Liverpool FC Forum

Bad Bob wrote:I couldn't make out what kind of system we were playing at all TBPH, mate.  I know the personnel suggested 4-4-2 but it looked more like another free role for Gerrard after initially lining up on the left.  Anyone have a sense of what the formation really was?

maguskwt wrote:I'm not gonna say whether rafa got it right or wrong with starting 4-4-2 for this game... because we did win the match so there seems to be credibility of the way he employed the tactics...

However I will say why I didn't like it and why we shouldn't play 4-4-2 with that specific personnel set up. IMO it was really a 4-4-2 with gerrard starting on the left and Crouch and Torres up front.

The first reason is I never liked Crouch/Torres partnership... they like to go for the same ball they like to occupy the same space... that means if one is doing that the other becomes less than effective... for long stretches we rarely see anything from the 2 until Torres goal, which to be fair both got involved. Alos the quick one-twos that torres and gerrard play are absent with torres and crouch.

second reason was specific to yesterday's game. Mascherano and Alonso were put under alot of pressure they were literally pinned back... leaving a vacuum of space in the whole 2/3 area of the field... both crouch and torres were somehow not helping out the link up. So after we went down 1-0, what did Gerrard do? He tried to drift in to provide the much needed link up play. But by doing so we don't have a left winger anymore and Crouch had also become a bystander... he didn't know what to do and was drifting left and center. Stevie's decision was good in spirit but tactically not too good. IMO our formation was very unbalanced during that period before Sami equalised and I thought that we wouldn't make it. Thank God for Sami's equaliser the balanced was restored to the formation. After the break, rafa seemed to have told the team to try to be more disciplined about the formation and we seemed more balanced. We played much much better and with fluency when babel came on and reverted to 4-2-3-1... the reason I like this formation is that everyone has a role in it and no one is a passenger. It is a much more effective formation in the current set up. If we wanna play 4-4-2 and be effective, we gotta play real wingers and move Gerrad back to the middle... we also need a better second striker...

stmichael wrote:Gerrard will almost certainly be moved back to supporting Torres come the semi final.

He's one yellow away from a suspension so playing him in that position means he doesn't have to put his foot in as much and risk getting booked.

god_bless_john_houlding wrote:well in the three games against Arsenal in the last week we've played 4-2-3-1 with Torres up top and drawn 1-1. We've played 4-2-3-1 with Crouch up top and drawn 1-1. We've played 4-4-2 with Crouch and Torres up front and won 4-2.

I'd take 4-4-2 basing it on that.

bigmick wrote:I've seen the game twice now and the formational change didn't really work for me. I've got absolutely nothing against us playing 4-4-2 per se (I would possibly even prefer it long term) but asking Gerrard to play on the left takes him out of the game. Equaly people will say I'm talking b0ll0cks as we won the game which is fair enough I suppose, but we won it (deservedly in the end I thought) not because of the team changes, but because we quite simply out-willed them. llied to that was the fact that senderos was cruelly exposed for the first two goals, and we got a fairly dodgy penalty. All in all though, an absolutely fantastic football match (I didn't see it Live I was on plane to Nelson). The game was a rarity in that I could watch it with great interest despite already knowing the result.

Briefly my observations (and I haven't read all the views, maybe it's a New Zealand thing but the sites not been loading up on the screen so sorry if I'm repeating what anybody else has said). I thought although he was exposed a bit, Reina should have done much better for the first goal. Diaby should have been picked up by Alonso who cleared and then stood admiring it, realising too late with the despairing lunge, but Pepe has to save that.

Sami and Skyrtel were very good all night, and despite my repeated reservations about Skyrtel he is putting in some good performances. The fact he was on the pitch at all was instrumental in us defending much higher in the second half. Allied to the fact we asked Crouch to drop into midfield when we didn't have the ball, this "compression" of the play was the main factor in us supressing their fluidity of the first half. IMHo for the first half hour at least, we were chasing shadows.

Hyppia's header was excellent for the goal, although Senderos's defending was awaful. It was equally bad for Torrers's goal, although it was a wonderful piece of skill, and it was nice to see Crouch get the flick on. I didn't think he did much (Crouch) other than put lots of effort in, but perhaps when you consider that one fo the flanks was occupied by a bloke who is never going to cross it with his left foot, it's not that surprising.

Walcotts run for their second was excellent, and he looks like he's developing into a player. How on earth Masherano went through the game and didn't get booked is a miracle    he must have done three bookable challenges at least. Babel did well when he came on, scoring one and getting the penalty, although of I don't actually think it was one. Along with Hlebs one down there, they can probably be justified in feeling hard done by.

I thought Kuyt did well again, and particularly for not getting disheartened on the odd occasion his deficiencies were exposed. The one where that Diaby bloke just turned and left him chasing air being a prime example. Gerrard i thought was very poor, and I hope for all our sakes we can now conclude that he can't play on the left. I liked aurelio and thought he did well.

All in all though, a brilliant match and well done to the players and the manager for pulling it out of the fire.

s@int wrote:Top post mate, and I agree with everything you said apart from the penalty. I thought it was a definite penalty. Fabregas had a grab at Babel and unbalanced him and then Toure finished the job. Penalty!

I prefer 4-4-2 but not when its at the expense of our best player, and would have preferred a central pairing of Masch and Gerrard with Babel or Riise on the left if we were to play 4-4-2. Still it all worked out in the end so I am not complaining.

Kharhaz wrote:When I first heard crouch was playing I thought, torres on the bench then. Sounded ok, after all crouch did do well at the weekend. Then I saw it was 4-4-2 with crouch and torres and wondered, with gerrard on the left, has crouch in order that he signs a new contract asked rafa that he plays more games? including the remaining champs league games.  Rafa wants him to stay, and so to get him to sign a new contract he has to give him the games to convince him. I also noticed when he was subbed yesterday he gave a litte wave to the crowd before applauding them.

That or he changed the line up so we all get it wrong on fantasy rafa !