[quote author=mark1975 link=topic=43986.msg1275307#msg1275307 date=1296638578]
-------------Reina-------------
Kelly--Carra--Agger--FA/GJ
-----Lucas-------Ming--------
-----------Gerrard------------
--Kuyt---Carroll----Suarez-
[/quote]
I'm agreeable with the personnel. I just think that formation would need some tweaking now that Torres is gone. Gerrard's effectiveness behind the front man depended on Torres' pace and his ability to play off the defenders' shoulders. With Carroll as the front man, Gerrard's ability to feed the forward with pentrating passes on the counter attack would largely be redundant as Carroll's simply not going to be making those runs.
Our attack is now going to be all about possession and getting more players into the attacking third as Carroll is likely to hold the ball up rather than play off the defenders' shoulders. What you need from the player behind him is to make quick darting runs throughout the game. While Gerrard is certainly capable of bursting into the box, I think Suarez is far more capable of making those quick darting runs than Gerrard.
I actually think Skully's idea of Gerrard on the 'wing' merits serious consideration. People get put off by the word 'wing' but it'd effectively be a free role on the right. I've also argued in the past that Gerrard is at his absolute best when he's given no role to play. Over the years we've tried to pigeon hole him as a CM, an in-the-hole AM (often because of our desire to compare him, first with Vieira/Keane and then with Lampard) whereas in reality I think he's at his devastating best when he's roaming all over, running at defenders with pace, and getting crosses and shots in from all over. A lot of us point to the 2007-08 season as his best (where he played behind Torres) and while it was his most productive, I've often thought he looked most dangerous in 2005-06 when he played that free role on the right. Or to put it differently, I think the players Gerrard should really be in competition with are Messi and Ronaldo. He's that good in terms of attacking play.
My attacking 6 would thus look like this:
--------Meireles----Spearing
-----Gerrard---Suarez----Kuyt
-----------------Carroll
Once Kuyt is replaced by a proper pacy wing-forward, that line-up will be incredibly dangerous.
I also think this brings the best out of the 4-2-3-1 formation which IMO is the best formation (attacking wise) because it allows for the most efficient use of space in the attacking third. The best attacking line-ups over the past few years have been variations of a 4-2-3-1 with the most paciest and most dangerous players playing free roles on the 'wing', and given that Gerrard is our paciest and most dangerous players, I reckon that's where he should play.
I've seen arguments here about how Gerrard with a 'free role on the right' actually leaves us with no width but I actually think that the 4-2-3-1 formation is by its very nature a compact formation (relying on possession and movement) with most of the width being provided by the full-backs. It's failure, if ever, is down to personnel rather a flaw in the formation itself. In our case, the lack of full-backs with the ability to overlap and a world-class wing-forward (in place of Kuyt).
-------------Reina-------------
Kelly--Carra--Agger--FA/GJ
-----Lucas-------Ming--------
-----------Gerrard------------
--Kuyt---Carroll----Suarez-
[/quote]
I'm agreeable with the personnel. I just think that formation would need some tweaking now that Torres is gone. Gerrard's effectiveness behind the front man depended on Torres' pace and his ability to play off the defenders' shoulders. With Carroll as the front man, Gerrard's ability to feed the forward with pentrating passes on the counter attack would largely be redundant as Carroll's simply not going to be making those runs.
Our attack is now going to be all about possession and getting more players into the attacking third as Carroll is likely to hold the ball up rather than play off the defenders' shoulders. What you need from the player behind him is to make quick darting runs throughout the game. While Gerrard is certainly capable of bursting into the box, I think Suarez is far more capable of making those quick darting runs than Gerrard.
I actually think Skully's idea of Gerrard on the 'wing' merits serious consideration. People get put off by the word 'wing' but it'd effectively be a free role on the right. I've also argued in the past that Gerrard is at his absolute best when he's given no role to play. Over the years we've tried to pigeon hole him as a CM, an in-the-hole AM (often because of our desire to compare him, first with Vieira/Keane and then with Lampard) whereas in reality I think he's at his devastating best when he's roaming all over, running at defenders with pace, and getting crosses and shots in from all over. A lot of us point to the 2007-08 season as his best (where he played behind Torres) and while it was his most productive, I've often thought he looked most dangerous in 2005-06 when he played that free role on the right. Or to put it differently, I think the players Gerrard should really be in competition with are Messi and Ronaldo. He's that good in terms of attacking play.
My attacking 6 would thus look like this:
--------Meireles----Spearing
-----Gerrard---Suarez----Kuyt
-----------------Carroll
Once Kuyt is replaced by a proper pacy wing-forward, that line-up will be incredibly dangerous.
I also think this brings the best out of the 4-2-3-1 formation which IMO is the best formation (attacking wise) because it allows for the most efficient use of space in the attacking third. The best attacking line-ups over the past few years have been variations of a 4-2-3-1 with the most paciest and most dangerous players playing free roles on the 'wing', and given that Gerrard is our paciest and most dangerous players, I reckon that's where he should play.
I've seen arguments here about how Gerrard with a 'free role on the right' actually leaves us with no width but I actually think that the 4-2-3-1 formation is by its very nature a compact formation (relying on possession and movement) with most of the width being provided by the full-backs. It's failure, if ever, is down to personnel rather a flaw in the formation itself. In our case, the lack of full-backs with the ability to overlap and a world-class wing-forward (in place of Kuyt).
