NEIL ATKINSON, Sean Rogers and Mike Girling pore over the weekend defeat against Manchester United and discuss what Liverpool might have done better on this week’s Tuesday Review.
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Hi guys. Thanks for the show.
Just have to say why we were out pressed and dominated in that game because I don’t think your guy understood what was happening – or wasn’t able to explain it to dull grey matter like mine. And the lack of chance creation that Neil keeps correctly referring to.
The box midfield is the cause of the problems. 2 in front of the half way line and 2 behind. It’s really no better than the early season setup. A 451 just swamps each of those two lines (two lines of 4 actually with one floater) which is what Swansea and Utd did to us and controlled the park, Swansea with less quality of course.
That simple setup and press against us forces the two AMs back behind the half way line and we collapse onto the defence with a weak formation which is easy to play through (2 on top of 2 rather than a line).
It was humiliating but Rodgers has fallen in love with it because it worked against Citeh. He fails to realise that it works only when teams have no interest in controlling the midfield such as Citeh or Swansea at Xmas.
He learnt nothing from Swansea last Monday or from Utd dominating the midfield against Spurs. It’s maddening because his mistakes look so amateur.
By the time Rodgers changed it to a diamond we were already one goal down and the players were very confused and run ragged. The criticisms of them is absurd given what Rodgers put them through.
The diamond pulls one of the AMs back behind the half way line to make a line of 3 or 5 with the wing backs, one midfielder a little withdrawn and sweeping/closing gaps. That gives excellent resistance to stop teams playing through the way they do when you only have 2 mids – which Rodgers so often does in his attempts to send more players forwards. It’s naive abandoning a strong midfield yet he does it so often and it always costs us territory.
With the 3 or 5 man middle you have a foundation to push forwards from and we made progress with that though they kept their full backs deep to not be so exposed.
That’s what gave us a foot hold in the game finally.
LVG also played Fellaini up left to
– hassle the ineffective Can and pull him out of position in the back 3
– and provide an easy long ball outlet without having to send full backs forwards
and Mata was sent forwards to the right to pull Moreno out of position – easily done cos Rodgers doesn’t teach him to defend. If moreno moved to cover him he just went towards the middle to pull him out of position and then just waited for Moreno to push up and vacate space behind him.
He got two goals from that because he’s such a good finisher. Rodgers back 3 was destroyed by pulling at the edges where Moreno isn’t coached to defend properly.
But had Rodgers got things right from the start the whole game would have been different but his stubbornness made him play the same formation that hadn’t worked before.
As for chance creation , that’s the big kahuna right now, not enough clear chances. Sterling at WB to accomodate Lallana hasn’t worked yet and I see no reason why it should. He’s not really a big game player. Perhaps he’ll improve next season but I’ll be surprised. Rodgers is seduced by players from teams that use a system (Swansea, Soton). He doesn’t seem to realise that while they have qualities they are basically journeymen players made to look good because the system limits their responsibilities.
And of course Markovic is being sacrificed for Lallana too which means he might not have a future with us, tragically.
So many mistakes from Rodgers this year and he’s definitely cost us top 4 with stubbornness. Each season he starts with some concept in his head and then has to change everything because it doesn’t work. That means that suddenly the summer transfers don’t fit the system. It’s really not good enough and we only have to look back at Rafa’s considerable record at the club to know it. eg reduced goals conceded by a quarter in his first season.
Hope that all makes sense!
It does…and of course all the many people on here who still think Rodgers is the man don’t have a fucking thing to say about it. Pathetic.
All purport to believe in the man but when someone demonstrates as you have how he is getting things so badly wrong tactically (supposedly a strength of his) not a single person wants to defend him.
What does that say?
Man United and Swansea figured out a tactic to combat our 3-4-2-1 formation. It was going to happen sooner or later. Man United know we are great at pressing and attacked us early which Rodgers or any LFC fan wasn’t expecting. A surprise attack and Man United were going to make it work for as long as they could and try and get ahead which they did. We were caught off guard and it took time to recover especially through the midfield.
The introduction of Gerrard would of propelled us forward if he had stayed on. Gerrard’s instructions were clear. Push our team up the pitch.
Man United weren’t that effective in the 2nd half and if Gerrard didn’t receive a red card who knows the outcome. Like it was said, only 3 shots on target from United.
Additionally, we know Fellani is great with his head and displays good strength but if he’s not trying to head a goal in let him have a yard or two and control the ball then hassle him. No use trying to combat aerially if a player has no chance.
We must remember it’s our first loss in 14 games. If Rodgers tinkers with the formation again to enhance Sturridge and Sterling together upfront then LFC could become more of a threat. They are our top goal scorers so put them in more dangerous areas. Maybe a 3-5-2 with wing backs can be a minor tinker? It allows two upfront. 3-4-2-1 can still work with less quality sides. I hope to see Markovic and Ibe helping us achieve top 4 in the remaining 8 games.
I disagree with the comment by JonnyS in regards to Rodgers stubborness. Rodgers has shown he can switch and make bold changes during games and some stubborness and arrogance is necessary.
Thank you