ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Sat Apr 06, 2013 11:14 am wrote:i agree with what some posters have said about our formation contributing to our defensive frailty.
because we often employ a `full court press` high up the pitch there are going to be times when teams catch us on the break but rather than change our formation to a more negative one i`d rather keep the formation and change our defenders.
we need players at the back that have the ability to `scramble` and that as a rule of thumb usually means players with pace.
the best defenders i`ve seen in terms of dealing with fast breaks have been players like mark lawrenson, kevin ratcliffe and des walker (in his early days), they were all very quick and not only did they have the pace to catch even the quickest forwards from behind, if they were bypassed by a through ball they had the pace to turn around and quickly get goal side again, players often had to beat mark lawrenson 2 or 3 times in the same move because he was so quick at getting back goal side. his recovery tackles were legendary.
when someone goes past one of our players at the moment (carragher, lucas, gerrard etc) unless they run into traffic they are gone, it`s adios amigo. the only defender we have that can get back goal side again after being beaten is enrique.
another thing having quick CB`s does is allow you to hold a high line, that way you arent dropping off and inviting high balls into you area.
i think the key to next season isnt our attack but our defence, in this system our defenders are looking more and more like square pegs in round holes, it will be interesting to see who we bring in during the summer.
In a 4-3-3, everyone needs to be more dynamic. 4-3-3 does not have natural width, as a result the full backs/ wing backs usually end up providing the widths. The reason we are so exposed defensively now is not only down to the defenders. We do not have a very strong AM or CM. According to BR's system, he usually plays with 2 holding midfielders and one more attacking midfielder. Right now it seems to be like Lucas and Gerrard are more withdrawn midfielders and Henderson is a more "advance" midfielder. However, Henderson does not have the game to dictate play on his own yet. As a result, Gerrard is assisting him with the offensive duties. Gerrard on the other hand no longer has the motor he had last time, often leaving Lucas alone to plug the numerous holes. Lucas, even though a competent DM/ holding midfielder, is not the fastest one. He is not like Mascherano. As a result the opposing team can bypass lucas easily with a couple of passes. Then comes my biggest disappointment in terms of defensive capability, Johnson. He was one of our best performers in the first half of the season, but now he is a defensive liability. As he goes up to provide width, he often leaves his side exposed. He is terrible at tracking back. And he is terrible at spotting danger, always reacting one step slower than the opposing team. As you rightly mentioned only enrique can balance the defence and offence in this system. So our defensive frailty is not only down to the defenders, it starts from the system, to having one of our CB's having a ***** poor form (Skrtle), to having one our FB's having a ***** poor defensive form (Johnson), to not having the proper personnel for one of our 3 CM places. If one of these is corrected than it wouldn't be so bad. But now all these 3 areas are problem areas for us.