Well, that was a very disappointing performance today from the lads. I'm getting slightly worried about this new style of football, i'm all for sleek passing but once again all those passes have led to f**k all.
We seem to lack width with the 4-3-3 and the gap between the middle three and front three was massive at times. Arteta and Diaby bossed the centre of the pitch and i couldn't believe how deep Gerrard and Allen played in the first half. Sahin was awful but it's hard to judge a player on his first ever apearance in the EPL when he's had no time to adjust. He seems very lightweight and i think he was shocked by the physicality of the game here. If anything i would have brought Shelvey on for Sahin before the Borini substitution, we were getting ourselves a new arsehole ripped in the middle.
Borini was absolutely terrible and i lost count of the times he wasted possession and failed to read the game when team mates had the ball. Hopefully with time that intelligence will improve, it has to. He sh*t out of 3 tackles and seems afraid of hard contact, that has to change. This is the Premier League, not La Liga, he must toughen up. It was inevitable that he would come off, he was getting bullied and Downing being our only attacking option on the bench came on and did a job. Nothing special but he did a job.
Gerrard and Suarez were awful, their link up play was absolutely shocking. Their worst game for Liverpool for a while. Suarez really has to learn to stay on his feet more often, he'll get more goals that way. Webb was like a c**t today but once a player shows a tendency to dive at the slightest contact then you can understand the reluctance to keep giving free kicks. Joe Allen was outstanding again, showing maturity way beyond his years, i just wish he'd get forward a bit more often.
Raheem Sterling was once again immense, at the heart of all we did that was good. Always eager to take people on and did a great job of winning the ball back when he lost it. Man Of The Match for me. What pissed me off was our reluctance to utilise him more in the second half when we needed to get back into the game, he had the better of Jenkinson, we failed to exploit that.
The full backs were ok, nothing special. Johnson and Enrique both trying to get forward but our wide men have to learn to come inside when our full backs attack the flanks. At times we were too congested out wide and that resulted in a lack of support in the middle.
Agger had a good game today and it was great to see his calming presence among the back line. I still think Skrtel is struggling to come to terms with this pass at all costs system, he'll come good though. Still making reckless tackles in areas of the pitch where there is no need.
And finally Pepe Reina, what the f**k is going on with him?. He just looks like he doesn't care anymore. He needs a kick up the arse and sooner rather than later. He should have made himself bigger for the Podolski goal and also seemed slow to stick his leg out. The Cazorla goal was an absolute farce, there was no need to go to ground, he had the angle covered and it was easier to save with his feet.
Like i said, i'm worried that we lack width with this 4-3-3 system, we are too narrow and teams with 4 man or 5 man midfields will overrun us. The gap between the middle three and the front three was way too big at times. Our wide men need to learn to come into the middle of the pitch when our full backs attack the flank. Our midfielders are too slow to support the front men when we get the ball in from out wide.
If the left attacker of the front three puts a cross in then the right attacker of the front three must come into the middle to support the central striker and vice versa in the other two situations. Too many times i saw a cross going into the box with only Suarez up against four or five Arsenal defenders.
We also seem to be passing for the sake of passing which is a dangerous game to play. Some of the players seem reluctant to take the ball on themselves and are always making pass when there are better options. We have to be able to mix it up, we have to have an alternative option.
It's early doors and hopefully over the next few months it will all fall into place. Brendan has been fu**ed by FSG, he's got to f**k with the cock he's got.
I'm hearing people saying he hasn't got the players to implement his system, if this is so and only Brendan truly knows, then he has to make the system fit the players.
It's going to be a long hard Season but i'm sure Brendan can get us to where we need to go.
YNWA Brendan.
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