The FA CUP Third Round ** Spoilers ** [2nd - 6th January 2015]

Just got back from the chesterfield game, we was all over them but just couldn't finish anything.

Equalizer was mint though.
 
Frankiemac said:
Even our fans thought the ref was crap in our favour (for a change admittedly).
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The Eto'o yellow card was beyond ridiculous, as was Noble's reaction to it though.

I think almost nothing irks me more than ref's who do the lenient for say 60-70 minutes, giving the odd yellow for serious fouls but not handing out yellows for repeated fouling or anything borderline then picking this point where everything becomes a yellow. Guy who got away with 8 fouls in the first half does another and gets a yellow... then the ref gives a yellow for a soft foul for someone who hadn't put a foot wrong, they he yellow cards a player who had been on the pitch for 30 seconds for laughing too loud or something.
 
manic111 said:
Got rid of Suarez? Suarez forced his way out. And Gerrard effectively said he'd leave if he wasn't playing every game. He shouldn't be playing every game so had to be let go. I don't see what the issue is.
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I hate to drag this up, but let me bite.

In management, part of your job is make people do what they dont want to do and be happy doing it. A manager's job is not to sit on his backside and when an important member of staff wants out, shrug his shoulders and say, "ok".

I manage staff and man management is one of the most important aspects of the job. Some staff can be like kids and what do you say to a kid who wants to do something you dont want him to? You certainly dont shrug your shoulders and say, "okay, go do it" (or in this case, allow a player to leave the club).

Some examples of a top class manager asking his players to do something they dont want:

Ronaldo wanted to leave - Fergie got an extra year out of him.
Giggs - as he was getting older, he was spending more time on the bench (just like S.Gerrard). Fergie never let it get to the stage where Giggs handed a transfer request.
Scholes - this guy actually quit football; Fergie, got him back for the next season, asking him to unretire. And he did it!
Lampard - Pelligrini identified Lamps as a top class player. He convinced him to join Man City. This would not have been easy. Firstly, Lampard was going to be on the bench for much of the time (just like Gerrard). Secondly, he'd likely be playing against Chelsea and would take much abuse. Judas would likely be the choice phrase.

An example of bad man management is what we saw at Man Utd last season. A team of champions were all under performing (bar De Gea) and D.Moyes concluded that they had all turned to junk. Last year, those players lost home and away to Liverpool. This year, those same players (yes - the starting 11 this year were the same players who were available under Moyes last year - no new signings started in that game) beat Liverpool.

Players like Lampard, Giggs, Gerrard, J.Terry, Scholes - they all need to be dealt with an a very special way. These are not mercenaries who will happily change clubs every 2-3 years for money. These are club legends who tend to have a strong allegiance to 1 club. A manager should identify this and use this to his advantage during contract negotiations.

How highly do I rate Gerrard? Very high. In the modern era, for me Gerrard has been Liverpool's most influential player. The FA Cup game 2 days ago was just another reminder.

To summarise, human beings are not machines or computers and humans can be manipulated. Manipulation is what man-management is about.

And to further emphasise my point, I shall close with the following story: Steven Gerrard: Liverpool captain would have signed summer deal

PS: some friendly advice to people who get stressed out over OCUK forum posts they dont agree with - if you dont agree with what some random guy on a forum has to say, by all means break down their argument. If you find yourself getting stressed, close your browser for 24 hours. I've seen people on this forum who get into arguments on OCUK and end up getting suspended (you know who you are ;) ). Ask yourself this question, if you win an argument against another poster, will your life change in any way? Sometimes its better to agree to disagree.

Peace out and have a good 2015.
 
I agree with all of the above. He's still Liverpool's best player, and by some way. The situation has been handled extremely badly, and there's no doubt he could have been persuaded to stay. I don't think anyone expected Gerrard to end his Liverpool career this way, which despite what he's said in the press, leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Rogers seems to be very naive, both on and off the pitch. He needs to toughen up, but I feel the situation is getting the better of him. The squad doesn't have the experience for life without Gerrard. If they were prepared to let him go (even leave him on the bench), they should have bought in a high caliber replacement in the summer to smooth the transition.
 
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BaZ87 said:
Bias ref and soft challenges? Your lad nearly broke Manquillo's ankle in the opening minutes. In any league that was a red card.

The opening 15 minutes or so was bordering on ridiculous. Every time one of your players went into a challenge he left his studs in. The 'beast' should have been booked for his first challenge in particular, not his 105th foul.

No doubt that was your game plan and it worked because the ref allowed you to. You certainly can't have any complaints about the ref.
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Yes the first challenge caused a bit of harm, but wasn't deliberate. Our game plan was to get liverpool drawn into a bit of a physical battle to prevent them passing it about, but our challenges were not anything worse than you see most times in League Two (bayo had 10 fouls against him but none of them were sticking his boot in, mainly just shoving that lightweight Skrtel out the way when challenging for the ball. Not bayo's fault Skrtel is a weakling :D).

If we had a league two ref then he would have let more of those challenges go, the ref had a bias to premier league standards as he refs premier league games. No liverpool bias, just premier league bias in how he officiated.

If you think we were bad you should check out how mansfield play football, dirtiest bunch of cheats I've seen in a while. Akinfenwa only just made it back to play Liverpool after they crocked him 2 minutes into a game.
 
Moses said:
Didn't Suarez want to leave the year before, so they also got an extra year out of him?
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Yes he did, he was a lot closer to leaving than ronaldo ever was the year prior.

Also he's acting like if Gerrard had gotten a contract in the summer everything would be fine and dandy now when in reality he would probably want out so he can go and actually play every week and be 'the man' in the team.

But sure he's taken the high road and told us to walk away from our PCs as we get tired responding to rubbish.
 
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