Clarke Grades Liverpool’s Start, and Other Wednesday Notes

By: Ed | September 28th, 2011

clarke Six matches into the season, and the discussion about where things stand from a Liverpool perspective, both individually and collectively, is well underway. Noel’s given us a couple of great pieces already, first looking at Andy Carroll on Monday and Charlie Adam today. While both have a titular (not like that, pervs) focus on specific individuals, both have also created excellent conversation about these individuals’ impact on the team as a whole, which, given the changes in the side, is an interesting and, in some cases, divisive topic.

But for all the discussion and potential areas of disagreement, we can probably agree that there’s more positives than negatives, there’s a general feeling of optimism despite some bobbles, and Liverpool don’t appear to have a trajectory that resembles a Hodgson-guided homing missile destined for alcoholism-inducing mediocrity. Which is nice.

* Assistant coach Steve Clarke has also weighed in on the season to date, and, depending on where you caught up with his thoughts, you might have a very different impression of his views on the start to the year. It could be a simple outlining of expectations for improved performances (Clarke expects Liverpool to improve), a defense of very normal up-and-down early season form (Steve Clarke defends Liverpool’s ‘average start’), an expected byproduct of revamping the squad during the summer (Clarke: Liverpool’s ‘average start’ down to squad revamp), or blaming the FNG’s for absolutely anything and everything that’s gone wrong (Steve Clarke blames Liverpool’s ‘ ‘average’ start on new players).

Whichever headline you choose, the quotes are basically the same:

“Without getting too carried away or too disappointed it’s probably just an average start. You’re probably looking at about a seven out of 10. Some pleasing performances and some not so pleasing, but you’d expect that from a group of players where you’ve made so many changes and you’re trying to bed a few things down.”

Even-tempered stuff that, removed from size-72 font, is a fairly bland assessment of Liverpool’s early efforts, ignoring the fact that “7 out of 10″ would be above-average assuming use of Likert-scale items to evaluate the early season, ranging from 1 being “Poulsen” to 10 being “Gerrard’s Healthy Groin.” If we’re tossing around the blame card, though, it’s not a huge stretch to say that some of the troubles we’ve witnessed have been a result of trying to “bed a few things down.” Whether or not those “things” are people named Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam is up to you to decide, but regardless, there’s inherently the expectation that “things” will either settle in or be altered to the benefit of the squad.

* On the topic of Henderson, it’s easy enough to mistake the critiques and analysis for condemnation, as there’s often little gray area when we’re talking Liverpool. You either think he’s settling in well or that he’s shit, and there’s no room in between. And if you’re not using his price tag or nationality anymore, you’re not up to speed. Lucas has a slightly different perspective, and given his place as the best thing to happen to Liverpool’s midfield since he was the worst thing, it’s worth listening to:

“We just have to encourage him and give him confidence so he can keep improving. He’s already adapted with the Premier League but to change clubs and to come to such a big club like Liverpool it’s always going to be hard.

“I don’t blame the young players because I’ve been in their place for a few years. I think he’s played well and he’ll get more confidence with more minutes on the pitch and understand the role that’s he’s being asked to do. He has the potential to be a good player but he’s still very young. We’ll give him time and we’ll be patient and I’m sure he’ll be a good player.”

Disappointing that he didn’t take the chance to pile on—he could have buried Henderson once and for all and ultimately spurred Martin Samuel into an overly verbose and nationalistic criticism of the poisonous influence of foreign players on England’s promising young heroes. So maybe it’s better that he didn’t. But actually it’s just nice to see someone who’s fought through years of criticism and found his way out the other side coming to the aid of a teammate whose Liverpool career, if the early signs are any indicator, might be somewhat similar.

* And lastly, in news that might make you forever question the judgment of Rafael Benitez, Dirk Kuyt has revealed that he has the feeble constitution of Liverpool’s former Ukranian dynamo to thank for his status as one of the derby’s recent heroes. Because of course:

“In my second year as a Liverpool player, it was a really tough game and the breaks went our way. I remember Rafa read out his list of penalty takers before the game and I was second choice. Andriy Voronin was first on the list.

“When the referee gave the first penalty, Andriy came to me and asked whether I wanted it because he didn’t feel too confident. I said: ‘No problem…I’ll take it.’ I was so happy to score the first one and when the second one came around, I didn’t hesitate. You know that if you miss it, you probably draw the game but it feels like a loss because it’s in the last minute. To score the winner; it was one of the best feelings I’ve experienced in my Liverpool career.”

So to recap: Andriy Voronin was ahead of Kuyt, Steven Gerrard, Yossi Benayoun, and whothefuckeverelse on Rafa’s list, but eventually found the nerves to be more overwhelming than his golden braid could handle. Thankfully Voronin soon found his way to pastures Pantener, Kuyt proved himself to be up for it in one of the most memorable examples of his big game potential, and we can all look back and laugh nervously before changing the subject.

I’ll be back late tonight/early tomorrow with a preview and matchday thread for the youngsters’ crucial home match with Molde in the NextGen Series, but in the meantime you can use Nicholas Cage as your inspiration for how to react to the revelation that Andriy Voronin was once considered a better option than Dirk Kuyt to do…anything (language NSFW):

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: Miscellaneous, Team News

« Charlie Adam: The First Six Games | Home | Preview & Matchday: Liverpool U19s v. Molde FK U19s »

Latortillablanca

in respect to ed's thing btw - and individually its been beat to death - as a team, C+/B- for me so far. we've only taken like the one quiz (the hens) and there was that one bullshit hw assignment (the potters), which we cuda/shuda/wuda. but still have plenty of time just gotta apply ourselves a bit more and keep goin to class, and we got just as much of a chance to have an A season as anyone else...
Suarez from the car park...

Voronin was such a disappointment after his exploits in other leagues, where he couldn't stop scoring (not in the adult movie sense). Gave the media another stick to beat Rafa with.

Clearly light years behind Kuyt, I wonder if he had taken and scored that penalty, his confidence might have risen and made him more adventurous/effective rather than the damp squib he turned out to be.
Jose Enrique's bicep

Any word on when Glen Johnson might come back?
Ed

From the offal today, which doesn't exactly tell you anything:

"Daniel Agger is back training today and Glen Johnson is on his way as well. Everybody else has trained fully."
Latortillablanca

unless kelly's injured, does it matter?
Suarez from the car park...

he's supposed to be a centre back?
Latortillablanca

u mean kelly? not yet he aint no cb... btw, have all of these hamstring injuries/set backs that johnson has had been to the same leg? cuz this is some straight up arsenal shit from him already...
Ryan

Nicholas Cage never had any shit to lose..
Geoff Twentyman

Last season it looked as though we were moving away from the destroyer/passer/creator midfield of Masch/Alonso and Gerrard. Like we had to get used to moving away from the 4-4-2 of Houllier when Rafa started to use this foreign 1 striker system, it didn't feel quite right.

With Lucas, Aquilani an Meireles, I thought we were going to be introducing a new dawn of fluid adaptable, flexible and interchangeable centre midfielders not limited by an awesome asset.

By an awesome asset I refer to Xabi's passing/Masch's tackling and Stevies bursts forward. Please note I am not criticising them for being one dimensional, I am just highlighting that in spite of those strengths, there were weaknesses that needed the help of the team dynamic. Xabi was the most amazing quarterback but his lack of pace meant he needed Masch for the dirty work and because of his lack of pace he sat deeper in the midfield meaning that Masch also did, meaning they needed someone dynamic in front of them linking the forward play.

Lucas was always seen as a poor mans Masch and Aquilani was unfairly viewed as an Alonso replacement. We've discussed to the enth degree that Lucas is not just the destroyer that Masch was. We'll never really know what Aquilani would have done for us.

In comes Meireles and strikers up a pretty good CM partnership with Lucas. OK his tackling may have been suspect, but there were lots of encouraging influential displays.

In comes Adam out goes Meireles. We've not got an improvement here with regards to the tackling issue. He looks to be less mobile which is important when recovering from forward runs or covering tackles. He also looks shy of pace meaning we will again have to sit a little deeper in midfield to accomodate.

In my view, this is fine if his passing percentage improves. it's fine if we have hardworking interchangeable forwards - I'm thinking about how Rooney/Wellbeck/Nani/Valencia/Young can all play in the attacking 4 positions. They can all drop deep, drift wide or come inside. They all have excellent movement and tenacity. They are more favoured so far this year than a $35m traditional centre forward, a one dimensional goalscorer and even their pacey and direct striker who made waves last year.

For me, the problem isn't the individuals neccessarily because as we've seen with the Masch/Alonso and Gerrard combo, the dynamic can make the individual components a success. Its knowing what style is going to get the best out of those individuals and making that work.

Thats were the challenge is and if that is done right, then the players will be able to shine.

If they don't shine, then some measure of blame lays on them. At the moment, no matter what the performance levels are, the team dynamic is still being worked out and I think the coaching staff know this. They also know that 4th is an absolute must, and I can't see Kenny sacrificing 4th to be proved right about a couple of his signings.

If he is that bloody minded, then those signings better start to gel within this team pretty quickly or Kenny will be up for some criticism.
CheekyFellow

Some of the transition play/counter-attacks under Benitez, during that 2008/2009 season especially, were just awesome to watch. Masch with a slide tackle on the 18 yard line, Alonso with an outlet pass to Gerrard, then an eventual finish by Torres. It was like watching a well oiled machine.

I hope we get back to that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Latortillablanca

agree those were awesome days, but i wud also be interested to see this team play a more tiki-taka mixed with tranditional british play of utilizing wingers and a big lug CF... city is farther along on this path than anyone, and when they're on their game, it's nearly unstoppable...
Red2death

That was some bromance between Gerrard and Torres. Hope he has as steamy a relationship with his current suitor Suarez.

You could tell how irritated Luis was that they didn't get to spend more time together, especially with Stevie's groin all healthy and raring to go...
Geoff Twentyman

It was certainly a quality midfield. In terms of the fluidity of play I'd love to get back to that level and my point is that Lucas is not Masch and Adam is not Alonso and the new dynamic needs to be discovered to maximise their abilities.

Re Rafa's era, there were some shocking performances as well; my last game at Anfield was the 2008 defeat in the FA Cup by Barnsley where that attacking fluidity & defensive balance wasn't found.
CheekyFellow

Very true. The midfield felt very stagnant at times. This season, especially around January/February, will be very interesting.
Suarez from the car park...

It is just a start. I was looking at 9 games as review time being a quarter of the season gone but with everyone's impatience it's already here.

Last season Kenny talked about only tweaking the side for moral whereas this season he talks about the importance of a squad.

What has transpired can't be labelled tweaking and while he's built a squad, he's chosen to use the early games to bed in a new midfield infront of Lucas with the nearly new attack force and the seamless gift of Enrique at left back.

That has also appeared to force the 442 formation and while the early attention was on Downing and the more forward players, the conversation it seems to me has very definitely settled on the midfield and particularly Charlie Adam's weaknesses.

Perhaps this is not surprising, he holds such a key position in spawning our plays [when Reina doesn't] and perhaps more worryingly is supposed to provide a key part of the defensive cover that Benitez obsessed about [and now we see why].

Kenny appears determined to let the new midfield play and establish themselves while all around descend into a clamour of demands for the old guard to be played instead.

There's no doubt Kenny's actions are deliberated, if grey hair inducing, I believe because that old guard have contracts that expire at the latest end of next season, none of which you would expect to be renewed despite being key to our strength right now.

That generally means it's a distinct possibility that some of them may even move on by the end of this season and it is a critical and time sensitive requirement that Liverpool are a functioning unit when the new guard is on show.

Incidentally, it also means we can look forward to new signings and join in the fun of reading the transfer tea leaves once again!

But to return to Ed's piece (ooeerrr mrs), a notable characteristic of the new season not often mentioned is the chances we've created but not finished.

While we were made into stuffed peppers by Spurs and Lucas and the defence is having to work overtime for Adam and Henderson, had we taken our chances Spurs would have been the single blot on the copybook/dead pixel on your ipad in terms of results, depending on which generation you hail from.

So while Adam and Henderson, and of course Carroll have signficant training sessions at least on the Wii to undertake, The big guns have to be more ruthless and take the chances we keep creating.

I have no idea if a midfield with Adam and Henderson will beable to compete within the top 6 and my weekends would feel far less anxious with a classier midfielder in Adam's position. But what is a certainty is if we take our chances and not waste them - which even our best player is guilty of - then we become a serious challenge within the league even while our new guard get their game straight.
Geoff Twentyman

Bellamy/Kuyt can operate wide in a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1; but they are square pegs in round holes in wide roles in a 4-4-2/4-2-2-2 where IMO they are forwards.

Henderson and Gerrard are more attacking midfielders, and perhaps the inside right position gives them the freedom to attack.

That does allude to Adam and Lucas as the more deep lying CM's. Spearing and Shelvey are the obvious 'cover' for these two, with either Hendo or Gerrard perhaps able to fill the role.

---------Carroll (No.9) or Kuyt (Poacher)------
--------------------Suarez or Bellamy--------
Downing (wide) or Maxi (drifts in)-------------
--------------------------Hendo or Gerrard--- (Att CM's tucking in)

--------Adam/Shelvey--Lucas/Spearing-------

Does this set up bring out the best of the players?
Suarez from the car park...

Currently, regardless of formation, we will still suffer in midfield which I think has been a huge strength for us in recent years. Benitez was pretty obsessed about it.

That isn't going to change until Adam and Henderson adapt their game to take on those responsibilities. I'm sure Hendo will adapt, he's got a great engine and will grow physically and mentally over the next 2 seasons, whereas currently he's easily nullified.

Adam is the leap of faith as the editors have eloquently explained on several occasions. Lucas was clearly an admired player by the Brazilian coaches even when young, and has proved so many of us wrong in his development.

With Adam, we have to trust that somehow Kenny/Steve/Keen can make the midfield an effective defensive and controlling unit which they haven't done so far.
lfc80uk

Is it just me or is Charlie Adam the oldest looking 25 year old you have ever seen!
Suarez from the car park...

Hey, he's considered seriously steaming in Glasgow. Have you seen Fat Bastard? He's supposed to be sexy.
Ed

I told my wife that she's older than him by a year. She's been depressed ever since.
Suarez from the car park...

boy, you're gonna go straight to hell for that one!
JPR

Agreed. And those choppers don't help at all.
lfc80uk

When Charlie Adam isn't spraying his 'Hollywood passes' around the field, he can be seen building dams on rivers and streams!
Suarez from the car park...

tossing cabers and fighting the english - braveheart style.
JPR

"'e wasn't right in the fucking head"!
Red2death

Well we can't fault the stats logic. Technically if we have the support players that create the most chances, and then we buy strikers like Carroll who are adept at converting them, then we should be the highest-scoring team in the league.

Too bad it hasn't worked out that way. And like you've said it's the conversion part of the equation that's not pulling its weight.

There's a dude with some numbers here http://basstunedtored.com/2011...
Latortillablanca

i for one am a bit skeptical when statistics are offered up as faultless... even commolli, with his sabermetrics, says its only one part of the decision to sign a player, why should they hold any more water when we're analysing performances? sure, it helps paint a picture, but they dont represent the whole piece...
JPR

Blanca, I just gotta say, I think Noel owes you a full days pay after what he put you through yesterday. I would send him a bill!!
Latortillablanca

lol, tksbut thered a been nothin to talk about without noel yesserday gotta hand it to him. wuda been stuck doin TPS reports instead.
JPR

Just watched Bayern hand City a masterclass in Munich. They were completely, Completely, did I say COMPLETELY outclassed. If you want to see some talented guys play as a coordinated unit and dominate a midfield, just watch that game. Ribery was magical, Kun was lost AND a step slow, Nasri and Silva were physically marked out of the game. Bayern were total class in all areas, especially midfield. Neuer had the day off. Like you yesterday, and me today.
Suarez from the car park...

we'd better learn something from that game.

Funny the way Mancini has tried to blame Tevez as a distraction.
JPR

"'e ain't right in the fucking head"!
Suarez from the car park...

And Adam can't have ticked any of the boxes on stats from his Blackpool stint.
TurnAroundKing

Beautiful as ever Ed. I think Voronin is clearly the better option if you're looking for someone to star in a dodgy European porno. Ahh miss i see your washing machine is broken, let me come inside and take a look.....
redtrev73

" .....and we can all look back and laugh nervously before changing the subject."

This caused me to snort/spew my mid-priced rioja all over my monitor whilst making some sort of mirth-induced choking noise...you humourous bastard.
Latortillablanca

wtf is a rioja?
redtrev73

'blanca, you disappoint me.
Latortillablanca

sorry bud i jus drink the wine, i dont learn its family history!
redtrev73

Fair enough mate...now u seem all noble and I come off as an elitist twat who's obsessed with alcohol....so probably about right then!!
Suarez from the car park...

truly as much of a wordsmith as you are a cheap skate at the off license.
redtrev73

You're absolutely right. I consider drunkeness to be my constitutional right, and as such, I abhor the concept of actually paying for alcohol. However, needs must...so when I'm not imbibing lighter fluid or bleach I've scavenged from the cupboards, I sometimes splash out on a nice bottle of red...y'know, to line the stomach.
Suarez from the car park...

we're one mauling away from you taking up glue sniffing then.
www.lfc4ever.co.uk

I think we are kidding ourselves if we think the re-building process which we are currently going through will bring us results in the immediate term. At best I am hoping for a qualification place for Europe, but we have to sort our central defence out. At Anfield versus Wolves we looked totally inept despite Pepe only having one or two strikes to deal with. Now that Gerrard is back I'm hoping that we move out of third gear.. as although Carragher will carry the Team, he's got enough to think about keeping up with the pace of the game. With Stevie back.. I'm convinced that all we need is Bellamy and Downing on the flanks (interchangeable just to invoke the odd periods of chaos).. and then two central defenders who at leat one of which can play either side. With Johnson back.. maybe this season we can get away with one.. but he would need to be of serious quality..
Red2death

I take satisfaction in the admission that our start is so-so - at least he knows what the expectations are.

Can't help contrasting to Hodgson, who'd probably be over the moon with 10 points from 6 games.
Suarez from the car park...

Certainly isn't terrible.

I haven't compared points with the same opposition last season, but 4 points extra from 6 games extrapolates to a little over 12 points extra from 20 games, comparing it to Hodgson's reign.

And that's very much without firing on all cylinders.
JPR

Jonny? Extrapolating is what Woy wud do to conwince us.
Suarez from the car park...

no, no, it's what you're doing when you're in the bathroom, much like when he was rubbing his face.
CheekyFellow

Oh, you mean you don't want him to spend Saturdays watching matches in the stands with Manure's manager?
Red2death

Well it wouldn't be all bad. He might learn a thing or two about 'how to win decisions and influence refs'. We really suck at that.