The system

[Ed the Wool]

The Masch/Lucas axis just isn't working. They both sit too deep and there's f***ing acres until Torres. Opposing teams have two lines of 4 breaking up everything we go forward with, because there's no support.

 

Kuyt is having a woeful run of form, seemed like he lost the ball everytime today (and I'm a big supporter of Dirk). Yossi looks half fit and is reliant on confidence.

 

Gerrard has looked under par for weeks.

[Andy @ Allerton]

Some good news there then. Masch is banned for 4 games.

[Gerrardrules]

The Masch/Lucas axis just isn't working. They both sit too deep and there's f***ing acres until Torres. Opposing teams have two lines of 4 breaking up everything we go forward with, because there's no support.

 

Kuyt is having a woeful run of form, seemed like he lost the ball everytime today (and I'm a big supporter of Dirk). Yossi looks half fit and is reliant on confidence.

 

Gerrard has looked under par for weeks.

 

We're way to predictable in our passing and moving. We've got no wide players who can beat a player one on one.

Lucas his passing is without any level of danger in it. He always choses the safes option which allows the other team to stay organized.

[Ed the Wool]

It'll have to be Spearing then.

The Aquilani gamble looks like it's going to finish Rafa off. It was a huge risk at the time. It's monumentally backfired.

[Zoob]

The Masch/Lucas axis just isn't working. They both sit too deep and there's f***ing acres until Torres. Opposing teams have two lines of 4 breaking up everything we go forward with, because there's no support.

 

Kuyt is having a woeful run of form, seemed like he lost the ball everytime today (and I'm a big supporter of Dirk). Yossi looks half fit and is reliant on confidence.

 

Gerrard has looked under par for weeks.

 

Yossi looks about a quarter fit. Not sure what's up with Gerrard - don't think he's fully fit either. Torres doesn't look fit yet, Johnson definitely doesn't look fit (compare him recently to the start of the season) and Kuyt looks like he needs a month rest to recharge. Insua needs to learn how to close people down and stop them crossing the ball.

[abc]

There has not been enough movement and support, off and ahead of the ball for a long time now, whatever the system.

[D.Boon]

Gerrard doesnt look interested, which is a terrible sign.

[David Hodgson]

It'll have to be Spearing then.

The Aquilani gamble looks like it's going to finish Rafa off. It was a huge risk at the time. It's monumentally backfired.

 

I agree. I felt pre season that the Aquilani gamble would make or break Rafa, and I think it's going to prove the latter.

[stressederic]

Gerrard doesnt look interested, which is a terrible sign.

 

And it's really starting to annoy me now.

[Mr. Biscan]

I agree. I felt pre season that the Aquilani gamble would make or break Rafa, and I think it's going to prove the latter.

 

Likewise

[Earl Hafler]

There has not been enough movement and support, off and ahead of the ball for a long time now, whatever the system.

 

You need players in the side who'll run at people and open up space for Gerrard and Torres. If it's not Benayoun, then you have to play Babel - he might lose the ball too often for comfort but far too many times this season we've had no pace on the pitch.

Torres has been out and before has needed several games tu return to his brilliant best. Putting N'Gog alongside his takes some of the pressure off - there were times today when you could see that he was thinking " I'm going to have to do this on my own "

 

That team is shot at the moment and needs attention that, currently, Rafa appears incapable of giving it

[Benzo-13]

Gerrard doesnt look interested, which is a terrible sign.

 

Yep. Utter gash since he came back.

 

That friendly period in October killed our season when him and Torres got whacks.

[lfc003]

The problem is Rafa ain't gonna change the system for anything.

[Lark]

its not the system its the personel. One out and out attacking player away to bottom of the league pompey.

[Earl Hafler]

The problem is Rafa ain't gonna change the system for anything.

 

Because he'll blame the poor officials more than anything and think that hard work will get us out of it.

[Beardsley]

Do we have a system? I think we look utter clueless.

[abc]

You need players in the side who'll run at people and open up space for Gerrard and Torres. If it's not Benayoun, then you have to play Babel - he might lose the ball too often for comfort but far too many times this season we've had no pace on the pitch.

Torres has been out and before has needed several games tu return to his brilliant best. Putting N'Gog alongside his takes some of the pressure off - there were times today when you could see that he was thinking " I'm going to have to do this on my own "

 

That team is shot at the moment and needs attention that, currently, Rafa appears incapable of giving it

 

We play in a very structured manner - this for me is what's made us for the past few season, and subsequently broken us in the current one. In Rafa's words, we are an organised side. There aren't enough players who get ahead of the ball, and not enough who will move from their "designated post" to support their teammate. On average we're not going to blast opponents off the park by swarming the opposition box, but at the same time not going to let in too many over the course of the season. However, the wheels have come off (for the most part of) this season.

 

Rafa has a certain way of seeing football matches, and how he likes them to play out. And because he is so attentive to every single detail he will try and control it as much as he can. The problem is, as someone's mentioned on the match thread, there are moments when Rafa over-complicates the game. His approach will always be methodical, and his general philosophy of the game will not change. And rightfully so. However, it's clearly not working, the players don't seem to be responding, and things are not going to drastically change - and that includes the system. He clearly has faith in what he's doing, what he's done and the success his methods have brought. Again, rightfully so. I think he believes that if you keep doing the right things and working hard, eventually we'll play ourselves out of this rut.

 

To me, this IS a freak season. A dark cloud has hung over the club ever since the summer, probably when Barry chose to go to City and we've been plagued by so many things going against us, self inflicted or not. We're stuck in a bad situation...to me mostly due to the owners screwing us over in the summer, but the nett effect is this: we are in a bad situation, and I suspect it's not going to change anytime soon.

 

Sorry to have gone slightly off-topic here, I guess my point is that our problems extend further than just the system we use, which BTW is unlikely to change...

[Swipe]

It'll have to be Spearing then.

The Aquilani gamble looks like it's going to finish Rafa off. It was a huge risk at the time. It's monumentally backfired.

 

Aye. A disastrous signing, thus far.

[Ed the Wool]

Agree it's not just the system. To me that's the key to changing things on the pitch for the better as quick as possible.

 

But I've been of the view for a while (since Reina came out and said it in August/Sept) that what happened over the summer regarding budgets and transfers ripped the heart and guts out of a team on the brink of winning the league. The players saw the writing on the wall months ago, Rafa is bull headed and professional enough to think he could manage, duck and weave his way out of it. I think he underestimated the guts of some of the players.

 

I blame the owners mainly. We are rotten at the core. The Shankly way of everyone at the club pulling toward success on the pitch died with the takeover. Until we get that ethos back, Shankly's Liverpool Way is dead. We now operate like the Man City of old. Newcastle. Leeds. Spurs. It absolutely makes me sick to the stomach.

[abc]

Agree it's not just the system. To me that's the key to changing things on the pitch for the better as quick as possible.

 

But I've been of the view for a while (since Reina came out and said it in August/Sept) that what happened over the summer regarding budgets and transfers ripped the heart and guts out of a team on the brink of winning the league. The players saw the writing on the wall months ago, Rafa is bull headed and professional enough to think he could manage, duck and weave his way out of it. I think he underestimated the guts of some of the players.

 

I blame the owners mainly. We are rotten at the core. The Shankly way of everyone at the club pulling toward success on the pitch died with the takeover. Until we get that ethos back, Shankly's Liverpool Way is dead. We now operate like the Man City of old. Newcastle. Leeds. Spurs. It absolutely makes me sick to the stomach.

 

Yup, when Reina came out and said what he did that was the writing on the wall. Pepe seems to be a top pro and is defo made of the proper stuff character-wise. For him to come out and make such a statement was damning, and possibly indicative of the mood in the camp at the time.

 

There is a need for Rafa to switch into crisis management mode if he does indeed have one. I think he needs to take stock and assess the situation in a different manner. Again, it's not so much the system, it's the (footballing) attitude of the manager and players. In my opinion he needs to start abandoning the regular calculated approach - we've been trying it and it's not worked. We need a plan E (for emergency). We've had two catalyst points in our season already - the victory over Man Utd and Everton. Twice we have been done by a combination of unfortunate circumstances and the manager's poor decisions: Fulham with horrible injuries, leaving Kuyt on and taking off Benayoun with the game still salvageable. At Blackburn with a less than adventurous approach (by most accounts) and the enigma that is Aquilani. I think had we gone on to win those games we might have kicked on and got a couple of wins under the belt. But we didn't and are now suffering a horrible see-saw season.

 

As for the Liverpool way, I'm numb to the effects of the owners already...

[Conrad]

I agree. I felt pre season that the Aquilani gamble would make or break Rafa, and I think it's going to prove the latter.

 

Arguably it's a signing that has already failed as a gamble

[Davvo]

its not the system its the personel. One out and out attacking player away to bottom of the league pompey.

 

The system would be fine with different personnel, the personnel would be fine with a different system.

[oli-marson]

the system has become too predictable for sides to defend against As you say with different personel it would be more succesful. However now, sides just target torres and gerrard, and no one else other than maybe benayoun can break down teams but he is played out of position on the left and he doesnt start as often as we would like.

[doug_mac]

the system has become too predictable for sides to defend against As you say with different personel it would be more succesful. However now, sides just target torres and gerrard, and no one else other than maybe benayoun can break down teams but he is played out of position on the left and he doesnt start as often as we would like.

 

 

spot on

 

teams know all they have to do is put 5 in midfield to deny gerrard and torres space and we become clueless..we play 2 defensive midfielders who rarely cross the halfway line but at the same time give the defence bugger all protection

 

the system is a counter attack formation which is designed to hit teams on the break and if we score first it suits us that other teams have to attack and we can hit them on the break

 

but when we concede first goal and other teams sit back we look woeful and the lack of pace, creativity and flair in the team sticks out like a sore thumb

 

but what really annoys me is we never throw on a forward or two for a midfielder or defender, we never throw the kitchen sink at a team to try get a result

 

in my opinion this is rafa's blind spot and fatal flaw hes too loyal to the system, sometimes he needs to grow a pair and risk losing matches by trying to win them

 

look at yesterday we go to the bottom club and play 4-5-1 with a rubbish left back playing left wing to protect the rubbish left back behind him, this conservative approach is the problem we should have played an attacking team and went and wiped the floor with pompey but rafa's negative tactics are holding back the team

[jimbolala]

spot on

 

teams know all they have to do is put 5 in midfield to deny gerrard and torres space and we become clueless..we play 2 defensive midfielders who rarely cross the halfway line but at the same time give the defence bugger all protection

 

the system is a counter attack formation which is designed to hit teams on the break and if we score first it suits us that other teams have to attack and we can hit them on the break

 

but when we concede first goal and other teams sit back we look woeful and the lack of pace, creativity and flair in the team sticks out like a sore thumb

 

but what really annoys me is we never throw on a forward or two for a midfielder or defender, we never throw the kitchen sink at a team to try get a result

 

in my opinion this is rafa's blind spot and fatal flaw hes too loyal to the system, sometimes he needs to grow a pair and risk losing matches by trying to win them

 

look at yesterday we go to the bottom club and play 4-5-1 with a rubbish left back playing left wing to protect the rubbish left back behind him, this conservative approach is the problem we should have played an attacking team and went and wiped the floor with pompey but rafa's negative tactics are holding back the team

 

it certainly looks that way now.

we should put carra out on rb and play 4 4 2 with stevie beside johnson mash and benny in mid with torres upfront with kuyt and go for it