Yesterday, I argued that using Aly Cissokho as a left wing-back is counter-productive, and damages the effectiveness of Liverpool's 352 formation. With Jose Enrique out injured, the French defender seems to be Rodgers' only real option, but Liverpool legend Jimmy Case has now urged the manager to drop the Cissokho experiment ASAP.
Speaking to BBC Radio Merseyside today, Case - who won THREE European Cups during his time at Anfield - blamed the recent Arsenal defeat on 'problems sparked by the wing-back positions', and singled out Cissokho for specific criticism. He observed:
"The more I see Aly Cissoko operate there [as a left-wing back] the less I’m happy with it. I wouldn’t play him there again. His control isn’t there or his first touch, he can’t get past a player from a standing position and he doesn’t have the intelligence to follow the fluency of play. These are things so crucial to playing in that position".
I totally agree with this. Cissokho clearly does not have the skillset required to be an effective wing-back. As Case notes, his touch, positioning and game intelligence are lacking, but he also doesn't appear to have the stamina/fitness to get up and down the pitch for ninety minutes. It's not his fault, of course. Cissokho is a left-back, and it's Rodgers' decision to play him out of position, something that he does with alarming regularity with a variety of players.
Jose Enrique seems to get a lot of stick from LFC fans, but despite his consistently poor end product in the final third, he's a far better choice to play the wing-back role, and when he returns, he'll hopefully come straight back into the team.
By then, however, it may be a moot point anyway, as - with any luck - Rodgers will hopefully decide to scrap the 352 formation and revert to a formation that *suits* the players available. The only players who benefit from 352 are Suarez, Sturridge, and the club's central defenders. Everyone else looks uncomfortable and/or is rendered ineffective:
* Cissokho is ineffective as a wing-back.
* Moses makes no impact as a number 10.
* Henderson and Gerrard fail to score goals.
A formation change should suit everyone in the team, and it should make tactical sense, but it's obvious (IMO) that Rodgers switched to 352 to accommodate the surplus of central defenders in the squad. That is not a good enough reason to persist with it, and if Rodgers hadn't made a mistake over the summer by buying too many defenders, the team would probably still be playing 433 (or variations thereof) right now.
Ultimately, 352 is not required to get the best out of Suarez and Sturridge - those two will score/create goals in any formation, and if reverting to 433 means dropping one of the central defenders then Rodgers has to just suck it up and do it.
Author: Jaimie K
Speaking to BBC Radio Merseyside today, Case - who won THREE European Cups during his time at Anfield - blamed the recent Arsenal defeat on 'problems sparked by the wing-back positions', and singled out Cissokho for specific criticism. He observed:
"The more I see Aly Cissoko operate there [as a left-wing back] the less I’m happy with it. I wouldn’t play him there again. His control isn’t there or his first touch, he can’t get past a player from a standing position and he doesn’t have the intelligence to follow the fluency of play. These are things so crucial to playing in that position".
I totally agree with this. Cissokho clearly does not have the skillset required to be an effective wing-back. As Case notes, his touch, positioning and game intelligence are lacking, but he also doesn't appear to have the stamina/fitness to get up and down the pitch for ninety minutes. It's not his fault, of course. Cissokho is a left-back, and it's Rodgers' decision to play him out of position, something that he does with alarming regularity with a variety of players.
Jose Enrique seems to get a lot of stick from LFC fans, but despite his consistently poor end product in the final third, he's a far better choice to play the wing-back role, and when he returns, he'll hopefully come straight back into the team.
By then, however, it may be a moot point anyway, as - with any luck - Rodgers will hopefully decide to scrap the 352 formation and revert to a formation that *suits* the players available. The only players who benefit from 352 are Suarez, Sturridge, and the club's central defenders. Everyone else looks uncomfortable and/or is rendered ineffective:
* Cissokho is ineffective as a wing-back.
* Moses makes no impact as a number 10.
* Henderson and Gerrard fail to score goals.
A formation change should suit everyone in the team, and it should make tactical sense, but it's obvious (IMO) that Rodgers switched to 352 to accommodate the surplus of central defenders in the squad. That is not a good enough reason to persist with it, and if Rodgers hadn't made a mistake over the summer by buying too many defenders, the team would probably still be playing 433 (or variations thereof) right now.
Ultimately, 352 is not required to get the best out of Suarez and Sturridge - those two will score/create goals in any formation, and if reverting to 433 means dropping one of the central defenders then Rodgers has to just suck it up and do it.
Author: Jaimie K
