KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum nextgen u19

Even at that age, english teams are far behind our european counterparts in technical skills and tactics...

the reengineering of the team needs to be done. less focus on strength, speed and physical attibutes and more focus on ball work, tactics, technical skills, one touch play.

this wont be the first the young boys get spanked...lets hope they learn quickly.

One thing I've been thinking of is the fact we all think these teams (Barca, real et etc) are only good at attacking.

Hence the hype right now that we need to work on offensive issues only.

But have a look at how they're playing and You'll see that their game actually starts from the back (the way it's supposed to be in other words!). The thing is they have a quite modern way of defending - very high back line and trying to trace every run through the line. When they acquire the ball they're often quite near the opponents goal (depending on the high push defense).

That way they look to be always playing on attack, which isn't true. Even Barca spend at least 40% of the game time in defense!

For Barcelona, the only people in defence when they attack are the centre backs. Alves and the LB push into midfield and give that midfield an extra edge leaving Messi and co to weave in, out and between the lines.

they are also a very tight unit meaning there is very little space for people to run in behind them when they are deep.

Vidic and Ferdinand often distribute the ball when they are in the centre field meaning they move up to support the attack and create space for the other players.

Carragher rarely ventures further than a third into the field and his distribution is route one. that is the difference. we need ball playing centre backs and Cahill could be the difference

Borrel said the players started at anfield yesterday has only played together once. but did they play any good football?

I agree. I love Carra, but he's getting old and doesn't distribute well. With Cahill and Agger we would have two CBs very comfortable on the ball, with pace, and who can defend very well. They both can score, and both can distribute. With Johnson and Jose on the flanks we'd have one of the most agressive attacking defenses in the league.