The Soccer Blog: 10 Questions with the Liverpool Offside

Thursday 14 April 2011

10 Questions with the Liverpool Offside

By: Martin | April 14th, 2011
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Sorry, Noel, but I will never stop using this for Liverpool Previews

We have a very special treat for you today.

Noel from the Liverpool Offside, who is a great writer and generally gets annoyed at Sairax and I whenever we make a joke at Liverpool’s expense on Twitter, agreed to answer some of my questions and provide some wit and perspective on what has been a very, very interesting season at Liverpool — from a dreadful start and the disastrous reign of Woy Hodgson to the triumphant return of Kenny Dalglish and the emergence of some young players and the purchase of what looks to be a dynamic strike partnership for years to come, it’s been a real roller coaster for the denizens of the Kop this season. Ahead of Sunday’s showdown with Liverpool at the Emirates, Noel was kind enough to answer 10 inane questions from yours truly. Without further ado…

1. Realistically, what’s the best case scenario for where Liverpool can end up this season?

Realistically, sixth and out of Europe thanks to Arsenal losing the League Cup to Birmingham. Optimistically, fifth if they win out and Tottenham manages to lose five points in six games in addition to losing the seventh of their remaining games which is against Liverpool. Batshitinsanery, fourth is still a mathematical possibility, but Liverpool would have to leapfrog first Tottenham and then rely on Manchester City dropping nine points in six games.

2. Dalglish has been fantastic this season, but do Liverpool fans really think he can be the long-term solution at manager?

Certainly. Since his return, and despite all sorts of problems with injuries and a few genuinely disappointing displays, Liverpool’s form under Dalglish would have them neck and neck with Arsenal in second if stretched out over the entire season. And though a recent shift towards an often underwhelming 4-2-2-2 formation has taken some of the early luster off, early deployments of an attacking 4-3-3 and the situationally brilliant use of a three man back line suggest he’s not the tactical dinosaur some morons in the media who wouldn’t know tactics if it shanked them in a prison shower nattered on about when he was first hired.

Really, at this point everybody just assumes he’ll both be here going forward and that he’s the right manager to take the club forward, while those now wringing their hands in mock concern over whether he’ll get the job or not are mostly the same people from before who wouldn’t know tactics if it shanked them in a prison shower.

I wonder what song they were singing?

3. I know it’s only happened this season, but what effect has the new ownership group had?

Most of us are fairly sure Liverpool isn’t going to end the season relegated now. Which is nice.

4. Are you really better off with Carroll and Suarez than Torres?

Honestly, yes. I wouldn’t have dreamt of it a year ago, but given their form over the past eighteen months and how quickly Suarez has taken to the EPL, I’d take him straight up over Torres at the moment. And Carroll’s a nice bonus prospect to get along with him thanks to Abramovich deciding he needed a new Shevchenko.

5. Speaking of those two, how can we stop your new dynamic duo strike partnership?

Simple, really. Overwhelm Liverpool’s midfield, forcing possession back to the central defenders and counting on Jamie Carragher to send aimless hoofs into the sky. Carroll will still win his share of 50-50s, but getting the ball off the pitch and separating them from their midfield support will largely isolate Suarez while rendering the balls Carroll does win mostly meaningless, though you can still never fully guard against a moment of individual brilliance from Suarez.

6. How good is Martin Kelly going to be?

Martin Kelly who? He’s old news, and it’s all about John Flanagan now. Though more seriously, Martin Kelly has it in him to become one of the best ball-playing center backs in the world if can avoid picking up too many injuries. And speaking of which, he’s injured now and won’t be anywhere near the pitch come Sunday, leaving 18-year old John Flanagan the most likely starter at right back. We would appreciate it if Arsenal failed to pick up on that as City just did.

7. Is it too soon to label Joe Cole a bust?

Depending on reports, Liverpool bought Robbie Keane from Spurs in 2008 for between £18-20 million. They then re-sold him for between £17-19 million a little less than six months later. While with the club, he earned £80k per week, or just under two million pounds, for a total loss of somewhere between three and five million pounds on a failed experiment often considered the club’s biggest big money failure in the transfer market.

Joe Cole, on the other hand, arrived on a free, but he earns £90k per week to sit alternately on the bench and the trainer’s table. After thirty four weeks with the club, or some time around the end of February, that will have seen the club lose just over three million pounds on him. By the time he is hopefully sent to West Ham or QPR for a bag of paprika in the summer he will have taken close to five million in wages while doing little in Liverpool bar indulging his reported pack a day habit.

In 26 games, Keane had seven goals, five assists, and 42 shots. Cole has played 15 and managed a single goal and assist along with 18 shots. And I forget what the question was.

8. With Gerrard out, who do we need to watch out for in midfield?
Assuming a three-man central midfield to counter Arsenal, Raul Meireles will arrive late in the box to remind everybody that Fabianski or Lehman isn’t a good goalkeeping conundrum to have. Though it seems just as likely he’ll find himself shifted to a narrow outside left role, which will result in Liverpool fans angrily throwing pens and old socks and small children and the like, but in any case will probably mean less for Arsenal to worry about from Liverpool’s midfield. On the other hand, either way Lucas will mark Fabregas out of the game to the point where Arsenal fans will begin to wonder if they might be better off just taking the money for him from Barcelona.

9. Any chance Pepe Reina just grabs the ball and runs into his own net with it again?

Only if he’s trying to impress Wenger with eyes towards a move to London, since I’m under the impression that that’s the sort of thing an Arsenal keeper is supposed to do.

10. And finally, since anything but a win for us this weekend would basically hand Manchester United their 19th title, wouldn’t the proper thing to do be to just roll over and let us win?

No. As much as I’d prefer Arsenal take the title, you never hope to lose, and to be honest Arsenal dropping six points in the last four matches has hardly filled me with confidence that a Liverpool loss would even do anything to stop the most crushingly average United side in recent memory from taking the title. Which leaves hoping that Liverpool can win out, nick a European spot to make player recruitment easier in the summer, and so improve the odds of knocking them right back off our fucking perch next season.

Many thanks to Noel for agreeing to do this. And if you’re interested, Noel had some questions (only 5 questions, but they were longer and more difficult to understand, so I think it’s an even trade) for me, as well, which you can find over at the Liverpool Offside here.

We’ll be back with a preview of the match either tomorrow or Saturday. Until then.

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Some Related Stories:Leeds United – Arsenal (FA Cup) Preview: A Conversation with Leeds OffsideMidseason Review, Part IV: Best of Arsenal OffsideWest Brom – Arsenal PreviewWigan – Arsenal PreviewArsenal – Birmingham Preview

Category: Arsenal News, Fixtures, Liverpool, Premiership

Tags: Arsenal News, Fixtures, Liverpool, Premiership
Tweet « Arsenal Ladies Face Chelsea Ladies In Opening Match of the New FA Women’s Super League | Home | Gigi_manGood article, good thing to have the offside Pool guy answer the questions, I like Liverpool, they dont seem to have that nasty attitude as others (cough Manu cough). And I laughed hard at the Pepe Reina comment, I also cried but then I laughed again hahaha.

Man I really wished we would have signed Suarez. I think Wenger should do as in Rocky and look for the eye of the tiger, this guy has that look in his eyes that he is going to kill the net with the ball no matter what.

Too bad Liverpool wont let us win :P I was kind of hoping for that, because they ve grown a lot since a while, and we only managed a 1-1 when they were "bad". Beware.

I was also checking top scorers from other leagues, interesting ones. I think we will need to enforce a true 9 during the summer (I know, we have a great striker and all, but we cant just do it with one, like Ronaldinho said in a commercial shot a few years ago: I play, do wonderful things, and when players have me all figured out and come to block me in a group of 3...then I pass the ball to another one that can do the magic).GmcgleenonLucas could win you the league boyo if he played for ArsenalEdThat banner picture is my nightmare.ArsenalFaaaaaaanyWhat stupid person saying Lucas will mark fabregas out of the game.nhjyhjkogo fuck yourself u r lucky
kelly and agger is injured or nasri and fabregas would both get raped u fat wanker oh and since dalglish took over we picked up more points than any other team except united for gifting them the title with your shit team i hope arseholes never win anything u cunts and ur user name describes ur team a bunch of faaaaaaaanyies ur gay french manager bums his own people dont worry flanagan and aurelio will rape ur team instead u better pray liverpool dont decide to play suso and sterling u will be mega fucked u got fabregas and nasri well we got next iniesta and barnesEdSorry guys, forgot to sign in with my usual profile here.

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