All the pundits agreed that Liverpool vs Arsenal was a "must win game" for us if we hoped to catch Arsenal and Chelsea in the race for 4th. I even heard Steve McMannaman say that a point was as good as a defeat. So, with the score locked at 1-1, what does Kenny do? He waits until the 89th minute to introduce our best striker. What other coach waits uintil the 89th minute to make his first substitution?
Other quick observations:
1. Is Henderson an improvement on Shelvey who was already at the club?
2. Could Suso or Morgan be any worse than Andy Carroll who, in my opinion, would find it hard to make many pub teams?
3. Sterling has to be given some minutes in the first team before the end of the season. He goes past people as though they are not there.
4. What has Maxi done to upset Kenny? A player with the knack of being in the right place at the right time cannot even get on in a game with 8 minutes of injury time!
5. Kuyt, our top scorer last season and a regular starter for the second best national team in the world, finds himself mostly on the bench and being forced to watch a carthorse with a pony tail.
6. Now the hardest one of all. Carra and Stevie G. are both well past their best and should both retire at the end of the season. Most people are honest enough to admit that Carra is a spent force but the same has to be said of Stevie who, now almost never scores from open play, and due to a long career of many injuries, just does not have the legs anymore. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It happened to all the "greats" of the past including Rush, Barnes and Kenny himself. Let's move them to the coaching staff before they tarnish their fantastic reputations.
Ok, rant over. Sorry for being so long winded but had to get it off my chest.
"A Must Win Game"
posted on 4/3/12
What was Kenny thinking leaving it to the 89th minute to bring on Bellamy? If that had been Roy we would have been ripping him apart today.
posted on 4/3/12
gerrard is a strange one. when he came back from injury he was class. but since he's been pretty awful to be honest. he's stopped being a box-box player now. he doesn't get in the box enough and doesn't really have the legs to track players runs. i think gerrard needs to be playing behind the striker again not in a two man midfield. thats is where he can link up with suarez and create because his eye for a pass will never leave him.
posted on 4/3/12
agree Philo... Gerrard shouldnt be playing in a midfield two, thats why we are not seeing the best of him. We miss Lucas to free him up.
posted on 4/3/12
im sorry but the team was actually playing very well for the whole game. why bring on bellamy? for who? kuyt was playing well and so was downing!
we all know taking of suarez would be silly because he can produce a moment on quality at any instant.
on paper yes. Bellamy for Kuyt. But in the heat of the moment it just wasnt logical, Kuyt was actually playing well and taking him off could have disrupted the dynamic way we were playing.
posted on 4/3/12
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 4/3/12
>>im sorry but the team was actually playing very well for the whole game. why bring on.....
agreed
posted on 4/3/12
OP you are being a self righteous know it all, and from your views you didn't even watch the match.
Like it has already been mentioned the whole team was playing well and weren't struggling for creativity. Something that you didn't acknowledge in your article.
You say 89th minute like it was 1 min left, we all know there wasn't in fact there was 8 mins extra.
That was enough time for Arsenal to score so by the same token would have been enough time for us to score one too.
I know it's pretty galling to lose as we did but the performance was up there and the team shape was good.
Just one of those things we've seen a lot of. Not able to put the game to bed.
posted on 4/3/12
We need to sort our finishing out. If that happens, everything will be rosy.
But thats not going to happen
posted on 4/3/12
LFC - Who said anything about Bellamy for Kuyt? I think Kuyt played great and think he links with Suarez better than anybody. I would have brought Bellamy on for Hendo who never looked like he would help us get the winner.
Redinthehead - I did indeed watch the match and am not stupid enough to give my opinions on something I haven't seen. I do agree that we played well but hasn't that been our story all season at home? We outplay the opposition for most of the 90 minutes but end up only sharing the poiints. I don't think you can argue with that because it is a fact. And, just for your information, I watched the match on ESPN2 with Ian Darke and Steve McMannaman commentating and you might like to know that Macca couldn't understand why Bellers didn't start up front with Suarez or wasn't brought on after an hour. But then again, maybe Macca is also a "self righteous know it all' .
posted on 4/3/12
All I know is when Bellamy came on we conceded.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it? Downing was a great outlet for us.
Like I said we were playing well, if the finishing was more clinical we wouldn't even be bothering with this talk of Bellamy.