McManaman was a player I always enjoyed watching play.....shame the team was never setup to make him the main man
I always believed the 352 system was setup to get the best out of Macca. It was more of a 3412 with Macca getting the AM role, or the free role as it was known back then. England never got the best out of him though, we always played 442 so Macca got stuck out on one of the wings, often with Darren Anderton on the other side.
This system makes perfect sense for us. With last seasons diamond we often find ourselves switch to a shape where the full backs got forward into wide midfield and Gerrard dropped in between the cb's, essentially creating a 352 with Gerrard in the middle of the three. But Gerrard was not natural in this role and the defense performed poorly. This current system gives us the same type of shape whilst attacking, which is very fluid, but keeps every one in the same role all the time. This means that every one is natural to their roles and no one has to get caught out with all this switching.
Its because wingers that just play wide dont exist any more and attacking fullbacks are no challenge for Markovic and Moreno.
actually you have to consider the fact that not many teams play 2 forwards either. if you've one guy up front then the 3 at the back have enough men to have one guy head out into full back area safely. I am willing to bet if LFC of last season played LFC of this season SAS would tear Can and sahko a new one within 10 mins.
Pretty much what I was getting at. A lot of team do play a 433 or some variation of it but no one plays true wingers nowadays. Teams plays them on the wrong side making the game narrow all the time. This obviously suits us at the moment but as Tobes says, its only a matter of time before someone takes advantage. The biggest surprise so far is Mourinho not doing it.
I also find that when wingers do get wide these days they dont know what to do when they get there any more. Crossing is becoming a lost art.
Because of the change in systems, not many teams have a target man in the middle for wingers to aim for. Plus teams usually only have one upfront nowadays too so winger have less options when crossing.
Not just that, but you appear to have the ideal players to be playing this system. Speed forwards (sterling and sturridge, well done for Brenden for chucking sterling in there) to create space for the midfield, Coutinho who's a dribbling god. Henderson, Markovic and Moreno who are highly athletic and can go up and down and Sahko and Can who can both bring the ball out and are outstanding 1 on 1 defenders on their own. You have to worry less about holding the right shape and just let them go man on man in the right areas
And Skrtel gung ho old school CB style is good for dealing with crosses, long shots and protecting the keeper. In a back 4 he's not so well placed and has to do more of the fancy stuff.
seriously guys.... if theres one guy in there nobody is crossing. when teams play two up then you can cross.. this is why city have navas out wide.... cos they have two up. look at how west ham reamed us early in season. deep crosses that manquillo couldnt cope with towards valencia not many teams have the forwards or wingers....
They would tear them apart in the first 10 minutes, grab 1 more before half time,an then fail to score in the second half while Sterling, Sturridge and Coutinho pick whole in their poor defense. It'll be close by the final whistle.
One of these days I'm going to see a thread written by Jimmy, a title that seems of interest, open it and see one paragraph... not the complete works of Nietzsche ffs!
