Andy Carroll scored his first goal in 11 hours of football against Everton two weeks ago but he's back on the bench for the Man United game today. Is this the right decision?
I have to admit that I think it's the wrong decision; I can never see the logic in dropping an attacking player who scored in the previous game; it just doesn't make any sense to me.
What's the point in stopping Carroll's momentum at this point? Dalglish has been praising Carroll publicly at every opportunity, exhorting him to score, and then when he finally does score, his reward is being dropped to the bench.
If you're not going to start a 35m striker in the most important games of the season then questions need to be asked about why such a huge amount of money was spent in the first place.
Dalglish has put out a good team, and I fully expect us to get a result, but I just think that dropping goalscoring attacking players is the wrong strategy.
Jaimie Kanwar
I have to admit that I think it's the wrong decision; I can never see the logic in dropping an attacking player who scored in the previous game; it just doesn't make any sense to me.
What's the point in stopping Carroll's momentum at this point? Dalglish has been praising Carroll publicly at every opportunity, exhorting him to score, and then when he finally does score, his reward is being dropped to the bench.
If you're not going to start a 35m striker in the most important games of the season then questions need to be asked about why such a huge amount of money was spent in the first place.
Dalglish has put out a good team, and I fully expect us to get a result, but I just think that dropping goalscoring attacking players is the wrong strategy.
Jaimie Kanwar
wow evenly split!!
ReplyDeleteKenny got his tactics wrong again, Downing on the left just doesn't do it. PLAY HIM ON THE RIGHT!!
ReplyDeleteMany times during the game we were pumping or crossing balls up to Suarez who was constantly being beaten in the air by ferdinand! not smart tactics.
Clearly Caroll would have had better success with those crosses.
Kenny got his tactics wrong? What match were you watching? We dominated the match.
ReplyDeleteThe positive is that we we did not need Lucas when he went off!!!
I think it is time that we stop focusing on making tackles and start seeing flowing football. There is no reason why Adam and Gerrard cannot do the business in the middle for us.
We played some fantastic football today and if we keep on moving forward the way we are then a finish in the top for no matter whether it be 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th is looking really promising.
We finally have a team that offers choice. Something that has been lacking for a very long time i.e Rafa. Competition in our current squad is very healty. Not even old Maxi can get onto the bench.
Take off your blinders, we didn't dominate them and please try to be objective. Ball possession was 50-50, yes the better chances fell to us but the scoreline was 1-1 and had Kenny's team selection and tactics been slightly better, we'd had scored a couple of goals.
ReplyDeleteDowning was poor again.
My team selection this morning was the same as kennys but i had agger instead of skertel, i based that choice on the last couple of utd games, we have dominated in midfield so i thought utd would have gone with 5 in midfield so my choice of gerrard in there was also to drop into the middle when required. I dropped caroll to bench for that tactical reason but i do see Jks point. thought bellamy may have come on for downing as smalling semed to have him tied up in terms of pace.
ReplyDeleteKenny got his tactics right especially in dropping Carroll. Fergie however got his tactics horribly wrong. Fergie hates US and came to anfield not to lose. Man U were awful. I was hoping for a test today but Fergie was determined not to concede and maybe nick one. I put money on it our next league game will throw up twice as many questions about our squad than this one when the only thing at stake will be points as apposed to hatred and pride.
ReplyDeleteIn defence of Downing, he was up against, for me, potentially the most complete defender in the premiership in Chris Smalling so theres no shame in not shining when up against him.
ReplyDeleteThe one postitive that came from downing today was his cross for Kuyt. The negative is it was also the highlight of his season other than hitting the cross bar in his 1st match. He does find it hard to go by any fullback on the outiside and has no trick to turn to if kick and run fails. We need to find a system of play whereby we feed Downing in Positions where Beckham use to receive the ball. This way he only needs to concentrate on delivery and not necessarily beating his man.
so right theycallmeburt i thoght utd would have an extra midfielder as the last couple of times at anfield utd have lost the midfield battle with us but to play phil jones (a central defender) and fletcher as two holding midfielders was very negative. I did expect better from a team who were supposedly so attack minded.
ReplyDeleteI'll say it again- play Downing on the right side.
ReplyDeleteNo shame in not shining when up against him? that's a laughable comment!
No shame in not shining when up against him? that's a laughable comment!
ReplyDeleteIt's only a laughable comment if you believe Downing to be a quality player, I don't, therefore my expectations of him are not as high as yours. He is unfortunately a glorified left back. It's like a teenager picking a fight on a pensioner. I know whos going to win that particular fight. There will only be shame and embarrassment on the young dude if the grandad kicks his arse. Today Downing was never, ever, ever going to win his battle with Smalling so my laughable comment ultimately reflects £20million spent on an arguably laughable player.
On to your second point......Playing Downing on the right will ultimately mean Kenny has spent 40million on one position as he also paid 20m Henderson for to play there. Shall we give Kenny another £20million to solve our left mid problem after Downing our original costly solution is switched to the right? Your shaking your head....and I agree.
As far as tactics go, Kenny chose the right team and neutralised Man United's attacks throughout. I think he should have given Andy Carroll a late entry as Liverpool was crossing a lot of balls into the box which Andy could have exploited. Manunited defenders are tall and Suarez was a bit isolated in the first half and requires support upfront. Better have Gerrard and Adam in centre of Midfield. The pace of Craig Bellamy and some more shooting at goal was lacking. Carroll could have featured well I believe. But a fair result considering international fixtures has disrupted training etc. Suarez looked a bit tired. I strongly believe we can beat Manchester Utd in our next meeting. Hope we draw them again at home in both the FA and League cup competitions
ReplyDeleteok well we agree on one thing - Downing isn't great quality.
ReplyDeleteThe point of Kenny spending 40m for one position is irrelevant. It's all circumstantial. Downing has played on the right wing for Aston Villa and for Liverpool. My analysis of Downing- he's more effective on the right wing than left.
Managers often play players in other positions it's good management if they pull it off. One example Robben and Duff regularly switched positions under Mourinho, who can argue when they were effective and won the league.
There are three left footed players in the PL who can do their fullback on the outside. Giggs (at 37) Bale and Adam Johnson. The reason for this is they keep you guessing whether they will come inside or go outside. The likes of Downing and N'zogbia always run in straight lines unless they are played on the opposite flank. I agree Downing is better suited on the right but this should have been clear to kenny before he signed him. Previous to Houllier playing him on the right of three Downing has had 7 very mediocre seasons as a left midfielder. Why did we feel anything would change when we reverted him back there?
ReplyDeleteWe did the same stupid thing with Ziege. Ziege signed from Boro after playing a complete season in central midfield for them and looked very impressive there. From this showing Houllier decided he was suitable to play left back for us even though he had previously had years of criticism for his defending. The rest is history. We also signed Zenden after an excellent season in CM from Boro. Rafa then decided to play him LW even though he too received criticism for his previous years playing in this position. Again the rest is history. What I'm trying to get at is even I knew Downing couldn't perform on the left in the PL so why did Kenny overlook 7-8 years of Mediocrity playing in that position and then pay £20mill to get it?
I think it's also important to mention that the Duff, Robben combo happened by accident. At the time Chelsea were struggling to score goals in a 4-3-1-2 formation that didn't involve either Duff or Robben. However when Kezman and Crespo got injured Mourinho had no other back up to play alongside Drogba so he threw Duff and Robben in and changed the formation to 4-3-3. Again the rest is luckily history. We have a full fit squad with a clear direction. Can Kenny really justify leaving out big money signings like Henderson and Carroll out on a regular basis to accommodate Downing. I don't think he can.
ReplyDeleteEver since the end of last season torres hasn't looked a
ReplyDeleteshadow of himself he looked as though he wasn't interested in the game or
liverpool at all, but all of a sudden since the take over of the great kenny
dalglish, he's looked fired up in both matches, almost back to his normal GREAT!
self, anyone have any ideas why?
Dalglish seems to give them a pat on the back which makes them feel guilty for
ReplyDeletenot getting it right because they like the manager.
I'm not going to argue whether he was right or wrong to drop Carroll from the starting lineup. I will argue that Dalglish was wrong to not introduce him (or Bellamy) from the bench at all though.
ReplyDeleteMan U were there for the taking and we let them off with Ferguson's ridiculous team selection.
Eitherways, hopefully that's the end of Kuyt's run in the starting lineup again now!