Last night I watched Liverpool v Roma from Fenway Park. What I saw in the first half was a very good, considering that the team was mainly what we would recognise as a reserve/junior team. Even more impressive was the fact that they held and was for the majority of the half, a better side than the mainly 1st team Roma. In the second half Rodgers introduced more youth and it showed, it was until the Adam goal that looked to be finding their feet. All in I would say it was good performance, bit messy at times as players found their feet, and at the end of the day, it was the men v boys.
Some notable observations I made during the game, mainly involved the midfield set up.
I noticed that a lot of the time, that when the ball was played back to our defenders, the midfield would move to eagerly up the pitch and leave the defenders isolated. With us having 3 up front there is no need to get forward in such a rash way; it forced the long ball and lost possession.
The central pairing, this time Jonjo and Aqua, were at time a little too wide, too far apart from each other and therefore leaving huge space in the middle where we could pass into. I would like to see them operate as a unit in the middle, moving left and right together, e.g. Liverpool attack down the right, they move across to the left (if you don’t get it, ask and I will draw you a diagram).
For the first game I have managed to watch live this season, I’m generally happy, but feel that game could have been one easily won, with fewer changes and more experience brought on in the second half. Yes you may say, “We need youngsters being brought through”, but I say “losing does not breed a confidence”, a better balance of first team and reserves is needed. I would like to see 5 changes max carried out over the full 90, not just the second 45.
YNWA