I have read a few comments over the weekend about bringing in a new defence. Not that I don't agree, because it is very obvious that we need to replace Carra and most likely Skrtel too. Carra will be very hard to replace, even if we brought in a proven leader it is unlikely they will provide the level of leadership required for our defence in their first season. New players aside, I think our management needs to look at itself. These players were fairly solid last season, had we been scoring as freely as this season we would have been in a lot healthier position. Something isn't right, and something has changed. The attacking football Rodgers has us playing is great when it comes to scoring goals, but he needs help in the defensive department. We need solidarity again. I think it was BBF who said something on the lines of concentrate on keeping the goals out and the attack can look after itself. We miss Clarke's influence and I hope we address this in the summer.
Your defence was solid last season & they've not all turned into poor players overnight, so the reason you're conceding more goals has to be down to the way you're set up to play. You've historically played with 2 holding midfield players who provided cover for the back line, you now generally seem to play with only 1 player who you'd describe as being in the 'holding' role. You now also play with a much higher line, you press further up the pitch & are more vunerable to quick counters. Lastly, imo, you allow the play to be stretched far too often, with the gap between the player furthest forward & the one furthest back, often way too far, allowing the opposition space if they regain position.
Or as Tobes said, a new DM to play alongside Lucas. Diame? Can't see Rogers addressing that area though, think he has plans for Allen there.
- Carragher's retiring. - Coates is no use to the team at present. - Skrtel possibly wants out. - Reina possibly wants out. - Agger needs an organiser alongside him (and a rocket up his arse). - Kelly is injury prone and untested at CB. - Wisdom is untested at CB. I don't think we have much choice Edit: we only have one recognised LB and DM too
Spot on imo, our defensive players have not changed much in the past few years, but its obvious a few don't fit into the system. The issue must be with the coaching or flaws with the system. We might find players who can do the job under BR, or we might recruit what we have now, good players who will get caught out due to failings elsewhere. I'll be ****ed if I know which one it will be.
Everything in this post hits the nail squarely on the head but in particular the bolded bit. We are nowhere near compact enough. The space in between our 3 basic lines can be huge, especially between the defensive line and central midfield. This is a huge gift to opponents to continually hit us on the counter because they can occupy this space between the lines, play a few triangles or a nice clever thru-ball and they've completely cut through us. The best example of this point was the game vs Arse at Anfield earlier in the season. Cazorla and Diaby take advantage of the space between lines, especially Cazorla between Def/Mid, and kept hitting us on the counter and got their goals from this. Rodger's hasn't anything to suggest he sees this as a problem or has even tried to address this in anyway and now, at the end of the season, its still happening. I think ideally were meant to be playing a higher defensive line than what we are, but because our defenders aren't very quick or strong, they drop too deep too often because their terrified of geting played through, and not having the speed and/or strength, to get back and win the ball. I think if we look at Arsenal and sometimes Spurs, thats a good demonstration of how high our defensive line should be, and then we would be much compact as a unit and the opposition couldn't keep occupying the space in-between, usually not very well marked, and using this as a base to build their way through to our goal. I still think it will only be sorted when BR either brings a specialist D Coach, or has a drastic rethink about his Def coaching approach and does something new instead. Skrtel and Agger have been off form this season but the previous 2 seasons weve had one of the best goals conceded record in the league so these 2 players have been fine up until this season.
Hes already given quite hostile responses to journalists who've brought the need for someone with more strength and physicality in CM. He said those attributes are irrelevant to the way he's trying to train us to play.
Against Southampton we were too deep in defence. No one was there to make the line step forward. In a possession style you should press high up the pitch in packs, and keep a general shape - Barca do it brilliantly. We do not.
Of our regular centre backs Dagger is really the only one with enough pace to hold a line further up. (Let's not forget that he seems to be injury prone too) Certainly couldn't have had Carra that far forwards. Maybe its a blessing in disguise we may be replacing half our back line.
Part of the problem was that when Lucas was in top form we could make do with just him infront of the back 4 as he would stop a lot getting past him. Although he's still playing well, he's still coming back to full fitness and yet to hit top form which is putting the defence under more pressure as there is only one player infront of them. Yesterday with Gerrard/Allen playing in there, no one was playing that role as neither of them are capable of it. Is been said before and people have been shot down for it but Gerrard is far too lazy to play in the middle and play that role. Look at the first goal yesterday and the guy ran from 10-15 yards behinds Gerrard into the box totally free as Gerrard couldn't be bothered to track back with him. This happens a lot when Lucas isn't playing in the midfield runners don't get picked up. Johnson has been good this season but last few games hasn't been great defensively, Enrique has been alright, nothing special though. Skrtel seems rusty after missing so many games and Agger still has problems marking players. I think the way we've been playing and pushing up further hasn't suited either CB as neither are the quickest - similar situation as the Spurs/Arsenal defence that have struggled in recent weeks.
Pretty much echoing the comments of others - I think the underlying problem is that the style we play does not suit our defence. Even with Lucas, we are stretched and there is a lot of space in behind our midfield, which allows the opposition to attack us. In addition, the added emphasis on attacking full backs means we have less players back to defend against counters. However, it's not all down the tactics. The defenders themselves have been poor by their own standards and have made individual errors. Is an overhaul needed? I don't think so but I anticipate one will come because of the following: - Carra is retiring and a leader is required. Ashley Williams is the prime target (going by the thoughts of journo's close to the club). - Skrtel is simply not fancied and is easily bullied in the air. Can't fault his passion and fight for the club (who could see it when he scored in the CC Final) but I think he will struggle in this system. - Coates isn't fancied. Even if these players stayed, I think Rodgers would still bring in a couple of CB's, as well as cover for LB. As mentioned, Ashely Williams is a big target who would provide leadership, physical presence and can also play with the ball. At 21, De Vrij is an exciting prospect - an established captain at Feyenoord and has 3 international caps. Classy, ball playing defender. My concern is that Coates was seen as another top prospect but isn't given the opportunity. No idea of who we could bring in at LB though.
Apparently we are watching Cissokho and he even stated ( quote is somewhere in the thread) he admires Liverpool and would like to play here.
No idea of how good he is - all I know is that he is an athletic player i.e. pace, power, strength. Not sure how good he is in terms of technical ability and game intelligence.
I think we need a proper defensive coach personally. Okay new players to replace Carra and Skrts who I'm sure will leave. But like Jimmy said, it's a lot of personal errors. We are prone to counter attacks but getting better at them. When we conceded the Southampton and Spurs goals we were set up defensively but didn't know what to do in the box, very unlike last year. Forget players, who would you like to see come in and coach? Carra?
My thoughts on how to defend once we are a goal up is put 11 men and let them get battered for the remainder of the match. On top of that we should make the most of our set pieces/corners.(Deploying the chelsea strat of last season in the Champions League) It would be a dam sight better than conceding nearly everytime the opposition gets a sniff of our goal
Yes! And: no! Would love Carra at the club... but not to be heading up coaching the defence right off the bat... especially if his experience in defending has been in a different setup to that which Rodgers will want us to play. Carra AND a more experienced defensive coach... absolutely.
Why would we want him to go on strike? Must admit... he does have a strong french accent from his youth days playing for Olympique Bootle.
