Lack of width in the squad

[Suss]

Rafa has done a very good job of building a team through the middle of the field. Hyppia and Carragher have formed an excellent partnership in the back, Gerrard and Alonso are one of the best pairings in the world, and in Morientes and Baros we finally have 2 strikers capable of scoring 20 goals in a season. The area of the pitch where we are still lacking is wide in the midfield.

The only true wingers that we have in the squad are Nunez and Kewell. We have other players that play on wing (Riise, Garcia). But they are not true wingers in the sense that they stick to the touchline, run at players, and play crosses into the box. Our play is far too narrow, and Gerrard is asked to create everything from the midfield. Our lack of a dynamic winger is what is seperating us from the top 3.

Chelsea have Duff and Robben. Scum have Ronaldo and Giggs. Arsenal have Pires and Ljunberg (and two fullbacks that are excellent at getting foward and providing width). Even Middlesborough have Downing. At Valencia, Rafa had Vincente. These players give full backs fits and stretch the defense, and ultimatley creates more chances for the strikers.

Today we played with Garcia and Riise on the wings. Riise is a good player. He has a great left foot, he is good in the air, he can win a tackle, and he scores goals. However he is not the type of player that creates something out of nothing. He doesn't take on the full back and play crosses for the strikers. Most of his goals have come from great balls from Gerrard or Alonso. Riise isn't the type of player that Morientes will love to play with. Garcia may play on the right or left, but he is not a winger. He likes to play more centrally and I still havn't decided what his best position is. Right now it may be on the bench.

When we signed Kewell we thought we had this dynamic winger that we were looking for. At the time I thought he was ever bit as good as Damien Duff or any other winger in the Premiership. To say Kewell has been a disappointment is an understatement.

Nunez has played better in recent games. He is a true winger and right now is our best option on the right hand side. His crossing is erratic but it has improved. If he could keep the width on the right and continue to play crosses into Morientes and Baros, he will create some goals.

The point is that Rafa needs to be searching in the transfer market for some players that can play out wide. Shawn Wright Phillips would be a dream signing, but he is out of our price range (maybe in the summer?). For now, any player that can be had on the cheap should be looked at. Rafa wants competition for places all over the pitch, and this is an area of the squad that we don't have enough players.

Morientes is a great signing, now we need some players to give him the service he deserves.

[liverbird]

Suss I can't give you any rep right now but once again a well thought out and accurate analysis. I agree that Nunez should play. Garcia should sit. And that speed and wide play are our missing elements.

[TruReds]

Neither can I rep you Suss. The importance of wide plays means the capabilities to trouble the fullbacks and the creation of goal opportunities from the crosses. Now that we have El Moro, who is very capable of scoring from headers, the more it emphasises the urgency of wide plays. This is evident that Scum a couple of seasons ago were very formidable when they have Beckham & Giggs to create crosses to Cole & Yorke.

[Colm]

Why can't you just bring back El Hadgi from Bolton, he's plays wide dosn't he? he's been playing brillaintly for Bolton there and did you see him yesterday? woah! he was amazing

[TruReds]

Why can't you just bring back El Hadgi from Bolton, he's plays wide dosn't he? he's been playing brillaintly for Bolton there and did you see him yesterday? woah! he was amazing

When 'serial killer' became 'serial spitter'... :rolleyes:

[nicephoras]

Why can't you just bring back El Hadgi from Bolton, he's plays wide dosn't he? he's been playing brillaintly for Bolton there and did you see him yesterday? woah! he was amazing

Diouf needs a scheme where he's the player given freedom to roam. He's not good enough to get that at Liverpool, and he showed himself to be completely worthless at adapting to a tactical system.
The spitting doesn't help.

[Bjornebye]

Width is a mentality. Stig is constantly reminding the ladies about this.

Numerous crosses, shallow & deep, quality & flaccid, have rained into opposing boxes...only to find phukall on the other end. Football is more than wingers on conveyor belts, even in England. Even in Scandinavia...but you knew that! :)

Morientes will eventually feed on what's offered. Baros is interested in a Koller-type relationship. Other forwards, attackers, blah blah blah. In the end, Benitez will dictate, based upon their strengths. Stig is weary of typing. Please for-give Stig for the rant.

This snipped from:
http://skysports.planetfootball.com/list.asp?hlid=250123&lid=2&cpid=8&title=Riise+keen+on+new+Reds+deal&channel=Football_Home

"Liverpool star John Arne Riise has called on the club to offer him a new deal at Anfield."
<snip>
"Rafael Benitez has told me to shoot, shoot, shoot. I feel the manager has confidence in me and that is a fantastic feeling to have."


Hopefully Rumsfeld doesn't invade this post, as well.

:p

Stig

[quentinc]

This is why we need to sign a player like Jermaine Pennant. Someone who can do exactly what Suss said we needed wing players to do. A rotation on the right with Nunez and Pennant would be great.

I don't know many players we can get to play a good left wing. Kewell should be the player that can fill this role, but he obviously hasn't delivered.

Who knows good players that can play on the left and are cheap?

-------------------------
"When my brain exploded, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I have such a better life now."
-- Sharon Stone

"I'm not very politically involved ... I mean, if you say you're a Democrat, that'll turn off Republicans, and that's half of your fan base."
-- Lindsay Lohan

"I may have smoked too much weed, but I wasn't taking drugs or anything."
-- Mike Tyson on his loss to Lennox Lewis

"Joy Division is the only good thing to ever come out of Manchester, and then the lead singer went and killed himself."
-- Me

[billyireland]

If you are somehow able to get the funds for Vicente over the summer (doubt you would have them this month after Morientes), you wouold have a great chance of signing him due to Benitez, and would be set with one of (or perhaps the) best left winger in the world for 8-10 years, and can then slip Riise back to leftback, and get Traore to 'take a breather' for the rest of the year, when you sell him. On the right, it's hard to say, but you would need somebody and Vicente would have taken a lot of money... Routledge could be out of contract and would cost tuppance under the Bosman ruling. So if (pretty big If) you got those two in the summer, That would be a scary Anglo-Spansh midfield of Vicente---Alonso--Gerrard---Routledge.

[quentinc]

I doubt that if Palace stay up, they will let go of Routledge. He is their best player next to Andy Johnson.

Am I thinking of the correct Routledge?

-------------------------
"When my brain exploded, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I have such a better life now."
-- Sharon Stone

"I'm not very politically involved ... I mean, if you say you're a Democrat, that'll turn off Republicans, and that's half of your fan base."
-- Lindsay Lohan

"I may have smoked too much weed, but I wasn't taking drugs or anything."
-- Mike Tyson on his loss to Lennox Lewis

"Joy Division is the only good thing to ever come out of Manchester, and then the lead singer went and killed himself."
-- Me

[billyireland]

I doubt that if Palace stay up, they will let go of Routledge. He is their best player next to Andy Johnson.

Am I thinking of the correct Routledge?

-------------------------
"When my brain exploded, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I have such a better life now."
-- Sharon Stone

"I'm not very politically involved ... I mean, if you say you're a Democrat, that'll turn off Republicans, and that's half of your fan base."
-- Lindsay Lohan

"I may have smoked too much weed, but I wasn't taking drugs or anything."
-- Mike Tyson on his loss to Lennox Lewis

"Joy Division is the only good thing to ever come out of Manchester, and then the lead singer went and killed himself."
-- Me
You are. However, his contract is up at the end of the season and a week or two back he rejected a contract that Palace apparently cannot afford to raise too much, and his current deal is up at the end of the season. Something that struck me as interesting is that with many lower teams he would get his game, but wouldn't have top-notch players around him, but if he were to go to higher teams he would get less playing time. However, since he would probably only cost £3-5mn under the Bosman ruling, Liverpool (with their lack of width) would be the very best team that he would get a decent first team shot at, imho.

[Wingtips1]

routledge and pennant are both out of contract in the summer. I would love to see both of them join the team and give us some depth. vicente would be great buy, but for the 15m Valencia would want, we should buy andy reid for a third of the price.
and lest we not forget, houllier had the chance to buy duff before blackburn were ever promoted to the Premiership but didn't want to spend the extra few million on an 'unproven' player. andy reid has the potential to be the next duff, so I'd be all for signing him before vicente and using the saved funds elsewhere.

[Suss]

Pennant is definetly a player I would consider. He would come for almost free and he has great potential. Vincente would be an unbelievable signing. Maybe Rafa could even pull it off for a reasonable price. Shawn Wright Phillips would be the ideal player for us, but his price has to be sky high at the moment. The next time we spend major money on a player, it should be on a top class winger.

[CRonaldo_07]

I remember liverpool being toyed wiht yb quaresma and you were all raving on how you need a player like him.

quaresma woudnt be that expensive now and i think playing wiht xabi in the middle would bhe perfect for him because xabi can deliver great passes out wide

other then that SWP is to much..downing would be a good singing as well but will middleborough let him go?

[hubbabubba]

Rafa has done a very good job of building a team through the middle of the field. Hyppia and Carragher have formed an excellent partnership in the back, Gerrard and Alonso are one of the best pairings in the world, and in Morientes and Baros we finally have 2 strikers capable of scoring 20 goals in a season. The area of the pitch where we are still lacking is wide in the midfield.

The only true wingers that we have in the squad are Nunez and Kewell. We have other players that play on wing (Riise, Garcia). But they are not true wingers in the sense that they stick to the touchline, run at players, and play crosses into the box. Our play is far too narrow, and Gerrard is asked to create everything from the midfield. Our lack of a dynamic winger is what is seperating us from the top 3.

Chelsea have Duff and Robben. Scum have Ronaldo and Giggs. Arsenal have Pires and Ljunberg (and two fullbacks that are excellent at getting foward and providing width). Even Middlesborough have Downing. At Valencia, Rafa had Vincente. These players give full backs fits and stretch the defense, and ultimatley creates more chances for the strikers.

Today we played with Garcia and Riise on the wings. Riise is a good player. He has a great left foot, he is good in the air, he can win a tackle, and he scores goals. However he is not the type of player that creates something out of nothing. He doesn't take on the full back and play crosses for the strikers. Most of his goals have come from great balls from Gerrard or Alonso. Riise isn't the type of player that Morientes will love to play with. Garcia may play on the right or left, but he is not a winger. He likes to play more centrally and I still havn't decided what his best position is. Right now it may be on the bench.

When we signed Kewell we thought we had this dynamic winger that we were looking for. At the time I thought he was ever bit as good as Damien Duff or any other winger in the Premiership. To say Kewell has been a disappointment is an understatement.

Nunez has played better in recent games. He is a true winger and right now is our best option on the right hand side. His crossing is erratic but it has improved. If he could keep the width on the right and continue to play crosses into Morientes and Baros, he will create some goals.

The point is that Rafa needs to be searching in the transfer market for some players that can play out wide. Shawn Wright Phillips would be a dream signing, but he is out of our price range (maybe in the summer?). For now, any player that can be had on the cheap should be looked at. Rafa wants competition for places all over the pitch, and this is an area of the squad that we don't have enough players.

Morientes is a great signing, now we need some players to give him the service he deserves.

Awesome post, suss...

I tried to clip the original post to save space, but couldn't... there are a lot of good points made...

While I hate formations as a measure of what a team is trying to do... Mainly because it's a vast oversimplification, even though one can make generalizations based on 4:4:2, 3:5:2, 4:3:3, and today... 4:5:1 alignments.

While these formations roughly approximate what is being done on the field, they can be misleading...

ManU against Liverpool, nominally played a 4:4:2, but for the most part Rooney (who normally would be a clear forward) played as counterpart to Ronaldo, as a winger. Actually, it was from a traditional "winger" position that he scored against us...

What they actually played was a 4:5:1 (modified to let Rooney roam to a more central position). When Rooney substituted during play it was with Ronaldo... not Saha.

Okay, what's my point? My point is that Riise and Garcia are not wingers, just as Suss stated. As such, we need to be a bit reserved in our criticism of them at the moment. I think that they are actually recruited/held-on as position 2/4 middies in a 4:5:1 formation. When you start looking at the transformational qualities of putting these various players in a modern football formation, you start seeing why some players are gone (Diouf,Traore, Henchoz), and why some (Kewell) seem to be staying... You also start to see why clubs like Real Madrid and Chelsea are making a fuss about certain transfers but not others (think about it...). The next step divides us amateur observers of football strategy from those who actually make a living doing it...

Anyway, those are my 2-cents.

[Suss]

Nunez getting sent off is not helping matters. Garcia and Riise will most likely start on the wings against Southampton and we will once again play without a true winger. Signing one more player before the transfer window closes is necessary.

[Loman]

I don't know if anyone else remembers, but once in a while Cisse would play almost out wide and his pace allowed him to blow past defenders.

He is another option, but not till next season.

[Suss]

Cisse is just about irrelevent at this point. His injury was so horrific that we can't even count on him being back next season, and we have no idea if he will be the same player. We can only hope.

[AndSomeAreAngels]

When's Kewell due back?

And re: Cisse, I agree that he may never be the same, which is really a shame. His pace is unbelievable, and I fear that he will lose a step even after a "full" recovery.

[liverbird]

When's Kewell due back?

And re: Cisse, I agree that he may never be the same, which is really a shame. His pace is unbelievable, and I fear that he will lose a step even after a "full" recovery.

Henrik Larsson had the same injury and came back to score 50 goals the next year -- I know it was Scotland but still he played another 4 years for Celtic and Sweden without losing pace until his injury this year.