Last week in europe we played it back and forth across the back. The opposition pressed, especially on carragher, the ball was forced back to jones who launched it and we had relinquished possession. Now thats very different than the football played by barca and spain who are supposedly the blueprint for where we are trying to go. They look to pass it passed players and go forward. Theres none of this keeping possession for possessions sake.
Dont get me wrong it was our first game, we cant expect miracles but im surprised by some of the players who are already heavily involved since rodgers took over because they dont seem to be capable of playing the type of football rodgers want yet hes letting go our technically better stars. To lose bellamy,maxi and kuyt for next to nothing is daft when you cant afford to sign anyone technically as good.
I missed the Europa league game (wasn't up for it), in fact i stopped watching us at half-time against Spurs, although
i intend to catch the Anfield game vs Gomel.
Worse still, imo, is if you take Lucas out of the equation and stick Spearing in there the whole system breaks down
because Spearing is a single point of failure guaranteed almost every game to send a stray pass in a dangerous
area and that's without the opposition deliberately targeting what'll be the focal point of the system.
Additionally, i have grave reservations about cashing in on one of our experienced centre halves this season if they're
going to be much more active in terms of possession than is the norm.
Midfield was the problem last season and I'm very open to us exerting far more control in that area this season with a
physical and energetic approach to winning back possession and drawing all the pretty triangles that God created to
retaining it.
However again alarm bells begin to ring when a manager and his system is so inflexible that we have to shell out an
exorbitant fee for a player (Allen) who may be promising but has achieved nowt in the game to date. Granted we paid too
much for Henderson last Summer but at least in his defence he has an incredible engine that is difficult to come by whereas
pretty passers in midfield are a dime a dozen on the continent. Besides, just like Ramsey and Wilshere these fly-weight
midfielders can easily get injured so i'd question the wisdom of shelling out the guts of our transfer spend on them.
Certainly, I'm in favour of us getting the midfield right and would prefer a more phased introduction of any defensive
system. Build on the progress there from last season and coach the bejaysus out of that Enrique lad because he's
a headless chicken when he gets past the midfield line and ventures forward too much with little end product leaving
gaps at the back.
