Not exactly anything new for a round table, it will probably come up again after Sunday. And in every round table until we sign someone. But we really do miss that player.
Suarez has many qualities but he's not a no9. Last night the amount of times he laboured to get in to the box and how reluctant he was to be that guy in the middle, the one around the 6 yard box, well, it was numerous.
He so clearly prefers being the one to mop up for a bit further back. He's trying to play off of someone who simply isnt there. With Lucas being out and us now reverting to a '2 and a 1' I'd like to see Suarez operate in the '1'. Just to see how it played out. Shelvey's form continues to fluctuate, Rodgers seems to prefer Gerrard deeper (we'll get to that) so, I dunno. I just think it might bring the best out of Luis having someone in front of him rather than just space and defenders. Who that man is remains to be seen. I guess Yesil would be the front runner right now. And im not sure he's ready.
On the train home I heard a lot of 'Suarez isn't getting enough support', 'Suarez needs someone up there to help him out' but I don't believe we have the players to support him as a false 9 and I will illustrate why below.
If Rodgers is sending Suarez out onto the field of play under the proviso that he is a false 9, then I believe his system is flawed. In this role Suarez would be charged with picking up the ball 'between the lines' as he does a lot of the time. From here Suarez has a number of options, A) play it out wide for a cross, B) play in someone making an overlapping run (the sort of run Pedro and Villa make) or C) drive directly at the defence. I will now outline why I believe, most of the time, all three of these options are ineffective.
Our problem with option A, playing it out wide for a cross, is that no one attacks the six yard box. Furthermore, the loss of Maxi/Bellamy/Kuyt means that we no longer have players who hit the back post with any regularity. As such when we go out wide we rarely convert crosses into chances or goals because we don't have the players to convert these crosses. Having Suarez as our false 9 exacerbates this problem because he takes up the position of the CF who would be attacking that six yard box. The below screenshot illustrates how poorly we position ourselves in the box.
As stated by Cpt Reina, Suarez is not the type to move like a No.9 and when we cross the ball this means that no one occupies the CBs, no one attacks the six yard box and no one hits the back post - result? Poor conversion rates on crosses.
Our problem with option B, playing someone in from an overlapping run, is that no one makes those runs. Right now we have Assaidi, who stays close to the touchline (from my seat in the Lower Centenary this seemed to be the case), Downing who potentially has the pace but not the intelligence or the hunger to score goals, Sterling - who is capable of this - ala Reading, and Suso who doesn't have that in his locker, yet. The below screenshot is, I think, a standard capture of where Suarez usually picks up the ball, between the lines and facing the goal. I've put two arrows for runs into space that could be made to support him - but as you can see Assaidi is occupying a centre back (one of the rare times he did this) and Sterling is out of the picture near the sidelines. In short, it illustrates the poor attacking support that our LW/RW offer Suarez when he picks up the ball in dangerous positions. Sterling has real pace but perhaps he is too young to be expected to make these runs all of the time, after all young players tend to be inconsistent and so relying on a 17 year old as your main source of overlapping runs is a haphazard strategy.
If Rodgers analyses this situation pragmatically surely he can see that we lack the players to give Suarez the support from wide positions and as such he can only pass it outwide for a players to hit the byline - which as stated is ineffective. It is not just this run from a wide position, but the lack of a midfield runner in Jonjo Shelvey. Occasionally Jonjo makes late runs into the box, but how often have we seen a midfielder make the kind of run that the guy below makes past Eto'o? This is where I have a problem with Sahin at the top of the midfield triangle, he doesn't have much acceleration and as such he can't really offer that sort of support during a counter attack. Therefore it leaves Suarez with 4 defenders in front of him and no one to run past and take a centre back and rarely will he have someone on the LW/RW making a dangerous run towards the box. As stated previously, the poor positioning of players in the box means that going out wide for them to hit the byline is not usually going to result in a goal.
Finally option C, running directly at a defence. Suarez can do it, but he misses all the time and gives away possession and as glorious as the skill can be to watch I have little faith in the finish that comes at the end of it.
If I were Rodgers looking at this situation I would seriously be looking at dropping Suarez into the 1 in the midfield triangle and playing Yesil or someone with pace at CF so that defences are worried about direct vertical movement through the centre because right now I don't see a source for it. Not having that in our locker is a huge shame because it can be such a potent source of goals.
