Liverpool FC under GH, a tactical analysis.
The inspiration behind this thread comes from a moron who phoned up talk sport’s football show this afternoon. He started his rant by saying that he was a Liverpool fan. Having had to put up with about a thousand and one Mancs in the previous hour of the show, harking on about how they were going to stuff Leverkusen and how Real Madrid were a mere stepping stone rather than hurdle, on their path to a third European Cup triumph, this Liverpool fan was hopefully going to be my much needed relief to my now aggravated state of mind.
As soon as I heard the word Liverpool, immediately my ears pricked up, the volume control was turned to the right as I controlled the car momentarily with the other hand.
The host of the radio show isn’t a Liverpool fan, but admittedly a fan of Fulham. However his attitude towards us has always been fair, objective, reasonable and knowledgeable on the occasions when I’ve managed to tune in. In my opinion, tantalised isn’t too strong a word to describe how I envisaged the next few minutes of my waking life to be. For those who can’t see past the sexual implications of that word, substitute it with just intrigued or excited. After all, it was a sunny afternoon, I’m driving along a quiet country road and I’m about to hear a conversation about what I like to talk about most, namely Liverpool Football Club.
But then the Liverpool fan opens his mouth! With his eloquent Brummie tones (not starting an OOT debate, just using detail], he describes how Mr AndREW Cole, Kevin Phillips, Jermaine Defoe and Alan Shearer are ten times better than Emile Ivanhoe Heskey. “Heskey is useless” he says. “Can’t trap a bag of cement”. “Couldn’t score in a brothel”. “I have to put up with him playing for us each week knowing he won’t score and I really don’t want to go through the same torture over the next 4 weeks in Japan and Korea”. Andy Cole et al are far better strikers. They score more goals and are better finishers. “Heskey can’t hit a barn door from four yards” “Heskey couldn’t hit a Cow’s arse with a banjo” “Liverpool should sell him, let alone play him, and as for him representing his country, don’t make me laugh”.
Immediately, I cursed the moment I had turned the radio up. “Not another one from the anti-Heskey brigade” I thought. Straight away I pulled over in the lay-by and dialled the number for Talk Sport, just hoping that I could get on air and have ago at this moron. Through the wind and the rain my arse I thought. I bet he’s one of the Murphy boo boys, the lad who sticks his mobile to his ear when singing YNWA, just talking and not singing, the jester hat wearing fool at the front, the one who supported Moneychester United just before our 5 cups. I’m all for democracy, but as you can guess, I didn’t take to this guy.
The show ended in the next couple of minutes and I just got one of those “thankyou for taking the time to call talk sport, but unfortunately…blah blah blah “ answering phone messages. Rather like one of those refusal letters you get back from the ticket office, but in audio form!
Well I’m home now, have calmed down a bit, it’s still sunny and I’m on a weeks holiday. So why should I get uptight I guess? I’ve started to ponder just why it is that certain players receive more criticism than others. Maybe the critics are justified? Maybe their opinions are true, and in some cases I think this is the case. But with Emile Heskey?? I don’t think so. Now my opinion doesn’t carry much weight, but fortunately, the opinions of GH, Sven, Thommo, and even players like MO who say that EH is their preferred playing partner do carry weight. GH and Sven especially are amoungst the world elite coaches and master tacticians. Behind Capello, Sven is the one of the most successful club managers in the world. Even Capello himself rates Emile very highly. One of the best defenders in world football at the moment and probably the most complete defender in Seria A this season [most defensive league in the world] is Walter Samual. Even big Walter, whose national team face England soon and who is the backbone on which Argentina build and allow the creativity of Aimar, Saviola, Crespo and Ortega to flow, fears him. We all know just what our very own GH [On Uefa’s technical committee!] thinks of him as well. So why is it that these “Morons”, who are new to football, who have watched it since their parents bought them sky, since Murdoch invested his millions and above all who like our beautiful game because it’s trendy again; why is it that they dislike Emile?
I propose that it’s for exactly the same reason as they don’t like Didi. Quite simply, they appreciate the glamour kids like Mickey, they love the razamataz of the premiership but they have little or no tactical understanding of how the game should be played, or why it is played in a certain way or who is picked to do a crucial job and why. The most difficult football issue they could comprehend is which stickers go where in a Pannini sticker album.
[Ahh, doesn’t that last sentence just evoke pressure free childhood memories?]
If football management were all about sending your best 11 players out on to the field, rubbing your hands together and saying “go on lads”, then the next England manager would be a 14 year old championship manager expert.
To put it simply…….it doesn’t work like that.
While Emile is indisputably not the greatest of finishers, he is nevertheless and “Indespensible member of the squad”- Copyright of championship manager 97/98.
It is only possible to fully appreciate what Emile bring to the team when you put it in to the context of how the formation of our team works, subject to the tactical instructions of GH.
For the new breed of footy fans, this is the bit that Des Lynam rushes through at the end of the 30 seconds football coverage with Mr Townsend and Ally before the ten minutes of adverts start up again.
I haven’t got the time, inclination or ability to analyse every aspect of our line up/formation/tactics etc, but will give examples of a few.
Generally we play a 442 formation. This is modelled on the French system and consists [ideally when all fit] of overlapping full backs to provide width.
I’ve said this on a previous thread, but it is these full backs who are supposed to bomb up and down the touchline to control the flanks. France have Lizerazu/Candela on the left and Sagnol/Thuram on the right. Ideally, we would play dfenders with attacking tendencies ie, Babbel/JAR/Vignal.
These fullbacks can run up and down all day until their hearts content as we have defensive central midfielders to cover for them. France have had Didier descamp, Petit, Viera, Karembeu, Makalele, we have Didi, Gary Mac, Igor, Stevie and hopefully soon John Welsh.
The other midfielders are what I would call floating midfielders. Loosely they are assigned to a flank each but they drift inside a lot pulling in their markers and allowing the fullbacks to overlap. Constant accusations are always shoved at these players. “They don’t hug the touchline like Highway used to”, but then Liverpool didn’t play the same in those days. These players are responsible for the creativity in midfield, while the defensive midfielders are responsible for our directness.
The players we have here are Paddy, Vladdy, Murphy [when on right]. This is the area, correction [one of the many areas] where the French national team is blessed. They have Duggary, Pires and the irresistible and mecurial skills of ZZ. [who is NOT anfield bound despite the same tabloid rumous every fucking year] Even Henry fills this role sometimes when Trez is up front on his own. Djorkeaff has filled this role in recent years too.
One of our strongholds is our defence and the centre of it especially so. Hyypia and Stephane are rock like together. But for all their strengths the one [and possibly only] flaw in each of their games is a lack of pace. This is probably the only thing stopping Sammi from being the best defender in the world IMHO. He’s in the top 3 or 5 anyway, so let’s not be too picky! This lack of pace means that we are sometimes susceptible to the threat posed by pacey strikers. Vassell played a good game against us at Anfield this year, this is perhaps an example of that. This is the reason why Hamann sits so deep. He is there to cut out the through balls which could potentially trouble our amazing centre backs if they find the space which a pacey striker can take advantage of. If you just lump balls up to strikers against us, Sammi and stephane will take it like bread and butter. They will deal with high balls all day.
The way to beat us is to get around our fullbacks to avoid going through the centre where to say the odds of getting past our two slabs of granite are slim is an understatement. Usually we don’t let teams get around the back of our fullbacks, as they are protected by Didi and Stevie G but occasionally this happens. The best recent example of this was in our European match vs Leverkusen. All their attacks came from the flanks. Ze Roberto was in irresistanle form that night and terrorised our fullbacks. That is why I was so supprised we took Didi off. I presumed at the time that he was injured, but it was GH’s decision, and fair play to GH, he said it was his decision and stuck by it when asked by the media. This was probably his first real test since coming back to steer the helm of the good ship Anfield. He answered with honesty and integrity, even if other football experts were baffle by the decision. This is all we can ever ask of GH, and I thank him for his honest explanation.
There are probably a million and one other tactical reasons why he saw fit to take off Didi, and I in my amateur football fan capacity can only hazard guesses as to what they might be, despite at the time believing he was wrong.
But then I thought he was wrong to take off Stephane Henchoz in the Uefa final, and look what happened there. The bottom line is that whatever GH does, he is one of the best in the world at football management [not perfect], and each decision is taken with regards to both the short and long term benefit of the club.
He has lived and worked in this city before and above all his heart is red.
IT IS IN GH, I TRUST.
Some people have talked about our “binary football”. Refering to all our 1-0 wins and 0-0 draws, I find this accusation witty and humouous even if untrue.
I don’t know about you, but I want success, not sexy football. Sexy football comes second. Is a team who scored 127 odd goals and who won 5 trophies that boring really?! But this debate is getting boring, so I’ll stop there.
A lot of comparisons are starting to be made between us and George Grahams Gooners side of the late 80’s early 90’s. Their side was built on the concept of defence as well as ours. They had a target man in Alan Smith like we do in Big Emile. But one important difference in my opinion was the off side trap. [Girls-don’t even ask] [JOKE, please don’t shoot me down for it] Reeves’ disclaimer= [“the previous comment about Girls was only meant in good humour and the author fully appreciates that girls have the ability to understand the offside trap just as well as men”]
Anyway, the noticeable fact is that we don’t tend to play it as much as other teams.
How many times do we see the United back four step up in a line [Blanc, Silvetre, Johnson and Barthez!!] only to see our beloved Scouser Gary Neville with his arm in the air appealing for the offside; and with the 12 Man Utd men on the pitch he usually gets it, but enough of my cynicism for now.
The thing is, we tend to not play the offside trap too much. Due to our lack of pace at the heart of our defence, we tend to defend quite deeply and so not much space is left behind our back four for us to use such a tactic. This means our defense sits deep, our midfield sits deeply and we counter attack. This method is rather like a scorpian. Our front players are the claws, nipping and defending from the front but our real venom is in our counter attacking tail. Teams are sucked in, but kept at distance and then when they are on the offensive, we strike using the pace of the European football player of the year, Big Emile, Nico and hopefully soon Baros, SinamaPongolle, Le Lallec and Mellor. [about 45 goals this season for the under 19s and reserves if you didn’t know].
More so now than ever, pace is an essential part of todays game. You can have all the skills in the world, but you can’t legislate for pace. GH realises this and like his attackers to have pace, just as France have Trez, Henry and Anelka. We are currently being linked with Cisse of Auxerre. Ged went to watch him in Auxerre’s last game. I watched it on Eurosport and the way Cisse ghosted past the right sided full back to set up the first goal was awesome. This boy has pace and it is no wonder we are being linked with him. He’s not bad in the air either, scoring two headed goals from crosses that day.
The reason Emile fits so well in to our formation is that he holds the ball up so well. Knock the ball up to him and he controls it and brings the midfielders in to play. Defenders hate to challenge him partly because he is so strong but also because if they do miss out and Emile gets a flick on to Micky, it’s odds on that the onion bag will be bulging, for young Michael aint European footballer of the year for nothing. So defenders prefer to let Emile win the ball [often don’t have choice in the matter] and our defensive midfielders who are usually 30 yards further down the pitch at this stage have a chance to run up the pitch in support.
You see, vitally, this is Emile’s role. Something that this moron of an LFC fan above doesn’t understand. He is instructed to do as such by our management. The fan above is under the ignorant impression that strikers MUST score hatfuls and defenders should defend. This is NOT the case. This is why he thinks Kevin Phillips should partner Owen in the England attack, not realising that as a partnership and in the context of the way the England tactical gameplan has developed under Sven, that this won’t work. It is a team game and that is why Thommo and GH ALWAYS single out EH for special praise. It is because a lot of fans don’t fully appreciate quite why tactically they are there. They just reach the false and ignorant conclusion that EH doesn’t score enough goals so therefore is not worthy to wear the red shirt. Emile’s role can only be fully understood in the context of our entire tactical gameplan and that is what a lot of fans are ignorant of.
Emile and Didi’s role can be attributed right back to the lack of pace in the centre of defence, management instruction and preference for a deep counter attacking gameplan.
Another French manager in the premiership is old Arsene Wenger. [quite why his name is screamed across the mountains in the opening line of the Line King, I have no idea] [not with me?, watch the opening 5 seconds and find out].
Both he and Ged are obviously French and have a penchant for all things French, but that is where the preferences end. When comparing and contrasting their separate and distinct managerial styles, it is interesting to draw attention to their transfer policies.
Arsene tends to prefer his Southern French players and southern European or African players. They have more flair than the typical GH type of player. Players like Pires and Henry are passionate and flair players. Kanu is similarly flairy. GH tends to go for his more Northern European players, especially the Scandinavians. Players like JAR, Sammi, Stephane, the two Germans are all harder working than the typical Arsene Wenger signing.
With regards to potential summer signings, once again there will be plenty of speculation as to who GH has his eye on. I thought about writing a list of who we’ve been linked with, but this article would be in danger of going in to about 15 pages if I even began to summarise the tabloid speculation. The only things I can say are that if/when we do sign a player, his ambition will match ours, he will be of the right mentality, probably be more on the side of magnificent potential as opposed to undisputed quality, thus keeping the price down, and above all will be a GH type of player. GH has unearthed some true gems and sensible prices, and that is why Rick Parry trusts his judgement. All managers must have the full backing of the board, but GH’s signings have shown he deserves it.
We will have a substantial transfer kitty in the summer. The sale of God, the departure of the wages of “the baldy head” and el capitano will release more ready available cash to spend on wages and our Champions League Campaign will have done much to bulge the coffers. If GH wants money to spend, it will be his. Rick Parry has said as much. GH has never had a financial request turned down, and it won’t start now.
Ignore the papers, if GH wants Anelka, we WILL be able to afford him. The question will be down to whether GH thinks he is right for Liverpool.
When we do sign players, I’d expect them to fit the typical GH mould of a player. A never say die spirit and mentality, a desire to play for the good of the team, an understanding that in a squad littered with talent, he may not be first choice all the time and above all the ability to grace our famous turf.
We WILL NOT sign wingers. Of that I am certain. We don’t play with wingers under GH and we never will. Don’t expect Overmars, don’t expect Sinclar. Expect more of a disciplined defensive wide man like Emerton [a right sided Riise] or a wide man who can drift inside like Duff. Any central midfielders will be more defensive than offensive ie van Bommel/ Biscan type. Don’t expect any strikers without pace or the mental ability to except squad rotation. Any fullbacks will be overlapping, and don’t expect BIG money captures. It isn’t GH’s style.
Tabloid speculation can be fun to read, but PLEASE realise that speculation is only that. It isn’t concrete until the interview with the papers and the presenting to the media at Melwood. Rumours in the summer will link us to everyone and anyone. From the seasonal “I’ve just driven past the Albert Dock and seen ZZ looking at an apartment” to the “I just saw Thommo, GH, and Parry talking to Nuno Gomes’ agent in a Little Chef service station on the M1”. Expect it all, but know that GH is working behind the scenes to get the RIGHT man for our club. Not necessarily the BIG NAME player that the S*n will have us linked with, because signing little known finnish centre halves from small Dutch clubs like Willem 11 doesn’t sell papers.
A lot of people rubbish these England get-togethers and friendly matches during important stages of the domestic season. One of the main reasons Sven and all the previous England managers do this is to see how the players mix. To see who hangs round with who and who may be a disruptive influence on team spirit. For this is essential for a top squad. Sure someone like Edgar Davids is highly talented, but if he would be a disruptive influence, it would be to the detriment of team spirit despite his own individual talent bettering the team on paper. After all, paper teams only win paper cups. It is essential to get the RIGHT man for LFC. We don’t want to become a Chelsea.
GH and Thommo attach a great deal of importance to hard work, discipline and teamwork. This is one of the reasons why Ince and macca and Robbie were allowed to go. No-one is bigger than the club at Anfield and all players need to be pulling in the right and same direction. That is why I am dubious as to whether Anelka will sign. The outlay in transfer value is immense and the potential trouble is a big risk.
Anyone who rocks the Anfield boat is kicked out immediately. There is only room for one Governor at Anfield, and that’s GH. Mr Ince, get your coat.
While I am all for democracy, and appreciate that all football fans are entitled to their say, in the interests of free speech as protected by the Human rights Act if nothing else, it is with great displeasure that I hear people criticise what they don’t understand.
Since the very day that GH came to our beloved club, a revolution has begun.
GH initially replaced the engine and is now finely tuning it.
As the close of another season or next step in the 5 year master plan unfolds before us, please appreciate that GH nearly died for this club and wants nothing less than to please all of us.
The man has written himself in to Kop folklore already and I for one just consider myself fortunate to be alive and well enough have witnessed the Messiah first hand.
Never has the banner….
UNPARALLELED HISTORY, GLORIOUS FUTURE
been so true.
For it is in GH I trust.
YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE.
REEVES
PS- Thank god I didn’t get on Talk sport, I’d have bored everyone to tears!
