Season 2012-2013

[Ed]

what did Hansen say, Ed?

In general I thought his delivery was through gritted teeth
on the first half performance (my impression)

"25 passes back to the same bit"

But it's his bit on Andy Carroll in the review of the Newcastle vs West Ham game:

"If I was anything to do with Liverpool he'd still be in my side"

You can find it here (scroll down the page to the video section they do all the MOTD stuff!):

http://mysoccerplace.net/

Anyway, I find it much easier to listen to Alan Hansen on the subject of LFC
then the gaffer is all.

[Tes]

In general I thought his delivery was through gritted teeth
on the first half performance (my impression)

It's well known he has false teeth. May have overdone it on the fixodent.

[Tes]

3 years ago, in these first 11 games of the season, we were scoring goals, and prepared to go for it......no half measures.

Out of this seasons stats, 2 wins and a negative goal difference stand out. We need to quickly improve our home form. Our away form, all things considered is quite impressive.

On thing I will say in the manager's favour is that he's changed things for the better in the last two games. If we could get the tactics and formation right from the start we might to be on to something.

With his new found readiness to change things and his readiness to give young players a proper run, not just one game and then dismissal back to the academy, whilst keeping on playing the tried and failed is at least making this season more refreshing than last season and Hodgey's retro football.

For everybody's sake I hope he is backed to bring in a couple of attacking players in January and then it might be easier for him to put out the sort of team he'd prefer. Then it will be easier to judge what he can and can't do as a manager. I hope we don't go down the route of just a couple of youngsters and blame it on 'being the January window'. Agger, Skrtel and Suarez proves business can be done in January.

[Ed]

It's well known he has false teeth. May have overdone it on the fixodent.

Hansen's got standards.

What I find annoying is the unqualified support received by BR from certain parts
of the fanbase and I'm not talking about our bunch (ASI, Marx & 224). On other
forums or newspaper comments there's a blind eye, deaf ear to anything negative,
like it was sacrilege or something.

I beg to differ and say quite rightly, imo, that just like the players at the club the gaffer
has to earn the right to wear the shirt. Saying again this weekend how intelligent the
fanbase is smacks of PR BS to me....I mean if they were so intelligent would you have
to keep reminding them in case they've forgotten the umpteenth mention of it?

I remain resolutely unimpressed until he does something that genuinely has an air of
LFC gaffer about it and to those who say it's my duty to support the manager I say
they are mistaken, if the manager can't handle the pressure, criticism, breaks easily (George
Entwistle) or doesn't have the courage of his convictions then he's not fit to be the manager.

[the dude abides]

*dude puts on his bullet-proof vest, karki-camaflage and heads for nuclear-proof bunker*

[the dude abides]

Out of this seasons stats, 2 wins and a negative goal difference stand out. We need to quickly improve our home form. Our away form, all things considered is quite impressive.

On thing I will say in the manager's favour is that he's changed things for the better in the last two games. If we could get the tactics and formation right from the start we might to be on to something.

With his new found readiness to change things and his readiness to give young players a proper run, not just one game and then dismissal back to the academy, whilst keeping on playing the tried and failed is at least making this season more refreshing than last season and Hodgey's retro football.

For everybody's sake I hope he is backed to bring in a couple of attacking players in January and then it might be easier for him to put out the sort of team he'd prefer. Then it will be easier to judge what he can and can't do as a manager. I hope we don't go down the route of just a couple of youngsters and blame it on 'being the January window'. Agger, Skrtel and Suarez proves business can be done in January.

Sterling has been superb for a kid. 

But this progressive notion that we have in modern society, for giving kids a chance, is overplayed IMHO. Experience allied with youth is the key.  Like everything else in a team, it's all about balance.

And, for example, you look at our midfield, and it is (in my eyes) far too lightweight, and also offers few goals.  When we play lads like Allen, Suso and Sahin in the middle of the park, we are gonna get over-run.

But like you said in another post, the boss has to at some point find a balance that he is happy with, and then let that set of players gel and get more confident in that system. 

At the minute, he is busy chopping and changing things, trying to find a system that works, and a balance.  This is where a manager earns his corn.

[Tes]

Sterling has been superb for a kid. 

But this progressive notion that we have in modern society, for giving kids a chance, is overplayed IMHO. Experience allied with youth is the key.  Like everything else in a team, it's all about balance.

And, for example, you look at our midfield, and it is (in my eyes) far too lightweight, and also offers few goals.  When we play lads like Allen, Suso and Sahin in the middle of the park, we are gonna get over-run.

But like you said in another post, the boss has to at some point find a balance that he is happy with, and then let that set of players gel and get more confident in that system. 

At the minute, he is busy chopping and changing things, trying to find a system that works, and a balance.  This is where a manager earns his corn.

Agree with all of that Dude. I think some of the changes are down to him trying to make sure some key players are protected from injury or tiredness later in the season, due to the threadbare squad.

It's alright FSG being happy with getting rid of bigger earners but we needed to lower the wage bill, not lower the wage bill by depleting squad numbers. Yes there were reasons for losing Maxi and Bellamy, but I'm sure Rodgers could have tried to keep Dirk (Dirk said it was down to a lack of appearances last season that he decided to leave) and why keep Cole? Apparently we turned down an offer from Spartak Moscow for him.
Dirk stays, Cole goes, wagebill reduced by the same amount, squad quality levels don't drop as far as they have and we keep one more senior player that has something to offer the young players coming through. Dirk'd movement would have create spaces that could have been utilised by others and by the manager's prefered style of play.

[Tes]

Gerrard's been passed fit to play for England against Sweden, though why he needs to I just don't understand.

[Ageing Stick Insect]

It is true that there is another argument that can be put forward on
his behalf. Personally, I thought we were outclassed for at least 60
minutes by the Blues (who had a tough midweek fixture as opposed
to us resting 7?), granted the team showed character to get back into
it but i think in the chances department it was even stevens in the
last 20 minutes arguably with a bit more momentum from us in the
last 10.

Yup, I'll go along with that. But hen you consider the cost of the Chelsea midfield against ours then ours outperformed and their's underperformed. If Mata had scored to make it 2-0 before half-time I don't think we would have recovered but small things like that can make a big difference to teams confidence.

In other words I'm certainly not getting carried away like Winter et al.,

That article was over the top. But I can see improvements and fewer mistakes in defence. And Jones' performance in goal has merited his continued presence. It will give Pepe something to think about.

Whether he understands it or not, this period is less about BR blooding
young players and more about the fans blooding a new manager.

In fairness I've seen little criticism of him in the press. They seem to recognise what he's trying to achieve and are prepared to give him time. They seem to have switched to Wenger instead.

Btw, Alan Hansen's demeanour concerning LFC on MOTD 2 last night was priceless.

Indeed. Definitely outside his comfort zone!

Strange programme MOTD2 they had some guy from a Village People's tribute
act on the panel. Suppose it's the only goal he's likely to achieve this season 

Send him to the Blue Oyster Club!

[Tes]

Send him to the Blue Oyster Club!

Is that where the Blue Oyster Cult used to meet on a Monday night? 

[Ageing Stick Insect]

Is that where the Blue Oyster Cult used to meet on a Monday night? 

I'm sorry Tes but that means nothing to me. 

[Ed]

Small things like that can make a big difference to teams confidence.

Good point! It'll be interesting to see if there's a bounce for the Wigan game.
We could see a reverse of what happened after Arsenal in February last season.
It's really only November that we need to get out of with some momentum.

And Jones' performance in goal has merited his continued presence. It will give Pepe something to think about.

MOTM, imo. Really like his attitude and his alertness to come off his line. Key player atm!

Send him to the Blue Oyster Club!

Sure he'd score plenty there 

[Ageing Stick Insect]

Ed,

In months to come we could look back at certain fixtures and say "that's the point at which things clicked". We don't know they will of course. We could stutter along for the rest of the season and never get into our stride. Injuries, or the lack of them, will have a major bearing on that.

So too will the owners attitude when BR comes calling for a cheque to be signed in January. I know they got their fingers burnt last season but if they're serious about getting us back to where we belong then risks have to be taken. He Who Dares and all that!

In the meantime they say the table never lies and here's the one based on the last 6 games... http://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/premierleague/form

A lot easier on the eye.

[Ed]

Interesting vid of Henderson vs Northern Ireland U21.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpi1OqvC6H0

I also thought his performance against Anzhi in Moscow was
promising.

[the dude abides]

Interesting vid of Henderson vs Northern Ireland U21.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpi1OqvC6H0

if those were the best bits, I'd definitely sell him!