Would anyone else take 7/8 losses if we could win over 27 games

[BrianF80]

Balls to that, most of them arent interested in getting in our half. Especially not at the latter stages of the game. They're **** and aside from set pieces, the threat is tiny.

I bet if you were in the job your attitude would change to one of how do I attack more whilst protecting against the counter-attack very very quickly. It's amazing what impending consequences do to your perspective.

[BrianF80]

I think a player who can move between defence and attack would be more ideal, so half way house for me.

You mean someone like Lucas but with end product!

That's kind of what I imagined Aquilani was going to be and then Benitez threw out this line about him being a more natural second striker than Gerrard

[Craig_H]

But we're talking about the system of play not the player.

No i'm not!

I'm talking about increasing your attacking threat against sides who have no intention of getting in our box.

[Craig_H]

I bet if you were in the job your attitude would change to one of how do I attack more whilst protecting against the counter-attack very very quickly. It's amazing what impending consequences do to your perspective.

You'd lose your bet.

[pondus]

Fair enough, I've seen Lucas make plenty of forward runs like that.

Either way sounds like you'd prefer a full-time 4132 rather than this half-way house 4231 (4-1.5-3.5-1) we're using.

I think a formation of 3.8-1.6-2.7-1.7 would be better against the "lesser" teams at Anfield. When we get Aquilani in for Lucas, if he is what we hope he is, I would go for 3.8-1.8-3.0-1.4. Oh, I could go on and on.....

[BrianF80]

No i'm not!

Jesus, you are hard work dude. I've no interest in discussing Lucas with you which is why I've been talking systems of play. We clear now.

I'm talking about increasing your attacking threat against sides who have no intention of getting in our box.

I see you are one of those that likes dancing around the extremes of a position. I don't believe there is a team out there that will not counter attack you if you let them. You do. Fair enough.

[BrianF80]

I think a formation of 3.8-1.6-2.7-1.7 would be better against the "lesser" teams at Anfield. When we get Aquilani in for Lucas, if he is what we hope he is, I would go for 3.8-1.8-3.0-1.4. Oh, I could go on and on.....

I did ask for that didn't I?

[Craig_H]

Jesus, you are hard work dude. I've no interest in discussing Lucas with you which is why I've been talking systems of play. We clear now.



I see you are one of those that likes dancing around the extremes of a position. I don't believe there is a team out there that will not counter attack you if you let them. You do. Fair enough.

For the amount of misunderstanding going on here, you'd think i was speaking fredish...

It's perfectly simple - when there's 30 mins or less left, and we're chasing a winner against a **** side, we should throw on attacking options.

There's no reason why Gerrard, Torres, Benayoun, Riera, Babel and Kuyt, for example, shouldnt all be on the pitch in that situation. You'd still have 4 in midfield, with Gerrard off Torres, so the 'system' wouldnt be majorly different, you'd just have personnel who actually can threaten the opposition goal and who push higher up the park, resulting in more bodies in threatening areas and more chance of scoring.

To do so, we'd need to sacrifice Lucas and/or Mascherano, which i think would be fine, because most of those **** teams wont have the intention, inclination or the quality to punish us, in the vast majority of cases.

The point is that it's miniscule risk for major reward. That's all.

[BrianF80]

For the amount of misunderstanding going on here, you'd think i was speaking fredish...

It's perfectly simple - when there's 30 mins or less left, and we're chasing a winner against a **** side, we should throw on attacking options.

There's no reason why Gerrard, Torres, Benayoun, Riera, Babel and Kuyt, for example, shouldnt all be on the pitch in that situation. You'd still have 4 in midfield, with Gerrard off Torres, so the 'system' wouldnt be majorly different, you'd just have personnel who actually can threaten the opposition goal and who push higher up the park, resulting in more bodies in threatening areas and more chance of scoring.

To do so, we'd need to sacrifice Lucas and/or Mascherano, which i think would be fine, because most of those **** teams wont have the intention, inclination or the quality to punish us, in the vast majority of cases.

The point is that it's miniscule risk for major reward. That's all.

When you put it that way it's hard to disagree with and it is exactly what we did against Villa and Bolton!!

When you add on top of that sacrificing a holding midfielder for one who gets ahead of the ball and with the full backs pushed up aggressively I couldn't understand how the cautious label came out. That's all.

[Craig_H]

Maybe it's because last season - you know, when home draws were the major issue - we were chasing winning goals with a £20m striker sat on the bench and the threat-devoid Lucas and Mascherano on the park.

Moreover, it's the highly annoying insistence by Rafa, to replace 'like for like' - so when an attacking player comes on, he invariably replaces an attacking player. Instead of a holding midfielder.

You end up not increasing the amount of threat at all.

[BrianF80]

Maybe it's because last season - you know, when home draws were the major issue - we were chasing winning goals with a £20m striker sat on the bench and the threat-devoid Lucas and Mascherano on the park.

Moreover, it's the highly annoying insistence by Rafa, to replace 'like for like' - so when an attacking player comes on, he invariably replaces an attacking player. Instead of a holding midfielder.

You end up not increasing the amount of threat at all.

I agree, but looking at what he has done so far this season, do you not think he gets it now?

[DannyMan2006]

You mean someone like Lucas but with end product!

That's kind of what I imagined Aquilani was going to be and then Benitez threw out this line about him being a more natural second striker than Gerrard

He never said that. He said he saw Aquilani taking the space between Macherano and Gerrard and that was his most natural position, he then said Aquilani could however cover for Gerrard and play as a second striker if needs be.

[BrianF80]

He never said that. He said he saw Aquilani taking the space between Macherano and Gerrard and that was his most natural position, he then said Aquilani could however cover for Gerrard and play as a second striker if needs be.

He did there was another interview on the offal a couple of days later where he repeated what you've mentioned and then mentioned the thing about the second striker.

I only mentioned it because it put me in mind of the possibilities of him and Gerrard swapping positions through the course of a game.

[DannyMan2006]

I agree, but looking at what he has done so far this season, do you not think he gets it now?

I think that despite what he said Rafas idea has always been to sell Alonso as he doesn't think we need two midfielders to sit deep. He saw Mascheano as the best bet at covering the back four and so sold Alonso.

I don't know if Alonsos good form last year and the vast improvement in Liverpools attacking style changed his mind. But he did at least initially have designs on bringing in a more mobile attacking midfielder who could link the play.

He's done that now and I for one wont judge on whether or not Alonso will be missed until we've seen Aquilani for a good couple of months. Obviously we are missing him at the moment, because we have a worse player than him playing in his position.

Likewise had Johnson been injured and Degen was playing at RB we would have been missing Arbeloa. We have also missed Sami because Ayala is not in his league as yet and Kyrigiakos has yet to settle fully. But when he does and Carra, Skrtel and Agger are all at full fitness we will see why Sami decided to up and leave.

But it's good to see we've been terrible yet have not conceded from open play.

[BrianF80]

I think that despite what he said Rafas idea has always been to sell Alonso as he doesn't think we need two midfielders to sit deep. He saw Mascheano as the best bet at covering the back four and so sold Alonso.

I don't know if Alonsos good form last year and the vast improvement in Liverpools attacking style changed his mind. But he did at least initially have designs on bringing in a more mobile attacking midfielder who could link the play.

Yeah that's kind of how I saw it too. Wanting to swap Alonso for Barry was a clear sign he wanted someone who could transition into the attacking unit (in hindsight I'm not sure Barry has the quality to do anything once he's there but he at least was about getting there and contributing).

I'd suspected for a while that Xabi's limitations were making him less central to Benitez's thinking.

He's done that now and I for one wont judge on whether or not Alonso will be missed until we've seen Aquilani for a good couple of months. Obviously we are missing him at the moment, because we have a worse player than him playing in his position.

Yep, this is something that needs time to breathe for sure. Especially with the media types continuously trotting out a one-sided perspective. But if Aquilani is even a 10% improvement on Lucas I can see us being pretty devastating going forward.

Likewise had Johnson been injured and Degen was playing at RB we would have been missing Arbeloa. We have also missed Sami because Ayala is not in his league as yet and Kyrigiakos has yet to settle fully. But when he does and Carra, Skrtel and Agger are all at full fitness we will see why Sami decided to up and leave.

Cover is a problem in a lot of positions though isn't it. Even in CM, we could really do with a 4th choice there.

But it's good to see we've been terrible yet have not conceded from open play.

:fingerscrossed: