Liverpool FC Match Analysis [2011-2012]

Reina - 8.5 - Good saves and kept a clean sheet. His distribution wasn't too shabby either.

Kelly - 7.5 - Good defensively, but needs a little more work going forward. Stopped short too often.

Carra - 7 - Did well defensively, but hoofed a good amount in the first half.

Agger - 8.5 - Did very well.

Enrique - 9 - Solid defensive and attacking work from his.

Lucas - 8 - Careless mistakes in the first half, but he broke up play brilliantly.

Adam - 8 - Came into his own in the second half, but tracked back very well. Impressed.

Henderson - 7 - Made some decent forward runs, but I didn't see anything extra ordinary that he added.

Kuyt - 7.5 - Once again he worked his butt off. There were at least 4 times in the first half where I thought he made the wrong decision going forward. (Mainly not taking opportunities to make some killer passes)

Carroll - 6 - Can't blame him to be honest. However, he really didn't add a thing to our game today. Did not look threatening at all.

SUBS:

Meireles - 8 - For the bits of time on the field, he did well. Looked good down the middle. Hand in both goals.

Suarez - 8 - Not much more can be said. His movement was first rate on and off the ball. And he scored.


Has anybody else noticed how much our game changed once Carroll was off? It seems like the minute he got subbed, all the crosses from every position on the field just stopped and we started playing the ball on the ground. That's what I want to see when Carroll is on.

Has anybody else noticed how much our game changed once Carroll was off? It seems like the minute he got subbed, all the crosses from every position on the field just stopped and we started playing the ball on the ground. That's what I want to see when Carroll is on.

To be honest, was more our best player came on the field, with another quality player that both demanded the ball on the ground.

To say he never looked threatening is sort of harsh, though isn't it? He would of had an assist to his name when he knocked out to Downing... but another soft free kick disallowed it... exactly like last week. Also had a nice shot with a header which Szyccyycsudadjkahgds saved well.

^
The minute Carroll got subbed, they were reduced to 10 men. I am sure that played a role too

It doesn't change the fact that 90% (not exactly accurate) of the balls played to Carroll were crosses that required him to bring it to ground. It isn't terrible, but the overall change in play once he was off made a big difference in my opinion. I'll wait for the stats to come out and I'll save more judgement till then.

What was our formation! Can't imagine how Kuyt (RW), Henderson (RW/SS) & Adam (CM/AM) lined-up. Was it 442 or 4231!!!

Sepi wrote:^
The minute Carroll got subbed, they were reduced to 10 men. I am sure that played a role too

Well, obviously. The team right now though needs a leader. Something we lack very much when Stevie is out. Stevie/AA/Raul all like to play on the ground and like to demand it, but with all fitness issues, and whatever is going on with the AA saga, makes us play Hodge-ball at times.

poolsupporter wrote:It doesn't change the fact that 90% (not exactly accurate) of the balls played to Carroll were crosses that required him to bring it to ground. It isn't terrible, but the overall change in play once he was off made a big difference in my opinion. I'll wait for the stats to come out and I'll save more judgement till then.

It's just we hardly had no one upfront who is comfortable with the ball at the feet and can take it in the final third. I'd like to see more of the Andy-Luis partnership, but it's too soon atm. :\

ynwa wrote:

poolsupporter wrote:It doesn't change the fact that 90% (not exactly accurate) of the balls played to Carroll were crosses that required him to bring it to ground. It isn't terrible, but the overall change in play once he was off made a big difference in my opinion. I'll wait for the stats to come out and I'll save more judgement till then.

It's just we hardly had no one upfront who is comfortable with the ball at the feet and can take it in the final third. I'd like to see more of the Andy-Luis partnership, but it's too soon atm. :\

As i have mentioned in the post match thread i felt after Meireles came in the front man was getting more support in terms aggression . .this time it was Suarez. .

I really believe with Carroll's layoffs & Suarez cunning movements those two would do wonders. .but for today it was the right move not to put both of them in together as the 5 man midfield ensured that any threat from Arsenal's midfield was neutralized & Adam & Lucas where marshaling that very well. . though Adam should have been going forward a little more. .plus Hendo needs a little more time to groom up to our game speed. . Downing has been the stand out newcomer! really love his movements forward!

In terms of defense nothing negative can be said . .Kelly was brilliant so was Carra. .Agger was solid in the back except for one moment of stupidity but that was recovered . . now Enrique already looks like The Transfer for us . .the guy was brilliant almost slapped Walcott down every time he made a run! ! & some of his forward movements where amazing! !

All in all i feel with some time this team would really grow upto our expectations. .& come September with Captain Fantastic back. . . .damn! ! would be TOOOO GOOD!

Reina 7- Clean sheet!


Kelly 7.5- Really good, Offered lots of support to Hendo and Kuyt contrary to what Flano did. Solid defensively.


Carragher 7- had a quite game, The game was won in the midfield by us. Brilliant when called into action.


Agger 7- Good game, Happy he came out alive.

Enrique 9.5- MOM , Dribbling - check , Pace - check, strength - check, Creativity check, Passing check, Walcott - Check, Crosses -Check. Goal/assist would have made it 10.


Lucas 7- Great tackler. Good game.


Adam 6- Would rather he is rotated with Raul.


Henderson 5.5 - He did have a good pass completion but he lacked ideas and kept passing the ball either backwards or looked for an easy pass.

Downing 7.5- Really want him to get something in the next game.

Kuyt 7 - Good game!!

Carroll 6- Good aerial threat. Needs to improve with the ball though.

Meireles 8- Showed why he should be in the team.

Suarez 8- <3

I'm liking your evaluation, Nishy dude

Henderson is the new Maxi. Great movement, keeps the ball moving with simple 1 and 2 touch passes, and gets no credit for it.

So he's also Lucas?

I dont agree that we aimlessly hoofed to Carroll in the first half.We were always looking for early balls forward and looking for wingers to run onto balls behind the defence.

I would rather have this than we keep the ball at the back all the time then look for a long ball once every 10 minutes.The problem with pass and move at this stage is they are not still accustomed to each others off the ball movement and hence lacking the killer finish.That will improve with time as well as inclusion of Gerrard Meireles and Suarez.

We went with 3 of our 5 attackers playing their 2nd game for us and Carroll
have not yet played 10 games for us.Yet we came away with a clean sheet and comfortable win at Emirates where we havent won for a decade.

As for beating a weekend Arsenal they were only missing 4 first team players (Gervinho Song Kosnielsky and Wilshere) and we also started without 4 of our first choice players too.

poolsupporter wrote:So he's also Lucas?

Half drunk ynwa beat you to that in the General section!

BeautifulGame wrote:I dont agree that we aimlessly hoofed to Carroll in the first half.We were always looking for early balls forward and looking for wingers to run onto balls behind the defence.

I thought the rate at which passes to Carroll found him was satisfying, but the problem for me was that Carroll was too often involved in build-up play way outside the penalty area. He should be closer to goal-scoring areas while our midfield is building up plays and eventually find Carroll in a dangerous position. At the moment we have way too few killer passes or quality crosses in our game, so if you divide the field into three sections, I'm happy about our defensive and midfield 3rds, but hoping to see significant improvement in the attacking 3rd.

Andy's just unlucky with header on the 20th min mark and the Downing goal that was disallowed. He tried his best last night. You can't blame him as he was vsing one of the best CB's in the PL in Vermaelen. He's basically their Agger - class player that's injury prone.

@ art: I'm pretty sure Andy just comes out to involve himself in the build-up play so he doesn't have to chase hoofs to him.

Anyway, I'm not going to judge him until we have Stevie/Suarez playing with him.

Take out the new average sepi!!!

My ratings:

Reina - 7
Kelly - 7.5
Carragher - 7
Agger - 7
Enrique - 8
Lucas - 7
Adam - 7
Henderson - 7
Downing - 7.5
Kuyt - 6
Carroll - 6.5

Sub:

Meireles - 7.5
Suarez - 8

OP updated...I'll add the highlight link later tonight after I upload the highlights on rapidshare

^ Rep'd up. I like this thread.

Reina- 8
Flanagan- 6.5
Skrtel- 6
Wilson- 6
Robinson- 7
Spearing- 7.5
Adam- 6.5
Maxi- 7.5
Meireles- 7
Henderson- 7.5
Suarez- 9
Carroll- 7
Downing- 6.5
Shelvey- 6

Only watched until 0 - 1, but looked like we were having the sort of game we're supposed to against lower league opposition.

Reina - 8 - Didn't have much to do. Made a couple of decent saves though.

Flanagan - 6 - Got beaten a couple of times. His positioning needs some work. Whoever plays down the right side needs to trust him more when he makes forward runs.

Skrtel - 7 - Generally solid. Stupid penalty to give away.

Wilson - 7.5 - Pretty solid and composed on the ball. Glad neither of the CBs hoofed the ball forward.

Robinson - 7 - Good positioning. Tracked his man well. Got beaten every now and then though. A solid performance on the whole though.

Spearing - 7.5 - Broke up play well. They weren't much of a threat though. As such, he didn't have to track back too many times. Controlled possession well and was comfortable in possession.

Adam - 7.5 - Made some great passes and he is slowly gelling in with everyone's movements around him. Should have put his one or two chances away in my opinion.

Henderson - 7 - Still seems a little nervous going forward. Miss judged a couple of passes and seemed to take an extra step/move when not required. Ran his ass off the entire game though. He presses well.

Meireles - Can't rate him. Barely played.

Maxi - 7 - Well, he scored. Tried to play the pass and move game and his movement was alright. Made some careless passes.

Suarez - 9 - Never looked like he was taking it easy. Gave it his all and should have scored at least another. Great performance by him.

Carroll - 6 - Seems to over play when he has the ball often losing possession. When on the ground, he just doesn't seem to be very aware of what's going on around him. Had a 15 minute spell in the second half where he just seemed to be whining about everything. Notable moment when Henderson chose to cross on a counter attack and he screamed at him to play it on the ground. He's slowly getting there though. Good goal from him.

Downing - 6.5 - I know he can play on the right, but we were lacking width on the left and he should've played there in my opinion. He did make some great runs, but was careless going forward and made a couple of mistakes in the final third.

Shelvey - 6 - Nothing really stood out about him. Looked composed on the ball.

Good performance, but we just seemed to not care after we went three up in my opinion. Can't blame them though as we do have a game this weekend. Glad Kenny played a proper team.

Kenny - 8.5 - Got the team selection right. Tactics were good and he definitely got us playing better at the start of the second half. Just wish Downing was played on the left.

I noticed it to when Carroll yelled at Henderson: "For f*ck's sake, play it on the floor". He looked very pissed off and sloppy after Suarez went off, but the goal he scored was very good, hence I gave him 7.

Sepi wrote:I noticed it to when Carroll yelled at Henderson: "For f*ck's sake, play it on the floor". He looked very pissed off and sloppy after Suarez went off, but the goal he scored was very good, hence I gave him 7.

He just needs some discipline on the field IMO. There was a good period in there where he just didn't seem like he cared. Kept whining at the ref, etc. However, the one thing I noticed is that he is good on his feet. His little maneuvering just before he laid it off to Adam in the first half was impressive.

Andy and Hendo need to put this Geordie/Mackem thing off the pitch. ._.