Liverpool FC Forum

by **stmichael** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 1:38 pm

So another weekend of premiership action, another pi$$ poor away performance and another pi$$ poor result. I saw Rafa interviewed after the game and the guy just looked helpless, almost as if he wanted to cry. It's all too easy to blame him and his formation, but the fact of the matter is, not for the first time this season, the players have got to take a long hard look at themselves because many of them are simply not good enough. In my opinion, we can now kiss goodbye to 4th in the league (even if we win the derby). Forget the injuries, we do not deserve it.

And I'll tell you why. This is a true statistic. So far this season we have taken only 15 points away from home.

THAT IS LESS THAN ANY OTHER SIDE IN THE TOP 10 OF THE PREMIERSHIP.

If you look at our four away wins, Norwich and West Brom you would expect to beat any day of the week. Charlton away was a decent second half performance to turn around a 1-0 deficit, as was Fulham away where we came from 2-0 down to win 4-2.

However what has become most worrying over the past six months is that some of our away performances have been so dire that we haven't even been able to muster a shot at goal. I am talking of course about the likes of Middlesbrough, Southampton, Birmingham and Newcastle. Coupled with the fact that the performances have lacked fight, spirit etc and it just leaves most fans baffled and frustrated. We still have to go to Pompey, Man City, Arsenal, Palace. Can you realistically see us getting many points out of those games at the moment?

The funny thing is that we have seen a massive turnaround in our fortunes with regards to our away form. When Houllier was here, our main achilles heel was our poor home form, as we regularly dropped points to teams such as Fulham, Charlton and Southampton which was unaccaptable. Rafa may have made us stronger at home (Manure is the only home game we haven't deserved to win this season) but the away form is still worrying to say the least, especially with Leverkusen coming up on Wednesday. Go there with a negative attitude to try and hang on to what we've got and we'll be in trouble.

Under Houllier we played defensively away from home pretty much all the time, and from 1999 to 2002 we had great success in doing this. I remember the treble season and the following season when away wins seemed to come easily. The fact is, that was that side’s strength. We got away wins then because we knew how to play defensive, counter-attacking football and had the players to help us make it work. The current side doesn’t. In the past we has the pace and finishing ability of Owen, who knew how to make clinical counter-attacking runs which Gerrard utilized. The current side does not have real pace without Cisse. The current side also aren't as confident in defending a goal lead. In the past we had Hyypia, Henchoz and Hamann in their prime who understood each other well and rarely gave anything away. Anyone who saw the Newecastle game yesterday would have seen just how badly we missed Hamann in the middle of the park.

Another point is that in the past, (despite not being a fan of his) we had Heskey who at least supported Owen upfront so we didn’t have an isolated lone front man, which leads me on to my next point.

In my opinion, 4-4-2 works better away from home than at home. When you’re away from home you’re invariably going to be on the back foot for large portions on the game and will have to often clear the ball to your striker. With 4-4-2 you have someone to pick up the second ball, with 4-5-1 you don’t and the ball just keeps coming back at you. The Carling Cup Final was a prime example of this. If Morientes flicked the ball on or tried to hold it up, there was nobody running off him or anticipating, hence Chelsea having 70% of the possession.

With 4-5-1 the opposition back four only have one player to watch when they’re attacking, allowing their fullbacks to get further forward. Whenever I’ve seen us away from home with one upfront, the lone-striker always looks isolated. I know Baros was the only fit striker yesterday, but in the future I think 2 up-front is the way to go. 4-5-1 is ok at home I feel because the opposition come with a defensive frame of mind, and it’s easier for the three attacking midfielders to get forward to support the lone man. We played this system in the home game with Arsenal and it worked a treat, with Gerrard, Sinama Pongolle and Kewell supporting Mellor.

Just a few thoughts like. I'm as frustrated as the rest of you right now. Lets just hope that Wednesday can help cheer us up a wee bit in what has been a bad week.

YNWA

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Another poor weekend - Away form shocking

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