I've watched the Spurs game again last night as I was impressed with some of the stuff we did this weekend, especially a lot of decision making. Bale and Dembele are ALWAYS going to be a problem to deal with, the lads got stuck in and for the most part didn't press in 1s and 2s but as a unit of 3s and 4s. Even when the press did not return possession to us it pushed dangerous players into places they did not want to go, especially Bale who was denied straight runs at goal for shots but rather forced him to go wide or diagonally from the centre and into yet more traffic, we did not expose Carra and Agger and this was excellent. The runs of Suarez and the choice of when to release him were also excellent, long has it been that we have been able to relieve pressure by finding an outlet in this way, and the quality of the balls finding him when he was often getting between their defenders were at times excellent. Downing was willing to have a go and we used him better than normally, he's there to burn on down the flank and open things up and deliver crosses though his mere presence caused Spurs a slight conundrum, they decided to concentrate on the middle and give Downing space because he had plenty, it made sure he would have that chance from the awful back pass. What I was really happy about was the players were communicating amongst themselves all game. This game was won in the middle, had we been unprepared Dembele and Bale, given any space whatsoever would have punished us I have 0 doubt, both very dangerous, but both would have had to get past several challenges just to even get into any sort of stride and out smart use of the ball meant they had to be mindful of our counter. This coerced Bale into long shots and showing up out wide, which led to one goal but Johnson let himself down, I think this one would not have been unjust to Spurs if we won 2 0 if we leave out errors. I think Brendan identified the areas Bale scores from and made sure he didn't get any time at all in those areas rather than following him all over the midfield or wastefully sacrificing a man to follow him, we occupied zones and the gap between our defensive line and midfield was tiny for a lot of the game, we did get countered at times but obviously when you attack will happen but we still made very good use of our attacks, Danny boy on another day might have snatched one too. Those saying we were lucky have not analysed the game closely enough. Spurs were good in areas Brendan knew they would be and set us up with defence in depth because both Bale and Debbele will ride challenged. and open things up, but a lot of the time they met with a 2nd and 3rd challenge, this was fantastic, it was not just the extra man but how we used that extra man in Allen and how the midfield stacked up to both defend and attack. Again, very happy about our decisions with the ball and more so without the ball, granted our defending left something to be desired thought our defending started in midfield which helped, and an effective attack did what it is supposed to do at times, bale out the defenders I cannot see why when playing teams of less dangerous attacking midfielders why we cannot more further up the pitch and strangle teams literally. Still a WIP but happy days nonetheless YNWA
Know where you are coming from with your points about bale as although he got the two assists he had very few effective runs at our defence. That said we allowed them far too much time in and around our penalty area and if they had taken that pretty easy chance at two one then we not be having this discussion.
Good article not a lot else to say. Canwe win every game from now until the end of the season? It would seem unlikely but fingers crossed.
I think the lessons from this game are there for all to see. Re easy chances, our defence has been giving those up all season on and off, we limited them to a couple and may I say, Downing had an easy chance, and took it with gusto We've had good counterattacking chances all season and wasted them. in this game we had few and made the most of half chances to counter with excellent delivery and good decision making. I was very impressed with the service to Suarez as he was well marked by the Spurs defence but he got between them and was picked out by the passes. Downing has a use, he's shown that, yeah he's not set the world alight but you know what, once he has a willingness to make himself available to stretch the opposition midfield he's an asset. I'm sure the rest of his game will improve with the help of other players making space for him, Danny boy assisted v Spurs in giving Downing space. I am most impressed by how we tackled and failed to win the ball and tackled again, then again and kept the Spurs danger men working very hard just to get out of trouble, granted they had a spell where they were cutting us up a little but if we can take these tactical improvements forward those will occur less and less, I think confidence makes a massive difference in certain players. Gerrard is looking far far happier of late and his play shows that Coutinho is going to be an excellent asset to our club mark my words. Some players peak early 20s, possibly that is Rooney, mid, Henry and some save the best for last, RvP and some just are up there all of the time, Shearer. Coutinho for me will peak in the next 2 years and carry on being a quality player imo, I think that's why it has not happened for him thus far. But his quality vision technique and quick thinking are there for all to see. I only hope we can develop the lad in the right direction and it is good to see Brendan not turning quality skillful players into workaday cart-horses
I think you will find all teams are having that problem with Bale and few limiting him in the way we did the weekend.
A good article but we also need to acknowledge that the game was finely balanced and it was coutinho that made the difference early on. with a 4-4-2 or 4-2-4 we were on a knife end and it certainly tipped in spurs favour, helped by ridiculous defending from crosses in. Spurs got the upper hand and it should have been 3-1 before we made the crucial sub, going 4-3-3 brought more mdfiedl control and brought sturridge into it more. That was a good change. As for downing ,the kernal of truth is "once he has a willingness to make himself available to stretch the opposition midfield" if he is going forward it ok once he's got his back to goal and back passing for 90mins he's a liability. he does this far too much but when he goes use the full options, i.e cut inside, go outside and cross etc and doesn't just close his body and make sure the only pass on is a back pass then he'll worry defenders. however he consistently reverts to type. Two gimmie goals in the last two games certinaly helps him take the field with the right attitude i hope. On the other side walker was in knots cos nobody knows what coutinho might do. he might run, he might pass, he might back heel it... if you stand off he'll play suarez in etc... This is real quality and a bargain price.
Had Sigurdsson & Defoe not ****ed each other over by going for the glory themselves & converted one of the 2 gilt edged chances they had to seal the deal when the game was 1-2, then you wouldn't be posting about 'improved thinking'. Spurs ended up committing suicide with 2 awful backpasses & then giving Suarez the opportuinity to hit the deck in the box. You're still brittle imo & always look likely to concede.
* Totally agree, they were on top at that time, but they didn't take their chances for whatever reason, (fluky deflection off Johnson, good save/poor finish by Defoe) we've been all over teams this season but not taken our chances and had it come back to bite us, Villa and WBA being perfect examples, that/s football. ** Why stay on your feet when it was a blatant pen? Won't be the first time ANY footballer will have taken that opportunity and won't be the last. We are still a soft touch at the back, going forward we'll cut most teams apart, we know and I'm sure Rodgers knows that the defence needs addressing, be it with a couple of Sami's or a DM to help out Lucas in the tougher games..
I won't argue with any of that mate. I think the reason you're weaker at the back is down to your style of play in the main, as your back line is often left exposed. Even though you battered them overall, Wigan created 4 or 5 great chances against you the previous week & only a top notch performance from Reina kept them out. Until you sort out the balance between attack / defence, then you'll remain inconsistent imo, as you'll always be susceptible to the sucker punch e.g. Villa.
Aye, its all about balance, don't think we've quite found it yet, but given time, I hope Rodgers addresses this, be it with different personnel or a tweak to the system we play. Even in the games we've won quite comfortably (Wigan as you say being a good example), we've been cut open far too easily and at time too often in a game.
If and buts and maybes. I've said this before, it is what it is. How many times have we been criticized for saying what might or should or could have happened in a game (Suarez' disallowed goal against you, for example)? How many times have we had the piss taken for cursing our luck? Seems we can have undeserved good luck though. Whenever we win it's apparently gifted to us and never the result of our own endeavour. Strange that.
Oh come on saint. I never said anything of the sort & wasn't being partisan, merely discussing football, if you care to counter what I said then feel free, but please don't lump the debate into the good luck / bad luck container & shut the lid. The game is one of fine margins & individual errors, or pieces of brilliance can always be the difference, but there's also trends & tactics.......
If we are clinical with chances, then we should cause teams problems. Like it was mentioned, we are prone to goals at the back but the main concern is we should be scoring when we get a sniff of the goal. That way teams will be wary of committing too many players forward in games against us. All ifs and buts, consider 'If' we had scored all those many chances vs teams this season...
i think you are being a bit rich with some comments and exaggerating. 1. wigan didn't have anyhting like 4-5 great chances when it mattered. they had 2 good chances but by the time we were 3-0 up the few they got then didn't matter. 2. "giving Suarez the opportunity to hit the deck in the box" says it all. ekotto jumped into suarez crazily, stonewall penalty but as per its accuse the guy of diving. it just shows the bias. 3. you seem to have missed the type of gaol we conceed... weak defensive performances leadign to two really stupid goals conceeded from balls into the box theat should have been defended much better. 4. finally individual errors aside the goals we've conceeded have been tactically niave, especially when allen played. the whole midfield was creepring up the field when we were not scoring and so over commits. thats not a style of paly thats an error in judgement.... good expample. 3rd goal in carling cup for swansea.. defednign a corner allen ran under the cleared ball and took himself out of the game allwoing them a break and run on goal. a simple step back would have dealt with it. In the end it is partisan, jsut admit it... there nothing wrong with being partisan after all.
This point MITO. I watched the highlights again last night and I think both times it was Johnson who lost his man. Is it me or ( he has improved a lot in defending) this is a weaker part of his game? Dealing with crosses coming in and following his mark?
