The Soccer Blog: Jamie Redknapp, Five-Syllable Words, and Fernando Torres

Monday, 13 September 2010

Jamie Redknapp, Five-Syllable Words, and Fernando Torres

By: Ed | September 13th, 2010
torres

di·a·bol·i·cal

Sarah’s already covered this in some depth on the front page, but I figured this has become enough of a thing that I should at least go through the motions. Plus her piece wasn’t biased enough.

Let’s first play Mad Libs with Redknapp’s halftime quote:

“Out there for 45 minutes ____________ has been terrible. He hasn’t got hold of the ball, he hasn’t chased, he’s got frustrated, he could have been booked. He’s been diabolical. He’s looked frustrated, sloppy, lethargic.”

Thinking back to the first half yesterday, is the answer:

A) Glen Johnson
B) Jamie Carragher
C) Martin Skrtel
D) Paul Konchesky
E) Christian Poulsen
F) Lucas
G) Steven Gerrard
H) Maxi
I) Fernando Torres
J) Roy Hodgson

Especially if you remove the contextual elements (e.g., “got hold of the ball,” “could have been booked”), there’s really no telling. Sloppy all around, frustrated to a man, and, in many cases, lifeless at best. Only Milan Jovanovic and Pepe Reina escape censure here, because the former was a tireless runner, looked good on the ball, and at least had some sort of spark. The latter, you know, saved the match.

For me, the only thing resembling a story here is that the target of ire is Fernando Torres and not Lucas or Rafa or Tom Hicks. Also, Jamie Redknapp did, in fact, use a five-syllable word. End of shock.

We know that Torres is prone to fits of petulance, prone to going anonymous for large spells, and prone to giving away possession relatively frequently when he’s trying to do too much. That doesn’t make it okay, but it’s not like this is a new phenomenon. It’s absolutely infuriating, and, to be fair, I can understand Redknapp’s frustration.

For me, though, singling out Fernando Torres, or any player for that matter, from yesterday’s first half performance completely misses the mark. Save for Jovanovic and Reina, the entire squad was just a complete gash. There was no urgency, from a technical standpoint it was one of the worst halves of football I’ve seen Liverpool play in some time, and they were counting their lucky Reinas to be level at the half.

I also think focusing on a player that we know to be so reliant on service from the midfield and wide areas is wasted breath. Torres is a brilliant striker, one of the best in the world on-form. But he’s terrifically one-dimensional in that regard—he’s not a great passer of the ball, he can’t really play anywhere outside the barrel, and when he’s starved of service, we’re going to start hearing pundits consulting their thesaurus.

This isn’t an exercise in excuse-making—far from it. It was an inexcusable performance yesterday for all involved, Torres included. But if we’re talking about a service-reliant striker who received all of approximately six passes from central midfield (Lucas/Poulsen/Gerrard here) in the opposition half during the 90 minutes, roughly four from the wide midfielders, and about five from the fullbacks, there’s plenty of blame to go around. Chalkboard it yourself.

Again, as Sarah noted via the link above, there’s likely a good amount of this that’s down to what he’s been able to provide for the club since he’s arrived. Moments of brilliance out of nothing, all done while proclaiming his love and loyalty for the club. All things considered, it’s been a pretty smooth ride.

This year, though, it’s been tough on every possible front—injured to finish the 2009-2010 season, he raced back to get fit for the World Cup only to look terribly off-form (particularly in contrast to the brilliant David Villa), injured again in the final, once again facing a fitness battle for the season’s start, and clearly off the pace and off-form as the season gets up and running. Goals against West Brom and Liechtenstein haven’t exactly quieted the growing amount of negative attention his performances have garnered.

So what’s the point? I don’t know that this story really warrants any sort of point being made, especially for the folks that usually hang around here. We certainly don’t need to waste any motion pressing the panic button on Torres in light of the squad’s struggles overall. He’ll continue to get the attention because of what he’s done previously and the impact that he can have when he’s on-form, and some of the criticism will be fairly accurate.

After yesterday, though, “diabolical” would have fit for just about anyone, on the pitch and off. Yeah, it would have been great had Torres snatched one late. Then we’d be singing his praises about overcoming adversity, turning the match single-handedly, impregnating women with but a glance. Didn’t happen though, and here we are.

Probably time for moving on, yes?

Some Related Liverpool Posts:Fernando Torres, Beef, and LiverpoolSquad Announced; Fernando Torres Has Been Paying AttentionThe Squad Heads to Switzerland and News on TorresTorres Hurt, Aquilani’s Not, and More Transferish StuffEuropa League Draw, Hodgson on Gerrard and Torres, and a Deal for Insua?

Category: Miscellaneous, Team News

Tags: Fernando Torres, Miscellaneous, Team News
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NoelPlus her piece's first respondent had me tempted to reply with a, Hey, you know what, fuck you, buddy, which after your talk yesterday of how things had stayed civil in spite of everything seemed like it would be in bad taste.

My biggest problem is reflected by my desire to snarl in reaction to the aforementioned: it's Z-list pundits and apparent outsiders who seem to be the ones starting to beat the drums over Torres, while I've yet to see any Liverpool-centric source show particular concern other than to see him stay fit long enough to get back to full form. They see he didn't single-handedly beat seven defenders to carry the team to victory, ignoring the lack of service and that he's never been that player. They see a player more honest and forward than most would be about the situation at the club, but seemingly honest in his love for it rather than eager for a move to Chelsea, and he becomes an object of vague ridicule in some quarters until they've clamored loud and long enough for their views to start popping up amongst those who claim to support or follow the particular team or player in question.

Vile tabloid-style journalists. They'd be ignorable, even laughable, if it wasn't for the way they clamored on until their views started to creep into the ranks of those who claim to follow or support a side. It's like some of them are getting ready to "Send him back to Spain" with a smirk, and of course none of them give a damn about the good of Liverpool Football Club or even show signs of basic football understanding (which is bizarre, given how many pundits are ex-players).Mikepersonally, i thought torres didnt play too bad yesterday. He lost possession at times, but he made a couple of good chances such as his dribble around 5 players, and that shot from a tight angle. I wouldnt be worried about torres at this stage, but more so from the rest of the team. Gerrard and torres looked isolated, since there was NO creativity from the 2 DM. However as soon as meireles came on, there was a spark about our play.
Ive mentioned before that we desperatly need wide players. Jova and maxi didnt play great. And from what i see of jova, yes you can say he is explosive, but he is prone to running around like a head less chicken, with no end product.. Maxi keeps the ball well, and thats it really. He hasnt really showed me that he warrants to keep that RM position ahead of kuyt.

Ideally i would play babel ahead of jova, because he is sending out noises that he really is going to turn his career around, and has played great when hes had chances early this season. I still believe he is much better than jova.And perhaps throw pacheco ahead of maxi?.

Also on another point, does anyone know the exact fee/players exchanged that we paid for koncheskey?NoelDepending on the reports, between £2 and £5 million pounds plus Lauri Dalla Valle (Fulham offered £2M for him last year and were turned down) and Alex Kacaniklic (aprox value unknown to me, but not as much as LDV). I'd guess the up front amount would be £2M or just north of it, with potential delayed or performance based payments that could make up the difference in the reported figures.

We also shipped Insua out and will likely lose him for nothing (or a couple hundred thousand compensation for having trained him and him being on his first pro contract) in order to cover Konchesky's wages... or something.Bjs001Can't believe anyone employs Redknapp as he's just as useless in the studio as he was on the pitch!! When he made it out of the treatment room that is!! There have been some quite funny pieces written the web on how he continuously contradicts himself. He can't remember one moment to the next what he has said and as for the use of those 'literally...' phrases!!INCABRUCESo true, easy to point the finger at him but the thing is you made the greatest point ever. He has always needed to be fed the ball or at least have action in the final third so he may pull off a spectacular header, volley, or just the normal shot in the back of the net.

His debut season was prolific. And ya know what, friends of mine who are Liverpool bashers would rant on and on in certain matches where he frankly looked invisible... then he scores a miraculous goal off a solid buildup that had a final pass and he did his job- he finished. He is a striker in the purest form... can't do much else.

So to that I say he seems to becoming more fit and as soon as we all get our heads level things can be better. Oh and it would help if we had a more passionate manager who played for victories.Brianantoniottithis coming from jamie redknapp who rarely left the centre circle when wearing a liverpool shirt a shockingly bad player who couldnt pass shoot run or tackle, undeniably diabolicalblog comments powered by Disqus

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Monday, 13 September 2010

Jamie Redknapp, Five-Syllable Words, and Fernando Torres

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