But we were so obviously playing 4-2-3-1 in the second half with Coutinho in the middle when Henderson came on. As was the case in other games during preseason and towards the end of the season.
Is Rodgers making the same mistake?
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Not saying anyone's wrong of course, but Carra's comments the other day confirmed my feelings about where Coutinho would excell at.
I'm hoping either Suarez or his replacement takes the role on the left.
I'm hoping either Suarez or his replacement takes the role on the left.
Carra said over the weekend that Gerrard, Lucas and Allen would be the midfield 3.
It does look as though we're playing 4-2-3-1 a lot of the time though. The fact that we can usually identify a midfielder as someone playing further forward doesn't really point to a proper 4-3-3. And I agree with your earlier post - I'd like to see a more compact midfield that offers our players more in terms of passing options.
I've said over the course of the summer that we need a playmaker to really make this side tick and that Gerrard isn't it. The odd thing is that so far Rodgers in pre-season doesn't seem to see Allen as that player either, which again makes me question why he bought the guy because if he's not playing in that kind of role he's not adding a whole lot.
I don't understand why Gerrard's not playing the more advanced of the 3. It makes no sense to me.
Maybe he's said he can't play that marauding attacking role anymore and wants to sit a bit deeper to preserve playing time, etc. Scholes-esque I guess.
It's weird.
During the game at the weekend Allen was far from isolated. Our attacking plan consisted solely of our wide men moving inside to make space for the full backs to run into.
The problem for Allen was his touch and control aren't good enough for him to play that role against a team who press us. Making that a lot worse is the fact that we have Gerrard and Lucas playing behind him, and neither of them have any idea what to do in those circumstances.
If this is how we're lining up it'll be a very long season.
The problem for Allen was his touch and control aren't good enough for him to play that role against a team who press us. Making that a lot worse is the fact that we have Gerrard and Lucas playing behind him, and neither of them have any idea what to do in those circumstances.
If this is how we're lining up it'll be a very long season.
The only reason I can think stevie doesn't play as the am is that making surging runs & possibly being tempted to put his foot properly through the ball a lot more often are an injury risk.
I noticed against celtic he wound up a shot from 30 yards out then slowed it down a bit & shaped his foot to hit a hard side footed drive. Imo stevie doesn't do that naturally, he either has a mental block following those two dangerous injuries or a physical side effect following them.
Allen playing up there is annoying, cos he can control the tempo more effectively than stevie can. There's no reason stevie can't learn to control the pace of the game though, he has more than enough of the skills, he has learnt to temper his runs forward, all he needs do is slow the game down by stepping on it occasionally & keeping the ball, which I daresay he can do better than anyone else in our squad.
I noticed against celtic he wound up a shot from 30 yards out then slowed it down a bit & shaped his foot to hit a hard side footed drive. Imo stevie doesn't do that naturally, he either has a mental block following those two dangerous injuries or a physical side effect following them.
Allen playing up there is annoying, cos he can control the tempo more effectively than stevie can. There's no reason stevie can't learn to control the pace of the game though, he has more than enough of the skills, he has learnt to temper his runs forward, all he needs do is slow the game down by stepping on it occasionally & keeping the ball, which I daresay he can do better than anyone else in our squad.
Rodgers seems to think that because he plays a short passing game, he can play that role, linking up the play, passing the ball in nice triangles and generally getting involved. What he lacks is any sort of incisiveness and standout quality to make his position there worth it. He doesn't have the eye for an instinctive first time ball, he doesn't have the pace or agility to get in behind players (or indeed take them on) and he isn't a clinical enough finisher to guarantee goals.
Coutinho would be the best option even if that means altering the set up slightly, the 433 thing is neither here nor there, you incorporate your best players into a setup in their best positions. I do like the roaming from the left idea, it worked for Gerrard when he was on the right and he had one of his most productive seasons there, but he worked equally (if not better) when pushed in behind Torres, so this suggestion that he wouldn't find space is bollocks, we don't need three players who are going to defend to the death in the middle. It's really just inadvertently excusing the fact that the other combinations that make up the central two don't work. Lucas isn't consistent enough, we lack athleticism, Henderson has done well but is quite obviously behind Allen (unjustifiably) and Gerrard still has that instinct to roam and not hold his position. It's hard to drop Gerrard, but we need to be looking at getting the best from him and Coutinho and that's where a more dynamic midfielder would have benefited us all round.
As others have said, it's not a rigid 433, so there's no reason why we couldn't play Coutinho at the point of the three, it seems to me the reluctance to play him there is really a symptom of our problems in the two central positions.
He's played that 4-3-3 the whole way through pre-season so my guess is he's sticking with it. And as mentioned earlier, playing Coutinho at the head of that midfield 3 is ridiculous.
Don't agree with the highlighted bit. IMO Coutinho is a very special talent indeed. He may or may not end up as good as either of those other two but I certainly wouldn't yet write off the chances of that happening.
Note that my next line explains that this is in relation to playing out wide.
I'd rather pick and choose when to play Coutinho centrally as we did last season. It's a difficult role to excel in and it's perhaps easy to forget that Coutinho has only been playing in England 6 months. He will go through a rough patch no doubt at some point and the opposotion will get a better measure of how to defend against him. Starting out wide left gives him more freedom and also less responsibility.
At the weekend when Allen went off Coutinho played in the middle and it made us much better. Poor Hendo got shunted out to the left.
If we had any decent midfielders it wouldn't be difficult to drop Gerrard
Yeah. I've also been hoping all season that we buy someone like Eriksen.
Rodgers clearly has a blind-spot insofar as the central midfield personnel is concerned, and I can't see him addressing it.
He does seem to be in the market for an AM, and if we are doing that, I'd rather we signed someone like Eriksen rather than Mkhitaryan i.e. someone who can also drop deep and do some playmaking.
Rodgers clearly has a blind-spot insofar as the central midfield personnel is concerned, and I can't see him addressing it.
He does seem to be in the market for an AM, and if we are doing that, I'd rather we signed someone like Eriksen rather than Mkhitaryan i.e. someone who can also drop deep and do some playmaking.
Well as happy as I would be with Coutinho being played centrally, it would mean we'd have to get a player of at least similar quality to replace him on the left.
We expect too much from Johnson and Enrique and get disappointed when they are unable to take the match to the opposition.
I think we pass it to them too much. Fullbacks should be supporting the attack and not be the attack imo.
Allen is out of his depth at the tip of the midfield 3. He lacks the dynamism and finishing to be a success there. Gerrard should be playing there but I'm not sure that he has the legs for it now. Lucas is good at breaking up play but is too isolated and his passes lack pace. He needs to speed up his game.
Coutinho is the best bet at AM tucking in behind Sturridge. If only we can get quick goal scoring wingers into the team, it will make us very dangerous going forward.
Coutinho is the best bet at AM tucking in behind Sturridge. If only we can get quick goal scoring wingers into the team, it will make us very dangerous going forward.
Suarez isn't too bad.
R
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more on that quote from rodgers .
Maybe I'm tactically naive, but I like Rodgers quotes, I want an attacking four in front of Lucas and Gerrard. People underestimate the shift Coutinho does as well, he works very hard defensively. I just think in that position, his touch and speed of thought makes him perfect, and with two dangerous wingers each side of him, I think we'll be brilliant going forward.
Its strange that he has allen playing there considering he didn't play there for swansea. He played in the gerrard role next to leon britton with siggy furthest forward of the 3. Either way he and hendo aren't good enough for that role and we desperately need better as well as replacing lucas.
Im really hoping we play 4-2-3-1 as we seem to have better balance that way.
Im really hoping we play 4-2-3-1 as we seem to have better balance that way.
I'd feel happy with it if we had someone better than Lucas next to gerrard.
In our current squad at any rate, Allen's the man for that role, as dantes and Ross have said. He did do well there and I'd like to see it given another go.
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