Subs last night...what would u have done?

[Chewie]

things I thought we should have changed last night would have been

 

1. Subs at the same time 60 minutes - Kewell for Zenden, and Crouch for Alonso

- with Alonso and Mascherano in the middle we can dictate play but there is no cutting edge through the middle. Macherano is more than capable of being the holder and Gerrard the driver...with two wide men Crouch and Kuyt should have been given at least 20 minutes to work together

 

2. If that didn't work then with 10 minutes to go I'ld have went for Bellamy for Finnan.... 3 at the back with Bellamy and Kewell working the left channels....Kuyt and Pennant doubling up on the right and Crouch through the middle...

 

we did ourselves proud last night and showed everything that was good and bad about us...no longer a lucky team that everyone is shocked to see there but we need to be more than just really solid....at least 25 goals is needed next season...

 

Chewie

[Mondavi]

things I thought we should have changed last night would have been

 

1. Subs at the same time 60 minutes - Kewell for Zenden, and Crouch for Alonso

- with Alonso and Mascherano in the middle we can dictate play but there is no cutting edge through the middle. Macherano is more than capable of being the holder and Gerrard the driver...with two wide men Crouch and Kuyt should have been given at least 20 minutes to work together

 

2. If that didn't work then with 10 minutes to go I'ld have went for Bellamy for Finnan.... 3 at the back with Bellamy and Kewell working the left channels....Kuyt and Pennant doubling up on the right and Crouch through the middle...

 

we did ourselves proud last night and showed everything that was good and bad about us...no longer a lucky team that everyone is shocked to see there but we need to be more than just really solid....at least 25 goals is needed next season...

 

Chewie

 

 

I think the timing was right. We were marginally the better team, and rafa was trying to open up bit by bit in an attempt to grab a goal, without giving away our dominance in the centre of the park.

 

For those that wanted crouch on earlier, I say it was significant that when we took off a midfielder and went 4-4-2, they scored their only goal from open play within 5 minutes.

 

The only thing I'd have changed is taking off pennant instead of masch, moving stevie to the right where there appeared more space, and playing kuyt a bit deeper off crouch.

 

gerrard/finnan/risse/kewell to get the crosses in. alonso & masch to keep their midfield in their pockets like they had all night. we were only one down, only needed one goal to force extra time.

 

at 2 down, I'd have thrown on bellers for a defender. have to say though, I'd probably have been wrong to do that, as they;d more likely have bagged a 3rd on the break.

[don1980]

every time kaka got the ball masch was all over him like a bad rash, masch goes off kaka gets the ball with no one near him and just slides a through ball for inzaghi, cant understand why he took him off and when pennant starts so should crouch, there was no one for pennant to aim for last night

[Chewie]

every time kaka got the ball masch was all over him like a bad rash, masch goes off kaka gets the ball with no one near him and just slides a through ball for inzaghi, cant understand why he took him off and when pennant starts so should crouch, there was no one for pennant to aim for last night

 

I agree with this...keeping Masch on would have meant we could continue to control their attacking threat whilst Gerrard, Pennant and Kewell would have had Kuyt and Crouch to target...Alonso offers us a 'passing option' but unfortunately his passes are more sideways and slower to release than a year or two ago...last night we just needed a bit more than that and unfortunately I think taking Masch off was the wrong decision....in much the same way that two years ago having Hamann on allowed us to be more effective going forward - ironically...

Edited May 24, 2007 by Chewie

[redbaz]

every time kaka got the ball masch was all over him like a bad rash, masch goes off kaka gets the ball with no one near him and just slides a through ball for inzaghi, cant understand why he took him off and when pennant starts so should crouch, there was no one for pennant to aim for last night

 

Agreed. Would not have taken Mashc off. We really needed to keep him on to patrol that area in front of defence that Kaka operates in, even if we were chasing the game. With only Inzaghi up front for Milan would have prefered to have switched to 3 at the back and taken Riise off for Crouch.

[John am Rhein]

I wouldn't have had Kewell on the bench at all. I'd have replaced Pennant with Crouch around 65 minutes, pushing Gerrard wide right with Kuyt and Crouch forming a front two.

 

If we were still trailing at around 75-80 minutes I'd have brought Bellamy on for Kuyt - or if we were 2-0 down, Bellamy for Zenden.

[Mondavi]

I wouldn't have had Kewell on the bench at all.

 

 

If you'd been at anfield for the charlton game you would have.

[John am Rhein]

If you'd been at anfield for the charlton game you would have.

 

Maybe, but I wasn't.

[IgPig]

I'd have taken Pennant off and put Gerrard on the right probably, but I can see the logic behind taking Masch off.

[yellow jumper]

bit of a weird one in that the system was working, we were controlling the game in midfield and defence. even after they scored we were preventing their counter attacks pretty easily. the problem of course is then getting the right balance between keeping that control and creating greater attacking impetus.

 

the kewell for zenden sub seemed a no-brainer. although harry wasn't great.

 

how to get the extra striker on the pitch was the really tough call. a lot of the paper analysis seems to be particularly naive on this. as though throwing on crouch, bellamy or both after 50 minutes would have inevitably seen us through.

 

with hindsight i think mascherano should have stayed, still not certain who might have gone in his place though. pennant or alonso perhaps?

[RaoulD]

It is very easy with hindsight but it seemed that Milan were not really threatening our flanks and so I might have kept Mascherano on.

 

One possibility might have been to go 3 at the back by taking off Finnan and Zenden and replacing them with Arbeloa and Crouch. Riise would then have been pushed into the left midfield slot with Carragher sweeping at the back. This would have still left us the option of either Kewell or Bellamy if more attacking impetus was required but would have allowed to continue to control the midfield and keep their full backs busy with defensive duties. It would also have given us a greater threat in the box.

[Kite]

I think there was a case for taking off Gerrard, talismanic though he is, he looked totally exhausted coming into the last 15 minutes and was no longer able to contribute much. I can see why Alonso stayed on as he's much more likely to play a killer pass than Masch and I can see why Pennant stayed, even though his final ball was often off, he continued to cause Milan problems and was getting behind them. Maybe the best compromise would have been Riise off - if Masch was still there, then the defence probably would have survived and Riise wasn't really having a good game overall.

[John am Rhein]

I think there was a case for taking off Gerrard, talismanic though he is, he looked totally exhausted coming into the last 15 minutes

 

Hmmm. I don't agree with taking him off,but perhaps this had something to do with why Benitez didn't move him to the right wing and kept Pennant on?

[Red]

I think Rafa' got the subs right, but I would've like to have seen at least one change at half time. Kewell needed 10-15 minutes just to get into the game and that was time we didn't have. Crouch could've come on 5-10 minutes earlier too, but of course this is all easy to say in retrospect.

 

I was surprised to see Arbeola come on instead of Bellamy. I thought that was a real slap in the face for Bellamy, when we could've done with another attacker.

 

 

 

Just to add. I think Mash came off rather than Xabi, because he was on a yellow. Pennant was our most creative threat and didn't deserve to be taken off.

Edited May 24, 2007 by Red

[JRC]

Crouch was ready to come on about 5 minutes earlier, but the ball didn't go out of play, and then they had a corner, so Rafa stalled.

 

Part of the reason re Crouch not getting much game time may be that the Euro Refs seem to punish him for simply being tall, and that happened to an extent last night; hence his efectiveness was limited, and only worth bringing on as things got more desperate.

[Guest Anders Honoré]

it was a bit of an inverse rafa this one. Him and the players git it spot on for the first half. Don't think we came out right for the second, although we did dominate play.

 

I'd have gone two up front from the beginning of the first half.

[Runehammer]

I'd have started with Kewell instead of Zenden.

[Guest sniffer]

every time kaka got the ball masch was all over him like a bad rash, masch goes off kaka gets the ball with no one near him and just slides a through ball for inzaghi, cant understand why he took him off and when pennant starts so should crouch, there was no one for pennant to aim for last night

 

Exactly. It is arguable that Milan's second goal wouldn't have happened if Masch had still been on the field.

[Guest RedLegend]

Watching the game what I wanted to happen at the time was...

 

Zenden off much earlier. Even if Kewell wasn't totally match sharp he would have been better than Zenden.

 

Crouch on at least 10 minutes earlier. Think he came on around the 76th minute mark.

 

Would have taken Alonso off ahead of Mascherano.

[Bootle Buck]

If Rafa wanted to play with one striker Crouch should have been the one. Gerrard could have benefited from his knock downs and Pennant would have had a target man. Bellamy should have been on around 60 minutes to try and run the aging Milan defence ragged. As much as I love Rafa I think he made a few mistakes last night.

[Ben 23]

I'd have done Crouch for Kuyt after about 55 minutes. And then Kewell for Zenden on the hour mark and stuck to the same formation. If that wasn't having any influence then I would have brought Bellamy on for Alonso after 80 minutes and gone with an attacking 4-4-2.

[Ginu]

it's quite simple really - Alonso offers more than Masch going forward and we needed to get back in the match at that point.

[Billy Dane]

I would have started with Crouch and Kewell instead of Zenden and Kuyt. Crouch is a better target for Pennant than Kuyt who doesn't get into the box often enough for me.

Zenden is a decent defensive option, but doesn't create enough going forward.

 

Last night demonstrated again how much we need a clinical finisher. I'm not too bothered about how much theu would contribute to the team ethic, we have 10 other players who can put in the hard graft, we need someone we can rely on to put the ball in the net.

[Guest RedLegend]

it's quite simple really - Alonso offers more than Masch going forward and we needed to get back in the match at that point.

 

Yeah but Alonso wasn't really doing much. Apart from one shot in the first couple of minutes he was pretty anonymous. Just kept giving away free-kicks.

 

Mascherano may not be as good going forward but he was at least clearly having a very good game.

[hideNseek]

I would've started with Crouch and not took Masch off.