Wigan build-up

[red g]

I think we need to go at them from the start, playing with a high tempo usually works for well for us, if we can do that and get a decent lead, fingers crossed we can hold on to it!

3 goals up and 10 minutes left and i will start to feel comfortable

[Exiled_red]

nah, think its coz its piss poorly organised!! that could be a bonus the first team is so busy.....reserves get called up for bench, then youth get called up for reserve duty....everyones a winner

In fairness that's probably more like it, I was trying to look at it logically but should know by know logic isn't usually something that's considered by the football authorities.

[BobTheCharmer]

Reina

Kelly (If Fit Otherwise Carra Agger Auerlio
Darby)

Johnson Masher Aqualini Gerrard

Benni

Torres

Subs
Cava
El Zhar
Ngog
Spearing
Dosena
Reira
Pacheho


In the stands
Babel
Degen
Greek Chap
Pelligrino
Lucas


In another country far far far away:
Skrtel
Kuyt

[Exiled_red]

3 goals up and 10 minutes left and i will start to feel comfortable

Yeah, It's quite bad now that I'm almost now expecting us to throw a lead away, not long ago if we went in front we won, occasionally we might concede and only get a draw. Now we just don't seem capable of it

[red g]

Reina

Kelly (If Fit Otherwise Carra Agger Auerlio
Darby)

Johnson Masher Aqualini Gerrard

Benni

Torres

Subs
Cava
El Zhar
Ngog
Spearing
Dosena
Reira
Pacheho


In the stands
Babel
Degen
Greek Chap
Pelligrino
Lucas


In another country far far far away:
Skrtel
Kuyt

In a must win game you opt to go for a brand new left side, a brand new right side and a brand new centre midfield pairing and a new pairing up front as well as having no expierience on the bench only 1 person there with more than about a dozen appearances!!!

you would make either a very brave manager.......or a very stupid one

[el matador]

In a must win game you opt to go for a brand new left side, a brand new right side and a brand new centre midfield pairing and a new pairing up front as well as having no expierience on the bench only 1 person there with more than about a dozen appearances!!!

you would make either a very brave manager.......or a very stupid one

Red, our formation has been worked out by our opponents. I hope rafa doesnt continue with the 4231 because we simply dont have the personel to play it.

its time to dispense with the cautious italian style that rafa has based his entire life on. We need a new philosophy - one that gets the best out of gerrard, torres, aquilani and johnson.

I would go 433 diamond which was favoured by mourinho.

......................................reina....... .................................

.....johnson.......carra...................agger.. ........aurelio.........

.....................................masher....... .............................

...................gerard......................... ....aquilani.................

.....................................benayoun..... .............................

...................torres......................... .kuyt..........................


The system is very attack minded but if we can get gerrard and aquilani on the ball quickly, then those two could make things happen. We need the fullbacks to provide the width and with 2 upfront supported by gerrard and aquilani, we are almost guaranteed goals.

however, unless we are very organised, then I can see us conceding a few too.

[red g]

Red, our formation has been worked out by our opponents. I hope rafa doesnt continue with the 4231 because we simply dont have the personel to play it.

its time to dispense with the cautious italian style that rafa has based his entire life on. We need a new philosophy - one that gets the best out of gerrard, torres, aquilani and johnson.

I would go 433 diamond which was favoured by mourinho.

......................................reina....... .................................

.....johnson.......carra...................agger.. ........aurelio.........

.....................................masher....... .............................

...................gerard......................... ....aquilani.................

.....................................benayoun..... .............................

...................torres......................... .kuyt..........................


The system is very attack minded but if we can get gerrard and aquilani on the ball quickly, then those two could make things happen. We need the fullbacks to provide the width and with 2 upfront supported by gerrard and aquilani, we are almost guaranteed goals.

however, unless we are very organised, then I can see us conceding a few too.

i posted this earlier in the thread............same formation, different personnel



does anyone think the following would work? following the chelsea diamond formation..........

reina
johnson carra agger Aurelio
mascherano
gerrard lucas
aquiliani
benayoun torres

[red g]

Red, our formation has been worked out by our opponents. I hope rafa doesnt continue with the 4231 because we simply dont have the personel to play it.


its time to dispense with the cautious italian style that rafa has based his entire life on. We need a new philosophy - one that gets the best out of gerrard, torres, aquilani and johnson.

I would go 433 diamond which was favoured by mourinho.

......................................reina....... .................................

.....johnson.......carra...................agger.. ........aurelio.........

.....................................masher....... .............................

...................gerard......................... ....aquilani.................

.....................................benayoun..... .............................

...................torres......................... .kuyt..........................


The system is very attack minded but if we can get gerrard and aquilani on the ball quickly, then those two could make things happen. We need the fullbacks to provide the width and with 2 upfront supported by gerrard and aquilani, we are almost guaranteed goals.

however, unless we are very organised, then I can see us conceding a few too.

do you believe that? i think its more our problems than the oppo's .....if the opposition have worked us out, how did we dominate Arse for 45 minutes.

I would attribute confidence, unluckyness, injuries, lack of squad depth all before problems with the formation.....the problem with the formation is lack of back up for torres and no creativty from masher and lucas together.....

not the formation itself imo

[dww]

I'm not so sure. Chelsea have more neat passers and more physical players which allows the narrow formation to work better. I'm not at all convinced that the formation is to blame.

Perhaps a change in formation would help us to try and play further up the pitch but we tried something akin to this earlier in the season (Lucas playing higher up the pitch than Mascherano) but really without a settled defense it just made counter attacking easier for the opposition.

Against Arsenal I don't think the formation had any part in our problems. Our confidence went once we conceded and to be honest Johnson should have just dealt with that ball. It's individual mistakes like that which no system can compensate for.

[dww]

do you believe that? i think its more our problems than the oppo's .....if the opposition have worked us out, how did we dominate Arse for 45 minutes.

I would attribute confidence, unluckyness, injuries, lack of squad depth all before problems with the formation.....the problem with the formation is lack of back up for torres and no creativty from masher and lucas together.....

not the formation itself imo

The thing is that the first half against Arsenal somewhat gives the lie to this - we can play well with Lucas and Mascherano but it requires us to be more progressive elsewhere and to have the confidence to just move the ball around waiting for openings - when we lost confidence we looked for low odds balls and played against our strengths. I really think the problem is a mental one - I can see why people feel it comes from Rafa but I tend to think that like last season for Arsenal at times it is a lack of collective belief. It is clear that losing Xabi and not having a playmaker at the start of the season impacted many players attitude to the game - as opposed to the end of last season where people were comfortable and willing to rely on one another now people try too much and fail and then get down and don't do anything at all sensible. Until the team have confidence in one another it's a viscious circle. The thing is that I feel the base for our confidence will come from our defense - hopefully we will get a settled unit (I'd include the main defensive midfielder in this - so Rafa will have to make a decision about Lucas or Mascherano going forward).

[el matador]

i posted this earlier in the thread............same formation, different personnel



does anyone think the following would work? following the chelsea diamond formation..........

reina
johnson carra agger Aurelio
mascherano
gerrard lucas
aquiliani
benayoun torres

i wouldnt play lucas because i dont think he offes anything going forward. I would play kuyt because we know rafa WILL play him and by moving him upfront his mini marathon will unsettle defences and move players around to create space for others.

Yossi is better in the hole than on the flanks and could link well with gerrard and aquilani going forward - both aquilani and gerrard would link well with johnson and aurelio.

If our defenders cant get the ball to masher, gerrard or aquilani then at least if they do hoof it forward then we have twice the chance of either winning the header and a greater chance of picking up the second ball from any knockdowns.

[Marky]

We need to get 10 men behind the ball and nulify the threat of Titus Bramble from set pieces, if we can do them two things i reckon we'll scrape a point which will leave us on well on course for a top 8 finish.
Merry Christmas my fellow Liverpool fans

[Scratch]

Red, our formation has been worked out by our opponents. I hope rafa doesnt continue with the 4231 because we simply dont have the personel to play it.

I would disagree, the formation works...out of curiousity, how many games this season have we taken the lead, only to throw it away and end up losing or drawing? I can think of Arsenal, Man City, Fiorentina, Lyon (twice), Birmingham? That's 6 games where we've let leads slip...it's a confidence issue, not a system fault...too many goals conceded by a defence that looks shakey, from set pieces or individual errors. We have played 16 league games, and scored 32 goals, but conceded 22 (how many from set pieces?)...offensively we can not complain, it's the defence that needs to start meshing and stop conceding silly, amaturish goals.

We need to win a scrappy, under the cosh game, just to make the players believe. These next three games are key.

[red g]

We need to get 10 men behind the ball and nulify the threat of Titus Bramble from set pieces, if we can do them two things i reckon we'll scrape a point which will leave us on well on course for a top 8 finish.
Merry Christmas my fellow Liverpool fans

8 career goals in 10 years ....

if we need to nulify anyome from set pieces its that mental case Paul Sharner

[el matador]

I would disagree, the formation works...out of curiousity, how many games this season have we taken the lead, only to throw it away and end up losing or drawing? I can think of Arsenal, Man City, Fiorentina, Lyon (twice), Birmingham? That's 6 games where we've let leads slip...it's a confidence issue, not a system fault...too many goals conceded by a defence that looks shakey, from set pieces or individual errors. We have played 16 league games, and scored 32 goals, but conceded 22 (how many from set pieces?)...offensively we can not complain, it's the defence that needs to start meshing and stop conceding silly, amaturish goals.

We need to win a scrappy, under the cosh game, just to make the players believe. These next three games are key.

this formation only works when you play on the counter attack. I dont think that playing one upfront is any help when you are trying to break teams down especially at home and especially when our defenders have to hoof the ball when they cant get it to the key midfielders.