KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum The way I see it...

Hi guys,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Anyway, wanted to get your views on how we will generally use our formation this season - true football manager style.

The way I see it is we will obviously play 4-3-3, but it will be structured differently for who we play against. Teams who we are expected to dominate and the opposition is likely to put 11 men in front of goal, I imagine us to play like this:


---------Reina-------------
----Skrtel-----Agger-------
Johnson-------------Enrique
----Allen-----Gerrard------
Dempsey----Cole------Suarez
-----Borini/Carroll--------

I am working on the assumption that Allen and Dempsey will get through the door. This formation gives us the ability to work the ball from the DM's, get them arriving late into an attacking area, and have the skill on the wings work the ball into the box. Cole as an AM is a pretty tricky character who can look for dempsey and suarez cutting in, without exploiting his lack of pace.

For the teams who are expected to take the game to us:

---------Reina-------------
----Skrtel-----Agger-------
Johnson-------------Enrique
----Allen-----Lucas--------
Dempsey----Gerrard---Downing
--------Suarez-------------

This would operate on a more counter attacking aspect, with Suarez more able to beat a defender and put someone through.

I am still worried about our general lack of pace though...

Thoughts?

I would say Lucas should be almost an automatic starter, regardless of opposition. He's obviously best at screening the defense but he's still comfortable enough on the ball that we can probably leave him in without sacrificing much in terms of our ability to keep possession.

Other than that I think your line-up is probably a reasonable approximation of what BR will go with. The only concern I have is Carroll. I would probably not play him if we have Suarez and Dempsey as our nominal "wingers," because I can't see either of them whipping too many crosses in. They're best at coming inside, getting involved in the play, etc., and it would almost be a waste to have our most creative player (Suarez) asked to find the big man every time. Downing would appear to be a more natural fit for Carroll because, contrary to his displays for pretty much all of last season, he actually is a decent crosser of the ball.

First names on the teamsheet: Reina, Lucas, Suarez, Skrtel, Agger (if fit), Johnson, Gerrard. Captain's armband: Gerrard->Lucas->Reina->Agger (Agger ahead of Reina if he would prefer to play for LFC if City's offer is only borderline acceptable).

Around this core you can play pretty much anyone, most likely Enrique, Downing, Carroll, and either Shelvey or Henderson.

Bench/second picks are Kelly, Sterling, Cole, Borini, Carragher, Coates, Robinson, Jones and Gulasci.

"If we must" category: Adam, Spearing, Flanagan (though the first two should be in the "Out the door" category along with Bellamy).

"Experiment" category: Suso, Morgan, Sama, Wisdom, Ngoo

Purchases? Hard to say, but we simply don't have the raw quantity of players to compete in 3 never mind 4 competitions this season. We must strengthen at CB (even if Agger stays!), DM, and a utility forward ala Bellamy/Kuyt. I wouldn't be unhappy if we sold Enrique and bought a better LB in his place. We also have too many average CMs - Adam, Spearing and Cole primary among them - and only Suso showing any quality in the reserves, so if we move some of these players we need replacements for them even if only to make up the numbers in the case of an injury crisis.

I think you've forgotten about Gerrard's ability to hit a cross should he learn to overlap with Suarez, and Kelly has shown an eagerness to get to the byline (though his end product is still lacking). I think our problem is more on the left, especially if Downing does not play there, because Sterling is better at running at players and Enrique can't hit a barn door from ten paces.