…a continuing & alarming lack of ideas from our
manager, as well as a lack of a proper ‘leader’ in the middle of the pitch.
Set-up and counter measures
To see Liverpool set up at
home in a 3-4-2-1 come 3-6-1 with 4
strikers sitting on the bench was not only a rare sight indeed but it also said
a lot about how modern football has changed. And both worryingly and frustratingly it also shows how inventive and
adaptable other managers are…and much our increasingly stubborn and inflexible
our manager is.
As the opening 10 to 12 minutes ticked by – and after a fairly lively start from us – Liverpool grew into their tightly-packed formation and
began pressing and pressing until we cracked, thanks to a wonderful finish from
Jordan Henderson. But the pain of going behind
was nothing to the agony of watching us flounder by showing no signs of
adapting whatsoever for the next 5 or 6, very long minutes. Then on about the 17th
or 18th minute David Silva switched
to a more central role and it seemed to change the whole dynamic of the game.
Now whether that instruction came from the bench or whether
the Spaniard decided to take the situation into his own hands I just don’t
know. Part of me would like to think that we DO have players who can take
charge and reorganise themselves to a degree…but I mostly yearn to know that we
have a bench in Brian Kidd, Ruben Cousillas and, crucially of course, Manuel Pellegrini who are ‘right on it’ and get
message onto the pitch to change things to good effect.
Let’s hope it’s the
latter…but my word they were far-too-slow to react!
5 or 6 minutes delay might not seem too long when you say
(or type) it but it’s an eternity in a football game. But change we eventually
did and on 25 minutes Aguero & Dzeko combined beautifully for the Bosnian to slot it
away in front of the Kop.
I don’t want this to
turn into a full ‘match report’ and so I’ll sum up.
Credit to Brendan Rodgers
for reading this one perfectly well and, let’s not forget, we were picked off
by two world class goals from Henderson and Coutinho.
Other than a few poorly-paced and wayward passes from both Fernandinho & Yaya
- and a defence that, in the first half, collectively looked ramshackle and
quite nervous at times - no individual had a particularly bad game, I didn’t
think.
But we just looked like a disjointed and largely ineffective
team; almost completely lost for ideas of how to change and invent a new way to
break down the opposition. We didn’t look anything like the champions of England
Kompany cut at frantic,
startled figure as he tried to hold things together at the back; needing more
that 2 eyes to keep a check on the potentially-scary combination of Kolarov & Mangala
as well as having to contend with only sporadic cover and under-strength passes
from Fernandinho.
Frank Lampard who, earlier
on in the season both saved and created crucial points for us, must be
beginning to wonder what his role is at City; other than providing some
experience on the training pitch and in the dressing room as well as filling
the bench. And if we’re TRYING to drive James Milner
out of the club at the end of the season then we’re going about it perfectly (huh…at least we’re getting that
right!).
Game after game James now provides company for ‘Super Frank’
on the subs bench and when he finally gets on the pitch – with instructions to try and save us / salvage a point – the poor
bugger ends up playing in at least 3 positions for the remainder of the game;
as our manager then - and FINALLY
- starts to show some tactical, proactive engineering with often just 30
minutes to go.
As I feared, Bony in now entering the, ‘coming on as a sub, trying to get up to the pace of a game and trying too hard to force that first goal for his new club’ phase.
Fuming!
It resulted in a 30-odd minute tsunami of Manchester City
One caller almost ran out of breath as his passionately
ranted about how he hadn’t turned into a spoilt Manchester City
supporter [having watched years of poor players and disappointment after
disappointment] but, instead, was livid at the fact that the bunch of players
we have now couldn’t, in any way, muster what previous Champion-winning sides
could; in making a fist of retaining their title.
Others were equally dismayed and I chucked in my two-penneth
in the form of a text that read…
Jack, does Fred [Eyre] agree with me
that a team from the ‘midfield upwards’ works much better when they have high
confidence in their defence? If so, does he ALSO agree that not only does a
class left back need to be on the summer shopping list but also ANOTHER ‘top
drawer’ centre half AND a different defensive midfielder [to the one we have]?
What I didn’t add, as I needed to be as concise as I could,
was that we need to get rid of the mediocre pairing of Fernando & Fernandinho
and buy a true monster of a defensive midfielder. Not just a protector of the
back 4 but a midfielder leader; a manager on the pitch who can not just
‘rally the troops’ but who can literally take a game by the scruff of the neck
and change things without necessarily needing his manager to intervene. And we need Mats Hummels,
a crackin’ left back, an additional creative spark and a replacement up front,
at least, for Jovetic. Basically a medium-sized summer re-build really, it pains
me to say.
Whether our manager will be here
to orchestrate those summer adjustments depends largely on how he performs over
the next 84 days.
For the record, the experienced Fred Eyre agree
wholeheartedly with each of my 3 suggestions…
So where does it leave us?
Well to answer that you don’t even have to be all that into
football to say, quite frankly,
pretty much trophyless this season. Only those who think that we can win in Camp Nou by 2-0 or 3-1 etc; who thinks we can then
overcome whoever may then lie ahead in the Champions League AND who thinks
we can turn around a potential 8-point gap over Chelsea
could possibly think otherwise.
In fact – and not
wanting to sound TOO dour about the situation – we’re in serious danger now
of entering a battle for 4th; as both Arsenal
& Manyoo breath down our necks
being, as they are, just 4 & 5 points behind us respectively.
For me? Forget the Champions League and put every
effort (and that includes you Mr Pellegrini & Co.) in TRYING, at least, to
put whatever pressure on Chelsea
Leicester City parking 2 busses at the Etihad on Wednesday night – can’t wait…
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