Author Topic: A Case for the Defence  (Read 5276 times)

Offline Garstonite

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A Case for the Defence
« on: November 27, 2005, 03:14:33 pm »
Benítez’s defensive record whilst at Valencia was second to none.  With Pellegrino, Ayala, Torres and Carboni, you had four men who worked hard and had a great understanding of both the game and one another. 

In his first and third years in charge, they conceded just 27 goals from 38 games.  They won the title on both occasions.  In 2001/2002, they netted just 51 times yet still won the league thanks to the defence. In 2003/2004, they scored 71 times, 20 more. Benítez, like many do, had built from the back. The defence was Valencia’s foundation of success. The rest followed. 

And now Rafa is repeating the same accomplishment here at Liverpool. Whilst winning the title in his first season here was unfeasible due to the squad's lack of depth and quality, he did land Europe’s most elite prize under the most remarkable of circumstances.  His side let in just 10 goals (three of which against Milan) in 15 games throughout the European campaign. With a more fit and focused squad, Liverpool now have better consistency and more options. Already Liverpool have recorded 9 clean sheets in the league, one more than the whole of last season and a club record this early on in the campaign. You can add another 7 clean sheets in 11 games in Europe to that total.

A large factor in this success is Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia. The two have fashioned an understanding reminiscent of the pairing of Stephane Henchoz and Sami Hyypia and the role they played in the magnum opus of Houllier’s tenure.  Without their knowledge of one another, it is doubtful Liverpool would have captured their treble in the 2000/2001 season. The ‘SH’ partnership saw off the likes of Barcelona, Roma and Porto in a successful UEFA Cup campaign. The two were formidable.

Jamie Carragher, during Henchoz and Hyypia’s 2001 peak, played at left back. In the past he has also slotted in comfortably on the right hand side of the defence. However the English defender has always had attributes of a centre half: in summary, defensively astute, offensively underprivileged (although that side of his game is vastly improving). 

Liverpool can look back and be proud to have recorded six consecutive clean sheets, 4 coming in the league and 2 in Europe. The most gathered last season successively were 3, in October. It is another small sign of improvement adding to the list that includes +9 points against the same opposition compared to last season, those 9 clean sheets, four consecutive domestic victories and so on.

But whilst I continue to praise the centre back twosome, I also acknowledge the work of the rest of the team. The left and right backs have been excellent in preventing crosses into the box and move forward in a line in perfect synchronicity with the centrebacks to engineer the offside trap. The midfielders and strikers are also working hard. Hamann, Sissoko and Alonso are experts in the art of protecting the back-line, whilst the others track back and do their duties well. It is Benítez’s philosophy to ‘defend as a team, attack as a team’.  To back this up, early on in his reign, Benítez said: “I'm not just talking about our defenders but the whole team - we need to have confidence in ourselves,” touching upon his side’s defensive frailties.

The win at Manchester City marked a new focused, tactically astute Liverpool. Benítez will always have his critics who claim he is a negative and cautious coach, but Liverpool’s form in the past six Premiership games is the best in the league, and yes, that includes Chelsea. What can’t speak can’t lie, as they say.  The match against Pearce’s men at the City of Manchester Stadium may not have been the most aesthetically pleasing performance, but Liverpool got the job done.  Perhaps the difference between ourselves and those who have won the Premiership crown in recent years lies in the ability to turn 0-0s into 1-0s and also be able to hold on to narrow victories (note the amount Chelsea recorded last year). We seem now to be starting to do this.

Slowly but surely Benítez is instigating the principles that made him so successful in Spain. First his side controls the game, then they go on to win it.

With the zonal-marking no longer an issue, wonderful development in the sides’ defensive approach and some excellent performances displayed from both Hyypia and Carragher, we look solid and shrewd at the back. It's no surprise that we are starting to convert the 0-0s that gave us so much stick at the start of the season into wins (despite the draw against Betis on Wednesday night).

There is one cloud on the horizon -  we need cover. With the surprising news that American youngster Zak Whitbread is off for a short spell with Championship strugglers Millwall, we will have to rely upon the likes of Djimi Traore and Josemi, two error prone defenders, to offer us cover to the ubiquitous twosome, Hyypia and Carragher.  It seems likely that Benítez will dip into his funds in order to bring another senior defender to the club, with Nemanja Vidic top of the wanted list according to the Echo. January is only four weeks away, but with the crowded fixture list, it may seem a lot longer than it actually is.

So, in a week that has provided us with three clean-sheets, doubting over whether Swiss defender Stephane Henchoz should have been sold after his great form at Wigan, the loaning out of one of our most promising youth players and talk of new blood being brought into the club, Rafael Benítez and his backline can be proud of their dramatic defensive progress.  And with statistics to prove it.

© Garstonite 2005
« Last Edit: November 27, 2005, 05:24:47 pm by Rushian »

Offline Scarlet`

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Re: A Case for the Defence
« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2005, 04:04:42 pm »
Great read :) good article :D
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Offline Oake

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Re: A Case for the Defence
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2005, 04:05:32 pm »
Zonal marking was much criticised last year but is now coming to fruition. A top team has to be built on a sound defense, ours now rivals Chelsea.
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Offline eXec-5

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Re: A Case for the Defence
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2005, 06:33:44 pm »
Rafa has actually approached this much in the same manner as Houllier, who also put much emphasis on defensive solidity when he first took over. In Houllier's best seasons, we were remarkably solid at the back. Just incredibly tight. Now is very similar, but we have a much more dynamic midfield than Houllier ever had.

Still awaiting some answers on how we really stand, though, as the quality of the sides we've beaten lately hasn't been that stellar. It we do something similar against Arsenal or the mancs, we'll know we're definitely close to something big.
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Offline redbuff

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Re: A Case for the Defence
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2005, 10:11:09 pm »
Good read

I think the main and most positive differences for me between Rafas team now and the Treble winning side is that we keep our line higher up the pitch and as you said have a more dynamic and dangerous midfield.  Our players when helping back are no longer as far from the opposition box and the play doesn't always bypass them wehn we rebound.  Houlliers team relied so heavily on goals from Owen that when he was injured we looked like a toothless tiger going forward.  If we had the quality of Owen up front in our current side he could have off days or a long lay off and the midfield could carry the burden now of scoring the goals for the team.   

We still don't have the great mix of talent that Valencia had but we aren't far behind.  With Alonso Gerrard and Garcia we have the potential to even outshine that fantastic team.


Offline scottishRED

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Re: A Case for the Defence
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2005, 11:26:15 pm »
We still don't have the great mix of talent that Valencia had but we aren't far behind.  With Alonso Gerrard and Garcia we have the potential to even outshine that fantastic team.


I'd definitely agree with that.

Defensively, we're looking very good at the moment.

Going forwards, I'd say we're a couple of players short of what Valencia had - players to equal Aimar and Vicente.

Benitez will solve this in the transfer market; and he'll also improve our squad depth in defence with a central defender (much needed - an injury to Hyypia or Carragher would be dire).

We just need to keep winning until January. If we go on an unbeaten streak (+ win the majority of our games) until we can get our Simao (or whoever), get our overdue bit of luck with injuries, and get crouchy his first goal, then things will be looking extremely positive in the new year.

I'm certain that if we capture an attacking talent to rival duff / ronaldo / pires in our midfield, then we'll really kick on in the new year - particularly in terms of creating chances for our strikers.

I think we all also retain the faint hope of kewell showing everyone why most of the top teams in europe were chasing him when he left leeds. I wouldn't like to put any money on it, but just imagine if he did start playing to his true capabilities and we get someone like simao in!

I'd go so far as to say that keep this streak of form up through december + snap up simao in january and we'll be genuine title contenders (not to mention champions league).

drop too many points this month though and we'll be too far back in the prem by the time the cavalry arrive.
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Offline scottishRED

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Re: A Case for the Defence
« Reply #6 on: November 28, 2005, 12:04:49 am »
Fixtures til January:

Us:

Sunderland (a)
Wigan
Boro
Newcastle
Everton (a)
West Brom

Chelsea:

Boro
Wigan
Arsenal (a)
Fulham
Man City (a)
Birmingham

Man Utd:

Portsmouth
Everton
Wigan
Villa (a)
West Brom
Birmingham (a)
Bolton

Arsenal:

Bolton (a)
Newcastle (a)
Chelsea
Charlton (a)
Portsmouth
Aston Villa(a)


*************************************

I can see us winning most of ours (the only real toughy is the blueshite, and we ought to win that anyway), and the mancs doing likewise (though who knows with their strange form this season + the inevitable distraction of Benfica away).

Chelsea I can see winning most of theirs too (unfortunately, as they're the ones we really need to slip up), but they do have that tricky fixture against the arsenal, when I think we need to pray for an arsenal win.

Arsenal have a very unfomfortable looking set of games in december. Bolton, toon and charlton away all toughies, (though arsenal seem to beat newcastle for fun in recent years). Personally, i'll be praying for them to drop points in these but to outplay and convincingly beat mourinho's men to dent chelsea's confidence.

I'm optimistic therefore that we can be well placed going into the transfer window. But it'll take some substantial luck with other results for us to be anything more than outsiders at that moment in time. Still, I'll take that over being write-offs.

Come on redmen - this race definitely ain't over just yet...
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Offline Consigliere

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Re: A Case for the Defence
« Reply #7 on: November 28, 2005, 12:43:40 am »
Looking at the back four (or the back five) in isolation is only looking at half the picture.

People talk about how great defence was under Houllier - MB, SH, SH and JC - and it certainly was a strong defensive unit. But there always seems to have been a lack of due credit or acknowledgment given to how the rest of the team was setup so as to allow the back four to play well.

Under Houllier, the whole team sat deep. You almost always had a midfield line of four in front of the back four acting as cover. The defence was rarely stretched, and seldomly exposed simply because the rest of team was setup so as to not allow that happen.

Under Benitez, the way that the rest of the team is setup has an equally important effect on how well the defence plays and how many goals are conceded. Benitez constantly talks about playing "high up the pitch" and "controlling" the game. He talks about this because if you get that element of the play right, it affects not only our attacking play but also our defensive cohesiveness. That was how the Valancia team played. Their back four wasn't particuarly outstanding, but opposition attacks tended to have petered out by the time they reach the likes of Pelligrino. When there's pressure on the ball, key opposition players simply don't have the time or space to play passes that can hurt our defence. Or if they do try and play a pass under pressure, its easier for our defence to deal with.

If we're controlling the game or playing in the opposition's half, the back four aren't going to under anywhere near as much pressure as they would be if were subject to continual attacking moves one after the other. When the rest of the team plays well, the defence is simply expected to defend with competence. It was no different during the heyday of Barnes, Beardsley, McMahon et al.  Even the greatest defenses will crumble under constant pressure if the rest of the team hasn't been setup in the right way. The Leverkusan game under Houllier was classic example. First half against Milan was another example.

Defending isn't just about defences - its about the rest of the team as well. I think the defence is currently doing well because the rest of the team is currently doing well. I read in one of the football reports over the weekend - can't remember which - where the writer talks about Benitez trying to setup a team that "nullifies" the opposition. I think he hits the nail on the head although the qualfication I would add to that is that I think it's Benitez's intention to setup a team that "nullifies" the opposition simply by playing its natural defensive and attacking game and not through having 11 man markers or 11 players playing only defensively for a 0-0 score draw.

A major contribution towards our defensive parsimony this season  has to be the form of Sissoko, Alonso, and Gerrard's occasion change of position. I have never seen a player that mops up play, hunts the ball and gets around the pitch as well as Sissoko. Never. There is no player that I have seen that does those 3 things as consistently well as Sissoko. Not Makalele, not Desailly, not Viera. The addition of Sissoko has been huge contribution to us "controlling the game", "playing high up the pitch" and "nullifying" opposition play. He helps the defence immeasurably, and not because he's doing their job or finding himself in positions where defenders should be. He simply plays his own game plays it well. That of itself, helps others to play their game.

Added to that is the improved defensive play of Alonso. He's surprised me this season by his increased willingless to make tackles, get stuck in and intercept play. Putting Gerrard on the right inevitably allows us to take the game to the opposition through his energy, ground coverage and driving runs. How can all of that not help the defence?

If the back four are to be given credit - at lets be realistic here, neither Finan nor Riise are the greatest of defenders - then at least the same amount of credit, if not more, needs to be Sissoko, Alonso, Gerrard and Crouch, all of whom combine to allow us to take the game to the opposition, control the game and play high up the pitch.

Offline Darren Page1

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Re: A Case for the Defence
« Reply #8 on: November 28, 2005, 02:39:12 am »
Read this today on Sporting Life which made me happy--and having read this good post thought id share....

Rafael Benitez is never a man to shout things from the rooftops, but his Liverpool are beginning to take on ominous look as they ease their way up the Premier League.

Conservative, diligent, hard grafting are all plaudits that used to be applied to Benitez and his respected if never really loved Valencia, who gained the unflattering title of the 'crushing machine' in Spain.

They were rarely pretty to watch. Cue this emerging Liverpool who are starting to set records that are music to boss Benitez's ears.

They may lack the silk of Arsenal or the steel of Chelsea, but six games unbeaten - six clean sheets and four successive league victories - is starting to say that Liverpool are on the move.

Benitez says: "We have a balance, we are defending much better than last season. The problem will be for us to maintain this level throughout the season.

"It is the most consistent the team has played under me. Last season it was difficult to win away games or keep clean sheets, but we are more consistent and teams find it difficult to make chances against us."

Nine clean sheets in the first 12 league games of a season is already an all-time club record, while six games unbeaten is Benitez's best run in England.

And on his 50th Premiership game, the fact that Liverpool have already achieved 16 clean sheets in 25 games, compared to just 18 in 60 last season, says everything.

Benitez said: "The defence was compact and strong throughout. We are on a good run and that means the players have more confidence in what they are doing.

"But they must understand how we have arrived at this point, and that has been because everyone is working very hard and doing the right things in possession and when we haven't got the ball. They must remember.

"It took me three years to build Valencia's team, that was easier for me because it was in my country.

"This Liverpool team has been growing. Each day I learn more and the players also know more about what I want and when I say something to them now they understand much better. Not because of the language, but because they understand more how I want them to play."

The cart may have come before the horse in terms of arriving at the start of this season as European champions, but Benitez is now attending to business to eventually make his side genuine contenders.

Offline mercury

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Re: A Case for the Defence
« Reply #9 on: November 28, 2005, 02:59:03 am »
Great thread this is, started off by another great article by Grastonite.

We are heading the right way.  Teh defense record is no coincidence.  And as first teamers go, barring RM, we have good players all over the park (some might argue about LB but I think Riise just  might be able to pull it off).   I truly believe the RM is the last piece of the puzzle, that the balance it provided would move the team up to another levelwith the way we play now.  (Of course, we have to address covers for CB and RB as well.)

Also agreed that the meanness in our defense is achieved quite differently from the treble year, as Consiglieri articulated so well.  The plan then was defense first, second and third, while with Benitez it always has a sense of balance in the form of instant shift between total defense and total offence throughout the match. 


Offline woof

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Re: A Case for the Defence
« Reply #10 on: November 28, 2005, 05:38:19 am »
Still awaiting some answers on how we really stand, though, as the quality of the sides we've beaten lately hasn't been that stellar. It we do something similar against Arsenal or the mancs, we'll know we're definitely close to something big.
But that's not the measure of league champions. Under Houllier, we played very well against the top sides but struggled to beat the minnows. To top the league, we need to put away the lesser teams. I mean, we could do really well against Arsenal, Mancs or Chelsea but it doesn't mean we'll end up top 3.

I'm happy that we are controlling games now and with control, we are most likely to create goal-scoring chances.

Offline Captain-Carra

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Re: A Case for the Defence
« Reply #11 on: November 28, 2005, 10:26:32 am »
Rafa went to Valencia when Madrid and Barca were not at their best. Not taking anything away from his achievements but both teams were in the middle of bad patches.

The same could be said in a way of Utd and Arsenal. Both are changing the team and struggling to recapture the form and football that made them champions.

What Rafa did no have to compete against in Spain was the corporate monster that is Chelsea.

If Rafa can mould a team at Liverpool to make us on a par with Chelsea and good enough to win the league ahead of them then he will be on his way to becoming one of the all time great managers.
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Offline Red-juvenated

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Re: A Case for the Defence
« Reply #12 on: November 28, 2005, 11:00:08 am »
Good to see the team settling down with some consistency, and its true that this run could continue through december with the following fixtures;

Us:

Sunderland (a)
Wigan
Boro
Newcastle
Everton (a)
West Brom

But we have to add to these the CL game against Chelsea on the 6th and the World Club Championships later in the month. These would definitely affect our rhythm, so we will have the tougher run up to the end of the year.
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Offline edeyj

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Re: A Case for the Defence
« Reply #13 on: November 28, 2005, 11:15:08 am »
Couldn't agree more about the defensive qualities of the team. However, the next step, I think, is to control the game more when we have possession. We give the ball away too easily at times and as much as I like Sissoko I think his passing can be fairly poor. I appreciate it can be difficult in the Premier League because of the high tempo game that all sides seem to play now but a better pass and move game is essential if we are to pressue Chelsea for the premiership.

I'll take a 1-0 win any day of the week but it can be a fragile win. Even though Man City didn't provide much of a threat on Saturday I never felt totally comfortable that they wouldn't sneak one.

However, great run by the lads and long may it continue. Oh, and one final mention - Pepe Reina is doing a fine job too!

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Offline eXec-5

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Re: A Case for the Defence
« Reply #14 on: November 28, 2005, 02:14:55 pm »
But that's not the measure of league champions. Under Houllier, we played very well against the top sides but struggled to beat the minnows. To top the league, we need to put away the lesser teams. I mean, we could do really well against Arsenal, Mancs or Chelsea but it doesn't mean we'll end up top 3.

I'm happy that we are controlling games now and with control, we are most likely to create goal-scoring chances.

Yes winning against the top sides isn't a sufficient condition, but it is becoming a necessary one. Consistent wins against teams below you used to be enough, but in recent seasons the very top sides have won almost all their games. Chelsea hardly ever draw, and that means beating them is becoming essential too, while still grinding out results against the teams we're supposed to beat.

I'm just not sure that we're approaching that level just yet, but I'll remain cautiously optimistic. Get nine points in our next three games, and we'll be well positioned for the tough games during Christmas. But Chelsea have to start drawing games, or we simply won't catch them.
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Offline scottishRED

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Re: A Case for the Defence
« Reply #15 on: November 29, 2005, 12:12:07 am »
Good to see the team settling down with some consistency, and its true that this run could continue through december with the following fixtures;

Us:

Sunderland (a)
Wigan
Boro
Newcastle
Everton (a)
West Brom

But we have to add to these the CL game against Chelsea on the 6th and the World Club Championships later in the month. These would definitely affect our rhythm, so we will have the tougher run up to the end of the year.

each of the other three have champions league games - the mancs' one being crucial.

they also have league cup matches to 'disrupt' things.

with the fixtures we've got, i think we should be able to weather travelling out for the world club cup. no doubt rafa will prioritise the league matches as well.

make no mistakes, rafa may have commented that we won't win the league this season, but that will have been to reduce the pressure on the team. and damn right; i won't be criticising them if they don't win it. but like all fans, i'll be hoping we can challenge and rafa will be thinking exactly the same thing.
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