Liverpool FC Forum

banana wrote:England has the same problem as Liverpool. There is no midfield. No pressure. No playmaker. Lampard. Barry. Gerrard. Pathetic.

Sabre wrote:

bigmick wrote:

maguskwt wrote:maybe one of the regulars on here will do it...

OK then I'll give it a go. Robert Green would be in goal because he's the second best in the country behind David James but a lot younger. Defence would be Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Terry and Ashley Cole.

In midfield Wright Phillips would play on the right, Gerrard and Lampard in the centre with Gareth Barry on the left. Up top I'd go with Rooney and Owen.

No surprises then on the line-up really, but the major change I would make is that I'd encourage Ferdinand to play as a forward centre-half (bit of a newish position this one, like a frward lying sweeper), sitting in front of Terry and the bloke he is marking. That way we'd solve the conundrum of which one out of Gerrard and Lampard bomb on, I'd ask them both to bomb on. Ferdinand could sit in the whole and stop teams breaking onto us, while also bringing the ball out. The idea would be to avoid opur tendency to play in lines and to allow Gerrard and Lampard the freedom to do what they do best.  If they could replicate the number of goals they score for their clubs, we'd win the World Cup.

I'd ask Wright Phillips and Barry to have half an eye to dropping in when the ball is on the opposite flank to give even more freedom to the central midfeild two, and I'd give Rooney the license of the park. Owen I'd be looking to be himself, playing on the shoulder and looking for balls to be whipped in behind the last defender from either flank.

I'd be very attacking, and look for us to play at an exceptionally high-tempo by International standards. We'd concede a couple, but we'd score a few as well. I reckon we'd be forcing teams into playing an English style end to end game, and I think we'd prosper.

There, all they've got to do is drop me a line and I'll be on the plane back from NZ quicker than you can say clueless, ginger, Manc, tw@t.

I'd like to test that against Spain in a friendly.

Your approach would be countered with a pressure on the play starter, an advanced defence, and with a single striker.

My hunch is that way England would struggle to be provided service and Gerrard forced to go deep to even smell the ball, far from where he's really dangerous.

I wouldn't be too worried for the high tempo. I'd plan to have most of the possesion anyway with Cesc, Iniesta and Alonso as holding midfielder, behind the little midfielders.

Of course this post is tongue in cheek, but it made me smile how you solved all the English squad problems in one post, it was a pleasure to read!! 

With that formation Sabre, Spain would stifle the English midfield..... Sorry Bigmick.... but Lampard and Gerrard together in the centre? Wouldn't work I feel.... Fant Frank doesn't know how to defend or play the classic CM role. Gerrard would be swamped and the Fabregas/Iniesta combo would run rings around our midfield.

However, with both Ferdinand and Terry to guard Villa, Spain would need a lot of impetus down the wings and even then the aerial threat would be relatively easy to repel.

Rooney and Owen would be starved of the ball as Sabre's Spanish line-up would have the lion's share of possession. Still, Spain's defense would struggle with our 2 forwards and may be caught out with the good old English long ball on occassion...

To be more effective, we'd need a Carrick/Barry to partner Gerrard to be more effective. As always, we'd need a left sided midfielder..... as usual.

With that line-up?
1-0 to Spain methinks

 

JBG wrote:As to the original post's question: I still don't think we are good enough to win the league but I think we are good enough to put together a title challenge. We have a decent squad but it still lacks quality in certain areas (essentially we still suffer from a fundamental problem that existed as far back as 1998 and 2004 when Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez respectively took over: we lack quality on the flanks). I've done some hard thinking over the past couple of months over Benitez's reign and after much thought and after recently reading Guillem Balague's book I think I can make out now the overall picture of where Benitez wants to take us but fundamentally we are probably short of three top quality players where we can say that we are strong enough to go out and win the thing. There is no doubt in my mind that Benitez is thinking along the same lines and has made this abundantly clear to the owners and the question now is whether the owners will put their hands deeper into their pockets to take us to the next level.

I have faith in Benitez's methods and I think that if he is allowed time and is given full backing he will deliver but this season is crucial in that respect and I genuinely hope that all is well behind the scenes between Benitez and the owners and that the owners will allow Rafa to follow through with his plans.

Some of the results this season have been dissapointing but we are almost into December and are still unbeaten in the league and I certainly wouldn't wager money on us not progressing in Europe. I still have a lot of hope for this season but realistically I accept that in order for us to win the league we will need to see greater consistency in our own game and also UTD and Arsenal not having absurdly good seasons where they get 88+ points. Benitez was in a similar-ish situation with Valencia in 2004 where his side were a long way behind in January/February before finally getting their consistency right. I don't think that will happen to us this year (I see UTD winning it at a canter in the end) but I am confident we will do well.