hubbabubba
13 Feb 2008, 10:38 PM
I guess I want to vent a bit...
I have to say I'm thoroughly disappointed in the position we Liverpool fans find ourselves in again, given the bright start that we had to the season.
So I wanted to look a bit into "on the field" reasons we've not performed as well as we all hoped we would, or could, after the first couple of weeks of the season.
One thing I want to avoid in this thread is the easy excuse to blame the owners, or to blame injuries, or even for that matter to blame Rafa too much.
I personally don't think from a day to day standpoint that Rafa is the problem, but I do wonder about some of the strategic decisions leading into this season that have led to our current ineffectiveness before goal, especially given our potency earlier in the season.
No matter what, its the players on the field who decide whether we will win or if we will lose, and whatever input the coach has is one step removed.
As well, whatever effect the owners have, they are two steps removed. So really we need to focus on the problems on the field and try not to play the "what if" game of self delusion.
So that said, what has gone wrong for us this year?
In one over simplified statement: the transition to a 4-4-2 has killed us this year.
Now agree with me or not, I think ultimately this is what has done us in this year.
Why? Doesn't the 4-4-2 formation favor our current squad strengths with all our offensive additions? Frankly, no. IMHO.
Right now if you look at the offensive production we are still a single striker offense. Torres has clearly been the dominant offensive striker and in the 4-4-2 offense the challenge has been to find him a decent partner. So from a strategic standpoint we are really playing with a 4-4-1.5 rather than a true 4-4-2. This is in large part because the strikers we recruited were all designed for the 4-5-1 formation and are much better suited for a support role rather than a dedicated offensive role like Torres.
Second, what the heck has happened to Gerrard? I'll tell you what I think. I think we're suffering from the England team malaise where Gerrard is awesome, until he's paired up with another middie in a 4-4-2. To me, Gerrard is most effective when he's given free reign to rampage into the offense at will as a follow on player. In a 4-5-1 or a 3-5-2 he has this freedom, in a 4-4-2 he's limited in his ability to crash the defense in transition. This is why he's never played well with Lampard on the England team, since both instinctively want to push on the offense. Requiring one or the other to pay attention to defensive transition will always shackle them. In this way, I think the 4-5-1 with Gerrard in a free-ranging middie position on the right was a much more effective use of his talents than putting him into a more central role where he has much more defensive duties during transition. I think we've seen a decline in his impact this last year mostly due to this reason.
Finally, Liverpool have been exposed defensively this year. We all like to blame injuries as the result of this, but I think it really goes more to the change in tactics in the midfield that we have seen more than the aging of Hyppia, or the injury to Agger. Granted these are not small injury concerns and they do weaken our back line. But I really think the reason we've seen these injuries have so much impact is that they have happened at the same time we've seen a fundamental shift in tactics.
I think this shift in tactics is probably what led to Pako Ayeristans (sp?) departure early in the season. And I am worried that these changes were instituted due to a bit of panic on Rafa's part about the need for quick results with the new owners. I've not been particularly impressed with Rafa's performance with regard to team preparation for the various opponents we've been up against this last year. In particular, our team stands around too much these days, and there is a distinct lack of sharp passing play that was characteristic of Liverpool over the last couple of years. I think this is due to loss of Pako. Frankly, while Rafa may be a better "big picture" manager, he clearly has lost a major element of his coaching prowess in the absence of Pako.
Well anyway, those are my 2 cents "plus..." I welcome some reasoned debate as to what has happened to our reds this last year....
I have to say I'm thoroughly disappointed in the position we Liverpool fans find ourselves in again, given the bright start that we had to the season.
So I wanted to look a bit into "on the field" reasons we've not performed as well as we all hoped we would, or could, after the first couple of weeks of the season.
One thing I want to avoid in this thread is the easy excuse to blame the owners, or to blame injuries, or even for that matter to blame Rafa too much.
I personally don't think from a day to day standpoint that Rafa is the problem, but I do wonder about some of the strategic decisions leading into this season that have led to our current ineffectiveness before goal, especially given our potency earlier in the season.
No matter what, its the players on the field who decide whether we will win or if we will lose, and whatever input the coach has is one step removed.
As well, whatever effect the owners have, they are two steps removed. So really we need to focus on the problems on the field and try not to play the "what if" game of self delusion.
So that said, what has gone wrong for us this year?
In one over simplified statement: the transition to a 4-4-2 has killed us this year.
Now agree with me or not, I think ultimately this is what has done us in this year.
Why? Doesn't the 4-4-2 formation favor our current squad strengths with all our offensive additions? Frankly, no. IMHO.
Right now if you look at the offensive production we are still a single striker offense. Torres has clearly been the dominant offensive striker and in the 4-4-2 offense the challenge has been to find him a decent partner. So from a strategic standpoint we are really playing with a 4-4-1.5 rather than a true 4-4-2. This is in large part because the strikers we recruited were all designed for the 4-5-1 formation and are much better suited for a support role rather than a dedicated offensive role like Torres.
Second, what the heck has happened to Gerrard? I'll tell you what I think. I think we're suffering from the England team malaise where Gerrard is awesome, until he's paired up with another middie in a 4-4-2. To me, Gerrard is most effective when he's given free reign to rampage into the offense at will as a follow on player. In a 4-5-1 or a 3-5-2 he has this freedom, in a 4-4-2 he's limited in his ability to crash the defense in transition. This is why he's never played well with Lampard on the England team, since both instinctively want to push on the offense. Requiring one or the other to pay attention to defensive transition will always shackle them. In this way, I think the 4-5-1 with Gerrard in a free-ranging middie position on the right was a much more effective use of his talents than putting him into a more central role where he has much more defensive duties during transition. I think we've seen a decline in his impact this last year mostly due to this reason.
Finally, Liverpool have been exposed defensively this year. We all like to blame injuries as the result of this, but I think it really goes more to the change in tactics in the midfield that we have seen more than the aging of Hyppia, or the injury to Agger. Granted these are not small injury concerns and they do weaken our back line. But I really think the reason we've seen these injuries have so much impact is that they have happened at the same time we've seen a fundamental shift in tactics.
I think this shift in tactics is probably what led to Pako Ayeristans (sp?) departure early in the season. And I am worried that these changes were instituted due to a bit of panic on Rafa's part about the need for quick results with the new owners. I've not been particularly impressed with Rafa's performance with regard to team preparation for the various opponents we've been up against this last year. In particular, our team stands around too much these days, and there is a distinct lack of sharp passing play that was characteristic of Liverpool over the last couple of years. I think this is due to loss of Pako. Frankly, while Rafa may be a better "big picture" manager, he clearly has lost a major element of his coaching prowess in the absence of Pako.
Well anyway, those are my 2 cents "plus..." I welcome some reasoned debate as to what has happened to our reds this last year....