Topic: Comolli: Only 1or 2 adjustments in the summer

[Discipline]

http://tomkinstimes.com/2012/03/hopelessly-hopeful-hopefully-not-hopeless/

*He stole my drinking game* 

[Dmode101]

1) our midfield lacks quality
2) there is a disconnect between the midfield and the strikers
3) our primary striker pairing (Suarez/Carroll) has little to no understanding


I think we're getting too obsessed with this whole "chances created" phenomenon, before this season that was never focused on so much.  The definition of a chance created is simply a pass which results in a shot on target.  Okay.  Great.  And Comolli and Kenny went and bought players who, by their own admission, ranked high in statistics in "chances created." 

But it is such a misleading statistic.  Suppose Enrique has the ball in our own corner.  Suppose Carroll is standing right in front of the opposition keeper at the other end.  Suppose Downing is standing right next to him. Suppose Enrique takes the ball from our end of the pitch to the other, and beats ten men, then passes it to Downing, who passes it one foot to Carroll, who takes a shot on goal.  Well, the "chance created" would officially be by Downing, even though Enrique did 99% of the work.

The point is pretty clear.  We're obsessed all of a sudden with crossing the ball into the box, which is ridiculously ineffective (even moreso with Downing who aims not at any LFC player in particular but instead at the shins of the first defender).  Instead of obsessing about "creating chances," we need to base everything on the quality of the midfield.  The shots on goal should only be the natural conclusion of midfield quality.  We should pass and move and it doesn't matter who gets the final pass before the shot.  We used to play like that.  Hell we used to play like that under Dalglish, towards the end of last season.  We don't anymore.   Our best "chances" this season if you can call them that were after some nice intricate play in the midfield, and the most promising build-up play comes, again, from midfield.  It didn't come from bouncing it out to Downing who then waits while everyone piles into the box for him to send it a lackluster cross.  We need to play through midfield build-up, passing other sides into submission and then finding the final pass.  In that sense the "chance created" isn't just the final ball, it's the 10 or 15 passes before it that created the space for someone to get free. 

But right now, our starting XI isn't good enough for that.  Gerrard is, but he's injured too much lately.  Lucas is out for the season.  That leaves us with Henderson, Downing, Spearing (who I rate highly and has more bollocks than either of the first two combined) and Adam.

Henderson, let's not even go there, I'm told he is the future, he'll be a star one day, which apparently means he can play shite now and be a passenger.  Okay, fine.  Downing does little to nothing.  Spearing I think is great, and does his own job as DM quite well while also playing some aggressive attacking football from deep.  Adam is not good enough, but I've started to come around to him because at least he tries stuff, unlike Downing and Henderson.

That midfield is simply not good enough.  And don't act like we're kneejerkers---even the players know it.  Go back again and watch the Bolton match, in the 43rd minute, Henderson dumped some ball over Bellamy's head, it got intercepted easily by the Bolton back line.

Bellamy turned around and yelled "JORDAN!  I need more from you, mate, I need more from you."

Bellamy was absolutely class that night, as usual.  And yet he's supposed to get service from... Henderson?  It's really fucking insulting that we put these players around our top talent like Suarez and Bellamy.  The midfield we have out there right now really doesn't know what it's doing.  That, to me, is the biggest problem.  We have occasional flashes of brilliance (there was a nice build up against the Arse that ended up in a Henderson shot in the first half), but the vast majority of the time it's Suarez throwing his hands up in the air because our midfield just isn't at his level.

Those, to me, are all bigger problems.

bingo. thanks for elaborating something i wanted to layout in detail too. that our midfield is the real problem to the extent even carroll becomes the scapegoat. his 35m is not without valid reason. he has a lot of atributes to be a great striker hence the fee. the problems comes and I am speculating and taking further from your analysis that the decision of chance creation midfielders LIST comes solely from comolli first, as he is the filter who then pass this list to kenny to pick. and kenny would naturally wanted more local players to help bring that fighting spirit back.

now, its very obvious that players like downing standout bcos of his supposed chance creation and i believe comolli failed in that he doesn't have robust enough stats to decipher the real quality of his chance creation. the blame is shared.

 

[woof]

It's actually a frightening thought. Just think: Gerrard is past his prime and we truly have no one to replace him. A few seasons ago, we had arguably the BEST midfield around. The DM position is rock solid with Lucas as the starter and Spearing as his deputy. And that's it. Henderson, well, I think we can afford him another season to prove himself but no more than that. We got what we paid for with Adam. He's a Danny Murphy. Downing, to me, does not justify the amount of money we paid for him. Too one dimensional.

Our core is pretty weak if you look at it. We've got a good defence and ONE good striker and in between, we have very little. This is something Kenny & co will have to address very soon even if it means shipping out failures.

[hulksagoodboy]

Could Coady, Shelvey and Henderson be a potential midfield three of the future?

[rocco]

Could Coady, Shelvey and Henderson be a potential midfield three of the future?

In say 2-3 years it could be Lucas Shev and Henderson

Coady has the potential but still to early IMO to say.

[Uruguayan36]

2-4-2 formation. That might work.

Sorry Pal...i forgot to include Enrique or Aurelio.

Reina
Johnson...Skrtel   Agger/Coates...Enrique/Aurelio.
Gerrard...Lucas...Lucas Moura...Ramirez
Cavani...Suarez.

(We have to spend some extra money in order to buy Lucas Moura)

[El_Pistolero]

Uruguayan, mate, you're ace.

[subroc]

aurelian made a very good point - the quality of our midfield determines our team's quality in a way that is more far reaching than most other factors. For example, apart from Nunez who was forced on him thanks to the Owen debacle, who was the first major signing that Benitez made? Xabi Alonso. Xabi was little-known in England at the time but was already regarded as one of the best midfielders in La Liga due to his impressive performances for Real Sociedad. He was available for only about 10.5M which may have seemed like a lot to English journalists but which was actually a bargain for a midfielder of his quality.

But with just that one signing, Benitez guaranteed a potentially world class level degree of match intelligence and creativity and metronome as the new heart of his team. Was it also purposeful for him to sign Lucas and begin to mould him to be able one day to replace Xabi in the centre of midfield to be the new heart of the team? I would believe so.

Now, who did Dalglish and Comolli select as the repository of their trust in centre midfield? Charlie Adam - a sometimes impressive and at other times erratic player who is not exactly synonymous with match intelligence. And Henderson, a callow inexperienced MF who was still on his P plates and far from being a player who was already able to control midfield. That is in itself a microcosm of the mistakes that were made by the management team that have led to the problems that we are now facing.

[Bjinxi]

I wrote a tactical text in the general football topic but I wanted to put out my idea in here.

Since I really like the tactical aspect of football I have been wondering why we dont play with a different formation, which makes us defensively strong but also attacking.

The formation I have in mind is 3-1-3-2-1

In relation to Liverpool only a few adjustements would be needed. I will post my idea or analysis now:

                              Reina                                                           --> luckily we are strong enough here, and Doni is a good back up to have

 Skrtel                       Agger                 Enrique                      ---> for these positions you need fast, ball playing defenders. Luckily with these three and
                                                                                                    Kelly, Coates and Flanagan we have these. Johnson isnt mentioned here because I
                                                                                                    would like to see him as a RM but he could play the RB role as well.
                                Lucas                                       ---> Lucas is our heart and we dont need an upgrade here. Spearing could play here too
                                                                                       but I would like a back up   just like Essien/Tiote who are strong defensively but also
                                                                                       have an eye for the ball. But Lucas is the key here.
 Johnson             CM/ Hendo                Winger               ---> So I would like to see Johnson as a Winger and think two positions need an upgrade.
                                                                                              We have enough back ups like Kuyt (can play winger and striker), Downing for the left
                                                                                              Hendo, who I like in CM but needs more time and then Shelvey and Adam too. So two
                                                                                               players would be good. Mata/Young would have been perfect buys for our wing problem
                                                                                             and we need players like them and a CM, like the Modric type. Maybe Banega
      Gerrard                           AM/Suarez                     ---> a player like Silva is what we need. Since Gerrard cant play every game and we may need
                                                                                           to push Suarez upfront at times. So a Silva or Lavezzi/Hazard type is what we need.
                                                                                          As backup there would still be Bellamy,Kuyt,Shelvey and Adam who could fill in
                      Striker/Suarez                                    ---> what we need here is a striker who loves pass and move, has intelligence and knows
                                                                                        where the goal is. We dont neccessarily need height since we wouldnt rely on crosses too
                                                                                         much but it wouldnt be a problem. I would love someone like Huntelaar and LLorente but
                                                                                         the ideal type would be Cavani. I am not saying we should buy these BUT someone
                                                                                         with their attributes. Then we would still have Bellamy,Kuyt, Carroll as back ups.

I think this formation would be very fitting for us. And as my analysis has shown we may just need 3-4 adjustements, since we have enough back ups.

This formation and the players we would need would make us more fluid in attack but we would still have enough quality to change the formation to for example 4-4-2, 4-3-2-1 and such. If we would need more defensive work.

So player types we should be looking for (not neccessarily these players since I dont think they are realistic or unfortunately we wont go for them)

one dm as a backup --> someone like Tiote/Essien

a CM ---> someone like Banega / Modric

a Winger ---> someone like Robben/Mata

a AM ---> someone like Lavezzi / Hazard

a striker --> someone like Cavani / Llorente / Huntelaar

Since we would have more than enough back ups there would be still room for people to be sold to generate some money ( Kuyt, Adam, Spearing even Carroll which may generate around 20-25m)

Ideally it would really be Banega,Robben, Hazard/Lavezzi/Hamsik and Cavani/Llorente but unfortunately I dont think we can attract them if we arent in the CL (unless Suarez and Coates do some work ) and because they would could roughly around 80-110m again. (Banega around 20, Robben 15, Hazard/Lavezzi/Hamsik 30, Cavani/Llorente maybe close to 40) and I dont see our owners giving us that much again after we our bad buisness in the last transfer window.

But unless we dont invest it will be much harder to get back where we belong, since Chelsea (who I hope wont make CL), City, Manu and maybe Tottenham wont stop spending and NEwcastle seem to have decent scouts.

[Uruguayan36]

Uruguayan, mate, you're ace.

Thanks pal...but i already knew that

[Jetmir M.]

Sorry Pal...i forgot to include Enrique or Aurelio.

Reina
Johnson...Skrtel   Agger/Coates...Enrique/Aurelio.
Gerrard...Lucas...Lucas Moura...Ramirez
Cavani...Suarez.

(We have to spend some extra money in order to buy Lucas Moura)

So apart from suggesting we sell 5 players to fund 2 buys (2 buys that require a further 23m spent according to you) even though, as The King has put himself it's a squad game, not just a first eleven one.. you also have Gerrard out on the right and Lucas Moura as CM? Genius that.

[careful on these streets, I've heard stories]

                      Reina
Johnson   Skrtel  Agger Enrique
              Lucas       Adam      
      Gerrard                        Downing
                  Suarez  Caroll

It's pretty obvious where we are underperforming in the first team, you can shuffle into just about any formation but to me the same players are still the weak links regardless of formation. 

1. New Striker: We're not scoring goals but creating plenty of chances
2. New DM/CM: Close but I think Downing could be better with a different striker up front
3. A Winger: We are not getting enough from wide areas

That's my order of preference. I'm happy with squad depth but in my veiw we are missing cutting edge.

Seriously doubt Kenny will ever play Gerrard there

[careful on these streets, I've heard stories]

Mate of mine is a Blackburn Rovers season ticket holder. He says Hoilett has been acting a right twat in the last few months. Being proper lazy, putting half-arsed performances in coz he wanted away in january. Is that someone we really want at our club?

I think we should want good players first every other thing is secondary

[careful on these streets, I've heard stories]

We do not have City's wage budget to attract the calibre of these types of players without CL. 

Juve and Spurs have done the same thing and as a result will be playing CL next season

[Uruguayan36]

So apart from suggesting we sell 5 players to fund 2 buys (2 buys that require a further 23m spent according to you) even though, as The King has put himself it's a squad game, not just a first eleven one.. you also have Gerrard out on the right and Lucas Moura as CM? Genius that.

Yes my friend...we will have to sell 5 mediocre players in order to buy 2 great players.

Gerrard is not going to play for Liverpool much longer...He, despite being a great player, is already old and prone to injuries.

To be able to compete against City,Utd,Arsenal and Chelsea... we have to spend wisely buying great international players, (no english, please),otherway next year ...we will be in the same position than we are now.

[drpepe]

1) our midfield lacks quality
2) there is a disconnect between the midfield and the strikers
3) our primary striker pairing (Suarez/Carroll) has little to no understanding


I think we're getting too obsessed with this whole "chances created" phenomenon, before this season that was never focused on so much.  The definition of a chance created is simply a pass which results in a shot on target.  Okay.  Great.  And Comolli and Kenny went and bought players who, by their own admission, ranked high in statistics in "chances created." 

/words/

Those, to me, are all bigger problems.

great post and exactly right imo.

personally the cm partnership is where we need to invest.

fluff players like adam, carroll and downing  plus the stalwarts like kuyt , gerrard will perform much better as long as we have a creative, stable and physically dominating platform in midfield (easier said than done, but with lucas we already have a key element of that).

[careful on these streets, I've heard stories]

That's a key problem and if you filtered down further, it's Carroll. It's not that he's rubbish but he just doesn't fit into the way we play at Liverpool. He doesn't run into space to exploit the creativity of Suarez. Kuyt is currently the best partner for Suarez and I don't think he's the ideal match for Suarez's talent. It's a real pity that Torres left because imagine what the pair would do to defences in the country.

I'd say sell Carroll and invest in a proper striker. Even if Walcott is going to be that person, so be it!

I'd sell Carroll and get that Luc Castaignos but also invest in another more established forward

[stjohns]

That's a key problem and if you filtered down further, it's Carroll. It's not that he's rubbish but he just doesn't fit into the way we play at Liverpool. He doesn't run into space to exploit the creativity of Suarez. Kuyt is currently the best partner for Suarez and I don't think he's the ideal match for Suarez's talent. It's a real pity that Torres left because imagine what the pair would do to defences in the country.

I'd say sell Carroll and invest in a proper striker. Even if Walcott is going to be that person, so be it!

Agreed.

[Jetmir M.]

Yes my friend...we will have to sell 5 mediocre players in order to buy 2 great players.

Gerrard is not going to play for Liverpool much longer...He, despite being a great player, is already old and prone to injuries.

To be able to compete against City,Utd,Arsenal and Chelsea... we have to spend wisely buying great international players, (no english, please),otherway next year ...we will be in the same position than we are now.

You say Bellamy is mediocre? Okay that's your opinion.

My question for you is... imagine we sold Carroll, Bellamy, Henderson, Downing, Adam. Who would you have on the bench next season? Or... what happens when Gerrard gets injured who do we replace him with?

[Quintet]

We are missing players with guts, the right mentality ( must win attitude) and technical ability and its as simple as that really.

[thelinnen]

Yep,deffo would go for a top top striker even if that means that we'd have to look at cheap signings like Hoilett for an attacking midfield position.
CF is our first priority.After that,an AM/RW if we have the cash.
I think that splashing the cash on 2 top long term signings this summer will pay dividends.

Hoilett would be a great signing.

[killer-heels]

While our signings have their critics (me being one of them), I think bar Carroll all of them have improved the squad and for me we have a better and much more rounded squad than last season.

I think the problem is that the prices paid for the likes of Henderson, Downing and Carroll are the amounts of money you would associate with a higher calibre of player and thus we are expecting them to provide that higher calibre of output.

I think we have set a good base for ourselves and I think Comolli is correct when he says we just need those small adjustments and in my opinion I believe that he was refrencing the number of players we would look to bring in during the summer, not the budget when he talked about 'small adjustments'. To me, this is pretty fair.

I think we will bring in a right winger and a striker. Firstly, there is a strong possibility that Rodriguez and maybe even Kuyt will go in the summer and you throw in the fact that Henderson has played out on the right then its not hard to see that right wing will be a priority. Also, we went for Texeira in January if stories were to be believed so a striker is certainly on the cards in my opinion. If both those players are good or not is another question entirely, but I think we will certainly be buying a winger and a striker.

[Didi_ram]

Hoilett would be a great signing.

Never doubted his ability.Talking about the price.He is on a free.Only the signing on fee + the compensation.

[Hank Scorpio]

I agree that our squad is in place and we need to make perhaps 2 or 3 more signings in order to establish a real challenge for a CL spot.

Using the words of a great man I'd say we have the 8 to carry the piano but only 1 to play it at present.

[Didi_ram]

Mate of mine is a Blackburn Rovers season ticket holder. He says Hoilett has been acting a right twat in the last few months. Being proper lazy, putting half-arsed performances in coz he wanted away in january. Is that someone we really want at our club?

Mate that is probably because his team is top shite,his owners are shite,they didnt sell him in january,and he isnt arsed about trying to help them stay up.
Think he is a very good player,and yes of course if he shows that attitude here,he'll be out of the door,but then I really dont think that'll happen.Would be gutted if he goes to the bastards,or to Spurs.

[armchair-fan]

no english, please

Racist

[Upinsmoke]

We are missing players with guts, the right mentality ( must win attitude) and technical ability and its as simple as that really.

So pretty much missing everything in your book?

[thelinnen]

While our signings have their critics (me being one of them), I think bar Carroll all of them have improved the squad and for me we have a better and much more rounded squad than last season.

Carroll has improved.

[sattapaartridge]

I'd like to think that we have a lot of good youth coming through, and if we can buy a little striker, who's quick and most importantly, can score, then I would be more than happy.

You know, buying Aguero right now would be perfect.

[Carlito Roberto]

While our signings have their critics (me being one of them), I think bar Carroll all of them have improved the squad and for me we have a better and much more rounded squad than last season.

I think the problem is that the prices paid for the likes of Henderson, Downing and Carroll are the amounts of money you would associate with a higher calibre of player and thus we are expecting them to provide that higher calibre of output.

I think we have set a good base for ourselves and I think Comolli is correct when he says we just need those small adjustments and in my opinion I believe that he was refrencing the number of players we would look to bring in during the summer, not the budget when he talked about 'small adjustments'. To me, this is pretty fair.

I think we will bring in a right winger and a striker. Firstly, there is a strong possibility that Rodriguez and maybe even Kuyt will go in the summer and you throw in the fact that Henderson has played out on the right then its not hard to see that right wing will be a priority. Also, we went for Texeira in January if stories were to be believed so a striker is certainly on the cards in my opinion. If both those players are good or not is another question entirely, but I think we will certainly be buying a winger and a striker.

Excellent post.

[Upinsmoke]

I agree that our squad is in place and we need to make perhaps 2 or 3 more signings in order to establish a real challenge for a CL spot.

Using the words of a great man I'd say we have the 8 to carry the piano but only 1 to play it at present.

I'm convinced we need two class players in summer to make up a extremely competative first 11 next season, with a strong experienced bench. Those players as i highlighted earlier in this thread are a right winger (kuyt will leave) and a prolific forward (luis will move out to the left wing and maxi will leave also)

I have no idea who we could get mind, i know who i'd like but thats a different matter.

[subroc]

Carroll has improved.

Not enough though...

[RivaGe]

We should get Wilshere now

[Didi_ram]

We should get Wilshere now

He is a Pepe Reina fan.Clarified that.

[socrates the sophist]

Hoilett would be a great signing.

He's a quality back up no doubt.

[Percito]

While our signings have their critics (me being one of them), I think bar Carroll all of them have improved the squad and for me we have a better and much more rounded squad than last season.

I think the problem is that the prices paid for the likes of Henderson, Downing and Carroll are the amounts of money you would associate with a higher calibre of player and thus we are expecting them to provide that higher calibre of output.

I think we have set a good base for ourselves and I think Comolli is correct when he says we just need those small adjustments and in my opinion I believe that he was refrencing the number of players we would look to bring in during the summer, not the budget when he talked about 'small adjustments'. To me, this is pretty fair.

I think we will bring in a right winger and a striker. Firstly, there is a strong possibility that Rodriguez and maybe even Kuyt will go in the summer and you throw in the fact that Henderson has played out on the right then its not hard to see that right wing will be a priority. Also, we went for Texeira in January if stories were to be believed so a striker is certainly on the cards in my opinion. If both those players are good or not is another question entirely, but I think we will certainly be buying a winger and a striker.

Comolli is actually a large part of the problem, I think.

[penga]

We should get Wilshere now

Lucky the picture was taken while the player behind him has his undies out in front of his groin area!

[DanA]

What's the story behind that picture? Lose a bet or something?

[Adam_LFC]

We do need a winger and striker, I think that is obvious. We also need another midfielder maybe in the utility category. Someone like Keita.

[lamonti]

1 adjustment: loads of money from our accounts in Athletic Bilbao's accounts to buy whichever of their star players we they'll let us have.