Comments on: The Liverpool Lie

By: BD Condell

BD Condell — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:35:51 +0000

I think that both the downside for Liverpool and the upside for Arsenal are over-stated here. We all get way to carried away with the first few results of the season and never seem to learn from history.

Not that many pundits tipped Liverpool but those that did based it on their strong showing last season, and most tempered their comments by referring to the Alonso loss and the need to adjust for this.

I saw none who tipped Arsenal, mainly because Wenger failed to address the weakness that is obvious to the rest of the world, defensive midfiled and extra cover at the back (and cost them dearly in the past 2 season’s.)

Both could surprise us and winning the title is not beyond either but it will take everything going in their favour to get there in my opinion.

I expect Liverpool and Arsenal to be neck and neck this year…whether that’s above or below United I can’t decide yet but I think Chelsea will pip the rest.

By: Jofrad

Jofrad — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:33:56 +0000

How many Liverpool players can pass the ball well ??

Liverpool 4 Stoke City 0

Liverpool Stoke
Total Passes 564 174
Passing success 85.8% 63.8%

By: KyleJ

KyleJ — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:14:31 +0000

This is hardly a revelation. Where do you come up with this rubbish? People have been saying Liverpool lack depth for ages, and they’ve also been asking where goals will come from. Groundbreaking stuff here on soccerlens…its little wonder i haven’t visited for a while.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:11:58 +0000

I agree with what the article says. I never believed it’s
Liverpool’s year even though I am a LFC fan. One of the com-
ments was referring to the fact that Arsenal does not have
good strikers and out of the 6 goals scored against Everton,
only 1 was scored by a striker. Well, Gerrard, who I consider
as a midfielder (definitely not a striker) was by far No1
scorer last year for LFC. Both Torres and Gerrard scored most
of LFC’s goals. At the end of the day, I don’t care if LFC’s
midfielders scored 5-6 goals while Torres/Voronin scored none
As long as they score and win games. LFC heavily depends
on Torres/Gerrard that will get us nowhere. Our fullbacks
are not reliable, we change them quite frequently over the
past 2-3 years. Our center backs are ok (Skrtel still makes
lots of mistakes, Agger has been moslty injurred and Hyppia
is now gone). In the midfield, after Alonso left, there is
no one to create, except Gerrard who has to drop back to
get the ball. Benayoun is good but he does not get enough
time and he is not as talented as the midfielders of the
other top 4 teams. Kuyt, Riera are good supporting midfiel-
ders but nothing else. Mascherano is an excellent defensive
midfielder but that’s it. Lucas is mediocre even in his
defensive duties.

Torres is world-class but LFC has nobody
else to support him up front with. We will see whether Aqui
lani can play for long periods without getting injured to
provide some creativity. Last year, LFC over-achieved and
created false expectations for this year. In my opinion they
were out of the title race in late January and never really
threatened.

They took advanta-
ge of Chelsea’s drop of form before Hiddink stepped in and
stayed in the 2nd place.
Unless Ancelotti screws up I don’t see
that happening this year. And I agree that we will have to
fight to beat teams like Manch City, Tottenham and of cour-
se Arsenal for the 3rd place. I would not be surprised if
LFC is out of the race before New Year’s and struggle for
the 4th place.

I hope that at some point some new, exciting players will
come out of the academy. Benitez has been accusing other
people but I hold him accountable for the fact that there
has been no one coming from the academy ranks since he
became LFC coach.

By: chris

chris — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:24:43 +0000

i have been thinking it for a while, i think liverpool are the most at risk from man city, and possibly spurs. got some world class players obviously but then some that are simply not good enough plus they clearly have cash problems

By: MDH

MDH — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:22:52 +0000

So Andrei, in your world

Johnson is more reliable than Sagna

Gerrard is now predominantly a central midfielder even though he hasnt really been used there for 4 years.

Fabregas is nowhere near as good as him as a central midfielder.

Van Persie doesnt play for Arsenal

Almunia is the worst goalie in the league

Now in the real world why dont you tell me how many players Liverpoolhave who can pass the ball well? Does Benayoun count, even though he’s too small to play 90 minutes in Rafael’s Liverpool Machine? Because I cant think of anyone else

By: Nick

Nick — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:57:11 +0000

@Andrei I can’t believe you decided to leave out RVP in your “analysis”. Almunia is one of the most underrated keepers in the world and certainly better than some of the slouches in the premier league.

By: cesc

cesc — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:46:32 +0000

@ andrei.. arsenal have 2 of the best full backs in the league.. denilson and song did a decent job iin the centre of the park and in the final third.. we have arshavin rvp and eduardo (fox in the box) our squad is a lot better than liverpools..

By: zoe

zoe — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:33:26 +0000

Good article, and it must be noted that hicks and gillet are not putting a dime into Liverpool, whereas Arsenal’s Board have made it clear that they will fund Arsene’s transfer targets.
The yankee muppets are trying to win the league with the club’s resources…..so __c_ them !!!

By: jj

jj — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 07:55:38 +0000

we lost to spurs last season and still came second… stop talking shi*e…… 37 game sto go.. talk to us at the end of the season