I will also cover player by player assessment in the real game, what and who's needed vs. formations and what fits and where I think we need to go to get the best out of the team this season.
Long post I know but feel free to share your thoughts.
Heads up... this is going to be a long blog post because I am currently on a 9 hour flight back to Calgary from London.
Last night I traveled back from Edinburgh to London and I thought I was going to be able to only watch a half of the Real Madrid - Liverpool game but in fact I caught about 63 minutes which was fantastic despite a disappointing result.
Verdict on Real Game
Listening to the Brendan Rodgers interview post game I agree with him in that it was a good performance but a poor result. I do not think it was a great performance because it would have warranted more shots on goal, more chances in our favour and denying Real Madrid the amount of chances they had.
Recall that this verdict is based on what happened in the game up until the 63rd minute. If the first half Real had 9 shots of which 5 were on target and Liverpool's stats was 0 shots and 0 on target. I think that says something about how well Simon Mignolet played (saved several clear cut chances) but it also highlights how much Real was on top.
I agree that they are one of the best teams in the world but I believe they are beatable. I think we could have done better yesterday but I am happy Rodgers put out the team he did. His selection was justified or some would say vindicated (which I personally think is too strong). One might think yesterday's performance makes many wonder if we are better currently making Gerrard a bit part player and use him like United used Scholes and Giggs in the latter years.
Real Madrid have some excellent players across the field and I disagree with 5 live when they said Ronaldo, Isco and Modric had poor games yesterday. I thought they were all good but perhaps not excellent on the day.
Ramos and Varane for examplel I thought were fantastic on the day. I also thought Marcelo had a great game down the left wing (our right) at least up until the 63rd minute.
Our midfield and team in general worked hard and that is what I was so happy to see at Bernabeau yesterday. Joe Allen, Can, Lucas and Lallana all ran their socks off which is what we need against a team that is quicker, more secure in possession and superior technically to our team at the moment.
In the modern game, lack of pace is becoming ever more important and it is there for everyone to see how Lucas and Gerrard have suffered over the last year and a half due to their lack pace off the mark (the first few yards) but also on the break. I think Borini suffers as he does not have that top notch pace/or burst as well.
To me the professional teams have gotten better in transition and better in the pressing game (the way Dortmund, Barca, Southampton under pochettino, and at times last year in our golden run of 10 wins LFC did against the top teams). You can see how other teams are learning from the best, for example West ham and Swansea and Southampton under Koeman as well. They press higher up the pitch, hurry the opposition and as a result force the opponent to make mistakes and I think it really hurts guys with lack of pace like Lucas and Gerrard the most. In the game yesteday Borini did well and he tried hard and kept the ball well but there was many times where he would have posed more of a threat if the defenders were worried about him going past them. He does not have the trickery but more importantly the pace to do that against a top class defence.
Kolo toure had a great game yesterday for the most part and he is a better organizer than any of the central defenders we have used this season. I agree he was decent last night as mentioned on the Anfield Index and on BBC 5 live but I still maintain that he was at fault for the goal that Benzema scored and that there was several occasions where he took risks in his defending. For example when he carried the ball out of defence or when he left Ronaldo/Benzema to roam in behind him with too much space at times yesterday.
I think Chelsea for example would have limited the that Real team to a lot less chances yesterday and I think it is down to organization from John terry primarily. I don't necessarily think Lovren is that much worse of a player than Gary Cahill for example although he has certainly looked that way this year. I would even argue Lovren is better on the ball with both feet but perhaps less disciplined than Mr. Cahill. This has relevance for the game at the weekend where we play chelsea. I suspect they may rest some players today as well against Maribor. They will be playing whilst I am flying back to Calgary from London and I will post this blog shortly after landing so I can check then.
In any case I think Brendan Rodgers sent a few signals and messages to his team yesterday.
- No-one is guaranteed a spot in the starting eleven (with maybe one exception in Mignolet).
- There is a chance for anyone to get in the team against the best and even Lucas, Toure and Borini showed they can do a job against the best
- The squad depth is better than it was last season although I think we can all agree that the first eleven is perhaps no where near as strong without Suarez and Sturridge
- There is potential for a great season still.
I thought Can was great. He ran hard, showed a lot of effort, composure and poise on the ball and won back possession several times. To me he warranted being picked ahead of Gerrard in the defensive mid position on Saturday vs. Chelsea.
Allen worked hard and did well but shows he still has a bit to go to hack it with the best when it comes to his ability on the ball.
Lallana showed he can play with the best. He grew into the game, worked as hard as I have seen and to be fair I think he deserves a chance vs. Chelsea if he is not tired or is carrying a niggle.
Borini ran hard but showed his limitations. He may work in a two up front but his lack of pace again keeps him from being able to develop into a top 4 striker in my opinion.
Markovic had a great game and really showed his potential. Yeah he is a bit rough around the edges but his composure on the ball, willingness to work hard defensively, his running off the ball and his pace really was encouraging to see. I think he will turn into a great player. I think because Borini drifted out wide trying to get on the ball or run into space it left it open for Markovic to drift in toward the middle where he seems to fit more than the wide right position he has been primarily used in when he has been on the pitch.
Quick summary on the defence I would say Moreno was great with potential to be outstanding. Manquillo should be our starting right back as he gets better and better all the time and is also a man with a lot of potential. Although he at times struggled against Marcelo for the most part he did very well and he will only learn from the experience. He has power, pace, works hard and will improve tactically over time and his delivery will also get better.
The pace aspect mentioned above is why I am so happy with the signings of Manquillo and Moreno. Pace enables our wing backs to contribute going forward by going past people but also make recovery runs faster, block crosses more effectively and get to 50/50s more often if there is a foot race.
I much prefer Manquillo to Johnson and I hope he starts on the weekend against Chelsea.
Rebuilding and transition year
I am looking forward to seeing the last few minutes of the game but my primary feeling after watching yesterday's game is that there is so much potential.
This will be a rebuilding year for us and I really hope we manage to get 4th. That will keep the positivity going throughout the team. Moreno, Manquillo, Markovic, Can and Sterling and Coutinho will only get better. They are all under 22 I believe. The same can be said for Wisdom, Ibe and Flanagan (although I am not sure he will last at LFC long term) and .
The ironic thing is I think Ibe would be better to have in the squad than Borini at the moment. It was a shame he didn't want to go this summer.
Wisdom is currently doing very well at WBA and I think Ibe is doing quite well at Derby as well although I must admit I have not seen him play and just read about him.
In the end now it is about to get this young team to flourish around the experience of Gerrard, Lallana, Henderson, Lovren and Skertel. Allen and Ballotelli are other team members that are integral to us being successful this season I think. It is only natural that we are going to vary in the performances when we have that many young players in the team.
Was it a "Controversial" line up
It is all over the back pages in the UK today that Rodgers could have won with his strongest team. Other more serious news outlets talk about him playing a weakened team. I am not so sure it was. The truth is we will never know if it would have made a difference to the result if he fielded Sterling, Henderson, Gerrard and Ballotelli. But to me his decision was justified due to lack of performances, issues discussed above (competition aspect) and perhaps more pertinently the lack of results and performances from those players as of late.
To me in the Real game we showed we have more squad depth this season. We do not have more goals and we do not have near as good a starting 11 but we have more squad depth and bench strength.
Two players that stand out for me as good business is Emre Can and Markovic. They cost a combined £30M. What makes them stand out is that they have qualities that we lacked previous season in the team. Drive, pace, force, a bit of strength and bags of potential. Emre Can got unlucky and got a hamstring injury early in the season but I think he is in the process of making the defensive mid position his.
I really hope Rodgers judgement does not get clouded by history, the fact that Gerrard is our captain, the contract negotiations Gerrard is in at the moment and the fact that he is our best set piece taker at the moment. I still think we can fit Gerrard in the team and Coutinho and Ballotelli can both take set pieces in the interim when Gerrard is not on the pitch if we start to use him more sparingly.
Markovic is raw but he showed yesterday what he can do and that is against the best team in the world. It has been well documented that he can play across the front line but to me he looked better yesterday when can run at people centrally.
Considering Sterling has had a few not stellar games as of late I would give Markovic a chance at the weekend next to or right behind Ballotelli against Chelsea.
Considering we have so many young players with potential, I anticipate we have lot of fun to look forward to but it will take time. I believe Rodgers needs to start brining in more rotation to the team with all the competitions we are trying to compete in and I was glad to see him start doing that yesterday. I agree with Gags (Anfield Index Podcast) Rodgers has been stubborn (more so than last year) in both formations and changes in the team and I think he has to learn to be more flexible in his team selection and rotate regularly.
What I liked yesterday is that I saw guys like Markovic and Emre Can was starting to adapt to the quick passing/possession game that we were so good at last year and the philosophy that Rodgers tried to instil when he arrived at the club a few years ago.
I still think we have a lot of development to do in transition (counter attacks) to get up to the level we were at last year and also in our pressing game. Having said that yesterday showed a marked improvement in that department and I think it was down to more fresh players in the team highlighting the need for rotation.
Chelsea game and tactics, team selection, formation going forward
I have touched on elements of this above but now it is time to get in to the meat of things; for example how we can start scoring more goals and what the team and tactics should be for the Chelsea game. I am assuming a 4 2 3 1 formation but hope there are some tweaks to the formation.
For reasons mentioned in the players performance reviews above I think Brendan Rodgers has a selection head ace ahead of the game on Saturday. I think that is a great thing and it tells you how well many did against Real.
As I was about to write my preferred starting 11 I even find myself conflicted. Specifically in central defence due to amount of goal conceded this year and in central midfield due to great performances from Can, Lucas and Lallana.
In any case here are my thoughts.
Keeper and Wing backs picks themselves. Mignolet, Manquillo and Moreno (I worry that Rodgers will go with Glen Johnson due to experience and I do not think it would be the end of the world). At this moment in time I actually think they are pretty equal in that Johnson is off his worst form (do keep in mind I did not see the Newcastle game as I was traveling). Johnson is better going forward and I think Manquillo is less likely too make mistakes at the back and better at blocking crosses.
At centre back purely for organization reasons I want Toure in there but he has a lack of pace, is subject to errors (remember his pass to Anichebe in the WBA game that led to a present goal last year) and he can fall asleep a bit from time to time letting folks run i behind him.
Skertel and Lovren are both better on the ball, better at challening for the ball, more of a threat on opposition corners, has more pace but they are both similar in that they like to go and attack the ball and they are subject to errors as well at times although probably less than Toure as their pace ensure ability to make last ditch interventions for mistakes made tactically or otherwise.
I was about to say I am agnostic between a Skertel Lovren patnership or a Skertel Toure partnership but after my analysis above I think if pushed to make a decision/selection (which Rodgers will have to do) I would still go with the Skertel Lovren partnership due to pace and skill on the ball and try to develop/work them tactically (ask Toure/Rodgers/Pascoe to work with them on organisation) etc. The worry is that it has not really happened yet (the improvement over time and tactically).
Moving on to midfield I made it clear that I think Can should be playing. I think he should be one of the deep lying midfielders. I think we should take a cautious approach at least from the start as our fluid offensive football has yet to be seen this season apart from the 3-0 win vs. Spurs.
The question who are the other two central midfielders that should play. I think I would want Coutinho (centrally) and Henderson in most games due to pace, ability to press and win the ball back (when it is imposed upon Coutinho like in Arsenal 5-0 win last year), and their combined offensive ability. Both has the ability to pick a pin point pass but coutinho is probably more known for great through balls (a lot of them) which comes with giving the ball away too much as well. As he gets older the hope is Coutinho will learn to pick his spots more and develop a knack for when to hit those. What he does give you that none of the other central mids do is the ability to go past a man with easy (his turn of pace and trickery is amazing). In henderson can also pick a pass but when played through the middle if given freedom he will be box to box, can assist through his ability to pick a pass and can also score goals. Therefore I think he should be a given starter and I think he will be.
At the chelsea game though I am conflicted though because Gerrard is always terrific in huge games and will likely play well and will be bursting with energy after not playing a lot in Madrid (20 mins).
Therefore I hope Can, Gerrard and Henderson starts on Saturday and I just hope Can is asked to sit back as the deepest of the two defensive mids with Gerrard given license to move up the field as soon as we are in possession. As the more conservative of the two that would allow Can to deal with counter attacks with his pace and boss the midfield. What you lose is the passing range from Gerrard from deep but I think that is ok. It is going to be a tight encounter anyway with not too much room to operate if I know Jose Morinho well.
Lallana to be fair played an excellent game and was maybe the outstanding performer in Madrid and in that respect he probably deserves a chance but he did a lot of running, depleted his energy reserves and would likely not be as fresh as others and therefore I would use him as a impact sub in this game.
Lucas also did well but lack of pace and passing range limitation would convince me to leave him on the bench.
I fear that Allen will be preferred over Can or Gerrard in my 3 mentioned above because Rodgers likes him but I personally hope he starts on the bench for the same reasons as mentioned above (energy depleted and Gerrard will be fresher).
I guess that argument could be used against Can as well, that he would be tired from the Real game but I think he is more talented than Allen and should start for that reason. Rodgers mentioned that he is still getting back to full fitness after his hamstring injury so chances are that is a clue Allen/Coutinho will play ahead of him in the central mid position.
To me I hope coutinho is preferred to allen and that Markovic starts but I do not expect that to happen. Trying to set up the line ups below I actually decided after debating with myself again and again I want Gerrard sitting out first half at least.
Clear instructions tweaks to our formation
I want Can and Henderson in the team and that means Gerrard needs to sit out. I want Can to get help in the defensive mid position but thus far that has hurt Henderson's game when he has to drop deeper to help out Gerrard (who's not go the legs). Leaving Gerrard means you lose passing ability from defensive mid but maybe that is ok for 60 mins in a tight game with not a lot of room to pass into anyway against chelsea. I would also give Henderson the armband and encourage him to take risks when we are in possession in that he has to push up from defensive mid and try to keep up with coutinho, markovic and sterling when they maraud forward and try to get on those surging runs into the box. If Henderson is given responsibility and clear messages and directives I think he would rise to the occasion.
Then Gerrard can come on and take the captains armband later in the game. Say 60th minute or so for who ever is tired/not performing etc. in that central midfield 3.
Another tweak to our formation that I think is crucial is that we need to give ballotelli more support. He is not mobile enough to play as a true lone striker in the Drogba (at his best) or he is not that way inclined yet. I still think there is a slight chance he can learn but he wont by Saturday. He is never going to run into corners or in behind like Sturridge and Suarez did.
As a result we need to adapt how we play and I think we need have more people close to him when the ball is played up to Mario and more players running off him in behind and around him. This is where Sterling and Markovic being the wingers/strikers/wide mids in my scenario needs to be more active and coached better. I think they need to get close to Mario as often as possible.
As mentioned above I think Markovic is better centrally and I think part of the reason is lack confidence and lack of playing time thus far.
When we get/win the ball however both him and Sterling have the pace to get up to Ballotelli quickly. This is where I think we need to be more fluid, inter change and not push up all three at the same time but give Markovic clear instructions that he is the primary other striker in possession starting from left wing most often. He needs to think when we win possession he needs to get close to Mario or at least alongside Mario even if its wide. Mario has the technical ability or strength to flick it on or to hold the ball up for a bit.
What having a second guy to worry about for their defensive game does is give Mario freedom, more space but also if Markovic runs into the corners more it will drag their wide defender out and open up space for the likes of coutinho, sterling and henderson to run into.
Below is my preferred 11 and what I think Rodger will start with as well as a conclusion to the blog post.
Stian's starting 11
4213 but crucially more akin to a 451 in defence
Mignolet
Manquillo, Skertel, Lovren, Moreno
Can, Henderson
Sterling Markovic Coutinho
(INTERCHANING when defending I want coutinho centrally attacking/in posession I want Markovic to drink in to the centre )
Ballotelli
BECOMMING A 422 or 433 at times with tweaks mentioned above.
Rodger's 11 (anticipated)
4213 but crucially more akin to a 451 in defence
Mignolet
Johnson, Skertel, Lovren, Moreno
Gerrard, Henderson
Sterling Allen Coutinho
Ballotelli
Conclusion
I hope defensive organization can also improve over time but that is my largest worry going forward. If you don't concede you have a great foundation to build from though as highlighted above scoring goals is what needs most work and most would agree it was our attack that won us games last year.
YNWA
Sent from my Blackberry Playbook
No comments:
Post a Comment