honestly, when i see how rafa want to copy man u/chelsea.. i already think liverpool will lose.. We are a very different team from Manu/chelsea. Also,i think of our rivals, we think the least of Arsenal.
I think if we were to rank our fiercest rival now, it would be manu (for their arrogance and dominance in BPL when liverpool is unable to breakthrough.. not to mention SAF and the elusive 19th title), Everton (historical reason as well as close proximity, I think local liverpool lads will find Everton a bigger rival but we are talking abt SG and worldwide), Chelsea (prob down to the SPECIAL ONE and the various CL/cup meetings in recent years, we seem to play chelsea like 5 times a year rather than the usual 2 times) then Arsenal.
As such, i often find Liverpool lacking in motivation against Arsenal (have they forget how Arsenal snatched away our title on the last day of season when Michael Thomas scored? Did i rem his name right? lol> and how last season's Arshavin's 4 goals in the 4-4 draw effectively ended our title hope). Liverpool, i find, usually play much better if we are aggressive, like in the everton derby and some other fixtures.., the characteristics of early Rafa team is never give up. These days i think we surrendered too meekly. If we have thrown in some tackles on key Arsenal players like Arshavin or Fabregas and Bendther, i think it will really affect their play.
Why we fail where chelsea/manu can is that we are SLOW. Our whole team is slow. To make things worse, we don;t have creative players like Alonso, Benayoun (even Aqualiani). A pass is always faster than a dribble, it is the case in basketball and similarly in football. This is how chelsea, attacked Arsenal with fast passing and lightning quick counter attack. Similarly Manu also pass very quickly and ahve width. Liverpool, on the other hand, love to play square passes and probe at the defence and don't have much width. Hence, we can't play counter-attack as effective as manu/arsenal. The only exception may be the long through pass to quick strikers like Owen and Torres..
On the game itself, i think both teams were poor.. maybe because of fatigue. In fact, i am not too disappointed with the performance but i was disappointed that we set out more for a draw. I believe, if we tackle and attack hard at Arsenal, it will break them as their confidence is at all time low. Too bad, we missed the opportunity.. If we have won against Arsenal, we ahve an excellent chance of finishing 3rd or better.. Now, best hope is 4th already, realistically.
I think if we were to rank our fiercest rival now, it would be manu (for their arrogance and dominance in BPL when liverpool is unable to breakthrough.. not to mention SAF and the elusive 19th title), Everton (historical reason as well as close proximity, I think local liverpool lads will find Everton a bigger rival but we are talking abt SG and worldwide), Chelsea (prob down to the SPECIAL ONE and the various CL/cup meetings in recent years, we seem to play chelsea like 5 times a year rather than the usual 2 times) then Arsenal.
As such, i often find Liverpool lacking in motivation against Arsenal (have they forget how Arsenal snatched away our title on the last day of season when Michael Thomas scored? Did i rem his name right? lol> and how last season's Arshavin's 4 goals in the 4-4 draw effectively ended our title hope). Liverpool, i find, usually play much better if we are aggressive, like in the everton derby and some other fixtures.., the characteristics of early Rafa team is never give up. These days i think we surrendered too meekly. If we have thrown in some tackles on key Arsenal players like Arshavin or Fabregas and Bendther, i think it will really affect their play.
Why we fail where chelsea/manu can is that we are SLOW. Our whole team is slow. To make things worse, we don;t have creative players like Alonso, Benayoun (even Aqualiani). A pass is always faster than a dribble, it is the case in basketball and similarly in football. This is how chelsea, attacked Arsenal with fast passing and lightning quick counter attack. Similarly Manu also pass very quickly and ahve width. Liverpool, on the other hand, love to play square passes and probe at the defence and don't have much width. Hence, we can't play counter-attack as effective as manu/arsenal. The only exception may be the long through pass to quick strikers like Owen and Torres..
On the game itself, i think both teams were poor.. maybe because of fatigue. In fact, i am not too disappointed with the performance but i was disappointed that we set out more for a draw. I believe, if we tackle and attack hard at Arsenal, it will break them as their confidence is at all time low. Too bad, we missed the opportunity.. If we have won against Arsenal, we ahve an excellent chance of finishing 3rd or better.. Now, best hope is 4th already, realistically.
