NEIL, Kris, Rob, Mike and Jim are joined by Peter Hooton, Paul Salt, Earl Jenkins, Marine manager Kevin Lynch, New Brighton manager Sean Rogers and the Daily Mirror’s Oliver Holt.
The lads chat about Arsenal, England, Marine’s floodlight appeal, discrimination in the media, Tom Adeyemi, John Terry, Luis Suarez and THAT headline.
#TAW32
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Direct link to Episode Thirty-Two podcast download
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Great Pod,
Well done to Olly Holt for making a positive contribution and for squeezing into such a small space given the tribes of elephants roaming around.
Keep up the good work
I feel Suarez needs to play on the right or left in a 4-3-3 to get the best out of him, im not sure how Carroll fits into a 4-3-3. I agree with the point made about we need to have a ‘style’ or a ‘formation’ and then we need players to fill the holes, There is no point in buying any old player if they dont suit the desired ‘system’
Two points (aside from great work):
Firstly, on the manager appointments. Wasn’t Manuel Pellegrini denied the LFC job (which by all accounts he wanted) due to him not being English and thus “Roy was the man for the job”? Surely his CV would’ve been more impressive and is regarded as one of the best tacticians around Europe. Thanks for that one, Cecil.
And secondly, I think we should be looking to get the best out of both Suarez and Gerrard simultaneous; two birds one stone and all that. As we all know Gerrard played his best football (and was most effective) playing off Torres in the 4-2-3-1. We also know Suarez isn’t a true number 9. Surely you could play Suarez on the left or right of this formation and cutting inside from deeper than the man up top (and have Johnson or Enrique bombing outside him) giving him space to dribble and create chances for the number 9. He’s played wider for Ajax for the majority of his time there, apparently, so it wouldn’t be foreign and has proven successful in the past – as mentioned in the podcast the way he plays with Uruguay is in a very fluid front three which could also be mimicked with our intelligent players even if it is the three behind the striker (think Gerrard, Kuyt, Maxi, Meireles and Aquilani – even though the latter two have since gone they are examples of linking up with the other guys in those areas in the past).
As for who goes up top, I really don’t think Carroll fits the correct mould unfortunately in the same way Downing doesn’t fit into certain formations. As Gerrard, Suarez and Lucas are our best players and all play very well in this system (theoretically at least for Suarez) then we really should build around that and bring in a striker that suits that system (I’d love for us to sign Higuain but I’m not sure if that’s a realistic option without Champions League football, but he’d fit the bill perfectly).
Gerrard does have limited time left, and his injury concerns on top, but I think Henderson could fit into that same role in the future – he plays a fantastic first-time pass as good as anyone in the league and we’ve seen he’s much better centrally than out on the right – plus he played a lot of the time there for Sunderland.
Moreover, a 3-man midfield suits Charlie Adam much better than a 4-4-2 although ideally Aquilani would somehow not manage to trigger the clause to stay in Milan and comes back and sits deep as our playmaker and/or can play off the striker too (I can dream can’t I?). From what I’ve seen, Shelvey looks comfortable playing both those roles too.
So really, another striker (as we already know) is paramount. But a striker that fits into the style of play that suits the spine of our team should definitely be the most important aspect of our scouting and negotiations.
PS Sorry if it’s a bit jumbled, rushed through it at work without the boss seeing me ;)
Holt has it in for LFC, and has a license from his employer to muckrake at every opportunity. It’s one thing to humm and haww in response to a past event (and try to justify it with cry-baby deadlines and “the world has changed” sob stories), it’s quite another to get it right first time.
The “RACIST” headline is unforgivable (love the way he cleaned his hands of that), and I don’t swallow his primary source bollocks re Adayemi for a second either. If you expect him to be balanced in relation to Terry (ie his cash cow) you’re kidding yourselves.
Who’s next week, Gary Neville?
I agree completely that we need to take some of the pressure off Suarez. A striker and a right winger that can play in a 4-3-3 would be ideal in my opinion… Whether the right players will be available without the carrot of champions league is debatable. Damian Comolli will certainly be earning his money this summer
This was really interesting. Always good to get the other side of things. Much respect to Holt for coming on. My only complaint is that it could have been longer! I thought Neil did a great job managing the conversation while hitting the important stuff along the way. Gotta love Guttman’s fervour to the cause. Dare I say R****l would have been proud? I was expecting this to be more black and white though. Had an image of a Moriartyesque villain sitting there twirling his mustache. Not have him sit down and have a perfectly reasonable conversation about all these issues. Good job.
Has Jolly Ollie collected the spine and bollocks he didn’t bring to the podcast yet? And as for saying the Suarez headline should have been different because it would have made his life easier… Diddums
He deserves credit for coming on and making a case. There’s one particular shitehawk who would never do that.
Would that be that gobshite Barclay by any chance. He’ll be begging to get on soon, it’ll be his only forum to spout shite !
As much as i think Holt is a John Terry loving, LFC hating gobshite, fair play to him for having the balls to face the music.
Good job as always
Great podcast.
I was hoping though that you’d call out Holt on his ‘I don’t think the phrase “black cunt” is racist’ tweet. That was when I knew he was a joke. Didn’t even know he ghost wrote for Terry but I was not suprised one bit.
He can’t see further than his nose either. You gave him an incite into why certain people aren’t buying papers and it seemed to pass him by. I refuse to pay for papers now. I can find better coverage and analysis via other sources without some of the terrible sensationalism and the desire to sell papers, no matter how far away from the moral line they stray.
Keep up the great work, love the ‘TAW’ podcasts
wasn’t the ‘black cunt’ remark actually taken from a fake Holt twitter account?
I remember Torres on numerous occasions saying that the main contributor to his improved goal-scoring record from Atletico to Liverpool was that Rafa told him to stay in the box. Though this would be limiting a player of Suarez’s ball-playing ability I think it’s advice worth heeding.
Ideally we’d play a 4-2-3-1 with Lucas and AN Other (JH or CA) in the 2, Gerrard in the middle (or right?) of the 3. Suarez the 1. Which would leave 2 positions from which we could pick Bellamy, Kuyt, Downing, or Maxi. In my humble opinion.
Does anyone else think the problem with our poor finishing might be down to coaching? Steve Clark is clearly a very good coach but it seems to me he’s primarily a defensive coach. Look at Chelsea when he was there; they were rock solid at the back but relied mostly on set pieces and Lampard long range (usually deflected) shots to get their goals. Neither are the result of having a clear attacking strategy in place.
Yes, Duff and Robben created chances and scored goals but those two only ever came into games when Chelsea had got that all important break-through goal and could then use the wingers to counter-attack and utilise the space left by the opposition as they looked to equalise. In terms of breaking the deadlock, Chelsea almost always relied on Terry headers or Lampard deflections.
I wonder if Clark has the aptitude and nous to implement an effective attacking system?
Perhaps Kenny should look at bringing in a separate coach for the forwards, like they do in Rugby?
As I commented here the other day, which was deleted, those on The Anfield Wrap have stated with certainty that Evra lied and invented the allegations, whilst perpetuating out and out lies against him.
Need to look closer to home.
Congratulations – this really was an excellent podcast, taking the medium to another level. Getting Olly Holt in and having an intelligent debate about the recent extraordinary circumstances was a real coup, and captured a rare and classic moment in the story.
As for finishing – yes psychological problem does come to mind. This is highly subjective but it does seem to me that weirdly Skrtel and Johnson seem to top the list with a mentally resilient winning mentality.