A midfield is supposed to forge a tough core by linking it up between them. This process is down to Gerrard, Henderson and Coutinho in our case. Against WBA however, amongst our top eight pass combinations: 1) neither was a combo amongst any two of the three 2) neither involved Henderson (neither as giver nor receiver) 3) the three involving Gerrard were him passing it with CBs (to Kolo 9 times, to Skertl 13 times, from Skertl 9 times) 4) Coutinho combined most with flanks (from Flanno 13 times, to Sterling 9 times). *the other three in the top eight combos were Skertl to Flanno (8), Skertl to Toure (8), and Cissokho to Suarez (10). Hence, tactics, chemistry, or both, are impeding the moulding of a core there. Also of note, amongst our 22 and 20 successful take-on and tackles out of 39 and 24 tries, Henderson registered 0 and 1 respectively, out of 1 try each. Yep. Bypassing the middle in attempting to spark a fast one from out the speedy flanks would be a great way to always go on attack IF it wasn't also the surest way to have that attack die out a spark and concede possession. Address it please Brendan! Have a talk alone with Hendo while you're at it...
It's the combination of players other than the individuals themselves. We need the right mix in there.
This actually fits in with my cog theory (small cog = individual players; medium cog = partnerships; large cog = the team). Ideally, we'd like the midfielders to form a medium cog in the middle but so long have we have medium cogs all over the pitch then I don't suppose it matters.
It's been a problem since Alonso and Mascherano left, and Gerrard lost his legs. We tried to replace it with dross like Aquilani and Adam, and now we have Allen and Henderson. In my eyes, it's simply not good enough - don't get me wrong, I think Allen and Henderson have potential and will be valuable squad players but we need so much more. I was confident that Rodgers would address this in January and it's very disappointing that he didn't. But I do think he will get it right in the summer. A DM and box to box midfielder are both badly needed. A top class midfield will sort out a lot of our defensive problems, to which our defence have been subject to a lot of stick recently (some deservedly so) but they're not helped with injuries and the shower of sh*te in front of them. I have a genuine concern that our lazy approach in January will cost us a top 4 place.
Quite simply, Hendo Allen and Lucas are our best midfield. It's a quiet and efficient midfield. But when these 3 players form your best midfield, then it speaks volumes about the state that the midfield is in. What is wrong with me today?? Turning into MFG!!
Haha I think the WBA game is still p*ssing me off, combined with the transfer window. Also, I would recommend you listening to the Anfield Index podcast - there is a chap on there, Dave Hendricks who makes MFG look like a choirboy. Some very strong but fair views but he's a man who doesn't accept mediocrity. It's starting to rub off on me ... be scared!
I forgot all about the WBA within an hour. Wasn't happy with our performance or the result but what's done is done, time to move on to the next game
I'm normally the same but this game is still winding me up lol. Anyways, going back to the OP - my dream signings would be M'Vila and Lars Bender.
Certainly room for improvement there but when they have played together the midfield looks full of energy and plays well.
The game didn't wind my up as I thought we played well defensively bar one major **** up. We looked solid for most of the game and there was no way they were going to score without the shiny big present they received. Sterling was excellent too, best game so far for him IMO. Shame SAS had a off day (but still linked up to score) but this shows how reliable on them we are.
I would like to say "your all bloody wrong" but your comments do have validity! Our midfield should gel but when we keep on having changes of personnel and tactical changes and therefore the 'gelling' process suffers. Unlike in the American version of the great game of football we don't have the possibility of ringing on dedicated units at various points in the game. Therefore, we are truly trying to build an optimum unit. The team strategy will dictate the shape that optimisation will take. So analysing the midfield performance on stats alone will give no clue as to the overall cohesiveness - particularly as those stats will be heavily influenced by the actions of the opposition. Somebody talked abot Hendo above. My eyes tell me that his performance level appears to have dipped over the last few games and I don't know why. Also when it comes to legs it appears that Coutinho's disappear quicker than Gerrard's - is he carrying an injury?
