Liverpool FC - what has happened?

[Cruyff14]

Have a had a good off season so far - will be interesting to see if that translates onto the pitch.

 

[strauchanie59]

Very decent transfer window thus far. Milner, Firmino, Clyne are all brilliant buys who will improve the 1st XI. Bogdan will be a somewhat decent backup keeper. Gomez is highly rated and Ings can add something different up front.

 

[Cruyff14]

I don't think we will see much of Gomez.

 

[FAITH]

it will mainly come down to which striker we get and whether Rodgers can get the best out of him.

 

[TooUglyForFugly]

I don't think we will see much of Gomez.

Cara mia! [/obscure joke]

 

[glenferry23]

Clyne is a very good purchase. Not only covering a weakness at RB Liverpool have had for a little while, but should also ensure Can plays centrally where he is much better.

 

[FAITH]

almost makes up for paying overs for lala and lov

 

[Zidane98]

Really looks like we are signing Benteke. Can't see a 4-2-3-1 working without Sterling in the side which is the formation I can see us playing with Benteke.

 

[BluesMan]

Surely the 3 at the back is banished ?

 

[ADL9798]

Surely the 3 at the back is banished ?

I'm sure we'll still see it from time to time when we play certain opposition/injuries force it upon us as we saw last season. People forget that we lost 2 games in 22 in all comps after switching to that system in mid-December until the end of March. We're also not the only side who have used it, so while 4 at the back is definitely the preferred set up when everyone's available, I doubt that the 3-4-3 would be 100% off the table.

 

[BluesMan]

I'm sure we'll still see it from time to time when we play certain opposition/injuries force it upon us as we saw last season. People forget that we lost 2 games in 22 in all comps after switching to that system in mid-December until the end of March. We're also not the only side who have used it, so while 4 at the back is definitely the preferred set up when everyone's available, I doubt that the 3-4-3 would be 100% off the table.

But didnt the 3 at the back become fully exposed for its poor structure/personnel against the better sides towards the end of that run? I just wouldnt bother with it, but like you said it may be forced upon you at times.

 

[Zidane98]

But didnt the 3 at the back become fully exposed for its poor structure/personnel against the better sides towards the end of that run? I just wouldnt bother with it, but like you said it may be forced upon you at times.

You need a DM when playing it. Without Lucas it wasn't very effective but overall it can be very useful to employ.

 

[ADL9798]

But didnt the 3 at the back become fully exposed for its poor structure/personnel against the better sides towards the end of that run? I just wouldnt bother with it, but like you said it may be forced upon you at times.

In terms of the better sides we faced while playing that system - we had wins over City, Tottenham, Southampton and we played Arsenal off the park in the 2-2 draw in late-December (I actually thought we played better in that game than we did in the 5-1 back in 2013/14), but then as you say we were pretty comfortably beaten by United and Arsenal in late March/early April and despite drawing against Chelsea we didn't really trouble them all that much, so the jury is out as to whether we're more likely to be exposed against the better sides while playing that system.

Personally I think by far our biggest issue in 2014/15 wasn't the system, it was that we had absolutely zero goal threat and consequently sides weren't in the slightest bit worried about us getting in behind them as they were in 2013/14. As a result they were able to push up on us and put our defence under more pressure without fear of being punished for it.

We committed to this predominantly attack-based style of play yet with Suarez gone and Sturridge permanently injured we didn't have the offensive weapons to make it effective, so at times we really should have been more pragmatic. Not all the time, but in certain games we should have stayed compact and tried to hit our opponents on the break instead of sticking to the high risk/high reward attacking style which saw us tear the league apart in the previous season. It's a brilliant, exciting, and as we've seen potentially very successful way to play, but only if you have the cattle to make it work as we found out this year.

2 things I'm hoping to see from Liverpool this summer:
a) We bring in the right players to make that style work next season (we've made a good start in this regard)
and
b) We will have learnt out lesson not to be so gung ho if those players aren't available (this will determine whether Rodgers still has a job after Christmas in my opinion)

 

[BluesMan]

When is sturridge likely to be fit again?

 

[pantskyle]

When is sturridge likely to be fit again?

2022.

 

[typeclub]

We need a thread just for Sturridge recovery photos

 

[Cooldude]

In terms of the better sides we faced while playing that system - we had wins over City, Tottenham, Southampton and we played Arsenal off the park in the 2-2 draw in late-December (I actually thought we played better in that game than we did in the 5-1 back in 2013/14), but then as you say we were pretty comfortably beaten by United and Arsenal in late March/early April and despite drawing against Chelsea we didn't really trouble them all that much, so the jury is out as to whether we're more likely to be exposed against the better sides while playing that system.

Personally I think by far our biggest issue in 2014/15 wasn't the system, it was that we had absolutely zero goal threat and consequently sides weren't in the slightest bit worried about us getting in behind them as they were in 2013/14. As a result they were able to push up on us and put our defence under more pressure without fear of being punished for it.

We committed to this predominantly attack-based style of play yet with Suarez gone and Sturridge permanently injured we didn't have the offensive weapons to make it effective, so at times we really should have been more pragmatic. Not all the time, but in certain games we should have stayed compact and tried to hit our opponents on the break instead of sticking to the high risk/high reward attacking style which saw us tear the league apart in the previous season. It's a brilliant, exciting, and as we've seen potentially very successful way to play, but only if you have the cattle to make it work as we found out this year.

2 things I'm hoping to see from Liverpool this summer:
a) We bring in the right players to make that style work next season (we've made a good start in this regard)
and
b) We will have learnt out lesson not to be so gung ho if those players aren't available (this will determine whether Rodgers still has a job after Christmas in my opinion)

Hmmm I dunno, been watching the games back recently. We won against City in a period where they were getting beaten by like Palace and Burnley and whatnot, they weren't exactly great then. Plus the Spurs game was even, needed Mario to win it. And we were by far the lesser side against Soton and we just nicked that game I thought

But the system was definitely a worry, we played 4-2-3-1 and we got overrun in midfield early in the season, we played 4-3-3 and we have no attacking threat. We played 3-5-2, worked for a while, but eventually teams worked us out and we're left with nothing

Changed formation 3 times in a half alone against Villa in the FA Cup final for some reason, Rodgers has got to find a settled way of playing, for all his sweet talking about philosophy and whatnot. The players themselves get confused when they don't know what their role is coz it's constantly changing, one game we're doing 4-2-3-1 for a while then another he plays 3 at the back (that was the Stoke game, we know how that worked out)

 

[ADL9798]

Hmmm I dunno, been watching the games back recently. We won against City in a period where they were getting beaten by like Palace and Burnley and whatnot, they weren't exactly great then. Plus the Spurs game was even, needed Mario to win it. And we were by far the lesser side against Soton and we just nicked that game I thought

But the system was definitely a worry, we played 4-2-3-1 and we got overrun in midfield early in the season, we played 4-3-3 and we have no attacking threat. We played 3-5-2, worked for a while, but eventually teams worked us out and we're left with nothing

Changed formation 3 times in a half alone against Villa in the FA Cup final for some reason, Rodgers has got to find a settled way of playing, for all his sweet talking about philosophy and whatnot. The players themselves get confused when they don't know what their role is coz it's constantly changing, one game we're doing 4-2-3-1 for a while then another he plays 3 at the back (that was the Stoke game, we know how that worked out)

Mmm if it was only a brief patch of form I'd agree with you, but 2 losses in 22 games over a period of 3 months - it can't be down to the opposition playing poorly or us being lucky every time! There's no doubt that we were playing some good football during that time and it's no coincidence that it started almost instantly once we switched to a 3-4-3. As you say though, eventually teams figured us out and I think the players heads just dropped after the 4-1 against Arsenal. None of them seemed the slightest bit interested in those last few games of the season once 4th was essentially off the table.

 

[Cooldude]

Yeah 3-4-3 was good then and to Rodgers' credit he turned it around for a bit, but if we start with 3-4-3 this season then I'd have to wonder what exactly is the long term plan for the team/squad/club on the pitch, the way we play changes more times than Funky Miller's haircolor

 

[jod23]

I would have thought the recruitment of Clyne has put an end to that three at the back stuff. We almost had to play three at the back because we had no RB that Rodgers trusted. Now with Clyne, surely we return to a flat back four.

Clyne/Skrtel/Sakho/Moreno would be my preferred back four.

I think a lot of chopping and changing with formations also had to do with the lack of firepower. We had real issues at RB and up top. If can buy a very good strikers and Sturridge stays fit, we could play any formation really but at least look dangerous and score goals. Last season if we went down 1-0 the game was practically over as we were then relying on 7 goal forward Raheem Sterling to get us back into it.

 

[chef]

Who do Pool fans want to replace BR?

 

[jod23]

Who do Pool fans want to replace BR?

#KloppfortheKop

 

[Magma]

not exactly sure how the gengenpress would go with liverpool players

think it will be ancelotti unless roman gets on the phone

 

[jod23]

not exactly sure how the gengenpress would go with liverpool players

think it will be ancelotti unless roman gets on the phone

I dont think the owners are interested in a bloke who stays two or so years at most. We need someone to stick around and build something.

 

[Magma]

I dont think the owners are interested in a bloke who stays two or so years at most. We need someone to stick around and build something.

he spent almost a decade at milan

chelsea sacked, psg left cos it was madrid offering and then sacked. dont see him leaving early if the job is right