ONE STEP BACKWARDS, TWO STEPS FORWARDS
By Paul Tomkins 30 August 2006 "Crisp early passes zipped into feet while,
off the ball, players in red shirts peel left and right: this season there
have been spells of the swiftest pass-and-move I've seen in a long time. "
" I've already seen enough to feel assured that the Reds will cut plenty of
teams to ribbons. I don't think the club has ever had a group of quicker
players in midfield and attack, but each allies speed with good movement and
a comfort on the ball.
But it's not enough to satisfy everyone.
I do despair at some of the criticism the Reds receive in the press. Yes,
I'm wholeheartedly biased. And, in fairness, you can't expect people who
also have to focus on 19 other clubs to fully understand Liverpool. But even
so, some of the stuff that gets written boggles my mind.
One broadsheet journalist, who shall remain nameless, said Liverpool should
not be relying on great goals from youngsters, and added that but for
Agger's wonder goal and what the writer felt was a dubious penalty at
Bramall Lane, the Reds would have just one point this season following £34m
investment since January.
So basically, if Liverpool hadn't scored the goals they have scored - be
that a great goal by a young player or a penalty - they would not have
scored enough goals.
It actually provides me with a good platform to highlight the improvements
already apparent this season, in what are admittedly still early days.
For starters, £5.8m of the aforementioned £34m was spent on Daniel Agger.
Young defenders make me nervous - with the exception of this Dane. He's a
thoroughbred. The Reds will always miss Jamie Carragher's unceasing
consistency and leadership - Agger isn't at that level at such a tender
age - but Benítez spent money to provide cover (initially), and he bought
who I believe to be the best young centre-back in world football. I cannot
see how having a centre-back capable of passing beautifully and scoring
long-range goals, as well as defending intelligently, is a bad thing?
While going over every aspect of the Reds' play in fine detail for 'The Red
Review', both myself and Oliver Anderson identified a whole host of
strengths and deficiencies in the Reds' game; many will have been obvious to
fans (even if the extent might not have been 100% clear), others less so.
The knowledge gained from working on the book has changed how I view matches
this season. There are far too many issues to cover here, but I'll provide a
couple of examples to make it clear how differently the Reds are already
operating.
One area that disappointed last season was goals from defenders; especially
when compared with Chelsea's total. While both defences did what they are
paid to, in keeping 20-or-so Premiership clean sheets, Chelsea's John Terry
and William Gallas also scored nine league goals between them.
Last season John Arne Riise's goals came when he played in midfield (as did
Stephen Warnock's single strike), while Hyypia, Carragher and Finnan scored
two, one and no goals respectively. In the league, however, the total figure
falls to just Sami Hyypia's winner at Wigan.
So far this season both Riise and Agger have scored when playing in the back
four. Their goals involved advancing with the ball from very deep positions;
so not only did they score while playing in defence, they actually received
the ball in defence: remarkable. Meanwhile, if Fabio Aurelio hasn't scored
by May I'll eat my keyboard.
These long-range strikes were no accident. Last season the Reds scored a
phenomenal 26 goals from outside the box, making it a staggering 48 since
Benítez took over.
How many did the team concede from that distance in 2005/06? Two. And one of
those was the miss-hit cross in the very last game, the FA Cup Final against
West Ham. Already the Reds are halfway to conceding that total, but again
it's an outrageous Hammers' fluke accounting for that stat.
The opposition defenders backed off Agger on Saturday, as had the Chelsea
back four when Riise advanced in Cardiff. A lot of people in football think
dropping to the edge of the area is the right thing to do, but at the other
end of the pitch Liverpool tend to hold a higher line and rarely retreat in
this way. It means space in behind, to which the back four are susceptible
from a canny pass, but face little chance of an opponent lamping one in from
25 yards (not to be confused with Lamparding one in, which involves a
minimum of two deflections).
However, while long-range efforts are the stock-in-trade of so many of this
Liverpool team, and therefore their shooting should be encouraged, not
criticised, close range goals were really lacking from the Reds' play in
2005/06.
In the first 49 games of last season, Liverpool only scored five times from
inside the six-yard box. Such alarming - and telling - statistics
highlighted the need for poachers, and it's no coincidence that the figure
swiftly rose to 19 after Robbie Fowler found his form, and others followed
suit. But 19 was still seven short of the long-range total, which seems an
odd balance.
What took 49 games last season has almost been reached in just five this
time around, with four six-yard box strikes already. Peter Crouch has really
come to life in this respect. All three of his goals this season have been
from that range. Mark Gonzalez got the other, against Maccabi Haifa, while
Craig Bellamy's goal in the same game was actually even closer in, but from
a more acute angle, and thus just outside the white line.
It took Crouch until March - seven months - to score his first close-range
goal last season, although he did quickly follow it with three more. Crosses
from the byline are now helping him increase his goal threat.
Of the £34m mentioned earlier, almost one-third went on Dirk Kuyt, who has
only played 38 minutes in a red shirt, and who could have bagged a
hat-trick. So it's plain daft to use that against Benítez. Early evidence
from Saturday, backed up by his goals in Holland, suggests Kuyt will score
all types of goals. A lack of league goals from the Reds' strikers was
another area in need of addressing, and I'll be staggered if this guy
doesn't deliver. All four main strikers are capable of getting into double
figures in the league.
It's hugely encouraging to see a striker get five or more chances in a game,
even if they miss them all. When Peter Crouch wasn't scoring last season I
was always encouraged by how many chances he was getting, and that's backed
up by how prolific he now is; I encountered comparisons with Crouch and
Heskey, but I never saw a similarity. Big Emile had a lot of plus points,
and could make even a steroid-fed ox look effeminate when on his game, but I
never saw him missing many chances when he wasn't scoring; without getting
into the right positions you stand no chance.
Sometimes new players impress early on, then fade away. Either they
initially flattered to deceive, perhaps flying on adrenaline, or they are
good players who lose confidence and never recover. But Kuyt did so many
different things well it's hard not to feel excited about the impact he can
make. Coming on as a sub in your first Premiership game, especially one so
frenetic and end-to-end, can be a tough ask. In his favour there was space
to play in, as West Ham pushed forward. But boy did he make good use of it.
It's rare for such a predator to also be so generous and aware. Twice he
played those Bergkamp-type passes into a runner, and I wasn't expecting this
side of his game to be so developed. I've encountered a lot of talk about
Kuyt and Crouch vying for the starting berth, but I think all four main
strikers at the club can dovetail in effective pairings. Some share
similarities, but each is by and large unique. No pairing looks wrong to me.
These days Fowler, as the best passer, is probably the most adept at
dropping deep to link midfield and attack, although it's already clear Kuyt
can pick up the ball between the lines, to work shooting opportunities for
himself or others. Bellamy, as the only striker with truly blistering pace,
is the most effective of the four at drifting into wide areas or playing on
the shoulder of the last defender. Kuyt looks good in the air, but when
Crouch gets it right he can be simply unplayable in this sense. Each is
extremely comfortable on the ball, and that's crucial for moves not breaking
down.
While there are clear improvements on last season in the attacking sense,
it's been a slight reversal at the other end of the pitch.
Is it early season rustiness? Or the lack of the two most reliable defenders
last season? Or the absence of the one man 'two-man' midfield: namely Momo
Sissoko (the only player who does so much closing down he appears to be in
two places at once.) Or is the more open approach, with skilful wingers
pushing forward, leaving a few more gaps for the opposition to exploit?
Arguably it's a bit of all four. But if it ends up being a case of one step
backwards, two steps forwards, we'll be in for a great season. "
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