The Liverpool team building process

Yes sir.

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOohBytKTU"]Flight of the Conchords- Business Time - YouTube[/ame]

 

I know it was a while ago...but, here you go anyway.

MATCH NOTES
Liverpool vs Man City - Carling Cup; 25th January 2012)


Starting Line-ups

Liverpool
4-4-1-1/4-1-4-1 (changed when Gerrard moved deeper to mark Silva)

Bellamy
Henderson
Downing - Adam - Gerrard - Kuyt
Enrique - Agger - Skrtel - Johnson
Reina
​

Man City

Dzeko
Nasri - Silva
Kolarov - Barry - De Jong - Zabaleta
Lescott - Savic - Richards
Hart​

Constant positional match-ups from 1st half:
Dirk/Kolarov
Gerrard/Silva
Henderson/Barry
Bellamy/Savic
Downing splitting Richards/Zabaleta
Skrtel+Agger/Dzeko


Defensive Actions/Pressing
>Our defensive line is between 11.3m (12.3yd) - 14.1m (15.4yd) from the penalty area. Very similar to with Rafa, but slightly further back. I assume this will slowly move forward as we have a greater understanding and get higher quality players. The distance between the defensive and midfield lines was ~11m (12yd).

When we have the lead, we're usually about 6 yards deeper. Pressing starts closer to halfway, defensive line is usually about 6 yards in front of pen area.

>Kuyt and Downing start inside attacking half, Bellamy starts at center circle.

>Henderson was marking Barry regularly from the start. He would step out of the midfield line, abandoning space, to mark Barry. When he did this, Dirk would usually move in field to help close down Nasri who was moving from left-to-center. Often Dirk would be alongside Stevie.

>All 3 CMs positioned around the center circle. Gerrard and Adam, Henderson zonal marking, only marking players in central areas.

>Usual LFC pressing would be Bellamy forcing the play wide to Lescott/Richards. Bellamy would then mark Savic, with Henderson usually marking Barry. Downing was pressing Richards and then quickly tracking back to pressure Zabaleta, with Enrique covering space behind.

>Skrtel and Agger man-marking Dzeko when he moved into deep positions.

>2 Liverpool CM's would press on the flanks to help FB + WG. We always tried to have 4 players, numerical superiority, on the flanks in our defensive half, which is where Man City are usually strongest with their roaming wingers. This forced Man City to switch play regularly, moving away from their usual style. Man City's central/far side attacker was also always marked in this situation, meaning a switch of play could only occur with a backwards pass to a DM or CB, giving us the opportunity to step up. Bellamy was also pressing the ball aggressively in this situation to help force Man City back to Hart.

>At the start of the match, we were standing off De Jong. Gerrard and Adam were prioritising marking Silva or Nasri rather than pressing De Jong on the ball...partly leading to why De Jong was free for the goal.

>In our attack half, Johnson/Enrique were free to move inside and stop Nasri/Silva from being able to receive, turn and face forwards to start a counter-attack. Nasri and Silva would both be marked when they were in front of the ball, but left free when behind the ball.

>One of Nasri or Silva would position themselves high, near opposite side CB when Dzeko drops deep/wide, with one of our defenders nearby.


General Match Notes

>Using a basketball analogy, we're terrible at getting offensive rebounds. We're terrible at reacting to and winning 2nd balls after clearances from the opposition in final 3rd, something we were great with under Rafa. Whenever an attacking move breaks down or looks to break down with a block/clearance, but the opposition haven't actually taken control of the ball, we are usually just standing and watching. No one is marking an opposition player to stop them turning and facing fwds, no attempts to win clearing headers around the pen area, not much unless it actually falls to us. This could help us score more goals and help us keep the pressure and possession on opponents in higher positions on the pitch. An 'attack' is not finished until the opposition have controlled possession or put the ball out of play, just like rebounds in basketball...we're terrible at offensive rebounds!

>After Man City's 2nd goal, while our midfield line is pressing in same areas, you can distinctly see our defensive-line pressing 6 yards further up, ~12-15 yards ahead of the penalty area.

>In the 2nd half, Henderson was marking De Jong, with Adam positioned slightly deeper than Barry and Bellamy trying to split the space between Barry and a central defender.

>After Kelly was subbed on we moved to a 5-4-1.

>Man City made a bad sub brining Johnson on for De Jong, moving both Nasri and Silva into positions in front of our defence. They needed to leave Kolarov/Zabaleta out wide for permanent width, with De Jong on instead of Barry in front of Richards/Lescott. Then have Silva/Nasri on different horizontal lines. Barry was moving too far forward, pushing Silva/Nasri both into position as deepest midfielders.


Offensive Notes

End of 1st half (1 minute after Man City kickoff), just before Downing's cross (Downing crosses have great 'shape' on them when he doesn't float it; similar to Dossena but not as much height or dip), this moment shows how I think we should position ourselves in attack. Downing wide, Johnson starting wide, but linking through the middle, Enrique coming into the channel. This is shown at the very bottom of the post.

Offensivly, we had some problems with Adam's tendancy to drift horizontally across the pitch with both Gerrard and Henderson positioned slightly right of centre.

A definite tactic of ours is to use Gerrard and Adam for curling crosses from deep positions, but Adam does his from ~10 yards further back...he's just capable of hitting them with more power (Gerrard groin?). The Carroll goal vs Wolves is a clear example. In this match, Gerrard to the LW (Downing) or Adam to the RW (Kuyt), with the WG positioned in between Man City FB and CB.

Midway through the 2nd half, after Man City have possession, they look to play a forward pass and Agger reads the play very well, gets in front of Aguero, intercepts and diverts it into the path of Henderson, who plays a great-counter-attack-starting pass to Dirk who, as usual, has noticed the possibility of a counter-attack starting and ran from a deep defensive position covering Kolarov into the attacking half ahead of Kolarov. His first touch is not clean, but it's smart, as its placed 15-20 yards ahead of him so he can get fwd quicker. Then, as Dirk has always shown, in the final 3rd when we are counter-attacking, he usually makes the correct decision. With Bellamy making the 1st run to the near post (as the 1st striker should do), dragging the RCB (Richards) with him, Downing is free at the far post and Dirk plays a floated cross to him. It's harsh, but Downing actually shouldve realised his position (slightly too narrow angle to score), and if his awareness of teammates positions was better, he would've/could've volleyed it backwards to Henderson who was free closer to the pen spot. This is the kind of attack that we don't use enough, but can be our main weapon with so many hard-working, forward-running players in the squad.

Again, after winning possession from Man City, we make another good short-counter, with the ball played to Gerrard centrally and again Kuyt finding space on RW just outside box, this time making a ground-cross into the path of Adam who shouldve at least got something on it.Our next counter-attack (after Kolarov's yellow card that wasn't a yellow). Throw in and Adam gets rushed (again no composure) plays a pass straight down the line with a Man City closing in but Bellamy stays onside and manages to get to it. (Hendo weakness). With bellamy on the byline and Hendo closest, he shouldve made a hard run straight to the near post taking defenders with him. Instead, he waits near the pen spot and Bellamy has to cross parallel to the goal-line, Man City player able to block it for a corner. Hendo is a very smart player, especially when on the ball and he has space in front of him, but offensively, off the ball, he needs to learn where to run to to open up space for teammates.





Goals

Man City's 1st goal
From a Man City goalkick, Dzeko beats Skrtel in the air, then the ball is cleared forward by us, Lescott then heads forward, followed by Agger heading forward to Charlie Adam, who is free, but was not ready for it. From 2nd balls, being 'ready' or 'on your toes' is the first step and easier to learn before learning the correct positioning. Adam is terrible at reacting to 2nd balls. His chest control goes straight to De Jong who plays short to Silva, which is one of the only times that he was able to receive the ball and turn to face forwards, but the 2nd time in the previous 3 mins (tiredness maybe?). Gerrard let him cut inside by getting too close to him, while Adam wasn't close enough to back Gerrard up. Henderson, who was responsible for marking Barry, should've chosen to cover De Jong who was more dangerous in this instance, but Henderson hasn't yet shown the capability to break tactical instructions when needed, for the benefit of the team. Hendo actually looks towards De Jong, but doesn't close him down. In closing down De Jong, as 26 mentioned after the match, Gerrard actually starts his run from behind Adam. Disappointing effort all-round from Adam.

*About 3 minutes later, the next time that Silva has the ball in our half facing forwards, which resulted from a poorly weighted Enrique pass, Agger closes him down well. We have the numerical superiority in the ball-area, with our back 4 + Gerr/Hend/Adam vs 4 man city players. Adam this time does well supporting Agger, but then, again, gets too close to Silva and clumsily gives away freekick with a tackle from behind after Silva had turned him 360.

**Adam chases too much, rather than being proactive and positioning himself well.

LFC 1st goal
Adam takes the corner after a great deep cross (similar to the one for Carroll's goal vs Wolves). A deep corner, which I think was over-hit, gets to Downing on edge of area. Unfortunately, he doesn't trust his ability to beat Richards 1 vs 1 on the outside and passes back to Skrtel. Skrtel plays a very good diagonal (as he often does) to Kuyt on the far side in a 3 vs 1 overload (Adam at the back). Kuyt chests to Agger, who plays to Adam who's free. Adam beats Barry easily on the outside. Adam crosses low into the 6 yd area despite no Red shirt near apart from Bellamy at the far post. Ball bounces to Agger, and handball...etc.

Man City 2nd goal
I know Agger probably wasn't close enough to Dzeko, but I'm not blaming him for the goal. It's the lead-up that could've been stopped. Gerrard just didn't close down Kolarov well. In this 1 vs 1 situation with a left-footed player, who has great crossing technique, Gerrard needs to force him backwards. Instead, he positions himself directly square, and no matter how quick the defender is, he's always going to be reacting to the wide player's movements to create space.

LFC 2nd goal
One thing we were always dangerous with under Rafa was throw-ins on the right side to Dirk. He's always been an underrated player in these kind of innocuous situations. Johnson throws to Kuyt, who takes Lescott with him out wide, and even though he's fairly one-footed, he turns into the centre, using the space that Johnson has created with his forward run, that took a MC defender with him. As Kuyt approaches the centre, the defenders leave Johnson, with 3 surrounding Dirk and 2 others within 5 yards. As an efficient attacker does, when doubled (or in this case, tripled+2), Dirk moves the ball. Richards now has to cover both Bellamy and Johnson because Lescott and Kolarov went walkabout, and Johnson's 1st-time pass (he's great at those in all areas of the pitch) takes him out and gives Bellamy the chance. It doesnt even look like Bellamy is expecting the pass back, he stands still after passing to Glen, almost waiting for him to shoot...luckily he has enough quality to take Glen's pass under pressure and finish.


Player Obvervations

Gerrard: his crossing technique is very good, but the reason he's so up and down with them is the pace he hits the ball. While he doesn't have the legs to hit it at that pace from Charlie Adam-range, from within the final 3rd he can. He also often plays it early from that deep-RW spot, even when there's only 1 player in the area (usually Downing in this game).

~16 mins into 2nd half, after Agger intercepts a Silva forward pass, runs forward and loses possession further up field, Gerrard does his usual losing-an-opposition-attacker-behind-him routine. Man City have possession on the flank and even with Agger out of position, we have a 2 vs 2 around the ball. Gerrard unnecessarily moves too close to the ball, leaving a big space behind him, and despite Barry starting 10 yards deeper than Gerrard, he manages to run into the space and receive a pass. Nothing came of it this time, but this is scarily similar to when Milner lost gerrard in same area for Barry's goal in our 3-0 loss last season.

This is the only free video I could find, and its backwards...but it shows the incident.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0D8rN3B-w0&feature=related"]Manchester City - FC Liverpool 3-0 (All Goals) 23/04/2010 - YouTube[/ame]

Agger: he's better in the air than Skrtel, as the below numbers show.

Agger also seems to be playing more of a stopper-intercepting role, while Skrtel seems to be the covering player in the partnership. Very good balance.

Skrtel: Early 2nd half, Gerrard has free kick and it leads to a Skrtel shot with outside of his foot and a good save from Hart. That's the kind of high level thought-processing-pace that Skrtel has, the composure and ability to find a solution to the problem (how to finish in tight area when I'm about to be challenged). After his short runs forward with the ball, instead of moving back after a pass, I would actually like to see him move forward into the final 3rd, similar to Agger, but as Agger usually moves from centre-to-wide, I'd like Skrtel to move from wide-to-centre, and I think he could be very successful as a wall-passing option...a creator in final third, especially against 'lesser' teams.

Agger-Skrtel has the capability to be the best CB partnership in the last 10 years, better than Vidic-Ferdinand from a few years back, because I believe that they are capable of defending the more modern-types of strikers better (Aguero/Suarez/Alexis Sanchez type) and are better in 2 vs 2 situations.

Charlie Adam: he tackles and presses opponents straight on/square body shape, making him slower to change direction and hence, he's often sticking a leg out and giving away free kicks. The best way to tackle is to face side on, forcing the opponent into a specific area, tackling with the outside of your front leg, giving you the ability to recover quickly. If you tackle off your back leg and miss, you aren't able to recover. Lucas is outstanding at this.

Adam also has a problem that when the ball isn't lying directly on the surface of the grass, he struggles to hit the ball down from a high position and make a normal rolling pass. His passes from this situation always have a bobble or height to them, making it harder for teammates to control. It's really frustrating. Glen Johnson is the best at this in the squad, passing a ball from high-to-low.

Also, after watching the game again and reading this in zonalmarking:

...it reminded of another of Adam's bad habits. When the ball is with a wide player of ours and Adam is positioned square of that player but marked, he has a tendancy to stand still, meaning he is, a) unable to receieve a pass; b) is bringing another defender into the area, limiting the space; c) can get in the way of his other deep-midfield partner from receiving the ball, meaning the wide player has to pass backwards to Skrtel/Agger for us to get the ball to the other CM. Lucas is great at moving off the ball, usually forward, not to receive the pass, but to take defenders with him so that we can switch player more easily.

This highlights the biggest problem with our newest players (Carroll, Downing, Henderson, Enrique, Adam). Off the ball, they are not good enough for our standard, but they all have other qualities that are of the standard we require to be a top club.

***and before someone states my Adam-bashing, I actually thought he had his best game in our 0-0 draw with Tottenham. He was very good, and the criticism of him in that game is, in my opinion, wrong.

Enrique: he looks best when running through the channel, rather than wide, due to his one footedness. Enrique's one-touch/sideways passing with his back to goal is good. Good weight, timing, everything. Enrique crosses well along the ground. Good pace. The best way to use this would be to get him higher up the pitch when we have possession in final 3rd/final attacking phase (Barca-style) If he were to get to the byline more often, he would be able to use a cut-back, which I believe is something he could get 10 assists from.

Lucas: he is the best midfield (middle 3rd) player in the air/heading in the world. His accuracy is outstanding. I just thought of this because of how poor every other player was in this match.

Maxi: If Maxi had Dirks athletic/physical conditioning/ability, he'd be a nailed on starter and one of the most effective attackers in the country.

Richards: Micah Richards could be a minimally worse RB than Dani Alves, mainly due to his lesser technical ability. He is a monster physically. Sergio Ramos looked to have that potential, but Ramos doesnt have quite the acceleration, and offensively, Richards is better running at defenders. Ramos is a better CB, but Richards could be a much better RB. Man City's use of him in a more reserved role in the last 2-3 months, compared with his extremely high-positioned role in the early months is baffling. He was a major reason for their good start.

Aguero: his most dangerous off-the-ball move is whenever he makes a V-shaped-run. When he goes one way and the defender follows him, then Aguero makes a quick cut in the other direction, a sort-of V shape. This is extremely dangerous, and could destroy opposition def/offside lines if Man City knew how to use it.

De Jong: he's a good player, a similar, but lesser version of Masch in his positioning, tackling ability and ability on the ball. He'd be a good player next to a Lucas. He even has similar movements to Masch when he's on the ball (lots of little steps).


Goalkeepers
>Joe Hart is arguably the best GK in the world in certain skills, a Buffon-style GK, BIG saving area, big and athletic. Although, he isn't able to change direction very well in 1 vs 1 situations (like Reina). He could be very good.
>Reina best in the world at starting counter-attacks with his throwing and kicking. Rushing out, sweeper-style, he's the best, 1 vs 1 he's arguably the best, and his intelligence and anticipation of a strikers movements is great.
>Valdes is probably the best at his distribution from open play.
>Casillas, best at saving close to his body, but isnt as BIG as he could be. He has the talent to be better but IMO will never reach that level. Could've been the best GK ever.
>Neuer, good in the air, tall, strong, good at catching crosses from opposition counter-attacks, pretty good shot-stopper around his body, but can make poor decisions in terms of coming off his line, closing down attackers.


Other Observations

The wind was playing havoc with Mancini's hair.

Why is pace valuable? It's a great asset that can turn a marginal situation, 50-50 or worse, into something positive for your team.

I hate watching Kenny clench his fists and scream 'come on' or 'X minutes, come on' to the players. It's his best Woy Hodgson impression and it makes me cringe, but that's just me.


IMO, our best system moving forward: