devaney » Wed Apr 30, 2014 10:07 pm wrote:Stu - just explain to me what Liverpool actually did wrong in the first 45 minutes? Perhaps you're right, maybe I'm incapable of seeing where we went wrong so educate me because so far you have failed to do so.For the purpose of this exercise lets take Gerrard's bit of bad luck out of the equation because your view that there should have been players behind Gerrard is far too simple. Just how much of a threat were Chelsea in the first 45 minutes? All match they only had 27% possession, 4 shots on target and 3 corners. They built a wall that we failed to break down. I have read nothing on here that convinces me that BR was naive or got his tactics wrong. I think to suggest that we were far to gung-ho is also not how I saw the game.
I have refrained from being rude. I certainly don't want you taking things too seriously. I appreciate that you are a very sensitive shy retiring sort of a bloke
Sarcasm aside you seem quite frankly seem inept at understanding the tactical side of the game. So I'll probably be wasting my time, but none the less I'll have a go as seen as I have a few minutes.
Chelsea set up in a very defensive mind set. Everyone on gods green earth knew that was going to be the case. I don't honestly believe that anybody thought Chelsea were going to come and attack us, not even their own deluded fans.
Mourinho came to Liverpool with a game plan of winning via a set piece goal or a mistake from one of our players. Had they not been leading with 20 minutes or so to go they would have opened up in an attempt to win the game from them, that's when we could have brought on Sturridge and tried to open it up.
Liverpool by hook or crook have conceded stupid goals this season. Mostly down to individual errors, however, some are down to the way we play tactically, leaving ourselves open and playing with an element of risk, some of that risk includes players on the ball being in space and being fairly iscolated to allow them time to pick a pass... if they fall over or slip or their is a heavy pass, we sometimes struggle to win the ball back quickly in our own half due to the space between our own players, especially at the back. There have been times through out the season where poor decisions have nearly cost us goals where the system has contributed and their have been others which were purely individual errors.
Mourinho knew Chelsea would score at Anfield... We've conceded a shocking amount of goals this season, Mourinho knew that due to the way we play, or an error, they would create something of note even if they defended in their own box due to the way we try to defend and due to the standard of the goalkeeper he also knew if they had that chance they'd probably take it. His job was then to keep Liverpool out.
As much as I hated the spaniard with a passion, that is the sort of game we wouldn't have lost under him. He'd have nailed that tactically and had us set up not to lose, knowing that the last two games were far more winnable than this one. Had we played deep and defensively ourselves and tried to stop Chelsea and changed our system we'd have been far harder to break down. Had we concentrated on not conceding a goal and succeeded then the job would have been done, had we allowed them more space in their half and they actually scored, they wouldn't have been as solid as their shape they had worked so hard on isn't something they'd have been able to use all the way through the match as the spaces would have opened up.
Due to us effectively pinning Chelsea back, Their wingers never really had to track back and their midfielders never had to move from infront of their defence meaning that space was practically none existant.
We created two or three half chances, thats all. It was naive to think he'd allow us to get off to a flying start like most other teams do, he'll have known that was exactly the case, hence the early time wasting to get under our skin.
I do think had we set up to keep them out, due to their mind set from the off and due to the players they didn't have on the pitch that would have been more than achievable.
On your point about had we drew this game then drew away to palace I'd be moaning about not playing for a win in the Chelsea game, thats just complete and utter bollox and clutching at straws. I'd have been critisising the palace result.
You're entitled to your opinion on why we lost that game, you can blame Gerrard all you like, it was his fault he slipped he slipped and no-one elses, it was the systems fault their was no-one their to cover him. The system has served us brilliantly most of the season... sometimes though you need to be flexible and you need to be able to adapt, sometimes, the manager needs to recognise the situation and prepare for it, sometimes you can't show a blatent a disregard for the opposition and have to set our your side accordingly...
Unfortunately for Liverpool football club, a lot of fans are pig headed and think we should play the way we play and let the opposition worry about us... thats exactly what happened. We didn't worry about the opposition and we came unstuck.
