Brendan Rodgers

[Lecter]

You don't need a Suarez. But you need someone who will still close down. If you only press with a limited number then it's easy to pass around. If a striker doesn't press then you have to drag a midfielder out of position who will. You then keep making up the space and inevitably leave a gap somewhere.

For me, you can press two ways. Just the frontline pressing the oppositions backline. Or you press as a team. But it all starts from the front.

We never had a Suarez in 2005 and we didnt have forwards who were running all over the gaff pressing either. We pressed as a cohesive group

Sometimes the forwards only have to move a couple of yards to close the gap off

This is why I think 2 up top is essential it occupies more players and it allows you to structure your press working off a pivot (the forward either side)

I played at a decent level as a young man and at those levels we certainly had no Suarez's hurtling round the pitch but working a simple pressing drill and putting it into practice week in week out wasnt difficult provided you had players who could understand where they had to be at a given time to be effective and that you had some willing runners (not necessarily a forward)

[marcus50bucks]

Jay@Jay82_LFC 4h4 hours ago
Rodgers loyalty to under performers & poor eye for a player has got us in this mess. Will he change? If he doesn't - he's gotta go.

Greg DeRuiter@GregDeR7 4h4 hours ago
@Jay82_LFC not happening if @Jay_78_ is correct

Jay Riley@Jay_78_ · 2 hrs2 hours ago
@GregDeR7 @Jay82_LFC That may well have changed now. Not getting through to the CL last 16 is criminal really. A financial blow.

colin o leary@redcolinfc 3h3 hours ago
@Jay_78_ If we lose to the mancs on Sunday, reckon Rodgers is in trouble?? Something aint right at the club right now...

Jay Riley@Jay_78_ · 2 hrs2 hours ago
@redcolinfc Under massive pressure now.

Richard kemp@RCKempy 4h4 hours ago
@Jay_78_ if Liverpool lose against utd and arsenal do you think rodgers has to go?

Jay Riley@Jay_78_ · 2 hrs2 hours ago
@RCKempy It's a possibility now, he's clearly a man under huge pressure.

[DannyMan2006]

We never had a Suarez in 2005 and we didnt have forwards who were running all over the gaff pressing either. We pressed as a cohesive group

Sometimes the forwards only have to move a couple of yards to close the gap off

This is why I think 2 up top is essential it occupies more players and it allows you to structure your press working off a pivot (the forward either side)

I played at a decent level as a young man and at those levels we certainly had no Suarez's hurtling round the pitch but working a simple pressing drill and putting it into practice week in week out wasnt difficult provided you had players who could understand where they had to be at a given time to be effective and that you had some willing runners (not necessarily a forward)

Barca played 433 and pressed just as we did. It's not down to a formation. It's down to players willing & able. Maybe if we had a high energy midfield we could compensate for lack of running up top, but we've generally played Gerrard and Lucas. Comes a point where it has to be accepted we lack the personnel to carry it off.

[vlahka]

Hes beyond stubborn. Keeps picking his favourites. Tells them to pass a thousand times without actually moving forward. Refuses to change anything. Its plain to see Suarez dictated how we played. He lifted the team like no other player has done. That wasnt Rodgers. I'd have no problem with him and the entire transfer committee being shown the door.

[Lecter]

Barca played 433 and pressed just as we did. It's not down to a formation. It's down to players willing & able. Maybe if we had a high energy midfield we could compensate for lack of running up top, but we've generally played Gerrard and Lucas. Comes a point where it has to be accepted we lack the personnel to carry it off.

We played 1 up to (Peter Crouch hardly the most mobile) under Rafa and still pressed higher and more effectively than we do now

Hes set the midfield deeper, he has Henderson's starting point 10-15 yards deeper, with the attacking midfielders deeper than they were previously

This leaves the lone striker isolated

No matter what you need bodies to enable you to press, if players arent capable of running round all over the place you need to adjust your tactics / formations to cope with that so that players dont have to move as far to press

I think he is fearful of playing 2 up top and pushing higher for concerns of what would be left behind that

The reality is if you dont press then what you have left in defensive positions will still be exposed

To me hes done a double whammy, hes tried to shore up the back four (which hasnt worked dramatically) and in doing so has completely stymied the frontline

The reason he was successful last season was because he was bold and adventurous, if Mario or Lambert arent capable of pressing as a partnership then push one or more of Sterling or Markovic up top and see how that goes

Hes losing absoutely nothing by trying this because sure as **** what he is currently doing isnt working at all

If he did this at least it would show hes trying something different from the usual insanity we see wheeled out week in week out

On Saturday for the first time in weeks he had 3 men on the halfway line when we are defending corners, last night back to 11 men in the box. ****ing mental

[DannyMan2006]

We played 1 up to (Peter Crouch hardly the most mobile) under Rafa and still pressed higher and more effectively than we do now

Hes set the midfield deeper, he has Henderson's starting point 10-15 yards deeper, with the attacking midfielders deeper than they were previously

This leaves the lone striker isolated

No matter what you need bodies to enable you to press, if players arent capable of running round all over the place you need to adjust your tactics / formations to cope with that so that players dont have to move as far to press

I think he is fearful of playing 2 up top and pushing higher for concerns of what would be left behind that

The reality is if you dont press then what you have left in defensive positions will still be exposed

To me hes done a double whammy, hes tried to shore up the back four (which hasnt worked dramatically) and in doing so has completely stymied the frontline

The reason he was successful last season was because he was bold and adventurous, if Mario or Lambert arent capable of pressing as a partnership then push one or more of Sterling or Markovic up top and see how that goes

Hes losing absoutely nothing by trying this because sure as **** what he is currently doing isnt working at all

Crouch was young and whilst wasn't mobile was full of running. Long legs etc. I agree we're not capable if sitting back, but I don't think we are able to press either. Crazily, we seem to do neither atm. I still see us pressing every now & again and we just get passed around, do one or the other FFS.

That said, since we've gone back to basics, we haven't looked great, but we haven't lost either. Drew with Ludo, beat Stoke & Leicester, drew with Sunderland & Basle. Great times, eh?

[dww]

The thing I dont get is how losing a striker who presses from the front should mean that ALL your midfielders should stop doing that

Suarez is a big loss in terms of pressing but the drop off from the rest is astronomic

I recently caught the 2nd half of the 2005 Champions League final and what struck me is how well LFC pressed Milan for those 20-25 minutes when they got back into the game

That didnt come from any Duracell Bunny Centre-forward running his arse off, it came from pressing as a collective unit, high up the pitch, hunting in packs

We no longer do that, we have reverted to a Roy-like system where we drop off try and stay compact and give ground. There is no press

Thats all well and good if you have the players capable of defending like that, but we dont

Amy Lawrence on the Guardian podcast was talking about how players like Suarez, Tevez and Aguero have an attitude that inspires those around them. I think that and the psychology of knowing you have someone in the team who can get you out of trouble is a big part of what we are doing. To me it's almost like we have a collective sporting depression which is preventing us from performing. The way our midfield drops back being a symptom of this.

I can't decide if Rodgers is consciously trying to drop our midfield back or they are dropping back and he is failing to get them to push up. To a degree I guess it doesn't matter as at the end of the day the team is not working.

[DannyMan2006]

Amy Lawrence on the Guardian podcast was talking about how players like Suarez, Tevez and Aguero have an attitude that inspires those around them. I think that and the psychology of knowing you have someone in the team who can get you out of trouble is a big part of what we are doing. To me it's almost like we have a collective sporting depression which is preventing us from performing. The way our midfield drops back being a symptom of this.

I can't decide if Rodgers is consciously trying to drop our midfield back or they are dropping back and he is failing to get them to push up. To a degree I guess it doesn't matter as at the end of the day the team is not working.

Pre Ludo at home I think he was trying to get them to press. Since, he's asked them to drop off.

[dww]

Pre Ludo at home I think he was trying to get them to press. Since, he's asked them to drop off.

In the last game against Ludogorets in the second half he seemed to want us to be playing higher up the pitch and the team wasn't responding. I guess there is a difference between attacking or holding the ball higher up the pitch and pressing though which is hard to detect in wild hand waving.

[Lecter]

Pre Ludo at home I think he was trying to get them to press. Since, he's asked them to drop off.

I dont

Its been non-existent all season

If he was asking for that it wasnt happening and its very hard to know what his instructions were without being in the dressing room

[McDermotX]

Jay@Jay82_LFC 4h4 hours ago
Rodgers loyalty to under performers & poor eye for a player has got us in this mess. Will he change? If he doesn't - he's gotta go.

Greg DeRuiter@GregDeR7 4h4 hours ago
@Jay82_LFC not happening if @Jay_78_ is correct

Jay Riley@Jay_78_ · 2 hrs2 hours ago
@GregDeR7 @Jay82_LFC That may well have changed now. Not getting through to the CL last 16 is criminal really. A financial blow.

colin o leary@redcolinfc 3h3 hours ago
@Jay_78_ If we lose to the mancs on Sunday, reckon Rodgers is in trouble?? Something aint right at the club right now...

Jay Riley@Jay_78_ · 2 hrs2 hours ago
@redcolinfc Under massive pressure now.

Richard kemp@RCKempy 4h4 hours ago
@Jay_78_ if Liverpool lose against utd and arsenal do you think rodgers has to go?

Jay Riley@Jay_78_ · 2 hrs2 hours ago
@RCKempy It's a possibility now, he's clearly a man under huge pressure.

I would be absolutely astonished if he was sacked before the summer.

My flabber would be gasted.

[Sarb]

I dont

Its been non-existent all season

If he was asking for that it wasnt happening and its very hard to know what his instructions were without being in the dressing room

He didnt want to play the pressing game last night either judging by the players he has selected. To be honest he hasnt played it much this season at all which makes me think he doesn't want to play that style of football

[Lecter]

Crouch was young and whilst wasn't mobile was full of running. Long legs etc. I agree we're not capable if sitting back, but I don't think we are able to press either. Crazily, we seem to do neither atm. I still see us pressing every now & again and we just get passed around, do one or the other FFS.

That said, since we've gone back to basics, we haven't looked great, but we haven't lost either. Drew with Ludo, beat Stoke & Leicester, drew with Sunderland & Basle. Great times, eh?

There is another reason I want to go 2 up top and that is to stop him playing the system he is now

Take Saturday for instance, when we did break we had Coutinho, Lallana, Henderson and Sterling all coming inside and congesting the play

Sterling was the only one of them who shows any kind of inclination to go wide

I think we could do with cutting down on the number of bodies in the positions just in front of the opposition box because its mightily congested

[DannyMan2006]

In the last game against Ludogorets in the second half he seemed to want us to be playing higher up the pitch and the team wasn't responding. I guess there is a difference between attacking or holding the ball higher up the pitch and pressing though which is hard to detect in wild hand waving.

Rodgers & every manager in existence think they possess a team of thoroughbreds who will switch between pressing and dropping off seamlessly and at the simple wave of an arm. "CHARGE" shouts Brendan "HOLD THE LINE. STAY WITH ME" Shouts Rickie Lambert as we charge up the field and press Basel into a bloody mess.

Listen to Rodgers and he believes it fully. He has a team that can morph from one formation to another, bamboozling the opposition. 352 to 4231 to 433 to 442. All in one half of football. Never mind the visions of pressing then resting with the ball.

In reality you need one solid game plan that you will look to impose on the opposition. If that doesn't work, it's plan B.

[Lecter]

He didnt want to play the pressing game last night either judging by the players he has selected. To be honest he hasnt played it much this season at all which makes me think he doesn't want to play that style of football