|
|
After the first games of the new Premiership season, here’s a quick review of how the season may pan out.
Arsenal
Defensive weaknesses have been well highlighted for over a season now, but in Djourou, they have one of the best defenders in the league. Never seems to be flustered, makes timely interceptions and can score too. The problem is, who to play alongside him?
It’s no doubt a problem which will continue to get noticed and undermine the team should it continue. Does Wenger step up his chase for Cahill at Bolton?
Personally, I don’t think he should. At £16 Million he’s way too pricey. Jagielka would be a cheaper and a better buy, sold as a rock, he also has a good shot on him, although he doesn’t score many.
As for the rest of the team, Van Persie looked lively as always, but with injuries, I would play Arshavin just behind him as a second striker, rather than a winger. His four goal haul against Liverpool showed what a high class finisher he can be, as a winger I think he’s wasted. Put him in central midfield and let him come from deep, either with the ball or arriving late in the box, he’d be almost impossible to mark.
Finishing position for the season: 4th but to win one of the cups this time around.
Watching the dire display from my beloved Liverpool FC against Wolves, then observing the Premiership table and counting just the 3 points from relegation we are, reminded me of the Liverpool team from a few years ago, in the bottom three at Christmas, yet managed to finish in the top three at the end of the season.
How did they manage to finish so high in the league after such a dire first half of the season?
By going back to basics.
If Roy Hodgson wants to remain as our manager, he has to get a grip of the 1st team he is playing.
If a player has one or two poor games, then they need to be dropped and the problems ironed out in the reserve team.
Guaranteed 1st team football for so called “stars” has never, nor will it ever, work!
How long does Torres need to sort his crisis of confidence out? 6 months on from the world cup finals, still he’s struggling?
I don’t believe he wants to play for Liverpool football club anymore.
He has been consistantly 10 yards off the pace all season, he is not hassling centre backs, he plays devoid of any positional sense, he does not look hungry, a token run towards any defenders clearing the ball, without so much as a tackle of block, is neither use nor ornament to anyone.
The Torres we paid more than £20 Million for, was alert, sharp, sat on the last man and frightened the life out of him, with pace, and running in behind the defence into the space. Defenders didn’t know if they should push up and risk being left stranded if any balls came over the top, or sit deep and be skinned as he ran at you with pace and trickery.
You only have to look at Torres this season and look at the Torres who destroyed Vidic in beating Man Utd 4-1 at old trafford.
Put him in the reserves and let the coaches there iron out his problems and give his place to a hungry forward who has positional sense in his play.
Another nightmare waiting to happen, is the continuous playing of players, out of position!
School boy error, it may be fine for half a game due to injury, but when opposing teams see Dirk Kuyt on the left instead of his familiar right side of midfield, it gives their winger and left back a lift and an attacking option.
It is school boy stuff Roy, for proof of this observe Fulham last season.
Fulham’s team picked itself. Players played week in week out alongside the same players in the same positions.
Why you are made manager of Liverpool, then decide to change players around and in and out of the team every other week god only knows.
Get a basic way of playing, put the first team in those positions and if changes are needed, make them gradually.
Let the team know a couple of bad games and then someone else will be given a chance in their position. To regain their place they must perform in the reserves and hope that the first teamer in their place has a couple of bad games, giving them another chance.
I really cannot understand why managers find this technique so difficult?
Play players consistantly in positions they were bought to play in.
Take Meireles for example, an attacking midfielder with a shot like a mule, scoring many goals ala graeme souness, from the edge of the penalty area.
Bought to provide more goals from midfield.
Where has he been played so far?
Right wing, left wing, sat in front of the back four, as a defensive midfielder. Why?
Maxi is another one. Starts scoring a few goals from the wing and midfield, then he’s “rested” – why?
Playing players in regular positions allows relationships to build and teamwork to grow, which increases defensive and attacking options.
They management can start coaching individual players in how they want them to play, improving individual technique.
It really is that simple
Once again, Liverpool will meet Chelsea in the next round.
The winners of this tie will face the winner of Barcelona v Bayern Munich in the semi finals.
On the otherside of the draw, Man Utd will play FC Porto, the winners of this tie will play the winner of Arsenal v Villarreal at the semi final stage.
Ties will be played 7/8 April with return legs played on 14/15 April.
There are no easy ties at this stage of the competition, but with Barcelona and Bayern Munich having impressive wins in the last round, the English clubs will be relieved they are playing each other and not them!
If three English teams reach the semis, I’ll be putting a few earth pounds on the one non English team left, as is often the case, the one team not expected to win, often does.
 Getty images As matches go, in the English Premier League, they don’t come much bigger than this.
Local rivalry and history will always make these games a tense affair, but once every now and again, the football mad fans from Manchester and Liverpool are treated to goals and bragging rights.
The game itself was not as fierce as we have come to expect, but we can’t complain, five goals is better than a one nil result.
Reading through the blogs and pundits this morning, you could be forgiven for thinking that the game was either all Man Utd or all Liverpool, truth be told it was neither!
Man Utd started brightly, Liverpool sitting back and easing their way into the game, culminating in Ronaldo giving United the lead from a penalty.
The lead lasted around five minutes, and highlighted what I personally have questioned for months, a simple problem regarding Torres.
In Spain, short burst of pace when an attack is on, is where Torres excels and the main reason he scored so many goals, it’s why Liverpool bought him.
His goal against Utd showed this up perfectly. Standing start less than 5 yards away from the last man in defence, he was able to show a turn of pace, steal the ball and cause utter panic in the defence.
He ran on and slotted past the keeper, 1-1.
Where Torres lets himself down, is when he starts to drop deeper, into no mans land, 10-15 yards from the last man, he is neither helping the midfield (no outlet) nor is he in a position to frighten defenders, by the time he has closed the gap on the defender, the ball is gone.
Sitting on the last man, any ball played down the sides or over the top of the defender, turns him to face his own goal, leaving Torress to execute a short burst of pace and panic the defender. If he gets the ball (as he does 3 out of 5 times) he is left with a one on one with the keeper. Why aren’t Liverpool’s trainers picking up on this?
Back to the match, with an Evra challenge after the ball had been nudged past him by Gerrard, resulted in a penalty, which Gerrard placed to the keeper’s left, 1-2 to Liverpool at half time.
Man Utd, as you’d expect came out for the second half playing keep ball as Liverpool sat deeper and deeper.
Contrary to what most pundits said, Rooney (for me) was Utd’s danger man, everytime he got the ball he ran at the Pool defence, Carragher was having difficulty picking him up as he ran from deep.
Reading about the game, the emphasis has been reported on Utd’s lack of attacking play in the second half, but easily they were creating too much for any team to hold on for the entire second 45 minutes.
With Torres standing off the last man too much and Gerrard following his lead and trying to play off him, the ball was returning too often and too fast by the wide open Man Utd midfield.
As if by magic, Liverpool started to play the ball out of defence and play further up the pitch but still relying on the one-two of Gerrard and Torres.
Having a bit of success in holding the ball upfield, seemed to spur Liverpool into a bit more attacking, committing more players forward as the half went on. Utd brought on Giggs, Scholes and Berbatov (who looked like he was still feeling the effects of an injury picked up warming up against Inter Milan in midweek) and started to spread the ball better, Giggs was popping up all over the place, but Liverpool got men behind the ball and lack of movement from many in the Utd side, they cancelled each other out.
By now Torress was playing about 10 yards further up the pitch, closer to the last man, a flick on from Torres to Gerrard halfway into utd’s half, left Gerrard one on one with Vidic (who to be fair was having a torrid time – mainly because Ferdinand kept leaving him so isolated!) Gerrard knocked it past Vidic and was away, Vidic had little choice and pulled him down. Had Ferdinand not stayed wide and watched and ran across to help his team mate out, it might have been just a yellow, but it was red.
With utd now down to 10 men, the game was still an each way bet, utd now had four upfront and three recognised centre forwards on the field.
From the free kick, Areleo, stunned the old trafford crowd with a regular free kick into the corner, which was all the more confusing as van der sar stood rooted watching it go in?
As a contest, the game was over, Liverpool had time for one more goal. A simple kick out by Reina missed the head of Babel and bounced right into the path of Dossena, who caught the goalkeeper in no mans land, lobbing him from outside the area.
Will all this change the title race? Maybe, but not in the way you would think this Liverpool fan would think!
Chelsea have been my tip for the title all season, this result will have done them a huge favour.
The European Champions league final (or as us oldies know it – the European cup) came a step closer for all the English clubs this week, with a quite outstanding performance in their respective second legs.
Liverpool:
Despite looking strong and playing well against Real Madrid, I cannot see them progressing past the semi-final stages (sadly for me) – Benitez has been earning his living from the European cup for far too long – the league is our “bread and butter.”
Man Utd:
Yes despite the historic rivalry, without playing especially well against Inter Milan, they deserved to go through to the quarter finals. I watched half their game in the first leg, they should have made the tie safe there. As much as I’d like to see them go out at the semi final stages, I think they’ll at least reach the final. If they do, then I hope Wellback, Carrick and the like get a look in as they are playing well.
Chelsea:
Can they hold their nerve this time around?
They scraped through to the final by the skin of their teeth last time against the pool, heart breaking for a pool fan, especially the way they got there (own goal by riise) but they did break the jinx that Liverpool had over them in semi finals.
Although Juventus are not the force they once were, any result in Italy against an Italian team, is a good result. Has Hiddink come just in time to save their season?
They deserve their place, possible finalists I think.
Arsenal:
Their win over Roma was the best news of the round for me. I can take or leave Arsenal, they don’t really bother me either way, but when I watched the text updates on BBC live text, saying their tie was going to a penalty shoot-out, I worried for them.
Penalties are a complete lottery, so when the first kick was saved, I feared the worst for them.
I remember watching them in the final and losing out, they didn’t do themselves justice at all, love them or hate them, they always try to play attacking, flowing football.
In Arsene Wenger, they have one of the most knowledgable managers in the Premier League. If the doubters got their way and he left the club, then Arsenal would really be in trouble.
Semi finalist this year I think, but well worth their place there – hopefully!
|
|
