Now with it being obv that BR is wanting Andy out.. and asking about dempsey as well as seemingly keeping aqua and cole. i think he may go for a fake 9 like spain did in the shape of dempsey or gerrard. gerrard is a good finisher and im sure rafa said he would make a good striker.. i maybe wrong. Dempsey played a large part of the season up top and is a cahill type player, tim not gary. i just wondered what you all thought about this? DR.
I think it's extremely difficult to implement as you do need a plethora of top class midfielders who can interchange, know their surroundings, have the vision, top movement etc. If carried out successfully, it's hard for the opposition to man mark the 'striker' and will cause confusion. I think Rodgers is trying to bring some versatility to our team i.e. Suarez and Borini can both play along the line, so too can Dempsey (if he joins). Apart from the final, I think Spain struggled without David Villa - a focal point who is in tune with the style of play (Torres, Llorente are a different style).
I fear that if he we try to play this false 9 stuff it will heap a lot of pressure on us if we don't get consistent results immediately as every man and his dog will be talking about how it doesn't work. If Rodgers wants Carroll out then ok, I have accepted it now. But we need to buy a striker to replace him, lets not try to copy Spain and Barcelona.
It wouldn't be a 'fake number nine' to the Spain effect. It looks like we won't have an obviously leading frontman (aka a big and/or powerful man) but we have the likes of Suarez, Borini, Bellamy, Gerrard and possibly Dempsey who call all play across the three front spots, even Downing and Cole can play either side of the central frontman so we have plenty of flexibility in the side. If Pacheco or Sterling make an impact then theres two more that can play all across the front line IMO, positions only matter when you do not have the ball. In possession, you want as much interchanging movement as possible to move the opposition about. In defence you need a structure that makes it hard for the opposition to break down. This is also part of the reason we are season comments/rumours in today's media about Rodgers giving the players seven seconds to regain possession. If we get the ball back within this time then great, if not then the players that weren't chasing the ball have had time to get back into position and form that solid defensive structure
We won't have a target-man but we'll play with a striker, I assume. Don't see why Spain are criticised, it's not like their football was boring or unattractive with Fabregas the furthest forward.
Spain play great without strikers, but we will not be doing that. Borini and Suarez are both strikers. I'd like to see more of Suso, Sterling and Coady this year. It'll be interesting to see BR implement the new system/philosophy - so I can't wait for the first game against the Canadians. It's aboot teamwork, it's all aboot the 4-3-3, eh?
Must be 19 or 20 now. He seems to have been around forever. He needs a run in or around the 1st team, in the next year or so, I'd say.
Carragher, Geerard, Owen, Kelly, Wilson, Shelvey, Flanagan, Robinson and Sterling all made there debuts before they reached his age. Though Spearing took a little longer.
Yeah that's true. Toni Silva is another youth player I rate and he's of a similar age to Coady and he hasn't featured either. He scored quite a lot in the nextgen series, but he's now on loan at Northampton (i think!). We've got some good young 'uns, but it'll take time for BR to look at all of them.
I actually remember Gerrard's first goal for us, and remember that David Thompson also scored in that game. I thought Thompson's goal was better and, at that time, thought Thompson was much the better prospect. I'm glad to say I was way off on that one! So me rating youngsters is not always a good sign - I'd not make a good scout!
