EPL – Liverpool vs Arsenal – 1:30pm – 2/9/12 - SS1

Liverpool vs Arsenal

--------------------------------------------------------Anfield
-------------------------------------------Sunday 2nd September 2012
--------------------------------------------------Kick off – 1:30pm
---------------------------------------------

My Preferred Lineup:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Szczesny
- Jenkinson - Koscielny - Vermaelen - Gibbs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Diaby - - Arteta
- Walcott - - -- - - - - - Cazorla - - - -- - - -Podolski
- - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - Giroud

Bench: - Fabianski, Mertesacker, Santos, Coquelin, Ramsey, Chamberlain, Gervinho


My Score Prediction

- Liverpool - 1 - - - Arsenal - 1
- Gerrard - - - - - - -Cazorla

 

[mavelous]

wow, that's a depressing situation at Pool. Almost as depressing as the Arsenal fans that were ****ting bricks over their 'threat' last summer and even this summer.

 

[Cruisio]

Plus, for me, anyone that has to cheat THAT much to gain an advantage isn't that great a player tbh

ehhh, Ronaldo? even Robben, ***** but quality *****

Is Suarez that bad of a finisher? can someone give me a rundown between him, and say, Ramsey or Gervinho? people are making it out to seem like he's almost as bad as them.. Maybe Theo is more relevant comparison, can be hit and miss sometimes. They'd do well to complement him with a player like Silva that can open space and attract defenders, works well with Aguero or Tevez where the striker isn't really isolated and crowded out. with Pool they just don't have anyone, maybe Sterling in the future if he gets consistency and delivers on promise.

See that's just the thing, for me, as soon as Ronaldo started to cut down on the play acting, he became a far better player. Look at him now, he doesn't do it anywhere near as much as he used to and for me it's benefitted his game. Similarly with Robben, during his Chelsea days he would go over a lot, these days, not so much. As said, for me, if your CONSTANTLY trying to gain an advantage by cheating (and off the top of my head, Suarez does it more than anyone I can think of at the top level right now) your not doing enough in the other areas of your game (I know its not as cut and dry as that, but you know what I mean)

It's all comparison isn't it? For a "top class forward" his finishing is very poor. As I said to DJ earlier, for me, you cannot be expected to be a top class STRIKER if your not very good at actually sticking away chances

 

[mavelous]

i didn't say he was a striker tho. he's having to do everything for Pool right now, create, finish, pass, defend. should've complemented with an incisive AM or creative winger

 

[jones]

Judas did the same for us last season, and he managed to finish his chances. Not even going to mention Messi, but Tevez is another example of a striker who spends a lot of time passing, creating and defending, as did Shrek for Manure.

Also, Suárez actually is their only striker now, even if he drops deep at times he often just strolls around in the opponent's half when the opponent has the ball. No excuse for his weak finishing, especially if you look at his last season for Ajax.

 

[mavelous]

let's not get into how many gift-wrapped chances judas missed last season. obviously he's the better player, so it doesn't do much justice to compare suarez to the best of them and then claim he's poor. not the best perhaps, but not to the extent people are making it out to be, and of course exacerbated by the overall quality of the pool team. let's see if BR can get the best out of him and downing

 

[DJ_Markstar]

I think we've already seen the best of Downing.

Yes, I rate him that little. Horribly poor "winger".

 

[redanddread]

Apparently The Gunners have won more times (24) at Anfield than any other team. They don't like seeing us up there...

 

[Mastadon]

How different would history have been if they had managed to bring in Wenger as manager instead of Houllier? For me the main difference between them and us has always been Wenger, ever since AW joined us. They did manage to fluke a CL trophy though until now I still don't understand how they did it.

 

[outlaw_member]

Mannone 5 - Dodgy handling.

Jenkinson 5 - Good defence, but very poor distribution.

Mertesacker 6 - Some weak moments, but he is becoming a mainstay of the side.

Vermaelen 7 - He's returning back to his best. Really have to worry how quickly people turned on him.

Gibbs 6 - He looks tailor made for quick passing football, but it's not coming off for him at the moment. He also needs to improve in the final third.

Arteta 6 - His distribution was a little below his usual standards, but was effective once again at breaking up play.

Diaby 7 - He had some great moments, but his passing is still a little slow, and was caught dwelling as usual. He should continue improving.

Cazorla 7.5 - Some great link up play with Podolski which proves again that intelligent skilful players can click immediately.

Oxlade 5 - Decent at times, but failed to make any serious impact.

Podolski 7.5 - Quickly becoming my favourite player alongside Vermaelen. Both have the type of character that we have lacked for years.

Giroud 5 - He needs time, but his performances are worrying.

 

[Cruisio]

let's not get into how many gift-wrapped chances judas missed last season. obviously he's the better player, so it doesn't do much justice to compare suarez to the best of them and then claim he's poor. not the best perhaps, but not to the extent people are making it out to be, and of course exacerbated by the overall quality of the pool team. let's see if BR can get the best out of him and downing

Ok then, Torres anyone?

Played in a Liverpool team with not a whole lot more quality than their current side (apart from their title challenging season) and yet still managed to score bag full of goals despite playing in a very poor side. That whole side was geared around getting the best out of Torres, as was our side geared around getting the best out of RvP, the whole current Liverpool side is based around getting the best out of Suarez, the difference between the 3 players? Suarez doesn't score anywhere near enough of his chances

He's not a poor player, of course he isn't, he's very talented, but he's nowhere near top top quality and therefore I wouldn't want him in our side. As good as he is at doing other things that don't involve him scoring goals...his job IS still to score goals

Whether you want to compare him in that position is irrelevant, he IS a forward

 

[Thommybhoy]

<a class="postlink" href="http://liverpool.tag.huggity.com/app/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://liverpool.tag.huggity.com/app/index.php</a>" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

High resolution photo from the game.
People can tag themselves if they were on the game, targeted actually for Livepool fans.
I always like these high resolution photos.

P.S. Now I noticed I have van Persie as my avatar even though I have changed it to Sagna v Tottenham. Do you see van Persie or Sagna there?

 

[USArsenal]

i see Sagna Thommy...

 

[Beksl]

I see RVP, lol

 

[Thommybhoy]

I see van Persie, yet under User CP -> avatar I see Sagna.
Ahh well, maybe some error with PC or something..

 

[outlaw_member]

let's not get into how many gift-wrapped chances judas missed last season. obviously he's the better player, so it doesn't do much justice to compare suarez to the best of them and then claim he's poor. not the best perhaps, but not to the extent people are making it out to be, and of course exacerbated by the overall quality of the pool team. let's see if BR can get the best out of him and downing

Ok then, Torres anyone?

Played in a Liverpool team with not a whole lot more quality than their current side (apart from their title challenging season) and yet still managed to score bag full of goals despite playing in a very poor side. That whole side was geared around getting the best out of Torres, as was our side geared around getting the best out of RvP, the whole current Liverpool side is based around getting the best out of Suarez, the difference between the 3 players? Suarez doesn't score anywhere near enough of his chances

He's not a poor player, of course he isn't, he's very talented, but he's nowhere near top top quality and therefore I wouldn't want him in our side. As good as he is at doing other things that don't involve him scoring goals...his job IS still to score goals

Whether you want to compare him in that position is irrelevant, he IS a forward

Not a whole lot more? Gerrard, Torres, Alonso and Mascherano were a top class quartet, not to mention Carragher, Arbeloa and Reina who were also strong defensive performers.

 

[ArsenesNO1Fan]

It's still RVP

 

[USArsenal]

I see van Persie, yet under User CP -> avatar I see Sagna.
Ahh well, maybe some error with PC or something..

i think it has to do with cache of people's machines.. other have had that issue too with various avatars..

this is why i've never changed mine.. heh

 

[Cruisio]

let's not get into how many gift-wrapped chances judas missed last season. obviously he's the better player, so it doesn't do much justice to compare suarez to the best of them and then claim he's poor. not the best perhaps, but not to the extent people are making it out to be, and of course exacerbated by the overall quality of the pool team. let's see if BR can get the best out of him and downing

Ok then, Torres anyone?

Played in a Liverpool team with not a whole lot more quality than their current side (apart from their title challenging season) and yet still managed to score bag full of goals despite playing in a very poor side. That whole side was geared around getting the best out of Torres, as was our side geared around getting the best out of RvP, the whole current Liverpool side is based around getting the best out of Suarez, the difference between the 3 players? Suarez doesn't score anywhere near enough of his chances

He's not a poor player, of course he isn't, he's very talented, but he's nowhere near top top quality and therefore I wouldn't want him in our side. As good as he is at doing other things that don't involve him scoring goals...his job IS still to score goals

Whether you want to compare him in that position is irrelevant, he IS a forward

Not a whole lot more? Gerrard, Torres, Alonso and Mascherano were a top class quartet, not to mention Carragher, Arbeloa and Reina who were also strong defensive performers.

Did I not say bar that title run side? After Mascherano and Alonso had left Torres was still scoring goals, back when they finished 7th the following year after coming 2nd he got 18 league goals and 22 goals overall, back when they had Kuyt and Benayoun as their wing options. He managed to get a lot of goals in very poor Liverpool teams

 

[redanddread]

How different would history have been if they had managed to bring in Wenger as manager instead of Houllier? For me the main difference between them and us has always been Wenger, ever since AW joined us. They did manage to fluke a CL trophy though until now I still don't understand how they did it.

The Chavs outdid them last season, so it's definitely possible. Remember that game so well. Milan thrashed them for 75 mins had an awful 15 minute spell and lost on PKs. Written in the stars!

 

[fabo]

English sides have had some incredibly dramatic (and undeserving) CL wins in recent times - Liverpool 05, United 99 + 08, Chelsea 12.

Pity Thierry didn't stick that chance at 1-0 in 2006, Barcelona *****.