Time for Carra to take a back seat? (and a Babel bit)

[Matt]

...against so called smaller clubs anyway.

All this talk of tactics and set pieces today got me thinking about the points we've lost at home through a lack of ideas and an inability to break down teams who park the bus for 90 minutes.

The point about Carragher is that whilst he's our best defender, against these sorts of teams we're rarely tested at the back. I think, for the time being, a combination of Hyypia and Agger would maximise our potential to score goals; Hyypia is obviously the aerial thread from set plays and Agger's poise on the ball allows others to push forward.

On an unrelated point I'd also like to see Babel given just a few games on the right and give Kuyt a breather - lets see how he does with some proper game time under his belt as his current situation obviously doesn't do him much good. I think he could reinvigorate the attack - an on-song Riera is a bit of an enigma for defenders on the left and when Babel has a choice of cutting inside or going wide rather than his usual one option he could flummox his fair share of full backs.

Any thoughts?

[BobTheCharmer]

Non Starter for me. Carra as our best defender should start every game in his favoured position. What message does it send to the team when you leave out the natural leader in the 'smaller games'? Every game should be treated in the same manner. They should play Agger alongside him when fit. Could never see the point in signing another right footed centre back in Skittles personally as when everyone is fit it causes more unrest than it cures. Skitts comes back and the form drops off. He's been at fault in the last two games for me. Agger brings more to the party in an attacking sense. There's no reason why Carra can't play another 6 seasons at least and as first choice.

By playing Hyypia to use as an attacking threat, is basically admitting we're clueless further up the field.

Kuyt is bobbins. Play Babel on the right until the end of the season. Lets see what it brings.

[DannyMan2006]

We should not be resting our best defender to have a better chance at set pieces. What happens when our team has an off day and we are under the cosh against the lesser teams, such as Stoke away?

I agree with Babel having a gp on the right mind. His defending may not be good enough for a 442, but in a 4231 he should be fine on the right.

[Matt]

My point is that we get more set pieces than we know what to do with when at home and playing the likes of Stoke, Fulham etc so why not maximise the potential to profit from them?

Carra, whilst indispensible in games where we are under the cosh, doesn't offer much when we're in a game where we're making wave after wave of attack.

Although Carra is better than both Agger and Hyypia, when Sami doesn't play we lose a big weapon at set pieces - this is an issue because Chelsea have Terry, Utd have Vidic and Ferdinand and even Arsenal and Villa have a guy who plays every week that is a danger in those situations.

[Matt]

Non Starter for me. Carra as our best defender should start every game in his favoured position. What message does it send to the team when you leave out the natural leader in the 'smaller games'? Every game should be treated in the same manner. They should play Agger alongside him when fit. Could never see the point in signing another right footed centre back in Skittles personally as when everyone is fit it causes more unrest than it cures. Skitts comes back and the form drops off. He's been at fault in the last two games for me. Agger brings more to the party in an attacking sense. There's no reason why Carra can't play another 6 seasons at least and as first choice.

By playing Hyypia to use as an attacking threat, is basically admitting we're clueless further up the field.

Kuyt is bobbins. Play Babel on the right until the end of the season. Lets see what it brings.

Don't want to be over-dramatic but that isn't really far off the truth at the moment.

[BobTheCharmer]

Don't want to be over-dramatic but that isn't really far off the truth at the moment.

Indeed. 5 Years on its not exactly a lot better than 5 years previous albeit with a different accent and different players.

What we need is some more money to compete for the best players. I'm sure that'll be the final piece in that legendary jigsaw in the sky.

[Joe King]

We improve on our delivery and we will maximise our chances to converting corners - that and moving the markers around. Look at United for instance, they have patterned set piece routines where players block each other off and get the results.

Get Riera taking them from the right and Alonso from the left. Inswinging corners will cause much more havoc.

[chadrtc]

We improve on our delivery and we will maximise our chances to converting corners - that and moving the markers around. Look at United for instance, they have patterned set piece routines where players block each other off and get the results.

Get Riera taking them from the right and Alonso from the left. Inswinging corners will cause much more havoc.

Spot on. For the life of me i cannot figure out why we don't use the routine that so many other teams use to great effect. Stick 2 players in front of the keeper and then whip it right in under the crossbar.

[Exiled_red]

We improve on our delivery and we will maximise our chances to converting corners - that and moving the markers around. Look at United for instance, they have patterned set piece routines where players block each other off and get the results.

Get Riera taking them from the right and Alonso from the left. Inswinging corners will cause much more havoc.

I think our approach to attacking set pieces shows a lack of imagination and a level of naivity, the Man Utd corner against Chelsea shows they put alot more thought into their set pieces than we seem to.

As for resting Carragher I can see the idea but I think you have to pick your defenders on their defensive qualities, if anything you need strong centre backs against the so called lesser teams as the full backs are more likely to push on and leave the centre backs more exposed on the break than in bigger games

[The Birdman]

Leaving Carra out is madness, playing him at right back is madness unless it's a massive emergency.
The problem with playing Babel on the right is he hasn't done enough to justify getting a run of games so won't

[Matt]

So the Carragher idea isn't popular then. Shame, I didn't expect it to ever happen but I still think it has some merit considering we're the only big club that lacks a first choice defender who can get goals.

I agree that Babel hasn't shown much this season when he's been on the pitch but it's asking a lot for him to justify a run of games based on the odd 5 or 10 minutes each week - Torres would struggle with those kind of restraints.

[Manofthebog]

sometimes, as fans, I think we think too much.

[-V-]

Absolutely mental idea Matt. Carra is too important to leave out no matter who the opposition is. We have A terrific clean sheet record and thats because Carra makes it look easy