Liverpool FC Forum

by **Scottbot** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 2:16 am

How lucky are we as fans to be able to watch two players like Gerrard and Torres in action together? There partnership goes from strength to strength. It's almost telepathic, it's been there from day one with Gerrard's wonderful pass setting up the opener against Chelsea but it keeps getting better and better.

Hats off to the manager today. I REALLY thought he would rest at least one of them today. How difficult do you think it was for him to play them both from the start? Was deffo going against the grain for yhim and it really paid off.

by **god_bless_john_houlding** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 2:17 am

Scottbot wrote:I'm not sure Benitez is particularly worried about upsetting anyone mate. He didn't mind upsetting his new bosses so i don't reckon he'll be too bothered about the midfield!

Yeah but you don't want to lose Alonso, Mascheranho, Lucas or Gerrard. So he's had to find a way of playing them together. I think he has with this new system.

by **sheikhmomo** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 3:34 am

[My only worry is would it look quite as good with Crouch (and I'm a fan of his) playing instead of Torres]

Great point, this is an area that would certainly need to be considered. In order to make this sytem work long-term we need a back-up striker similar to torres, with pace and power, who is able to lead the line by himself. I'm sorry but this just isn't Crouch, I can't stress enough that this has to be a player with similar attributes to Torres. This will have to be a striker that won't complain too much about waiting for his chance, but who still has sufficient quality to deputise. Amauri (he has pace, power and technique, not too dazzled by his goal to game ratio though!) would be a possibility perhaps, but I would like to hear other people's suggestions for alternatives.

by **holylamb2006** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 3:46 am

Its worked a dream since Benitez started using this ...

Gerrard looks like a man having fun solely due to the fact he has to role to run anywhere ...

Torres well its Torres

And we get excellent cover with masch,alonso, with 2 wingers

by **god_bless_john_houlding** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 4:34 am

sheikhmomo wrote:My only worry is would it look quite as good with Crouch (and I'm a fan of his) playing instead of Torres

My personal feeling is Crouch could do a good enough job as the lone forward. He may not have Torres pace or eye for goal, but what he would do is bring Gerrard and the two wide men into the game more often.

Throw it up to Crouch, let him hold the ball up and knock into Gerrard's stride running through. Crouch wouldn't be the worst option to have up top on his own.

by **sheikhmomo** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 5:33 am

my own choice for back-up centre forward would go to none other than tommy hicks jnr, he meets all the criteria! he's over 6feet tall, 200lbs+ of pure power (he was raised on texas ribs) and we all know he has pace, just look how quick he ran out of the sandon!! this would work perfectly for daddy's PR campaign.

by **scoby** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:25 pm

I was just thinking about this formation and wondering what would make it work even better and i agree with most we need some1 ready to step in and take kyuts place and thats not running him down he is doing ok but imagine if we were to sign duff he could do a real job for us and can play both sides of torres and we could probably pick him up cheap enough

babel gerrard duff

torres

he hasn't had the best of times at newcastle with injury and the way they play but put him in our team and he could be immense if he still has the desire

by **hello_red** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:35 pm

Duff has been ruined by his time at Chelsea plus he is too injury prone.

Van der Vaart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or Alves !

by **JC_81** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:40 pm

god_bless_john_houlding wrote:
sheikhmomo wrote:My only worry is would it look quite as good with Crouch (and I'm a fan of his) playing instead of Torres

My personal feeling is Crouch could do a good enough job as the lone forward. He may not have Torres pace or eye for goal, but what he would do is bring Gerrard and the two wide men into the game more often.

Throw it up to Crouch, let him hold the ball up and knock into Gerrard's stride running through. Crouch wouldn't be the worst option to have up top on his own.

Crouch can't play as a lone forward unfortunately, he is far too immobile for the role.

I used to think Drogba was the ideal lone forward with his pace and power, but Torres is proving to be possibly better, although he's a completely different style to Drogba.

Lone strikers need to be mobile, otherwise they become isolated and ineffective.

by **Scottbot** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:24 am

john craig wrote:Lone strikers need to be mobile, otherwise they become isolated and ineffective.

Nail on head mate, have been saying it for ages. I like Crouch, I really do but he's a sitting duck when you play him up on his own. Rafa's tried it before (a couple of seasons ago) and against the better back fours we got no-where. The likes of Terry, Ferdinand, Vidic and Gallas have no problem dealing with Crouch on his own. Maybe we could get away with it if he was flanked by Ronaldo and Queresma but we've got Kuyt and Babel. Of all the strikers prior too Torres, Baros is the only one who we could (kind of) get away with playing upfront on his own because he was quick, mobile and fairly strong. Unfortunately he lacked a lot of other stuff but he could occupy a back 2-4 enough to create space and opportunities for others on the pitch. There aren't many strikers out there that can REALLY play on their own. We are very lucky that we have someone who can. Agree on Drogba, he's been the player that makes Chelsea tick the past three years (not Lampard or Terry) but Torres plays the role just as well albeit in a completely different way.

by **ruskiy playmaker** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:33 am

Scottbot wrote:
john craig wrote:Lone strikers need to be mobile, otherwise they become isolated and ineffective.

Nail on head mate, have been saying it for ages. I like Crouch, I really do but he's a sitting duck when you play him up on his own. Rafa's tried it before (a couple of seasons ago) and against the better back fours we got no-where. The likes of Terry, Ferdinand, Vidic and Gallas have no problem dealing with Crouch on his own. Maybe we could get away with it if he was flanked by Ronaldo and Queresma but we've got Kuyt and Babel. Of all the strikers prior too Torres, Baros is the only one who we could (kind of) get away with playing upfront on his own because he was quick, mobile and fairly strong. Unfortunately he lacked a lot of other stuff but he could occupy a back 2-4 enough to create space and opportunities for others on the pitch. There aren't many strikers out there that can REALLY play on their own. We are very lucky that we have someone who can. Agree on Drogba, he's been the player that makes Chelsea tick the past three years (not Lampard or Terry) but Torres plays the role just as well albeit in a completely different way.

I remember Crouch playing as a lone striker against Arsenal last year and he scored a perfect hatrick.

by **Seano Kop** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:25 pm

It seems to be working perfectly at the moment - Especially in the league. May as well try it this morning (Aus time) and see how it goes..... It's working a treat for Torres!!

by **Scottbot** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:05 am

ruskiy playmaker wrote:I remember Crouch playing as a lone striker against Arsenal last year and he scored a perfect hatrick.

That's a good point mate! But can you remember how poor the Arsenal back four were that day plus weren't they pretty patched up?

by **JBM** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 2:12 am

Crediting liverpools recent run of good results with a formation is a little hasty, It could be equally attributed to a consistent line-up (ie) No rotation. Personally I think the key to this formation is the free role Gerrard is allowed to play, IMO against some opponents 2 holding midfielders is a little defensive and would like to see Crouch/Kuyt or even Babel up alongside Torres, Currently there is a problem on the wings Kuyt and Babel are both forwards and not genuine wingers, Babel provides width but no defense and Kuyt works hard but has no pace and an awful first touch, the only 2 genuine wingers are Pennant and Kewell who can both provide quality down the flanks problem here being scoring from these two is mostly accidental which places a lot of pressure on Torres/Gerrard for goals, Unless Kewell (who has it all in his locker) pulls his finger out before the end of the season the need for one if not two quality wingers for this or any formation is critical.

by **ruskiy playmaker** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 4:47 am

We need a fast skillful player up front, someone who can play on the wings and in the hole. Kuyt is a good player and he has shown a lot of improvement in the last few games, but he is not what we need on the wings. We also need a fast, strong FB, all big teams have at least one of those(ex. Clichy,Evra,Abidal).

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