Many Liverpool fans have little interest in the England side.
The jingoism, lack of perspective, media cheerleading and dread presence of John Terry all conspire to make Ingerlund a pretty unappealing proposition.
Among the many things that have made me proud to live in Liverpool down the years has been the relative lack of plastic flags on cars during major tournaments.
I used to spend quite a lot of my time in Shropshire, where every second summer it seemed the region’s Vauxhall Vectra drivers were heading en masse to some modern-day Nuremberg rally just behind the Asda in Telford.
Sometimes, though, it might be worth watching England. Particularly when our players are involved.
It doesn’t have to mean becoming a typical facepainted Carling drinker, scrutinising each player to see who sings the anthem most heartily and tutting at those too busy concentrating on an international football match or something.
It can be done casually, diffidently, from the corner of an eye beneath an archly raised eyebrow. I watched England v Ghana in March with 90 minutes’ worth of Springsteen on the headphones as what you might call an Andy Townsend-cancelling measure. Worked a treat.
Who knows how Kenny Dalglish might have chosen to take it in. I’m thinking with some commercial but credible vintage soul and a massive bag of Skittles.
Hopefully neither the Chi-lites nor the inevitable frantic search for the last purple one put Kenny off one of the most instructive games in recent England history.
Freed from the 4-4-2 which had left England looking both monumentally immobile and perilously fragile, like a hated dictator’s statue in the wake of revolution, the side looked mildly more interesting in a looser 4-3-3.
Most pertinent for LFC is that two thirds of that second three was made up of players now wearing red.
With Andy Carroll as the nominal fulcrum, Stewart Downing and Ashley Young acted as flexible inside forwards offering both width and penetration.
Carroll, supplied by Downing, opened the scoring with the kind of murderous drive which so surprised Joe Hart in the Manchester City match last season. In my version he did it just as Bruce was on about six-inch valleys in the middle of his skull. Your experience may have differed.
Downing’s assist was among several telling, thoughtful contributions from a player named man of the match and praised pretty much unanimously in the next morning’s press reports.
Performances like this on the international stage must have played a part in convincing Dalglish and Damien Comolli to make Downing Liverpool’s biggest summer acquisition.
Since moving to Anfield, though, the former Villa man has been employed mostly on the left of a midfield four, occasionally switching to the right but always with a winger’s brief rather than that of a genuine forward.
It’s going too far to base our entire tactical approach on one game, but against Ghana Downing flourished on the right of a three-man attack. Carroll thrived to his left. And how many of Luis Suarez’s Liverpool goals so far have involved work in the inside left channel?
A front three of Suarez, Carroll and Downing appears to solve a number of problems. With Downing on the left but no genuine wide man to provide a counter-balance on the other flank, the 4-4-2 looks lopsided. It also leaves a two-man midfield which many would argue leaves Charlie Adam exposed.
A genuine 4-3-3 might encourage Liverpool to play more between the lines, and a narrow midfield of Lucas and Henderson or Spearing protecting a slightly more advanced Adam makes a certain amount of sense.
All this is assuming Steven Gerrard is still some way short of a run of games, although he could arguably perform well in any of the midfield roles or even as one of the inside forwards.
While it produced a significantly more enjoyable England performance in one of the most entertaining friendlies you’re ever likely to see, Fabio Capello has shied away from adopting 4-3-3 in its entirety, probably because it also left holes at the back and exposed an inexperienced defence.
It might not always be the best option. It should be part of a suite of possibilities. But to get the best out of Downing in particular, Dalglish may want to dig out the DVD of the Ghana clash and a copy of this.
@steve_graves
Nice article mate. As an Irishman I always find it a little bit sad how the southern English xenophobes have hijacked the England team as their own. Equally as sad – the “were scouse not English” camp are deprived of following their national team. Wanting England to win is almost like feeling dirty in some kind of way. *runs to shower* Did it all start during the Thatcher era? Or is it much deeper and more engrained than that?
It’s also clear that the 4-4-2 for us is not working. It’s way too rigid. And as you’ve pointed out with Charlie Adam in the central position of 2 man central midfield it leaves us exposed sometimes as he is not the most mobile of players. Something I was worried about before the season started. I’ve always felt we’ve played our best football under Kenny (in this stint as manager) when we’ve played a more fluid attacking style. 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-1-3-1 or 4-3-3 is a system that suits our players better. As a 4-2-3-1 Carroll can be the focal point and buzz in and around the opposition centre halts. He’s big enough to keep both of them occupied. With Suarez immediately behind and Stevie and Downing either side of Suarez in that 3 it gives us a scarily mobile front attacking 4. Gerrard, Downing and Suarez are all comfortable playing them roles so I don’t think it would be too much of a change for them.
It’s definitely worth trying. Especially at home were we’ve struggled to take our chances.
Hehehe, enjoyed the “Andy Townsend-cancelling measure”.
4-3-3 is fine as long as you have a midfield general who can mash everything that comes near, and do so for most of the game (not sure if Adam can be that guy).
You have to take risks to win big. If Liverpool KNOW that they have the scoring power up front (and it is increased greatly by playing 4-3-3), then you just have to bank on scoring more than the opposition.
If the defence is near to rock solid, supplemented by the aforementioned god-like holding midfielder then the likelihood is you will come out on top, but everyone needs to play their part, holes or no holes.
Fitness is key, I would suggest, and I am still unsure about the fitness of Adam.If SuperStevie gets back to form for xmas then we are in with a shout of 4th.
I agree with you that it’s time to get Downing on the right. He’s pretty good at crosses with his right foot and that’s where loads of assists came for Villa last season. The problem with him on the left is that he is pretty much useless when you play on his outside shoulder, and I think other clubs have caught onto this. He can’t cut in to his right. Stewart and Enrique looked solid enough in the first few games, but their chemistry has deteriorated to nothing since August. They have zero and it seems to be worsening.
Something people don’t seem to be talking about is Kuyt dropping off. He hasn’t looked good this year and hasn’t produced. He barely got any shots off playing up top with Luisito in a 4-4-2 and hasn’t done much of anything on the right. Our right side has let us down in almost every match.
I honestly thought that with the signings of downing, Henderson and Adam that we would see the reds preferred formation being 4-3-3 this season. We have quality for the middle and front 3, and two attacking full backs in Johnson and Enrique. Perhaps injuries and/or form have dictated Kenny preferring a 4-4-2, but I completely agree that a front three of downing Suarez and Carroll is a mouth watering prospect
I think you’re spot on, 4-3-3 is the best formation to utilise Andy Carroll, case in point England . With a front 3 of Andy plus 2 wingers Ashley Young and Downing who can provide quick early service to Andy plus the ability to switch sides provide width, pace and drop deep to form a five man midfield if required. Then with a midfield of Gerrard , Wiltshire & Parker you have real balance and cohesion. The problem for England and Liverpool is that this system doesn’t suit the best individuals in both teams, Rooney and Suarez. They are both want to play in the hole behind a striker, with the freedom to go anywhere on the pitch and influence the game as much as possible. For both of these to do this the Striker ahead of them needs to play on the last man and stretch the oppositions defence in behind thus creating the space for Rooney and Suarez to exploit. Andy simply can’t do this as he doesn’t have the pace to scare defenders in behind which enables better teams to squeeze the play, play a high defensive line thus nullifying the space that Suarez operates (Spurs Vs Liverpool). This has resulted in recent games Suarez being force to be the striker playing on furthest forward and Carroll dropping deep and starting /linking attacks, which for all of Carroll’s ability in the air, thunderous left foot etc a playmaker he isn’t, in fact the areas of his games which he most needs to improve are 1st touch, vision and movement, so playing him in the hole behind Suarez seems a bad decision in my eyes. So assuming will are going to keep faith with Carroll and not drop him, I agree with you I think the only choice is to play Suarez on the right on a front three with Downing or Bellamy on the left and Carroll through the middle, granted this does take away some of Suarez opportunities but I would see it like Gerrard when he played on the right of midfield he still had the freedom to roam dictate the play and he scored the most goals that season.
You suggest Kenny should buy a copy of Darkness on the Edge of Town, yet you were clearly listening to the album Born in the U.S.A.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'm_on_Fire
I think Kenny has enough on his plate without you confusing him further.