I've got to get this off my chest because it's not been sitting right with me since Sunday. Brady should have done better for the Liverpool goal. He moved out of the way of the ball when he was in the wall to the point of (IMO) ducking. My lad reckons I'm talking out of my arse( not his exact words) but the more I see Gerrards goal the more I think it. Has this been mentioned previously or am I alone in thinking this? I feel better now.
i thought McGregor was stood too far to the right and compounded it by putting his weight on the wrong side to make diving into the space possible . I said at the time , had he totally expected Gerrrard to pop it OVER the wall ? coz that wall looked set right to me that was my initial thoughts as ive not seen it since
If we'd had a defender covering inside the post, it would simply not have been scored. We're not too clever at shots that come 'through' the wall.
We might have not had a wall if McG thought it was going over them anyway. The whole point of the wall is to offer protection to that side of the goal so we has less space to worry about. I cant say I noticed Brady, but McG was certainly out of "position" IMO.
Not watched it back, but as the wall was being set up, I'd said the ball would be heading for the gap left by the two Liverpool players, and that we'd been caught by it before. As I said it, one of ours stood behind the two Liverpool players, which relieved me. But it looks like they peeled off with the Liverpool players and the ball passed roughly through where the hole was created.
Skrtl grabbed hold of Brady's shirt (only lightly though) but enough so that when he ran from the wall, Brady felt the need to 'follow' his man. He should have stood his ground though.
I think he was just outmuscled by Skrtel who turned and pushed City players to one side and created the gap for Gerrard's shot. A bit similar to the goal we conceded against Brighton last year. When one of the opposition forces himself into the wall it's a good idea to place a defender immediately behind him to fill any gap that he might create - trouble is you could end up with everyone in the wall and no markers to attack the short ball. As for the outmuscling bit - it was really a bit of an uneven contest as Skrtel is no lightweight.
Yes, somebody agrees! Bottom left or top left corner from behind the goal were the only realistic options. I knew they would score from the free kick. I know it means a Liverpool player can then stand in front of McGregor without being off side, but a defender on the line would have helped.
You know, I've wondered why we don't do that. Is there a reason to have all your defenders in a line with the wall? Considering most of the time its going to be a straightforwards smash at the goal, 1 person on the line like you have for corners seems obvious, but no one does that for free kicks. Anyone know why?
I suspect it is because it then allows the opposition to stand in front of the keeper without being in an offside position. I guess that the main driver of this is the preference of whoever our current keeper is. But I'm sure we would concede less from free kicks if we did adopt this strategy.
Agreed Carmine, I saw it at half time and was raging about it. What a flange. There was an instance where someone ducked out of a wall earlier in the wall and got absolutely scathed about it on MOTD, I thought they'd pick up on it. Re putting a player on the line for a free kick, just think about it. It'd be the stupidest idea ever.
Really? Just think about it.... You're playing the whole pitch onside. Why would they shoot over a wall where a man on the line might block it when they could just walk it in the net instead.....
I saw it the same way as Dutch:we had, what - seven men(?) in the wall. Plus two Reds. And the placing of the oppo players, it looked obvious that they'd make a gap. They did!, but we should have had a covering player behind them.
I honestly dont know why we dont have a line of players - the wall - along the actual goalline at one side and have the goalie maybe 2 yards off his line covering the other side. Sod having a wall 10 yards from the taker, all it does is blind the keeper of the first second of where the shot is going and by the time he sees it it's too late. I'm sure the only reason teams set up walls the way they do is because everybody else does it.
