Academy v Liverpool

[Douglas Higginbottom]

After a decent start it all went wrong for the young blues today.There always looked like goals in the game after a first 20 minutes where City were the more threatening side but then it all went wrong. Seemed to me that we just lost the ball far too easily and with 2 forward players contributing very little ( Henshall and Cole) Liverpool started to look the better side and got a goal before half time. All too easy as well and coming from some bad play from City to lose the ball.

That trend continued into the second half as almost had no midfield with Rusnak strangely playing as an extra striker. As he went out of the game alongside Cole and Henshall Liverpool just dominated much of the ball and it was no surprise they scored again.Time and again we gave the balla way and allowed them to run at us.We did get injuries as well to add to the problems as first Henshall ,then Coulson and finally Rusnak all limped off.Ruznak not long after he missed a penalty for hand ball. Somewhat bizzarely though.The ref had delayed the penalty to have words with some scouser who was complaing but then after he blew the whistle for the kick to be taken and Ruznak started to move forward the ref was again shouting at their player. Albert carried on and it was saved but for me it should have been taken again as the referee was quite likely putting Ruznak off.

Another give away goal made it 3.0 and then Hiwula scored after a very nice break down the left but overall it was a poor performance and for me a very weak tactical display.The 2 most advanced forwards we had were doing close to nothing after the initial minutes but we seemed to go closer to 4.2.4 which just gave the game away.The defence was asleep at times but won't push up enough (Meppen Walters is slow) and consequently it just seemed a matter of time before the scousers scored their goals.

[Mikhail Chigorin]

Thanks Mr H for posting this assessment/synopsis.

It all sounds a little depressing, or was it just a 'one off' bad day at the office ?? Did any City players emerge from this with any credit ??

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Thanks Mr H for posting this assessment/synopsis.

It all sounds a little depressing, or was it just a 'one off' bad day at the office ?? Did any City players emerge from this with any credit ??

They are very inconsistent at the moment and some of that is down to not having the same team from match to match. But I would say this game disappointed me as much as any I have seen.There some players who had decent spells or good moments like the goal we scored from excellent work I think it was from King.

It was the giving the ball away that was the worst part although to be fair a lot of that comes from the lack of people showing for a pass.Maybe I am wrong but I felt there was confusion today in what the plan was.We don't have a big guy up front so we need to work the ball through the midfield and use width when we can.That seemed to go out of the window after the good start.

The enigmas for me are Cole and Henshall. I am sure Cole has loads of talent and he is playing up at least one age group probably two but it's his work rate that concerns me and his lack of ability to show and join in with the midfield. He gives his markers such an easy time.Henshall is pretty fast and has quick feet but runs into blind alleys.When faced with a wall of players he will still try ( not always) to get through and of course if he comes inside and loses the ball it sets up breakaways and real problems and sadly he doesnt often race back to sort out the problems he causes.