Since my creative synapses arent really firing for some reason. I shall satisfy myself with a soccer post.
I actually woke meself up at 4am to watch this match. And I'm functioning like nothing happened.
Game: Liverpool Vs Napoli.
Score 3-1
Whee and Gerrard ends the game with a hat-trick. 4 mistakes, 4 goals.
:D
-.-
Liverpool lined up in a (thank God) 4-2-3-1
Backline was Johnson at right back, with Kyrgiakos partnering the favoured Legend Carragher in central defence with the much maligned Paul Konchesky taking the left back position.
At first I thought Skrtel was playing but that baldy turned out to be Shelvey. :P
But just looking at the back four made me nervous.
the greek and carra are slow as hell.
Never mind.
I screamed when I saw the midfield.
Spearing and Poulsen making up the pivot, two players not famed for their creativity and passing. This was not going to be a good game.
Jovanovic on the left, the jury's still out on that one. And to my horror, two central midfielders better than the aforementioned S&P appearing in central midfield and on the right wing, Meireles and Shelvey respectively.
Meireles isnt usually comfortable up there. God knows how well Shelvey does on the right.
And of course, the enigmatic David Ngog playing as the lone striker.
Lucas Leiva, sitting on the bench next to Gerrard, Torres looking very unhappy in a suit next to Joe Cole.
Surprisingly when the game kicked off, me and my cousin looked at each other on five minutes. It seemed like liverpool was going to win. Despite the selection horror.
They were pushing well, and Napoli was only just coping under the pressure. But a few counter-attacks left me uneasy.
*camera flash to hodgson, he sits, and watches like a spectator*
The napoli players just were too fast and skilful for Kyrgiakos and Carra, they didnt seem to be able to take the ball off them.
Everytime they surged forward I screamed WHERE IS POULSEN.
We would squint and find him somewhere else, not at the point of attack. Flaunting his blond locks to the spectators.
Liverpool stopped attacking. And Napoli started after 10 mins. Liverpool stopped playing football. Jovanovic did what he could and surprisingly Konchesky overlapped well. Ngog tried, but the way he smiled after he missed every shot was getting stupid.
The key was really Spearing and Poulsen. Poulsen allowed himself to be marked all the time and Carra and Kyrgiakos didnt know who to pass to.
Although none of them seemed to trust Jay Spearing who was unmarked. XD.
Defence gets ball, ball to Poulsen, instant pass back, look around, pass once twice to each other. Upon which.
1. Long ball to random person.
2. Pass to konchesky or Johnson.
Poulsen allowed himself to be dispossessed way to often.
Liverpool were being overrun.
A cynical liverpool fan on Red and White Kop later noted that P&S would have struggled to pass wind there...
Napoli made their pace and skill count, and it showed, maybe 3 or 4 good chances before the break.
Although Kyrgiakos somewhat proved himself, by winning almost every single header that came his way.
Meireles tried but was largely ineffective and Shelvey made a mess of things on the right.
Now Goal 1.
Some people say it was the fault of Carra and Johnson.
I say look back one second.
Poulsen.
A header, backwards. Not even sideways or smth.
He could have left it alone and Carra would have picked it up.
But, instead he headered it to the Napoli attacker who showed him what a real header was, sending the ball flying through Carra and Johnson, putting his teammate through for a calm one on one finish.
The game was tortuous to watch after that and at half time. I was utterly disgusted.
The ESPN pundit told Hodgson to bring Gerrard on.
He did.
But he subbed the only winger we had on the field.
Plus, he wasnt doing all too badly.
And Poulsen.......was still on the field.
So, come 2nd half we had 5 midfielders on the field, none of them which were wingers.
Fantastic.
What Hodgson said about him not using wingers but only wide midfielders still rankles me. Get with the times. And you can't just dump central mids wide and call them wide mids as well. It kinda doesnt work that way.
Liverpool started to attack and the game became balanced, with Liverpool and Napoli taking turns to attack, Gerrard looked energetic and always caught my eye with the extent he stretched his legs. XD
Definitely played his heart out. I have no clue how the organisation was like. Though some newspapers say that Meireles shifted to the left, the problem at this point was that Liverpool had no organisation at the attack. But Spearing was starting to take more responsibility in defence.
Poulsen was busy being poulsen. We struggled to gain possession.
Finally on the 65th minute around there Hodgson realized what we realized all season. Poulsen was bad. He took him off for Ecclestone(Whaaaa?)
Who proved that a little energy and attempted dribbling never hurt anyone.
Shelvey lit up after that.
I think Gerrard and Meireles must have come back to help Spearing.
Liverpool looked more in control, but it was really messy, I still have no clue which flank Shelvey was playing on and Where exactly Meireles was playing. Haha.
In the end Gerrard got his goal after Shelvey did some good work but Dossena failed.
And it all went downhill for Napoli after there. Johnson, who in my opinion was bloody useless all match popped up to earn a penalty, and the third goal came out of nowhere.
Oh one more thing.
After the first two goals. Hodgson felt it right to bring on yet another Central Midfielder, and thus if you count Ecclestone as attacking ( I think he is) you end the match with 6 midfielders none of which are wingers.
Awesome tactics.
Whee...
