Where are the Real Problems at Liverpool FC?

Being a Liverpool fan at the moment feels like some sort of cruel and unusual punishment. Its been this way for a long time now, certainly last season and this. In fact its been so hard that its easy to forget that less than two years ago we finished the season in second place with a record points haul for a team who failed to win the league.

Last season was extremely difficult to take, in fact it was probably made even more difficult because of coming so close the previous season, but it was where the torture began. A lot of supporters put this down to the manager at the time (Rafa Benitez) and called for his head. This argument was clearly ignorant to the bigger issues affecting our club concerning the finances, ownership and power struggle. This argument was usually supported by untruths read and heard throughout the media which made out we had spent as much as our rivals and had wasted more money. Regardless of the reasons behind their stance the people who felt this way got their wish over the summer and the manager was relieved of his duties "by mutual consent" as the official line goes but what was clearly a sacking (Martin Broughton our chairman basically said as much in an interview on the official site shortly afterwards). When this happened I know the people who had wished for this felt that our problems may very well be over, Guus Hiddink or Martin O'Neill would soon be hired and they would be given money to spend and the league championship trophy would be arriving within 12 months.

What actually happened was Roy Hodgson was given the job, a steady hand people said, a man to steady the ship. It was an uninspiring but safe appointment which disappointed some but appeased most. Whats happened since Roy has arrived has been hard to take for everybody. We have suffered poor results and we have been playing some very negative and unexciting football. This has resulted in people voicing their discontent very loudly, Roy has not earned our respect you see so its alright to slag him off before giving him a chance, never mind the fact that he has had the job for about 10 minutes or that he has been given approximately £20 million to spend in order to replace about £45 Million worth of talent leaving the club. The game against Northampton on Wednesday was the final straw for most. "He needs to go now they are saying, before things get worse. Just to clear things up I want people to know that I was very much a Pro-Rafa Liverpool fan. I was among those who was disappointed when Roy was given the job, and I have been as disheartened as anyone else with how we have played so far this season.

However, to fall into the same trap again of placing the blame for all of Liverpools ills at the managers door would be playing right into the hands of the Torture masters who are in control of Liverpool Football Club, namely Hicks & Gillett (with dis-honourable mentions for messers Purslow& Broughton. Liverpool fans muct not allow themselves to be distracted from the real problems afflicting our club. We must take action in anyway we can.

Remember a loss can hurt like hell, but you might win next week. A poor season hurts too but there is always next season!

Please take the time to read some of the following further information on the problems we face and guides to how you can act to help Liverpool Football Club rid ourselves of these evils.

LINK: THE PROBLEMS

LINK: WHAT YOU CAN DO

Man Utd 3 - 2 Liverpool (Positives and Negatives)

Sorry for the delay in posting this. Obviously, this was a particularly hard game to look at calmly given the score line and the manner of defeat. I have had another look at the higlights (lowlights?) and have come up with some positives which i think we can focus on rather than just the negatives.

As always please feel free to leave comments on here if you agree or disagree with anything.

NEGATIVES



The first half performance: As has been the case throughout the season so far, we took too long before imposing our selves on the opposition, we sat back early on and gave Utd confidence.

Defensive Frailty: For all the possession we gave away throughout the game one major point is that two of the goals we conceded could have been avoided. For their first goal Torres did not challenge Berbatov strongly enough, but even then his effort could have been stopped had Konchesky not abandoned the post he was supposed to cover for no apparent reason. For the eventual winner John O’Shea was given far too much time to pick a cross, and Jamie Carragher made a very weak challenge in trying to rise with Berbatov.

The wide area’s: Again this has been a recurring point, but although we tried different personal the result was the same. It was Joe Cole and Maxi Rodriguez’s turn this week and neither player made much of an impact on the game, Cole’s performance was however an improvement on the invisible Argentine’s. I am genrally a fan of Maxi but this was a particularly poor performance. As for Cole, well he did have a few nice touches and he is a positive player but in his two “big” games as a Liverpool player (Arsenal & Utd) he has been on the periphery.

Lack of chances: Yet again we failed to create any real opportunities. Torres got the ball in a dangerous area twice and won us a free kick and a penalty from which our goals came. I cant help but be worried though that we are becoming very reliant on set pieces to get us goals.


POSITIVES


Merieles: Although he didn’t do anything outstanding, he did help us to up the tempo of our game. He helped us keep possession and in the second half he definitely helped move the ball up the pitch more quickly and effectively. Its still early days but the signs are promising.

Christian Poulson's performance: In the first half he struggled to get involved but having looked at the highlights again (with a clearer mind) he was heavily involved when we went on top for a period in the second half. He broke up play and gave the ball quickly to a team mate (often Stevie) to get us attacking quickly and basically did an effective defensive midfield job. He's no Mascherano (who is?... well Mascherano is) but he can do a job and this was his most promising performance in red so far.

Torres’ impact: Ok don’t be alarmed, I am not deluded. I know his form has not been at its best so far this season, and this game was no exception. I do however think more is being made of his form that is necessary, I also think its hard to expect much better when he gets very little of the ball the way we are playing right now. What I am highlighting here is the fact that even when out of form he directly impacted to help us score two goals in this game. Once winning a penalty and once winning a free kick, to show that even out of form he can still be effective.

The end of a very difficult group of fixtures: since the beginning of the season we seem to be going from one pressure game to the next, with this game out of the way we are looking at two home games against Sunderland and Blackpool coming up next, although these certainly wont be easy games, there is no reason why we cant hope for 6 points from these games.

Liverpool 4 - 1 Steaua Bucharest (Positives and Negatives)

Well, thank God for that! Finally, a result to get excited about and a promising performance to offer some hope for the season ahead. Roy (as expected) put out a weakened side but the players still managed a convincing victory to get our Europa League season off to a great start.


As always though, it is important to not be blinded by the scoreline and think of the whole performance rather than just the scoreline. That is after all the whole point of this feature.

 NEGATIVES:



The first half performance: I think when Joe Cole forced the Steaua defender into a poor back pass and then brilliantly finished past the undecided keeper a lot of fans would have expected the shackles to come off this Liverpool team and for us to take the game to them from there, unfortunately that did not happen. We sat back, conceded possession and invited pressure, in the same way we have done in most of our games so far. This eventually lead to their goal which, although it was cancelled out in the end, could have been more damaging had we been playing against a better caliber of opposition.



The Pace of our Central Defenders: Although this was a second choice defensive partnership (In fainess to Agger, he is only second choice at the moment due to him helping out at left back earlier in the season) they seemed to suffer from a problem which also afflicts our first choice central pair, in that none of the four has particularly good pace, this offers very little recovery when an attacker manages to get in behind, this was apparent twice with Kyriagos in particular, once for their goal and once when a striker had freedom in the 6 yard box (only for Reina to save his shot, and for him to be ruled offside anyway). This is probably another reason why Roy is instructing the players not to press the opposition, for fear of them being caught out of position and being unable to get back.


Lack of Creativity: This point has come up in almost in almost every “Positives and Negatives” article so far, but unfortunately it can’t be ignored. The result was fantastic, and to score 4 goals in a game is no mean feat, but the goals (apart from goal number 4) did not come about from great through balls, tricks or invention at all really.

Think back on it:


1st goal scored from a poor back pass.
2nd goal scored from the Penalty spot after a pull in the box when defending a corner.
3rd goal a tackle leads the ball to Lucas who smashes home from 25/30 yards (excellent stike, who says he offers nothing going forward?)


In fairness the 4th goal came from decent attacking play with a few players involved before the ball fell nicely for Ngog to finish very well. I still feel we will need more than this to get a result on Sunday but hopefully a full strength will bring some greater invention.






POSITIVES:






The second half performance: Having felt deflated and frustrated at half time, I was expecting more of the same from the second half but I was pleasantly surprised to see us improve greatly. Our passing was better and more often forwards, rather than backwards. Our movement was better in showing for the ball and I felt we gave the opposition less time and space on the ball. Surely Roy deserves credit here for inspiring the team at half-time.






The “weakened” team: Some stand out performances from a few players. David Ngog took his goals very well and I still fail to understand the stick he gets, he’s not the finished article but he is a great prospect and is always improving, he gets a ridiculous amount of goals for someone so young! Martin Kelly, this kid really does look class, I have yet to see him look out of his depth in any performance, if he needed to start in the Premier League I would not be worried. Ryan Babel gave us a different option when attacking, he did get caught in possession once or twice but that’s to be expected from a player who is trying to beat people, I feel a big performance is on its way as he continues to improve. Lucas what a goal! Pacheco really looks comfortable, not ready just yet but a few more cameo’s will do him good, we need more of this type of direct attack minded player.






The “Stars”: A number of players who had not been in the side consistently for one reason or another but who performed well. Meireles, I really like the look of him, great movement and distribution. He runs all day and is willing to pop at goal. Maxi looked a little rusty (only to be expected) but a couple of nice runs and good passing meant a good nights work. Joe Cole, what a great finish! He seems to be settling in well, although he is still too inclined to try play the ball first time rather than taking control of it at times. I think he is looking good but so far only against lesser teams, if he gets the nod on Sunday we should get a decent idea of where he is!






The scoreline: Leaving aside how the goals were scored, the simple fact of winning 4-1 in Europe just before playing Man Utd in Old Trafford can only be good for confidence, confidence I feel has been lacking in our play so far this season. I hope we can get a result on Sunday and put it this way, I am more confident today than I was this time yesterday.

Birmingham City 0 - 0 Liverpool (Positives and Negatives)

This was a disappointing performance in many ways, even if a point away to Birmingham is not necessarily a poor result. I had hoped we would get to see an improvement on recent displays but unfortunately that was not the case.

NEGATIVES:

Lack of Creativity: As has been the case in pretty much all of our games this season there has been an apparent lack of creativity to our play. In fairness Joe Cole being suspended for the past 3 games has not helped on that front, and his return along with Meireles getting acclimatised can only help.

Defending Deep: In a complete change from the previous regime Liverpool have adopted a very deep line of defence. Where Benitez encouraged his players to press the opposition in order to force mistakes and win back possession Roy prefers for his players to sit deep. Although this is not necessarily a negative point in itself, at the moment playing with just Poulson and Lucas in centre midfield it means that when possession is won back our forward line is to distant with no meaningful link between midfield and attack. Hopefully we can change the midfield with either Mereiles or Gerrard coming in to bring the ball forward and possibly Cole as a link man.

Indecision:  I personally thought our lack of creativity and the need for something different was pretty obvious from quite early in the game. I thought it was therefore strange that Roy waited until the 76th minute to make his first change. Meireles came on for Lucas and I thought that his mere presence improved us as a unit. The ball seemed to get up the pitch quicker and seemed to stick up the right end of the pitch. He looked ok on the ball and his movement was good.


POSITIVES:

Pepe Reina's Performance: Another world class display from our Number 1, a display which literally could have earned us a point. Pepe has had a couple of mistakes over the last few weeks (1 against Arsenal and 2 for Spain V Argentina) this performance was a timely reminder that Pepe is (still) possibly the best goalkeeper in the world today.

Paul Koncheskey's Performance: Nothing too spectacular from our debutant at left back, he did however do well defensively and pushed forward to decent effect on a couple of occasions. Its good for him to have his debut out of the way before the game against Utd next week.

The Result: As I said in my match preview this was always going to be a difficult game, and considering we did not play very well and gave away a few decent opportunities we should really be happy to have gotten away with a point. As I said before we have some big games coming up and it is important for us not to lose games and keep momentum as long as possible.

The End of Joe Cole's Ban: This was the last game for which Joe Cole was suspended. We are desperate for creativity as i pointed out earlier. Hopefully Joe can bring this back with him and give us another option to help break teams down.

Preview: Birmingham City V Liverpool FC

Birmingham City F.C V Liverpool F.C

St. Andrews

Sunday 12th September 2010

Following a succesful International break for Ireland the Premer League action resumes this weekend. Liverpool travel to St. Andrews to play Birmingham City. In our last game we ran out 1-0 winners against West Brom thanks to a typically brilliant Fernando Torres strike. This should give the lads confidence going into what could be a tricky tie.

Last season Birmingham frustrated the Red Men on both occasions were we met them, holding us to a 2-2 draw at Anfield, and a 1-1 draw at St. Andrews. Birmingham went on to finish in 9th place in the table at the end of the season in what was a very good season for Alex McLeish's men.

For this season Birmingham have added a few players the pick of which being Alexandr Hleb, Matt Derbyshire and Ben Foster and this promises to be a difficult tie for Liverpool.

Following the international break Liverpool have been struck by a few injuries to key players as usual. This time its Dirk Kuyt and David Ngog. Kuyt will be out for the next 4 weeks at least although Ngog has a chance of being fit for this game. Aurelio is also injured (seriously, can he not stay fit for more than 2 weeks at a time) and Joe Cole is still serving his suspension. On the plus side Meireles is in line to make his debut which should excite all reds fans and players alike.

If we are being realistic we would have to look at this game and think that a draw would be a decent result, however following a difficult start to the season and considering we are travelling to Old Trafford next week a win would be very beneficial, to build confidence and momentum. I think its not too much to hope for a win but bare in mind that a draw would not be disaster. I am also hoping for an improved performance now that we have gotten our first win of the season under our belts, Meireles inclusion should help us with regard to attacking impetus and getting the ball from defence to attack more quickly. I am also interested to see whether Roy chooses to go with Lucas or Poulson in this game as both players are rested and in decent form it should be a good indication of which player he prefers right now.

BETS: This week for my bets I am going to go for a 2-0 nil win and Torres to score first.

BILL SHANKLY - HE MADE THE PEOPLE HAPPY

Shanks in front of an adoring Spion Kop

On this day in 1913 Bill Shankly was born in Glenbuck Scotland. He played for Cronberry Englington, Carlisle Utd and Preston North End and was manager at Carlisle Utd, Grimbsby, Workington and Huddersfield before arriving at his spiritual home Anfield in 1959.
When Bill Shankly arrived at Anfield in 1959, Liverpool were in the second division and going nowhere. The training ground, Melwood was a shambles and Anfield was not a pretty sight. With Roger Hunt and Ian St. John Scoring goals and Ron Yeats in defence Liverpool won promotion back to the old 1st division in the 61-62 season. In 63-64 Shankly delivered the League Title with a side which still contained the nucleus of the side which had gained promotion 2 years previously.

To summarise Bill Shankly's contribution to Liverpool I will use the words of Bob Paisley: "One man transformed Liverpool from a run-of-the-mill Second Division team into the greatest team in the world. That man, of course, was Bill Shankly. His philosophy was simple; If you are going to to play football, you play to win. While he was the making of Liverpool, there is no doubt that Anfield was the making of Bill Shankly. His character, his own enthusiasm, his will to win were so infectious."

This is just intended to be a short tribute to the great man.




MANAGERIAL RECORD:

League Matches: 609
Won: 319
Drawn: 152
Lost: 138

Best Placing:
1st in Division 1 1963/64, 1965/66 and 1972/73



HONOURS:

1961-62 - Division 2 champions

1963-64 - Division 1 champions

1964-65 - F.A. Cup Winners

1965-66 - Division 1 champions, European Cup-Winners-Cup finalists

1970-71 - F.A. Cup finalists

1972-73 - Division 1 champions, UEFA Cup winners

1973-74 - F.A. Cup winners


ANECDOTES:

IAN ST JOHN - Liverpool 1961-1971



I could confirm a thousand times the Shankly caricature. I was around, for example, one day when he took a bemused reporter into a toilet cubicle in the new dressing room at Anfield, pulled the chain and said: 'You know it refills in 15 seconds . . . it’s a world record.'"


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TOMMY SMITH



"I was trying to get fit and Shanks caught me in the medical room at Anfield with Joe Fagan shaving my leg preparatory to strapping it up. Shanks said, 'What the hell are you doing?' I said, 'I want to play, so Joe's strapping my leg.' He said, 'Don't be daft. You're not playing. Get off that table!' After a bit of an argument, I said, 'I am playing. It's my leg.' Straight away he answers back, 'It's not YOUR bloody leg. It's LIVERPOOL FC's leg. And you're bloody not playing!'"


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GEORGE BEST - Man Utd and Northern Ireland legend



"In 1967, we arrived at Anfield to play Liverpool and as I glanced out of the window of the coach I saw Bill Shankly standing at the main entrance. I was the first player to alight from the coach and when I reached the entrance Bill shook my hand warmly. 'Good to see you again, George,' he said. 'You're looking well, son.'


This was unusual for him, and knowing Shanks to be a wily old fox, I decided to hang around to try to find out what he was up to. As each of the United players entered Anfield, Shanks shook his hand, welcomed him and told him how good he looked. Eventually, Bobby Charlton, a born worrier, came up to Shanks.


'Bobby, son. Good to see you,' Shanks said, shaking his hand. 'But by God, if ever there was a man who looked ill, it's you, Bobby!'

Bobby's face went as colourless as an icicle. 'Ill? I look ill?' he repeated, running the fingers of his right hand over his forehead and down his right cheek. He was visibly shaken.

'Aye, Bobby, son. You look like you're sickening for something. If I were you I'd see a doctor as soon as you set foot back in Manchester.' Shanks patted Bobby on the back and took off down the corridor, leaving him trembling in the foyer.

In the dressing room, Bobby was conspicious by his absence and, ominously, there was a delay in announcing the team. We sat around kicking our heels, no one daring to get changed in case Matt Busby had a tactical plan which meant leaving one of us out. The thought of getting changed only to be told to put your clothes back on because you're not in the team is a player's nightmare.

Eventually Matt Busby entered the dressing room with Jimmy Murphy and told us they had reshuffled the team which had beaten West Ham the previous week. Bobby Charlton was unavailable. He'd suddenly been taken ill."

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PETER THOMPSON



One day Shanks called me into his office. As I walked in, he began swearing and saying how disappointed he was in me. I was shocked, because I had been doing exceptionally well and the team had been winning. He agreed that I was playing brilliantly and I was now more bemused, until he said, ‘I’ve just heard that you’ve got a blue car, bloody sell it!”


QUOTES:

The famous Chris Lawler story



"The only time Chris Lawler was injured was when Tommy Smith 'did' him in a five-a-side match at Melwood. We had just got the pitch levelled and Tommy, who was younger than Chris, caught him with the sole of his boot. Chris' ankle went up like a balloon, but he was only out of action for ten days.

It was around this time we were due to play Anderlecht and one day we were playing a five-a-side game and Chris, still injured was watching. The boys called Chris 'Silent Knight' because he had so little to say for himself. My team in the five-a-side was claiming a goal and I said, 'Just hold on. Chris, you were watching.' 'Yes', he said. 'Speak up, Chris,' I said, 'I can't hear you. Did you think that was a goal, Chris?' 'No, he said.' 'Good God, Chris,' I said, 'this is the first time I've heard you speak to me and you tell me a bloody lie!'"

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"Of course I didn't take my wife to see Rochdale as an anniversary present.It was her birthday. Would I have got married in the football season? Anyway,it was Rochdale reserves."
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"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."


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"If a player is not interfering with play or seeking to gain an advantage, then he should be."


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"If Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, I'd pull the curtains."

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About the "This is Anfield" plaque:



"It's there to remind our lads who they're playing for, and to remind the opposition who they're playing against."

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To Alan Ball, who'd just signed for Everton:



"Don't worry, Alan. At least you'll be able to play close to a great team!"

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At Dixie Dean's funeral:

"I know this is a sad occasion but I think that Dixie would be amazed to know that even in death he could draw a bigger crowd than Everton can on a Saturday Afternoon."


This information has mostly been taken from the excellent http://www.shankly.com/ which contains a biography and basically anything you could wish to know about the great man, including many, many more excellent quotes, anecdotes and tributes

September Fixtures

In a new feature I will be printing all the fixtures for each month at the begining of that month. My good friend in Australia is having trouble keeping up with the fixtures so I thought this might be a good place for him to keep up to date.

12-Sep-10

16:00

Premier League

Birmingham

Away

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16-Sep-10

20:05

Europa League

Steaua Bucharest

Home

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19-Sep-10

13:30

Premier League

Man Utd

Away

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22-Sep-10

20:00

Carling Cup

Northampton Town

Away

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25-Sep-10

15:00

Premier League

Sunderland

Home

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30-Sep-10

18:00

Europa League

FC Utrecht

Away