Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Hmm... No movement by the wingers, no ammo fed to Fernando Torres, and why two holding midfielders?
I felt Javier Mascherano was unnecessary for this match. Should have played 4-1-3-2, like Xabi Alonso holding the midfield with Stevie G and two wingers, plus two strikers ahead of him. I mean, this was a home game, and even if Rafa didn't see it at the start, he could have known that the Reds were dominating and should have hauled either Masch or Alonso off.
Where's the movement? Dirk Kuyt. Static. Ryan Babel. Almost useless. Alvaro Arbeloa, to be fair, has just recovered from a hamstring injury, but he did make his runs, albeit not beyond Kuyt like he used to. Andrea Dossena, fantastic going forward, delivery was decent, but still has to work on defending, fair play to him, he did have a better game. Yossi Benayoun and Albert Riera should have came on earlier, much, much earlier.
Fernando Torres + Stevie G is just not enough against teams having 10 men behind the ball! This is easily the opponent's plan, especially with a plan of 10 men defence. Using Everton's case, one central defender (ie Joleon Lescott) follows Torres, if Lescott loses him, the other defender (ie Phil Jagielka) covers. One defensive midfielder (ie Phil Neville) marks Stevie G, and if Neville loses Stevie G, the other midfielder (ie Segundo Castillo) covers Stevie G. So they are marked out! Only a moment of magic from the two resulted in the goal! And that was Stevie G running beyond Torres! So who was needed?
... Robbie Keane!
His energetic movement and running off the ball would have been useful to Liverpool, and much irritance to the Everton or "10 men" defence. It'd be hard to pick him up, yet giving Stevie G, Torres, and to a certain extent Alonso, a little bit more space to work with, to make the extra runs...
C'mon!
6 out of 6 against Wigan and Chelsea!
Bye~!
my thoughts at 11:33 am