Tactics

[keniget]

We've not been doing ourselves any favours, have we?

When you're at home, dominating possession with percentages approaching near enough 70% and basically playing a game of attack vs defence, it's not particularly encouraging when:

- you're playing a lone striker

- your midfielders struggle to show any kind of movement or create numbers in the box

- you're relying on a CB (Skrtel) to provide an attacking outlet on the right wing largely because you're playing three at the back

The main issue we have of course is down to playing personnel not being good enough, but still. It's been a frustrating to see how Kenny has set the team up times.

 

[keniget]

Also - every team knows exactly how to line up against us at home now and can be reasonably confident that their approach will gain them a point.

Fucking outrageous.

 

[spider-Neil]

there is a difference between dominanting a side and mearly keeping possession because they are happy to let you have the ball

 

[Frogfish]

Sorry but Kenny just isn't getting this, we need to commit to attack rather than retaining possession. I'd prefer us to lose the odd match than to play out tepid home draw after tepid home draw. What 6 home draws ? Win 3 and lose 3 and we're still 3 points better off.

 

[Modo]

Henderson, Downing, Carroll, Kuyt equals zero creativity.

 

[Hansern]

Taking off a winger when you put Carroll on is just bizzarre. Sadly this game was just thrown away.
Kuyt should not be anywhere near the first team.

 

[Modo]

"We score more goals without Suarez"

 

[spider-Neil]

we are so fucking slooooooooooooooooow.
how many times did we get behind them?
how many times did we stretch them?
how many times did they look uncomfortable?

okay that sounds really smutty

 

[spider-Neil]

[quote author=Modo link=topic=48302.msg1464389#msg1464389 date=1326560874]
"We score more goals without Suarez"
[/quote]

hey, blame foxy, he said it 😉

 

[Y1]

[quote author=Frogfish link=topic=48302.msg1464376#msg1464376 date=1326560446]
Sorry but Kenny just isn't getting this, we need to commit to attack rather than retaining possession. I'd prefer us to lose the odd match than to play out tepid home draw after tepid home draw. What 6 home draws ? Win 3 and lose 3 and we're still 3 points better off.
[/quote]

Reminds me of one of Rafa's year in charge where we drew so many games. Hopefully the next year will be good like Rafa's following year.

 

[HC]

We'll do VERY well to finish 5th let alone 4th based on that performance.

We showed more ability in the first 20 minutes of the City game than we did in the entirety of the Stoke match.

 

[the_khl]

Todays game was lost (drawn) even before it started.

Wrong tactics and personnel in my opinion.

 

[spider-Neil]

it's all about ensuring we give nothing away on the counter attack hence the the reluctance for people to get forwards and join the player with ball. there was an instance when enrique had the ball and instead of henderson charging as head of him to give him an option he tucked behind him in case enrique lost the ball. well it worked, another clean sheet. yay.

 

[spider-Neil]

I will be fair to kenny thought in the beginning of the season we were creating loads of chances and just not finishing them, now we are not een creating the chances. toothless with regards to creating chances and finishing them.

 

[mr_moo]

Kenny's tactics have generally been poor all season. It's now starting to really piss me off, and my patience with him is starting to wear off, despite all the history!

 

[Hansern]

No reason we couldt have played with 4 at the back today.

 

[hmmmmm1]

To be fair to KD, he has shown great tactical nous when beating the likes of City and Chelsea.

Its more to do with personnel, we pissed our money up the wall when we still cant beat stoke at home after spending 100 million.

KD BIG signings have been really poor and that is what ultimately costs a manager his job.

We have fortunate this season that league has been so poor that its given us hope we can claim 4th when we cant win our home games when we expected to attack

 

[Markeh]

[quote author=Hansern link=topic=48302.msg1464446#msg1464446 date=1326566502]
No reason we couldt have played with 4 at the back today.
[/quote]

Kenny clearly doesn't like adam and gerrard together in a center midfield 3 so the 3 centrebacks were probably compensation for that. The only positive is that they were just as likely to score as us :-\

 

[gkmacca]

[quote author=Frogfish link=topic=48302.msg1464376#msg1464376 date=1326560446]
Sorry but Kenny just isn't getting this, we need to commit to attack rather than retaining possession. I'd prefer us to lose the odd match than to play out tepid home draw after tepid home draw. What 6 home draws ? Win 3 and lose 3 and we're still 3 points better off.
[/quote]

I just don't believe Kenny isn't 'getting it'. You only have to look at Fulham last season, when players were bombing into the box like, well, since Kenny was last in charge, to see what he wants. His reaction every time we scored was such a relief after years of negative tactics. What he thinks we can currently do, however, is another matter, and that's obviously open to debate, and I appreciate the frustration. But I don't believe he's been 'Raffad'.

 

[keniget]

Which makes our current predicament all the more baffling. I'm still struggling to understand how we've ended up in this situation given last season.

We really made a mess of things in the summer it would seem and we're struggling to paper over the cracks now.

 

[Modo]

[quote author=gkmacca link=topic=48302.msg1464501#msg1464501 date=1326586914]
[quote author=Frogfish link=topic=48302.msg1464376#msg1464376 date=1326560446]
Sorry but Kenny just isn't getting this, we need to commit to attack rather than retaining possession. I'd prefer us to lose the odd match than to play out tepid home draw after tepid home draw. What 6 home draws ? Win 3 and lose 3 and we're still 3 points better off.
[/quote]

I just don't believe Kenny isn't 'getting it'. You only have to look at Fulham last season, when players were bombing into the box like, well, since Kenny was last in charge, to see what he wants. His reaction every time we scored was such a relief after years of negative tactics. What he thinks we can currently do, however, is another matter, and that's obviously open to debate, and I appreciate the frustration. But I don't believe he's been 'Raffad'.
[/quote]
I really hope Kenny is "getting it", but persisting with non contributing players like Henderson, Downing, Carroll and Kuyt to some extent kinda makes me think the opposite.
We just lost Suarez and if it hasn't struck him yet that he's our main creative outlet and that he needs help, it would be worrying.
I really believe that we are two class signings away from being a premiership contender. I also believe that players like Henderson and Carroll will improve from having these those type of players around.
So I'm not advocating selling Carroll nor Henderson.
I gave up on Downing in October and Kuyt isn't performing, at all.

 

[Wizardry]

[quote author=keniget link=topic=48302.msg1464505#msg1464505 date=1326587670]
Which makes our current predicament all the more baffling. I'm still struggling to understand how we've ended up in this situation given last season.

We really made a mess of things in the summer it would seem and we're struggling to paper over the cracks now.
[/quote]

Yeah, that's the big question in my mind. What happened over the summer and the first half of the season. Adding Downing, Adam, Bellamy and Henderson shouldn't have taken us backwards as a team.

There must be a combination of factors; I think Suarez has suffered from his exertions in South America, we lost some movement and options with Ming, Gerrard has hardly played..... um, that's about it for clear reasons.

Does that justify the difference in performance levels? Probably not. I think Kenny was a little too cautious in the early part of the season but we should, really, be playing well now. When we lost the title to Arsenal that year I - and a lot of others - really felt that Kenny was overly cautious through much of the season and, particularly, that last game. Sounds trite when you come within goal difference of the title but I still thought we had comfortably a better team that season which played within themselves to some extent.

I hope this isn't a characteristic which will be a hallmark of his managerial style. Knowing exactly who his choices were would probably give us a better idea of what he's like and how he's going to play. The pass and move has been an enormous relief and a huge step in the right direction but we don't have the spear up front to take advantage.

His comments in the media that he's happy and we're happy with what we have are not enouraging cause we obviously need someone soon.

 

[RedZeppelin]

the thing i really don't get is when the team lineup came out , if we all had concerns/fears then why the fuck didn't the management have the same and what the fuck did they think was going to happen ? What was the plan with the tactics ? It ended up exactly as lots thought the moment they saw the lineup ...no goals . Again if us fuckwits can see it why can't they ?

 

[Ryan]

He's been as fucking awfully tactically inept more often than he's been spot on, and he's bought worse players for more money than any manager in our history.

On the plus side he's really good and sarcastic in press conferences and he celebrates our goals with such passion.

So y'know it's pretty much a dead heat in the pros/cons battle.

 

[Farkmaster]

[quote author=Ryan link=topic=48302.msg1464548#msg1464548 date=1326608755]
He's been as fucking awfully tactically inept more often than he's been spot on, and he's bought worse players for more money than any manager in our history.

On the plus side he's really good and sarcastic in press conferences and he celebrates our goals with such passion.

So y'know it's pretty much a dead heat in the pros/cons battle.
[/quote]


You miss the chalk board, don't you?

 

[Ryan]

Ha. I might take it back up again if I'm bored enough. It'd make a welcome change for everyone from Spider's efforts anyway

 

[Farkmaster]

I like the way we decided that our shit low percentage crossing play wasn't working out, so we'd try the same with balls along the ground. I don't know how to stretch that out to a feature though.

 

[Woland]

How come being Liverpool manager always fucks people in the head?

What formation was that? Was it 5-4-1 or 3-7-0 or what? And why did Dalglish think it was a good time to invent a new one?

The only thing I can think of is ego. You must have a massive ego to change a naturally balanced formation for a new one that everyone else in the fucking ground can see is never going to produce goals. To stick with hopeless wankers likes Downing and Henderson because you bought them and Maxi isn't even on the bench.

Fucking wank.

 

[doctor_mac]

It was the same formation that worked to good effect last season at home to Stoke, so I don't think it was that innovatory or surprising that he opted for it.

 

[Woland]

Wow, we've got a special formation for playing Stoke at home - with a fifty percent success rate? Awesome.