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Brendan's Lost the Plot ....

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posted on 2/10/14

I watched about 10-15 Liverpool games last season. Mostly the big ones although a couple small games just to place 1st goalscorer bets and whatnot.

What were your negatives from the second half of last season then? And what was wrong with my brief list of positives?

posted on 2/10/14

WhenI say it's bollox I mean in relation to it being down to Suarez and that Berndan Rodgers "is just not a very good manager". It's like you think Suarez took training!

posted on 2/10/14

comment by Isle of Manc - Year of the Januzaj (U18323)
posted 2 minutes ago
I watched about 10-15 Liverpool games last season. Mostly the big ones although a couple small games just to place 1st goalscorer bets and whatnot.

What were your negatives from the second half of last season then? And what was wrong with my brief list of positives?
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There is nothing particularly wrong with them in themselves (although watching 15 games last season is a laughable amount to judge us on our first 6 games this season) but there is something fundamentally flawed when trying to attribute those team traits to an individual.

I'm assuming you feel that the squad of LFC gained tactial nouse from Luis Suarez through some form of osmotic process on Saturday afternoons?

posted on 2/10/14

comment by Besic Instinct (U1308)
posted 1 hour, 54 minutes ago
If Liverpool fans think Rodgers is the most important part of the team they will agree with the manager


====

So it will be Rodgers fault that the team and his signings(new and old) are not performing

posted on 2/10/14

There is nothing particularly wrong with them in themselves (although watching 15 games last season is a laughable amount to judge us on our first 6 games this season)
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Can you post a comment without trying to put someone down? I clearly don't follow Liverpool as much as you do, I'm just giving my views based on the past year and a half and the 10-15 games I've seen. Which is a fairly reasonable amount.

Suarez taking training has nothing to do with anything... I'm saying your entire gameplan last season catered to him. BR based the whole team around his strengths and now that he's gone, I think you'll go straight back to 7th if not worse.

BR has never won anything in his career, and I don't believe he's up there with the best of them. This summer there wasn't a single Liverpool fan who would have traded him for any other manager in the world, and you guys talked about him as if he was a messiah. I believe he'll be found out this season, and don't expect him to still be around in 3-4 years

posted on 2/10/14

3 or 4 years? Hedging your bets there then.

It was Rodgers who created the diamond that worked. That played to Gerrards strengths by dropping him deeper. That had three at the back in certain games and generally showed tactical flexibility throughout the season. I've seen Rodgers change formations in games to get many results and I know for a fact that we play a better style under Rodgers than when we had Suarez under 2 other managers. That's before I mention the improvement to many our players.

What you alluded to was that the team traits and tactics, including the results, were more down to Suarez and all Rodgers had to do was tell the lads "to go out and get in their faces" which is ridiculous so when you say can I mention something without putting someone down the answer would be "yes" but you make it very hard.

posted on 2/10/14

That played to Gerrards strengths by dropping him deeper
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This is one of Liverpool's weakest points in my opinion. He provides less cover in that position than Tom Cleverley would

posted on 2/10/14

Strange that he got nominated for player of the season and we went on a magnificent run, nearly winning the league when BR pulled off this master stroke then.

It does seem to make Robbing right, you have no idea what you're talking about.

posted on 2/10/14

comment by There'sOnlyOneReds (U1721) posted 54 seconds ago
Strange that he got nominated for player of the season and we went on a magnificent run, nearly winning the league when BR pulled off this master stroke then
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Yes, he was brilliant attacking wise, but that's not what the team really needs from that role. No point in playing a player in a defensive position just for his attacking qualities. He provided very minimal cover for the defense and it was probably part of the reason why you guys conceded so many, which was obviously glazed over by your forward play.

I'm not the only person with this view either.

posted on 2/10/14

Playmaker is not a defensive position.

The clue is in the word.

He isn't there to make play backwards.

posted on 2/10/14

Typically the player at the base of the diamond formation is there to protect the defense, not act as a playmaker. Although Gerrard does the latter, he also leaves your defense hugely suceptible

posted on 2/10/14

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

posted on 2/10/14

http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/d1hzwheffeusc_17fbah1q/Show/Player-Focus-Gerrard-Offering-Liverpool-Defence-Too-Little-Protection

"It’s startling that he has made only 0.5 interceptions per game this season, which isn’t even in the top 50 for central midfielders in the league. It’s even more startling that he makes only 1.8 tackles per game – the joint-35th best for a player in his position. A pass accuracy of 87.4%, with an average of two key passes per game, is good and he has scored two goals, one of which was a penalty. But those are figures for a more advanced midfielder.

Gerrard may be running as well as ever, he may be playing wonderful passes, but he simply isn’t winning the ball back enough for a holding midfielder. That means either he has to adjust his game, or Brendan Rodgers needs to stop asking him to perform a role for which he doesn’t seem equipped"

Sums up my thoughts on Gerrard in that position pretty well

posted on 2/10/14

That's because he isn't a holding midfielder, something you seem incapable of grasping.

He is a playmaker.

In a diamond it is the two runners either side of the playmaker who do the destructive work of winning the ball back, and we are missing Allen badly in this regard (as well as Can).

Henderson is having to do the work of two players at the moment because other than the woefully out of form Lucas we have no other options.

posted on 2/10/14

comment by Isle of Manc - Year of the Januzaj (U18323)
posted 2 hours, 26 minutes ago
http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/d1hzwheffeusc_17fbah1q/Show/Player-Focus-Gerrard-Offering-Liverpool-Defence-Too-Little-Protection

"It’s startling that he has made only 0.5 interceptions per game this season, which isn’t even in the top 50 for central midfielders in the league. It’s even more startling that he makes only 1.8 tackles per game – the joint-35th best for a player in his position. A pass accuracy of 87.4%, with an average of two key passes per game, is good and he has scored two goals, one of which was a penalty. But those are figures for a more advanced midfielder.

Gerrard may be running as well as ever, he may be playing wonderful passes, but he simply isn’t winning the ball back enough for a holding midfielder. That means either he has to adjust his game, or Brendan Rodgers needs to stop asking him to perform a role for which he doesn’t seem equipped"

Sums up my thoughts on Gerrard in that position pretty well
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That's this season. I thought I already clarified I was talking about last and also that he started poorly and got better. Squirming!

posted on 2/10/14

It's also strange that you keep alluding to a defensive midfielder when we don't in fact play with one. Possibly our issue at the moment as I would like us to tighten up for a while until we get confidence back. Therefore I would play Lucas as a defensive midfielder for a while.

posted on 2/10/14

Cleary I am grasping that righteous, just read one of my last comments:

"Typically the player at the base of the diamond formation is there to protect the defense, not act as a playmaker. Although Gerrard does the latter, he also leaves your defense hugely suceptible"

Gerrard does the latter...meaning he's a playmaker. I'm saying what you guys would benefit from is someone in the Matic, De Jong, or Mascherano mold playing in that base of the diamond instead. Providing constant protection for that defense of yours.

posted on 2/10/14

Then you are asking us to play a completely different way.

We play a playmaker because Brendan believes that is the best way to get a quick transition from winning the ball to getting it to our attacking players, with Gerrard clearly being a better, more direct, passer, than any centre half or conventional defensive midfield player.

Gerrard will not be a conventional defensive midfield player and isn't being asked to be one. Only people who expect him to be one will question why he is doing the work of one. These people are idiots.

There is an argument that with Suarez gone we should change style, and thus Gerrard as playmaker is redundant and we would need a more conventional defensive mid to play alongside him or Henderson with them as the box to box, but that argument is futile until we have had a good look at Sturridge and Balo up from together to see how much damage they can do compared to Sturridge and Suarez.

In the 61 mins they have played together they helped us win 3-0 at Spurs.

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