Newcastle v Liverpool

[StoneColdStephenIreland 74]

Bluddy tickets sold out quick for this so theres ganna be a bunch of part-timers/fair-weather fans there. First game I've missed all season and it's our most important one FFS!

 

Bellamy and Gerrard fucking love playing against us, and with our back line atm, I'd take a draw right now.

[Baggio 0]

Jan Molby in their local paper...

 

IT’S going to be a great occasion when Liverpool face Everton at Wembley next month but before then they really need to get some confidence back.

 

It won’t be easy to achieve that at St James’ Park on Sunday. The one club I envy for the work they’ve done in the transfer market is Newcastle.

 

They sold some real characters with the departure of Andy Carroll followed by Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Jose Enrique.

 

But their scouts did an excellent job spotting new recruits with potential and the club have reaped the rewards.

 

Since August I’ve been waiting for their season to fall apart but it’s never happened.

 

Strikers Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse are a real handful. They are big and strong and chase down everything. They will give our centre-backs a tough time.

 

Ben Arfa has hit some form and I like the midfield duo of Cheick Tiote and Yohan Cabaye.

 

Even if they lose a couple of them this summer they will get a big profit on what they paid for them.

 

Newcastle are the form team and unless there’s a big improvement we could be in for some more disappointment.

[McFaul 35]

Filling out Fish's questionnaire reminded me I still have an account here!

 

Sadly I'm not coming up on Sunday, saving up so gonna be a cheap armchair fan.

 

All the best though lads.

You've written on the RAWK site, you got a very hostile reception on here. The only person you had any crossed words with was Danny B who's a Tottenham fan. So what specifically did you mean by that?

[Howmanheyman 33245]

 

Never thought I'd smile at anything to do with Phil Collins!

 

(Apart from the Nonce-sense, of course).

[BigWalrus 0]

Filling out Fish's questionnaire reminded me I still have an account here!

 

Sadly I'm not coming up on Sunday, saving up so gonna be a cheap armchair fan.

 

All the best though lads.

You've written on the RAWK site, you got a very hostile reception on here. The only person you had any crossed words with was Danny B who's a Tottenham fan. So what specifically did you mean by that?

 

Victim mentality! Something's gone wrong in the world if the scousers aren't feeling hard done to!

[BigWalrus 0]

Lawrenson has posted his usual shite:

 

 

If you took the Carling Cup out of Liverpool's results in 2012, then they are very average to say the least.

 

Their league form has been extremely poor and in the last three games, defensively, they have not been very good. They are clearly missing Daniel Agger's presence at the back.

 

Generally, the Reds create lots of chances whoever they are playing. That is still the case, apart from in last week's defeat by Wigan, but I think they will probably go to Newcastle and play a little bit tighter than usual because they need to stop the rot.

 

Newcastle looked a very good side in their win at West Brom. They picked the Baggies off easily and I was very impressed.

 

In the summer, the Magpies will be able to look back at this season with some satisfaction, but I'm not sure Liverpool can do the same.

 

One of the problems for the Reds lies with some of their signings in the last 18 months. Has Jose Enrique improved them? Yes. Have Craig Bellamy and Luis Suarez? Of course they have.

 

But have Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam done the same? I would say that, at the moment, probably not.

 

At the end of the season you can evaluate what your players have done for you over the course of the campaign. Who has had a good season, and who hasn't.

 

Downing did well in the Carling Cup final but that was against a Championship team and he is yet to score a Premier League goal for Liverpool, which I find amazing.

 

In terms of goals, players like him, Adam (two league goals) and Henderson (one) should be chipping in to compliment Luis Suarez and Craig Bellamy's output and, along with Carroll (three), I think they should have 30 league goals between them by now.

 

Those goals would make a massive difference. The total for me from those sort of players in a good team is 30.

 

Even when you count Steven Gerrard [five] and Dirk Kuyt [two], they don't make it halfway to that amount, which is quite conservative. The midfield players should have five each, and Carroll should be on at least 10. Therein lies the story of Liverpool's season.

 

They have started to get more men forward since Jay Spearing has come in, allowing Steven Gerrard to join the attack but as can be seen from their goal tallies, Henderson and Downing just don't get into the box. It is not like those two are missing loads of chances every week.

 

Maybe the best thing Liverpool can do is give former Newcastle striker Andy Carroll a start against his old club.

 

Carroll has only started 21 of Liverpool's games this season but, when he has done, they have a 62% win percentage compared to a 38% win percentage without him.

 

Prediction: 1-1

Edited March 30, 2012 by BigWalrus

[BigWalrus 0]

Nice of him to include an entire line of text without mentioning his beloved Liverpool:

 

"Newcastle looked a very good side in their win at West Brom. They picked the Baggies off easily and I was very impressed."

 

 

 

 

 

Tosser.

[McFaul 35]

I've said it before I'll say it again, the media coverage Liverpool receive is ridiculous for the stature of their club, and it's disproportionate representation in the media is pathetic, it's the same thing for Tottenham. Even when Tottenham were getting 25000 less than a decade ago, coming 15th every year, their media representation was disproportionate. The difference between us and them is we were better supported and had very similar trophy haul up to the early 70's but in that decade and the 80's they really became the number one club in England while we stood still. We probably have a similar hardcore fanbase, in fact ours is probably greater, but they have a media driven gloryhunting fan base from all over, and these are the ones that the media are interested in. They bore me, I hate reading about them, there are far more interesting clubs than them who never win fuck all, sick of reading about them, and Lawrenson's piece sums it all up.

 

Anyway due to our shit defence on Sunday I only think we'll win 3-2, I thought 2-2 but they're hopeless at the back too.

Edited March 30, 2012 by McFaul

[Brock Manson 0]

You've written on the RAWK site, you got a very hostile reception on here. The only person you had any crossed words with was Danny B who's a Tottenham fan. So what specifically did you mean by that?

 

I said I felt "less than welcome" when I joined initially, which was because I quite like Newcastle as a club. I don't know how to view that far back on my posts on here, but I remember I got a welcome that involved Danny B and Stevie (which I'm guessing from the familiar writing style is you) trying to "educate" me about the wrongs of scousers and Heysel. I distinctly remember someone making wall-pushing gags too. I think you can see why I felt that.

 

 

Anyway, you asked, it's water under the bridge and not what this thread is about. As I was saying, good luck on Sunday.

 

I realistically expect you to rape us if Carragher plays.

 

It seems new members often get a hazing when they first arrive. Sort the wheat from the chaff an all that.

[SuspectPackage 0]

You've written on the RAWK site, you got a very hostile reception on here. The only person you had any crossed words with was Danny B who's a Tottenham fan. So what specifically did you mean by that?

 

I said I felt "less than welcome" when I joined initially, which was because I quite like Newcastle as a club. I don't know how to view that far back on my posts on here, but I remember I got a welcome that involved Danny B and Stevie (which I'm guessing from the familiar writing style is you) trying to "educate" me about the wrongs of scousers and Heysel. I distinctly remember someone making wall-pushing gags too. I think you can see why I felt that.

 

 

Anyway, you asked, it's water under the bridge and not what this thread is about. As I was saying, good luck on Sunday.

 

I realistically expect you to rape us if Carragher plays so I'm hoping for a boring 0-0.

 

I'll c+p my response across in the unlikely event anyone wanted to read it.

 

You've won a cup and are still in with a decent shout of lifting the other; if you were to finish 8th with those two pots, would you be happy with this season? Would you swap both cups for a Champions League spot?

 

That's been a massive and to be honest stupid debate on here. While winning stuff is important, it's hard to argue we're progressing as a team when we're so far off the pace in the league. I'd definately swap them for the Champion's League place but I know it's not a popular opinion on RAWK. Two cups is a decent season though, I'm sure Arsenal fans for example would be casting longing glances at our silverware.

 

Your team and management have come under a lot of scrutiny over the handling of the Suarez incident, why do you think the nation reacted in the way it did to it all?

 

Because popular ill-informed opinion has it that Suarez is a racist (something the inquiry even admitted probably isn't true), everyone expected us to immediately grovel and fold. Our team and management didn't feel Suarez is a racist or had any racist intent, and so they rightfully stood by him. Hence the superficial "Liverpool stands by racist, Liverpool are racists!" storm. Of course, us Liverpool fans are so much more racist than we were this time last year. cause king Kenny said it's ok. Now I hate all ethnic minorities, although my girlfriend isn't white, as I'm now apparently racist I'll have to considering dumping her.

 

Kenny Dalglish was a wonderful player and is adored on Merseyside (in much the same way Keegan is loved on Tyneside) but it seems that the support he received initially is waning; is this a fair assessment?

 

Yes and no. The usual suspects are calling for his head. These are same people who call for everyone's head, wanted Rafa sacked, thought that Alonso was shite, that Lucas would never be any good, that Reina wasn't a patch on Dudek etc. There's increased criticism of him certainly, as there should be. Noone should be above criticism, and I've critised Dalglish for a lot of the decisions he's made. But as a whole the fanbase are still definately behind him.

 

As a follow up; the players that were signed by Dalglish haven't really gelled this term, is that just because they're not good enough, or is it that they require a longer bedding in period?

 

A mixture really. Some good (Suarez, Enrique, Coates, Bellamy), some I don't think are good enough (Adam, Downing) and some can be quietly effective but cost too much (obvious who I'm talking about there) and some I think need patience with (Henderson). One of the problems we've got is that our squad is paper thin (though yes, that's the manager's fault). For example our fit midfield options are Gerrard, Henderson and Spearing so these 3 will play every game till the end of the season now. I like Henderson and see real potential in him but he needs to be managed. Instead we've got him playing every game and it's obvious his confidence is plummeting, but we can't drop him.

 

If we just had a decent goalscorer (like Ba ) the team wouldn't be actually so far off the pace. Absolutely dominating the other team, having a couple of dozen shots, hitting the woodwork repeatedly and then ending up with a 0-0 or losing has been the hallmark of this season. We desperately need someone who can be clinical and finish!

 

This team has certainly regressed from the one of the second half of last season, when we shot up the table and were playing some really good football. The signs are there we can be so much better than we are now, but once again we find ourselves "two or three signings" away from being a challenging team.

 

Two of those signings came from Newcastle, what are you impressions of them, long and short term?

 

Enrique has been a great signing for us, was probably our best player performing when we started the season. I love him as a defender, he's so utterly reliable I sometimes laugh when people either try to burn him for pace or outmuscle him...he almost never loses battles of physicality. Could do with improving his crossing and learning to release the ball earlier if he wants to become a real attacking outlet for us. Obviously that stupid mistake against QPR is fresh in the people's minds, but that's a symptom I think of us overplaying him...he's played practically every game this season. Needs a rest to come back to his best form, but again our squad is paper thin and we have no cover.

 

Carroll is a very strange one. He's never worth £35 million...perhaps half of that at best. On the pitch he looks ungainly, like bambi on ice. However when he's on the pitch he seems to bring the best out of Suarez recently, he's been improving. The big geordie lump seems to occupy defenders and we win games, even if we don't score.

 

Edit: Found the posting/stats to explain what I mean.

 

Liverpool results in last 7 games Andy Carroll's started: WWDWWWW

 

Liverpool results in last 9 games without him: DDDLLLLLL

 

Or to quote another poster:

 

 

 

Quote from: barneystuta on March 28, 2012, 12:37:24 PM

I've look at 10 games against Premier League opposition (note that I have excluded games against Cardiff, Brighton, Oldham) that Carroll has started, and 10 that Carroll hasn't. In the 10 he has we won 6, drawn 2 and lost 2. Over a 38 games season that isn't a bad return (76 points). Also, we average 1.6 goals per game with him in the side (despite him only scoring 1 of the 16 goals).

 

Without Carroll though, we average 1 goal per game. We have just 3 wins, and 3 draws. Or if they were all league games, 12 points out of a total 30. That would equal 45 points over a 38 game season.

 

The reality is, with Carroll in and out the side, we are looking like we are going to finish somewhere in the middle (no surprise).

 

 

But of course because he doesn't score and looks ungainly, this goes largely unnoticed.

 

How do you think you're going to be affected by the FFP?

 

It's all a great mystery how it'll affect everyone really, especially with Manchester City already finding loopholes to avoid it. If it levels the playing field and avoids the scenario of clubs teetering on administration and bankruptcy (e.g. Leeds, Portsmouth, Rangers...nearly us) I welcome it.

 

Who is your Liverpool player of the season thus far?

 

Skrtel, been quietly immense. Can't overstate just how good he's been this season, compared to the rather mediocre player he was under Hodgson. If our attacking players had been half as good as our defensive pairing of Skrtel and Agger, we wouldn't be in this mess we are in.

 

Who has been the biggest disappointment?

 

Hmm, choices, choices. Top of the list is Charlie Adam. He destroyed us when he played for Blackpool, and his free kicks and corners were mouth watering. I guess his much-vaunted dead ball abilities weren't included in the transfer fee. Downing comes a close second, he's only a set of bollocks away from being such a good player. Can't understand why Carragher keeps playing either, when we have the brilliant Seb Coates waiting for a chance!

 

Which Premier League players have impressed?

 

Silva, Van Persie, Rooney, Sinclair, Cabaye (I'd love him), Kompany, Skrtel,

 

Which Premier League Managers have impressed?

 

Brendan Rogers and Paul Lambert have over-achieved on slender resources, and I'll say Pardew though I reckon some wider credit should go to Graham Carr!

 

Who will be your danger man/men against Newcastle?

 

Suarez obviously and there's always the "against his former club" chance of Carroll getting a goal. I'd like to see Sterling and Shelvey get on the pitch at some point though as a surprise package against you.

 

Which Newcastle player(s) are you worried about?

 

Ba and Cisse are the obvious two, so I'll say Ben Arfa who I saw have a stormer in the first half against West Brom.

 

Finally, what do you reckon the score will be?

 

Either it'll be another dogshit boring 0-0, or there'll be comedy defending on both sides....4-3 to Liverpool?

[Craig 6682]

Two of those signings came from Newcastle, what are you impressions of them, long and short term?

Enrique is great, been a little bit off form of late, but overall a great buy, I hope he’s here for years to come.

 

Carroll is a bit of an enigma, there are times when you can see the potential, and other times when he just looks like a lazy get trotting round, getting nowhere. For me, he doesn’t have a football brain and therefore finds it hard to anticipate other player’s moves or getting into good positions. I know we don’t play to his supposed strengths, but Dalglish won’t turn us into a long ball team just to suit Carroll, the player has to adapt to us. I think he was a mistake all round because he appears to take his career too casually, and if he carries on that way I can see him dropping down the leagues. I hope he proves me wrong.

 

That there displays the failings of Dalglish for me. There's an almost arrogant attitude that the players of LFC should play football in a certain way and adapt their style accordingly and that there is no room for movement - the player has to adapt, not the club.

 

You broke the British transfer record to sign him FFS, he's not just some two-bit squad player. If you didn't want to play to his strengths, why buy him in the first place? He's a haemorrhage on your finances but it's your club's fault, not Carroll's!

 

What's even more laughable is you have the players with the ability to provide for him.

[McFaul 35]

Two of those signings came from Newcastle, what are you impressions of them, long and short term?

Enrique is great, been a little bit off form of late, but overall a great buy, I hope he’s here for years to come.

 

Carroll is a bit of an enigma, there are times when you can see the potential, and other times when he just looks like a lazy get trotting round, getting nowhere. For me, he doesn’t have a football brain and therefore finds it hard to anticipate other player’s moves or getting into good positions. I know we don’t play to his supposed strengths, but Dalglish won’t turn us into a long ball team just to suit Carroll, the player has to adapt to us. I think he was a mistake all round because he appears to take his career too casually, and if he carries on that way I can see him dropping down the leagues. I hope he proves me wrong.

 

That there displays the failings of Dalglish for me. There's an almost arrogant attitude that the players of LFC should play football in a certain way and adapt their style accordingly and that there is no room for movement - the player has to adapt, not the club.

 

You broke the British transfer record to sign him FFS, he's not just some two-bit squad player. If you didn't want to play to his strengths, why buy him in the first place? He's a haemorrhage on your finances but it's your club's fault, not Carroll's!

 

What's even more laughable is you have the players with the ability to provide for him.

Totally agree. The likes of Charlie Adam were unfathomable ridiculous buys, and you have Downing who's playing shit, but he cuts in too much, he's a winger ffs, play him like a winger and they need a right winger, or Gerrard out there all the time to provide for AC. They're a mess I think, we are much better balanced. I find it unlikely that any of our players would want to sign for Liverpool again particularly if we keep progressing. They most definitely aren't Manchester United or anything like it right now. It's not unrealistic that they might finish with 52 points which is total midtable fodder.

 

In fact if we beat them on Saturday they'd need 3 wins from 7 to get there even. Back to front Reina possibly the most overrated keeper I've seen in 27 years of watching football, Agger is decent, Jose hasn't been near his level here, the rest are shite. Midfield they have Gerrard who is pure class, who else would you be desperate for us to have none of them? Suarez is a decent player but doesn't score enough, Bellamy is class but is no spring chicken, and you need to play a certain way to utilise Carroll. I'd say that's borderline disarray for the money they've spent to be honest. 99% of their fans would swap Ba, Benny, Tiote and Cabaye (£12.5m) for Carroll, Downing, Henderson and Adam (£84m) and if they don't they haven't got a clue about the game.

[Kevin Carr's Gloves 3894]

So we will def lose now then.

[Howmanheyman 33245]

Premier League form guide;

 

Arsenal - WWWWWWW

 

Man Utd - DWWWWWW

 

Man City - WWWWLWD

 

NUFC - WLDDLWW

 

Liverpool - ROFLMAO

 

 

Think Bellamy will damage us if he plays, haven't a good feeling about this one for some reason.

[Tom 14011]

For Liverpool fans dismissing 'Long Ball' they should really look at their game a bit closer because they hardly play carpet football, they are often very direct & seldom good to watch.

 

In addition to this when Carroll flourished at Newcastle we weren't exactly a long ball team, sometimes we were but not strictly.

[Barney 0]

“I have always had a good relationship with the Newcastle fans and it stems back to playing for them.”

 

Big Andy was never afraid to 'tell it as it is'.

[BigWalrus 0]

“I have always had a good relationship with the Newcastle fans and it stems back to playing for them.”

 

Big Andy was never afraid to 'tell it as it is'.

 

Haha brilliant. Maybe the world of football forgot that he used to play for us.

[rogerbarton 24]

Fantastic quote from Andy. I'm glad to see some of the more knowledgeable and friendly Scousers making an appearance here, some good mates of mine are Liverpool fans but even they have a very inflated opinion of their club which is why the rest of the football world is sometimes a bit narked with Liverpool supporters I think.

 

Without Colo it's going to be a big struggle, the guy's a class act and we don't actually have a proper centre back to replace him with. You've got to say that we needed a back up CB in January even if it was a loan player, I'm sure we could have got someone half decent in for next to nothing. I will be interested to see who plays there with Willo, but I'm guessing Perch and, no matter how much he's getting a bit of a bumming of late, he ain't good enough.

 

I expect a 4-3-3 like last week and if we pass it around like we did then we will be great going forward. Looking forward to the game, hope Benny and the Dembas can come up with something special and keep us on the front foot.

[sandman02uk 0]

i reckon pardew will pack the midfield, he knows the CB pairing is going to be dodgy so i wouldnt be surprised to see no start for HBA

[Besty 4]

Willo low on confidence with Perch partnering him at CB, how are some of you so confident?

[Monroe Transfer 0]

We'll outscore them.

 

You miserable prick.

 

safety

[rogerbarton 24]

i reckon pardew will pack the midfield, he knows the CB pairing is going to be dodgy so i wouldnt be surprised to see no start for HBA

He can't possibly drop Ben Arfa after last week can he? West Brom was by far and away our best performance in a long time, it looked like we'd found a system that worked. I take your point about the CB pairing and needing to crowd out the midfield a bit more but Tiote is back.

[rogerbarton 24]

That said, the system last week was well suited to a counter attacking game away from home.

[BigWalrus 0]

Ben Arfa must start, surely!

 

And Williamson is fine against the big lads. Stick him up against Carroll and he'll give him a decent battle. Perch will be left with Suarez to cover, aided by our holding midfield.

 

We have a stronger forward line, we have a stronger midfield. We have to play to our strengths, and that is attacking.

[Gene_Clark 12]

Think we'll get beat with Colo missing, but i'm looking forward to a few drinks post match; Irish Club, Newcastle Arms & probably Bodega