aCe' » Tue Apr 07, 2015 7:22 am wrote:I completely agree with most of that RBG... My point remains though, none of the sides in the league have played to their full potential, if all the top4 contenders do, we'd end 5. If they all dont, our squad is the 5th best and thats where we realistically should be. We came close to playing to our full potential last season but a main reason we did was because of Suarez and his efficiency in the final third. We also has Sturridge scoring with every other touch and that helped massively. This season, we didnt have Suarez, and Sturridge (1 of 3 or 4 top4/CL standard players we have) might as well have sat out the entire season. We found it hard and I agree that the manager is to blame to a large extent. I would have loved it if we came into this season with the same formation we had last season. I dont think Gerrard was a liability; maybe defensively we looked a bit suspect but he made a much better attacking side controlling the game from deeper. Sterling was played in aposition that utilized his talents and as you said, Sturridge needs a partner upfront.
We didnt do that, and we'll miss out on the top4 this season. What I would like is for us to go out and buy some top talent in the summer window. The only way to get consistency in this league is by having better players than the sides around you. You do that and you'll get more points more often than not.
I'd go along with that aCe ,I think if this season we would have invested enough money in a quality and proven replacement for Suarez ,and made that position priority
then we would 'arguably' be better off ,but for some reason we invested in the potential of Can and Markovic and then frittered the rest on Lallana and Lovren,based I'm surmising on a relatively successful season with Southampton.
I still believe Can and Markovic will prove astute purchases ,and if Lallana is granted the freedom he had at Southampton he could indeed flourish ,but for me Lovren
allows himself to be dragged out of position far too regularly. This season I think in terms of how we set up ,notably against Southampton at our place ,it was apparent
even then that denying Gerrard the space to pick a pass would see us surrender a large percentage of the control we had in games the previous season ,yet because of
goals from Sterling then Sturridge both playing to their respective strengths we picked up all three points , but the runs of Clyne and co had Lovren being pulled out of
position far too many times that could be claimed comfortable. I could run a fine tooth comb through many similar games aCe ,but this one was dismissed because we
were supposedly finding our feet ,but the amount of possession Southampton had in that first half was alarming and then we went to City and were given a veritable
football lesson.
I guess what I'm saying is Liverpool managers often claim that our season and fluency wont kick on until halfway through the season ,and yet although this has often
been the case ,other managers use this as a period to evolve into a team that's hard to beat ,and give themselves a platform to be challenging when the cohesion
eventually returns ,Rodgers persisted with a formation and mind set that made us easily read, he played Gerrard consistently in a position that was evident to all
would be 60 % of an opposing managers team talk ,the other 40% making the space Johnson regularly abandons a clear target for their attack.
Top managers in the game simply don't wring the life out of a system that's clearly not working ,they move on quickly.