dont want to see soto playing monday as he will get skinned on monday v citeh as he got found out against wba last time out.oh for another sammi hyphia in his prime,it would be priceless.
Folks without width you have to play high and press in your opponents half to win balls there. If your opponent uses the wings use this against them as tey will be light in the centre, it is up to the attacking mids and the forwwards to pull open gaps with runs. Barca constantly prove you dont need width but rather good movement up front, we are static too much and too easy to defend against, too sluggish going forward. In essence it is the way we are approaching the games we lose that makes them lost already. Against United we choked them even in their own half. In the 2nd place seaason we did this all season apart from again lesser sides we were expected to beat when we should have appraoched the game as we would playing a top side. When you close down space high up the pitch all 10 players have to be in concert otherwise 1 free man punches a hole in the pressing defence rather like a spartan phalanx in that it is near impossible to break down unless there is one chink in the armour, ie one man not doing what the rest are. Look at games over and over again from that 2nd place season. What we did then was keep posession use small litttle traingles of pasing on the wings and zipping the ball about, passing was crisp and quick, now we are lumbering slug. We closed down passing lanes as we fell back defensively and when a ball went through to a opposing player in the hole the mids pressed back and the CBS forward squeezing them out. I would keep Kuyt and Suares on th eright and install Carroll Cnetre left and have mids run off himon the left forward position. It is not somuch how they start out in a formation, it is how the shape changes as tey go foreward with posession. We must focusmore on creating space in dangerous areas instead of give the ball to suares Carroll ect and see what tey can do with it, too predictable.
Perhaps Gerrard out is a blessing in disguise? It's about time the majority of our players began to play without him, and this season has been a revelation for that. They've had to cope without Gerrard and I think most of the time they've done pretty well - but now they need to step it up. We have a host of talent in the space Gerrard occupies; this allows us to try new things - Spearing, Shelvey and Lucas are all under 25 and can play in Gerrard's space, perhaps with Gerrard gone one of these players will really step up their game and take that role on themselves. As for captain ship; Carragher pretty much runs our own half anyway so it shouldn't be too bad him taking hold of the responsibility. I don't know about anyone else but I'd love to see Coady get 1 game at the end of the season (only if there isn't any chance we'll get 5th) against Aston Villa; it'd be nice to see what he can do. Shelvey is already a class act and I'd go as far to say that when I've seen him on the pitch he's impressed me more than the 18 year old Gerrard did. I hope with a bit of improvement he'll be able to fill Gerrard's shoes. I can just see a midfield pairing of him and Coady in the centre and it could be brilliant.
Shelvey is a decent player but if any player is going to step up and fill the void left by Stevie,Its Conor Coady.He's got a great little engine.His passing is top drawer,and the way he combines with Suso and Sterling is brilliant.He's complimented brilliantly by Craig Rodden,who is an old-fashioned battler thats very similar to Jay Spearing.If we can develop these lads our future will be bright.I would like to see more of Ince,Amoo and Robinson too.
Bringbackfootee. I agree with your points.However there was one major flaw with the 2nd placed season.Rafa couldn't find a balance between free-flowing and rigid.Both worked and both didn't work. Examples of where the rigid formation worked. Against Man United at the swamp in our 4-1 win and our 2-1 win at home. Where it didn't. Stoke Home and Away. West Ham at home. Where free-flowing worked. Against Blackburn at home. Real Madrid at home. Aston Villa at home. West Ham away. Where it didn't. Chelsea away in the CL.(4-4) Arsenal at home in the league,the 4-4,which effectively cost us the title. I reckon Kenny is the type of manager that can find a balance between being rigid and free-flowing.
I kind of agree, though not about all this black and white rigid v flowing. We didnt' draw those teams out and counter, we camped 35 yards from goal and came up against a wall instead of drawing them out by leaving space in the centre and pressing and countering, When we play United noone really gets tackled until they reach the half way line, press counter, if you win the ball from a RB or LB CB or mid in the centre of the pitch you are in a good counter attacking position and there is some space, the opposing team because they have lost the ball in midfield have a high line so even runners have a better chance of finding space to pick up a pass. What we did in those poor games was have plenty of the ball in their half but no closer than 25 yards out and two banks of four is hard to break down when there is no space, we did it many times that season and we also failed a few times too. You have to draw players out. We didnt do that in those games, thatr being said we only needed 3 goals to take the title that year 3 goals was all it came down to, 3 goals in 3 games, then all this talk would not even be happening, so I can say, Rafa was unlucky not to win it that year.
I agree with that Rafa was unlucky to win it that year. Chelsea finished with the same number of points in 2010 as we did in 2009 and won the title.So that proves we pushed Man United to the limit.Man United could win it this year with 84. Liverpool now hold the record for the most points accumulated for a second placed team.86. They equaled their own record for most away wins 13. They are the only side to have finish runners up having only lost twice. We finished with 7 more points than in 1990 and finished 2nd.We won the title with 79 in 1990.
