Considering Lambert is dead on his feet, Studge is out injured, Borini is in Coventry and Balotelli is a cun... sorry I mean injured, we don't have anyone to do that no matter what team we put out. Maybe Gerrard could play up top?
The fact that he's shunned Borini and it looks like he's fallen out with Bellendtelli aswell, your lack of options up top is down to one man I'm afraid.
True but then, the topic of conversation was Jimmy's suggested line-up, not who was to blame for the short comings
Apologies, I didn't realise we were creating and scoring goals for fun? Lambert on course for top scorer? Gerrard's mobility will also be crucial. I'm not sure if people remember what made us good last season - pace and movement? I must be stupid thinking that Sterling and Markovic maybe able to provide it.
I did sort of touch on this above. I don't agree the line-up you posted is the answer to our problems but then, I don't think we have the players to play anything like we did last year. You are spot on about last years being all about pace and movement but I'd also add pressing to that too. SAS + Sterling & Hendo were the driving force behind that approach, we should Suarez and replaced him with a player incapable of offering any of those three things. Sturridge has turned into a scarecrow and the other two are off form. So to repeat, we haven't got the players to play like last year.
We do have a player like that - his name is Sterling. I rather have players who can at least resemble this system rather than imposing this completely horrible system to suit the likes of Gerrard and Lambert.
Sterling isn't a striker, he can't finish for ****! May as well put Skrtel, Johnson, Enrique, Flanno or Lallana up top also, if you put Sterling up there than you need to replace him elsewhere. We're still lacking the same pace, movement and pressing, you've just moved one piece to a different part of the puzzle.
For me, it's not about the goals. It's about creating chances. We aren't even close to scoring goals this season - our chance creation is next to nothing because the creative players like Lallana and coutinho have nothing to aim for, other than Lumpbert. I mentioned it before if we play the diamond with Sterling and Markovic up front, we will at least create chances. I rather we miss chances than not have any at all. So yes, Sterling and Markovic will probably miss a hatful but at least they'll be in a position to miss. This is crucial because we need to see a complete change in the set up - we've witnessed 4 month of mediocrity week in week out. We've played Mario and LAmbert up front - is our strikeforce really going to suffer without them starting??
You create chances by good hold up play, laying off and moving etc. You don't just shove 2 pacey guys up top and suddenly keep getting in behind!
**** because the poor ****ers are isolated! Don't get me wrong, I am with you in that Lambert is simply not good enough to play for us but he is our only striker so I'd be putting Sterling just behind in a SS role to buzz around and get on the end of anything that Lambert wins. Diamond behind them 2 and we might actually play some OKAY stuff until Studge is back.
I've said exactly the same hence me saying we should have gone for Lavezzi in the summer rather than Mario. However, as I said in the last post, putting Sterling up there just moves him and we remain short on pace, movement and pressing still, just in a different area of the pitch. Without doubt, Sterling's best position is in the no.10 role. It gives him freedom to roam and cause damage inbetween the lines. Why move arguably our best player to a position where he will become just another player that gets marked out of the game? I've joked about it before but I'd consider putting Gerrard up front at the minute. Yes, he lacks pace and his movement isn't what it was but if we must play him then play him further forward where he can use his composure, calmness and finishing ability to good effect.
Same but Lambert is dead on his feet atm, that's why I just suggested using Gerrard there. Who else can do it?
Lambert does not work - he has no movement, he makes no runs and in the rare event that he does make runs, it's the wrong one. He has no game intelligence and his best attribute is in the air - we poor at crossing. Not to mention the fact that he cannot press effectively. As a result, the defenders aren't afraid - so they instantly push forward which means we as a team move deeper. Defenders will not pay too much attention to him which means they will focus on the likes of Sterling more which then leaves Sterling with less space to do damage. The attackers can't play throughballs to Lambert because he can't run onto them. We can't cross so his aerial ability his nullified. The only thing we can do is lump the ball up to him and hopefully he can control it. He offers nothing but hinders everyone else.
I would play Lallana with Coutinho in midfield and Lambert at the top. We need to be able to give the mancs something to worry about. Without a striker where are the goals coming from? ok. Set pieces from Gerrard but can we just rely on those? Also it seems the combination of Lallana and coutinho has been productive and creative in the past. Thank goodness the mancs are playing equally **** at the moment or else we could be in trouble.
It seems as if fans are reluctant to play players in different positions. Like, we can't play Sterling or Markovic up front because they're not traditional strikers. Is there a rule that only out and out strikers can play up top? Suarez was never an out and out striker - he played a lot as an inside forward. Sturridge is a traditional striker but he can play as inside forward. I It's the 21st century - we have players who are versatile and intelligent to play in different positions. It's the old players like Lambert who are completely one dimensional and have to play as a striker.
Defenders will be far more scared of facing two fast, skillful, direct players like Sterling and Markovic rather than Lambert. Guaranteed.
Lambert up top on his own will play into Man Utd's hands. Their defence will push making us play deeper, Lambert is never going to get a chance then. If Lambert plays, he needs to have a pacey partner up there with him to push their defence deeper.
