Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Scousers do the double
It was a pretty fair result. Liverpool played quite well, and we played fairly poorly. It was weird seeing all the new faces! We started really poorly and for most of the match looked disinterested and slow. We had our moments though - Yossi's chance was great. We have GOT to win these next two games.
Player ratings
Carroll 6 - did OK, still want Green back. (har har)
McCartney 6 - well involved but got caught out.
Dailly 5 - not confident at all but won some headers.
Davenport 6 - some good signs but is not yet settled. Looks to be a good signing, as I thought he would be. He made some nervous mistakes, particularly giving the ball away, but more often he would put in some good tackles, work hard, and pushed forward. He passed well too, most of the time. I hope he settles in.
Spector 6 - not as good as I've seen him in the past, and caught out of position a couple of times.
Quashie 7 - looks like a great signing - runs a good 25% faster than Mullins, has better footwork, better and more incisive passing, and a better work rate. He gets tons of ball and got us out of trouble many times, and also always makes himself available for a pass. Not only that but he seemed to allow NRC into the game more. Excellent stuff. Not a world beater but I'm happy with him.
Yossi 6 - one or two flashes of the old Yossi but had trouble exerting his influence.
NRC 6 - got into the game better than previously. What's with the stupid decision making, i.e. shooting from 30 yards when there are three passes on? But seems to be coming back to form.
Boa Morte 6 - looking for trouble, and didn't do much. I was hoping for more from him and he was lucky not to get booked.
Cole 5 - tried hard.
Harewood 5 - poor. Took one decent shot and hardly involved - should have been taken off much earlier.
Z-man 6 - woke us up.
Kopa Blanco 7 - must say I was underwhelmed by his loan deal, knew nothing about him, and had no expectations. I groaned when I saw he was coming on. However from his first few touches - even disregarding the goal - he looked a cut above the rest of the team. Very professional and European. He looks very confident and just has a different manner about him. I was quite impressed and look forward to seeing more of him.
Player ratings
Carroll 6 - did OK, still want Green back. (har har)
McCartney 6 - well involved but got caught out.
Dailly 5 - not confident at all but won some headers.
Davenport 6 - some good signs but is not yet settled. Looks to be a good signing, as I thought he would be. He made some nervous mistakes, particularly giving the ball away, but more often he would put in some good tackles, work hard, and pushed forward. He passed well too, most of the time. I hope he settles in.
Spector 6 - not as good as I've seen him in the past, and caught out of position a couple of times.
Quashie 7 - looks like a great signing - runs a good 25% faster than Mullins, has better footwork, better and more incisive passing, and a better work rate. He gets tons of ball and got us out of trouble many times, and also always makes himself available for a pass. Not only that but he seemed to allow NRC into the game more. Excellent stuff. Not a world beater but I'm happy with him.
Yossi 6 - one or two flashes of the old Yossi but had trouble exerting his influence.
NRC 6 - got into the game better than previously. What's with the stupid decision making, i.e. shooting from 30 yards when there are three passes on? But seems to be coming back to form.
Boa Morte 6 - looking for trouble, and didn't do much. I was hoping for more from him and he was lucky not to get booked.
Cole 5 - tried hard.
Harewood 5 - poor. Took one decent shot and hardly involved - should have been taken off much earlier.
Z-man 6 - woke us up.
Kopa Blanco 7 - must say I was underwhelmed by his loan deal, knew nothing about him, and had no expectations. I groaned when I saw he was coming on. However from his first few touches - even disregarding the goal - he looked a cut above the rest of the team. Very professional and European. He looks very confident and just has a different manner about him. I was quite impressed and look forward to seeing more of him.
Posted by whubris at 9:49 am
said...
I was heartened by our last half hour. If we play with that intensity, we should be able to pick up some points and stay up.
The missing ingredient is "confidence". A couple of wins on the trot will fix that. Let's hope it's soon.
Dave said...
Can't beleive what you've said about Quashie. I thought he looked like a midtable championship player today! Thought he had a very good game vs Newcastle but was responsible for alot of Liverpool's pressure by gifting their midfield with loose passes.
In addition to Quashie I thought Boa Morte looked retarded today. He hardly ever took on his man which is the least you should expect from your wingers.
Beex - usually I would agree with your comments there but really don't think Dailly did anything wrong today and actually did a lot of good winning some important headers. I'd be more concerned with Spector and our frail midfield on today's performance.
Dave said...
Greg - all very well being heartened by our last half our but surely you were totally disheartened by the first hour??? We should've played like that from the off and to be honest there is little excuse as to why we were not up for it.
Dave said...
Sorry to comment in pieces but I keep seeing things. You have put about NRCs silly decisions - why shoot from 30 yards. I thought he had so little support and movement from other players that he had little or no option. Yeah they were shit shots but what you gonna do if nobody is getting in a decent postion to receive the ball?? He was the only one that looked like he knew what to do out there - everyone else was out thought and outplayed.
said...
Dave - I was heartened by the last half hour because it was much better than the first half. I agree, they should have played like that from the start, however the lack of confidence is killing us. I thought we looked scared to take them on, whereas as the game progressed, so did our confidence. we could easily have rolled over and copped another 2-3 goals.
whubris said...
whu-au - we offer a variety of opinions :-)
Still thought Quashie looked good. Yeah he made some mistakes but I thought that was because he had so much of the ball and players weren't making themselves available. Also Liverpool were swarming all over midfield and giving nobody much time, but the one player who seemed to have more time was Quashie.
IIRC in both instances where NRC took a shot, there were better options available. He does look a whole lot better than he did mind you. I'm with Beex regarding Dailly, he didn't do all that much wrong apart from tangling with Davenport but I had absolutely no confidence in him. His passing was very unsure - he only wanted to pass to Davenport or Carroll. He just looked like he had no confidence at all and I was worried about him.
Confidence is the biggest thing for sure - you can see it in the way they play and the way they carry themselves. Only Green and (in his 5 second debut) Blanco are showing any level of confidence. They're working hard to win the ball, but are not working hard to keep it and IMO that's a sign of low confidence.
said...
Dave, Dailly is a battler and I'll give him that but only that. Whenever he's been in our side he looks shaky. Yeah he won some headers but they looked all over the place at the back. I'm actually a fan of Carroll and yep he'll make 2 or 3 excellent saves in a game but he is not inspiring confidence in our defence I'm sure of that and his distribution is terrible. Green looks commanding, assured in the air and I think Curbs is punishing him for no good reason. Admittedly we're a patchwork side right now but the heart of the problem is the defence and goalkeeper. Blanco looked good, neat touches. I thought Marlon ran his heart out didn't have a great game. Yossi eventually came good. You can smell the fear in the side. Players used to taking people on aren't doing it. To his credit NRC is working bloody hard in midfield but our playmakers are letting us down too.
I still think we'll stay up but forget it if we lose to Charlton and Watford.
Dave said...
I agree with what you say beex but just think in this particular game they were not stand out poor performers. I thought Dailly was our best defender which in itself says alot - a hell of alot! And I don't mean that Dailly is good! ;-)
Dave said...
Graham - not having a go at you at all mate and I appreciate we have a variety of opinions on here. :-)
I just think it's interesting that you thought Quashie was good as I thought he was the root of the evil in our side today. I guess we all see different things eh.
beggers said...
Only saw the first half, bloody work interfering with my life! Anyway, we, understandably, looked edgy against a pretty good side.
Thought Quashie was alright and NRC was finally getting into it. Green for me. Carroll (Forrest Gump), is like a box of chocolates, 'you never know what you're gonna get'. Pretty lame I know but Carroll can be great but in the same game he can be shit. LBM looks unfit, he didn't contribute much and needs to improve heaps. He's a better player than that. Yossi was in and out of the game. He needs to get the ball way more.
Davernport looked good, Dailly as usual, did what was asked of him, Spector look fragile and Macca was ok but offers little going forward.
Didn't see much of Cole and Marlon had one decent shot and a decent run. Neither striker was given a clear cut opportunity in the 1st half.
Great that Blanco scored. Long may it continue.
Thought we might squeak a draw but a lose was not unexpecetd.
As per Daves predictions, I think we're still on track.
The Sheffield result was a heart breaker but thankfully Wigan keep losing.
Bring on Villa!
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said...I was heartened by our last half hour. If we play with that intensity, we should be able to pick up some points and stay up.
The missing ingredient is "confidence". A couple of wins on the trot will fix that. Let's hope it's soon.
Dave said...Can't beleive what you've said about Quashie. I thought he looked like a midtable championship player today! Thought he had a very good game vs Newcastle but was responsible for alot of Liverpool's pressure by gifting their midfield with loose passes.
In addition to Quashie I thought Boa Morte looked retarded today. He hardly ever took on his man which is the least you should expect from your wingers.
Beex - usually I would agree with your comments there but really don't think Dailly did anything wrong today and actually did a lot of good winning some important headers. I'd be more concerned with Spector and our frail midfield on today's performance.
Dave said...Greg - all very well being heartened by our last half our but surely you were totally disheartened by the first hour??? We should've played like that from the off and to be honest there is little excuse as to why we were not up for it.
Dave said...Sorry to comment in pieces but I keep seeing things. You have put about NRCs silly decisions - why shoot from 30 yards. I thought he had so little support and movement from other players that he had little or no option. Yeah they were shit shots but what you gonna do if nobody is getting in a decent postion to receive the ball?? He was the only one that looked like he knew what to do out there - everyone else was out thought and outplayed.
said...Dave - I was heartened by the last half hour because it was much better than the first half. I agree, they should have played like that from the start, however the lack of confidence is killing us. I thought we looked scared to take them on, whereas as the game progressed, so did our confidence. we could easily have rolled over and copped another 2-3 goals.
whubris said...whu-au - we offer a variety of opinions :-)
Still thought Quashie looked good. Yeah he made some mistakes but I thought that was because he had so much of the ball and players weren't making themselves available. Also Liverpool were swarming all over midfield and giving nobody much time, but the one player who seemed to have more time was Quashie.
IIRC in both instances where NRC took a shot, there were better options available. He does look a whole lot better than he did mind you. I'm with Beex regarding Dailly, he didn't do all that much wrong apart from tangling with Davenport but I had absolutely no confidence in him. His passing was very unsure - he only wanted to pass to Davenport or Carroll. He just looked like he had no confidence at all and I was worried about him.
Confidence is the biggest thing for sure - you can see it in the way they play and the way they carry themselves. Only Green and (in his 5 second debut) Blanco are showing any level of confidence. They're working hard to win the ball, but are not working hard to keep it and IMO that's a sign of low confidence.
said...Dave, Dailly is a battler and I'll give him that but only that. Whenever he's been in our side he looks shaky. Yeah he won some headers but they looked all over the place at the back. I'm actually a fan of Carroll and yep he'll make 2 or 3 excellent saves in a game but he is not inspiring confidence in our defence I'm sure of that and his distribution is terrible. Green looks commanding, assured in the air and I think Curbs is punishing him for no good reason. Admittedly we're a patchwork side right now but the heart of the problem is the defence and goalkeeper. Blanco looked good, neat touches. I thought Marlon ran his heart out didn't have a great game. Yossi eventually came good. You can smell the fear in the side. Players used to taking people on aren't doing it. To his credit NRC is working bloody hard in midfield but our playmakers are letting us down too.
I still think we'll stay up but forget it if we lose to Charlton and Watford.
Dave said...I agree with what you say beex but just think in this particular game they were not stand out poor performers. I thought Dailly was our best defender which in itself says alot - a hell of alot! And I don't mean that Dailly is good! ;-)
Dave said...Graham - not having a go at you at all mate and I appreciate we have a variety of opinions on here. :-)
I just think it's interesting that you thought Quashie was good as I thought he was the root of the evil in our side today. I guess we all see different things eh.
beggers said...Only saw the first half, bloody work interfering with my life! Anyway, we, understandably, looked edgy against a pretty good side.
Thought Quashie was alright and NRC was finally getting into it. Green for me. Carroll (Forrest Gump), is like a box of chocolates, 'you never know what you're gonna get'. Pretty lame I know but Carroll can be great but in the same game he can be shit. LBM looks unfit, he didn't contribute much and needs to improve heaps. He's a better player than that. Yossi was in and out of the game. He needs to get the ball way more.
Davernport looked good, Dailly as usual, did what was asked of him, Spector look fragile and Macca was ok but offers little going forward.
Didn't see much of Cole and Marlon had one decent shot and a decent run. Neither striker was given a clear cut opportunity in the 1st half.
Great that Blanco scored. Long may it continue.
Thought we might squeak a draw but a lose was not unexpecetd.
As per Daves predictions, I think we're still on track.
The Sheffield result was a heart breaker but thankfully Wigan keep losing.
Bring on Villa!
