by its cold in the stands sh » Thu Feb 20, 2003 8:41 am
houllier hasnt got enough confidence in his buys or coaching ability to put eleven players on a pitch and not worry about the opposition.
the way we are set up is to firstly stop the other team playing their natural game.we always seem to employ tactics and formations to reduce the threat of their attack, this to me, is almost an admission that we think the other side is superior.no matter who the opposition is be it premier, nationwide or european, before a ball is kicked we are basically saying to them " we dont feel we can take you on in a open free flowing game of footy so we`ll try damage limitation and see if we cant pinch one the other end"
the art of scoring goals is of secondry concern.
the art of not conceding is houlliers mantra.
years ago we put out eleven good footballers and told them to just go out and play their natural game, let the opposition worry about us.if it comes to a high scoring free for all we just made sure we scored one more than them.
for a team with the current england strikeforce to hide behind the skirts of defensive tactics is a disgrace.especially against teams like palace.earlier on in the season when we were top we played one up front to bolster the defensive cover in midfield to counteract the potent strikeforce of the other team.
who was this team that forced the most sucessfull club in the history of the english game to quake in their boots? who was this team that had the four times european champions running to the tactics board for salvation?
middlesbro`.
no wonder the players confidence is shot to pieces when houllier is basically saying to them we cant take these on without taking precautions.
how fall the mighty.