27 Oct 2016 04:09:52
Yo ed001

It seems like as of now that Sturridge will be reduced to a bench role going forward. That leaves us to relying on goals mainly from Coutinho, Mane and Firmino, none of which are real strikers.

Do you believe that Liverpool can ill- afford to try and go the whole season relying on goals from advanced midfielders? Or has Klopp, I don't know, perhaps revolutionised the way you can score goals? Because this has been my only worry about the attack, it's virtually unheard of for a team to sustain prolific attack without the use of a recognised striker.

{Ed001's Note - nothing revolutionary about it, a lot of teams across Europe have done this for years now.}

1.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 06:33:51
I. e. succeed with false nines? Which teams? I think Barcelona did for a bit without Suarez or Zlatan, but that's as far as my knowledge extends.

{Ed001's Note - until recently, when the old fashioned centre forward came back into fashion, numerous clubs did so. Dortmund under Klopp played it regularly after the sale of Lewandowski to Bayern. Bayern themselves often used it with Muller playing as the false 9. If I could be bothered to look it up, I am sure I could come up with hundreds of examples, as it was extremely fashionable to play like that for a while.}

2.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 06:46:57
City seem to be doing it right now with Aguero left out in the cold and Sterling or De Bruyne being used up front in certain games. Though that may be more down to Pep's stupidity than any meaningful tactics.
Aubameyang was no CF till Lewandowski moved to Bayern, and it seems to have worked out well for BVB.
Son at Spurs has excelled in the NO.9 role in spite of being a wide player. Sanchez at Arsenal also doing much better without Giroud.
Does not look going forward for out and out strikers, especially at the top clubs.

3.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 08:32:12
Probably the best example I can remember is Luciano Spaletti playing Totti as a false nine in 2006/ 2007.

4.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 08:42:13
Spain did it for a while too.

5.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 09:45:08
Arguably Firmino and Mane are as clinical as many 'true' strikers, and with Coutinho, Wiji, Llalana all capable of 10 goals a season behind them I'm very comfortable with Firmino upfront.

I've always thought Sturridge does better with two upfront and seemed to be the case against Tottenham. I think our plan B should be Sturridge/ Origi upfront as a strike pair, particularly if struggling to score late in games and need a bit more height in the box.

6.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 09:58:04
We won't have the leagues top goal scorer in the squad this year but I fancy us and arsenal to have the most players with 10+. Firmino, coutinho, lallana, mane. Milner already has 4 then we have Sturridge and origi ready to chip in.

7.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 10:36:28
In fairness, you can't beat a good striker that bags you 20+ a season. Normally the title winning side has that - think with the exception of Citeh a few years back where Yaya bagged 20 (think Aguero still got 17 though), most title winning teams have that player.

Let's hope we get both - midfielders getting 10+ and strikers hitting 20+!

8.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 10:38:45
Absolutely den and zimbo

I'm not really interested in having a league top goal scorer, we had that before and rely too much on 1-2 players, we're in a good position when we have the players we have banging them in left right and center. I'd rather have multiple players able to score then just the one. Our attack at the min is dangerous to every single defence in the league, i certainly can't complain with the tactics been used this season!

9.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 13:12:56
Title winners typically score at least 75 goals. If Sturridge is going to permanently be a bench player, then we're asking each of Coutinho, Firmino and Mane to score at least 20 goals each. That's 60 goals all up. The rest will need to be pitched in by Sturridge when he can off the bench, Origi when he can off the bench, our centre midfielders, and a few from defence. I'm just a bit uncertain because we've never seen either Firmino, Coutinho or Mane score at least 20 goals in a single season. They're our most advanced players, therefore they're the players we are relying on the most for our goals.

10.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 14:35:34
Sorry what?

Same logic would be applied if Sturridge WAS in the starting line up. If we needed 75 goals and could only expect 15 total from midfielders, defenders and substitutes. Then we would still need 60 goals from Coutinho, Sturridge and Mane.

Realistically, where the goals come from makes absolutely no difference. All that matters is that the team is scoring more than the other team, if that is happening the most when Sturridge is not in the starting 11 then so be it.

BTW I think Sturridge is a fantastic player, and still think he'll be massive for us this season. He is great at getting through on the keeper and putting chances away. But this approach struggles against teams who sit deep, and consequently we as a team have struggled against these. Now we have two approaches, and his is still really effective against the right teams, as he showed on Tuesday.

11.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 14:53:56
Well put joe.

12.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 15:08:05
As much as i love firmino he is not as clinical as Sturridge.

Sturridge would have scored from one of the 3-4 chances firmino had against west brom.

Firmino however give you all out action tackles pressing so its a difficult one.

13.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 19:46:37
I believe we will rue not having a 20+ goal a season striker.

{Ed002's Note - Welcome back Chris. I love it when you speak French to me.}

14.) 27 Oct 2016
27 Oct 2016 20:23:13
I like words Ed, in any language. I like to think of myself as a fairly cunning linguist.

{Ed002's Note - lächelndes Gesicht.}

15.) 28 Oct 2016
28 Oct 2016 01:10:20
Forgive me, maths is not my strong point, always been a much better writer.

So on the other hand, we'd have a regular goal-scoring striker in Sturridge, and he nets us 25 goals. That leaves 50 for the rest of them to make up. 10 from Coutinho, 10 from Firmino, 10 from Mane. That's 55 goals now. The remaining 20 can be easily scored by Origi, central midfielders, and defenders, bringing them to 75 goals.

But instead, much more of the goal-scoring burden is being placed on the front 3 attacking midfielders, players whom we've never seen score 20 goals before.

Don't get me wrong, I have confidence at the moment in them achieving that, considering how many opportunities they create for eachother, but I'm also just a little bit uncertain, that's all.