Back From The Game: Liverpool

[Sun Tzu]

oozing quality players

Liverpool ?

Two is hardly 'oozing' !!!

For f*cks sake, can't you ever acknowledge anything good in any club apart from RFC?

They may not have performed to their price tags/standards yesterday but to deny that they are a club full of quality players is absolutely absurd!

Surely it's what most commentators say about them ? Although to be fair Reina is a very good keeper so two should be three.

Remove Torres and Gerrard and they are very average and way below the standards expected of Liverpool. All over the pitch they are lacking in quality which is why they are out of the Champions League and in trouble in the league.

I know you hate RFC and take every opportunity to see us in a negative light but it seems pointless to suggest Liverpool at the moment are full of class players. This season gives endless instances to prove that compared to the genuinely class sides Liverpool are lacking.

In terms of a club however (very different to a team) I have a great deal of respect for them and the trips to Anfield with Reading were superb experiences.

[Sun Tzu]

Per a previous post, I wonder just how much we miss Wally Downes in that respect.

Since Wally left we've not conceded 6 or 7 in a game !

True but we are talking Prem v Champ tbf. My point was simply that WD was able to organise 4 players into one of the most cohesive back 4's i've seen over many years whilst the current Reading one is one of the most uncohesive ones i've seen.
Sadly, Sonko completely lost his way in the 2nd prem season and was finally dropped 5 months too late. The knee injury probably having lost him a yard of pace and the subsequent loss of form resulting in him hardly playing any football since leaving Reading.
You could say WD should have recognised this much earler than he did (or maybe it was the SC loyalty factor ?) and criticise accordingly but would you really say that he didn't do a good job as a defensive coach whilst here ?

Ollie

I would agree to a large extent that we seem to be lacking organisation at the back. But my point (made very tongue in cheek !) was that although we were very solid at the back for two years ( and I have to admit I can;t remember exactly when Wally joined us) in the second Prem season and last season we were not as good. I recall comments being made on here as to whether Wally had done his job and the defensive coaching needed changing. Whether if we brought in a defensive coach now we would be tighter is a fair question, I'm not convinced that if Wally was still here things would be much different.

[Ian Royal]

We did keep 21 clean sheets last season iirc (compared to 24 when we won the division). Pretty good going, And 9 when we were relegated. our defence was really not the problem.

[OLLIE KEARNS]

The other variable of course is the loss of Sidwell in the second season. Last night we saw the value of a decent central midfield shield for the first time this season so far as making a back four looked far more solid.
The two banks of four were very solid and organised in those two memorable seasons. Let's hope yesterday was a step in the right direction in that respect

[M-U-R-T-Y]

The more I think about it - was a draw the best result? We're not going to win the FA Cup, so not going through would hardly be a disaster.

Money from the return fixture, potentially more TV revenue. Great experience for the youngsters, whatever the result.

[Ian Royal]

The more I think about it - was a draw the best result? We're not going to win the FA Cup, so not going through would hardly be a disaster.

Money from the return fixture, potentially more TV revenue. Great experience for the youngsters, whatever the result.

Confidence boost from beating Liverpool at home where we've been doing atrociously for the last year?

[winchester_royal]

The more I think about it - was a draw the best result? We're not going to win the FA Cup, so not going through would hardly be a disaster.

Money from the return fixture, potentially more TV revenue. Great experience for the youngsters, whatever the result.

Exactly...should pocket over 500k for it all.

[AthleticoSpizz]

The more I think about it - was a draw the best result? We're not going to win the FA Cup, so not going through would hardly be a disaster.

Money from the return fixture, potentially more TV revenue. Great experience for the youngsters, whatever the result.

and two games against Premiership big-boys for players who will never grace the Premiership..............what a lovely thing

[Ian Royal]

The more I think about it - was a draw the best result? We're not going to win the FA Cup, so not going through would hardly be a disaster.

Money from the return fixture, potentially more TV revenue. Great experience for the youngsters, whatever the result.

and two games against Premiership big-boys for players who will never grace the Premiership..............what a lovely thing

McAnuff, Church, Siggurdsson & maybe Karacan and Bertrand all could get there in their careers.

[M-U-R-T-Y]

The more I think about it - was a draw the best result? We're not going to win the FA Cup, so not going through would hardly be a disaster.

Money from the return fixture, potentially more TV revenue. Great experience for the youngsters, whatever the result.

Confidence boost from beating Liverpool at home where we've been doing atrociously for the last year?

Improving our home record and confidence is the only positive if we were to beat Liverpool yesterday. This way we get confidence + money + experience.

[AthleticoSpizz]

yes I know

but its all speculation and I wont reel off the antibodies

[Jeffers217]

2 players made a big difference to the team yday in my opinion- Karacan and Mills (cant believe some people slagging him off). Karacan is a total genius, great skill and good in the tackle, have to keep him in the team and find a proper partner for him who in my opinion should be the Sig. Mills showed a lot more pace than Ivar and Pearce are capable of and is good in the header. Yer he hoofs it a bit but so did Bikey last year and no one complained. Was also really pleasing to see Church hold the ball up so well up front- makes a change but now we may have at least 1 decent forward can hold it up. The donkey certainly can't and Long's days are numbered (woohoo piss off lad).
Fedders is poor, Hamer looks good so I was pretty happy to see that replacement!

[Ian Royal]

The more I think about it - was a draw the best result? We're not going to win the FA Cup, so not going through would hardly be a disaster.

Money from the return fixture, potentially more TV revenue. Great experience for the youngsters, whatever the result.

Confidence boost from beating Liverpool at home where we've been doing atrociously for the last year?

Improving our home record and confidence is the only positive if we were to beat Liverpool yesterday. This way we get confidence + money + experience.

Beating Liverpool = confidence++ & money & experience
Drawing with Liverpool = confidence & money+ & experience+

Neither money+ or experience+ are massively important to us right here and now. The increased revenue is unlikely to be enough to sign a whole addition player. One game is not likely to give players masses more confidence.

If we go to Anfield and get dicked, then confidence could just as easily be quite badly damaged. It's nto a bad thing to have got the draw by any stretch, there are plenty of positives. But to suggest it was our best result is foolish and shortsighted IMO.

[Ian Royal]

2 players made a big difference to the team yday in my opinion- Karacan and Mills (cant believe some people slagging him off). Karacan is a total genius, great skill and good in the tackle, have to keep him in the team and find a proper partner for him who in my opinion should be the Sig. Mills showed a lot more pace than Ivar and Pearce are capable of and is good in the header. Yer he hoofs it a bit but so did Bikey last year and no one complained. Was also really pleasing to see Church hold the ball up so well up front- makes a change but now we may have at least 1 decent forward can hold it up. The donkey certainly can't and Long's days are numbered (woohoo piss off lad).
Fedders is poor, Hamer looks good so I was pretty happy to see that replacement!

How on Earth can you say Fed looks poor and Hamer good after that performance? Hamer (on that one brief showing with mitigating circumstances) looked half the player Fed is, if that.

[Jeffers217]

2 players made a big difference to the team yday in my opinion- Karacan and Mills (cant believe some people slagging him off). Karacan is a total genius, great skill and good in the tackle, have to keep him in the team and find a proper partner for him who in my opinion should be the Sig. Mills showed a lot more pace than Ivar and Pearce are capable of and is good in the header. Yer he hoofs it a bit but so did Bikey last year and no one complained. Was also really pleasing to see Church hold the ball up so well up front- makes a change but now we may have at least 1 decent forward can hold it up. The donkey certainly can't and Long's days are numbered (woohoo piss off lad).
Fedders is poor, Hamer looks good so I was pretty happy to see that replacement!

How on Earth can you say Fed looks poor and Hamer good after that performance? Hamer (on that one brief showing with mitigating circumstances) looked half the player Fed is, if that.

Hamer was decent in the cross unlike Fedders ever has been. Fedders also made a howler of misjudgement coming out of his area in the first half. He has no confidence in his defence (rightly so). Hamer didn't make a fault and has been in a winning team all last season. It's time to have faith with the youngsters who have confidence because as I see it, they are superior to those experienced pros who are just plain crap. Another reason why it was a bad decision to sack Rodgers

[Sun Tzu]

Hamer was decent in the cross unlike Fedders ever has been. Fedders also made a howler of misjudgement coming out of his area in the first half. He has no confidence in his defence (rightly so). Hamer didn't make a fault and has been in a winning team all last season.

Only someone who didn;t watch the game could make those claims !!

Hamer had 2 crosses and didn't gather either cleanly (one not at all)

Federici's slide out of the area wasn;t an error of judgement, he had to go for the ball but how he was supposed to stop the slide I have no idea. I think he was actually unlucky to even give away a free kick as I doubt the ref could see exactly when he released the ball.

[M-U-R-T-Y]

Beating Liverpool = confidence++ & money & experience
Drawing with Liverpool = confidence & money+ & experience+

Neither money+ or experience+ are massively important to us right here and now. The increased revenue is unlikely to be enough to sign a whole addition player. One game is not likely to give players masses more confidence.

Neither is a cup run.

The club has barely any money to spend in the transfer window. Every little helps - two televised tie s I suspect would bring us a few hundred thousand that we didn't have. Not that I'm expecting Madejski to pump it into the transfer coffers. But I doubt that (if by way of a miracle we got through to the fourth round) we'd receive that kind of money from playing Burnley.

If we go to Anfield and get dicked, then confidence could just as easily be quite badly damaged. It's nto a bad thing to have got the draw by any stretch, there are plenty of positives. But to suggest it was our best result is foolish and shortsighted IMO.

No-one is expecting us to travel to Anfield and get anything, so it's going to take a huge beating to really damage confidence.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Surely it's what most commentators say about them ? Although to be fair Reina is a very good keeper so two should be three.

Remove Torres and Gerrard and they are very average and way below the standards [i]expected of Liverpool.[ib]

the bolded part is the key point - "average" by a champions league club's standards, rather than just "average".

There's probably not a player in Reading's history who would get in that team on ability.

[Ian Royal]

Surely it's what most commentators say about them ? Although to be fair Reina is a very good keeper so two should be three.

Remove Torres and Gerrard and they are very average and way below the standards [i]expected of Liverpool.[ib]

the bolded part is the key point - "average" by a champions league club's standards, rather than just "average".

There's probably not a player in Reading's history who would get in that team on ability.

Kerry Dixon? Robin Friday? Neil Webb? Nicky Shorey? Insua was godawful afterall. Hard to judge N'Gog on one showing but possibly Doyle?

[M-U-R-T-Y]

Les Ferdinand and Martin Keown?