I FINALLY got the hang of the Guardian tactical chalkboard thing this week. A gift from The Anfield Wrap’s very own Neil Atkinson. It feels like a game changer. I need never leave the homestead again. This Chalkboard is now the font of all (my) knowledge. One need only conjure an ill thought-out theory, twiddle with a few variables on the chalkboard template, and before one can say ‘Jordan Henderson completes more passes and makes more interceptions than the naked eye alone reveals’, it does its myriad calculations and vindicates any old footballing cod science. Holy fuck.
Armed and dangerous, I set forth on a half-baked theory testing quest. Lately I’ve had this feeling on me that the Dalglish/Clarke tactical axis have begun to see the tandem of Liverpool forwards Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez in a whole new light. The received wisdom was that one best uses Carroll as a battering ram of a number nine – the big man up top, more literally than metaphorically ‘on the shoulder’ of the last defender, ready and able to fling himself at the succession of crosses to order that Comolli spent over £50m acquiring this summer.
Likewise, Luis Suarez, the man bought to be the artistic foil to Carroll’s blunter intent, was initially visualised as more of a David Silva like playmaker, dropping off the vanguard of the attack, picking up the opportunities between the lines or making use of space on the flanks. Many a 4-2-3-1 was posited, in pre-season conjectures, with Suarez almost always a selection in the second attacking tier’s bank of three.
What no man reckoned on was what we tentatively saw signs of amidst the wreckage at White Hart Lane and most definitely bore witness to at home to Wolves and also again in last weekend’s derby victory. Rather than assuming the role as the ‘reference point’ of the attack, as its most advanced proponent, Carroll was instead cast in something of a supporting role to the man many thought would in fact supply his meat and drink, Luis Suarez.
Be they huddled in snugs of pubs, around microphones podcasting, posting on forums, or writing for mighty media organs, football people everywhere have all been discussing Liverpool FC’s recruitment drive over the summer almost entirely within the context of answering one pivotal question: ‘So, who’s getting wide to knock those crosses in for big Andy Carroll to head in?’.
From a time before chalkboards
Then there’s the simplifying of Kenny and co’s tactical masterplan to ‘Get it wide. Cross it. Big lump heads it in. 3 points. Go home.’ There is the further implied insult not only to Andy Carroll’s range of attributes as a footballer, but also to Luis Suarez, viewed not as the goal machine that his CV indicates he actually is, but merely as the artful assisting servant to the designated target man.
Amidst the debris and recriminations emanating from all of the red persuasion after the massacre at the Lane two weeks ago, was the odd ‘..and what the fuck was Dalglish doing playing Andy Carroll on the wings for?’. The same criticism was not echoed a week later in victory over Wolves, though Carroll was again to be seen making occasional (and this time effective) forays into wide positions.
Carroll was not suddenly becoming a winger, though, as his role appeared a much more diverse one than hitherto visualised by the majority. The mainstay of his new game seemed to be one of dropping off the front into those sacred areas ‘between the lines’ normally only reserved for the physically diminutive and fleet of mind and foot.
Not that we are witnessing his reinvention as a Geordie Jari Litmanen exactly, because his overall performance was more reminiscent in range and dimension of Emile Heskey’s stylings during his one proper season at Liverpool (2000/2001 season). For one year only Emile was an unplayable composite machine of a forward. He’d hold up the play with that Velcro chest of his, he’d flick it on with his head, he’d attack crosses, he’d run the channels and get vicious shots away, or he’d use his pace and strength out wide to get behind defences and supply others – such a tragedy for Houllier’s LFC that some mental obstruction appeared to prevent Heskey from ever reprising that one great season.
Carroll’s more aquiline impression of Heskey was not the only retro feature of Liverpool’s attacking play in the Wolves match. Suarez in his very own slippery style very much aped the movement and intent of (whisper it) Michael Owen in his 1999-2003 pomp. If Carroll was the forward dropping deep, primed for the flick on, then Suarez was assuming the Ian Rush/Michael Owen position on the toes of the last defender, ready to utilise pace and guile to escape into those prized positions where the offside trap has failed and that last tango between striker and goal keeper is danced.
Watching the YouTube show reels of Carroll at Newcastle there is plenty of evidence of him profiting from a deeper role. The boy can whip a cross in for sure (we saw a peach against Wolves), and his aerial prowess lends itself to the flicking-on of the ball and the knocking over of his marker. By working more outside the box he is also ideally placed to be coming onto the sort of balls that he can despatch with venom back in the direction of the goal with interest, as witnessed in the Anfield demolition of Man City last season with that mighty bludgeon of a 20 yarder to open the scoring.
For Suarez the Owen role is heaven sent. He has the freedom to run where he likes, improvise all over the shop, and use his pace where it’s most effective. Suarez is clearly a different player to Owen but there are echoes of the fallen hero’s golden age in Luis’ magnetic attraction to the goal and unquenchable thirst for getting in behind defences.
The 4-2-3-1 formation (or 4-5-1 in old money) is the current strategy du jour sported by fashion conscious coaches the world over. TV tactics board pundits and football video gamers covert it even more. 4231 looks particularly lovely laid out on a marked up green board because it gives the impression that your team is setting up with 4 attackers, which feels slick, expansive and sexy.
The truth is 4231 is not inherently a statement of free flowing attacking intent. It is a hark back to a more Italianate tactical age where defence, simplisitically speaking, was always revered as the best form of attack. 4231 is not much more, nor less, than what used to be routinely spoken of as a 451, which in turn was a more cautious take on a 442.
The difference between 442 and 451? In the 451 (or 4231) the second striker often isn’t (a striker that is). He’s what we’re now calling a Tresquartista, or attacking midfielder, in common parlance. To be fair to modern innovation, there is a nuance with 4231 that differs from 451. The older system sought primarily to pack the midfield and even-out any overly testing contest. The 4231 also starts from this conservative premise, but by (theoretically) committing more attack minded players to the midfield flank positions it tells itself (or its tactical proponents at any rate) that it is ideally geared towards switching congested midfield defense into all out 4 pronged attack. In reality, the older fashioned 451 set ups had this in mind too, but just didn’t boast about it quite so much.
In looking to modern Liverpool and an intended 4231, most experts were tending to see LFC setting up with Carroll as the ‘1’, supported from deeper positions by Suarez and 2 wide men. The problem with this is that in 451’s (sorry, 4231’s) most coaches expect that when the ball is lost that the ‘attacking 3’ behind the main striker drop back to add numbers into a 5 man midfield.
Fine in theory, but that blunts the goal threat of a player like Luis Suarez if cast in the midfield/attack supporting role (behind the single striker). The system is asking him to do too much in areas of the pitch where he isn’t going to be hurting teams. In the second tier of 3 (in a 4231) he’s too often stuck behind the ball getting stuck into midfield battles that really shouldn’t be his affair.
During this weekend’s derby it was clear that Kenny had viewed the evidence of the Wolves game as being a marker towards the profitability in pairing Suarez and Carroll in the more traditional little ’n’ large juxtaposition once again. It clearly is an experiment worth repeating, but whether it’s utilised in a 442 (or the 433 variant) or with Carroll effectively making up one of 3 behind Suarez as the ‘1’ (in a 4231) will depend on the demands of the varying tests that lie ahead.
The ‘Heatmaps’ on those Guardian chalkboards are showing, post Everton, that Kenny has perhaps altered the close season question of choice from ‘who will Liverpool use to supply Andy Carroll?’, to ‘how will Andy carroll and others best service Luis Suarez?’.
The emerging truth is that it is possible that we’ve all been looking in the wrong direction, and that Dalglish may just have pulled off something of a blissfully simple tactical masterstroke that could serve to not only take the pressure off Carroll but also to correctly harness the squad’s most potent attacking instrument, Suarez. Either way, the evidence from the Wolves game and again at Goodison hints that with the Luis-Carroll combo, Liverpool could well be through the looking glass and heading towards Champions League qualifying wonderland.
Superb again Rob. Really enjoy reading your articles.
Superb piece. I remember Carroll giving united hell last season for Newcastle by having the ball sent out to the channels for him and he was surprisingly good in the challenge against spurs.
good stuff again
I quite like the article, but the facts show the trurh, IMO even after the latest Andy Carroll goal, we look better without him in a team. Bellamy and Gerrard obviously improved the team when they made the addition, but there vision and speed, made the difference when needed, something we hadn’t seen before. Suarez will work in any position, as will Gerrard, that’s what top players are like. We should never have to pigeon hole a top player if they are good enough, they find their own place.
Nicely written Rob and I have to give it to you, it’s a presuasive piece
Carroll also played “in the hole” in his best game for us so far, vs Man City last season, scored a couple too if i remember correctly
I honestly think that kenny et al (and many other scouts etc) didnt think suarez would be able to lead the line in the premiership or certainly not as effectively as he has done. carrols injury last season put suarez into that role and he excelled. it looks like gerrard playing inbehind suarez could be a dream pairing which could hit the height of the torres/gerrard link up. there were also signs that gerrards vision could help carrol aswell! The main plus is that we have a very strong bench now so we can change games with substitutions and also have depth for injuries and competition for places.
Too many people get obsessed with what ‘our best 11’ is. This changes continuously on players form, training, opposition etc. I’m just happy that we have quality players fighting to get into the 11. from the derby starting 11 we have gerrard, bellemy, johnson, coates, maxi, aurelio, agger, spearing, robinson, flanagan all capable to play in the first 11.
I do like the article and writing style in many ways but for me it contains a fundamental flaw in that it seems to presume that Andy Carroll simply has to be a ‘shoe-in’ start. And so it also fails to address what I see as the biggest conundrum surrounding Andy Carroll which the poster Paul cites in his response.
Namely why the hell play him from the start – judged on his current performance levels and the effect his playing has on the overall team play – when the team as a whole performs at an altogether different and better level with a mobile player in his place.
Generally with Kuyt alongside Suarez last season the away game at Fulham and the home game to United and this season again at home to Bolton and away to Brighton [first half] we have looked at times quite sensational with our high pressing, passing and moving and all round fluidity.
Contrast those overall team performances with the performances in games where Kenny has shoehorned Andy into the front role. Spurs at home at the end of last season was perhaps the most stark example that the top level game needs infinitely more from its front man than big Andy was able to show. There has been marked improvement from him this season but the fact remains quite stark – when he’s in the side there is a quite fundamental drop in the overall team performance and in the playing style required to procure the sort of high level team performances we crave.
Integrated gradually more organically into the mix I’m sure Andy will prove in good time to be a major bludgeoning assett to the club. At the moment, however, his first choice inclusion diminishes our level from what our best side is capable of.
It’s why I dread arriving at the ground next saturday to find that Kenny is still hellbent on shoehorning his big money signing into the fray no matter what.
In many ways I feel the same sort of ‘shoe in’ concerns over Jordan Henderson, albeit that in a side with the mobile pressing front pair his ‘learning curve’ limitations have had far less of an adverse effect on the team performance as a whole.
To that I would say that Kenny probably sees Carroll and Henderson as lads with great potential. Not for later this season/next season but right now. He also sees that there are many new players who need time to gel and why not try to incorporate them now? The time they get to play in the 1st eleven now will pay off but fans may think differently than Kenny when. I think patience is the key here.
They are the future Comolli and Kenny believes in, but they cannot fulfil those dreams without playing time. Right now.
I’m sure they do see those two as an important part of our future. And I sincerely pray they are right. But are you honestly comfortable with team performances that include them being so far below the level that they have proved to have been without them?
Good piece, well written (and that’s from a blue) but it misses a fundamental reason for playing in 4 lines rather than 3. In a 4 line system the striker(s) is far less isolated than traditional 3, ps think it’s tre not tresquartista and wouldn’t describe as attacking midfielder, much more suited to describing Totti or Del Piero type player
Fascinating article, well written and well argued. But…I’m not sure I agree!
Carroll is nowhere near as mobile as Heskey, doesn’t have the pace to go past people on the channels and IMO is far better as a ‘traditional’ centre forward, getting on the end of crosses. He’s nearer to an Aldridge than a Heskey and I don’t think his build-up play is good enough for him to play in a deeper role. Suarez is also at his best on one flank, where he can cut inside or beat his man on the outside – his partnership with Kuyt, all intelligent movement and willing running, is far more effective at the moment than his partnership with AC. But Carroll’s best game for us came against man City, when he did play up front with Suarez dancing around either side of him.
, While Carroll lacks the pace to really get in behind, he has the power to batter defenders, is great at getting on the end of crosses and is arguabbly the best natural finisher at the club – though I base this on his time at Newcastle rather than his record for us. Time may prove me wrong, but I don’t think he has the craft to become a Ray Kennedy, better in a deeper role than up front.
Our best attacking strategy at the moment is swift passing, great movement, the guile of Suarez and the ability of him, Downing and Bellamy to get behind defences.
I agree with the poster who said that at the moment, we look a better team without AC, and also with the poster who said he and Henderson were bought for their potential. KD may feel he has to play a guy he paid £35m for, but I don’t think he currently merits an automatic place – and certainly not in a sort of inside forward role that I think is unsuited to his game. It might work given time, but I honestly can’t see it – if he plays, he will do better IMO flanked by Suarez and Downing, with Kuyt and Bellamy as options from the bench,
As long as I’m seeing improvement, I’m willing to wait for the team to “gel” properly. I think we’ve been seeing signs of improvement the last few weeks.
Good piece!
The partnership to me is starting to resemble a berbatov-keane, where many people thought keane would come deep to collect the ball but infact he would be the one closest to the goal.
Fantastic article Rob….made me think about things a little differently. I think you are spot on about Suarez being the figurehead and Carroll (when he plays him) being in a more supportive role – flick ons, knocks downs, lay off etc.
My biggest concern in the team is the continual choice of Henderson over Kuyt. For me, Kuyt has to play and Henderson has to prove his place in the team. We can’t afford to have passengers – I don’t mean he’s not trying or anything but I can’t honestly think of many good things that he does in each game. I believe in him for the future but he has to develop and take his chances….
Keep up the great work fellas…
Neil
nice piece. well reasoned, well thought out and offering some insight. you can’t ask for much more than that.
re carroll its interesting that we bought what appears to be a big old fashioned number 9 when the pace setters – barca – play with a false 9.
we do now have the personnel to play and pass with pace on the attack and i think that suarez emergence as a more complete striker does mean that we’re going to take a while to settle on our ideal line up.
i can’t quite get my head round the idea of carroll playing in the middle of the three behind suarez but i do like the idea of the front four rotating position and constantly posing different questions of the opposition defence.
i also like that we have genuine squad options something that we definitely didn’t seem to have under hodgson.
Formations are neutral. Balance determines attacking intent. You can have a defensive 3-3-4 if the balance is cautious enough.
Notwithstanding that dogmatic outburst, a very enjoyable read yet again Rob. I’m a fan. :-)
I hope he uses Carroll as Jose used Eto with Diego Milito during their champions league winning season, looking to bring him into the D from Left when during good crosses. Suarez is doing a great job as front ‘1’, let us not experiment with that.