ok missed chances and defensive errors have led to a recent defeat and draw but has anyone else been impressed with the football we have been playing of late? Maybe its the lack of a tall skinny bloke up front thats stopped Carra and co pumping pointless long balls foward,(ok he still does now and again)but for me the football has really improved. Alonso is back to his best dictating games and the movement at times is excellent to watch, this will only improve with the intellegence of Torres upfront. Kuyt and Keane both come under critisism for their goal tally and rightly so at times but their movement is excellent along with Riera who's close control is top class, the interchanging is given the team alot more options. We have witness some boring games in the past and times were we just don't look like scoring but since the villa game we seem to be moving up the gears, Gerrard is finding great positions with the freedom he has, Keane was improving until torres was injured and found himself in an unfamilar lone strikers role and the fullbacks are being alot more adventurous. We have missed Torres but he is one of the best strikers around and we don't have 30m+ to replace him. the only problem is the old Arsenal critisism, great footbal but lack the killer blow? maybe our number 9 will provide it. Previously we have looked lost for ideas - hopeful long ball punts, but we are working it now and some of our football is sublime. When we put it together I can see his hammering somebody - maybe West Brom on Saturday!
Re: Pass and move- the Liverpool groove the one thing I was disappointed by in the last 3 weeks since Torres' injury - was that I was truly hoping and expecting that Rafa would play Babel and Keane up to together WITH Riera on the left. Yeah I know that means either sacrificing Alonso or Masch - but I would have loved to see the possible 2nd strike partnership.
Re: Pass and move- the Liverpool groove While I agree, Babel was also dealing with knocks that he picked up at the same time as Torres. I would have liked to see what N'Gog and Keane could have done together. In his limited time, N'Gog has looked confident and pretty skillful (his first touch against Atleti notwithstanding) and he seems like just the type of player that would be great partnering with Keano.
Re: Pass and move- the Liverpool groove Yeah but the teams we've played while Torres has been injured against haven't really allowed that. If Torres had got injured just as we were about to play some of the lesser teams at home- I'm sure we would've done just that, but with two CL games agaisnt AM, a game agaisnt Chelski away, Spurz away etc, it doesn't allow Rafa the freedom to do that!
I have been impressed with our football. Early in the season we were looking a bit disjointed but we were still winning. We played very well for 65 mins against the Mancs. We have played well for 60 mins in Madrid. We played well against Chelsea. Against Pompey, Spurs and Atletico we completely bossed those games and deserved to win all three on balance of play. Even against Spurs, I was annoyed at the result but not the performance. We dominated Atletico this last week but needed a very late pen to get a draw. On balance of play in that match we should have buried Atletico. Agger should have scored 4 goals. We are able to exert almost continous pressure on the opponents defence and stifle their efforts to play the ball into our half. Torres is about to return and his sharpness as the tip of our spear combined with the pressure we can put on opposing defences is very encouraging to me. We have not really crushed teams this season apart from Everton and PSV but I feel we will certainly start to give out a few hammerings within the next few games. Unless there is a sudden unexpected reversal in our performances, I think we can have a very good November.
The passing is crisper. The runs off the ball are numerous and sharp. I would go out on a limb and say that our combination play this year is probably the best it has been since Evans.
It most certainly is..that's wat prompted me to start this thread..we are a few signings away from playing champagne football week in and week out....
Re: Pass and move- the Liverpool groove Well now - think that through for a moment. Let me rephrase it for you: I think we can all agree that the football is getting more coherent and stylish. From day one of Rafa's tenure, the ultimate aim has been to turn Liverpool into the Valencia side that so impressed all present on the night they comprehensively outplayed us under Houllier in the 2002/03 Champions League group match. And now, five years on, it's starting to happen.
Sammy Lee must a bit to do with this. He played in a Liverpool team which perfected pass and move. He even tried to impose the style on Bolton but met with stubborn resistance, to Bolton's eternal poverty I think. But I agree with 26, some of the off-the-ball movement has been a joy to behold.
im re-posting this cause it seems more apt in this thread! The only problem i see in the team which has blossomed admirably this season is OUR THREAT FROM SET PIECES!!!!! When Middlesboro came to Anfield at the start of the season, we had 18 corners, EIGHTEEN! and we didnt come close to scoring from even one of them. Our set plays from corners and free kicks from wide areas have to be better. When's the last time we scored from a corner? We have to turn the territorial advantage into goals. As its unlikely we'll be able to thread a defence splitting pass through ten men, we desperately need to work on our corners. The problem is we don't have a Vidic, or a Terry or goes storming into the box, we just have players who are ok in the air but don't have that desire to go for the ball no matter what. Hyypia's the only player with that mentality/ability. As we are limited in this respect, I think Rafa needs to adjust our tactics on set pieces. Agree that unless he's going to have a shot, Gerrard should be in the thick of it in the box and leave Xabi or Fabio to take the free kicks. I'd like to see more corner's whipped in towards the keeper too with the likes of Agger, Carragher and Skrtel challenging the tall CB's close in. Too many either hit the first man, or go sailing over and end up being cleared around the edge of the area. All in all though, there is only so much you can do. The players we have are not big butch players like the old Bolton teams who would score plenty from set pieces. Saying that, 19 corners against Stoke without scoring is unacceptable. No doubt Rafa and the bunch ahave analysed this, but so far the signs are not great. I have no real issue with short corners either, so long as it's not all the time, and it's well worked, rather than just knocking it to someone else, then trying to work a position to get in a cross. Again though, I'd much rather Xabi, Fabio, or Pennant if he's playing take the corners than Gerrard. Perhaps this was one of the reasons we pursued Barry, dont get me wrong Riera has been excellent and offers a totally different dynamic than we had before. Barry can deliver a good ball in with that left peg of his.
Torres @ Man City, I think. Agger is capable of getting a few from corners. He should have scored 4 from corners against Atletico.
Glad someone opened a thread a bout this. I think we really evolved as a team this season and stepped it up another level. Our one touch passing and off the ball movement has improved significantly. Every member of the team is playing with much more confidence and the overall creativity of the team and its play has improved. Our results against the likes of Chelsea and Manchester are proof of that and so are our come from behind wins this season. It took a while but Benitez's moves are beginning to pay off and I'm very hopeful about the future of this team. And we still have a few young prospects coming up from the reserves that could add to this team in the future. Lots to be optimistic about as a Liverpool fan nowadays.
We have been entertaining to watch this year. When we start clicking we look unbeatable. I am not too worried about not being able to score that often on set pieces. Because we are still winning.
Keane's delightful backheel pass to find Riera in the box(during the first half) had me purring with joy!.
He was probably trying to pay the king of back-heels and flicks back with a beauty...Riera's subtle touches to open up space for teammates is incredible...his vision is incredible. Id like to see him one day playing behind Torres in the 4-2-3-1 just to watch him humiliate a defence.