Liverpool FC Forum

[Thommo's perm]

i don't know if that super loose fluid attacking stylee was down to roy's imprint or the fact that we had cole, pacheco, gerrard, johnson and jovanovic - all clever, tricky players - on the pitch at the same time and finding ample room in which to express themselves and have a little footballing fun. it was, apart from the finishing, hugely entertaining to watch, but as mick says until we play someone half decent we'll have no idea if that is the way we'll carry on.

the most important and significant difference for me was that for the first time in a long time the players seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves. in fact i can sense a gerrard/cole love in that rivals the gerrard/torres one. if when nando comes back it turns into a potent menage-a-trois with smiles all round and sexy flicks and tricks then we'll all be happy bunnies.

Haha Im getting a semi on here..

[andy_g]

i don't know if that super loose fluid attacking stylee was down to roy's imprint or the fact that we had cole, pacheco, gerrard, johnson and jovanovic - all clever, tricky players - on the pitch at the same time and finding ample room in which to express themselves and have a little footballing fun. it was, apart from the finishing, hugely entertaining to watch, but as mick says until we play someone half decent we'll have no idea if that is the way we'll carry on.

the most important and significant difference for me was that for the first time in a long time the players seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves. in fact i can sense a gerrard/cole love in that rivals the gerrard/torres one. if when nando comes back it turns into a potent menage-a-trois with smiles all round and sexy flicks and tricks then we'll all be happy bunnies.

Haha Im getting a semi on here..

i had to have a cold shower half way through writing the last sentence, mate.

[bigmick]

I really like Cole, always have, and he was excellent tonight BUT.... His little flicks and tricks could become VERY frustrating if yopu are playing away somewhere and need to keep the ball a bit. That for me is going to be the crux of whether or not he is going to be a success at Liverpool. Yes he'll provide the sparks here and there, it's whether or not he can show up when you really need him to, can he get you a free kick down by the corner flag with three minutes left when you're 1-0 up, can he hold it up and wait for support when you've been bang under the cosh for five minutes? 

Torres can and does. If Cole can and does too, then we're talking.

[Thommo's perm]

i don't know if that super loose fluid attacking stylee was down to roy's imprint or the fact that we had cole, pacheco, gerrard, johnson and jovanovic - all clever, tricky players - on the pitch at the same time and finding ample room in which to express themselves and have a little footballing fun. it was, apart from the finishing, hugely entertaining to watch, but as mick says until we play someone half decent we'll have no idea if that is the way we'll carry on.

the most important and significant difference for me was that for the first time in a long time the players seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves. in fact i can sense a gerrard/cole love in that rivals the gerrard/torres one. if when nando comes back it turns into a potent menage-a-trois with smiles all round and sexy flicks and tricks then we'll all be happy bunnies.

Haha Im getting a semi on here..

i had to have a cold shower half way through writing the last sentence, mate.

As long as it wasnt golden

[Scottbot]

i don't know if that super loose fluid attacking stylee was down to roy's imprint or the fact that we had cole, pacheco, gerrard, johnson and jovanovic - all clever, tricky players - on the pitch at the same time and finding ample room in which to express themselves and have a little footballing fun.

Is bang on. Rafa's teams played their fare share of intricate, clever, pretty football at times but it's more to do with personnel than systems, tactics of formations. I remember we played some fantastic football at the back of last season against an admittedly poor Portsmouth side (still better than this lot mind) and it was all down to the fact we had a front 5 of Gerrard, Aquilani, Maxi, Kuyt and Torres. Clever skillful players make things happen if you play them together no matter how they're lined up.

[Judge]

roys top ten targets

[Roger Red Hat]

them top 10 targets must be the biggest load of shat I've ever seen. Some good players in there but I bet none of them ever sign for us. How does the papers know who is on Roys target list? they don't. They make it up. wnkrs.

As for the team, good to see the flowing football again last night. The end product was missing but we have yet to see our 'finishing expert' join up with the team. When Torres starts firing look out. feking goal fest every week. It's what we need. If we can hold the top teams for a whole game maybe even nicking a 1-0 win here and there but then go away to the lesser teams and stick 5 past them all then we're right in the mix. All a bit dreamy but hey ho.

[lakes10]

talking about the game last night (that i only just seen now) we looked ok, bit hartd to tell when you play a team like them, would have liked us to give them the ball a bit more in the 2nd half to see how we was at the back a bit more, it was clear that from the start of the 2nd we took it as just a warm up game.

some of our players looked sharp but one player that cost 20mil still looked very off.

[ConnO'var]

I didn't get a chance to watch the game....

Can anyone be kind enough to give me an idea how we were set-up in terms of formation and line-up?
Also overall impressions on strengths and weaknesses would be most welcome.

Cheers lads..

[jacdaniel]

I didn't get a chance to watch the game....

Can anyone be kind enough to give me an idea how we were set-up in terms of formation and line-up?
Also overall impressions on strengths and weaknesses would be most welcome.

Cheers lads..

I saw the last 30 mins or so.  We seemed to be playing something like this:  I have the back four and GK right anyways.  Lucas was DM and Gerrard AM.  Cole seemed to be everywhere and Jovanovic was RM, then LM.

            Cavileri
Johnson Carra Skrtel Kelly
            Lucas
Cole                   jovanovic
           Gerrard
                    Paecheco
           Ngog

Aqua man came on for Gerrard i believe.  Then Spearing for Lucas.

Everyone looked ok but we lacked an end product and Ngog missed a free header.  Maxi came on as well for Jovanovic and made some very intelligent passes.

Johnson and Kelly did well.  I felt a bit sorry for Spearing cos he is a good lad but he is never gonna make it at Liverpool.  We have Gerrard, Aqua, Lucas, Shelvey and mascherano for now.  (probably to be replaced by Poulsen).

[ConnO'var]

Thanks jac.... much appreciated.

A little surprised that Joe Cole was not played in the "hole"....

[bigmick]

Thanks jac.... much appreciated.

A little surprised that Joe Cole was not played in the "hole"....

He was mate 

[ConnO'var]

Thanks jac.... much appreciated.

A little surprised that Joe Cole was not played in the "hole"....

He was mate 

Metaphorically or literally?     

So not on the right then? Was Pachecho there instead and I presume that Gerrard was pulled back into a more conventional CM role then..

Did we look solid down the middle and a little weak down the flanks as I expect with that setup or not?

Sorry for so many questions Mick..... but I'm really looking forward to the new season and want to know how we're shaping up. As always, I've got 50 quid on us taking the prem home!

[SouthCoastShankly]

the most important and significant difference for me was that for the first time in a long time the players seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves. in fact i can sense a gerrard/cole love in that rivals the gerrard/torres one. if when nando comes back it turns into a potent menage-a-trois with smiles all round and sexy flicks and tricks then we'll all be happy bunnies.

Most sensible post Ive heard for a long long time 

What if the menage-a-trois goes badly wrong, Torres might get jealous at Stevie's new mate.

[bigmick]

We played a 4-4-1-1 Conn which was actually very similar to the system Rafa employed in truth. The main difference was in personel, in that Gerrard sat in alongside Lucas and Cole played off the striker. The dreaded Lucas/Masherano axis was obviously not in evidence, and pretty much like every time we didn't play it last season, we played pretty well and won. Gerrard absolutely bossed it for the hour he was on, and Cole had a fine debut, a real box of tricks.

In terms of style, it was fairly obvious that players had been given license to express themselves a little more than previously. Whether this was because the other team were absolutely sh!t (which they were) or whether it was a symptom of a new approach is obviously too early to say.

Pacheco largely played down the right although he did interchange a bit. I thought he did just about OK, he probably tried a bit too hard a couple of times but that's only natural for a kid. He did enough to show he obviously has something.

As for the solid down the middle and weaker down the flanks thing, not really although once again the oppo were very poor. The young kid Kelly did well at left back, and Jovanovic does a shift as well so we were sorted there, while down the right they had enough to worry about trying to contain Johnson to dissuade them from attacking much.

Probably the most pleasing aspect of it all was everyone seemed to enjoy it, players and fans alike.