tru dat! i don't think Liverpool FC is going to pitch many shutouts against THS, TRS, TRM, TOM( Spurs, ManU, Chelsea, Citeh ), but that lineup could outscore anyone.
I think we will Gerrard and Meireles interchanging positions, with Lucas playing as the holding midfielder. In Gerrard's 30 minutes before getting sent off, he seemed to be dropping deeper in the midfield to get more touches on the ball. I hope to see our midfield be more fluid, with all 3 making runs forward and covering for each other. We will be less predictable and more difficult to defend.
As Hansen pointed out on MOTD yesterday, the key distinction between the team under Dalglish and the team under Hodgson is that there are now three midfielders up to support Torres whenever we have the ball and are moving forward. There was one point yesterday where Torres went into the left channel after a chip from Kuyt and when he looked up he had Kuyt, Mereiles and Maxi to cross too. No wonder he's got a bit of a smile and a spring in his step back.
... not to mention the shock and utter awe of the defenders, as they have to deal with 4 other players breaking forward. For the third goal, after a zillion passes, Berra played Kuijt onside because he was so busy worrying about Torres who was loitering on his shoulder. Tactics as old as LFC itself, last seen consistently in 1988, and only sporadically during Benitez's stewardship.
Gerrard does the job for England at LM. Surely he can play there or at RM at L'pool. Suarez and Gerrard supporting Carroll will be a handfull for any defence in the EPL. Lucas Meireles Gerrard Carroll Suarez
We still dont have a whole heck of a lot of depth, the only thing that has really changed is we now have 2 strikers instead of 1. KK is still going to have to chop and change here and there. The other day he like Raul ahead of Gerrard, but will that last? Pepe Kelly Cara Agger Johnson Skrtl and Fabio as alternates Thats already much better on d Kuyt Lucas Gerrard Raul Maxi and cough Cole as alternates This is a bit of a problem, our best 4 mids are 3 cm's and a ss. You tell me how he lines em up. Of that lot only Stevie can play on the wing. Surez and Carroll Ngog and Pacheco as alternates cant wait, could terrorize, Maybe 4-3-1-2 with stevie behind the strikers? Pretty attacking.
When we were a one-striker team, Lucas-Meireles-Gerrard could all play centrally. For the first few weeks they'll still be able to do that, but when Carroll pulls a reverse Aquilani (a transfer actually making a timely return from injury) and spearheads the attack, we'll have 3 CMFers and 2 CMF jobs open. All three CMF need to be on the field: Lucas needs to play DMF. Meireles sucks on the wing but is terrific centrally. Also, Steven Gerrard is a pretty good footballer (Sarcasm) and should play centrally. If anything, this formation squeezes Meireles, who played well under the King in the space behind Torres and in front of Gerrard. That space will be Suarezville in the future. It's a tactical dilemna considering our wide players lack the form (quality) to justify excluding any of the three. But, you can only line up XI, sooooo Kelly--Carra--Agger--Johnson -----------Lucas------------ --Kuyt-----RM/SG-----SG/RM --------Suarez-------------- -----------Carroll-----------
So what about a 4-3-3? You knowthe AC Milan/Chelsea under JM type? Gerrard---Raul----Lucas Kuyt----Carroll---Suarez
4-3-3 of --------Reina-------- Kelly-Carra-Agger-John ----=---Lucas-------- --------------Meireles -----Gerrard---------- Kuyt------------------ -------Carroll---Suarez Doesn't seem that bad Have kuyt be all industry, up and down the side, Suarez plays high up and pins back the opposing FB, Carroll can take two CBs easy, and you stagger play to better protect Johnson as he moves forward. Allow Suarez to get 1 on 1's with the fullback, or behind him, and you're going to be making good goal-scoring opprotunities. Formation is also good because it keeps Gerrard further up the pitch where his positioning won't be as serious as a problem.
Bit hard to play that formation without a natural left back. With Kelly, Gerrard and Kuyt all drifting to the right there'd be little balance. It would also be asking too much of Lucas to cover for Gerrard and Miereles while at the same time covering for the fullbacks.
Swap SG and Dirk then you have more cover on the right behind Stevie-rely on Kuyt's workrate. Also could play SG as the point of the middle three with RM and Lucas playing deeper and shifted slightly right allowing space for Gleninho to press up the left. trying to consider how to get our best XI on the field in the most adventageous positions.
Although he's nowhere near one of our best 11 players I think Poulsen is going to continue to be a fixture unless Kenny starts to play Carra at LB. With Poulsen as DM and Lucas and Raul in the middle then Gerrard and then the front 2. Going from either 4-3-3 or a 4-1-2-1-2. A new LB and DM will probably be our top priorities this summer unless Johnson starts to excel on the left.
I think GJ looks better on the left ATM is the better balance of the backline with Agger alongside him for protection and Kelly helping Skrtel out. Kelly Skrtel Agger GJ seems well balanced though I think we could try out GJ Kelly Agger Aurelio , might as well use the Brazilian for big games if he's fit. He's just as likely to injure in training so why not have him start when available. Agree, a LW , LB and DM/CM would be our first priority this summer.
Things we know... * Kelly (RB) and Johnson (LB) will continue to be the fullbacks for the immediate future and rightfully so. * Agger will probably start no matter what, and Carra has a good chance of displacing Skrtel. * Meireles and Gerrard will start with Meireles in the more advanced position. Kenny has already shown he likes Raul's passing intelligence closer to the forwards and Stevie's power roaming box-to-box. * Lucas and Poulsen are the only "true" holding players we have, although Kenny has moved away from "specialists" in midfield. * Carroll and Suarez need to operate closer to the opposition goal to be effective. They're both not quite fast or particularly rangy with their passes. Look for this.... Reina Kelly Carragher Agger Johnson Lucas Gerrard Kuyt Meireles Suarez Kuyt Carroll Suarez Or, something like this... Reina Kelly Carragher Agger Johnson Kuyt Lucas Meireles Gerrard Suarez Carroll Suarez
The problem with that will be keeping Gerrard on the left. The reason why Riera and Maxi have looked decent compared to Benny and Babel despite contributing about the same is that they've kept the teams shape and made us look balanced. Gerrard could maybe do it on the right, but on the left I think he'll drift in to much looking for the ball.
The Tactical Reason My utterly pretentious attempt at guessing why we wanted to acquire Charlie Adam when we already had 4 CMs. I'm making this assumption based on 3 games: Manchester United Away (FA Cup), Blackpool Away (EPL), and Fulham Home (EPL). In these three games, Kenny played... 4-1-4-1 v. United. The central midfield had Lucas sitting very deep with Meireles and Gerrard taking turns to push on and support Torres. RM/SG both seemed to have the freedom to go forward or back depending on how they read the game. 4-1-4-1 v. Blackpool. It was the same initial set-up but something was clearly different with the CMs. In this game, Poulsen did not exclusively sit back and hold as Lucas did v. Utd. Gerrard and Meireles did not stay to a specific side of the field. And, more importantly, they did not hold a "V" (or inverted triangle) shape very much. In fact, there were a few occasions when Poulsen was in front of both RM and SG. Overall, it was a much more fluid "3" in the CM - which was a departure from rigid 4231 of Rafa and 4222 of Roy. ... Of course, this had some negative consequences. As the game wore on we gave up large spaces in the midfield to Blackpool and allowed them to keep possession for extended periods. All 3 CMs (SG, RM, and CP) looked fatigued as the game wore on and our shape became less "fluid" and ended up being more "disorganized". ... In contrast, B'pool played with fluid CMs that passed and moved felt comfortable in all areas of midfield. Sure, B'pool's defending sucked, too. But, you would expect that from lesser athletes trying to play an expansive attacking style. ***For both Everton and Wolves, we played without Gerrard and used a "psuedo" 4231 with Meireles being the midfielder with the most responsbility going forward to help Torres. I believe this had more to do with personel groupings than tactics. Anytime you play 2 of Poulsen, Spearing, and Lucas in the same game, you're bound to see some defensive/deep midfields. There were subtle hints of tactical changes, but I don't want to get into those here.*** 433 v. Fulham. Bear with me, because this wasn't really a 433. But, for the first time in a loooong time, we played without two things... ... (1) There was not a designated defensive midfielder. Sure Poulsen played, but he did not sit back and shadow an attacker or stay behind RM/SG at all costs. Continuing with his play in the B'pool game, Poulsen found himself ahead of SG/RM on more than a few occasions. I bet it would have been mor than a few if he was actually a better player going forward (like Charlie Adam would be). ... (2) The "side midfielders" / "wingers" / "wide forwards" were not tactically connected to any of the 3 CMs. Maxi and Kuyt had always been 2 AMs in front of 2 CMs for Hodgson, or they had been connected to a single AM/SS in Gerrard for Rafa. ... The result of these two things in the Fulham were a very fluid and interchanging CM set of 3 with no clear DM. Meireles did get forward more than the others, but I feel that was more down to Poulsen's inability to attack, Gerrard's tactical "slowness" in reading the game, and the fact that Meireles had been playing that role for 3-4 games in a row. Raul was experiences in his role when the others were not. ... Once again, late in the game, we became tired and no clear "defensive" shape materialized in the midfield as we scampered and scrambled about. That will happen without a clear DM player who knows his role. Conclusion. Based on all this, I feel that if we had bought Adam, he would have displaced Lucas/Poulsen and played with SG and RM in midfield. We would have played with a set of 3 CMs and they all would have interchanged roles in the midfield. It would have made us very fluid, and bit defensively suspect until they got used to their roles. Basically, when it's a fluid group, the players have to learn _all_ the roles instead of just 1 of them. It taked more time to learn, but it could potentially be better as it is harder to shut down with simple defensive tactics from the opponents. Alright. That's that. Snow days are certainly boring.
I agree. This is why I don't want to see a rigid 442 with our new "strike partnership". But, I don't think that will happen anyway. See my last post about the unbalanced 433 shape we've been playing.
Kuyt, Meireles, Lucas would not operate in a single line across the pitch. * Kuyt is never that defensive to start. He only tracks back well. * Meireles has not been a DM for us at any point this season, and if anything, he's always been ahead of Gerrard for Kenny. * Lucas can't play on the left. We've seen it before, and he sucked. Best bet with 3 CMs would be... Meireles Lucas Gerrard, but then there would be no "in the hole" player behind 2 CFs.
They would be normal midfielders, not DM's. And I mean Suarez is a capable CF too then we could bump Gerrard back to Kuyt's spot then either go with Kuyt or N'Gog as Carroll's front line partner.
You could play Gerrard and Meireles on either side of Lucas, but you'd need someone who can somewhat defend as a AM/SS. Suarez isn't quite like that. Kuyt could do that, but he has failed miserably as a playmaker for Rafa before. If we played a 3-5-2, it might make more sense... Reina Skrt Carra Agger Johnson Lucas Gerrard Aurelio Meireles Suarez Ngog Look for the above, today.