Premier League: Stoke 0 Liverpool 0
By: Nadia | January 10th, 2009Clearly Xabi Alonso’s presence in the midfield is sorely missed.
History repeated itself between Stoke and Liverpool, at the Britannia stadium this time. Stoke, with their stubborn defence and annoying Olympic-worthy throw-ins equipped with towels at the sidelines to wipe the ball; Liverpool, unable to get behind the generous space that Stoke’s back 4 has left behind for us to exploit, but of course, how can we rely on Kuyt to do justice for almost 60 minutes of the game.
Rafa was either a) high on his medication or b) got his head stuck among the clouds on the fact that he managed to slam S.A.F with some really impressive stats and analysis. Why he chose a 4-5-1 formation in an away game, with Kuyt as lone striker, when Torres and especially Keane has proven they could deliver the goods lately, is beyond my comprehension.
Stoke was the more dangerous side during the first half. Delap went close to scoring, but his shot hit the woodwork. Shawcross almost stole 3 points from us but his goal was ruled offside. Stoke added a lot of pressure with their incessant attackings and new signing, Etherington, who was an instant hit on the pitch and with the fans. Kuyt’s header on the 9th min was off-target, and that was probably Liverpool’s best chance in the first half.
Second half saw Liverpool sustaining most of the possessions, but with Lucas Leiva playing, it’s highly doubtful anything brilliant will come off from midfield. More so since he is quite fond of giving away silly free kicks and losing the ball. Again, not sure why Rafa decided to substitute Riera, to bring in Torres. He should have taken out Leiva or Benayoun, and get Keane in on the action as well. Gerrard almost nicked one in, but like Delap, the woodwork denied him. Wonder what Maradona thinks of our lacklustre performance :\
And so Liverpool missed another golden opportunity to go 6 points clear at the top. Fergie is probably getting a kick out of this, and let’s hope Gene Hackman does good on Super Sunday.
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Tags: 0-0, Barclays Premier League, EPL, LFC, Liverpool, Liverpool FC, Post Match Reaction, Premiership, Stoke, Team NewsSubscribe
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Comments
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I don’t think Lucas should be playing as much as he does. I don’t think he’s experienced enough to be playing as much as he does in the position he does. Especially in a game like today where he could have been taken out and, like everyone else has said, put in Torres or Keane and play a 4-4-2… or at least something that resembles an attacking formation
Posted from
United States
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Lucas played really well against Newcastle and a good string of previous games so there was no indication he would stumble with Stoke. The kid is good he just needs more confidence.
Posted from
United States -
regardless of how bad Robbie was playing, i would have picked him everytime over Kuyt .. Dirk just can’t play the lone striker role, he just doesn’t have it ..
Posted from
Canada -
What happened to Plessis? And everyone played well against Newcastle, 5-1 could have been 19-1 if not for Shay Given. I just don’t buy Lucas as a regular first teamer right now. And like steven mentioned, two holding midfielders against Stoke was not necessary. Keane is definitely no savior, but an attacking player was needed, and as fate would have it, Robbie Keane is an attacking player. Roll the dice I guess.
Posted from
United States -
Sorry Rafa, Liverpool has not quite show a champion caliber. Part of it, the approach to the game. Haven’t 0-0 in Anfield teached a lesson? Create 10 chances you cannot score, so now you need to create 20 chances. With the team put out, how many chances do you think you going to create?
Posted from
Singapore -
Unbelievable.
Obviously Alonso was injured and goes to show how much we missed him. Gerard was played out of position up front and was watching the game for 80 minutes. He should be the one getting the ball from Alonso from half way and attacking through the middle or up the right hand side. He shouldn’t be camped on the opp’s 18 yard line watiing for the ball. it was an absolute embarassment i am sure more to him than anyone else, to watch him just stand there and wait… Why Kuyt and Benayoun? He has a better chance of shooting at Palestinians than at goals…with alonso out, gerard should be in the middle to feed at keane and torres.
or keane and kuyt or torres and kuyt. mascherano and lucas were unfortuantely being used to do what alonso has been doing and had no idea. lucas feeds off alonso and mascherano is a defensive midfielder rather than holding or attacking.
you play good players out of position and people think they are useless. many players play their best games when feeding off a better player. lucas and kuyt are prime examples. not everyone is a creator/leader. even torres is better when put into positions generally by alonso and gerard, rather than when he is one on one with ball at his feet.
And Keane has a perfect right to feel unwelcome. If we stuff up this year, I hope he goes to another club and again proves just why he is worth 20mil.
Rafa you are an arrogant sook. You take for granted beating teams like stoke, hull, west ham etc and so play a B-Grade team. I said it hundred times before, i say it again, i would not be whinging whatsoever, if we played our best 11 in a decent formation and had the same result. that is fair. this was not fair to us fans. it is frustrating to watch and we cannot be excused for being so peed off. Your love affair with Kuyt is bordering on the homoerotic- and sods law says that kuyt will never pick up an injury so that we might be fortunate one day and not consider him as part of the starting 11. (maybe hell will freeze over sooner than dirk picking up an injury) and your persistence in not playing Keane and not using your full bench will cost us the title yet again. And now here comes the default Rafa answer: “we had our chances and many chances and more chances than them but were unlucky…” sory not good enough from premiership leaders. they create their own luck, hence why ManU win so much.
By leaving out our star strikers in torres and keane; kuyt will rightly feel that he is a hopeless forward and will compound his current lack of confidence. Keane doesnt care, he knows he is good. he always was. it took him a while to get going- fair enough new club etc- then when he finally scored a few, he got promptly benched. i mean ^$^$#^(*&@&^!!!!!!!!!!It’s just too much. I can’t take it anymore. So many missed opportunities throughout the last 5 years. So many ill judged tactics and formations and rotations etc, I will not be sad to see Rafa go even if we win something this year, whatever it may be.
Posted from
Australia -
Reading the posts in response to Nadia’s article, I wonder if any of you have followed LFC for more than a few years.
Seeing as the word of the moment is FACTS, I shall remind you of a few you may have forgotten:
1. Yossi and Dirk were in the starting line-up in the win against the Mancs. So they were instrumental in an amazing win but not good enough when we draw?2. Xabi’s class will always be missed but he’s injured. Why risk him?
3. The delays to wipe the ball for the throw-ins were not accounted for by the referee
4. The only differences between the line-up Rafa chose at Newcastle and that at Stoke was Aurelio for Insua, Skrtel for Agger and Riera for Babel. None of those who came in have been criticised, so it’s safe to say the criticisms aimed at Kuyt, Leiva or Benayoun are baseless.
Perhaps you should know the facts before babbling about a certain line-up being “beyond your comprehension”?
5. Rafa has spoken at length about maintaining balance in the team and thus decided to substitute Riera, to bring in Torres. Kuyt goes to the right side of the midfield, Yossi to the left and Nando goes upfront with Stevie G. Do you get it now?
6. We have in the calendar year of 2008 been the most successful team in the EPL. We didn’t win the title because we were too far BEHIND going into the year. Now that we are ahead we get people complaining that we aren’t far enough ahead? Perhaps you need to remember that Wigan are on a great run at the moment and will not be going to OT to try and outplay Utd. They will be more than happy to take a point from the game and perhaps Zaki and Heskey might make more of a game of it. It’s not a foregone conclusion that Mancs will win. Just ask Derby.
Don’t get caught up in the media’s love of the Mancs, trust in Rafa and know that we, the true supporters know and believe our time is coming. YNWA!
Posted from
United States -
saying that Alonso was missed does not mean play an injured Alosno .. it just shows how much we missed him without have him on the pitch .. slow your roll there Tiger ..
Posted from
Canada -
Steven, what makes you think Lucas is a holding midfielder?
Posted from
United States -
hey. write another one about the latest rafa rumblings and about the mancs getting 3 points and 3 goals againts chelski.
in rafa(ahahahahha) you all trust! dont you?
Posted from
Malaysia -
Hi Tiger, I respect your deep love and passion for Liverpool and Rafa, but please understand that we all have our own views and opinions. That’s what The Offside here is for! To exchange our views and opinions.
I have been following The Reds since the days of Roy Evans, John Barnes, Ian Rush, Neil Ruddock, Jason McAteer, etc etc. but I would not be what you might call a “fanatical Reds fan”, and will not claim to know more than most of the guys here. Hope you understand that by asking the guys here (Nadia included) “I wonder if any of you have followed LFC for more than a few years.” being slightly offended would not even cut it close. So in that line of thought, every Liverpool supporter should be a walking encyclopedia of the history, statistics, player profiles of Liverpool?
In my best attempt to answer your questions,
1. They were 2 different matches. They could have had a good run in 1 but a bad one in the other. Shit happens to everyone.
2. steven. has hit the point with that.
3. We couldn’t score in 90mins with 20 chances. It’s our fault. Not the referee’s.
4. The Corvette, Ford GT and Dodge Viper are fast (and decidedly, sweet) cars. So it’s safe to say that the comments about the Ford Crown Victoria being a sh*t car are baseless. I know this because the facts are all in Martha Stewart’s cookbook
5. So we are still essentially playing with a lone striker with a pair of wingers with Stevie pushed up. Tactics always work on paper. But not necessarily on the pitch. It’s ALWAYS debatable. We can always settle this in the age-old tried-and-tested method. CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER!!! ;-P
6. Seriously dude, who doesn’t want to be leading the league by a gazillion points?! A draw is not a point earned. It’s 2 points dropped. But I gotta agree with you to a certain extent. Let’s give Manure some glimmer of hope for now. Create some drama, then nick it from under their noses!!!
YNWA!
Posted from
Taiwan -
Supertiger,
Having started following liverpool at the age of 9 when our mate craig johnston donned the reds jersey back in the mid 80’s i think i have a little understanding.
what i do despise is blind faith and one eyed support for anyone and anything. i came from a muslim theocracy to australia to get away from this blind faith crap. to see fans of which ever team display this overzealous fanatical support really gets up my goat.
to question is to keep those whoom you question on their toes. complacency results otherwise. and if you don’t question the status quo then you might as well go and live in cuba/china/iran/saudi arabia.in rafa we trust? let’s look at that phrase a bit shall we? “in god we trust” is printed on the US dollar bills. enought said…. (unless you’ve had your head burried in the sand for the past 6 months)
it is the USA national moto and it will be this blind and ignorant faith that will doom them unless people like obama, kennedy and lincoln don’t try to enlighten the masses.
were you watching the same game? did you see gerard standing there. more like a spectator than the heart and sole of the team? i’ve rarely seen mascherano come past the half way line like the did on sat. but don’t worry about defence or midfield. let’s concentrate on forward lines and channels. where is keane? can anyone without a personal problem against this guy answer why he hasn’t played two PL games in a row? especially after scoring 3 times in previous 2 games?
FACT: stoke is tough but both chelsea and manu left with wins. FACT: stoke is tough but it is sitting 4th last
anyway, we played a horrible game. we knew we played badly well before half time. rafa being stubborn, kept with the team for 1 hour before subbing, when he should’ve brought torres and keane on at half time, take off lucas, kuyt, benayoun or riera and put gerard in the middle. how could we fail? this is the best formation we have period. no matter what rafa tries and how desparate he is to show we aren’t one dimensional. we rely on gerard, alonso and a little of riera for creativity. noone else offers anything like they do in our team. lucas and maschareno are not attacking enough. these are the facts. (not having an extra minute because of time wasting for cleaning a wet football is trivial and not the reason we drew)
Guys, fact is, we’re running out of so-called easy games to win. and don’t forget, in previous years, we have played well in second half of the year, when out of contention and rafa stops playing around with line ups and formations. this year is different, how much longer will rafa mess around? how much longer will we not have a core 11 that has played together for more than 1 game in a row? that has gelled and has intuitive knowledge of eachother’s movements?
i hope to god i am wrong and that we win the league or at least chelski and manu lose it…Posted from
Australia -
Tiger –> Lucas isn’t a holding midfielder but he was deployed in a holding midfield role .. end of.
Amir –> although i can agree with the phrase “in rafa we trust” is quite dumb, he’s also the manager who brought home the Champions League and FA Cup as well as STEADILY improving our results (i’m sure they the stats don’t need to be posted) over the last 4 years in charge .. blind faith is one thing but confidence is another .. “in rafa we have confidence” isn’t quite as catchy ..
Posted from
Canada -
And somewhere Sir Alex is reading this saying, “dance puppets, dance…”
Posted from
United States -
Hi Amir! Yes, I agree with your beef about blind faith by over-zealous soccer fans!
While some of us think that football is our religion, Anfield is our temple and Torres is our god, I hope that we can keep our religious views out of what is an essentially soccer-oriented blog.
Thanks for your kind understanding, dude.Posted from
Taiwan -
that’s cool kai,
I guess essentially some people lead and others follow…be it football, religion, politics etc
Posted from
Australia -
and some people say unsubstantiated, stupid, bullshit comments anonymously on football blogs…
Posted from
United States -
This one game could cost us the Title because this was a chance to have created a gap with the other leaders from the game at Anfield we knew that they (as someone mentioned)would park their team bus infront of goal and for god sake u ve paid ur bank dry for 2 (err should i say)world class strikers and you let them rot on the bench.
Amazing statistics Rafa, and nice to see that someone had the balls to take on the gum chewing shoe kicking Fergusson whom he refered to as Mr instead of Sir(which i am sure pissed AF all the more) but i think the timing was horribly wrong.
Posted from
United States -
While our fat waiter was raving and ranting, Man Utd pulled within 2 points with a game in hand.
Posted from
Taiwan -
even torres says manU are favourites. if that’s the thinking of our players, what hope do we have?
Posted from
Australia -
Just thought I would step in and ask a question as an American hoping to go visit Anfield for a game live and in person in May. Any suggestions of a way to get tickets now (that is reputable)? I have never been to England and have no idea how the ticket game works over there but I would like to secure tickets before I go. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks friends!
Posted from
United States -
anybody care to comment? is there a better LFC blog/forum?
Posted from
Australia -
Connie, I think you need to sign up to be a LFC UK member before you can purchase tickets. You might want to inquire on the official site.
Posted from
Singapore -
Amir, I find your lack of faith disturbing. Torres is probably using reverse psychology or…he was simply being a realist…he did say some nice things about that greasy monkey when he won the World Player award…so there…An LFC forum: redandwhitekop.com/forum
Posted from
Singapore -
Pennant, one of the underrated players leaves us. He is fast ad delivered some brilliant crosses specially to Crouch back in the day. Who else on the right wing crosses anywhere like him besides Captain G, when he plays that position, which has been hardly any lately. And you have to be a blind monkey’s blind uncle to not see that right now Jamie Carragher is running up the right side delivering crosses when he gets some space. I mean FFS Jamie Carragher on the right wing?????
Pennant will show Rafa up with Portsmouth, I will take a bet on that. He is a play maker, as are some not all players. They make things happen.Nadia, you got it right. I am losing faith. I have been losing faith for sometime.
The team we had on saturday was just about our best XI, but again Rafa’s love affair with Kuyt continues and he was totally incompetent. How many times did Anfield ooh and ahhh when he lost possession? It was just pathetic and sad. But that’s what a loss of confidence does to you. Kuyt must feel like one of those special needs kids who gets a game out of pity. When he knows there are better options than him around.
We need Mascherano and Alonso in the middle, with Riera and Captain on the wing with the Captain floating around as he pleases. Him on the wing for 20 minutes is more effective than Kuyt there for the entire game.
Tell me how many of us thought we had a hope until Captain put one in the back of the net out of the blue? The lack of confidence is disheartening.
As I said before, I’ve had enough. Rafa is an enigma wrapped in a riddle. He has had aweful signings and persisted, as well he has had some great signing and left them to rot on the bench.
We will hardly perform under pressure. We havent got a united XI which has played a few games on the trot. A first XI that knows the ins and outs of each other and can get over the basics of teamwork and start being creative. The no look passes, the 1-2 passes etc.
I don’t know…How can we lay claim to the title by hoping ManU loses games instead of us winning games? It is not a position of confidence.
Why is Robbie Keane getting hammered for having a quiet game when he scored 3 goals in previous 2 games he started? Why blame him when Rafa sits him out for 2-3 games? Why not let him and Torres play together when both fit, to gel and learn each other’s moves?
Why why why?
It is all too much!Posted from
Australia
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