The OFFICIAL Liverpool Supporters thread

[AZOffaly]

I agree Uladh, I would only play the 3-5-2 in games where LFC would be expected to win, but face teams hard to break down. Games against United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Inter Milan, and a few others, especially away, I would play the 4-5-1 variation.

The key thing for me is that LFC need to start being more controlled in their play, and creating more chances. For that I would demand a 3 man midfield, with 2 wide players, and either 1 or 2 up top depending on the game. Alonso and Mascherano need to take more responsibility for demanding the ball, and passing it to a team mate. Just keep things ticking over. Then let Gerrard, the two wingers and Torres or Torres and Crouch come up with the goals.

[Great Leap Forward]

3-5-2 for games v Fulham, Wigan, Birmingham etc etc would be

Reina

Carra
Agger
Arbeloa

Babbel
Mascherano
Alonso
Gerrrard
Benayoun

Torres
Crouch

Same midfield formation but Arbeloa in for Finnan, because Arbeloa can play a bit more 'tucked in' than Finnan. Crouch comes on for Riise because he can add something different. In those games where the opposition are packing the midfield.

For Rafa's 'rotation' then you could substitute Kewell for Benayoun, Pennant for Babbel, this new hulk for Agger or Carra, and Kuyt (God help us) for Crouch. But whatever happens, In all the league games between now and May, I think they *have* to play Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard and Torres.

I would love to play against a Liverpool team lined out like that for 2 reasons.

Firstly, the wing-backs in a conventional 3-5-2 would have to be capable of defending and attacking in equal measure. I don't think Benayoun or Babbel would have the positional sense or the desire to make tackles when the role required them to be a full-back.

Secondly, no English team has been successful with a 3-5-2 and it is now a dated formation, even the Germans have abandoned it. This is probably because it is one of the easiest formations for the opposition to expolit. All you need is 2 pacy wide men to get in behind the wingbacks and you are in trouble. The 4-4-1-1 formation seems to be the flavour of the month but finding the player to play the split striker is is the problem.

[AZOffaly]

Great Leap Forward, as I've said a couple of times now, I would only be using this formation in games where you are playing inferior, defensive minded opposition who are looking to 'keep it tight' and get a 0-0.

There are weaknesses in every system, but if you played 3-5-2 against a weaker team, you should at least create a few chances.

I mentioned that I would prefer 4-5-1 with Finnan and Riise in for Arbeloa and Crouch in the games where you know you are going to be doing a bit of defending and possibly barely breaking even in terms of possession.

[The Real Laoislad]

I agree Uladh, I would only play the 3-5-2 in games where LFC would be expected to win, but face teams hard to break down. Games against United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Inter Milan, and a few others, especially away, I would play the 4-5-1 variation.

The key thing for me is that LFC need to start being more controlled in their play, and creating more chances. For that I would demand a 3 man midfield, with 2 wide players, and either 1 or 2 up top depending on the game. Alonso and Mascherano need to take more responsibility for demanding the ball, and passing it to a team mate. Just keep things ticking over. Then let Gerrard, the two wingers and Torres or Torres and Crouch come up with the goals.

If the stats and Benitez are to be belived Liverpool have more shots on goal/target than any other Premiership team this season..
I think the problem is not that we're not creating enough chances it's the finishing thats the problem..
Without Gerrard or Torres there is no one to put the ball in the back of the net

[AZOffaly]

No way Laoislad. I don't care what the stats say. Probably Stevie G shooting from 40 yards out counts as a shot on goal. We are still not making enough clearcut chances. Against United, for example, LFC huffed and puffed for 90 minutes, and apart from Van der Saars Saint Vincent de Paul impressions, we never looked like scoring.

It has changed a bit against very poor teams alright. We created chances against Marseille, Besiktas, Derby and co. But against good teams, we don't do enough.

[Uladh]

Or the quality of the chances? nonsense pot shots from 35 yards still count as a shot on target, as do most of crouch's powder puff headers.

Mascherano hasn't turned out to be as polished as i'd expected. as good as he is at breaking up play, his capacity to keep posession has disappointed. hargreaves was the better option for the same money.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Or the quality of the chances? nonsense pot shots from 35 yards still count as a shot on target, as do most of crouch's powder puff headers.

Mascherano hasn't turned out to be as polished as i'd expected. as good as he is at breaking up play, his capacity to keep posession has disappointed. hargreaves was the better option for the same money.

You think Hargreaves is better than Mascherano?

[The Real Laoislad]

Still don't think we have enough goalscorers in the team regardless of how many chances we are/aren't creating..
And there was games against bigger teams where there was plenty of chances and none converted..Even against Luton on sunday there was chances galore..Same with the Spurs match and even the Arsenal game and the Chelsea game at the start of the season..

[stevo-08]

Mascherano hasn't turned out to be as polished as i'd expected. as good as he is at breaking up play, his capacity to keep posession has disappointed. hargreaves was the better option for the same money.

i rate Mascherano and for me, the jury is still out on whether hargreaves is the better player or not. However, when Utd signed hargreaves, was there any question about the player being too expensive?? of course not - they simply wanted the player and payed the price. and thats the mentality that the Liverpool owners need to get - Mascherano is a quality player and they should pay up. simple as that.

[AZOffaly]

Even against Luton on sunday there was chances galore

Chances galore? I saw maybe 2. Against a League 1 side. Even our goal wasn't creativity, it was fluke.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Mascherano hasn't turned out to be as polished as i'd expected. as good as he is at breaking up play, his capacity to keep posession has disappointed. hargreaves was the better option for the same money.

i rate Mascherano and for me, the jury is still out on whether hargreaves is the better player or not. However, when Utd signed hargreaves, was there any question about the player being too expensive?? of course not - they simply wanted the player and payed the price. and thats the mentality that the Liverpool owners need to get - Mascherano is a quality player and they should pay up. simple as that.

Well that much is true. If United want a player they have no hesistation in paying the going rate while Liverpool have to look at balancing the books. Eg, to buy Mascherano they'll need to sell Sissoko/Carson.

[AZOffaly]

By the way Laoislad, if your argument is that we need another top quality striker, then you won't find me disagreeing with you. What I'm trying to say is that with what we have at the moment, we are not creating enough.

I'd love Liverpool to get Anelka or Berbatov or something, but it's not going to happen.

[GalwayBayBoy]

If we got €15M for Momo I'd drive him to Italy myself.

[AZOffaly]

Is that still in Lira??

[Uladh]

Or the quality of the chances? nonsense pot shots from 35 yards still count as a shot on target, as do most of crouch's powder puff headers.

Mascherano hasn't turned out to be as polished as i'd expected. as good as he is at breaking up play, his capacity to keep posession has disappointed. hargreaves was the better option for the same money.

You think Hargreaves is better than Mascherano?

of course. you don't?