I guess like me, you all thought 4-4-2 when it was announced, would be refreshing and see the Reds keeping City pushed back for the majority of the game. How wrong we were, with Agger getting rinsed by Micah Richards and Andy Johnson from the start, the signs were not good.
Then a goal down and the Reds show no improvement, constantly being harassed off the ball, misplaced passes and the gift of space to the opposition. The cause, well it’s simple really, you cannot play 4-4-2 without wingers. Jovonavich was non-existent as a pleyer let alone a winger. He hardly showed out wide and when he did receive the ball his step over was about the only thing he did, starting to look like another Lucas, no imagination and totally inept on the ball when under pressure. As for giving Agger support, he looked like a headless chicken. On the other side Kuyt was playing too tight, was not giving us width either, mainly because Gerrard couldn’t get forward into that space behind the front two, so Kuyt was trying to adjust for that, but by the time he gets the ball City are back in force and we are under pressure again. City’ defense was comfortable all night, because we could not get behind them.
What Roy could have done after the first goal, was get a message out, to push Gerrard forward, Lucas too hold and watch for the runs from midfield, Jovanovich and Kuyt to stay wide and work the line hard. I would like to think this would help give us more possession at worst, at best get us into better positions in the City box. It does not matter how many shots we had, look at the quality of them, nothing to shout about in my opinion.
If the adjustment during the first half does not help, I would have taken Jovanovich off for Maxi, then be thinking of taking off Torres or Ngog for Babel after 10-15 minutes, still playing with Gerrard in behind the front two, 4-1-2-1-2 – back four, Lucas, Maxi and Kuyt, Gerrard, Torres and Babel. This formation is an improved version of 4-4-2, allowing for you to play wide using your front two and still having the threat from Gerrard and/or the wingers cutting in as they join the attack, watch the teams that score and this is what you will see (Barry goal)!
Nice try Roy, I just hope you not counting on Cole, because tonight you looked totally lost (no adjustments or subs till it was too late!).
YNWA
We were definitely out-played and out-paced today. So I don’t disagree with you. But to try and say that Jova may be another Lucas this early into the season, is incredibly harsh.
The entire team was incredibly poor today. We deserved every bit of that loss unfortunately.
Hopefully the second leg with Trabzonspor and an easy date with West Brom will give us the confidence we need as a team to head in to September. Especially for our clash with United.
I get you an I to was frustrated, but I believe this was Roy observing what we can’t do. Unless Changes were made at half time. Let’s put this down as an experimentation gone badly wrong. Forget an forgive,for now. Ynwa….
Switch off the Computer, have a wank, and wake up tomorrow when the kneejerk’s gone.
It could be the reincarnation of Shankly and Paisley instead of Roy. With a £0 budget there is only much you can do !
Direct your anger elsewhere.
Those 5 snakes in our Board !
Can’t say much more than that really. At the moment, that is the gap we are looking at between ourselves and Man City.
YNWA
Sorry but I have to disagree…
Playing a diamond requires a World Class cdm & Lucas is not close to Masch.
Playing Lucas with Gerrard hinders SG game , he cannot commit forward because he knows Lucas is not capable of doing the job on his own.
Yes Jova is not a winger but he is a very good LF , when he plays to the left of the main Forward.
We know city play the 433 , with DeJong,Toure & Barry marshaling midfield what chance did we have with Lucas and Gerrard.@ times it looked like Men vs boys….
I would of loved to have seen a 4231 or 433 of our own.
Pepe,GJ,JC,Skr,Agg,Poulsen,Luc,Kuyt,SG,Jova & FT9 or…
Lucas holding with Aqua & SG in the middle behind a front 3 of Kuyt,FT9 & Jova…
The truth is this game has shown how far we have fallen over 2 seasons , we need better players to even think of the top 4 ! FT9 & SG r not going to get us there on their own anymore.
u are right about the tactics..roy got the tactics wrong today..but playing lucas as that 1 above the back four..your are asking for an even bigger disaster then what happened today..looking at city’s midfield they completely dwarfed ours.yaya toure was phenomenal..dejong hardworking as usual n barry though not the best but he was at the right place at the right time..well then again..its all too easy for us to just write and complain and moan about the manager’s decision..i just wasnt our day..hope roy gets it right the next time around..YNWA
the joe cole, aquiliani and glen johnson signings are all the american’s fault right?
watching this once great club crash and burn is just lovely.
is whom to blame ? we played good had more attempts on goal more than them they scored we didnt. we deserved a goal or two the schedule maybe these are silly reasons we need a change!! like roy known for his good defensive tactics the defence were bad and not organized still zonal marking problems
Number of things stood of for me tonight…Gerrard and Lucas vs Yaya, De Jong and Bary isn’t working for, not to look backward but Rafa’s system of 4-5-1 would of been more effective, Chelsea and Utd use it, so is it that negative away from home??? At times it was training ground stuff in the middle of the park and they didnt even look that good.
Torres didnt look interested, didnt see him try and get on the end of a cross all night, he needs to be helping out Ngog.
Final point Joe Cole suspended…there is someone in Italy who we could of done with tonight to provide some creativity, never been given a chance and think we have a real gem…
Alberto Aquilani
Poor night, tough start, need to get going
YNWA
Courtney, Preston, Lancs
“I guess like me, you all thought 4-4-2 when it was announced, would be refreshing and see the Reds keeping City pushed back for the majority of the game.”
No I feared for the worst. Most of the football world has moved on from 4-4-2.
It was suicide to surrender midfield to City like that.
Yep, the only time 4-4-2 should be dragged out is if we are extremely confident in having the superior midfield. We don’t have the wide players or the speed to make it work, and if we want the best out of Torres (once he’s recaptured his ability to play football that is) he doesn’t operate as a goal scoring machine when he has another striker alongside.
The simple fact of today is that we’re simply not on the same level as the top 4 contenders. City didn’t play brilliantly today, they simply played to the level that you would expect from that collection of players. Our best only seems to materialize when we’re facing an uphill struggle, such as against Arsenal, otherwise we play like a mid-table/top 8 side.
I think Roy got some things wrong today but at the same time I always felt like the biggest thing in our favour was the chance that City wouldn’t click into gear. That’s a sobering realization.
This is Liverpool FC: mediocre, no cutting edge and fragile in defence and in goal. Even Reina seems to have lost his passion for playing football. What a poor team and what a bleak future. The once mighty Liverpool has become the laughing stock of English football. As they say, you reap what you sow and the Yanks has made sure about destroying the spirit of LFC. Administration looms for LFC…of that I’m pretty certain cos nobody will pay what the Yanks want.
roy shld limit d load on steve g,l would let poulsen start d game noth lucas,lucas cn only play is best game against man u not man city pls roy use 4-4-2 format nt gerrard moving forward take use of pacheco,amoo and bring in lass diara or gago d argentine guy also let renia seat on bench try jones cos pepe fear when he sew a big challenge.remenbr to bring 2more stricker pls,and tell this chelsea fans call himsel f lfc chairman to sell this club intime.
Gutted for LFC.
But we still have a bright future, the season is still young.
Y.N.W.A!!!
I have not read all the comments yet, but alot of you disagree about Lucas being able to hold. He can do it as well Masc, see Man utd game when Masc was suspended, Lucas stck to his orders stayed back and cloed down the spaces.
He can play well in our team, just don’t let him go forward, it’s total waste of time.
As for people saying give Jovanovich a chance, well I have. If he can’t turn up for a game against top of the table rivals, then he should not be here!
Look at Valencia for Man Utd. It took him the better part of a season before he started clicking. We know Jovanovic can be a valuable asset. I have been disappointed with him so far but there is no reason he can’t improve.
Lucas does a fine job as a holding mid. He doesn’t offer a whole lot going forward, but that isn’t his purpose. Everyone praises Kuyt for his work rate, but Lucas is always working his ass off. I am curious who runs more in a game. Maybe Lucas isn’t quite as intelligent of a player as Mascherano, yet, but he is definitely improving.
Saying that though, we were truly bossed in just about every position. City really put out a physically imposing squad which was too much for the likes of Ngog, Jova, Lucas, even Agger. Babel might have held up better, but I’m not sure the control is there. I thought Pacheco showed promise.
I really don’t know why we loaned out Aquilani. Big mistake. I was so excited to see him get a chance this season.