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Cole’s central desire gives Hodgson an intriguing dilemma

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Harry Redknapp has suggested that Joe Cole was looking for a team that could play him in a more central position in the latter stages of his career. The Tottenham manager believes that Cole wants to become the style of player that a previous Reds number 7 Kenny Dalglish was, a player who plays just behind the striker and who was heavily involved in build up play. The Liverpool midfielder has apparently grown tired of being left to drift on the wing. Whether Roy Hodgson is in agreement with Cole on this is anyone’s guess but it still leaves the Reds with a very interesting dilemma to deal with. How to incorporate Joe into Liverpool’s setup.

A lot depends of course on how Hodgson decides to line up his first eleven. Whether he is attracted to playing 4-4-2 or 4-3-3, the permutations are multiple as to how the Reds could both use Cole and the rest of his team-mates. Probably the most obvious possibility would be to play 4-3-3. With Cole situated on the right, with license to roam, wherever he likes, Torres could be used as the loan front man with Milan Jovanovic on the left and two attacking midfielders in Steven Gerrard and Alberto Aquilani.

If you look at Roy Hodgson’s managerial history though, one primary fact that stands out is his like for the 4-4-2. If you look at his training videos available on the UEFA website, Hodgson promotion of the virtues of the 4-4-2 are more apparent than those for the other formations. What he particular likes is the fact that everyone on the pitch has a partner. Strikers, centre backs, central midfielders, left sided players and right sided players, all have someone to support, and it tallies well with Roy’s penchant for organisation and team shape. So how would the Reds shape up in a 4-4-2?

The formation would allow Cole to play more centrally as he apparently wishes, with him possibly playing off Torres while Gerrard reverts to central midfield alongside Mascherano or another defensive midfielder. This would leave Maxi Rodriguez and perhaps Jovanovic to fill the wide berths. The only problem with such a formation though would be Jovanovic, who is a more a left forward than a left winger. I am not certain it is where Hodgson would like to see him play either going by his comments on our Serbian forward. Perhaps Cole and Jova could interchange in such a formation to give the formation more fluidity; it would certainly give us some unpredictability about the way we play.

One thing that stands out already about Hodgson though, and something that he has emphasised on more than one occasion, is the fact that the formation depends on the players he has got. At the moment the squad is light on strikers and has a number of midfield players. A 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation does seem more likely. Perhaps both Cole and Gerrard could occupy attacking midfield positions with Maxi, Kuyt, Jovanovic or Babel in contention for wide positions.

In any case, there are certainly going to be more signings in the coming weeks which could give us a clue as to how the Reds will line up. As well as the necessity to buy left backs, if he buys more than one striker, a move to 4-4-2 is more likely while purchasing another winger would indicate a different approach. Nonetheless, the signing of Cole has got everyone excited, and justifiably so. The news of Steven Gerrard almost certainly staying gives us Reds fans even more room for optimism for the new season, something which was plainly lacking even just a few days ago.

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9 comments

  • elninogreen08 says:

    its made me wander as to how we would incorporate Alberto.
    lets say we have the usual back 5 including the new LB, then across the midfield we had… stevie, and alberto, with jova and kuyt/maxi. then joe cole in behind torres.
    thats my thinking but would roy play this sort of system considering how offensive it is or would he opt for a defensive midfielder alongside gerrard with aqua on the bench???

    also the strength in depth is starting to take shape i feel, looking at a bench like… skrtel,babel,kuyt,riera,new striker,pacheco,lucas,shelvey which is no too bad i would say!!!
    Y.N.W.A

  • brush says:

    Cole will play behind Torres and in front of a midfield 4: Aquilani, Gerrard, Maxi and Jovanavic when attack is the need When caution is a need, he will be part of a 4 beind Gerrard and Torres: Cole, Kyut, Aquilani and Lucas. Lots of flexibilty is available to Roy.

  • pete says:

    i expect the midfield to look something like this against weaker teams, and this is also taking into account masch will most likely be sold:

    Gerrard Aquilani

    Babel/Maxi Cole Jovanovic/Remy

    Torres

    defense/keeper kinda picks itself rly when we by our left backs.

    against tougher opposition i expect it to look like this:

    Gerrard Lucas

    Cole/Maxi Aquilani Jova / Remy

    Torres

    i see cole and maxi tracking back more than babel, which would be more important against teams like man u etc. this is just in my prefered formation too, if he is set on 4-4-2 or 4-1-4-1 or anything else, there are plenty of ways to incorporate players. The one player tho that i see as integral to this season tho, is aquilani, hes been declared fully fit, and i expect him to hit his peak this season, he could have more of an impact than anyone. YNWA

  • Greg says:

    I think we now have 10 decent options for the 5 positions in front of the holding midfielder (or beside him if it’s a flat midfield 4): Gerrard, Aquilani, Shelvey, Cole, Maxi, Babel, Jovanovic, Kuyt, Pacheco and Torres. If someone like Remy comes, we could take Babel out of that list. I was leaving out Lucas, Spearing, Riera and Ngog from the list too. I think it’s a pretty good bunch, with depth, youth, experience and talent. One other thing I like is that many of the players can play in multiple positions, eg Cole, Maxi, Kuyt, Babel and Jovanovic could all play wide or more centrally.
    I presume Danny WIlson, as well as offering centre-back cover, will also be backup left back next season, and his arrival was the reason for Insua’s departure. All that’s needed now is a first-choice left back, and what level of player we can go for can’t be known until we know whether or not Masch is leaving. For instance if he goes, we could possibly afford both a replacement for him such as Defour and a top left back such as Coentrao. If he stays, we’ll be the stronger for it in central midfield, but may have to settle for a weaker left back.

  • Abdi Musa says:

    I think with joe cole we can really be optimistic this season, I think we should sign yate taiwo at LB and Sign Arda Turan…. Push babel upfront, which will get the best out of him with roy in charge. This would be my team for next season

    Reina

    skertal Aggar

    Johnson. Taiwo

    Lucas
    Gerrard. Aquilani

    Cole. Turan. Babel

    Torres

    But its inter changerable which will be very good as players could move about with a lot of creative telant….. But that’s just me

    Y.N.W.A

  • elninogreen08 says:

    @abdi thats 12 for starters but i do love the idea of having arda, i feel he would be a great player, loves the reds aswell so would put his heart into it. taiwo would also be a brilliant signing and i think you are right playing babel as a striker perhaps, attacker at least rather than a winger, he can finish but when trying to take people on trips himself up!!!
    @brush… i like where your heads at!!!

    Reina
    Carra Agger
    Johnson Taiwo
    Gerrard Aqua
    Maxi Jova
    Cole
    Torres

    Y.N.W.A

  • samuel charles says:

    With the plan that the club has to have quality rather then quantity, then with the out going players such as;
    degen, itandge, cavalieri, el zhar, nemeth,inusa, yossi, aurelio,2 reserve players departing also, san jose, reira, plessies, ngog.

    These are all the players that i know the club are looking to get rid of, and if so then great because if you look at the youth and the better reserve players that we have then they are going to replace the above.

    While at the same time we will be bringing in spaces that need to be filled in the 1st team.

    Its clear that amoo, ince, shelvey, sterling, wilson, eccleston,dalle valle, pacehco, darby, spearing, Kacaniklic, Gulacsi, Bruna, Sánchez Ayala, Robinson, Palsson, Kelly, irwin, are all better then plessies, el zhar and so on, so with reira going and yossi and insua they will be replaced with better quality, this is the way to go.

    The team will look weaker in terms of numbers but i hope with additions that Roy speaks of, then we may well have a better chance of the first team doing well.

    amoo, ince and eccleston and shelvey, kelly, irwin,darby and spearing and their are many others are all english, so that is good also.

    if we can get the deadwood sold then we will have money to spend in the right areas. my team would be this.
    REINA
    JOHNSON CARRAGHER AGGER TAIWO OR CISSOKHO?
    COLE GERRARD AQULIANI TURAN OR MATA
    TORRES HUNTELAAR / LLORENTE
    ID GO FOR

    REINA
    JOHNSON CARRAGHER AGGER TAIWO
    COLE GERRARD AQUILANI TURAN
    TORRES HUNTELAAR

    KUYT, MAXI SKRTEL, PACHECO, LUCUS,KELLY GULACSI GK, JOANIVIC, BABEL,SHELVEY, AMOO, INCE, ECCLESTON, SOTO, DARBY, SPEARING, ETC ON THE BENCH AND FOR TH REST OF THE TEAM.

  • samuel charles says:

    REIRA HAS GONE,, just heard that he is going for close to 5 million uk pounds sterling.

    NOW for degen to go, he should have gone by the end of the week also.

    things are moving well.

  • tee somethang 7 says:

    its simple,play joe cole in central mid,play steve gee in mid on the rite side,play jova on the left side with torez upfront with maybe remy if we get him.kuyt must be on the bench.if we buy arda turan,we use joe in central mid,gerrad on the rite side,arda on the left side and tores and remy/jova upfront.kuyt on bench,hodson says he wants a passing team with flair,kuyt lacks this.

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