Fulham vs Liverpool

Couldn't watch the match, but nice to see Fulham continued to be crap.

Sturridge with his first PL hat-trick

Beat QPR and give Jamie a massive farewell party and set sights on next season.

I thank Daniel Sturridge. I think him for many things pertaining to this match. Why? Forget Danny winning us our game, yet the former-Chelsea striker was the solo form of entertainment in having this match worth watching, Liverpool or not.

I much appreciated Bredan's approach to the 3-man back line that he has had a knack of applying in certain fixtures. Sadly we did not have the personnel to or more closer, Wisdom to play the back-line. Wisdom was at culprit in rearing his typically unintelligent play. Completely at fault for the 1st gol in leaving Berbatov wide open for a tap-in. When he wasn't having positional lapses, he traversed out of position down the right flank and chipped the ball over to no-mans land about 1000 times. Rightfully subbed off.

Our wingbacks even worse. BR was a brave-man to place Downing as a Wingback. Fulham noticeably exploited that side with mixed results yet Downing was bypassed too many times by an old and deteriorating Damien Duff. Offered nothing in attack as usual.

Johnson continues his poor form. Aside from one genius moment of attack he was lackadaisical and once again in dream-land during crucial counter-attacks needing to be attended too on the right flank.

Our midfield was so-so. Lucas was excellent in his distribution and despite a few odd niggles, immaculate in defence. Henderson was excellent in the first half yet faded away in the latter stages of the game. I understand that its not always ideal to pass forward, yet the kid continually passed sideways and back despite having miles of open space to fuel the counter as it rather disappointing for him to take such less-challenging routes of play when other options were available. Mixed performance.

Don't even get me started on Shelvey who is as clueless at comes and literally provides nothing to our play aside from his endless running to cover his shite footballing IQ.

Coutinho was a disappointment as he barely was in the game, was overwhelmed by Fulham's physical approach and once again, displays how tactically raw he is in this free central role by choosing the wrong options of positions and passing with poor timing.

Though I must admit he had his fair share of brilliant moments to which had him stand out from his team-mates.

Sturridge was once again a bundle of energy. Poor finishing as a whole within the game yet showed his right foot is excellent when forced to use, that he is improving when faced with numerous options and that he CAN lead our line in the absence of Suarez. Wonderful 1st gol. Class 2nd, and world class 3rd gol.
Borini was bright when he came as a we instantly looked better with him drawing out defenders, linking up telepathically with DS23 and showing some ridiculous skill with his dribbling run to rattle the bar coming in from the left flank. We must play him more. Unlucky not to score.

I posted this in the General Section and I'll do it here too so you guys don't think my criticism for Sturridge is some sort of personal agenda against him. (Which I don't think any of you do except maybe Sepi)

Messiah "Aggerswagger" wrote:Okay let me clear something up here.

First, I could not be happier that we have someone like Sturridge in our team. He adds a whole new dynamic to the squad and will be a very important piece of a winning formula. Especially for a team who is in our situation, we are not in a position to look with negativity towards quality players because we are not at the same level as our prestige indicates. In 6 short months I'm already growing in fondness towards DS15.

When I criticize him, it should not be taken in the negative way that I have some sort personal agenda against him. I know a lot of fans who overrate their clubs players purely based on bias, and I can tell you that I'm guilty on occasion in that regard. If we believe every hype for every player then Liverpool should be challenging for the title, not merely bringing up the rearguard of the top sides in PL. I want to analyze his game without any bias and give a level headed opinion on where I think he stands. I would not throw accusations at players merely because of a personal agenda against them. I never have done it before and don't intend to.

When I say he's selfish, it is because since his move in January he has been greedy on many an occasion. Something I hope he improves as he matures with age. And this argument about every main striker being selfish is moot because there are two types of selfish. There is good-selfish and there is bad-selfish. At the moment DS15 is hovering above the bad-selfish, meaning he's taking shots from acute angles in situations where a pass to a teammate would've been easier and a sure goal. He's opting to dribble longer on the ball when a simple pass would put a teammate through on goal. With time I hope he translates this swagger and selfishness into the good-selfish category where he puts the team on his back when others are struggling and wins us points single handedly. That's the sort of selfish ruthlessness you guys are talking about and Sturridge does have it, mind you, but very inconsistently.

Can't agree with the criticism of Shelvey, honestly. He wasn't hugely influential but it was a solid performance. He found space to receive the ball in midfield and the final third, used the ball relatively well, and made some very intelligent runs into the final third that simply didn't get picked out by a teammate. He did lose the ball a few times, but so did Henderson, Coutinho, and others... The only real criticism I could see of him is that he wasn't particularly influential. At times he drifted out of the match although it wasn't for a want of trying. Again though, he was not alone in this.

And the final hyperbolic comments regarding his "footballing IQ" were honestly out of line, IMO.

Jonjo has just came back to the starting XI since January lol. Let him find his feet again. With that said, he wasn't that bad, as Red has stated. He seems to be getting targeted...

Coutinho is our second best signing, behind Suarez, in the last 5 years. As kneejerk as that sounds, he's special. A lot of people knew he was talented but Cou couldn't show that at Inter. With the movement our team has, he's expressing his talent for the world to see. He has the passes of 'Dinho ffs.

Oh. And Downing. He doesn't have a spot in this squad. Shows that week in week out. Hoping a team makes a bid so we can move on. It's not working out.

RedOranje wrote:Can't agree with the criticism of Shelvey, honestly. He wasn't hugely influential but it was a solid performance. He found space to receive the ball in midfield and the final third, used the ball relatively well, and made some very intelligent runs into the final third that simply didn't get picked out by a teammate. He did lose the ball a few times, but so did Henderson, Coutinho, and others... The only real criticism I could see of him is that he wasn't particularly influential. At times he drifted out of the match although it wasn't for a want of trying. Again though, he was not alone in this.

And the final hyperbolic comments regarding his "footballing IQ" were honestly out of line, IMO.

It may be hyperbole yet the premise remains the same.

I simply don't find Shelvey to be a very good talent. This spurns from the ridiculous amounts of hype he received, whereas all he really is a hard running midfielder with decent shooting skills, the latter which has hardly been in display.

What I do like is he offers a direct threat and usually picks solid areas to run into in order to receive the ball yet that is usually marred by his pathetic touch, poor decision-making skill or just not producing anything substantial. It would be nice if he could be defensively astute since he excels on off the ball movement, yet sadly his tackling is worst than Gerrard himself so I don't see any development anytime soon.

Aside from that he is solid instincts in the box, excellent endurance and decent aerial ability.

He is young and I'm confident he'll get better, yet I rate Henderson and Allen far above him, as Jonjo isn't anything of note.