What's worrying me is that Dalglish makes a lot of the same mistakes over and over again, and seems to want to stubbornly shoehorn his own signings into the team, regardless of whether they're in form or in their right positions. This is all the more frustrating given how well we played in a different system under Kenny last season.
For instance, would anyone really argue that, had Maxi played the amount of games that Downing has, he wouldn't have bettered his output? I also think that if Meireles was indeed marginalised and we thought that selling him was no big deal, then that was a huge mistake.
How on earth did Kenny come to the conclusion that Charlie Adam should've been reinstated?
Meireles apart, we basically still have the core squad that was tearing teams apart in a 4-3-3-ish formation last season, but we basically never try that because Kenny wants to play 4-4-2 most of the time, with unsuitable players (some of whom he's signed).
Everybody makes mistakes, but some of the ones Kenny's made have been grave, and some of them he's repeated over and over. Anytime I see Charlie Adam in a midfield two (apart from with Lucas, who's good enough to cover most of Adam's faults), every time I see Henderson on the wing, every time I see Maxi twiddling his thumbs whilst players like Downing are struggling, every time I see our players refuse to take creative responsibility and revert to slinging in hopeless crosses from 40 yards back (Enrique and Downing both did this within minutes of each other last night) - every time I see stuff like this, I see Kenny as Sideshow Bob stepping on a rake, getting smashed in the face, and then doing it again and again and again.
We completely lost our fluidity yesterday, and whilst the goals were down to bad defending, it was a symptom of Kenny not addressing our waning performance. We play like a team that now has an almost fatalist expectancy to struggle to score, and once we were 2-0 up we actually looked surprised and had no idea what to do. IMO QPR sensed this, and after they got their first, I thought our chances of winning were slim, because we were in a malaise.
Mistakes
posted on 22/3/12
Maybe there weren't any; I'd still call selling Mascherano and replacing him with Poulsen asset-stripping, though.
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That isn't what I would call it.
And to be honest Mascherano has been replaced by Lucas, who was purchased by Rafa during H&G's tenure.
posted on 22/3/12
Mascherano has been replaced by Lucas, who was purchased by Rafa during H&G's tenure.
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No.
That'd be like if United had sold Ronaldo and not bought Valencia (or, instead, bought Matthew Etherington) with the rationale that Nani had been bought a couple of years previously - you're still losing a massive member of your squad and not replacing him.
posted on 22/3/12
you're still losing a massive member of your squad and not replacing him.
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Not if you are replacing him with someone from within your squad, surely.
And especially if that someone turns out to be a far better player, which I think Lucas will.
I do get your point though.
posted on 22/3/12
I get what you mean about replacing from within, but choosing from Gerrard, Meireles, Lucas and Mascherano is far better than choosing from Gerrard, Meireles, Lucas and Poulsen.
That's the sort of thing that had become systematic under their regime as it wore on, and whilst it's a bit more indirect than selling Mascherano, putting the cash in a suitcase and walking into the sunset, they were still selling our best players and replacing them with pap, so that they could take money that should be used for transfers and use it for their debts.
Luckily, they weren't awfully bright about it, and needed help to keep the banks away, eventually losing control of the club. Incidentally, that's what disgusts me most about the Glazers; through a mixture of being clever about it and Ferguson being a great manager, they look like they'll have successfully paid off their debt with tons of United's money.
Disgusting stuff, no matter what club it happens to.
posted on 22/3/12
they were still selling our best players and replacing them with pap,
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I think you can put some of that down to Rafa, to be fair.
Don't get me wrong here, H&G were a total pair of 's but you can't really lay all of Liverpool's ailments on them.
posted on 22/3/12
We always improved under Rafa when he had money to spend, though.
Sure, he didn't do well when the purse-strings started tightening (I love Glen Johnson, however buying a right-back for 18m when there's other areas to be strengthened was a very poor decision) - but he should never have been put in that position anyway.
There's not much wrong with having a manager that needs money when your club generates a lot of it. One of my problems with Dalglish is that he got the squad that Rafa and Hodgson left over to play some sparkling stuff last season, but when he spent shedloads of money he hasn't bought awfully well.
This is where the stubbornness comes in - after all of his buys, he still had all of the players from last season in the squad, but Meireles was sold, Maxi has barely played (despite popping up with some important goals and assists when he has) and the system's completely different.
Kenny's been the anti-Rafa; brilliant when his options were limited, but not as good when allowed to mould the squad.
posted on 22/3/12
Can I just add, that regardless of who is to blame, I am getting so tired of the 'we were unlucky' excuse.
Thanks.
posted on 22/3/12
Hi wishi
And yes, I'd second that.
posted on 22/3/12
I am getting so tired of the 'we were unlucky' excuse.
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Especially when it is related to hitting the woodwork. if it didn't hit the woodwork, it would either be a goal or it would miss altogether. A 50/50 split, so luck not a factor at all really.
posted on 22/3/12
Doc
Bad luck for one or two games could be considered unlucky, for virtually every other game should be considered a major problem!
Kenny's comments worried me last night. They were Hodgson-esque, sounded like he'd given up, that it wasn't just the team who were beaten. Maybe he has a cunning plan up his sleeve, but I wish he'd put it in place, like now!