That's our compact counterattack formation. I don't think Sunderland will want/have the ability of venturing forward like Arsenal or Everton and should prefer to sit deeper, therefore we may have to use Allen again. I think that formation could be the one we use against Spurs and City though.
Indeed Plus, we played Cardiff, Man city, Chelsea and then Hull in the space of eleven days over the festive period. We the first and last games and we were the better side despite losing the two middle games. I don't think we struggled with fatigue then so why would we with this? Almost but a slight twinge... Mignolet Johnson - Skrtel - Agger - Flanno Gerrard Henderson - - - - - Coutinho Sturridge - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sterling Suarez
We would still probably score 2,000 tho. I was nervous about Cardiff! Flanno had one of those games where it showed he still has much to do, they were raping him in the first! Granted, he did not have much help. Another thing that bugged me and it happened a few times, once when Mutch scored. When someone is about to take a shot, why does Agger not make himslef big? I understand the arms down to the side but he literally on more than one occasion tucked his legs in too???? Strange.
Agger always twists his body as someone shoots too, very irritating. Flanno did have a poor game and the Cardiff players targetted him. Maybe our Jon felt a bit deflated having been moved back to the left after being in his preferred RB spot for a few weeks? Maybe he and Skrtel make for a better medium cog than he and Agger? The communication certainly seemed to be lacking for their second goal (although you can clearly see Flanno trying to pass his man on, he just didn't make sure before moving)
i think allen covered very well v utd down the left side but v cardiff two things occured. 1. Rodgers said we defended too deep so there was a clear CB to LB channel to run in 2. allen didn't do well at all. SO flanagan was exposed. Its not a shock both goals came off the left side of our defense and none of allen, agger, flanagan covered themselves in any glory
I'm not convinced that Agger is the most mobile or best vocally so playing Flanno on his side wasn't the best idea IMO. Play Johnson on that side as he has plenty of experience behind him, let Flanno and Skrtel be the right pair, Martin sweeps extremely well if they get caught short.
doesn't help if rodgers wants either full back to go forward rapid and then joe allen plays a stupid pass... eh eh eh... in the end we have to improve while maintaining the goals.
Well, not really but that was the first goal and our defenders weren't badly placed considering. Mutch just had a good first touch and very good shot followed.
but had allen not given it away he'd never have got a chance. this is what i mean by us being in possession, then transitioning and one bad pass puts us under pressure. All goals stem from some mistake. then as far as goal 2 is concerned agger got so square on the guy could have shot through his legs let alone walk past him.
I agree we should play Flanno on the right. Johnson did ok on the left even when he was generally piss-poor before his lay-off. Also I agree with Gerrez that Skrtel covers his FB better than Agger. You're all right though, the midfield doesn't cover the defence very well- I suppose it's something we have to expect when we're set up to accommodate a potent strike force. We can't have everything.
flanno plays the same pass, i.e form right foot backwards. its not going to be that big a deal who plays which side. the big fat johnno is the big man so waddled down the right on saturday. we want aggressive full backs so there are gaps. period. its managing the transitions between attack and defense.
But possession football is Brod's way and part of the reason we've had the season we have had. You have to expect some silly mistakes like that. If we played the traditional way of booting the ball to clear the danger then our style would be completely different and we'd be nowhere near where we are now. Agger got too square on the second but Flanno went wide far too early IMO. If Flanno stays narrow then the pass doesn't happen, it goes wide instead. Once the ball goes wide, Flanno should move out towards said player. Flanno tries to read the game but is too eager to move out leaving a massive hole for Cardiff to exploit (which they did superbly).
Johnson is past it as far as I'm concerned, whether a new challenge will revive him is not for debate to me, he's no good to us and needs t go. However, we have him for the reminder of the season and whilst Enrique is unavailable, he is in the top two FB's as far as present options are concerned so we're stuck with him. Flanno came back into the side on the left and played superbly to the point where most of us have him in the team each week. IMO, he is better and more comfortable on the right. Johnson is naturally right sided but I don't think he looks any different on the left to the right so why not put him on the left? Plus, Glen has a left foot, Flanno clearly favours his right.
this is why i say we must control the transition phase a bit better. people have to be very focused on getting the pass right and not playing sloppy blind balls, or flicks and so forth. I'm not talking about booting it. I'm talking about ensuring we don't play a ball thats going to come right back to the cb or its into a corner to put pressure on a man or worst of all just plain sloppy. most of the time we do ok, get ourselves passing the ball well enough that we get set up wit hthe split CBs and gerrard in the middle and full backs forward but its the move from everyone defending to this that's what i point to. If suarez or coutinho or sturridge loses it high up, we don't concede. but if say skertl plays it to allen and he plays it right back to him or he gets tackled or whatever (equally any MF) and loses it we are in danger. its just a case or taking extra care and being crisp in that pahse.
You basically just described our own attacking tactic; pressurise the opposition into making a mistake in their own half to increase our chances of scoring. Only difference is, you was using it against us instead I don't think Allen played a blind pass, I think he saw Flanno but play a **** pass.
yes that is quite true. this is why spurs pressing with 4 players requires LFC to be very careful but where say oh... someone like sunderland might press with one or two and would not cause a big issue. yes it was a **** pass... i've seen johnson playing blind passes and suarez flicking it all over the place off balls from cb. **** happens as it occurs
Pretty much this. I said exactly the same after the Skrtel and Toure errors earlier in the season too. I don't mind Suarez doing his flicks, when they come off its brilliant and we praise him massively for it. #roughandsmooth
