23 Mar 2015 09:14:08
Question for Ed01, would like to know your thoughts over a tactical situation
We start our play from back from GK to CB, what i don't understand is y none of our midfielders come close to CB in possession and help him get the ball out quick, like a triangle formation, so that quick 1-2's and you move your ball ahead, i rarely see henderson doing that or allen, lucas use to do a little bit or Gerrard. Now our midfielders hate to take the ball from defenders n take it forward which results in either our defenders get pressed by opposition player or they play a aimless long ball in that case we end up loosing our possesion and lastly ed, where is our quick 1-2's between our forward players i see none now a days. What happened to us yesterday in the Manu game, same thing happened to us last game against Swansea, where we got lucky, because they were not as clinical as Manu, but with bigger games to come like Arsenal, Chelsea, it will result into a disaster, would like your opinion on this situation.

{Ed001's Note - our midfield seem to go to sleep when the defenders have the ball lately, maybe they are just expecting it to get passed along the backline for the next ten min so no point in making an angle?

As for the forwards, well everyone is so deep that a forward gets it and has to wait for support, there is no one to play a quick one two with. We have usually lost the ball or played it backwards by the time support has arrived.}

1.) 23 Mar 2015
23 Mar 2015 11:24:54
So ed what u suggest to rectify such tactical error and honestly hendo and allen in the middle of the park is not working at all and i totally agree with u regarding the forwards failing to make a quick play as they are playing so deep, so wouldn't u agree that even this is down to poor midfield play ed, and finally what would u say if we play toure/lovern at RCB and Can& lucas in the mid

{Ed001's Note - first off we need to go back to four at the back. Then we need to drop Allen, he is not mobile, clever, or good enough for the role he is being asked to fulfil. Having Lucas in will make us more solid and he offers the angles to receive the pass. The defenders need to then be instructed to only pass around at the back when there is no other option, it should not be the default pass, it should be the last resort pass. If you want to play keep ball, do it in midfield, where you have cover behind and it is far enough forward to threaten the opponent and force their players to move to try and get at the ball, which may create gaps. For me I would like to see Toure given a chance alongside Sakho, he has experience, decent on the ball and has more pace than Lovren.}

2.) 23 Mar 2015
23 Mar 2015 12:01:35
Ed001, do you think Skrtel is a main reason for our midfielders dropping deep because of his poor passing ability?
If teams are more inclined to press Sakho but especially Can with their passing range, Skrtel has a lot of time on the ball in which really, he does nothing with. Thus our midfielders drop deep to try and make a simple outball. Yesterday, they were guilty of not providing good angles like you said - a part of an all-round lethargic performance - but if Moreno is too far up the pitch when he plays as he often is, then our options for moving up the pitch become quickly limited.
Is this close to part of our problems Ed, or is my naivety showing?

{Ed001's Note - it is one part of the problem defo. Can can play out from the back, Sakho can play out from the back, Skrtel just can't. He has shown signs of being able to in fits and spurts, so clearly it is his mentality stopping him, same as it is that which makes him constantly drop too deep as soon as we lose the ball. For me, he is mentally weak, he looks hard, he pulls and pushes and fouls (and now stamps) but he is not tough. He doesn't have the strength of character to get over his natural instincts and change his game and it has meant we have had to keep changing the whole shape of the team to suit him. While you have to do that to a degree with any player to get the best out of them, you shouldn't need to change everything to shoehorn him in, especially as he is simply not that good in the first place to be worth shoehorning in.}

3.) 23 Mar 2015
23 Mar 2015 12:09:25
Ed, do you get the feeling that Brendan has stumbled on a formation that suits our players and is basically wringing the life out of it until he finds another.

{Ed001's Note - no, he has tinkered with a back 3 a number of times. He just wants to flood the midfield and so tried it again when things were going bad. I just hope he has the sense to realise it is not a permanent solution.}

4.) 23 Mar 2015
23 Mar 2015 12:20:28
What role would you see Can play if we back to a back four? Bench see if he can play with we either hendo or lucas, or if needed all 3 in the midfield?

{Ed001's Note - right now he would have to be right back, as the only available options seem to be Johnson (please God no!!!), Manquillo (Johnson-lite) or Sterling. So Can suddenly becomes the best option for there, with that allowing us the flexibility to go to a 3 at the back when we want to during games. Hendo, Couts and Lucas would be the midfield 3 for me. It would have to be 3 because Couts is wasted out wide and we don't have anyone to play alongside Sturridge anyway.}