Mignolet : Did better than the last game and an improvement but need to distribute the ball better and start saving some penalties (7/10)
Manquillo : Did ok inspite of that horrifying miss-passed that led to their equaliser. Lesson learnt, never loose possession when he has gone that far away from our goal (6.5/10)
Skrtel : Did well and was hard working can't find much wrong in him (7.5/10)
Lovren : Did some good work but was never in total command defending our goal. Simple, next game stick to the opposition target man, give him a nudge, that'll do and not ball watch. I thought that tackle just outside the box is good but the referee need a pair of spectacles, shocking and embarassing decision, if we could just playback that video recording for him to see (6.5)
Moreno : Impresses me with his work rate and determination. rate him very highly. Both him and Lallana would create havoc to opposition defence on the left side in future. At his age, he is already playing like a seasoned pro. BR could look at the possibility of converting Moreno into a DM and leave the left back to Enrique or Flanno. He has the quality to bomb forward from midfield that's what I like most and will be very damaging to the opposition. Seriously, he can be another Stevie if he could acquire Stevie's talent in making those quality long range passes. (8/10).
Gerrard : Said it all along and said it again here Stevie has been an AM for as long as I could remember, he's not a born DM, so BR will just have to leave it that way and not do anything differently and get someone else to do the defensive job and to capitalise fully on Stevie's strength. We were a transformed team when Stevie moved further forward, his direct passes clearly shows that we don't have anyone else at the moment to get those quality early passes to the forward line. Stevie simply has got this vision and natural talent in him (8.5/10)
Lallana: Putting his transfer fee aside, I've always rated Lallana, he resembles very much like our very own Craig Johnston. Harassing defenders non-stop, twisting and turning. He dares to take on defenders and create something out of nothing and that's what I like most, direct and bold. If BR could identify players that can do combos with Lallana, he'll be unstoppable and could only get better. He simply has got to be my MOTM (9/10)
Sterling: Everyone is entitled to have an off day in office, so Sterling had his today. He tried very hard and running non-stop and assisted in the 2nd goal. His first touch wasn't there as there could be reasons, I'd think he could be thinking who to pass the ball to when running towards the goal and non that he could see inside the box and that split second he could have lost concentration and possession. Suarez was smart he runs into space so that Sterling could see him early and we need to replicate that play. Players need to understand when Sterling is running at defenders, they must make forward runs ahead of Sterling into the box and not dilly dallying at the centre circle. Won't start to cruxify him for having just one average game eventhough not fully his fault, at least he ran non-stop. Week in week out expecting him to take on defenders and score is asking too much of him. (7/10).
Coutinho : I've been critical of Cou of late but when I watched the games again, I can't blame him, Cou thrives on quick movement and at this moment the players in front of him is not moving quick enough and not linking up well with him. They're not making themselves available to receive the early ball from Cou and into the box. Cou is not one of the most physical around and he can't take on physical players, hence, we have to make best use of his quality in passes and that calls for players making intelligent movement into the box to receive Cou's passes. (6.5)
Henderson: Very hardworking and made some slick passes and one two combos, I'm beginning to feel that he's more suited to an AM role than a DM. Improved a lot on his shooting, used to end up at row Z, now it is on target. He and Lallana could both terrorizes defenders. Had a good game (8/10)
Lambert : He tried his best but needs to improve on his shooting. We will need to realize fast that Lambert is not the type of forward that can curl a shot into the far top corner of the goal. He's the type of forward that shoots at sight or bundles the ball over the goal line with his physical presence. He's simply the old fashion type forward, he's not one for those slick one two combos, hence, when he's on the pitch next time I'd hope to see him more often inside the box not outside, harass defenders and forces the ball into goal, or get the wingers to drive the passes along the opposition goal line for him to tap in. Overall did well and as I've said we did not play to his strengths. (7/10)
Substitutes :-
Balotelli: Did ok, at least he did not throw tantrums at the moment for not being in the first 11. Again, we need to play to Balo's strength. I've watched closely his days at Citeh, he's most dangerous when just outside the box moving into the box and if we can identify the players (Lallana and Sterling perhaps) that can do those one .. two .. three ... combos with him, he'll be unstoppable. He's not the type of forward that can take on defenders alone and score goals. (7/10)
Lucas: Did OK, he's still a bit slow but he's not known to be one of the fastest, who else do we have to play that DM role? (5/10). Said it time and again we should have bought a DM and not all those players that got loaned to other clubs eventually and a waste of resources.
Johnson: I haven't got much good things to say about Glen last season, but being on the bench for a while did him a world of a good, he looks refreshed, assured and had a good game. It's right to replace Manquillo, after that poor pass that led to the goal, it could shaken up the confidence of the young lad a bit. (7.5/10)
Positives :
1. Players showed great commitment, that's the most important.
2. Even Brom equalised, we didn't panic and got the winning goal.
3. Promising signs are there, players have great individual quality in them and BR already knows what are those and have to identify a system to make them work as a cohesive unit and we can only improve from here.
4. Goals are coming from elsewhere apart from the forward line. We will need to keep doing that until Sturridge is back. Shooting practice from this very moment is the top priority for every one. Everyone needs to chip in with a goal or two.
5. Pressed them all over the pitch with our non-stop running and tackling, that for me has won the game for us.
6. We came out very physical in the 2nd half, that's what I like to see most. It gives the impression to the opposition players we're a very very difficult and physical team to play against. It creates that fear factor in them even before the ball is kicked.
Negatives :-
1. Still some way to go to get us to play the way we did like last season. I'm sure work in progress as far as BR is concern but has to progress faster.
2. The midfield and forward is still not a well oiled unit, BR needs to get them to link up better.
3. Defence need to be more commanding in our box, stick to the next opposition player like a leech and not to give him space and time on the ball.
4. Our players need to stick closer to the nearest opposition players when not in possession of the ball, it's the one or two yards extra space that we gave to Brom that made them looked better than they are.
5. The most negative of all is the blardy referee, I can see from his body language he pointed to the penalty spot half heartedly and he's not 100% sure it's a foul inside the box. Finds every opportunity to penalize us. 4 mins stoppage time, where did that come from? 3 the most I'd give.
6. We really need to get a quality DM in and move Stevie forward.
7. Need to improve on the quality of our crosses, it has been poor very very poor. When we have a target man like Balo, we need to put in those quality crosses for him to score.
Overall, very happy with the results and the players' performance. It can only get better from here.
These fooking internationals when is it going to stop, when we start to pick up momentum these useless internationals comes along. BR should report to that Owl that all our players picked for internationals have suddenly fallen sick due to some unknown mysterious virus.
« Last Edit: Oct 05, 2014 03:12:47 pm by redkop63 »
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