I’ve been living with a Liverpool fan since the end of February. He’s a decent bloke and I’ll admit to sometimes needing my Scouse translation but overall he talks football properly and he’s not looking at anything behind rose-tinted specs.
He’s also a big fan of our new boy Fernando, as so many of Liverpool fans were and so many of our lot now are. He’s brought to light some key facts.
— Torres plays at his best when used as a single striker upfront.
How many times since he signed have we seen him dropping out wide to the wings in order to get a look in?
How many times have we seen an attacking midfielder like Gerrard or Benayoun provide great balls to the lone striker Torres before a glorious goal has been scored?
Even for Spain, Torres doesn’t score many when used with Villa or another.
Whether it’s pride or just how it is, he likes to be up on his own.
— Torres is tall and strong in the air but he loves the ball into his feet.
I remember the game against Copenhagen @home and the amount of times our midfielders were playing the ball too far in front or behind or above Torres.
If we were to not play Drogba and just Nando up front then we could cut out all those wasted punts by Cech and others hoping that Drogba won’t foul his marker and the knockdown will reach the second striker.
We’d be forced to play flowing football from the back and using wingers and shorter passes.
My solution then?
We play a strict 4-5-1. What this means is not using Anelka as a winger, nor Kalou nor Torres.
I would use this midfield:
– Essien. – Mikel. –
– Lampard. –
– Benayoun. – Malouda. –
It has pace and trickery in Benayoun and Flo.
t has solid hard work in the tackle from Ess and Obi.
t has creativity from all 5.
Granted, it means that the Blue Kenyan (Ramires) misses out but imagine being able to bring on Drogba/Anelka/Kalou/Zhirkov/Ramires for the last 25 mins to terrorize the tiring United defence!
I know we all have our thoughts but I honestly think we need to let our most expensive striker PLAY STRIKER and not forced on the wing for Drogba.
Cheers
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