by Sean » Tue Mar 15, 2005 4:58 pm
I watched a recording of that game a few months ago and a couple of things stood out.....
1. I was surprised at how deep Kenny Dalglish played. He did alot of covering inside our half, and turned up in the left back position a few times. In fact Rush more or less played up front on his own. However, once we got possession our players (Souness, Dalglish and Whelan especially) were very quick to join him in attacking positions.
2. We defended as a team and attacked as a team.
3. Liverpool played in a manner that reflected their experiece in europe. They prioritised keeping possession (maybe Garcia should be shown the game), but once Roma gained possession our boys were very disciplined and every player went into defenceive mode.
4. In the past I have been critical of Mark Lawrenson as a pundit but he was class in the '84 final.
5. Ultimately, the game reminded me that football is a team game and no matter what "superstars" are brought to anfield, we have to get our tactics, attitude and team work right if we are to challenge again.
6. The Liverpool lineout was Grobbelaar, Neal, Kennedy, Lawrenson, Hansen, Johnston, Lee, Souness, Whelan, Dalglish, Rush Subs: Nicol and Robinson. Of that 13 I reckon Lawrenson, Hansen, Souness, Dalglish and Rush were star players. The other 8 were not stars but they were fantastic professionals who took their game seriously. In todays line up we have 3 stars (Gerrard, Alonzo and Morientes). We need two more stars and a squad of good professionals (like Carra) to bring us to the next level.
Every Single Ball