In any ball-playing, pass-and-move side the midfield is more important than the defence or the attack. Getting the ball down, moving it quickly, moving your players quickly.... done with invention, skill and passion. ****ing jumpers for goalposts, I know, but few things in life (especially when you get to my age ) are more thrilling than the beautiful game played beautifully. Don't get me wrong, sometimes a direct approach is all part of the variety, but there's nothing more gruesome than watching 90 minutes of Prem League 'football' where the ball sails over the head of both midfields. So I'll state again, as it seemed to get lost in the earlier handbags, the role-model of pirlo for gerrard (especially at international level). Valid?
You getting a bit dup mixed between GRUMPY and SCRUMPY there G? what I was trying do was put things into perspective? Whilst the requirements of a midfield are exactly the same the have always been a myriad of ways to achieve it. And NO I won't accept that things are different these days because they are not!
In my opinion, our strongest formation is a 4-3-3. However, this can also be considered a 4-4-2 Diamond, depending on how complicated you want to get. Last season we kicked off with the formation of: ---------------------Reina------------------- -Johnson------Carragher---Agger-----Enrique- ------------------Gerrard-------------------- ----------------Henderson/Shelvey----------- ----------------Allen/Coutinho--------------- --Downing--------------------Sterling/Borini-- -----------------Suarez--------------------- Due to Lucas' absence, our midfield changed game to game. Gerrard also dropped so far back that he wasn't an attacking threat at all. It seemed like he wanted to play higher up but stuck to the manager's orders. At times this meant both Lucas eventually and Gerrard would play sometimes a few metres apart, crowding each other out. This season we play this (not counting the 3-5-2): --------Lucas-----Gerrard------- ------------Henderson---------- However this has a few glaring errors that are shown up against smaller clubs. This isn't creative enough, and restricts Lucas. I'll explain later. For now, this is our strongest formation IMO: -------------------Mignolet-------------------- --Johnson----Toure---------Agger*----Enrique-- -----|-------------Lucas-----------------|---- -----|-----Henderson---Gerrard-----------|---- -----V------------Coutinho---------------V---- ----------Sturridge-------Suarez--------------- *or Sakho This allows Lucas to play the defensive role - the one he excels at even now. He's drawn comparisons to Alonso but I think Mascherano is a more accurate comparison. Mascherano never did anything attacking - at most he'd sit outside the box on corners. But he'd destroy a counterattack, hold up the ball, get it out of our penalty box, and tackle like a maniac. His only attacking objective was to get the ball up a few metres to Gerrard or Alonso who could then start an attacking play. In that case, Gerrard played the most offensive role, with Alonso beside him and Mascherano at the back (and two wingers on either side supplying to Torres). Lucas needs to play this role right now. He needs the space to run and stop an attack with a tackle. He never offers much attacking-wise, but that's not his role. Having Gerrard so far back restricts him - and doesn't give him a creative outlet. He's left to pass the ball to Coutinho himself and he's not the best at forward passes. Modric and Alonso never played together in the DM role at Real Madrid effectively because of this. Gerrard no longer needs to be so far back. We have a back 4 and a dedicated DM. He can track back if needed, but he shouldn't be stationary at the halfway line any more. He needs to come up in front of Lucas - to provide link up between Lucas and Coutinho/the strikers. Henderson completes the trio as he is versatile and can run up and down, creatively and defensively. Gerrard can let Henderson take the ball with him into the box instead of doing it himself. Coutinho plays ahead of them and passes through the defence into the feet of our strikers. Of course, that's just what I think at the moment. I change my mind every game, I'd make a terrible manager!
THIS IS EXCELLENT STUFF... A tiny but critical of mascherano as he did make forward runs himself. That said there were rarer. i don't think alonso played anywhere near beside gerrard in out 4-2-3-1. gerrard was with torres and alonso was the guy who dropped in to allow fullbacks forward etc. however that said...... I am thinking our best team is -----------Mignolet Johnson-Toure--sahko-Enrique/cissohko-- -------Lucas-Gerrard-Coutinho ----Suarez--Sturridge--moses The reason being i am harsh on skertl and agger but feel our great managers in the past would have dropped them too if a better option was afforded. I would like to see us try to bring the defensive line much higher and i'd want everyone of them looking to pass to gerrard and get him on the ball going forward. Coutnho in midfield is something i'd like to see us try as well as I think he could be the link between everyone. It'd be interesting to see what would happen. However i still think that when we do not have the ball gerrard is too inclined to go chasing after it rather than sit in his slot and shuffle side to side. thats just my opinion on where i see gaps appearing anyway.
Whilst I'm not prepared to go looking for such quotes I'm sure that you'd find the term applied to both of them in The Echo comments of the time.
We must keep developing our squad and bench at the same rate as our starters. Just because Henderson does not appear in MITO's best 11 does not mean that he is not an essential element of our side. We need players like him, Alberto and Aspas to be able to come off the bench and change the game - not just cover an injury. The fact that Kelly, Ibe, Sterling, Ilori and Wisdom ( Oh OK, if you must Allen too) don't appear does not mean that they are not also a vital element of the squad!
Right now I'd say our best team is: ----------------Mignolet------------ --------Toure---Skrtel---Sakho----- -Johnson-Henderson-Gerrard-Enrique ----------------Coutinho------------ -----------Sturridge--Suarez-------- That is thinking tactically and not just best 11 players we have. Bench: Jones, Agger, Cissohko/Kelly/Wisdom, Lucas, Allen/Alberto, Moses, Aspas. Good impact potential from the bench, especially definsively. Needs another proper striker in the squad.
Interesting stats which are somewhat linked to the central midfield... Shots per game from central inside box Liverpool - 4.9 (6.9) Opponents - 4.1 (3.4) We're allowing more shots in our box compared to last season. ---------------------------- Percentage of shots from central inside box - 13/14 (12/13) Liverpool - 37.8% (35.6%) Opponents - 28.4% (30.4%) ---------------------------- Conversion rate from central box shots Liverpool - 20.6% (18.6%) Opponents - 13.8% (18.5%) The Mignolet effect? ...
Still think people are being harsh on Lucas. He's playing well, he's just playing the position of two people. Gerrard got a lot of criticism last season (never from me), particularly early on, for dropping his level. In my opinion, Gerrard has now dropped down a gear and is being carried defensively. I remember watching him a few games ago (forget against who) walking towards his man on the touch line when they had the ball, then walking back to his spot after the ball had been moved on - all the while pointing at Enrique to pick up the extra man and shouting at Hendo to cover the middle runner. He neither picked up the man or the runner, nor held the space. They passed around him like a training game. He did jack **** and they poured through the space. Lucas is doing the job of two players. He's playing well otherwise. Gerrard needs to be moved forward (ie, Coutinho's position with Cout moving wide) or dropped - not Lucas. We need Lucas and Henderson against teams who'll give it a better go than Palace.
You're right on Alonso and Mascherano. I was going to mention that Alonso slipped back with Mascherano to let Gerrard run with Torres (those were our central attacking pair for a while). And Masc did make runs from time to time, much like Lucas will occasionally go on one too (rarely). I'm not a big fan of 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 or whatever it is. 3 CB's works against smaller teams that don't use a lot of width. The problem with 3 at the back is that you have 3 players out of position. Sure it's in the middle but all 3 are a few metres away from what they're used to. This leads to issues with marking and positioning as we have seen repeatedly at City (who played that way for a long time) and with us too. The 3 in the middle then invite so much pressure from the sides that the wing-backs (Enrique/Johnson/Henderson/Sterling/whoever) have to track back a LOT more often. In the end this makes it a 6-2-2 (Lucas drops back to help the CB's - who are forced out wide to cover the holes left by the wing-backs). While that formation has more defenders, the attacking play is very isolated. In turn we can't string together passes, etc and have to defend more. Also, I'd rather have Henderson in there than Moses. Moses is a great option to have for an impact sub or as backup to injured players, but he's done nothing for me to warrant a guaranteed spot in the 11. Once everyone is fit, he doesn't really fit in the formation if we keep Jordan and Ford in the same squad. Agreed with this. Gerrard still provides a huge boost on the pitch in terms of attacking play, but he NEEDS to be moved up. He's crowding Lucas out. When Lucas has someone side by side, he can't run over and defend. He has to back away in case the other team passes over to the other side. This leaves Lucas in limbo which a lot of people mistake for poor play. At Real, Alonso and Modric cancelled each other out and eventually Mourinho chose Alonso. They are too close to each other to control the flow of the game effectively.
The problem is, if you move Gerrard into Coutinho's role then you're restricting Coutinho out on the wing...
