Albertz_Was_King
Well-Known Member
I am not one to laboriously reflect on the "but what if" when it comes previous results, however this game is one that I think really does stand out as we look back over the season as a whole. The League Cup Semi-Final against Aberdeen was our chance to get to a cup final, the first one on offer, against a pretty poor Aberdeen side who looked painfully average in the lead up to the game.
The obvious issue was that we would be without Alfredo Morelos and Kyle Lafferty.
So it left us with very few options. Umar Sadiq was in cold storage, not even making first team squads for the majority of the games in the lead up to the match. Obvious opportunities to give him a token "run out" were shunned by the manager, rumours about his lack of effort and motivation were touched upon by the manager in press conferences on a couple of occasions.
We needed a striker, a goal threat and needless to say Sadiq was abysmal in the match.
Rumours during the week prior to the game suggested that young Andrew Dallas was involved in the training sessions with a view to starting him at the weekend. He unfortunately had an ilness and was ruled out. I wonder the veracity of those rumours , however there was a strong feeling he had a chance to make his starting debut.
Glenn Middleton was the intriguing one for me. At this point his stock was high, this was previous to his dip in confidence and he clearly had the pace to threaten their back four. He showed in games previous that he had an eye for goal but interestingly since he has displayed an incredible quality of finish whilst playing for the reserves.
I know it's all "if, buts and maybe's" but that dat if we played Middleton it could have been all so different.
Did the manager do the right thing selecting Sadiq?
Would Middleton, a young player playing out of position as the striker, have made a difference?
What else could Gerrard do to change the course of that match from the kick off with our main two strikers out?
Just a little light-hearted debate folks.
The obvious issue was that we would be without Alfredo Morelos and Kyle Lafferty.
So it left us with very few options. Umar Sadiq was in cold storage, not even making first team squads for the majority of the games in the lead up to the match. Obvious opportunities to give him a token "run out" were shunned by the manager, rumours about his lack of effort and motivation were touched upon by the manager in press conferences on a couple of occasions.
We needed a striker, a goal threat and needless to say Sadiq was abysmal in the match.
Rumours during the week prior to the game suggested that young Andrew Dallas was involved in the training sessions with a view to starting him at the weekend. He unfortunately had an ilness and was ruled out. I wonder the veracity of those rumours , however there was a strong feeling he had a chance to make his starting debut.
Glenn Middleton was the intriguing one for me. At this point his stock was high, this was previous to his dip in confidence and he clearly had the pace to threaten their back four. He showed in games previous that he had an eye for goal but interestingly since he has displayed an incredible quality of finish whilst playing for the reserves.
I know it's all "if, buts and maybe's" but that dat if we played Middleton it could have been all so different.
Did the manager do the right thing selecting Sadiq?
Would Middleton, a young player playing out of position as the striker, have made a difference?
What else could Gerrard do to change the course of that match from the kick off with our main two strikers out?
Just a little light-hearted debate folks.