Long shots

Last week I was talking to my Liverpool-supporting mate about Gerrard, and how many of his goals come from outside the box. I put this down to a combination of ability and willingness to have a go, and rued the fact that last season, Bale apart, few of our players seemed willing to just take a longish-range shot if in a decent position. Dembele springs to mind here. I found it so frustrating, it was like none of them had the confidence to give it a go. Bale did, it worked and suddenly his confidence was up and he was pinging them in from everywhere. Obviously you still need the ability to do it, I wasn't expecting Dawson to start pumping shots in from the halfway line or anything.

However, I've noticed in our first couple of games our players have been much more willing to shoot from range. I don't know if they've suddenly found their confidence, or have been told to do this by AVB, but I'm all for it. Yes, some will end up in the stands, but many will be on target and either go in or rebound for Soldado to tap in. It's always worth having a go rather than muck around looking for the last little pass that will invariably be intercepted and cleared. Let's hope it continues.