Liverpool fans are still basking in the glory of Sunday's complete obliteration of Tottenham Hotspur, a performance Reds legend John Aldridge described as 'the best under Brendan Rodgers'. I'm not sure many would disagree with that statement, but despite the overall brilliance of LFC's performance, Aldo insists that there's one area of concern that needs to be addressed.
In his column for the Liverpool Echo today, Aldo called the Spurs result as 'massive', and hailed LFC's passing game as 'exceptional to watch', but drew attention to one specific 'technical point' that stood out. He explained:
"Sometimes we pass ourselves into trouble in our third of the pitch. It goes back to the keeper or to a defender under pressure when I’d rather see us put a long ball into the corners. It might be against the manager’s principles but it’s not a negative tactic"
I don't particularly agree with the long-ball solution proposed here, but Aldo is right about LFC's habit of playing with fire in defence, and I'm sure many Reds fans noted the evidence of this against Spurs.
Mamadou Sakho was the biggest culprit against Spurs; on three separate occasions, he caused major problems at the back by playing hospital passes in defence and/or trying to be over-elaborate when attempting to play himself out of a tight corner.
In one incident, Sakho had the ball wide on the left, but dawdled too long and ultimately gave away a throw-in. The moment that sticks out the most, however, is Sakho's long, cross-field pass to Simon Mignolet in the first half. It was a suicide ball to the Belgian, for a couple of reasons:
* As Alan Hansen always argues, defenders should avoid playing long passes/clearances across their own goal if it can be avoided. It puts the ball needlessly in the danger area, and the opposition team can sometimes capitalise (as Hansen himself found out in the 1986 FA Cup Final against Everton!)
* Sakho's high, looped ball made it difficult for Mignolet to control. He's a goalkeeper, not a superstar midfielder, and he duly failed to control the ball effectively, which presented Roberto Soldado with a golden opportunity to score.
Thankfully, the referee ruled out the goal, but another ref may not be so charitable in the future. Given the emphatic victory, this issue may seem minor, but it's precisely these avoidable slip-ups that led to some of Martin Skrtel's mistakes last season. Sakho had a good game overall, and he seems to be growing into his role, but I always feel nervous whenever he gets the ball out wide on the left-side of defence.
Aldo also called for focus and calm after the Spurs result, and urged LFC not to get carried away with the victory. He noted:
"We can't sit back and bask in that win over Spurs – we need to focus on putting Cardiff City to the sword on Saturday. Forget about Man City and Chelsea, the most important game we’ve got coming up is Cardiff. If we don’t show them respect we’ll slip up"
Aldo is spot on here. As I've also agued, there's no time for backslapping and ego-massage. The next game is on the horizon, and if the Reds lose or draw, the Spurs victory will be rendered meaningless. Man City and Chelsea are two extremely tough games, so it's imperative to go into those matches with as much momentum as possible.
On a related note, Cardiff manager Malky Mackay is under intense pressure at the moment, and a heavy defeat to Liverpool could be the final nail in his coffin. As such, it looks like the Reds could go into the Christmas period responsible for the demise of two Premier League managers in a row (!)
Author: Jaimie K
In his column for the Liverpool Echo today, Aldo called the Spurs result as 'massive', and hailed LFC's passing game as 'exceptional to watch', but drew attention to one specific 'technical point' that stood out. He explained:
"Sometimes we pass ourselves into trouble in our third of the pitch. It goes back to the keeper or to a defender under pressure when I’d rather see us put a long ball into the corners. It might be against the manager’s principles but it’s not a negative tactic"
I don't particularly agree with the long-ball solution proposed here, but Aldo is right about LFC's habit of playing with fire in defence, and I'm sure many Reds fans noted the evidence of this against Spurs.
Mamadou Sakho was the biggest culprit against Spurs; on three separate occasions, he caused major problems at the back by playing hospital passes in defence and/or trying to be over-elaborate when attempting to play himself out of a tight corner.
In one incident, Sakho had the ball wide on the left, but dawdled too long and ultimately gave away a throw-in. The moment that sticks out the most, however, is Sakho's long, cross-field pass to Simon Mignolet in the first half. It was a suicide ball to the Belgian, for a couple of reasons:
* As Alan Hansen always argues, defenders should avoid playing long passes/clearances across their own goal if it can be avoided. It puts the ball needlessly in the danger area, and the opposition team can sometimes capitalise (as Hansen himself found out in the 1986 FA Cup Final against Everton!)
* Sakho's high, looped ball made it difficult for Mignolet to control. He's a goalkeeper, not a superstar midfielder, and he duly failed to control the ball effectively, which presented Roberto Soldado with a golden opportunity to score.
Thankfully, the referee ruled out the goal, but another ref may not be so charitable in the future. Given the emphatic victory, this issue may seem minor, but it's precisely these avoidable slip-ups that led to some of Martin Skrtel's mistakes last season. Sakho had a good game overall, and he seems to be growing into his role, but I always feel nervous whenever he gets the ball out wide on the left-side of defence.
Aldo also called for focus and calm after the Spurs result, and urged LFC not to get carried away with the victory. He noted:
"We can't sit back and bask in that win over Spurs – we need to focus on putting Cardiff City to the sword on Saturday. Forget about Man City and Chelsea, the most important game we’ve got coming up is Cardiff. If we don’t show them respect we’ll slip up"
Aldo is spot on here. As I've also agued, there's no time for backslapping and ego-massage. The next game is on the horizon, and if the Reds lose or draw, the Spurs victory will be rendered meaningless. Man City and Chelsea are two extremely tough games, so it's imperative to go into those matches with as much momentum as possible.
On a related note, Cardiff manager Malky Mackay is under intense pressure at the moment, and a heavy defeat to Liverpool could be the final nail in his coffin. As such, it looks like the Reds could go into the Christmas period responsible for the demise of two Premier League managers in a row (!)
Author: Jaimie K
It's a valid point. This very issue is what got Skrtel into so much hot water last year.
ReplyDeleteI like our idea of controlling the ball by moving it methodically up the pitch from the back.
But at the same time, I feel like there are times when our defenders need to abandon that philosophy and simply get it out of any sort of danger.
It's something that I believe has gotten better this year for the most part, but definitely still has room for improvement.
I know it's dangerous and offers opposition easy chances to score , And we've been caught quite a few times already.(Still can't forget Skrtel's backpass to Tevez last season).
ReplyDeleteNo doubt that Mignolet needs to improve his footwork a bit , And defenders need to be aware that he hasn't got a Pele level of control. Also there should be moments when they should realize that conceding a throw-in or a corner isn't as bad as a dangerous backpass.
The only positive thing about passing it a bit in the back is dragging teams outta their own half and frustrating them and tiring them out. It's useful against small teams who don't press high up the field , But most big teams do press up high and doing this is extremely uncalled for against an already pressing side with pacey front line players.
The pass was not intended for Mignolet I think. I think it was intended for Sktel and was mishit. With good communication between keeper and CB Skrtle could have still picked it up but Mingnolet went for it and lets be honest ballsed it up a bit. Hopefully lessons will be learned form Sakho a bit but personally I have no problem with him thinking this way and doing these things as long as incidents like that are few and far between. He seems to have a good awareness of where the opposition are and despite looking like hairy passes I am not sure that they actually are. Its funny the dawdling that led to the throw. I think it was due to the earlier mishit that meant he wanted to try and take it down the wing instead of try another pass like that. The rest of his game was brilliant and so I wouldn't swap him for anyone else in the team for his position.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you need a Pele level of control mate I think just better control than he currently has. This can be worked on though.
ReplyDeleteI think Rodgers reads your blog, I wrote last week that he should tell Henderson to play exactly the way he played against Spurs, no just a coincidence but he is getting there.
ReplyDeleteSpurs sacking the manager was the daftest decision this season and a great help to us. thanks Mr Levy.
ReplyDeleteFact of the matter is that Toure and Sakho would be our best CB pair. Both are no nonsense CB's plus both are comfortable on the ball. Skrtel and Agger need to be sold and the likes of Ilori and Kelly need to be given more attention.
ReplyDeleteSkrtel has been our best and most consistent defender this year among the back 4.
ReplyDeleteHere's the catch... if we make Europe next year, we are going to need the depth in the squad, and right our CBs are probably the deepest position we have.
So if we go out and sell any of them, odds are we'd just have to buy another in the summer. And then if we buy that player and expect him to start, you're back at square one, only this time with Sakho, Toure, Ilori and Kelly, instead of Sakho, Toure, Skrtel, and Agger.
Skrtel is not capable of playing in a high defensive line which Rodgers is ultimately after. The best time to sell is now :-)
ReplyDeleteHave you actually noticed how many times Skrtel passed the ball back to our keeper?
ReplyDeleteWe are playing rodgers philosophy this season .. and skrtel is a regular starter - he clearly improved and is the best defender so far this season! If anybody needs to get sold it should be agger (I dont want it to happen tho) and as islesfan already said we will need the depth next season!
ReplyDeleteYou do not find many Sami Hyypia's but for a change Sakho has lived up to that expectation:-) Sakho is the BOMB! Our best defender thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteI still think Spurs are bound to pull it together and worry that the usual 'new manager bounce' they'll probably get will shortcut them to better form and understanding.
ReplyDeleteIf he's the bomb, will we be able to take him to away games in Europe?
ReplyDeletehe does have a point and i think BR is trying to do the barca and even spain style of play. but the main difference from barca/spain playing out of the back is that usually xabi alonso for spain or even xavi for barca are the ones that get the first pass from the keeper. in our case we asking skyrtel and sankho start the passing game which well know is not their strong suit. i would suggest having allen or even lucas slide in the middle of them to receive the ball first. lucas did start doing this in the 2nd half but only while the ball was in play but not off the goal kicks. LFC YNWA TIA
ReplyDeleteI don't agree, I think it will be harder for a newer manager to come in and start from scratch properly integrating the 7 new players than it would of been to just let AVB carry on. Spurs' problem wasn't tactics it was just the fact they overhauled their squad and it is always going to take time, especially when you are rotating so many midfielders.
ReplyDeleteThey were just given 85mil and were naive with it
Isn't 'don't pass the ball across your own goal mouth' about sprout lesson 2 or 3 after pass the ball with the side of your foot and don't lift your trailing foot off the ground on a throw-in? I wonder which defensive lesson is: when in doubt, boom it out.
ReplyDeleteI lost count of the number of times I shouted "just launch it" at the TV.
ReplyDeleteBut overall it seems to be working, we force opposition to overcommit, and we find gaps
We need to rip Cardiff apart from first minute at weekend, Sterling did so from the off last week
Leave the back 4 unchanged for rest of season. Sell Agger if he is pissed off
Playing out of the back is fine, but so many times our defenders pass to a MF who passes it right back instead of making the turn...even when there's no defender within ten yards. I assume the defender is talking to the MF...but if it wasn't a safe pass to begin with, then why was it made and if it was a safe pass then why no confidence from the MF?
ReplyDeleteI think it worked against Spurs because our MF was on the move and looking to turn onto attack so there was plenty of guys to pass to. In earlier games there was a lot of passing to the one MF who was getting into space...and then passing right back to the CB or GK. It was hard and scary to watch. Our MF stepped up the tempo against Spurs, got turned and went on the attack. That was fun to watch. I'd like more fun please.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what your point is.
ReplyDeleteDon't really like the idea of "launching it", but if it goes to the opposition and our boys are "animals" in winning it back, surely better than taking chances in the area.
ReplyDeleteSome fans just really fail to think ahead, don't they!
ReplyDeleteI think tactics were an issue. The high line has been talked about, but when you have Dawson at centre-half and sometimes Vertonghen at left-back (he's mobile for a centre-back, not so much for a left-back) you'll have issues.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, they haven't really been using the wide areas enough and that has been a strength in recent years.
Yes, I think it was the knee-jerk reaction of a rich guy in a snit. Probably REALLY didn't like the camera on his face during the game and the play-by-play guy saying, "hmmm, I wonder what's on his mind?"
ReplyDeleteIt will take a great team leader to pull it all together...who is that on Spurs? I can't think of anybody either.
ReplyDeleteAbout the same as Allen and Lucas...it's a disease.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to speak for him, but there is way too much passing the ball back to Simon. But it isn't all their fault. Many times there's nobody else to pass it to.
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with going back to the keeper, especially as Mignolet's role is to be a sweeper keeper. There is no rule that you can't go backwards.
ReplyDeleteOften in a packed midfield with our fullbacks bombing forward there may not be an option. Obviously the only time our central defenders go back to the keeper is when they have no choice.
Nobody's perfect... but I'm pretty close :)
ReplyDeleteI happen to agree with you. It's one thing to enact a strategy while under control. Putting ourselves in a position to fail with a bad pass to the goalkeeper is even worse than a bad pass to just about anyone else on the pitch.
ReplyDeleteAs long as it's safe, I have zero issue with it.
Ah yes the long ball into the corner brigade. It worked so well...never. Our game is based on possesion. Conceding that by hoofing a ball up the pitch goes entirely against that.
ReplyDeleteI agree, we create problems for ourselves at the back far too often, and it's not just sakho. Rodgers is trying to promote keeping possession however when we are passing it at the back it always ends up at the feet of Mignolet and he tends to just boot it out to the wings, and when you look at the players playing there they hardly ever compete for it.
ReplyDeleteits an great sign that we are playing from the back. the first ten mins vs spurs keeping the ball calmed us down it's risky but it keeps them on their toes and the more you play that way the less mistakes will be made.
ReplyDeleteI think there are times when the ball should just be hoofed upfield, the defenders need to learn when to pass to keep the ball or whether their pass could put the receiving player in danger of losing the ball, if it's the latter, then put the ball out of the danger zone, even if it means giving up possession. One thing is for sure, Suarez will chase every ball pumped up field ;)
ReplyDeletemate, imperfection IS perfection!
ReplyDeleteAgree with many of the points submitted
ReplyDeleteLoganfc I agree
ReplyDeleteThen again islesfan is correct too
ReplyDeleteThose playing in our final 3rd gives me goosebumps. We sometimes play ourselves into trouble. The disallowed goal gives me a heart attack all day. Mignolet, as good a shot stopper he is, is not a very good distributor of the ball. He sometimes gets into trouble. I think Aldo's got a point, looping the ball to the sides where full backs can relieve the pressure as well as hoping the fullbacks to control it and start an immediate attack (fantasy footy). I think the point is not to be too predictable and play from behind. Give ourselves more options with a mixture of play from behind and lob the ball to the advancing fullbacks.
ReplyDeleteSakho haven't been playing that much at psg he jus needs games nd to settle in properly at da moment he looks flat footed that's the cause of lack if games nd playing time, once he's in nd settled he's a lion warrior he will be the best centre back in prem mark my words!
ReplyDeleteThink Aldos point is right on the button. Hate to see the crossfield pass between defenders or to keeper. If the ball cannot be advanced there is much merit in finding the corners. At first I thought the ref was mistaken to call a foul on the keeper but the replay showed he was barged behind the left shoulder. Let's give great credit to the officials control of the game. Souness was right about the tackle on Suarez because he did give the foot an extra twist. Also, the Asst Ref could easily have flagged offside for Sterling's goal had he not been in line and very sharp.
ReplyDeleteWatched it on TV but this was Brendan Rodgers team's best performance without a doubt.
The crisp passing and tackling have set the s.tandard which must be maintained to to achieve success this season. Remember one swallow doesn't make a summer - Allen, Flanagan and Sterling were tremendous under very difficult playing conditions - but don't even think of discarding the skill, experience and tenacity of Gerrard, Sturridge and Enrique! Well done the Liverpool squad and Brendan Rodgers!
Yeah, agree. I'm just sayingit happens way too much for a team who is supposed to be turning onto the attack. It didn't happen very much against Spurs.
ReplyDeleteI think we've got 4 great cb's plus Kelly and Llori. Unfortenatelly only Skratel and Agger can be sold and one or two we must sell...
ReplyDelete