Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers 2012-2013...

[insideanfield]

I thought it may be useful to see what people's opinions are regarding the way in which we will play next season and what players would fit into a system that Brendan Rodgers is comfortable playing. It is fairly evident that he favours the "Barcelona" approach where they play a fluid 4-3-3 system. Swansea modelled their play last season on the same system and this is how I think we will line up next season...


------------------------------Reina-----------------------------

Johnson-----------Skrtel-----------Agger-------------Enrique

-----------------------------Lucas-----------------------------

-------------------Gerrard---------Sigurdsson----------------

Afellay---------------------Suarez-------------------Downing


The system above includes players that are all "football players". With the ball, he expects all 11 players of the team to play passing football and with Pepe Reina in goal we have one of the best ball-playing keepers in the world. The system is certainly fluid. When the full-backs attack, he will expect Lucas to slot right in front of the centre-backs to offer cover as well as use him as a deep-lying defensive midfielder. Lucas' main job will be to retain possession, break-up attacks and feed the ball to the more creative players. With Brendan Rodgers favouring a quick one-touch game, Lucas will suit the system fantastically well.

Ahead of Lucas you will have Gerrard and Sigurdsson who will both be expected to slot back alongside Lucas when out of possession. The three players will play extremely close together in the centre of the pitch and will sit just in fromt of the four defenders. The effectively means that both Downing and Affelay will remain high up the pitch out wide to stretch the opposition defence and means that they cannot really allow the opposition full backs to join in the attack as they will be occupied with Downing/Affelay and Suarez will occupy both centre-backs. The opposition's defensive midfielder will also sit back so that they have five players marking our three attackers who will make use of the width of the pitch by staying out wide as possible.

So that effectively leaves the goalkeeper, four defenders together with Lucas, Gerrard and Sigurdsson making 8 players defend against 5 players in effect. The midfielders will be encouraged to close down space and win the ball back with the back four staying in line to simply defend against runners.

When on the attack, both Gerrard and Sigurdsson will join Affelay, Suarez and Downing to make five attackers with Lucas sitting deep to distribute the ball. The wide players will keep the width with Gerrard and Sigurdsson allowed to join Suarez high up the pitch in central positions. Now with the full backs also allowed to join the attack that means the opposition full backs have to contend with two players (the full back and Downing or Affelay). This means when attacking down the left, Affelay would be expected to join Gerrard, Sigurdsson and Suarez in the box or just outside it.

Onto attack, and it is evident that Brendan Rodgers likes to play with a central striker with one out-and-out winger (Dyer) and one inside forward (Sinclair) at Swansea. Downing would be the out-and-out winger with Affelay as the inside forward. It allows a variation to the play and when counter-attacking you would often see Sinclair drift infield towards Danny Graham when Dyer had the ball. This simply meant that the full-back occupying Sinclair would have to move infield along with Sinclair allowing the Swansea full-back on that side to join in the attack and act as a spare man or additional winger. Its a clever system and can only be countered by either pulling the opposition's defensive midfielder into the defence thus nulyfing the space for say, Lucas, to venture higher up the pitch or pulling the opposition's wide attacker back thus allowing Lucas to venture forward again.

Transfers

Well, with my team above, we would have bought Ibrahim Affelay and Gylfi Sigurdsson. There are also rumours that Brendan tried a cheeky bid for Marouanne Fellaini which indicates that Jay Spearing will be allowed to leave this summer. Charlie Adam does not really fit into the system at all and I feel Joe Cole and Alberto Aquilani will also be offloaded this summer. That leaves the midfield consisting of Lucas, Fellaini (or another defensive midfielder), Henderson, Shelvey, Gerrard and Sigurdsson. I can also see Brendan Rodgers going for another two wide players or he may decide to keep Maxi Rodriguez to fill one of the slots. Dirk Kuyt could leave as he will not be guaranteed first team football and that leaves Andy Carroll as our other forward. With Dirk departing you would expect we will be looking at another centre-forward who is different to what Suarez and Carroll offer (perhaps Jackson Martinez who is all about speed, strength and guile). That leaves Craig Bellamy as our utility man who could play on either wing or as an attacker.

[Macfoley]

What about Carroll upfront and putting Suarez on the left?

[mikejc01]

Graet post my friend,

It looks great but I would drop downing and replace him with someone else ,unless he preforms better than last season. I would love Muniain
on the left

[BringRAFAback]

he'll not put up with downings shlt

[skippy1lfc]

I thought it may be useful to see what people's opinions are regarding the way in which we will play next season and what players would fit into a system that Brendan Rodgers is comfortable playing. It is fairly evident that he favours the "Barcelona" approach where they play a fluid 4-3-3 system. Swansea modelled their play last season on the same system and this is how I think we will line up next season...


------------------------------Reina-----------------------------

Johnson-----------Skrtel-----------Agger-------------Enrique

-----------------------------Lucas-----------------------------

-------------------Gerrard---------Sigurdsson----------------

Afellay---------------------Suarez-------------------Downing


The system above includes players that are all "football players". With the ball, he expects all 11 players of the team to play passing football and with Pepe Reina in goal we have one of the best ball-playing keepers in the world. The system is certainly fluid. When the full-backs attack, he will expect Lucas to slot right in front of the centre-backs to offer cover as well as use him as a deep-lying defensive midfielder. Lucas' main job will be to retain possession, break-up attacks and feed the ball to the more creative players. With Brendan Rodgers favouring a quick one-touch game, Lucas will suit the system fantastically well.

Ahead of Lucas you will have Gerrard and Sigurdsson who will both be expected to slot back alongside Lucas when out of possession. The three players will play extremely close together in the centre of the pitch and will sit just in fromt of the four defenders. The effectively means that both Downing and Affelay will remain high up the pitch out wide to stretch the opposition defence and means that they cannot really allow the opposition full backs to join in the attack as they will be occupied with Downing/Affelay and Suarez will occupy both centre-backs. The opposition's defensive midfielder will also sit back so that they have five players marking our three attackers who will make use of the width of the pitch by staying out wide as possible.

So that effectively leaves the goalkeeper, four defenders together with Lucas, Gerrard and Sigurdsson making 8 players defend against 5 players in effect. The midfielders will be encouraged to close down space and win the ball back with the back four staying in line to simply defend against runners.

When on the attack, both Gerrard and Sigurdsson will join Affelay, Suarez and Downing to make five attackers with Lucas sitting deep to distribute the ball. The wide players will keep the width with Gerrard and Sigurdsson allowed to join Suarez high up the pitch in central positions. Now with the full backs also allowed to join the attack that means the opposition full backs have to contend with two players (the full back and Downing or Affelay). This means when attacking down the left, Affelay would be expected to join Gerrard, Sigurdsson and Suarez in the box or just outside it.

Onto attack, and it is evident that Brendan Rodgers likes to play with a central striker with one out-and-out winger (Dyer) and one inside forward (Sinclair) at Swansea. Downing would be the out-and-out winger with Affelay as the inside forward. It allows a variation to the play and when counter-attacking you would often see Sinclair drift infield towards Danny Graham when Dyer had the ball. This simply meant that the full-back occupying Sinclair would have to move infield along with Sinclair allowing the Swansea full-back on that side to join in the attack and act as a spare man or additional winger. Its a clever system and can only be countered by either pulling the opposition's defensive midfielder into the defence thus nulyfing the space for say, Lucas, to venture higher up the pitch or pulling the opposition's wide attacker back thus allowing Lucas to venture forward again.

Transfers

Well, with my team above, we would have bought Ibrahim Affelay and Gylfi Sigurdsson. There are also rumours that Brendan tried a cheeky bid for Marouanne Fellaini which indicates that Jay Spearing will be allowed to leave this summer. Charlie Adam does not really fit into the system at all and I feel Joe Cole and Alberto Aquilani will also be offloaded this summer. That leaves the midfield consisting of Lucas, Fellaini (or another defensive midfielder), Henderson, Shelvey, Gerrard and Sigurdsson. I can also see Brendan Rodgers going for another two wide players or he may decide to keep Maxi Rodriguez to fill one of the slots. Dirk Kuyt could leave as he will not be guaranteed first team football and that leaves Andy Carroll as our other forward. With Dirk departing you would expect we will be looking at another centre-forward who is different to what Suarez and Carroll offer (perhaps Jackson Martinez who is all about speed, strength and guile). That leaves Craig Bellamy as our utility man who could play on either wing or as an attacker.

Is it just me or does anybody else look at the midfield and strikers on these proposed team sheets without even glancing at the defence? It's just universally accepted what our back four will look like!!

[TAFFYFROG]

Just sticking with our current squad for a moment (ignoring Aquilani and Cole as they are not in the current squad, and now that Dirk has left), if Rodgers was to replicate his Swansea formation and approach we could have a strating 11 of:

Reina

Johnson Skrtel Agger Enrique

Lucas

Gerrard Maxi

Suarez Bellamy

Carroll

That would fill our midfield and wide attackers with the best technical footballers

Issues for me would be:

Quality cover at full back (wing back) as Johnson is injury prone and Enrique ran out of steam towards the end of least year

Genuine qulaity back up ofr Lucas (unless Henderson can develop into this role like Lucas has)

Cover for Gerrard and Maxi. I like Shelvey as back up to Gerrard but perhaps we need more quality than Maxi to start

We need someone to replace Bellamy as we know he can't play two games on the trot due to injuries

We still need a striker who is capabile of scoring 20+ league goals in a season. Carroll could be a very useful (although very expesnive) "Plan B" to use when our normal passing game is confronted by a team who packs 11 people behind the ball

[MacedonianRed]

Personally, from what I have seen of his system at Swansea, I am expecting that Rodgers would use our existing players like this ...

Reina

Johnson - Skrtel - Agger - Enrique

Aquilani - Lucas

Gerrard

Downing - Carroll - Suarez

Of course, there will be variations, like Maxi on the left with Suarez on the right, Henderson instead of Aquilani in the middle and things like that, but basically that is the system that we should be expecting ... Therefore, we could safely put our existing players in 4 categories:

Goalkeepers: Reina, Doni, Jones, Gulasci ...

Defence: Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique, Kelly, Carragher, Coates, Wilson, Flanagan, Robinson, Wisdom ...

Midfield: Lucas, Aquilani, Gerrard, Henderson, Adam, Spearing, Shelvey, Coady, Suso ...

Attack: Suarez, Carroll, Downing, Maxi, Bellamy, Cole, Pacheco, Eccleston, Sterling ...

If you look at that depth chart, it is pretty obvious that we need another left back, another defensive midfielder and another striker ... Those should be our priorities this summer ...

[aFridge]

What about Carroll upfront and putting Suarez on the left?

Why? Suarez is a proven goalscorer, and if you haven't forgotten it was the lack of goals that costed Dalglish his job. Suarez missed a few chances this season, but he clocked up a solid 17 goals nonetheless, and will only score more provided he gets better support from out wide and in midfield. I'd rather we get another winger rather than Downing on the left, or move Afellay (who would be a great signing, albeit an unlikely one) there and get someone on the right.

[insideanfield]

Why? Suarez is a proven goalscorer, and if you haven't forgotten it was the lack of goals that costed Dalglish his job. Suarez missed a few chances this season, but he clocked up a solid 17 goals nonetheless, and will only score more provided he gets better support from out wide and in midfield. I'd rather we get another winger rather than Downing on the left, or move Afellay (who would be a great signing, albeit an unlikely one) there and get someone on the right.

Exactly. I cannot understand why people want to put Luis Suarez out wide when he is our main goal threat and goalscorer. He needs to be playing up front or just behind Andy Carroll (or whoever) as a trequarista.

I've only put Downing in as I honestly feel he will be fantastic as an out-and-out winger. At Swansea, Sinclair and Dyer were never expected to track back to support the defence/midfield. They simply remained out wide as far as possible with the notion to counter attack. With Downing, I feel he plays best when he is told simply run towards the bye-line and put a ball in the box. Do not drift infield or track back with the full-back.

[hyperglad15]

I thought it may be useful to see what people's opinions are regarding the way in which we will play next season and what players would fit into a system that Brendan Rodgers is comfortable playing. It is fairly evident that he favours the "Barcelona" approach where they play a fluid 4-3-3 system. Swansea modelled their play last season on the same system and this is how I think we will line up next season...


------------------------------Reina-----------------------------

Johnson-----------Skrtel-----------Agger-------------Enrique

-----------------------------Lucas-----------------------------

-------------------Gerrard---------Sigurdsson----------------

Afellay---------------------Suarez-------------------Downing


The system above includes players that are all "football players". With the ball, he expects all 11 players of the team to play passing football and with Pepe Reina in goal we have one of the best ball-playing keepers in the world. The system is certainly fluid. When the full-backs attack, he will expect Lucas to slot right in front of the centre-backs to offer cover as well as use him as a deep-lying defensive midfielder. Lucas' main job will be to retain possession, break-up attacks and feed the ball to the more creative players. With Brendan Rodgers favouring a quick one-touch game, Lucas will suit the system fantastically well.

Ahead of Lucas you will have Gerrard and Sigurdsson who will both be expected to slot back alongside Lucas when out of possession. The three players will play extremely close together in the centre of the pitch and will sit just in fromt of the four defenders. The effectively means that both Downing and Affelay will remain high up the pitch out wide to stretch the opposition defence and means that they cannot really allow the opposition full backs to join in the attack as they will be occupied with Downing/Affelay and Suarez will occupy both centre-backs. The opposition's defensive midfielder will also sit back so that they have five players marking our three attackers who will make use of the width of the pitch by staying out wide as possible.

So that effectively leaves the goalkeeper, four defenders together with Lucas, Gerrard and Sigurdsson making 8 players defend against 5 players in effect. The midfielders will be encouraged to close down space and win the ball back with the back four staying in line to simply defend against runners.

When on the attack, both Gerrard and Sigurdsson will join Affelay, Suarez and Downing to make five attackers with Lucas sitting deep to distribute the ball. The wide players will keep the width with Gerrard and Sigurdsson allowed to join Suarez high up the pitch in central positions. Now with the full backs also allowed to join the attack that means the opposition full backs have to contend with two players (the full back and Downing or Affelay). This means when attacking down the left, Affelay would be expected to join Gerrard, Sigurdsson and Suarez in the box or just outside it.

Onto attack, and it is evident that Brendan Rodgers likes to play with a central striker with one out-and-out winger (Dyer) and one inside forward (Sinclair) at Swansea. Downing would be the out-and-out winger with Affelay as the inside forward. It allows a variation to the play and when counter-attacking you would often see Sinclair drift infield towards Danny Graham when Dyer had the ball. This simply meant that the full-back occupying Sinclair would have to move infield along with Sinclair allowing the Swansea full-back on that side to join in the attack and act as a spare man or additional winger. Its a clever system and can only be countered by either pulling the opposition's defensive midfielder into the defence thus nulyfing the space for say, Lucas, to venture higher up the pitch or pulling the opposition's wide attacker back thus allowing Lucas to venture forward again.

Transfers

Well, with my team above, we would have bought Ibrahim Affelay and Gylfi Sigurdsson. There are also rumours that Brendan tried a cheeky bid for Marouanne Fellaini which indicates that Jay Spearing will be allowed to leave this summer. Charlie Adam does not really fit into the system at all and I feel Joe Cole and Alberto Aquilani will also be offloaded this summer. That leaves the midfield consisting of Lucas, Fellaini (or another defensive midfielder), Henderson, Shelvey, Gerrard and Sigurdsson. I can also see Brendan Rodgers going for another two wide players or he may decide to keep Maxi Rodriguez to fill one of the slots. Dirk Kuyt could leave as he will not be guaranteed first team football and that leaves Andy Carroll as our other forward. With Dirk departing you would expect we will be looking at another centre-forward who is different to what Suarez and Carroll offer (perhaps Jackson Martinez who is all about speed, strength and guile). That leaves Craig Bellamy as our utility man who could play on either wing or as an attacker.

From what I've seen, I believe affelay is a risky one, downing needs to buck up his ideas and I think we could put Suarez on one side with andy upfront and buy someone good for the other side.

[hyperglad15]

Exactly. I cannot understand why people want to put Luis Suarez out wide when he is our main goal threat and goalscorer. He needs to be playing up front or just behind Andy Carroll (or whoever) as a trequarista.

I've only put Downing in as I honestly feel he will be fantastic as an out-and-out winger. At Swansea, Sinclair and Dyer were never expected to track back to support the defence/midfield. They simply remained out wide as far as possible with the notion to counter attack. With Downing, I feel he plays best when he is told simply run towards the bye-line and put a ball in the box. Do not drift infield or track back with the full-back.

Most of suarez's goals have come from the side haha, if you don't remember his goal against chelsea on the last game at anfeild, he will destroy many defences on one side an cut inside and create so many opportunities not just for him but for others.

[Andriy The Beast Voronin]

What about Carroll upfront and putting Suarez on the left?

That's not a bad shout that mate. Suarez played a similar role at Ajax aswell as the main Striker.

Suarez is our main threat of attack, it's best to use him in the attack compared to feeding a slow attack up to him, I can see him dancing on the wing and assisting Carroll, or doing a Manure and skimming everybody to score.

[MacedonianRed]

I cannot understand why people want to put Luis Suarez out wide when he is our main goal threat and goalscorer. He needs to be playing up front or just behind Andy Carroll (or whoever) as a trequarista.

Because Suarez can also score regularly from the wide forward position, as he has already proved when he was playing alongside Huntelaar and Rommedahl (or Perez) in Ajax' trident attack ...

[Andriy The Beast Voronin]

Why are people suggesting playing Suarez as the main Striker. We paid £35 Million for Carroll, wouldn't it make sense to play him (seeing as he's on form) and get our money's worth.

Suarez is just as effective out wide as he is in the Striker.

[Saleem9]

with the players we have right now

Reina
Johnson Skrtel Agger Enrique
Lucas
Gerrard Aquilani
Downing Cole
Suarez

i would like to see

Reina
Johnson Skrtel Agger Enrique
Lucas
Ericksen Ramirez
Boudebouz Suarez
De Jong/Damiao

[bingobangobongo]

We all have to remember what BR said......he has a certain way he wants his teams to play......he thinks all players want to play that way.....but sadly some players arent good enough to play that way.....but even worse some players wont want to work as hard as they have to so they are able to play that way!!!

They players that cant and the players that wont will be quickly identified and over a period of time will be moved on. I dont think anyone will be exempt from this apart from SG who I think would walk into any team in the world!

What I do know is BR will be replacing these outgoing players with players who will be able to play his way! And these players will be from higher up the food chain than the ones he could attract to Swansea.

We can all speculate who we want to come to LFC but unless the players can play and work hard enough to be able to play they will not be LFC players!!

In my own opinion we will be looking for at least one attacking player in a similar mould to Suarez.....a very tricky player with an eye for goal but equally adept at creating openings which I believe will be a sort of converted wide man. Then we will need a very technical attacking midfielder good at keeping the ball around the box and with an eye for a killer pass. Then thirdly a midfielder who recycles and keeps the ball moving, he wont be the most eye catching player but his work rate will allow the more attacking players to perform!!

[zack4774]

reina

johnson skrtel agger abidal

sturidge lucas gerrad sigurdsson

david villa

suarez


sub ..carrol maxi henderson