Explain like I'm 5

[Rosco]

Football tactics.

Everyone is frustrated by Rodgers' inability to formulate any sort of cohesive approach to attacking teams.

So what should we be doing and why:

We're facing a team below us in the league, who we know are going to try and park the bus and hope for a counter attacking or set piece opportunity.

What players do we pick? What's the strategy? And why?

 

[ILD]

Ryan or Rurik are the two who might give this a go without using clichés.

 

[Fabio]

For me he needs to play players to their strengths

balo is not a lone target man. Play him off sterling, or play sterling/ibe/marko/Coutinho so they're running near him. Space opens up when we play 2 up top

Sterling suffers the same when alone up top, as does Sturridge. We have no one who can play on their own up top. I honestly don't know why Rodgers can't just say to the 2 attacking kids, whoever they may be, to make runs ahead of the striker they have

 

[Rosco]

Ryan or Rurik are the only two who might give this a go without using clichés.

I think anyone can do it, but I am expecting clichés

 

[ILD]

I really miss Suarez dragging defenders all over the place. He also had the ability to find space even when a team was 'parking the bus'. It's very frustrating watching a static Balotelli up front. We seem to run out of ideas if a team are sitting deep against us. One reason for this is our lack of match winners and special players who can create something out of nothing. Coutinho and Lallana have the ability to make a 'special' pass but rarely have a player trying to find space to receive the pass. If this space isn't available then we need our wide players / FB's to get beyond their defense and get to the end line.

Seriously, go back and watch Suarez last season. His ability to consistently find space was ridiculous.

 

[Fabio]

I thought I did well on the cliché front

 

[hmmmmm1]

This thread is every championship managers wet dream

 

[Rosco]

I really miss Suarez dragging defenders all over the place. He also had the ability to find space even when a team was 'parking the bus'.

Did he?

I felt most of his goals were from quick counter attacks. And everyone stopped allowing us those once Chelsea showed them (which was the same time as he had his eight game goalless streak)

 

[6TimesaRed]

Did he?

I felt most of his goals were from quick counter attacks. And everyone stopped allowing us those once Chelsea showed them (which was the same time as he had his eight game goalless streak)

Suarez was a marked man though he pulled players all over the place.. which then brought other players into the game.. that alone created space..

we don't have that at the moment.. it is missing from our game...

Rodgers needs to start playing to players strengths. Some of the players we have do not fit into his system or style of play.. he needs to adapt..

I had to laugh last night when Lambert came on.. we started lumping it up top like clueless numpties.

 

[Fabio]

Normally Suarez found space when teams parked the bus, by cutting in from the wing, isolating the full back. The centre backs were marking up Sturridge, or sterling running from wide.

Obviously Suarez scored worldies in some of those games too. But that was when there was already a goal and the opposition were chasing.

 

[Fabio]

Ibe seems to be the only one recently who tries to isolate the full back

 

[keniget]

I felt most of his goals were from quick counter attacks. And everyone stopped allowing us those once Chelsea showed them (which was the same time as he had his eight game goalless streak)

There is something in that but as said, the things that make Suarez stand out aside from his obvious ability is that he never stops moving.

You can see it at Barca where he gets praised for the work he does up front (even if he doesn't score). He makes good runs, he unsettles the opposition defence and he creates space for others.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Like a 5 year old would be interested.

 

[Pesam]

Fuck tactics; to paraphrase Shanks.........if you pick your best team and have better players than the opposition then with the right motivation you will win the game. We had better players than Hull but for the last month-or-so we have shown NO motivation, no passion, no fight...........we're gutless. It does all suggest that Rodger's has "lost the dressing room".

 

[keniget]

Ibe seems to be the only one recently who tries to isolate the full back

Why did Ibe always seem to have acres of space on the right to run into whereas Sterling on the left had very little room to manoeuvre?

One possible answer is that Ibe is a breath of fresh and Sterling is a big bag of money grabbing shit. It's not the one I'd go with though.

 

[Rosco]

To me it seems if teams are parking the bus, firstly you want to use the full width of the pitch.

So you're making them decide to close you down out wide, leaving a bit more space inside, or leaving you with the space to do whatever you want out wide.

 

[cloggypop]

I think anyone can do it, but I am expecting clichés

It's not about tactics or formations, it's about the overall philosophy of the group.

 

[Fabio]

Why did Ibe always seem to have acres of space on the right to run into whereas Sterling on the left had very little room to manoeuvre?

One possible answer is that Ibe is a breath of fresh and Sterling is a big bag of money grabbing shit. It's not the one I'd go with though.

Sterling was very adept at doing it, however his confidence seems to be in his boots, so it just doesn't seem to be coming off for him, or he's making the wrong choices .

The pressure from the fans and the club, as well as his agent are clearly weighing heavy on him. Shame this all happened when we really could use his spark

 

[ILD]

Did he?

I felt most of his goals were from quick counter attacks. And everyone stopped allowing us those once Chelsea showed them (which was the same time as he had his eight game goalless streak)

Sorry Ross, I was replying above as you posted that. See post above.

 

[the count]

I think previously, as in mostly last season, we were able to break down teams with multiple forwards constantly on the move providing more than one option for a pass.
With the loss of Suarez particularly and Sturridge a little bit less, movement up front and therefore options for a pass has diminished, making us easier to defend against.

 

[Rosco]

Clichés that can't be used anymore:
Playing to strengths.

Could you be less vague?

 

[ILD]

Sterling was very adept at doing it, however his confidence seems to be in his boots, so it just doesn't seem to be coming off for him, or he's making the wrong choices .

Every now and again Sterling gets Space Jammed. It's just a theory of mine but does anyone else think the evil guys from Looney Toons used a worm hole to drill into Anfield to steal his talent? The current state of the Anfield pitch supports my outlandish claims.

 

[Fabio]

Clichés that can't be used anymore:
Playing to strengths.

Could you be less vague?

Balo is excellent at holding the ball up, but poor at making runs behind the defender

Sterling is good at that, decent at holding the ball, however gets no protection from referees. Balo wins free kicks for fun.

Logically, if those 2 played up together, it SHOULD work. Both have decent passing ability too.

 

[the count]

Plus I think our interplay has slowed considerably this season giving sides more time to readjust their defense

 

[hmmmmm1]

Balo is shite, give it a rest.

 

[Rosco]

Why did Ibe always seem to have acres of space on the right to run into whereas Sterling on the left had very little room to manoeuvre?

One possible answer is that Ibe is a breath of fresh and Sterling is a big bag of money grabbing shit. It's not the one I'd go with though.

I didnt see last night's game - so teams are focusing on stopping Sterling and allowing our other players to try to beat them

 

[Rosco]

Plus I think our interplay has slowed considerably this season giving sides more time to readjust their defense

It's no coincidence our counter attacking game really kicked into gear last season when we made Gerrard the anchor of the midfield.

But Lucas and Allen play too many sideways passes to allow quick counters

 

[Jack D Rips]

I actually thought Hull doubled up on Ibe last night rather than focussing on Sterling.

 

[Hansern]

We lack movement up front. Balotelli drops deep and wants the ball played at his feet.
It happened against WBA and it happened last night.

When teams defend deep, as both teams did against us, you're reliant on movement to pull defenders out of their position. Seeing as we have zero movement its extremely easy for the defenders just to stay concentrated and hold their position.

Every time Coutinho, Sterling, Ibe, Hendo, Allen etc had the ball we ended up hitting it sideways and Coutinho in particular became very ineffective cause absolutely nothing was happening in front of him.

Balotelli is so far from what we need in our attack that I cant for the love of God even begin to understand why he was even considered a target.

Last season with Suarez, Sterling and Sturridge we had plenty of movement, pressing and work rate. Won the ball back or created openings by pulling the centre backs out of position.

It would have made more sense playing Sterling upfront with either Markovic or Lallana in his postion.
I thought we looked much better going forward when Markovic came on.
He's been criminally misused these last few months and not gotten enough game time either.

It didnt work against WBA so I'm surprised Rodgers thought it would work against Hull..

 

[FoxForceFive]

To me it seems if teams are parking the bus, firstly you want to use the full width of the pitch.

So you're making them decide to close you down out wide, leaving a bit more space inside, or leaving you with the space to do whatever you want out wide.

Probably quiffing, but last night sterling fucked us up time & again by cutting inside. If he'd have gone outside a few times I think we'd have stretched them a whole lot more.

That said, whenever Johnson & sterling got outside they had to cut back in & go around the edge of the box cos we had no players inside the area to cross to.

As much as that little shit Owen pisses me off, he always says that a quick cross into the box is what strikers thrive on & defenders hate, & he's spot on.

Problem is we have no real crosser of the ball (Henderson arguably the best?), & no striker currently to take advantage of that.

When the opposition is quite literally filling the area with defenders you need to do two things, drag them put of position, & give them multiple types of threats to deal with. Last night we only did two things, shoot from distance, & try to pass through the centre after going wide & going back around the box.

Utterly predictable.