Tottenham 4-0 Liverpool: Tottenham dominate
The starting line-ups
A wondergoal got them going and the rest came when Liverpool had a numerical disadvantage, but Tottenham were clearly the better side in this match.
Harry Redknapp used his 4-4-2, with Niko Kranjcar out on the right – Rafael van der Vaart was half-fit, and on the bench.
Kenny Dalglish seemed to begin with a very narrow system – Charlie Adam very narrow on the left and Stewart Downing out on the right – perhaps to counteract Tottenham’s wing threat, which would come from the left through Bale, rather than the right through Kranjcar.
Tottenham began brightly, pressing Liverpool in midfield and keeping possession well themselves. Charlie Adam, in particular, was given no time on the ball to spray passes across the pitch – as a result, he ended with his second-lowest pass completion rate in his Premier League career, according to Opta. Perhaps this frustration also contributed towards his red card midway through the first half.
Possession
Tottenham kept the ball particularly well (even at 11 v 11), which was impressive considering Liverpool tried to pack the centre of the pitch early on. Luka Modric played passes to the flanks, Scott Parker also provided distribution from deeper, and Kranjcar came into the middle of the pitch, and enjoyed the fact that he had space down that side.
The front two, who dovetailed well at Wolves last week, again had a good game together. Jermain Defoe dropped into intelligent positions between the lines, whilst Adebayor often worked the channels and brought the Liverpool centre-backs out of the back. They both came deep, offered another passing option, and finished with impressive passing stats – Adebayor for how often he was involved, Defoe because he didn’t once give the ball away.
The most obvious theme from the first half was Liverpool’s indiscipline. They continually gave away free-kicks, particularly just outside of the box to (their) left, and the poor tackling brought various separate problems. Most obviously, it resulted in two of their players getting sent off, but it also gave Tottenham good shooting opportunities from dead ball situations.
11 v 10
The real tactical excitement came after Liverpool went down to ten, with Charlie Adam dismissed. Dalglish kept the same ten players on the pitch, and made the surprising decision to stick Andy Carroll out on the left. Maybe Dalglish wanted to cause Kyle Walker problems in the air, but Carroll looked uncomfortable and didn’t have the energy to track Walker when Liverpool didn’t have the ball (which was the majority of the time). Putting Suarez out wide would have made more sense, or alternatively Liverpool had two players on the bench – Dirk Kuyt and Craig Bellamy – who naturally shuttle from a wide role to a support striker position.
Tottenham played the 11 v 10 well – they kept width, kept the ball and tired Liverpool. That said, they didn’t produce too many clear-cut chances, and had to wait until Liverpool got Martin Skrtel sent off for their second goal.
11 v 9
It’s difficult to argue that Dalglish could have done anything to get Liverpool back in the game here. Competing with nine men is vaguely possible if you’re at 0-0 and can grind out a draw – but since Liverpool needed to get back into the game, it was hopeless.
Conclusion
This could have been an extremely interesting game. For the first few minutes it was – Tottenham pressed brilliantly, and Adam’s problems summed up Liverpool as a whole: unable to find space, unable to play the ball forward. The narrowness can help retain possession, but it does mean the opposition have to cover less space and do less work to close down.
Dalglish was in a difficult situation with ten men, but using Carroll on the flank was a strange decision that didn’t seem to bring any benefits – Liverpool couldn’t get the ball forward, and Carroll didn’t offer much defensively. A change was needed when Liverpool had ten – when it was nine, it was game over.
Tottenham 4-0 Liverpool: Tottenham dominate
The lack of tactical response by dalglish was amazing. Even at 11vs11 he should of changed shape because one wing was always horribly exposed. Bellamy should started instead of Carroll because Liverpool needed pace on the counter when they couldn’t keep the ball. Also Adam is awful under pressure, he gives it away like the metro.I cannot believe he was favoured over Meireles and Aquilani.
well meireles is on chelsea and aquilani in milan, woulda been hard to pick them no?
I mean the fact that they were allowed to go and they way he fought sooo hard to get Adam as if he is that good. Aquilani left for first team football as he was gonna be behind Adam and Henderson.
and those decisions are so baffling! I’d have picked either/both of them over Adam in a heartbeat.
Wonderful Answer
Just an idea about Dalgish shifting Carroll to the flank, he was borrowing an old trick the Norwegians used to do in the 1990’s, it was called the Flo pass. I’m guessing KG thought if Carroll could win the aerial battle against Walker then Suarez with his raw energy/pace would be able to reach the knockdowns. 1 must also remember that the fitness levels in the 1990’s are completely different to what is required now, which might render the ‘Flo Pass’ in-effective.
I agree, Tottenham’s possession and movement carried the day. The most interesting tactical question going forward, however, is where does a fully-fit van der Vaart fit into Harry’s system? Does Harry Remove Kranjcar, or does Rafael play the super-sub role for either Defoe or Adebayor?
I think Van Der Vaart can quite comfortably come in for Defoe in this system, especially when you look at how much the forwards were coming short yesterday. Adebarndoor is good in the air and mobile as well, so it should have the advantages of Crouch-VDV partnership without the limits that Crouch expends through his relative immobility.
I think the sub role makes a more sense than playing Rafael, in for example, the attacking mid role in a 4-3-1-2 formation, which would take away from the Bale threat on the flank and assigning Gareth too much defensive responsibility. The sub role would also tend to support the lack of depth up front. With a solid mid and success up top, Harry can now focus on the back four going into the Jan transfer window.
‘Arry is a brilliant manager. I think he correctly came to the conclusion that Crouch was a useless ‘main’ striker, like Defoe. So Adebayor and Defoe can play as a “little and large” forward line, or he can play VDV with Adebayor as a classic 9/10 combination. (Goal-hanger, creator). He can vary it depending on the opposition. Kranjcar will probably alternate with Lennon on the right, and he is good enough to cover for niggles to Modric and VDV.
Liverpool played with 10 since the 5th minute. Agger should have either gone off or sat out because he got injured even before the Modric goal. We expect the center back to be dependable and decisive, but here Agger was even indecisive on how to treat his own injury. As a center back, “running off an injury” is not an option if the opposing team has like 70% of the possession.
Same goes with Skrtel, if he picked up a knock, then he should’ve got some treatment or leave the field, and not try to hack Bale down (2nd yellow).
Good point. At least he was brave…Agger later confirmed with two broken ribs!
Dalglish got it wrong today and badly. dropping kuyt was a bad move – i cant think of anyone else in the premier league with the tactical awareness, work rate and discipline to keep a bale type player quiet. By putting downing on the right instead of henderson only compounded this mistake.
ttmubiya makes a good point about adam – very overated. why miereles and aqualani, two technically excellent players who have good positioning and tactical understanding, were let go is bemusing. controlling the match is about having technically adept footballers who are able keep the ball – see barcelona.
On another note losing agger is terrible for liverpool, an excellent ball playing centre back, liverpool don’t have anyone technically good enough to replace him with, which limits their ability to play out from the back. And unfortunatly carra, a club legend, looks to be on the wane – he was very poor today.
Kudos to spurs though, thought they were excellent.
Even before Henderson had come to Liverpool I had never seen anything to suggest he can be anything great. He is very average and people who think that improves with age are mistaken.Carroll does not have the touch or movement to be a top striker. Suarez and Downing have been Dalglish’s only good signings so far. Maybe Enrique.
suarez wasnt dalgish’s signing
Dalglish and Comolli were in charge when Suarez was signed
What exactly is Adam’s role in the team when they are playing with only one winger who has to stay deep and counteract Gareth Bale? If he cannot hit long diagonal balls he is average at best.
Great point!
Well, we never got to find out, did we? He’s got a wicked shot on him, and he’s an accurate long passer, and he’s a strong presence in midfield. He has leadership skills in there, something we saw at Blackpool, but he’s lacking in defensive-mindedness. He’s been doing fine up to now. I have no idea what the talk is about why Liverpool bought him – one bad game, where he played 20 minutes, and suddenly he’s a waste of money? Adam was looking like he was fairly advanced in the beginning, and with Carroll and Suarez out in front, he was supposed to be the midfield link, with Henderson and Lucas back in front of the defensive line.
Those two positions are fairly familiar under Dalglish, but I’m not sure why he persists in putting Henderson in there – there have been a few occasions this season, fresh out of the top of my head being Sunderland and yesterday, when Henderson hasn’t been bothering to keep up with his marker. He gave up on Modric and gave him more than enough room to score that awesome goal. Carragher had to come out of the line to try and stop him, given that Henderson had given him that room. It was more like Henderson was supposed to be staying deep and helping Skrtel cover Bale, to slow Bale down and let Skrtel play a more traditional fullback role, while Downing was free to advance up the field – the problem was on the other side, because Enrique had no freedom to get forward.
But I don’t think width was necessarily in Dalglish’s plan to begin with, because with Henderson and Downing out on the right, the centre was undermanned. The way Parker and Modric ran rampant was evidence of how it failed. Without Enrique getting too advanced, he probably would have been enough to put a stop to Walker advancing, along with Lucas and provided Henderson could move into the middle. That would have left Lucas fairly far back, Adam advanced with Downing on the right, Carroll out in front with Suarez free to move around.
With Henderson putting in a frankly weak performance, the right was exposed and Skrtel was really uncomfortable. That left Bale to attack, and with a man down in midfield they had no response to Parker and Modric.
It was just weak all round, really – but the key moment was losing Adam. We had plenty of options, but they just weren’t used. Whether or not that reflects Dalglish’s faith in his players, and his faith that they should remember what shirt they’re wearing, I don’t know. But I hope his faith in some is ending soon.
Also a good point – without him on the pitch you can’t say. I hear he isn’t a bad dead ball striker, might have been a useful skill for an away team with Carrol’s heading ability looking to steal a point.
Adam was a relatively low cost purchase with some legit skills (long passing and deadball ability) and some flaws (defense, mobility). Not sure why he gets so much negative attention, by comparison Henderson seems to be the player who’s value is over-rated.
I think the most worrying aspect for me is Charlie Adams lack of mobility. He seems to concede soft fouls regularly which result from him being caught in possession i.e. his 1st yellow today. I think at home against smaller sides, especially those that come to “park the bus” he can be very effective, but against more technically proficient teams, and away form home, having only Lucas pressing in central areas is a real worry. Even with Henderson helping to form a lop-sided 3, our midfield was bypassed far too easily.
It worries me that for the amount of central midfielders we have bought in the summer we still seem short considering the system we play, especially in these types of games. I have concerns about Gerrard’s ability to remain tactically disciplined enough to play as part of a central midfield 2, something we saw last year away to Man City (although Hodgson was in charge).
Finally, I don’t thin the comparisons with Aquilani and Meireles are relevant as they are both very much more of the same. Although RM is much more mobile, he is very ineffective in a tackle, which is why he was never played centrally under Dalglish last season.
RM’s positional play and reading of the game from defensive perspective appears to be far better than both Henderson and Adam. RM’s tackling is probably on par with both H&A, on the balance RM’s defensive game appears superior.
I agree. RM was LFC’s second most effective tackler behind Lucas last season, so it’s hard to understand where this myth came from about his defensive abilities. If someone can produce one instance where RM not getting in a tackle cost the club anything last season I’m all ears.
Certainly Skrtel could have used him tracking back to pressure Bale instead of watching Hendo meander to the inside further up the pitch leaving the entire right side exposed for Bale’s ranging runs. Don’t think anyone pressurized better than RM last year.
Terrible decision to let him go without upping his contract as LFC are now left with a single creative midfielder, Gerrard, who, frankly, is unlikely to play more than 20 matches this season.
Maxi, Bellamy, Kuyt and Spearing were all fit.
C adam can hit great balls and dictate tempo, but he is not mobile enough.
Lucas is the only DM, so he is essential, but again he is not mobile enough..
I wonder how on earth daglish was thinking when selling meireles?
Henderson is nowhere near his quality..
Let’s give credit to Spurs, even when it was 11 v 11, they were still all over Liverpool. Spurs pressed fantastically today, particularly Modric, Bale and Defoe, no Liverpool players were allowed any time on the ball.
Few other points, starting with Liverpool. The defence wasn’t good enough. Never been Carragher’s greatest fan, slow, not the tallest, average on the ball, and Skrtel is an average centre back and a dreadful right back, Flanagan was very good there last season, I don’t think he’s injured, he’d definitely have done a better job than Skrtel. Agger is a good player when fit, and I think Enrique is third only to Cole and Evra in the PL, but 2/4 isn’t good enough.
Also, Henderson is so overated. I’d much rather have Meireles, (as mentioned, why was he sold because Henderson is clearly favoured!?) he’s a far better player than Henderson. Also, Jay Spearing finally got a run in the team last year, does fantastically well, but gets dropped?! I’d definitely have him over Henderson, and maybe even Adam, his fantastic work rate in the middle would have complimented Adam spraying passes round perfectly.
Lastly, Carroll. £35 million is a joke. He’s slow, pedestrian, and his fitness and work rate are dreadful. I don’t agree with Fabio Capello on much, but when he says Carroll needs to sort his self out, he’s spot on. On the other hand, you have Emmanuel Adebayor, which is a master stroke from who I think, and also hope is the England manager in waiting. On his day, Adebayor is in the top 10 strikers in the world, he’s got the lot. Pace, strength, aerial ability, but also a good footballer, good touch, control. Carroll for £35 million, or Adebayor on loan and most likely nick him for £10-15 million, I’ll let you decide who get the best deal…
Spurs – I like the look of modric and parker, they suit eachover well, and helped spurs dominate the game. Bale and kranjcar looked good with bale looking a threat, and kranjcar looked good coming inside to help keep possession. But i do think they lacked a player on the right, with adebayor having to cover a bit. I think adebayor should have stayed central (dropping deep occasionally) and defoe should have looked to move right and make runs in from there. Though walker did really well to overlap, really impresssed. great performance and spurs won rightfully.
Liverpool – There was a lot of problems with Liverpools midfield today. To start with lucas just isnt creative enough from deep to help liverpool dominate. He lacks intelligence of a true holding player and doesnt have a good range of passing. Next adams was poor, not sure what he brings to the team. Extremely overrated, he can pass long and has good set piece delivery, but he cant pass consistently to keep possession, isnt creative, is slow, cant tackle and has poor positioning. He was a poor buy, and meireles is a much better player, its not even like adams is young really. Henderson did alright, as he pressed well, and kept it simple (needed). And downing was poor, far too deep, and was never a threat to spurs goal. Finally Skrtel was poor at RB, he was dominated by bale and didnt produce anything going forward to help downing, and Carragher off his game today, being exposed for his lack of pace, which resulted in bad decisions.
Overall, spurs won because they got a good balance, and because liverpool got it all wrong in midfield with lucas and adams poor in possession, downing no threat, and in defense there right hand side let them down (where spurs attacked the most).
Hard to disagree with any of that, except that I think you overstate the obviousness of bringing on Bellamy or Kuyt for Carroll. You don’t mention in the report that Dalglish had already been forced into one sub, and was surely worried that his players would run out of steam, playing with 10 for so long, and wanted to save Bellamy and Kuyt for energy if they were still within touching distance at the end. Otherwise, a poor, poor performance all around, and fair play to Spurs; they were very good.
I think it’s interesting how dramatically Liverpool’s defensive mentality has changed. Last year they were always organized and compact, and now players like Henderson and Adam chase the ball around and leave a great deal of open space in the middle of the pitch. I’m very confused as to how this changed, though, since the method was so effective at regenerating the team last year. Could Dalglish think they are more intelligent than that? Surely not after a game like this…
Hey ZM,
Wondering about Liverpool fullbacks how important is there attacking moves to afford the width that the team lack considering they most times play with a solitary winger (Downing)? or they are not an important part of Liverpool attacking line
good question.Enrique was’nt even in the overlap to make up for the lack of width on the left.
Hard to overlap when you’re two men down, no?
yep, i was asking about their part in general not specifically for this game
IMO, sticking Carroll on the RIGHT while switching Downing to the right would have made SOMEWHAT more sense, since Spurs threat is always gonna come down their left with Bale and Assou-Ekotto. But what Dalglish did instead seems completely odd to me :/
Also, L’pool seem to have very little depth in their CM, which is why the Meireles sale till this day completely baffles me (he claims that L’pool forced him out, which makes it EVEN stranger). Raul M. would give them not only extra depth, but extra experience, flexibility, discipline, and maturity in that zone. We’ll see who replaces Adam next game then…
Sorry, but Carroll and Suarez isn’t working. Should play Kuyt and either Carroll and Suarez, but not both.
This is an example of a game where tactics talk is bunk.
Every single Spurs player, many of whom are top class, was at the races and operating at 100%.
At best their Liverpool counterparts, only some of whom are top class, were at 70%.
You could give every manager in the world a hundred years to find a tactical change to reverse this and they would find zip.
Tottenham were all at the races, Liverpool did not come out to play, only way for Dalglish to make an impact was at the training ground this week.
Bale running free down LFC’s right drew Liverpool’s slow defense out of position. Carragher and Henderson (and even Agger at times) and later Downing where asked to cover Bale running behind Skrtel. Liverpool’s defensive positions through out the field were compromised leaving Spurs players all over the park with a little more time and space. And Spurs had the quality to convert their advantage…
Surprised you didn’t mention Liverpool’s defensive line. They were clearly too deep in relation to to where their central midfield were playing, which opened up huge pockets of defence between the lines which made it too difficult for the mid-fielders ot get close to Spurs. Simply no collective understanding there.
it just shows what an dinosaur dalglish is – i mean how deluded man must be to choose adam instead of such a quality player like meireles:)) most overrated club so far is lpool for sure – big against hopless bolton but avarage against better teams, and constant barking about how “kenny” genius is:DD
Wow, what an insightful comment. Charlie Adam was terrible on Sunday for 26 minutes, and was clearly the wrong choice, but to suggest he will produce less than Meireles based on one game is maybe a bit premature? Adam already has 1 goal and 2 assists this season from 5 games, not bad for CM? And what did RM do last year minus the purple patch in Jan / Feb?
The problem I can see with Adam is that some seem to think he is wonderful players because he can play a long pass. This is a British delight, we do love an accurate cross field pass. However, is it really that great a skill? I mean how useful is it? Watching Barca and Madrid they very rarely pull out the 50 yard sweeping pass, in fact neither Arsenal nor Man Utd switch the ball cross field in the air that regularly.
The greater skill and worth are short, snappy passes coupled with movement and positional sense. From my limited viewing of Adam that is his greatest weakness, he is not overly mobile or intelligent in where he moves to, this can stifle a team and prevent him from finding the space (dare one say) better players do. At Blackpool he played in a team where he was the focal point but also Blackpools counter attack style fitted his distribution ideals, with two wide, and often tall, wingers to aim at, he would be hitting not only players but spaces for his players to move it. At Liverpool he is going to be in games where his side are the dominant force or they will play in a move conventional 442. Adam has never particularly good at playing the ball it to the strikers so again his opinions are further limited.
He isn’t a bad player, he just isn’t a very good one. His weaknesses far outweigh his strengths and while at a club like Blackpool where that was acceptable due to the way the team benefitted from his strengths at Liverpool, more and more people will focus on his failings.
About the long passes, have we really forgotten Scholes and Xabi Alonso already? The point of having a central midfielder distributing long(er) passes out wide is stretching the opposition defence (especially when they go deep) or facilitating counters by quick players.
To give you an example, have a look at one of Messi’s goals against Osasuna at the weekend (the first one, I think). It was created by a crossfield ball by Busquets out wide to Alves who then crossed into Messi – this perfectly demonstrates what this type of pass can do.
Adam is overrated and over-hyped. Yes, he is superb in dead-ball situations, corners, free-kicks and pens, he seemed to run the Blackpool side on his own last season for that very reason. I saw him for Scotland v Brazil and the Hollywood ball syndrome was in full effect – it rarely comes off against quality opposition – keeping possession was what we needed. I feel similar about Gerrard. Maybe it is a peculiarly British trait, but I feel neither of these two has the quality of Alonso. Gerrard of course has many other qualities, but Adam is relatively limited. Fair play to him for achieving what he has done, but I think he’s out of his depth.
You can point to the odd occasion, like anything in football having the option and the ability to do something is great, its when you use it which is key.
Adams default vision is long, he looks up and far, not short and neat. Alonso and Scholes had the ability to play the pass but in the main they played it when it benefitted the side, they looked at it as an addition piece of their arsenal. A cross field ball can destroy teams, a cross field ball all the times can allow the defence time to settle and move a cross.
Variety is the key and Adam lacks the short, snappy and tempo changing passes which elevated Alonso and Scholes to the upper levels of midfielder.
We are not going to have any wingers that high up the pitch in Dalglish’s formation to utilize that ball. I really do not know what his function in the team is.
Can’t understand why people are attacking the Liverpool players who, before the game, were good enough to beat Spurs. Liverpool’s failure was due to some good and poor tactical choices by the managers (and a card happy Ref).
Firstly, everyone knews that Redknapp was going with a 442 as van der Vaart was not fit to start and could not play his favoured 4411. This would have been a good time for Dalglish to use 352 that he has used last season. He already had 3 centre backs on the pitch and Skrtel was a really bad choice as right back against Bale. He would have been a better match against Adebayor in the centre and move Carragher out to right back (at least he has played there before). However, the right wingback position, in 352, would have been a problem but could have been filled by Kuyt or Hendson (neither are ideal but there are not fit right backs in the squad). Another issue in using 352 against Spurs would have been free up Assou-Ekotto but his delivery can be inconsistant; would have been a risk I would be willing to take. Walker would have been pick up by Enrique as Kranjcar was playing so narrow. Another choice would have been to pack the midfield against a 442 with Liverpool playing a lone striker at White Hart Lane. Either formation would have been a better choice and that would have been without hindsight.
Redknapp made a great choice to press Liverpool so high up the pitch and Parker was excellent; he would have been my man of the match. The Liverpool players seem to be very frustrate and either knocked it long trying to hit Carroll or gave away fouls trying to win the ball back. I think with was the reason Adams pick up 2 yellow so early. However, at this point I would say that the ref was correct in awarding the fouls but some were not yellow; especially Adams first card.
With 10 men and 1-0, Liverpool seem to be hanging on and looked dangerous on breaks and set pieces. However, once Srktel was dismissed it was over a competition and it was damage limitation. I too was confused as why Dalglish used Carroll wing. I like the idea of the Norwegian tactic but the same effect could have been achieved with better results with Kuyt on the pitch. I also found it strange that Dalglish did not bring on Kuyt when down to 10 men as his work rate would have been like having an extra player.
would love to see tottenham play a 4231
sandro parker
lennon modric bale
adebayor
how about
parker modric
lennon vdv bale
adebayor
?
hudds parker
vdv modric bale
adebayor
tottenham has too many midfielders
Too many midfielders is not a bad thing if Redknapp rotates wisely.
Really this is the thing that Adebayor’s signing allows. At full health, the midfield is deep enough to go any absurd combination of 4231, 4411, or 442. Prior posters neglect Kranjcar, who is also suited to any midfield position. They must buy him upon the expiration of his loan. He (fortunately for Spurs) is probably aware he would be surplus at any other club. Spurs have the personnel to support a single dominating striker.
Liverpool actually lined up in a 4-5-1/4-3-3/Mourinho’s Chelsea formation.
eg Luis Suarez playing on the left – http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/714/suarez4.jpg/
After the goal, and just before Adam was sent off, and also during the period when they managed to get out of their own half, they switched to a 4-4-1-1 type of shape
eg http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/231/suarez6.jpg/
So going to have to disagree with the idea that this was ‘wide’ one side and one ‘narrow’ beyond inverted wingers being expected to cut inside. Spurs did the same thing with Kranjcar cutting in from their right.
Biggest problem Liverpool had, in my view, was how deep they have to defend. When Modric dropped deeper for Spurs, he had the freedom to pick out some sublime passes. When Liverpool pressed higher, it either left gaps in front of their defence which Adebayor took advantage of, or it exposed Skrtel and Carragher for pace.
Spurs played well, but it was a tactical mismatch for a good 20 minutes even 11 vs 11.
I agree Zeb, I worry that Carragher’s extreme lack of pace forces our defence far too deep any time we face mobile forwards like Adebayor and Defoe
Tottenham totally destroyed Liverpool’s midfield – but to be fair to Dalglish, it doesn’t get much better than the Modric-Parker combination in midfield. I would have thought that Dalglish would have played a better shape from the start of the game – perhaps having Suarez as a lone-striker with a packed midfield. He could have exposed Tottenham’s 4-4-2 a bit more.
I have seen Carroll a few times. Having a lack of pace is not necessarily a bad thing – it depends if you have skill, positioning, and a quick mind. He doesn’t seem to have any of these attributes. Maybe this is a little cruel – perhaps he is just struggling with physical ailments.
Spurs played well, but Liverpoool were poor. kenny has transformed liverpool since his arrival and has the support of the fans. He has signed young and british which has its merits, but also carries huge risks. Henderson, carroll cannot meet the current expectations placed upon them to push Liverpool towards a top four finnish. They will improve over the seasons , but cannot reach the required level now. Adams just baffles me, like a ship in distress. RM was a wonderful player to watch, a real shinning light last season. I fear Liverpool dont have enough within their squad to mount a top four challenge this season.
Interesting to see how many comments really point to TECHNICAL issues with Liverpool’s players as opposed to tactical.
Tactics are second-layer to technique.
not sure I see your point… to me appears most people in the posts above mention the technical in context of tactical, which is relevant…players technique or attributes should always be to consider when making tactical decision?