Liverpool FC Forum

by **Alanay** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 7:57 am

And probably tired legs and mind also... we have played more than 45 games already this season.. if I'm not mistaken

by **woof woof !** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 9:08 am

Sabre wrote:we were playing too fast where there wasn't reason to.

we try always the direct play. And direct play is difficult,

Playing to fast ? .
Charlton weren't about to sit back and admire our players as they passed the ball from side to side .We did play some "pretty football at times but they had done their homework ,closed us down and anticipated all the balls we lofted into the area, we apparently lacked the skill and composure to create anything by passing the ball along the floor ,even Alonso's famous passing ability seemed to have deserted him.

Direct play ? .
Charlton were pretty direct and you could argue we were lucky not to get beat by 3 or 4.

Seems a long time ago since our defence was looking pretty much invulnerable , now however we seem to be leaking goals in games that we have apparently dominated . Despite our strikers inability to score our failure to keep a clean sheet in recent games is of equal concern .

by **bigmick** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 9:29 am

I think what Sabes means by playing too fast is the impatience to go forward rather than to keep the ball and to wait. I think he's right, paerticularly in the way we use Crouch. Now if I was defending against Crouch (not me personally but my team you understand) the time when I wouldn't really fancy having to deal with him would be on the corner of our box when the ball is hit long and diagonal to him with midfiled players from the same side as Crouch running under the flight of the ball towards the penalty spot. You've got to get the run right, you want to be arriving at the same time as the knock-down hits the deck and you've got to get the delivery right but when you do it's very hard to stop. Trouble is at the moment, we're hitting him from too central a spot, ie from centre-half or that we're hitting him from the same side, ie not diagonally from the full-back but straight from the full-back on the same side as Crouch is standing. His only option is to flick on rather than head down. If I was setting up against Liverpool and Crouch, I would like them to play this way.
Some of the fault is with the big man and his lack of mobility and the rest ids with the team and it's reluctance to wait until all the chess pieces are in place. Thierry Henri is very quick, but you don't just lob it over the top the minute you get the ball. You vary the point of attack, you move the ball and you wait. Then you lob it over the top.

by **SouthCoastShankly** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 9:43 am

Well regardless of our current form Rafa needs to sort things out quick. Wigan away followed by Arsenal at home. If things don't improve peopl may start wondering whether we'll even finish top 4. Worrying.

I'll be very interested in how Rafa approaches the Wigan game. If he contonue to play defensively against strong away opposition - simply put wew won't win. When we won those 10 games on the trot our play was so direct and fluent, we seemed to have lost that and now lost our rhythm.

I trust Rafa to sort things but doesn't stop me being anxious

by **woof woof !** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 9:48 am

Sounds wonderful Mick .

Teams have rumbled our use of Crouch . They know that balls will be lofted to him whenever he's in or around the area and that he'll be looking to knock it down , they get tight on Crouch and while the ball is in flight en route to Crouch they're already picking up the runners looking for the second ball .
The problem with an obvious target man is that he's erm ? Obvious ?

. Not knocking Crouch , the lad does the job he was employed to do to the best of his ability . A little more unpredictability when we're going forward is required . Hurry back that ball wasting sometimes magic Lil' Luis Garcia

by **desperado0831** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 1:02 pm

The business is like this. They score 2 lucky goals in the first half and defended hard in the second half. We've tried this seasons ago and this time against it. Morientes is a decent player but for me he really cant fit in the style of we playing right currently. Most of time he starring at the midfield and try the keep the possesion. One thing i should highlight here is Crouch really done well up front and he try to jump up high for some long passed ball. Forget bout yesterday, there is a long battle. What's more? Victory

-YNWA-

by **desperado0831** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 1:05 pm

Once more rafa left a question for me. Why sinama loaned out? Why? I miss him so much last match.

by **stmichael** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 4:00 pm

woof woof ! wrote:Sounds wonderful Mick .

Teams have rumbled our use of Crouch . They know that balls will be lofted to him whenever he's in or around the area and that he'll be looking to knock it down , they get tight on Crouch and while the ball is in flight en route to Crouch they're already picking up the runners looking for the second ball .
The problem with an obvious target man is that he's erm ? Obvious ? . Not knocking Crouch , the lad does the job he was employed to do to the best of his ability . A little more unpredictability when we're going forward is required . Hurry back that ball wasting sometimes magic Lil' Luis Garcia

I agree 100% with you on this woof woof.

I am concerned about the effect that Crouch has had on our tactics and also on the performances of some of our players. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of the big fella, I just feel that Rafa may be slipping in his use or dependency on Crouch. We were largely ineffective in the 2nd half and the number of times the ball was played forward in the air was too much. What happened to pass and move, carpet football? The classical footballers in the side, chaps like Kewell and Alonso seemed to be held back by the ball being lofted forward.

Also the big fella is simply not aggressive enough in the box. In the 1st half there were some excellent crosses played in and he was easily brushed off by defenders or simply not getting enough power from his headers. My concern though is that the team strategy seems to be dictated by him and is not accommodating other players skills.

My view is that Crouch should spend some time on the bench and be introduced as a sub where defenders will struggle to adjust to his presence as opposed to him being there from the start and possibly upsetting the rhythm of the teams natural style.

I'm not blaming Crouchinho for the loss but the overall strategy is not creating goalscoring opportunities... I hope Rafa has a plan..

by **Redman in wales** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 4:38 pm

your right boys. crouch has become in-effective for us as teams have woken up to how we've used him. so as he cant score goals, he's abit wasted out there. It seems to be 'oh look, there's the big man' loft a ball in the air for him to head down.... instead we need cisse pace drawing the defence apart and fowler making a run for a slotted ball through along the ground.

less crouch more god i think at the mo..... less moro more garcia

by **Ciggy** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 5:08 pm

desperado0831 wrote:Once more rafa left a question for me. Why sinama loaned out? Why? I miss him so much last match.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

by **Sabre** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 5:24 pm

I am concerned about the effect that Crouch has had on our tactics and also on the performances of some of our players. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of the big fella, I just feel that Rafa may be slipping in his use or dependency on Crouch. We were largely ineffective in the 2nd half and the number of times the ball was played forward in the air was too much. What happened to pass and move, carpet football? The classical footballers in the side, chaps like Kewell and Alonso seemed to be held back by the ball being lofted forward.

I disagree, I see both Morientes and Crouch as victims of how we play, not as reasons of how we play. Make a combination with the forward, that gives back the ball to the passer, and the passer tries a long shot or try to enter through the middle is a play we're using too much. That must be an option, not a must. I think that Gerrard can do such difficult combinations and score a goal like against Birmingham. But that can't be our very and only style. we must use wings, and use them better, if not, beating Liverpool can be an easy task if the opposition manage to stop Gerrard, or like yesterday, Sissoko tries to be Gerrard when he is not.

My point is that our Gerrard dependency is too high. I know this is herexy, but when he isn't on the pitch we're trying the same things that when he's on the pitch.

I think some of you make a thinking like "If our midfielders score a lot of goals, and our strikers are scoring 4 or 5, that means that if we bring a great striker, this player will score 25 goals and we'll be unstoppable". That might be the easiest thinking, and might be obvious for some people, but I disagree. I think we must have a richer playbook, and I don't think that's Rafa's fault, but some player's anxiety to bounce back to the winning streak that lead them to take bad decissions.

It's like if suddenly half our team are Luis garcia and are wasting balls.

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