Liverpool FC Forum

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Mon Aug 11, 2014 3:09 pm wrote:

cardiff-red » Mon Aug 11, 2014 1:14 pm wrote:Interesting.. in our behind closed doors friendly with Burnley this afternoon, Coates is playing the holding role in midfield

There are some suggestions that we are playing with 3 at the back against Burnley as well. Brendan experimented with that formation a couple of times last season (without much success I seem to remember) but it does seem to be coming back into vogue again, Van Gaal for instance used it at the World Cup (and against us in pre season) with some success.
In theory it might suit us, 3 at the back allows you to flood the midfield and to fit more attacking players into your starting XI.
We are at our most effective playing a 4-3-3 but when you consider our current attacking options (Sturridge, Markovic, Sterling, Lallana, Coutinho, Ibe, Lambert) picking just 3 of those will leave a lot of talent on the bench.
Another reason why 3 at the back might suit us is that we have a lot of CB's who can pass the ball well, a lot of teams are put off playing that style because their defenders aren't comfortable on the ball but we don't have that problem.
It would be a lot easier to carry Gerrard playing with 3 at the back as well because with more numbers in and around the midfield area he wouldn't be so exposed and It would suit Agger too.
It might be worth thinking about.

Contrasting reports about the Burnley game ,but most over on RAWK are saying it finished 2-1 with Lambert scoring both. 
Here's an attacking version of the 3 at the back that we could play against some of the lesser lights of the division at home, it allows us to get Sturridge, Sterling, Markovic, Lallana and Coutinho in the team at the same time, obviously away from home you could flood the midfield with the likes of Can and Allen etc.


                                                     Mingolet

                            Sakho/Skrtel       Lovren          Agger
           
                                          Gerrard         Hendo

                    Sterling                      Lallana                   Markovic

                                             Coutinho

                                                    Sturridge

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Mon Aug 11, 2014 6:07 pm wrote:We played 3 at the back away from home somewhere last season and got our @rses handed to us, I forget where it was now but we reverted back to 4-3-3 in the second half and dominated the game from that point on so we are obviously a lot more comfortable with the 4-3-3.
It's just that we have a different squad now and 3 at the back may be a useful vehicle for us to get more of our creative players out on the pitch as opposed to sitting on the bench.
There would obviously be problems early on as players grappled with the system but if we did manage to master it we could potentially have ball players like Agger, Gerrard, Coutinho, Lallana, Sturridge, Sterling and Markovic all on the pitch at the same time in a functioning system.
It will be interesting to see wether Brendan tries it again this year.

eds » Tue Aug 12, 2014 3:37 am wrote:

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Mon Aug 11, 2014 6:07 pm wrote:We played 3 at the back away from home somewhere last season and got our @rses handed to us, I forget where it was now but we reverted back to 4-3-3 in the second half and dominated the game from that point on so we are obviously a lot more comfortable with the 4-3-3.
It's just that we have a different squad now and 3 at the back may be a useful vehicle for us to get more of our creative players out on the pitch as opposed to sitting on the bench.
There would obviously be problems early on as players grappled with the system but if we did manage to master it we could potentially have ball players like Agger, Gerrard, Coutinho, Lallana, Sturridge, Sterling and Markovic all on the pitch at the same time in a functioning system.
It will be interesting to see wether Brendan tries it again this year.

It's suicide playing 3 at the back when you have Mignolet in the side.

He just isn't good enough on the ball (to sweep anything up) and would cause all sorts of problems for our center backs with his dodgy distribution.

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Mon Sep 01, 2014 6:47 pm wrote:Yep, good move for him, playing week in week out in the prem will really bring his game on and the manager is a compatriot of his so he should feel at home.
Good luck Seb, see you in a years time.

cardiff-red » Sun Dec 21, 2014 3:49 pm wrote:Coates was good for Sunderland after a shaky first 5 minutes. Keeps a clean sheet and he didn't cost £20m 

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Mon Dec 22, 2014 6:12 pm wrote:

cardiff-red » Sun Dec 21, 2014 3:49 pm wrote:Coates was good for Sunderland after a shaky first 5 minutes. Keeps a clean sheet and he didn't cost £20m 

He only turned 24 in October and CB's don't reach their peak until their late 20's and early 30's, if he continues to do well for Sunderland I'm sure he'll get another opportunity here.