The year Alonso left it all fell apart and Rafa got the sack.
Fact. And ?
There was nothing defensively stable about Liverpool last season in any competition. Numbers at the back on paper didn't help Liverpool whatsoever.
Nope.
In the begining of the season the team was mostly without it's key defenders in many matches. After the late November when the players was fit and inform the team was stable defensively. Yes, the players made mistakes,but that's not the problem. THe problem was that the system wasn't wrong, it was just the players who made mistakes.
Liverpool going forward like headless chicken is exactly what happened in Rafa's system last season, that's the whole point.
Again - I'm not so sure. In the begining Liverpool was the top scorer in the EPL. THe goals flawed easily and from many players. Then start the injuries to key attacking players and logicaly the team wasn't so profitable in terms of goals. In the end of March Liverpool was in the top 3 of home game scorers. And this is good sign.
You seem to have the idea that anything other than a 4-2-3-1 shape when attacking is "fully attacking" or "throwing everyone forward" or "having no cover" etc. The idea you don't seem to grasp is that a rigid and highly organised formation with an attack that is easy to nullify contributes to it's downfall by encouraging deep players forward when the entire system is designed for them to remain deep.
Nope. I think I'm knowledgable enough to know that.
If you don't think so - it's not my problem.
Perhaps the most fundamental structural weakness in the Liverpool attacking shape under Rafa when it comes to constructing play and defeating counter-attacking teams is that the entire heartbeat of the attack is the lone AMC who can only be in one place at a time.
Entirely wrong.
The team's attack starts all over the pitch - not only through Gerrard or for GErrard. With the arriving of Jonhson the team's attacking shape become more stable and creative,just because on the right the team gains the much needed balance,which in the past years the team doesn't have. Now Kuyt can tuck inside and now going down the wing ( which is not his main skills ) and leave the width to Johnson. On the left the team has entirely different approach to the right and with the Aquilani and Gerrard the team has two player in the center who can create and score/attack from deep.
I don' think there is much need to talk about the role of Torres.
So, in conclusion, I thinl the team has very good system which do apply,it's just need more balance and variety depending on the opposition.
When Gerrard is on form Liverpool look like an average team with a genuine quality AMC and a poacher of the highest quality. When Gerrard is off form Liverpool look like a team that only avoids the Championship through sheer work ethic and a poacher of the highest quality.
I think this was said as you have are Man U fan, not a football fan. So I should not comment it.
If the quality of your midfield play in a 4-2-3-1 formation is so utterly lacking that the way you "maintain possession" and attacking pressure is by pushing forward your defense to compress the midfield and win the ball back quickly then you are going to be caught out over the top. If the quality of your midfield play in a 4-2-3-1 formation is so utterly lacking that the only way you can exploit space is by having DM's run into it, then while on paper you have two holding midfielders during the actual pattern of play you actually have none and you are going to be caught out through the middle. If the quality and arrangement of your wingers in a 4-2-3-1 is so lacking and unbalanced that defensively suspect fullbacks need to advance and whip in crosses and also advance to be at the back post then you are going to be caught out down the flanks.
I don't think that is the case,really.
In the matches when the team was playing with this all key players fit and in form the team system and approach was very good and balanced. But in the matches when the team missed some key player,either in defence and in attack,the whole system can't work so well.
May be with your words you are reffering to the second type of matches ?
They say that the table doesn't lie. This means that Rafa's system was directly responsible last season for failing to score goals and failing to prevent goals. And it's rather obvious why if you take a moment to think about it.
And what about hte 08/09 season ? May be the system was completely different ?
You make your judgment based on only one season,in which,unfortanelly, the team lacks fit and in form key players.
I make my conclusions based on the whole Rafa's reign,including the last season. That's the big difference.
The attacking shape of the Rafa 4-2-3-1 was two attacking fullbacks and an arrangement and quality of Centrebacks and Central Midfielders that made every D-Line position very risky.
Wrong.
The attacking shape,by default, includes two attacking FBs,one playmaking/attacking DMCs, three attacking midfielders that roames all over the last third of the pitch and one roaming poacher.
The defensive shape,when the team is attacking,includes two wider CBs and one central DMCs.
For me this is good attacking shape,shielded by good defensive shape. THe problem is that in the last season this system ( and it's shapes ) wasn't executed by the team's key/best players. That's all.
IF the system was bad the team wasn't be able to trash Real M in both matches,to win at OT with so much big margin,to made great matches with Chelsea and ARsenal,to finish top table scorers and etc facts. RIght ?
A deep D-Line when attempting to build play and sustain pressure would either split the team into two distinct segments with no midfield quality to pick passes to the attacking segment, or it would encourage the Central Midfielders to advance and leave the Centrebacks completely exposed. Thus Liverpool would either play longballs from defense or have a massive gap between Defense and Central Midfielders. A particularly great example of this problem was the first game against Fiorentina where Fiorentina's midfield was dense and numerical encouraging the Liverpool holding midfielders forward to support the construction of play, leaving 10 or 20 yards between Lucas and Carragher and Fiorentina would flood into this space on the counter-attack in huge numbers.
I fully agree. There was some matches with such as negative pattern. But it wasn't the team default performance. That's what I'm talking about. You can't conclude that the system is bad only after one negatie match ( in this example - the Fiorentina's match).
Just because I can replicate you with one good match - the home game against Real M.
Rafa's problem was the he was completely one-dimensional. He had no attacking shape that could sustain pressure while defending the counter-attack efficiently.
Wrong.
THe team has attacking shape but this shape could be executed only by the team's key players. You can't expect Riera,El Zhar,Pacheco and N'gog to perform like Benayon,Gerrard,Kuyt and Torres,right ?
Please,make a difference between bad system/shape and system that is executed by bad/poor players.
This is the real job Hodgson has at Anfield. Not "improving" Rafa's system, not signing better players, not getting his players to perform better individually, but to design into Liverpool the ability to transition into an attacking shape that can attack with quality and numbers and sustain pressure on the opponent at the same as defending the threat of the counter-attack efficiently and effectively.
Wrong, again.
Hodgson need to do all this things if he wants to sustain what Rafa did. IF he doesn't - in the next summer Liverpool will look for new manager.
I don't think Rafa ever really understood that when you have the ball the game is different to when the opponent has the ball.
That was the most wrong thing you ever said.
