For all of the laudatory platitudes bestowed upon Rodger's 'revolutionary' system, it remains to be recognised that their most effective ploy, last season, was the long ball. Gerrard (principally) would lob (sorry, "ping") balls over the top of defences for three excellent, in form players (Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling) to use their lightning fast pace to seize upon and, invariably, create goal-scoring opportunities. Meanwhile, there were other players who would press up high, in the style first introduced to top level football by Jack Charlton's Ireland (people forget that - Packie Bonnar was castigated by Charlton (to much guffawing from the cognescenti) for not sweeping properly v England at Euro 88. They're all at it now. A major difference being that Charlton would have a shit attack if his team had less than five at the back, at almost any time, obviously. Anyway, I digress...)
Gerrard's long passing was always more hit than miss and the lack of pace up front has blatantly exposed that. Lambert and Ballotelli thrive on a more incisive delivery but will never replicate the runs of Suarez and Sturridge. The young and inconsistent Coutinho aside, Liverpool don't have a clever enough player to play enough of those balls. Most of their midfielders are more inclined to impulsively shoot like schoolboys on a day trip to the whorehouse, as soon as they get within five yards of the opposition penalty area. (Ours was a very progressive education;-)).
Yet, for months, Rodgers persisted with a system that he no longer had the personnel to service. Now, he's fumbling about with his defence in the hope of bullying the one third of the field where they do have a prayer of dominating and hoping that Lady Luck opens her legs at the other end of the field. It's horrible to watch and embarrassing to listen to Rodgers claim that every Liverpool goal is a product of his tactical nous. If a wayward cross deflected in off of a passing seagull, he'd claim that he'd laid the egg it hatched from! This self-declared tactical genius has no plan B, whatsoever.
Gerrard's long passing was always more hit than miss and the lack of pace up front has blatantly exposed that. Lambert and Ballotelli thrive on a more incisive delivery but will never replicate the runs of Suarez and Sturridge. The young and inconsistent Coutinho aside, Liverpool don't have a clever enough player to play enough of those balls. Most of their midfielders are more inclined to impulsively shoot like schoolboys on a day trip to the whorehouse, as soon as they get within five yards of the opposition penalty area. (Ours was a very progressive education;-)).
Yet, for months, Rodgers persisted with a system that he no longer had the personnel to service. Now, he's fumbling about with his defence in the hope of bullying the one third of the field where they do have a prayer of dominating and hoping that Lady Luck opens her legs at the other end of the field. It's horrible to watch and embarrassing to listen to Rodgers claim that every Liverpool goal is a product of his tactical nous. If a wayward cross deflected in off of a passing seagull, he'd claim that he'd laid the egg it hatched from! This self-declared tactical genius has no plan B, whatsoever.