We can't play a 4-2-3-1 with Gerrard anymore. We get overrun too easy in midfield
The Derby: Pre-match
- Thread starter dmishra
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We can't play a 4-2-3-1 with Gerrard anymore. We get overrun too easy in midfield
Both teams in dire form and need a result. I just hope our extra quality pulls us through. This game has all the hallmarks of a draw.
Twitter rumour's that Sturridge will make the bench at best. Hope not true
Well he was never gonna start after 3 weeks out and being made of glass. He'll score the equaliser again at 80odd minutes.
I've got a habit of being off my tits in Manchester whenever this game is played. Fuck sake
You don't know until you see the other side.
James Pearce @JamesPearceEcho 10m
Rodgers: "Daniel responds well to treatment. He is near to fitness. If he doesn't make Saturday he won't be far away after that."
Rodgers: "Daniel responds well to treatment. He is near to fitness. If he doesn't make Saturday he won't be far away after that."
Mig
Manquillo Skrtel Lovren Moreno
Gerrard Lucas Henderson
Suso Balotelli Sterling
Keep Lallana as an impact sub
Manquillo Skrtel Lovren Moreno
Gerrard Lucas Henderson
Suso Balotelli Sterling
Keep Lallana as an impact sub
Fuck that - get Lallana on the pitch! We learnt against West Ham that he is a key player in the way we want to play. Suso not ready to start yet IMO.
BR looks frustrated with Mario.
It was fine when we had the 2 most on-form strikers in the league and we had to find a way to play them both. Not the case anymore.
Either that, or he's demonstrating to Balotelli the required size of Mario's cojones for the Merseyside derby.
-------------------------------Mignolet--------------------
--------------------------Skrtel-----Lovren---------------------
----Manq-------------------------------------------Moreno-------
---------------------Henderson------Gerrard---------------------
---------Suso----------------Lallana-------------------Sterling--
--------------------------------Ballotelli----------------------
I'd be too wary of starting Sturridge in a derby on his first game back. Too important to lose him again.
Given our defence and Gerrard being shit, I think we will lose.
--------------------------Skrtel-----Lovren---------------------
----Manq-------------------------------------------Moreno-------
---------------------Henderson------Gerrard---------------------
---------Suso----------------Lallana-------------------Sterling--
--------------------------------Ballotelli----------------------
I'd be too wary of starting Sturridge in a derby on his first game back. Too important to lose him again.
Given our defence and Gerrard being shit, I think we will lose.
Rodgers striking another irritated pose. "Look, you're here, and the opponent's running behind you here... and you're seeing him run and like... still here. Um... you understanding me?"
Or... play him, rest him for Basel, play him against West Brom, declare phantom strain and miss 2 international games, back after that. Also works.
Agree that's a concern, but what if you altered Henderson's role, and told him to be more disciplined, and instead of trying to be everywhere, focus on owning the centre of the pitch. Essentially doing Gerrards running for him. Like Sissoko did for Alonso when Sissoko was still decent.
Then you get posts questioning why Henderson doesn't play forward passes.
Looks like Coutinho and Henderson are back training, from the photos at the official site. No sign of Sturridge; maybe we're just keeping Martinez guessing. In a sense, that's not a bad thing. There's a few permutations we could field on Saturday depending on who's fit or not, whereas Everton's lineup should be fairly easy to guess - 11 cunts.
Then there's a huge gap between the DMs and AMs and we play hoof ball
This.
The one time Gerrard really found his true place in the side was in that 4-2-3-1 sitting behind Torres. He was absolutely lethal there, and it suited him to the ground. Then Hodgson, Dalglish and Rodgers all turned a blind eye to that and pushed him back into central midfield.
I think that doesn't sit with Rodgers because Gerrard doesn't have the legs and energy to press hard enough anymore to win possession either when defending or for launching an attack. In his first season, Rodgers played Gerrard in Henderson's current position, but the complaint then was that he was letting opponents cut through midfield like a hot knife through butter, especially during transitions from attack to defence. Typical of that was the game away against Arsenal when he lost the ball up field and didn't (or couldn't) make any effort to chase back and regain it, resulting in Cazorla's goal.
That is why I find the suggestion from folks to push Gerrard further up quite puzzling. It's just a transference of the pressure in my opinion - whereas right now his dereliction of duty means the centre backs get it in the neck, him playing further up just opens us up to more (and perhaps more lethal) counter attacks from opponents as he's ineffective as a first line of defence further up the field.
If I'm not wrong, of the 11 goals we've conceded so far, only 2 of them came from counters (one against Ludogorets, one against Boro), whereas we seemed to be regularly at the mercy of those raids in Rodgers' first season.
I think we're at the stage where it is not about shifting him around anymore, but about setting and enforcing expectations with him. If Rodgers isn't doing that for whatever reason, you can shift Gerrard anywhere and all we're doing is transferring the problem from one place to another. For what it's worth, I'd rather him play where he is now than further up, because at least Henderson and Allen / Lallana, plus Sterling or Coutinho (when he's having a good game) provide a good enough shield up front. Gerrard further up probably will just become someone that opponents will exploit again.
I don't think that's 100% right. Gerrard carried Hodgson's team, we would have been even more turgid without him.
Dalglish only really got him after his major injury; he got injured quite soon after Kenny took over. Rodgers had the same problem. And the reason why they played him deeper, is because he has lost almost all his shooting power.
They "turned a blind eye" for a very good reason. And Rodgers moved him deeper again as he wasn't contributing as much up front.
No it isn't... Allen is a bloody good player who, after a rough start is beginning to show us what he brings to the team. We're absolutely better with him in the side. It's got nothing to do with anything other than that.
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