Rafas-Y-Fronts wrote:The reasoning for the way Rafa set the team up today was as follows in my opinion:-
In recent weeks we have played with width in an attempt to hurt teams down the flanks and deployed two wide attacking midfielders.
Due to the abscence of Daniel Agger we have had to play Sami Hyppia alongside Carragher which has caused a problem to the overall shape of the team.
Hyppia lacks pace so has a natural tendency to defend deep to compensate for this.
As a result of this the 3 other players in the back four 'drop off' to hold a good defensive line.
Our midfield quartet is playing too far away from the back four due to this and teams are using this space to retain possesion higher up the field against us than we normally allow.
The reason we didn't deploy wingers/attacking midfielders today against Everton was so that we would play with a more compact quartet across the middle of the pitch to close down the space Everton can use to control the game in our final third.
This tactic worked extremely well as Everton were unable to create anything of any note through the middle of the pitch and what limited joy they did have came from the flanks with Arteta.
In a derby game away from home....you have to be prepared to accept that the home team are going to have a good amount of possesion unless you nullify that and stifle their gameplan.
When Agger returns we will return to a more natural 4-4-2 and
defend much higher up the pitch as his pace allows for recovery if the pass is played long over the top.
This will mean that the midfield quartet and the back four are playing much closer together and so the space that our oppenents can play in between the two is no longer going to be there.
This in turn means we will be winning back a lot of possesion in this area due to being able to close down the opposition quickly and effectively.
Todays tactics were superbly deployed by Benitez and we controlled the midfield on the whole for most of the game.
I think the introduction of Leiva was also a bit of a statement from Benitez as to how highly he rates this young Brazilian.
Taking off the captain for a relatively unknown youngster might seem like a completely crazy thing to do....unless you know the capabilities of the player who is replacing him!
Gerrard himself has gone on record to state what an excellent talent Leiva is and that in my book is a great accolade from arguably one of the best ever players to pull on the Liverpool Shirt (certainly the best all-round footballer the club has ever had).
Tactics and systems are the result of analysis and careful preparation.
I know from first hand experience having played under good coaches like Pat Rice and Steve Perryman that football is much more than fielding eleven better players than the opposition and relying on their ability to shine through and bag the three points every week.
Modern day football has become a strategic battlefield and a lot of this has come about due to the amounts of money now at stake.
Teams no longer want to risk losing as one point may save them from the disaster of relegation so the mindset of smaller clubs is often "How can we avoid being beaten today"...as opposed to "How can we win this game today".
Smaller clubs then defend deep and make it hard for the bigger clubs to break them down by playing two banks of 4 (or 4 and 5 if playing 4-5-1) about 10 yards apart.
Where are you going to play the ball against that??
There is no space in behind..and there is no room between the two banks of players. You have to resort to a moment of individual brilliance or toss hopefull balls into their penalty area and hope one of the three or so players you have arriving in the box to win something against approximately nine opposing players!
This is the brick wall that we came up against in Birmingham City.
People lambasted Benitez for failing to start with Torres in that game.....what could pace have done against a team that were set up to nullify anyone being able to sprint in behind them?
There are a lot of disgruntled supporters at the moment who are unhappy with 'rotation' and team selection in general and tactical and substititional decisions.
I think a lot of this is sadly down to them not really understanding what the manager is trying to do...and more perhaps having a lack of real tactical understanding of the game of football.
Anabsolutely excellent post mate and I get the impression already you'll be a valuable member of the forum, a bit happy clappy for my taste but welcome all the same
The last paragraph though is one worth a re-read I think. Though your playing credentials and writing style would indicate a good depth of knowledge, it would be a mistake to be so dismissive of other people's points of view.
FWIW the thrust of your "why we didn't play attacking midfielders" visa-vis the shape of the team would be fair enough were one of the wide midfielders not Gerrard. I don't in all honesty think the positions he took up during the game fits in with the compact picture of our midfield you are painting. Neither do I think that "todays tactics were superbly deployed by Benitez" is a fair reflection on what went on. We were a tad fortunate to win the game and that we did wasn't the result of any tactical genius. Neither was it any tactical genius not to play Pennant given the fact that neither Kuyt nor Voronin would be likely to score with a header. It is my hunch this is the more likely reason for Gerrard wide right than any "compactness" theories.
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