Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 1:12 pm
It's time that everyone came to grips with the fact that Stevie will spend 90% of his time this year playing as a striker or one of the attacking 4 in the 4-2-3-1 formation. It's not the ability to play in central midfield that he lacks, it's the discipline and mentality to play there, especially when he gets moved there three quarters of the way through the game and has to remember how to defend.
The one thing that really stood out to me watching the last half hour against Villa, was that there was no one between SG & Masch, and the front 4. It seemed at times that the formation was not 4-2-3-1, but 4-2-[7 Villa players]-Space-4-[4 Villa Players]. With no link in place, there was no one for the play to go through. Hopefully, Aquilani is going to be able to take that position for us, or otherwise remedy the problem.
On a separate note, if we'd played without the 2 holding midfielders in that match, we would have been destroyed to a greater degree by the pace in the front players Villa started with. Milner, Agbonlahor and Young were all far too quick for any of Insua, Carragher, Skrtel or Johnson, so the extra 2 players helped to deny them space on the counter.
The one thing that really stood out to me watching the last half hour against Villa, was that there was no one between SG & Masch, and the front 4. It seemed at times that the formation was not 4-2-3-1, but 4-2-[7 Villa players]-Space-4-[4 Villa Players]. With no link in place, there was no one for the play to go through. Hopefully, Aquilani is going to be able to take that position for us, or otherwise remedy the problem.
On a separate note, if we'd played without the 2 holding midfielders in that match, we would have been destroyed to a greater degree by the pace in the front players Villa started with. Milner, Agbonlahor and Young were all far too quick for any of Insua, Carragher, Skrtel or Johnson, so the extra 2 players helped to deny them space on the counter.