Cheesecake
Senior Member
0-0 ...... 
LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB - *59* You'll Never Walk Alone! Bro Rodz is Rafa in disguise!
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Cheesecake
Senior Member
howard webb only wants dirty kite's g-strings and the only person who have them is bro rodz...
roDz
Senior Member
elva is kuyt's code name for bro CC:bsmilie:
u want guy's gstring?:sweat: can have Carroll's :bsmilie:Thank you cheesecake kor kor!
It's ok you can keep your g-strings! I only want Daniel Wu's and Tom Price's.
Cheesecake
Senior Member
Thank you cheesecake kor kor!
It's ok you can keep your g-strings! I only want Daniel Wu's and Tom Price's.
waseh.... this is one epic comment.
Cheesecake
Senior Member
waseh... ...
anyway, we really have a serious problem in scoring. too many draws in Anfield.
andy carroll keeps getting snuffed out.
Cheesecake
Senior Member
Cheesecake
Senior Member
Tactics 365: Pool Need To Be Narrow-Minded
A change of approach for Liverpool at Anfield failed to prevent another frustrating afternoon. It was a case of right idea, wrong execution, says Matthew Stanger...
curry sauce
How They Set Up
With goalscoring a recurring problem for Liverpool at Anfield this season, Kenny Dalglish opted for an offensive 3-4-2-1 formation. Jose Enrique and Glen Johnson began the game as wing-backs, with Steven Gerrard and Stewart Downing supporting Dirk Kuyt in attack. Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson sat centrally, with the former charged with finding the runs of Enrique and Johnson down the wings.
As noted by Michael Cox of the excellent Zonal Marking, the same set-up was used in this fixture last season when Liverpool cruised to a 2-0 victory. On that occasion it was suggested that Dalglish possibly utilised the system - rarely-used in the Premier League - in order to fit more height into the team. And with a back three of Jamie Carragher, Sebastian Coates and Martin Skrtel at Anfield on Saturday, there was clearly enough physical presence to nullify Stoke's aerial threat from set pieces.
Stoke, with one goal in their last 10 league matches at Anfield, lined up a bit more predictably. Expecting Liverpool to dominate possession on their home patch, Tony Pulis set his team up in a 4-5-1. Crouch was the lone frontman, with Matthew Etherington and Jonathan Walters responsible for counter-attacking with pace and power. Rory Delap was included in a central midfield trio (primarily for his throw-in capabilities), with Glenn Whelan sitting deepest to shield the back four.
It was clear Stoke's intention was to frustrate Liverpool, soak-up the pressure and then try to nick a goal on the break or through a set-piece. Liverpool would need to find a way between Stoke's overloaded midfield to create opportunities for Kuyt and Gerrard. An inevitable game of cat and mouse ensued...
First Half
Buoyed by an impressive victory at Manchester City in the Carling Cup, Liverpool began the match dictating a high tempo. It was perhaps on the players' minds that they would need to score early to avoid another afternoon of attrition at Anfield.
As has been the norm this season, the passing was quick and neat with Gerrard, Henderson and Adam frequently linking-up well. The Scot in particular found his range early in the first-half, with several raking passes picking out Enrique's attacking runs. The Spanish full-back readily supported Gerrard down the left, but in what would become a recurring theme, there was often no one to aim at in the box.
Indeed, with Kuyt selected ahead of Andy Carroll, Dalglish had decided to avoid the straight-up physical battle with Stoke's solid defence. Instead, the idea was to exploit the Dutchman's intelligent runs and look for the ball to be pulled back to Gerrard and Downing to shoot. In theory this approach had potential, as Kuyt created space for himself behind Stoke's backline on several occasions. However, the second part of the plan - midfielders breaking into the box to finish - failed to materialise. One such move after ten minutes illustrated the flaw, as Kuyt wriggled away from Huth but did well to win a corner after being deprived of targets in the middle.
As the half wore on, Liverpool continued to press down the flanks. Enrique and Johnson are already offensively-minded full-backs, and given extra license to roam in this system they repeatedly had the opportunity to aim balls into the box. Any crosses which were fired in were easily dealt with by Stoke's imposing backline, though, and the best opportunity of the first 45 minutes fell to the visitors when Etherington broke on the counter to fire straight at Jose Reina.
Second Half
Despite Liverpool's line-up stymying their chances of scoring from crosses, the Reds continued with this tactic at the beginning of the second half.
It wasn't long until Dalglish addressed the obvious requirement for a central target, with Andy Carroll brought on for the ineffective Downing. Now Liverpool had someone to aim for, and given the frequent crossing opportunities they had found in the first-half, Carroll should have been perfect for the occasion.
As has been the case with the struggling front man this season, however, his introduction seemed to interrupt the team's fluency. With Liverpool changing to a 3-4-1-2 formation, Stoke found themselves a man up in midfield and were able to use this to their advantage, enjoying a significant increase in possession. This was furthered aided when Dean Whitehead was brought on for Wilson Palacios, who had seen less of the ball than anyone.
In having Carroll to aim at, Liverpool's crossing became ever deeper, with no real angle on the balls played into Stoke's penalty area. The best opportunity that could possibly have come from this approach would've been for Carroll to control the ball into the path of Gerrard or Kuyt, but Shawcross did a fine job of man-marking the striker.
Liverpool's only real chance of the match eventually arrived when Enrique opted to hit the touchline to pull back for Kuyt, but the Dutchman headed wide when completely unmarked.
Bellamy brought his usual impetus when brought on for Henderson, but the last ten minutes failed to bring any further opportunities as it became evident that this was to be another frustrating result at Anfield.
Conclusions
As Tony Pulis said after the match, Stoke worked very hard to close Liverpool down and deserved a point. Offensively, the visitors never threatened (apart from Etherington's shot in the first-half, which was easy for Reina) and it was obvious a stalemate suited them from the start.
Liverpool will feel dejected after drawing, and failing to score, in another home game they dominated. As shown by last season's result, this set-up definitely had the potential to bring about the desired effect - the problem was more in the players' decision to opt for early crosses than maintaining a patient build-up.
Suarez was sorely missed, as his angled runs and wonderful trickery would no doubt have been more effective than Kuyt's industrious effort. Downing and Henderson were a disappointment, but Adam flourished sitting deep and spotting the runs of the wing-backs.
The move to bring on Carroll was somewhat forced on Dalglish by the team's insistence on playing the ball into the box from wide areas. It would probably have been a better option to bring on Bellamy for Downing and persevere with the original system, while encouraging the team to work the attacks in a more narrow fashion through the front three.
Dalglish shouldn't fear deploying the same tactic again. Liverpool were impressive up until the final third and with some fine-tuning this formation could be used to their advantage. The idea was right, but on this occasion the players failed to execute it effectively.
Cheesecake
Senior Member
i feel that Andy Carroll should've start from the kickoff, along with bellamy.
should've went for more thrust and really knuckle down with the big central defenders of Stoke.
maxi should start ahead of dirty kite. kite's pure rubbish and i believe his time at Anfield is coming to an end.
stevie G is having a 50-50 game. not so good, nothing special.
defence is good and glenn johnson is outstanding as a wingback.
Cheesecake
Senior Member
steward downing is back to his best, being rubbish. :thumbsup:
henderson is... probably played out of position. not much contribution.
think KD wanna accommodate stevie G but the plan backfired.
henderson is... probably played out of position. not much contribution.
think KD wanna accommodate stevie G but the plan backfired.
Cheesecake
Senior Member
dirty kite's future at the club is very shaky.
Oh dear! I think I'm on the wrong frequency. Eeps!
juz dun let those raging bulls know where ur pasture is..
feel free to come often with ur support/opinion for carrot, kitie et al..
wonder why didnt sacrifice 1 defender for a forward at the end..
Cheesecake
Senior Member
Oh dear! I think I'm on the wrong frequency. Eeps!
its ok. u can love dirty kite, we all dun mind.
but u might be fighting for kite's affection with bro rodz! hahahahaha
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