Liverpool FC Forum

by **Reg** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 1:26 pm

TOMKINS: ON THE DEFENSIVE

There's been a lot written and said about Liverpool's defence this week, but as ever too much is being read into too little.

Now that it seems Liverpool may have faltered at the final fence, the knives are out again. It's this kind of black-or-white analysis that bugs me; I've stuck pretty closely to my view that the Reds are a very, very good team all season long.

I never felt that Liverpool had to win the title this season, or indeed should be expected to. Before the season started there was talk of the need for Liverpool to be in the mix come the spring, and that has been achieved, and then some. At times it looked like the Reds might just win the title, and that shows how far they've come.

But now, after a couple of freakish results, the defence is, as it were, under attack.

Liverpool lost the quarter-final first-leg against Chelsea largely due to bad marking at set-pieces. On the whole, zonal marking has been very good; but when it doesn't work, we now all know the overreaction it leads to.

Every team concedes set-piece goals. Earlier in the season, using man-marking, Chelsea conceded five within a few games. They switched to zonal for one game, and conceded again; but as with any system, it takes time to perfect. You can't get it right in a week. They abandoned it straightaway, but generally they've been very good at man-marking over the years, just as Liverpool have been very good at zonal marking.

That awful run didn't make man-marking a totally flawed system, and it's about what suits the team. Every system has its weak points, but it usually takes a perfect cross and a perfect run to undermine them if well implemented.

Liverpool are not an especially big side anymore, with Hyypia a squad player in the twilight of his career, Sissoko replaced by Mascherano, and Crouch moved on. So it does make the Reds a little more vulnerable; that's football.

With Crouch and Sissoko replaced by Torres and Mascherano, the team has improved. But it is not without small drawbacks, such as less height. Zonal marking can help because you will always have players in the key areas. But that doesn't mean it can never be breached.

Chelsea's win at Anfield meant the second game, when the Reds shipped four goals, was all or nothing. Liverpool played their normal game and swept to a 2-0 lead. A positioning error by Pepe Reina got Chelsea back into that match, although it was a redirected flick by Drogba that wrong-footed the keeper; any touch that close can cause big problems.

The second goal was just one of those things – a shot that would have taken Reina's head off had he got in the way of it. That turned the tie totally in Chelsea's favour, and their third and fourth goals came as Liverpool obviously resorted to a very unnatural game – all-out attack, with little mind to defence.

Then came the Arsenal league game, in which, bizarrely for a team who scored four goals, the away side rarely threatened. While there were bad errors on the first three Arsenal goals, each of the mistakes was punished to the full.

Arshavin will probably never score four goals in a game again, and certainly not from four shots; the crazy thing is, each was unstoppable. The first and third were smashed in from fairly close range, while the second and fourth curled away from Reina, right into the corner.

Three of the goals were inch-perfect (one off the bar, two out of Reina's reach), and one was hit hard and low through a crowd of players. Liverpool clearly overcommitted for the final goal, but it was a gamble that had to be taken.

The mistakes leading to the goals were uncharacteristic, as I noted earlier in the week. Errors happens sometimes, even though I don't expect the coaching staff to be happy about it. But it's not like the game was littered with them from Liverpool players.

In almost any other week, Liverpool would have been punished for perhaps one of the mistakes. At a push, two. But for three mistakes to all be punished, from dangerous – but not ‘open goal' – positions, was cruel.

And no individual is having a torrid time in the way Nemanja Vidic did for a few games recently. And he's likely to win the Players' Player of the Year.

These two recent games involved exceptional circumstances: it was cup football, even in the league. Indeed, it was almost ‘golden goal' football.

Chelsea and Arsenal had also both been in excellent goalscoring form, so it's not like Liverpool have been humbled by average teams or average players.

Arshavin, Drogba and Lampard can score against any defence, just as Torres has scored a total of six goals against Manchester United, Real Madrid, Arsenal and Chelsea this season, despite missing games against the three English sides, and limping off in Madrid.

So all this guff about Liverpool's problem being to do with becoming too attack-minded is misleading. Liverpool weren't undone against Fulham or Blackburn in recent games, despite attacking in the same way for the majority of those matches.

But if Fulham had broken away at 0-0 in the 89th minute and scored, you could have forgiven Liverpool for throwing caution to the wind at that stage of a must-win game. That same over-commitment of players into attacking areas ultimately won the Reds the match, but that's the gamble; at that stage, it's win or bust.

You have to take a greater number of risks, because there's less leeway with the clock. You cannot keep your perfect balance in such situations.

However, Liverpool's excellent balance between defence and attack has won a lot of matches. If the breakthrough hasn't happened, though, then of course the balance has to be tilted. And no defence can be perfect when its protection is sacrificed in the frantic search for a goal.

Let's not forget, Liverpool also beat Real Madrid, Manchester United and Aston Villa by scoring 13 goals to just one in reply.

There was no problem with the balance then, or the defence, although goals were scored early enough in those games to put the Reds in control (each time the Reds were leading at half-time), and the opposition did not take their chances at key moments, particularly Villa's John Carew.

Against Arsenal, the problem was that the Reds' total dominance in the first 36 minutes did not lead to the opening goal, and perhaps even a second to give a cushion. Somehow, Arsenal ended up in the lead.

Also, confidence doesn't just apply to the team as a whole. Separate units have their own confidence ‘ups' and ‘downs', as do individual players, obviously.

No matter what defensive system you deploy, if you concede from a couple of set-pieces in quick succession, you will naturally be more nervous on the next ones; if even more go in, it can quickly breed a crisis of confidence.

If you start conceding goals or making mistakes, you can get shaky at the back. Look at United, with their record-breaking defence, and how it almost fell to pieces after Liverpool put four past them at Old Trafford. Shell-shock can result.

They didn't change the way they approached games, they simply suffered a psychological blow.

Like Benítez, I also think Liverpool aren't playing any differently; I've been saying for each successive season that I can see improvements in the Reds' attacking play. But obviously, the understanding between players brought in in 2007 and 2008 should be stronger by 2009. And as all are at a good age, it can get stronger still.

So, what's different from earlier this season?

Well, Torres is not only fit but now super-sharp. Anyone who's played the game to a decent level will tell you how much difference this makes. His strike rate for games started is superb.

Gerrard regained his form after a bit of a dip in the new year, although in his recent absences, Yossi Benayoun has done a pretty good impression of the captain. I think the Israeli has surprised a few people at just how good he can be.

Dirk Kuyt is scoring more goals from the right than he did up front last season, and is also creating lots, too.

Albert Riera has been a very important addition; even when he hasn't been at his best, he gives the side width. And even not at his best, he can find clever passes like his cross to Torres against Arsenal for the wonderful third goal.

At his best, he gets to the byline and delivers dangerous crosses, as well as scoring a decent amount of goals, too. It's been a little tough at times in terms of stamina in his first full season in England, but unlike a lot of wingers, he is also a clever passer who can keep the ball moving quickly.

And Xabi Alonso has been quite sublime. It's clear that he hadn't been at his old self for a couple of years, partly due to injuries.

Also, his mistake on Tuesday aside, Javier Mascherano has also rediscovered his best form after looking off-colour in the first half of the season. Add improvements from Arbeloa and Aurelio at both ends of the pitch (again, Tuesday excepted), and there's a lot to feel optimistic about.

All in all, it was going to be incredibly difficult for Liverpool to play a perfect final third of the season. As it happened, at times they have got pretty close; indeed, the attacking play has been better than we had any right to expect.

When Robbie Keane was sold in January, it was seen as Benítez being too headstrong; and yet I can't remember the last time Liverpool played such potent attacking football. He hasn't been missed.

But it was always the case that one slip would probably put paid to the title challenge. And that's a lot of pressure.

Whatever happens from now until the end of May, we should celebrate how special the last two months have been, and look forward to what has been learnt – individually and collectively – being implemented next season.

by **Sarge** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 3:13 pm

hooray

by **fivecups** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 6:59 pm

For such a long article there's very little I disagree with.

This is the bit I think he's got most wrong 'Like Benítez, I also think Liverpool aren't playing any differently'.

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