Liverpool 2 - 1 Trabsonspor (Positives and Negatives)

In this feature called "Positives and Negatives" I will try to look back on each game and pick a few good points and also a few bad points. I am reviewing games in this way because I think there are enough straight forward Match Reports on sites, blogs and newspapers. I also dont really believe in the whole marks out of ten thing that newspapers and some websites do, it very rarely is accurate in my eyes. Even in victory there are things to pick up and improve on (maybe not exactly negatives but points to improve on) and at the same time, after a defeat there can be reasons to not let yourself get too down and remember its not as bad as it seems. This is basically my attempt to remind people that things arent always as black and white as the media make out, there is a grey area between brilliant and shite!

So here it goes, please remember these are only opinions, if you feel differently please feel free to post your comments.

NEGATIVES:

• Poor Passing: This was mainly resticted to the first half in fairness but it seemed to be a deficiency which carried through from the City game the other night. A lot of short passes went astray.

• Too many long balls: When our short game wasnt working too well we seemed to resort to thumping the ball up the pitch too quickly, Styrios and Jamie in particular were guilty of this a number of times. Considering we only had Ngog up front on his own this was very wasteful and simply resulted in giving possession away and inviting another attack.

• Lack of width: Well I think everybody is aware that we dont have any natural wingers at the club, as good a player he is and as much as I love Dirk Kuyt a natural winger he is not. Against Trabsonspor we tried Aurelio out there, as a natural left back he should have provided the width we needed but a poor personal performance from him and too much defensive responsibility negated any width which we needed. This didnt help us to retain possession because the centre of the pitch was too crowded and as soon as players  received the ball they were immediately under pressure. This changed in the second half when Kuyt moved to the left which gave Johnson more room to push forward. One of his runs resulting in our first goal.

• Joe Cole's performance: Without being over critical, he was basically on the perifery of the game without ever really showing his best. As mentioned previously our poor short passing game and our eagerness to play the long ball forward to Ngog contributed to his inability to get involved. At times he showed nice touches without doing the job which was needed, namely retain possession and create chances for others. At one point in the second half he tried to take down a ball into the box with his shoulder when Ngog had made a great run and simply needed the ball to be headed into his path for a strike on goal. I feel that at the moment Joe is trying too hard to please and he will surely calm down when results pick up and the weight is off his shoulders, then we will see the real Joe Cole.

POSITIVES:

• The second half performance: We came back into the game in the second half. Our passing game improved and we started making a bit more space to receive passes. Glen Johnson and Martin Kelly also started pushing on further which gave us a bit more width. We seemed better able to stop Trabsonspors attacks and started to build some of our own. The fact that we were able to pick ourselves up again after another poor performance in the first half shows a good strength of character in the team. It also shows Roy's motivational skills in the fact that we looked a better team that in the first half.

• Martin Kelly's perfomance: Another 90 minutes for Martin Kelly can only help his progression along. I think he looks a really good prospect. He is only 20 not 21 until April until next year but already he looks like he is not out of his depth. He still has a lot to learn but this kind of game in a hostile atmosphere is what should bring him along to the next level.

• The Result: In a game where we never hit top form and where we were missing Gerrard, Torres, Agger, Rodriguez and Jovanovic were missing we still managed to not only get through the game but also record a victory to become the first English team to win in Turkey.

• Confidence: To come from 1-0 behind at half time and win 2-1, with such a depleted squad should give our whole team confidence as the season moves on. It was the kind of result that can kick start our seas, as long as we follow it up with a victory against West Brom on the Weekend.