Even though I wouldn’t be foolish enough to say I know better than someone like Kenny Dalglish when it comes to tactics, I don’t think any manager is immune to criticism, and especially when a side loses 4-0, I think it is right to call the manager on his mistakes.
If you read my article on in regards to “5 Key Questions as Liverpool head into the Spurs Game,” you would have known I was worried when I saw the team sheet to face Tottenham yesterday. During the match too, when things were not going our way, tactics could have been changed but it was left too late to address some of the fundamental problems we faced at White Hart Lane.
1) Martin Skrtel – I won’t say too much on this as we all know what happened. I was worried before the game that Kenny would pick Skrtel at right back and he wouldn’t cope with Bale’s pace. Even though he had good games against Bolton and Stoke at full back, he wasn’t up against someone like Bale. Skrtel is much too slow to play the position and it was no surprise he was sent off for two bookable offences where Bale was just too quick for him. It wasn’t Skrtel’s fault; the blame must lie with Dalglish for picking him there.
2) 4 man midfield – Tottenham enjoy playing against sides who play like for like. Last season at Anfield, they played 4-4-1-1 and beat the Reds convincingly 2-0. It was an almost carbon copy of the performance yesterday as Spurs got an early spectacular goal and out fought and out thought Liverpool in central midfield. Charlie Adam’s two yellow cards were the direct consequence of both his inability to tackle as well the fact he was overwhelmed by the forward runs of both Parker and Modric. A 5 man midfield would have made the game a lot tighter, and a lot more difficult to expose Adam, meaning it would have been less likely we would have got a man sent off.
3) Andy Carroll’s selection – Kuyt and Suarez have looked excellent as a pairing and I was surprised that Kenny elected to start Carroll in this match, especially when Manchester United had demonstrated how to beat Spurs by having quick, pacey players to expose Tottenham on the counter attack. Bellamy and Downing either side of Suarez, with perhaps a midfield three of Adam, Lucas and Henderson would have led to a much tighter game, and could have led the Reds being able to pick off Spurs with quick, incisive counter attacks. Playing Carroll in a 4-4-2, a player who needs service, means we needed possession of the ball; it was never going to happen with how we set up versus Spurs and both Carroll and Suarez were starved of possession. Saying that, even when they did get the ball, Carroll and Suarez looked to be on completely different wavelengths which is worrying.
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Your comments are neither helpful nor thought through. Support with your heart and not with an ill informed critical eye. How do you know if Flanno is fit or not? If you wany me too read your column agin David you had better start writing like a supporter with intelligence.
We all support with our heart otherwise we wouldn’t still be supporting after the past two seasons we’ve had.
We have to open our eyes and be prepared to openly discuss our concerns. That is all the article is doing. Let’s getreal and try and understand why we put in such a poor show.
My realities are:
Caroll is too slow to be anything other than a penalty box player and for that you need service. Playing him away in the Premier League is a luxury we cannot afford. You need the fluidity to go from 4 – 5 – 1 to 4 – 3 – 3 and that excludes Caroll. At home against weaker opposition he could be deadly with the right service.
We will be lucky to hang on to Suarez at the end of the season unless we shape up. et al Alonso,Mascherano,Torres.
Adam cannot tackle and cannot function in a defensive midfield role. The best way to use him is in front of a two-man midfield shield. He has great passing ability and great dead-ball use but needs to be able to stay on the pitch.
Henderson is a huge disappointment. I was shocked when we boughthim atthe price nd now I cannot see how he deserves the confidence being shown in him.
No we can’t say that Flano won’t get red carded but that is his position and he has shown he can n have done the job. You pick someone else when you don’t have any option . Downing on the right may have worked but he’s best on the left. Sorry, stop defending Kenny. We all like him but he makes mistakes n sometimes needs to be corrected. Thing is he knows a few of his mistakes but he is adamant on justifying his mistakes that will n have lead to another . When he took out Henderson against Stoke the team looked good n he knows it. He don’t need to justify the bad signing, but make sure the team don’t miss out on the points when they’re there for the taking. Losing is part of the game, but to lose the way we did was not. The squad is good enough to put up a fight if not win it. But the team we put out to face Spurs was a joke. Kenny’s direction is not clear n inconsistent, He didn’t select the starters on merit, that’s clear and that’s confusing n contradicts to what he said before.
Actually, I think his points are reasonable and well argued.
I too was surprised that Skrtel didn’t move to the middle once Agger was injured, and that it took so long to bring on a deep-lying midfielder (Spearing) to compensate for the loss of Adam. Overall, our midfield lacked bite. Adam proved that tackling isn’t his strong point, and neither Henderson nor Downing really got stuck in. In short, it was a disappointing display — I’d like to have seen a lot more aggression after we started to lose players. If anything, several of our lads seemed to retreat into their shells.
However, this is still a new team and the experience of getting thumped should help them learn. We need a team that can respond to situations like this (slow starts, wonder goals, sendings off, injuries). I’m sure these players are smart enough to use this experience wisely. Kenny certainly is.
In any event, although we were awful, the result was misleading. It seems hard to believe in a way, but before the second sending off, the score was still just 1-0. If we could have avoided losing players, I suspect we’d have got a point.
I remember Kenny first time around and i always thought his tactics even then wher`nt up to much
and in my opinion we had the master tactician in Rafa,BUT we cant write this all off cos Kenny has Clark as his r/h man (and he must agree with tactics),also in my opinion Carroll does`nt cut the mustard and does`nt even look a £10 mil player and Henderson is not strong enough.With Stevie back the ship can steady and take things from there,its all soooo disappointing tho. YNWA
@ken08 Agree completely with all your comments
Shockin display yesterday, cant believe dirk was on the bench we look a total different team with carroll in it an not in a good way
well kenny shud do away with his british only selection which is rubbish.u buy henderson not mata,u buy carol not augero.u risk destroying our team.
Firstly with regards Henderson, Caroll and Coates, they are all young and require time unless of course you were a miracle in your early twenties and did everthing correct!
A good manager can get the best out of poor players. This is a coaching/managing issue and nothing to do with the players. If we had a top class manager at liverpool he would get these players playing far better.
Time ??? Ok, drop them n play them in the future when they r ready. Or play them towards the end of games not start them n lose points. Do we risk points to train them ? They are for the future so start them n they’ll come good by the time we are relagated . Bravo !!!!
Now kk & co will learn from their mistakes.Very Faulty for this loss and will lose many games more.Poor tactically and let players like aqua leave.Let meireles Aqua would have dominated more than modric.More versatile.Now we must wait on Gerrard to see if we can do something or we will finished in the 9th position.
Agree with the majority of arguments but do think Carrol deserves more credit than he is receiving. Had Kuyt played in the place of Henderson we would have had a 4-4-1-1 formation with Suarez dropping deep, helping out the midfield and able to run of Carrol’s lay-offs, Downing & Dirk to provide crosses or at least hold up play and the latter helping out the helpless Skrtl. Shifting Carrol out wide while keeping Suarez as the target man when reduced to 10 men still puzzles (although Carrol was one of the few who looked like he gave a toss despite being played out of position).
Excellent, spot on Kelly, though for 4 & 5,I am not so sure. Was it possible to play a close game with 10 or 9 men, after we coincided the early goal? Flanagan might not be fir & even he had been, the harsh truth is that, he is at best average. We measure him as a teenager, but that doesn’t make him a young Thuram & the opposition ‘ll not favor him for his age.
The formation was wrong & with the size of King & Kabul, Carroll ‘ll never be even average, let alone shine. Adam, Downing & Henderson played for lower teams, everybody against them playing to win & they got so much space, but not for LFC.
I thought our only realistic chance was 4-2-3-1 or even 5-4-1 (Agger, Skartel/Coates & Carra, flanked by Enrique & Kyut, Lucas,Downing & Henderson with Adam playing behind Luis, trying to put though balls or take a crack from within 30 yards. Whenever Adam is played in central or defensive position, he ;ll get bookings for his late tackles.
& yes KK, made a blunder for not focusing on Bale.
Remember when we absolutely outplayed Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2009 and won 4-1.
What a pity United didn’t overreact like the modern day Liverpool fan! Everybody has a bad day at some time! Move on!
It was a bad day all round….no manager can account for the indiscipline shown by Adam and Skrtel…particularly Skrtel….he let himself down and his team mates….remember the mancs got beat by Newcastle 5 nil….s£&t happens
Don’t think you can put too much on tactics yesterday. The players didn’t perform and Spurs were up for it and got off to a great start. Our lads were like rabbits in the headlights. Can’t blame tactics though. Kenny’s tactics would not have been “go out there play crap and let spurs dictate. Move the ball really slowly and don’t give your team mates any options. Play without confidence and while you’re at it get a couple Red cards.” The lads got off to a bad start, bottled it and then at 10 men it was over because Spurs were confident and on top form.
Err dude, you say use a 5 man midfield to tighten up because adam was exposed – then you say use 3 upfront and 3 man midfield because carrol is no good. make up you mind. I am not a ‘pool fan, but flanagan looks VERY average to me and bale would have done the same to him if not worse. Granted he is quick(ish) but TERRIBLE positional play. As for the Manu game – Spurs are a totally different outfit at the back with King. yes KK should have done something after adam red card. I am spurs fan and I would say you had one of those days and are just as likely to do it to us at Anfield. I would not be pressing the panic button – in the same I did not after the manchester games. it will still be close between us for 4th – just not for the A$se 🙂
enjoy the season every one.
G
cammon…..
2 lose… but must win with both game with chelsea, man city & united…
We will #1.
but… no more lose to bottom team..
To any delusional fans who say we can win the title, please do the club a favour and stop giving the players, and manager unnecessary pressure.
Graham, 4-5-1 can be transformed to 4-3-3 on the break easily and vice versa. I agree with the article and with a man down, I’d rather put in kuyt as his workrate is as good as 2 players. having bellamy instead of caroll means both kuyt and bellamy can crowd the midfield and break with speed
Yes, the players didn’t do well from the start but don’t expect them to do well if the tactic and formation weren’t optimal