Brendan Rodgers

[Pablo]

Did Suarez do that much closing down? Sure, he was a busy bee, but he was no Ian Rush in that sense.

Are you kidding dom? He never stopped harrying the opposition. Ever. He was relentless.

[dom9]

If he has another tactical brain fart on Saturday the press will start piling on the pressure. We just need to do the same as last season and get our season off the ground.

Who cares about the press? You lot (not you specifically) are often a far harder audience to please sometimes.

And I'm sure that "just" doing the same as last season is really easy, given that there are so many new players.

[dom9]

Are you kidding dom? He never stopped harrying the opposition. Ever. He was relentless.

Nope.

[Fredo]

Yes Dom. The fact that he was always moving never gave defenders much rest as well. A lapse of concentration and he was within sights of the goal.

[Roboklopp]

Suarez was massive in terms of defending from the front. Gave the opposition defence no space or time on the ball.

[Fierce]

Best I've seen since Rush

[dom9]

The whole team were set up that way. Obviously if he was in the vicinity of a loose pass he was lethal, but I don't remember him tearing around the pitch closing down defenders in the vein of Rush or Fowler. But when the ball did come to him he was ruthlessly efficient. That was the difference.

[Fredo]

Our main reason for the intensity in which we pressed the opposition last season. You can see now the difference, without Suarez in the team.

[dom9]

Our main reason for the intensity in which we pressed the opposition last season. You can see now the difference, without Suarez in the team.

One reason. The main being the manager and his implementation of the method with a stable squad over a period of time. Imo of course.

[Fredo]

One reason. The main being the manager and his implementation of the method with a stable squad over a period of time. Imo of course.

The method is still there, but the implementation is lacking due to the change of personnel. Only match we've been really good at it was away at Spurs, so we could argue that it's a question of time we get it back, but we've lost Allen who was key in that system.

[dom9]

The method is still there, but the implementation is lacking due to the change of personnel. Only match we've been really good at it was away at Spurs, so we could argue that it's a question of time we get it back, but we've lost Allen who was key in that system.

Exactly. It's not all down to Suarez by any means. The pressing before was all over pitch, and we were ridiculously effective on the counter attack springing from deep.

He was a busy bee, but the the unit was more effective than the individual at pressing.

[alonso14]

The method is still there, but the implementation is lacking due to the change of personnel. Only match we've been really good at it was away at Spurs, so we could argue that it's a question of time we get it back, but we've lost Allen who was key in that system.

pressing requires a collective effort as one of the posters has pointed out, but suarez was a huge part of that. now he;s gone and our final third work rate has dropped. for me he is one of the hardest working forward players ive ever seen. none of the other great attacking talents in world apart from lionel messi work as hard and even messi doesnt do what suarez did.

we wont just miss his goals or his assists. its his all round team ethic, his hard work and his all round threat game. teams had to make allowances for luis suarez which could mean asking a midfield player to drop deeper and help his centre backs, or it could mean playing a midfield 2 to stop him and sturridge from turning and getting a clear run at their markers. the opposition dont have to do that anymore hence they're taking the game to us and at the moment we're struggling to accept that teams are no longer afraid of us.

[alonso14]

take a look at this

“My template for everything is organisation. With the ball you have to know the movement patterns, the rotation, the fluidity and positioning of the team. Then there’s our defensive organisation…so if it is not going well we have a default mechanism which makes us hard to beat and we can pass our way into the game again. Rest with the ball. Then we’ll build again.” (Rodgers 2012)

For Liverpool, a new set of fundamentals will need to be put into place; a move away from the over-reliance on direct football that maximizes the quantity of goal scoring opportunities and not quality - a degree of trust will need to be installed in the individual’s know-how and when to shoot or make the decision that the opportunity is only a half chance and not a sure thing. The approach works on the principles that ‘the whole is greater that then sum of its parts’:"


the article above is from 2012 and it implies a low risk, keep the ball at all costs philosophy - not one we saw last season nor are we likely to see last seasons again. see the emphasis is on creating fewer but better quality of chances rather than more semi / half chances.

this is brendan rodgers vision of football - patient, slow, keep the ball. one of the posters asked why are we so slow in exploiting gaps left by the opposition and equally as slow in moving the ball with urgency this season once we have it. the answer is quite simple. thats not his way.

[BobTheCharmer]

I must admit I did think last season kind of fell into place and his real vision is similar to what he did at Swansea only with better players.

[Chris]

none of the other great attacking talents in world apart from lionel messi work as hard.

I take it you havent seen Spanish football for about 4 years! He's been Berbatoving it for ages.