Midweek Football Thread - 18th/19th

skippi90 said:
22:20 Hull City boss Phil Brown after his side's 5-1 home defeat by Tottenham: "I don't think, hand on heart, 5-1 flattered Tottenham tonight - they were fabulous. It's difficult to say to our boys to go out there and do what Spurs do because the gulf in class looks alarming. Luckily, though, we don't have to play Tottenham every week and next up we have Bolton, where we'll need to dig in and respond. The fact is, though, that anyone who played Spurs tonight will have got a hiding, I think."
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Obviously knows his stuff :D

I still think he's favourite to be first for the chop....
 
Just got back from the game and considering it's only Ayala's second game, he did very well. He mainly just did what he had to do and got rid of the ball to the players nearby. There were a few times when he should've carried the ball (ala Agger) but he obviously lacked the confidence to do so and at one point turned around to check with Reina what he should do. All in all though he showed great promise.

Whole team worked very well today, Johnson, Lucas, Benayoun, Kuyt and Insua were excellent, which kept the team ticking over. Torres seemed more focused as well, with the front 4 connecting brilliantly at times. I know it's only Stoke, but that was the Liverpool of last season and I hope it continues.
 
just got back from Anfield. Liverpool played a solid game 2nd half, 1st half was a bit dodgy.

Good to see the Kop get behind Lucas and Johnson. Yanks out!

Man U result was a banker, was their cup final.
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
I only watched the second half but I thought Barca were very unlucky. Hit the post and crossbar and had the majority of the possession. Looked a class above even with a lot of youth and reserve team players playing.

Agree about Ireland, he looks hell of a player. Don't think they could buy many better players in his position even with all the money they have.
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I really don't think there is anyone at all they can buy whose better. Theres only a few, very few people that are better and none of them are available. The thing that Fabregas, Ireland and Lampard have, is the ability to play the defensive role excellently also, Ireland dropped behind the normal midfield players in the whole and intercepted a tonne of passes, made tackles and was excellent. I think you can count how many players are truly world class attacking midfielders who can also play the defensive side not a bit, but brilliantly. Carrick is someone whose great going forwards and horrible defensively. Scholes is actually great at both and Scholes + no tackling ability in any way at all really tells you what a DM should be doing, as in, not tackling at all. Intercepting, reading the game cutting off those killer passing angles, Utd look so much better with Scholes playing deeper alongside Carrick, than Carrick deep with Giggs/Anderson infront of him.

They rode their luck a little, although the whole team defended fairly well, with Haim, Zabeleta and Onoura they were miles away from their best team on the pitch aswell, which is what made it so impressive a performance for me.

The only people better at what Ireland does really for me is Fabregas, probably Xavi(irelands better going forwards, not as good defensively), Scholes in the past, Lampard.

IN the dying seconds of the game, despite spending the best part of 20 minutes camped infront of his defence Ireland came up with a great pass/clearance to the only player in space, started an attack, ran full speed up the field, took the ball, picked the right pass and almost created a 2-0 win. Thats what those players can give, both roles when needed in any game.
 
How was that a penalty? James had his eye on the ball as he went for it and the Birmingham player tried to block him and got mowed down. Should've been a foul on James not a penalty :confused:
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
How was that a penalty? James had his eye on the ball as he went for it and the Birmingham player tried to block him and got mowed down. Should've been a foul on James not a penalty :confused:
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Bit of both really, thing is, you're allowed to "protect" the ball to some degree, theres nothing to say you can't run infront of someone and while I think Larsson was going for the ball I think he was also going to get between ball and keeper. James was neglegant in, you can't just keep your eye on the ball, you can't just run through people and it not be a foul because you weren't looking and it wasn't intentional. Had Larsson been standing still their the whole time it would have been a clear foul and penalty. It probably was a penalty, had Larsson been further from the ball and more clearly going for the keeper than the ball then maybe it could have gone the other way.
 
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