Liverpool FC Forum

[bigmick]

It's my point exactly Ace. Now fairly obviously we could all reel off two or three positions which need stregthening, you'll no doubt get people saying we should play 4-4-2 rather than 4-5-1, suggesting a couple of blokes we should sign etc etc. IMHO though, within reason it doesn't really matter unless you accept that in order to win matches, you commit players into the box more readily than we do.

Really, if you look at our record the totals don't lie. Why have we only lost once this season? Why did we lose very rarely last season? Why did we draw a huge number of games last season, and have drawn a huge number this season? Why do a lot of our matches finish goalless? It's not simply that we've got too many sh!t players, or that we don't take our chances. It is IMHO because we don't attack with enough intent, with enough numbers. We are too scared to lose, in order to win. Too conservative.

As I say, if Rafa stays I hope he looks at it, becuase you'll not win the title over here with 75 and 77 points, I don't give a feck how many games you control.

[JC_81]

You're talking bollox Mick

I take your point about commiting more men forward, and to an extent we don't do it enough.  But the biggest problem imo is not tactical and cannot be solved by throwing men forward.  You have to be able to keep possession in dangerous areas when you throw more bodies forward, otherwise you'll get destroyed on the break. 

Basically we don't have the players to play that way.  We don't have quick enough players to commit 5 or 6 players in a breakaway, and we don't have players who are good enough in possession to commit too many forward when we are controlling games.  If you commit too many forward too often, and you're players aren't good enough to create an opening, or simply give it away, you are in trouble.  We have only 4 players in our squad who can receive the ball under pressure and be trusted not to lose it (Gerrard, Alonso, Riera and Torres).  At a push Benayoun when he's on form.  Kuyt and Babel are a disaster for this.  We don't have full backs who are comfortable enough in possession, they're all too quick to get rid of it.

Our team is set up to contain, wear the opposition down and nick a goal.  That's why there are too many draws and not enough wins.  That's why we rely so much on Torres and Gerrard.  That's why for all our possession we don't hurt teams enough.  But my real point is that we can't solve this by just an alteration of tactics, we don't have the personnel to do it.

[bigmick]

(talking b0ll0cks, moi?). No fair enough mate mate and a good point. I'm not really saying though it's simply a question telling everyone in a battle of the Somme sense, "get in that fecking box FFS!!!!!!!". Getting bodies into the area is the culmination as you explain very well of a mindset, and a set up and yes, of having the personel to press teams effectively in an attacking sense.

If you saw Rooneys gaol against Fulham, Park ye Sung or whatever the feck his name is (who was in the box at the time) had a shot and nmisfit it. It flew accross the box and there were red shirts everywhere, Rooney just the nearest one to knock it in. For Berbatov's goal, John O'Shea got ahead of the ball from fullback and squared it for the Bulgarian to have an open goal. 

I'm not disputing that we need a couple of players, but we need the right type of players IMHO to change the way we play. There seems little point in getting another right sided midfielder and then not playing him if he doesn't work hard like Kuyt does. Riera needs IMHo to be looked at. He is a good player but contributes very little these days in an attacking sense. Alonso has improved muchly but for me these last few weeks looks like he's been drawn by a magnet back into his comfort zone. The fullbacks have to dop better, and be encouraged to try and do so. Agger if he plays has to be encouraged to be more adventurous, if not Skyrtel can develop in this area because there's talent there.

Perhaps (and I'm not saying we have come to this point, it's just a perhaps) Masherano is going to be the good player who is going to be sacrificed at the alter of improvement. Chelsea innovated the genuine sitter over in England with Makaleli, but they had Drogba, Duff, Robben and Lampard to make things happen. They also scored a huge number of goals from set-pieces. We don't score from set-pieces as a rule, and we have only Gerrard and Torres. Is there room within our team for a genuine sitter? Given the way football is changing and the bar is constantly moving I'm not sure. We'll see.

Quite simply though, we've been drawing too many games for two seasons now. In the seasons before that we used to lose too many. To win a large proportion of those drawn games though, I honestly do believe we need a bit of a rethink.

[Tophatman]

Do you think we are at the stage now, where we have to finish in the top 4 and is this also the case at the beginning of the season and we have not got the mindset to be thinking about winning the Premiership.

It certainly seems to be the case, we have drawn or lost against the so called inferior teams.

I just think we cannot afford to finish out of the top 4, this shows in our displays,whereas the Mancs i feel don't even consider it.