One of the most enjoyable games from last season was Liverpool’s 5-2 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage in May. It was characterised by winger Maxi Rodriguez scoring his second hat-trick in three games, and for me it was no coincidence that the Argentine was hitting a rich vein of form.
As against Brighton on Wednesday, the Reds started with two holding midfield players in Jay Spearing and Lucas Leiva at Fulham, allowing Maxi, Raul Meireles, Dirk Kuyt and Luis Suarez to play with a lot of freedom in front of them. Although I talked about in some length in an article yesterday, I only touched on why Maxi specifically seems to excel when this formation is played.
For the most part for Liverpool, especially under Kenny Dalglish, Maxi has played wide on the left, but it must be said he never sticks to his position; something which troubles the opposition defence. Rather than sticking to the touchline with chalk on his boots as they say, Maxi invariably pops up in positions in the middle of the pitch or sometimes wide on the right.
The fluidity of the formation allows Maxi to play to his strengths by not playing as an out and out winger, but as a player who arrives late in the box to either play one-twos with the likes of Suarez or Kuyt, or to get off a shot of his own. As I have already said, it is not coincidence he scored so many goals at the end of last season in such a role, as he is very difficult to mark and pick up, especially when the front 4 players are interchanging positions so regularly, and passing and moving the ball so quickly.
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