Over the course of a ten month season, we will have seen our play range from one ridiculous extreme to the other.
Earlier in the season, Rafa overplayed the value of not losing, in my view, and it cost us points too regularly. Too many rubbish teams left Anfield with a smile on their face, a clean sheet in their hands and a point in their pockets.
The arguments about risking defeat in order to win has been done to death and there's little value in re-igniting it, especially if, as it now seems, the reluctance to 'go for it' has been removed.
Some would disagree with the view that sometimes, our prime objective was more geared towards not losing, than it was towards winning, but even if we were to all agree that it was indeed the case on some occasions, i wouldnt even criticise the manager for that.
It's arguable whether this new found ability to 'go for it' has been due to the glaringly obvious fact that, at this stage in our campaign, wins are simply crucial; or whether it's the birthplace of a truly 'rafalutionary' new outlook and style. But either way, whether by default or design, we have emphatically expressed our ability to do things in both ways, depending on what's required.
I think the only area in which it's gone wrong is that we've perhaps adopted each end of the scale at an incorrect time.
The free-flowing, attacking style that we've seen in recent weeks will always threaten to allow the possibility of our defences to be breached, as well as enable us to score goals left, right and centre. The crucial point for me, lies in the relative capability of the opposition to firstly capitalise on the gaps at the back, and secondly to cope with the attacking thrust that's put before them.
Hindsight is 20:20 but clearly, for me at least, the way to go about it, is to employ the high energy attacking style against sides who perhaps arent fully equipped in exploit any defensive hiccups that this attacking style may inevitably bring. So maybe we're talking about teams like Hull, Stoke, Fulham, West Ham and so on. Teams who, i am convinced, would neither be able to cope with it defensively, or be able to take advantage of any gaps in our defence. Furthermore, these sides rarely enter into battle at Anfield with a great deal of attacking intent. This further adds to the argument that the 'risk' of leaving defensive gaps against such teams is, at the very worst, a calculated one which would not see us caught out too often, as far as i can see.
On the contrary, teams like Chelsea and Arsenal have more than enough firepower to exploit the gaps. There's no doubt that mistakes were made which aided their task, but it's also without doubt that you're far more likely to be punished for a defensive error by Didier Drogba or Andrey Arshavin, than you are by a Kenwyne Jones, a Carlton Cole or a Bobby Zamora.
There's no doubt whatsoever that the balance of the Champions League tie at Chelsea simply left us with no choice other than to 'go for it' and we did all we could, barring silly errors, to overturn the defecit.
Generally speaking though, if we are able to successfully identify the potential pitfalls and areas of reward that each game brings us, i think it's fair to say that the mistakes of this campaign can easily be rectified next season.
That's not to say this season is done and dusted, but even the biggest optimist would have to conclude that as things stand, we need a fair amount of improbable circumstances to occur, in order to end this campaign at the top.
Next time out though, we will have the experience of this season to help us and i hope that everyone at the club will utilise it well.
Take the style we adopted against Arsenal and use it against the bus-parkers, and things would've been very different this season. Equally so, had we utilised a little more of the caution and care that we've seen in the earlier parts of the season, on Tuesday night, i couldnt imagine that we would've conceded four goals.
It's not something that can be switched on and off like a tap, but this year we've dabbled with two different extremes. Rather than a criticism of the management team, this is something i see as an encouraging sign that we do have all the different tools in our armoury to deal with any type of challenge and if we select our tools and approach well next season, it could well make all the difference.
Earlier in the season, Rafa overplayed the value of not losing, in my view, and it cost us points too regularly. Too many rubbish teams left Anfield with a smile on their face, a clean sheet in their hands and a point in their pockets.
The arguments about risking defeat in order to win has been done to death and there's little value in re-igniting it, especially if, as it now seems, the reluctance to 'go for it' has been removed.
Some would disagree with the view that sometimes, our prime objective was more geared towards not losing, than it was towards winning, but even if we were to all agree that it was indeed the case on some occasions, i wouldnt even criticise the manager for that.
It's arguable whether this new found ability to 'go for it' has been due to the glaringly obvious fact that, at this stage in our campaign, wins are simply crucial; or whether it's the birthplace of a truly 'rafalutionary' new outlook and style. But either way, whether by default or design, we have emphatically expressed our ability to do things in both ways, depending on what's required.
I think the only area in which it's gone wrong is that we've perhaps adopted each end of the scale at an incorrect time.
The free-flowing, attacking style that we've seen in recent weeks will always threaten to allow the possibility of our defences to be breached, as well as enable us to score goals left, right and centre. The crucial point for me, lies in the relative capability of the opposition to firstly capitalise on the gaps at the back, and secondly to cope with the attacking thrust that's put before them.
Hindsight is 20:20 but clearly, for me at least, the way to go about it, is to employ the high energy attacking style against sides who perhaps arent fully equipped in exploit any defensive hiccups that this attacking style may inevitably bring. So maybe we're talking about teams like Hull, Stoke, Fulham, West Ham and so on. Teams who, i am convinced, would neither be able to cope with it defensively, or be able to take advantage of any gaps in our defence. Furthermore, these sides rarely enter into battle at Anfield with a great deal of attacking intent. This further adds to the argument that the 'risk' of leaving defensive gaps against such teams is, at the very worst, a calculated one which would not see us caught out too often, as far as i can see.
On the contrary, teams like Chelsea and Arsenal have more than enough firepower to exploit the gaps. There's no doubt that mistakes were made which aided their task, but it's also without doubt that you're far more likely to be punished for a defensive error by Didier Drogba or Andrey Arshavin, than you are by a Kenwyne Jones, a Carlton Cole or a Bobby Zamora.
There's no doubt whatsoever that the balance of the Champions League tie at Chelsea simply left us with no choice other than to 'go for it' and we did all we could, barring silly errors, to overturn the defecit.
Generally speaking though, if we are able to successfully identify the potential pitfalls and areas of reward that each game brings us, i think it's fair to say that the mistakes of this campaign can easily be rectified next season.
That's not to say this season is done and dusted, but even the biggest optimist would have to conclude that as things stand, we need a fair amount of improbable circumstances to occur, in order to end this campaign at the top.
Next time out though, we will have the experience of this season to help us and i hope that everyone at the club will utilise it well.
Take the style we adopted against Arsenal and use it against the bus-parkers, and things would've been very different this season. Equally so, had we utilised a little more of the caution and care that we've seen in the earlier parts of the season, on Tuesday night, i couldnt imagine that we would've conceded four goals.
It's not something that can be switched on and off like a tap, but this year we've dabbled with two different extremes. Rather than a criticism of the management team, this is something i see as an encouraging sign that we do have all the different tools in our armoury to deal with any type of challenge and if we select our tools and approach well next season, it could well make all the difference.
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