Tactics

[Huyton_Red]

We won the European Cup playing one up front (Baros) and five in midfield in all the knockout games.

 

Baros had the energy and movement to play on his own and bother the best defences. against Juventus in both legs when he ran them f'ckin ragged for the first 25 minutes.

 

Always said I rated him as a player, still do. Will argue with anyone till I am blue in the face that he is better than the four we have now. Fully accept that he had to go because Rafa said so and he is a god, but we are a much better TEAM with him in it in my very humble opinion.

 

I dont care what anyone says, we have improved a huge amount at the back and in midfield and have a lot better keeper this season but up front we have gone backwards

 

When I saw cisse, put the 15th cross of the night off the full back for a corner I just sat and shook my head. We sold the wrong one.

 

I like Crouch but he doesnt work the opposition enough when he plays on his own up front, he is not mobile enough. If you dont have great wingers or a little magician playing off him you wont create much up front against strong defences when he plays. If you want to play the good teams and SCORE regulary with crouch up front you need better wingers than we have and a rooney or similair type player playing off crouch.

 

We dont have the wingers to get crosses in and we have a badly misfiring morientes playing off crouch so we are struggling

 

We where far better against the better teams with Baros on his own up there than with Crouch/Ciise/Morientes/Fowler as a pair or on their own.

 

I might get ridiculed for that, but just look at last seasons champions league matches for evidence to back up what I am saying.

 

If we are gonna stick with crouch then a winger who can cross a ball is an absolute must, as is another striker who can play off him properly.

 

This is not knee jerk, we have all been watching us all season, we are no way near rght up front but this has been masked by the huge improvement in other areas of the team. We where a better team going forward last year and we only had baros, mellor and pongolle fit for most of the season.

 

The saving grace is it sticks out like a sore thumb, everyone can see and Rafa is astute and ruthless enough to sort it, I think he will ditch any of them who arent doing it, including Morientes, including Garcia, dare I say it but one day even crouch if that is what is neccessary.

 

Onwards and upwards

Edited March 9, 2006 by Huyton_Red

[IgPig]

Crouch is a fine player, but really he needs someone to work off him, and as you say he needs wingers that get behind the opposition more.

 

Baros was decent enough, and probably would have come in handy this season, but he wasn't a long term answer.

 

Short term pain for long term gain I think.

Edited March 9, 2006 by hamstrung

[Suth]

Crouch is not a fine player, he is average. he has a decent touch but hes sh't in the air even though he is 7 foot. He missed the best chance of the game yesterday at 0-0 and looked distinctly out of his depth. and what was that dive all about? give that up for a f'ckn start.

[alext]

We won the European Cup playing one up front (Baros) and five in midfield in all the knockout games.

 

Baros had the energy and movement to play on his own and bother the best defences. against Juventus in both legs when he ran them f'ckin ragged for the first 25 minutes.

 

Always said I rated him as a player, still do. Will argue with anyone till I am blue in the face that he is better than the four we have now. Fully accept that he had to go because Rafa said so and he is a god, but we are a much better TEAM with him in it in my very humble opinion.

 

I dont care what anyone says, we have improved a huge amount at the back and in midfield and have a lot better keeper this season but up front we have gone backwards

 

When I saw cisse, put the 15th cross of the night off the full back for a corner I just sat and shook my head. We sold the wrong one.

 

I like Crouch but he doesnt work the opposition enough when he plays on his own up front, he is not mobile enough. If you dont have great wingers or a little magician playing off him you wont create much up front against strong defences when he plays. If you want to play the good teams and SCORE regulary with crouch up front you need better wingers than we have and a rooney or similair type player playing off crouch.

 

We dont have the wingers to get crosses in and we have a badly misfiring morientes playing off crouch so we are struggling

 

We where far better against the better teams with Baros on his own up there than with Crouch/Ciise/Morientes/Fowler as a pair or on their own.

 

I might get ridiculed for that, but just look at last seasons champions league matches for evidence to back up what I am saying.

 

If we are gonna stick with crouch then a winger who can cross a ball is an absolute must, as is another striker who can play off him properly.

 

This is not knee jerk, we have all been watching us all season, we are no way near rght up front but this has been masked by the huge improvement in other areas of the team. We where a better team going forward last year and we only had baros, mellor and pongolle fit for most of the season.

 

The saving grace is it sticks out like a sore thumb, everyone can see and Rafa is astute and ruthless enough to sort it, I think he will ditch any of them who arent doing it, including Morientes, including Garcia, dare I say it but one day even crouch if that is what is neccessary.

 

Onwards and upwards

We did sell the wrong one as well in my opinion. Baros had a lot of problems to his game, but these are miniscule when you compare them to the likes of Cisse, and Morientes at the moment. Baros put more effort into one game than Cisse has done in his whole career here. Baros wasn't always very clinical, but you knew eventually he would stick one in. I think Rafa would have shipped Cisse out much earlier but with his leg break and his record signing fee, it was unacceptable to ship him out with a massive loss. The problem is, now everyone has seen his ability we will be lucky to get a few million. As for Morientes, he just looks too weak and slow.

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

Bring Baros back (on)

[Woodsyla]

but we are a much better TEAM with him in it in my very humble opinion.

 

Don't agree with that at all. This team, finished on top of a group containing Chelsea, last years team had to score 3 goals in 1/2hr to avoid going out at the group stage.

 

Baros was awesome against Juve at home, however he couldn't link with any other player on the field. That's why we are a better team now. It's all hindsight but if we'd signed Figo, Simao or Joaquin and we'd resigned Owen we probably would have seen off Benfica. Had Hyppia been fit we probably would have seen them off.

 

It's just unfortunate, IMO that team is better equipped to win the CL than the one last year. We just didn't get it right on the day.

[Kite]

Personally always thought, and always argued, that Baros' contribution was hugely under-rated by some (especially on here). Do think we miss him.

 

But what's interesting (maybe?) is that we are far better in the Premiership this season, but then a bit poorer in Europe. Looking at Chelsea, they've totally dominated our Premiership by playing essentially defensive, unimaginative football and been found out in Europe. We don't have the squad at the moment to give us enough variety to play both styles of football as needed. We are generally cleverer at Prem games but have failed to stretch out defences in Europe as we did last season.

[Ombudsam]

It's not tactics as the title says. It's personnel. We create chances but don't score them.

 

I liked Baros but if rafa said he had to go fair enough the problem was not replacing him. We've loaned out the closest thing to him

[Diarmuid]

I've always thought Baros' willingness to chase balls down (and usually take his marker with him), was a an important factor in the CL run last season. Neither Crouch nor Morientes are mobile or quick enough to this and Cisse never plays in the center, so I guess it would be hard to judge him in this respect.

 

It's definitely something missing in the team this season, it may have been a role Sinama could have filled.