all.

The only thing I can come up with, is that Roy is opting to play two (albeit kr.appy) defensive midfielders as he is worried about losing or at least trying to keep it tight-but it hasn't worked! Because it effects our whole game when the likes of Poulsen and Lucas are in the 'engine room'. He'll play Gerrard there on Sunday and by rights he should play Merieles alongside him and leave the other two on the bench if he's going to persist with a flat four midfield.

Im not saying Hodgson isnt to blame at all but when you put a team of internationals, which 10 of the 11 were last night, on the pitch and they cant pass a ball 5 yards to a team mate then there isnt an awful lot he can do! These are professionals who have played at the very top level and yet seem unable to make a pass you see done on a sunday league pitch. This isnt the fault of the manager, this is down to indivduals being lazy and not focusing on the task at hand!

How many times did we see a simple pass go behind a player or to the opponent last night? Its just not good enough and if professionals cant get the basics right we will need divine intervention never mind Pelligrini or any other manager that keeps getting mentioned!

It was a depressing performance by Liverpool once again. Manager picks the wrong starting XI, puts players at the wrong places, puts in the wrong tactics and persists with that for 80 minutes.

What was wrong with the team he picked last night? Apart from Meireles and Kelly, everyone played in their correct position! Rafa quite often used to play two holding midfielders away from home both in the league and Europe and that was OK so why is it the managers fault now?

As Ive said above, Im not saying Hodgson isnt to blame but you need to get the blinkers off and look at some of the basic football skills that the players couldnt fathom last night and then re-assess your verdict! The manager can only do so much, the rest is down to the players and that has always been the case! They need to take responsibility rather than hiding behind the manager all the time!!

Last night was painful to watch ! It is a sad state of affairs when I would rather see us lose 5-4 but having played brilliantly.
That would at least give us some hope. At this moment in time it's hard to see where a win is going to come from.
And as for 'The Liverpool Way' , that went out the door when the Yanks came in , but that is what we need to get back to, to restore some pride !!! That applies to the Board , the  Manager , the players and the fans !!

While it might be depressing to watch us at the moment ,anyone who had ever seen a Hodgson team play should have known what to expect ,some people just don,t get it he is very limited in tactics and i repeat this just in case some of the roy loves in here missed it ,in 35 years of coaching he has never got a team to play as i call it our way ,you know put the ball on the deck and fckin pass it to one another with conviction ,i still believe there was truth to the Dagger interview about hoofing it forward ,i suggest a few on here go back and check out his blackburn days or his fulham days to see the brand of football we were going to get,. I don't want our manager to be loved by the press i want him to want the club and the fans more,and if the press dint like it fck them, never was and never will be good enough,astute enough, or tactically aware enough to manage a great club like ours.

Kelly, Meireles and Cole were out of position, he played 2 extremely defensive midfielders and either advised them to sit or they decided themselves to sit.

 Did not make the correct subs when it obviously wasn't working and when he did he put another lad on out of position Maxi. It was woeful tactically from Hodgson last night.

 Maybe it would have been a good perfromance from Fulham, it is clearly not good enough for Liverpool.

I never said it was good enough for Liverpool, Im just pointing out that the players inability to pass to each other and do the basics of a "pub" footballer cant be down to the manager! He is definitely no where near as tactically astute as Rafa but he can only do what every manager does and put the players on the pitch! After that its down to the players! These are international footballers who should be able to change the game off their own bat, not wait for a manager to say it isnt working!

What was wrong with the team he picked last night? Apart from Meireles and Kelly, everyone played in their correct position! Rafa quite often used to play two holding midfielders away from home both in the league and Europe and that was OK so why is it the managers fault now?

As Ive said above, Im not saying Hodgson isnt to blame but you need to get the blinkers off and look at some of the basic football skills that the players couldnt fathom last night and then re-assess your verdict! The manager can only do so much, the rest is down to the players and that has always been the case! They need to take responsibility rather than hiding behind the manager all the time!!

There is one big difference though mate Rafa took teams away to the Bernabeu and the Nou camp and won there, do you believe in your,e heart that Roy could do that if you do go steady on the drug,s my friend. 

I never said it was good enough for Liverpool, Im just pointing out that the players inability to pass to each other and do the basics of a "pub" footballer cant be down to the manager! He is definitely no where near as tactically astute as Rafa but he can only do what every manager does and put the players on the pitch! After that its down to the players! These are international footballers who should be able to change the game off their own bat, not wait for a manager to say it isnt working!

I know what your saying. All bar Kelly from the 12 players used last night have full international caps. They should be up to a lot more then they are no mateer whos arse is sat on the managers seat. But it doesnt help taht when when your players are underperfoming that the man paid to manage them wont get of his arse to shout/encourage/calm them

Doesn't matter if they are international players if they don't get the right directions from the manager. For all we know and looking at his comments the players seemed to carry out his instructions last night.

Doesn't matter if they are international players if they don't get the right directions from the manager. For all we know and looking at his comments the players seemed to carry out his instructions last night.

It does to a degree mate, no reason why players of tat ability fail in some very straight forward things. Tactics failing is one thing but players ability to pass or cross etc is controlable by them nobody else

It does beg the question what the fck are they doing in training when they cant string a couple of passes together and it wasn,t just last night its been all season so far ,perhaps they should be tested for colour blindness cos they sure as fck cant see red/ or any other colour we happen to play in .

There is one big difference though mate Rafa took teams away to the Bernabeu and the Nou camp and won there, do you believe in your,e heart that Roy could do that if you do go steady on the drug,s my friend. 

Like Ive said, Im not trying to defend Hodgson and I definitely dont think he would get a result in the Nou Camp, but I dont think the problem is solely down to the manager. The players need to start taking some responsibility, the manager is always the easy target but like Brian says, if a player cant pass or cross a ball once they are on the pitch they are the only ones to blame!!!

It is a such a pain to sit through Liverpool's matches these days.The only bright side is I am sure a lot of fellow reds might have been cured of their insomnia problems.

It does beg the question what the fck are they doing in training when they cant string a couple of passes together and it wasn,t just last night its been all season so far ,perhaps they should be tested for colour blindness cos they sure as fck cant see red/ or any other colour we happen to play in .

Got to disagree with you over the passing, Andy. At one point, we made thirteen decent passes in one go. Trouble was all of them were in our own half! The fourteenth went to Kuyt who was just in their half. (72ish  minutes)

As far as I'm concerned it should be Leiva Lucas on the bench,
Keep Kuyt out.
Poulsen not doing what he should yet.

Only one of our ten outfield players (Torres) can run. We need two quick attackers to link up with Torres.

He has to start by dropping Poulsen and put Meireles in the centre with Gerrard. I'm convinced that team will deliver alot more than what he has been doing.

                        Reina

Johnson       Carra       Skrtel       Kelly

                  Lucas       Poulson


   Meireles           Kuyt           Cole

                       Torres   

I know Torres has been misfiring.
I know Kelly had a bad game.

But I feel that the real problems lay in our central midfield pairing.
Surely Meireles with his attempt at a more passing game, even if it was not entirely successful, is a better option.

I know we all still lament the loss of Alonso and he has left a void in our midfield. Poulson and Lucas will never fill this void. Their flat passes to team mates drove me to the washing last night. Where is the looping forward balls over the defense. There was plenty of times players made runs only for our midfield to pass a flat ball to a more convenient option.

I'm not saying woe is us bring back Alonso. We have Meireles and Gerrard who also like to be more creative. One, if not both, of them needs to start centrally. Meireles is not a winger. Sure Roy is starting him there for his passing ability. How about you put him in the centre for his passing ability Roy...

Stick with 4-2-3-1

But for christ sake put someone in the deeper pair of midfielders that has aspirtations to attack or create an attack.

I may be ranting and some might say a sharper Torres would have won that game for us... but a more capable midfield would have destroyed the opposition last night.

Torres, Cole, Kuyt and Maxi would all see their game improve if we allowed more creativity in midfield.
Last night that was glaringly lacking from our game.

Yours Pissed Off

Racer

What does Maxi have to do to get dropped?? This guy is virtually anonymous in every game and the times that he does get the ball....well, he might as well be anonymous! A truly shocking signing even if he was free.

unfortunatly just heared that UEFA does not allow more tickets to be sold on our away game in liverpool. so only 2400 tickets. it's gonna be crowded in the centre I believe. I think there are over 4000 people that booked flights/hotels etc. How many seats are there in your away stand?