Liverpool FC Forum

[stmichael]

I'd really like to see him playing on the right, especially if we're going to be playing 4-4-2 on a more regular basis.

I make the point because the way I see things at the moment, Lucas and Mereiles have to be the two in central midfield because they're showing all the signs of becoming a formiddable partnership. Lucas has come on leaps and bounds (I even put him forward as a potential candidate for stand in captain in the captaincy thread) and Mereiles you can see is a class act who will only get better and was a snip at £10.7m imo. Playing him out wide earlier in the season was just insane.

Whether it would happen is another matter though given Gerrard's power at the club and the fact that he's made it pretty clear that he wants to play central midfield. But lets face it, you can't justify him playing in there at the moment and the Gerrard-Torres partnership lets face it has struggled for a while. You could say that was down to lack of genuine service in the Alonso mould but it hardly helps when our style of play has been woeful at times and not benefited the team as a whole.

Playing him out there wouldn't mean he'd be nailed to the touchline anyway. He could drift off that flank and leave more space for Johnson to bomb into. We all saw it to devastating effect in 2005/6 when he scored 23 goals and won the PFA player of the year playing mainly from that position. Even now, Gerrard would be the best in the country in that position aswell as he's such a brilliant footballer. He can go past players and his crossing is superb (except from corners). I love Dirk but as we saw at the weekend he can be extremely wasteful at times.

That doesn't mean bombing Dirk out the side though. I'd stick him upfront with Torres. Yes Ngog has done well in flashes but he's still a developing young kid and as we saw against Chelsea, Dirk really has an effect on our play when he's more central (the assist for Torres' first goal for example.

                                   Reina
           
           Johnson    The Greek    Skrtel    Aurelio

           Gerrard     Mereiles       Lucas    Maxi/Cole

                          Kuyt           Torres

Looks pretty good to me. As it stands you can't really justify Cole walking back into the team when fit because Maxi is probably in his best run of form since coming to the club at the moment.

Of course it may all be academic as we may still play 4-2-3-1 more often than not but nevertheless I'd still like to see more interchanging between the "3" behind the main striker if that's the case. Sadly, I can see a situation whereby Mereiles will be pushed out to the right again which would be absolute madness, but on the positive side at least it would satisfy Sky's tiresome "Gerrard must play in central midfield" agenda.

Funnily enough I was saying the other day that in an ideal world we'd be playing 4-3-3 because the players we have suit that formation down to the ground, although we could still do with a decent left sided forward (Jovanovic is clearly not the answer).

Thoughts?

[Ben Patrick]

It sounds good but i dont think we have the players for 4-4-2.
Gerrard would be great there, to be fair he is great almost anywhere but i dont like either of the others left of a 4 in midfield.

I would play 4-3-3 and play narrower, with Gerrard one of the 3 in the middle allowed to roam.
Dirk on the right of Torres with Maxi or Cole closer to Fernando on the left.
Very similar to what you are suggesting but just more suited for Cole and Maxi i think as neither of them are natural wingers.

[metalhead]

Good idea, but I still think we shove Gerrard and Meireles in center of midfield in 4-4-2, buy a proper winger and striker and look how the goals will flow.

[The Good Yank]

How about something like this.


Johnson      Soto       Skittles    Konchesky


    Kuyt             Meireles         Aurellio


      Gerrard                      Cole
                     Torres

Miereles pulling the strings in CM.  Kuyt and Aurellio can both
provide width and cover the fullbacks. While it still leaves Konchesky it the squad,
Aurellio would provide some needed support in a defensive role from LM.

[Zidane]

I'd honestly prefer to see him on the right too but the chances of it happening are less than 0.  Under Roy I don't think he excels as much as he did under Rafa behind Torres, also Roy doesn't use that formation as well as Rafa either.  This season when played there he seems to clutter midfield too much and it just makes us even more narrow than we already are.  Having N'gog and Nando up front has given our midfield the breathing room required to control games and I think the way forward probably is the 4-4-2 formation, at least under Roy.  I don't particularly like it against the very best of teams (Tottenham is not THAT good) but under our current manager it is probably our best formation, we just need a better second striker and proper wingers and I think we could do well.  N'gog isn't good enough to be starting up there yet.  We still need better CBs and a better LB though, lots of work to be done by our new owners still.

[burjennio]

If we play the 4231 and Gerrard stays in the CF position we'll be fine - its when he starts droppin back 25yds looking for the ball leaving Torres by himself up top that the problems start with that formation. The formation works, look at the level we achieved in 08/09 and all the decent sides in the World Cup that implemented it so well, the finalists and the Germans we superb using it.

[LFC2007]

I still think 4-5-1, 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, whatever numerical code you prefer to use, is the way to go. It basically means an extra man in the middle and that means more cover for the other two midfielders. If our other striker was really good at holding the ball up abnd we had decent wingers who could get up and down the line quickly, then a 4-4-2 might make for a better balance.

[tubby]

Didn't he score 23 goals 1 season playing on the right? Play him on the right Roy!

[redhayesy]

great topic starter stmichael, it's great to see at least half a dozen posts without insults! lets have more of it please. great discussion one this,as for me - good shout for having stevie on the right,cause the way the side is trying to gell into some sort of pattern to gain consistancy it's worth a go.

however hand on heart i still like to see stevie in the centre,to break up the play but still have the engine to drive foward into creating chances for himself & others. his goal scoring record is great when he's played on the right,but going foward i'd like to see us play with width on both flanks & get decent crosses into the box in the first place. as some have said with stevie playing on the right he would natrually come inside etc & to leave johnson going down the wing would for me leave us to exposed when the attack brock down,as his pace i feel would let him down in getting back to defend once he's lost the ball.

for me as much as i'm still totally un-decided about johnson in his alround ability,his weakness is his attitude once he has lost the ball,he just doesn't show on a consistant basis the fight or hunger to win the ball back & that is the only reason why i wouldn't select stevie on the right. cause at least with kuyt on the right he will fight for the ball to safe guard that side of the team,i'm not saying stevie wouldn't fight for the ball either-i know he would,but i'd rather he was in a more prominent posistion to start with to dictate the play from the off.

[red till i die!!]

id have them in the centre.
i agree with st michael that merieles and lucas look promising in the few games they have been paired together,but i just think that lucas is still too inconsistent but would provide good back up.
kuyt does well on the right but again is inconsistent too often.
in jan id like to see a winger and a striker come in and like metal head said watch the goals flow.
fill them 2 positions and with the gerrard and merieles in cm we would be a different team and have a good strong squad capable of making the top 4 easy.

[ruskiy playmaker]

would be interesting to see this...

              Lucas
Gerrard              Meirelles
    Kuyt              Cole
              Torres

Pretty much what Ben Patrick was talking about.  I have no clue if it will actually work though.

[Raoul]

I'm enjoying this discussion, but I think we need to allow for rotation.  So I'd suggest this for a 442 (with the players in the order I've indicated - yes I know I have Kuyt down for both RM and S):

RM - Kuyt/Babel/Maxi
CM - Gerrard/Merieles/Lucas/one of the kids/Poulsen
LM - Maxi/Cole/Aurelio/Kuyt/Babel
S - Torres/Kuyt/Ngog/Pacheco/Babel

So, my first choice would be (especially if Johnson is RB):

Kuyt   Gerrard   Merieles   Maxi

          Torres    Ngog

but, it'd depend on who we are playing, etc.

Gerrard in RM isn't a bad shout, but I just don't see it happening.

But actually, I'd love to see us try 433:

Gerrard  Lucas  Merieles

Kuyt   Torres   one of Babel, Ngog, Pacheco, Cole, Maxi

[HodgsonOUT!!]

reina

                               kelly    soto    agger    wilson

                                       lucas    meirles
                              johnson                    j.cole
                                            gerrard

                                             torres

carra
skrtel
shelvey
kuyt
pacheco

id go for that myself give johnson a crack at right mid and let him do his best work while young kelly gets a crack at right back
play wilson left back as he has done a great job there for rangers and has good pace
play gerrard alongside torres because we need them to click again
give our youngsters a chance on the bench ahead of nobs like poulsen and babel

[TarnRed]

Didn't he score 23 goals 1 season playing on the right? Play him on the right Roy!

Yes he did Bav think it was the 2005-2006 season. He also was deployed on the right alot in the 2007-2008 season and he bagged 22 goals in that season in all competitions.

It's definitely something I'd like to see he would give us the option of having a player on the right that could give us natural width, he can beat a man, zip in crosses of real dangerous quality and would still chip in with goals as those 2 previous seasons show that. You could even have him alternating with Meireles when Stevie drifts infield.

I'm with you, give it a go Roy.

[stmichael]

For what it's worth, I still think it's highly unlikely Gerrard will play on the right even though he is probably still the best right winger/midfielder at the club.  He never played there in the 06/07 season, despite scoring 20+ goals from there in the previous season probably due to his own power and influence over where he wanted to play.

I just think we've lacked a right sided player with pace and the ability to beat a man for a while hence the clamour for Johnson to play there by some.