First off the extended highlights of the Liverpool/Fulham game are up on Footytube for anyone that missed it (or anyone sad like me who watches them again later in the week!) http://footytu.be/v1qxf Also i had just been thinking about what Hughes said- 'we made them look better than they were'- and how many mistakes our opponents have made recently. Is this luck? Are our big scorelines down to a lucky streak? I would say not! Of course I am a Liverpool fan and biased as the day is wide, but here's why: Our passing game is a joy to behold. The options we have going forward is blowing teams away. Imagine as a defender how difficult it must be when you have forwards and midfielders running in behind and also streaming past you from deep. All of the front men chop and change positions, and then the fullbacks overlap for extra width. Combine this with an unbelievable work-rate that sees us continually press the opposition into giving us the ball back and is it any surprise that teams are collapsing? There have been plenty of chances missed, and also spells (such as against Man City) where we simply tightened up and took our foot off the throttle- so it's not as if we've been hugely clinical á la a Mourinho team. When Maxi scored his 2nd goal against Fulham, Johnson got the cross in from behind the defence. Suarez is on the edge of the box, Kuyt is arriving into the 6 yard box and Maxi darts towards the middle of the goal before pulling away to the far post. Fulham's defence was poor but who marks who in this case? And what about the next time when those front 3 have swapped completely? Or when Mereiles arrives from deep? Add to this the fact the Spearing is having a decent crack every game and Lucas is actually starting to play forward, ambitious passes, and we start to understand why we're scoring so many. Anyway lots of positive press from us lads with regards our performances and just wondered whether anyone noticed how many opposition mistakes we've been forcing- and i do believe we have forced the majority of them. I'm looking forward to Suarez having one of those games where every shot he hits goes in, because when he does he'll probably score about 55 goals in a single match (ok maybe just an M-Rod hat-trick special)
Yep I agree - simple pressing and working hard forces errors. Barcelona have become fantastic at it and it's a big part of their style. By closing down the opposition in their half, you are winning the ball back in an area that is closer to their goal i.e. we don't win the ball when they are close to our defence and therefore we don't have to run all the way up the pitch to attack. Working harder results in less running, in a strange way! Hope I made sense! Ha
This is not a lucky streak at all, we're finally pressing on and playing how we want to be playing. Under Hodgson all of the Player's natural footballing instincts were being repressed, their natural talents not allowing themselves to be shown. This is why they did so badly, and why Hodgson does so well at smaller clubs. Smaller clubs have notably less talented players, so he compensates by getting them organised and giving them directives. He will try and play them to their strengths, but if he can't then they'll settle for the draw and they'll defend deep. Obviously this just doesn't work for people who naturally want to get up the pitch and score. I think all of these interviews where the opponent manager is saying "We played woefully, made them look better than they were," is absolutely bull. What was the difference between Fulham this week and Fulham last week? Only the opponent played. Therefore where does the problem lie, with the Manager, with the Team or with the Opponents? It's the manager's fault for not getting the tactics or selection right, but he also underestimated who he's facing. If you're going out against a very attacking side who you know is going to attack from the first break, you obviously do not try and do the same thing. You sit back, absorb the pressure and hit on the counter. This is how Man United win all of these games against Smaller opponents, it's all about reputation. Man Utd's reputation is that they are unbeatable, top of the league, no chance for smaller teams to beat them. Therefore the smaller teams will go out and just all out attack, what have they got to lose? If they defend they'll just lose. Man Utd know this will happen and so get men behind the ball, wingers are the most important in the counter attack so he'll have Nani/Valencia waiting just onside on the wings, whilst Vidic will collect the ball and start the counter attack from the back. It's how they beat the smaller teams, through reputation and scare tactics more than footballing prowess. Whilst it's very clever indeed, it gives a false impression. I feel the opposite is true for us, we are often underestimated now. Teams will go out on the attack, but only in the hope they can beat us, slightly confident, but as soon as get hold of the ball they lose all their confidence.
I agree that Utd's reputation seems to precede them in some games. I happened to feel this was the case with those managers that were ex players (especially watching STeve Bruce's Wigan give Utd a game for 60mins then just completely give up). The pressing high up the pitch is something our players used to rave about under Benitez, as Torres especially believed it meant he got more chances. Nice that we are bringing that back but also taking more risks. We're playing most like the team that was playing second half of the season we finished 2nd, which is encouraging. I love the idea of these kind of tactics and mentality being brought into next season, it would be our reputation that would be scaring people!
Conversely we made Fulham look worse than they are. Long may the opposition keep making us look as good as we've looked.
I agree with the above comment. Liverpool made a decent,and I'm not going to say good as that would be pushing it Fulham side look poor.They had won 6 out of 7 home games. Hodgson set his team up to be a 4-4-2,and thats exactly what it was with the ''2'' being key to why it didn't succeed.They were the only ones in and around the penalty area.Now look at it. Against Birmingham,Martin Skrtel was dribbling in their penalty area.Martin Skrtel is learning that he can do things that he didn't know he could do.He's bringing the ball out of defence.He's playing like Daniel Agger. Fulham spent the entire game concentrating on Suarez,and Liverpool exploited that with the use of midfield runners.Look at how many players that were picking up positions in and around the penalty area? Suarez would have been the one that would have scored the hat-trick had he played the entire game centrally.He didn't play the entire 90 minutes centrally,He went right,he went left,he went through the middle,he won possession in midfield.It was Suarez that was conducting the other Liverpool players,they were following his tune.
Having seen Skrtel play the hospital pass that led to Dembele's goal i'd hardly say he was playing exactly like Agger- in fact if he was he'd be watching the game from the treatment room- but i get what you mean! Basically we're all finding Suarez slightly erotic, is what i think we can surmise!
I'm not saying its perfect by any means. But look at the interchanging,we look like we used to,that we've more than 11 players on the pitch.We're hitting teams from everywhere.The opposition don't know who to pick up.When we get much needed width,it will improve even further.
Can't claim to have put them up myself, and obviously this season is nearly over, but i'll keep posting the best highlights i can find as long as people are interested! I can't wait to see who our attacking signing is. I think we will sign a central midfielder and a left back and maybe a centre back, there is strong feeling that will be the case, but for me the attacking signing is the one i'm interested to see. With some genuine pace added into the mix we could really be a force next season. That's not a 'next year is our year' claim, just that i think we could put teams to the sword given the way we're playing + players missing + new singings
Look the best way to get mistakes from the opposition is to force them. Look what Nani did against us at Anfield there was 3 players swarming over their defence and he headed the ball backwards.Nobody had a clue what he was at,but pressure was put on him. Secondly if you have 3 or 4 players in and around the penalty area,it causes problems for the oppositon,as they haven't a clue who to pick up,if one doesn't do them,someone else will.The interchanging between Maxi,Kuyt,Suarez and Mereiles shows that the more you move around the more chance you have of hurting the opposition.And it doesn't matter who the opposition is. Its all about quick 1-2 touch passing which I believe Kenny is attempting to instill.
