we were always going to lose the midfield battle since it's a weakness of ours and arsenal have the best midfield in the league
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2013/2014 Soccer/Football Thread
- Thread starter reyscarface
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Couple of interesting things to note on why we lost. In order of importance:
1) Brendan Rodgers' change of formation from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2 at HT. Bringing on Coutinho for Cissokho was the correct decision but he should have stuck with our tried and tested 3-5-2 formation. If we concede a flukey goal such as Cazorla's (when the deflected ball struck the crossbar and went perfectly into his feet) you can't blame the formation for a lucky goal like this one. Once we switched to 4-4-2 there was more room for Ramsey to get into the hole from which he scored. You don't see Napoli under Mazzari and Juventus switch a formation that suits them just because they conceded a goal. It's very worrying because it shows that our manager doesn't trust the system that IMO suits us best. We would have won if we had played the 3-5-2 formation because it is designed to defeat teams that play without wingers such as Arsenal:
------------------Mignolet
----------Toure----Skrtel-------Sakho
--Henderson---Lucas---Gerrard------Flannagan
------------------Coutinho
----------Sturridge--------Suarez
not this 4-4-2 monstrosity:
--------------------Mignolet
--Flannagan-----Toure----Skrtel----Cissokho
--Henderson-----Lucas---Gerrard---Coutinho
--------------Sturridge-----Suarez
We were already getting outrun in midfield, playing a 4-4-2 with a 34 year old Gerrard was suicidal.
2) Basic defensive mistakes. For both goals. Both were easily preventable.
3) Not being clinical enough. Henderson not believing in himself was he was through on goal. He kept looking for the pass when he could have sprinted and shot at goal. If we had scored the opener things would have been definitely different. Suarez and Sturridge missed too many clear cut chances whereas Arsenal scored from nothing. Also, Martin Atkinson's decision to not let us take the quick free kick which we would have scored from.
Nothing hurts me more than seeing us go down without a fight. We didn't want it enough and didn't press Arsenal enough.
1) Brendan Rodgers' change of formation from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2 at HT. Bringing on Coutinho for Cissokho was the correct decision but he should have stuck with our tried and tested 3-5-2 formation. If we concede a flukey goal such as Cazorla's (when the deflected ball struck the crossbar and went perfectly into his feet) you can't blame the formation for a lucky goal like this one. Once we switched to 4-4-2 there was more room for Ramsey to get into the hole from which he scored. You don't see Napoli under Mazzari and Juventus switch a formation that suits them just because they conceded a goal. It's very worrying because it shows that our manager doesn't trust the system that IMO suits us best. We would have won if we had played the 3-5-2 formation because it is designed to defeat teams that play without wingers such as Arsenal:
------------------Mignolet
----------Toure----Skrtel-------Sakho
--Henderson---Lucas---Gerrard------Flannagan
------------------Coutinho
----------Sturridge--------Suarez
not this 4-4-2 monstrosity:
--------------------Mignolet
--Flannagan-----Toure----Skrtel----Cissokho
--Henderson-----Lucas---Gerrard---Coutinho
--------------Sturridge-----Suarez
We were already getting outrun in midfield, playing a 4-4-2 with a 34 year old Gerrard was suicidal.
2) Basic defensive mistakes. For both goals. Both were easily preventable.
3) Not being clinical enough. Henderson not believing in himself was he was through on goal. He kept looking for the pass when he could have sprinted and shot at goal. If we had scored the opener things would have been definitely different. Suarez and Sturridge missed too many clear cut chances whereas Arsenal scored from nothing. Also, Martin Atkinson's decision to not let us take the quick free kick which we would have scored from.
Nothing hurts me more than seeing us go down without a fight. We didn't want it enough and didn't press Arsenal enough.
If Liverpool were more clinical they could of easily gotten something out of this game.
On a side note Piazon is looking good! Vitesse on top of the dutch league.( for chelsea fans).
On a side note Piazon is looking good! Vitesse on top of the dutch league.( for chelsea fans).
We needed to stay tight in midfield in the second half and hit them on the break. A 1 goal advantage was nothing. We gave them the opportunity to get on top of us and played Coutinho on the left wing when he operates best in the middle playing through balls to SAS to take advantage of Arsenal's high line
Unbelievable results over the weekend, I'll be looking forward to MoTD tonight!
Man, great week for my fantasy team and I'm now way out in first place in my league
aguero, myhill, toure, silva, reid and davies reeling in those points haha
Tottenham deserved to win against Everton but I'm glad they didn't lol
Hull are playing really well atm and I hope they get a top-10 finish. I desperately don't want them to do a Blackpool, they're a side I respect.
Crystal Palace, on the other hand, are staring relegation in the face already.
Tough on Chris Hughton since Norwich have actually been playing decently, but have had a hard run of fixtures. Ruddy was absolutely atrocious.
aguero, myhill, toure, silva, reid and davies reeling in those points haha
Tottenham deserved to win against Everton but I'm glad they didn't lol
Hull are playing really well atm and I hope they get a top-10 finish. I desperately don't want them to do a Blackpool, they're a side I respect.
Crystal Palace, on the other hand, are staring relegation in the face already.
Tough on Chris Hughton since Norwich have actually been playing decently, but have had a hard run of fixtures. Ruddy was absolutely atrocious.
asked my mate who refs and he says bringing the play back from the quick free kick was correct. he wanted to book sagna and the only way he can do that after a free-kick is called is by stopping play and giving the booking. lpool took it before he could, so he brought it back to book sagna. probs would prefer a goal to a booking if youre a scouser but tough shit i suppose
leeds 3 pts off play-offs :D
leeds 3 pts off play-offs :D
couldn't he book him after we scored
i'd prefer a goal and a booking vs just one of them
I love how Lukaku had to go off with a thigh injury after colliding his knee with Lloris' head, and Lloris who was knocked unconscious was told to continue on!
Also Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane are set to become Ireland's 1 and 2. Not sure what to make of this!
Also Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane are set to become Ireland's 1 and 2. Not sure what to make of this!
yeah lloris was clearly concussed... its kinda silly he was allowed to continue the game, especially given it looked like the med staff thought he shouldnt be and he went on when avb yelled something over to them...
also jesus christ how does soldado manage to be never anywhere useful while we possess the ball for an entire half ._.
also jesus christ how does soldado manage to be never anywhere useful while we possess the ball for an entire half ._.
soldado just isn't cutting it imo, Tottenham need a new striker if they really want to make a strong challenge for a top 4 finish (Chelsea, City and Arsenal will comprise of the top 3 I think). Hernandez will fit them nicely..
predictions:
Real Sociedad 1-1 Manchester United
Shakhtar Donesk 2-2 Bayern Leverkusen
FC Copenhagen 0-1 Galatasaray
Juventus 2-1 Real Madrid
Olympiacos 2-0 Benfica
Paris Saint-Germain 4-0 Anderlecht
Viktoria Plzen 1-5 Bayern Munich
Manchester City 3-1 CSKA Moscow
predictions:
Real Sociedad 1-1 Manchester United
Shakhtar Donesk 2-2 Bayern Leverkusen
FC Copenhagen 0-1 Galatasaray
Juventus 2-1 Real Madrid
Olympiacos 2-0 Benfica
Paris Saint-Germain 4-0 Anderlecht
Viktoria Plzen 1-5 Bayern Munich
Manchester City 3-1 CSKA Moscow
Mexico vs Nigeria for the u17 world cup finals, Mexico in second consecutive u17 final and possible third time winners in 5 years. Going off by this, Mexico is one of the best at producing young talent in the world, which leads me to my next question:
what in the fuck is happening to them and why do they turn to shit most of the time holy fuck
what in the fuck is happening to them and why do they turn to shit most of the time holy fuck
Hernandez is way too similar to Soldado anyway
Both are poacher type forwards who are very good at finishing inside the penalty box but bad at anything else
Both are poacher type forwards who are very good at finishing inside the penalty box but bad at anything else
I guess you can consider Hernandez, Vela, Dos Santos, Reyes and Herrera the exceptions, but theyre shit with the national team anyways
I like Guardado
Guardado wasnt a part of the u17 squad
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