Our Squad

Not, what I'm STATING is that Coutinho playing in a 4-3-3 midfield, set up like:
in which he had far more license to move forward and play a part in attacks than Henderson did, thus playing the more attack-oriented role in that midfield. He was NOT in a sole CAM role but he most certainly wasn't in the traditional CM role that one sees being performed in the 2 CMs in a diamond midfield.

I think the misinterpretation here is that I don't want to call it an AM and you don't want to call it a CM because it was neither in the traditional sense of the two terms. However, I think you and I have an agreement over the role he's played in that midfield trio.

Now one disagreement you and I have is that you don't believe the role that Coutinho plays in midfield in a 4-3-3 would suit a 4-4-2 (diamond). I think it does. I think you underestimate Coutinho's defensive toughness and tactical understanding (both of which he showed in abundance in some of our biggest games last season).

How the f*ck am I rewriting history? I joined MID ARGUMENT ffs. And he WASN'T a CM. Regardless if he was played "deeper" when we didn't have the ball because that's the how the WHOLE TEAM set up. Suarez and Sturridge joined our defence at times, that's how Rodgers wants us to defend ie as a team. I'm not a fan of it, but whatever.

You can try and make roles up if you really want to justify yourself, but I'll be THAT guy and just state Agger is a box-to-box CB because he likes to go forward with the ball, or our full backs are box-to-box full backs because Rodgers likes them to be more attack-orientated using your very own logic. Although in your defence, this is actually quite fun.

yes and I'm the Queen of Wales. Go back to living in your fantasy.

haames
but you put it right way that we probably agree on the roles playes but not on the name!!!

Is it wrong if my "fantasy" hopes Agger transfers to Madrid so you can go back to 'supporting' them?

A box-to-box CB would be a hit for them. Imagine Daniel-son supporting Bale-Ronaldo and Rodriguez.

RedOranje wrote:Not, what I'm STATING is that Coutinho playing in a 4-3-3 midfield, set up like:

Gerrard
Henderson - Coutinho

But it wasn't just a 3 man midfield. It was a diamond like this:


Playing as a deep lying playmaker doesn't preclude him from being effective as a CM in a diamond role. He doesn't have to be a 'true box-to-box' to play there, though even if you watch the pre-season games he's been moving back deep quite often and it seems he's being groomed to be playing from the CM position more often -- his marking and tackling have markedly improved.

Coutinho did well in an attacking CM role in a 4-3-3 last season. Not once did he play a full match, much less impress during one, in direct CM role in a midfield diamond or pivot.

This was your original quote, which just isn't true.

It IS true though.

No, it's not. But I'm not going to continue arguing this because on the internet it is rare for anyone to admit they're wrong. So I've provided my proof, and you can watch the videos to see more proof. He played as a CM more than a few times this year. That doesn't mean anyone is calling him a box-to-box player.

I'm going keep complaining that we need a CF until i see us do well without one.

Nishy wrote:I'm going keep complaining that we need a CF until i see us do well without one.

Let's get Steven Fletcher.

premface pls

Will Remy suffice Hank?

Don't call me James wrote:Will Remy suffice Hank?

idk lets c

I see Can ousting Allen/Lucas from the first 11.


I don't see him risking a two man midfield of Henderson and Gerrard. Can/Allen/Lucas will always play.

Coutinho can always drift in the center so can Remy or Markovic cuz of the 3 man midfield stability.

BR likes Skrtel i think.

...what about Sterling? Allen/Lucas aren't in the starting XI, IMO.

Johnson-Lovren-Sakho-Enrique
Henderson-Gerrard-Coutinho
Sterling-Sturridge-Lallana/Remy/Markovic

But I definitely see Allen and Can getting their fair share of starts also.

BR will be cautious playing the Gerrard-Henderson either alone or with an attacker.

Lallana fits the best bill as the third attacking CM in this imo if we plan to sacrifice Allen/Lucas/Can for this, Better than Coutinho.

Sterling probs displace Markovic. idk so many options now :3 and i still want another CF considering Lovren CB, Moreno LB and Manquillo RB are signed.

No Remy, I desperately want a CF who can straight forward play a poverty Suarez role, We wont be able to adapt to one target man so easily. We'll struggle to break sides down.

With Remy not happening. We only really have 1 ST that any of us would trust. And he's massively injury prone. I would never in my life trust Lambert and Borini playing 5-10 matches as a starter. That's like purposely hoping to fail.

I think we also need an extra attacker on top of the ST (with Remy not happening). Get Shaqiri as the other attacker as it increasingly looks like he wants to leave Bayern or someone of his quality.

Just think of it this way, we have 3 spots behind Sturridge that needs to have creative players (AM/SS/LW/RW/Inside forward/whatever you want to call them). We only have 4 players that we can completely trust for those 3 spots (not including youngsters that aren't ready Suso, Ibe, Tex as none of us will be confident with these youngsters starting regularly in a season where competition is unbelievably tough for top 4). Lallana is injured and our depth already looks laughable in that department. All the other 3 will probably start or at least two of them.

For the ST, it will be impossible to get anyone Remy's quality at around 8m now

Expect Lacazette and Bony rumors to start up again. I really don't want Bony, can live with Lacazette but I feel we can do better.

The longer we wait the more quality forwards will be taken off the market by someone else. We've already lost out on the likes of Mandzukic, Rodrigo, Morata, etc.

Nishy wrote:No Remy, I desperately want a CF who can straight forward play a poverty Suarez role, We wont be able to adapt to one target man so easily. We'll struggle to break sides down.

Bony. Or Jovetic.

Both will do. Im confident we will struggle to break sides down playing Sturridge as ST with Coutinho, Markovic, Lallana behind him. The only player who gets even half as much forward in the team is Sterling.

I dont think we will struggle so much as you guys say, because I think the scars from previous era are still speaking louder. It is no brainer that with the same type of players as of last year, we would have still drawn few games under managers like Kenny or Hodgson or i ll even say Rafa. It all comes down to the style under BR and we may struggle initially, but I am confident as the season grows, we will do better.

Spoiler:

Does anyone have any idea just how good Sterling can be? With how good he looks I wouldn't put 15-20 goals (if not more) past him this year as a 19/20 year old. What are his upper limits? If he were to say put up 15 goals and 5-10 assists this season we could be watching the emergence of one of the world's best. The talent and athleticism is certainly there.

Anyway, the transfer window is not yet done, but based on Lallana being injured and Remy failing his medical I would imagine if we're doing the 4-3-3 to start the season we'll see something like this:


Even though I prefer Coutinho centrally he is still effective wide left, and I don't think Can, Lovren and Markovic will be quite ready to start under us to open the season as they get used to Rodgers' style of play (I would prefer to see Flanno or Kelly over Johnson in this particular line-up, but meh).

I'm excited to watch such a young, talented team anchored by vets with experience. I don't think we're going to have difficulty breaking down other teams either with Gerrard pulling the strings and guys like Sterling, Sturridge and Coutinho interchanging on the attack to cause havoc while both Henderson and Allen make great runs and link up plays.

Can is much more ready than Allen as of now. And if it is between Can and Allen, I would definitely start Can

El Cujo wrote:Does anyone have any idea just how good Sterling can be? With how good he looks I wouldn't put 15-20 goals (if not more) past him this year as a 19/20 year old. What are his upper limits? If he were to say put up 15 goals and 5-10 assists this season we could be watching the emergence of one of the world's best. The talent and athleticism is certainly there.

Depends a lot where he plays and how much Rodgers rotates him with the others. But definitely one of the most exciting LFC players to watch this season, if not the most exciting.

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:Can is much more ready than Allen as of now. And if it is between Can and Allen, I would definitely start Can

I wouldn't mind either, but Allen has more experience with Rodgers and with the EPL. Pre-season is one thing but Allen is proven and if he's healthy he's a hell of a midfielder. I don't think you can go wrong with either Can or Allen playing with Henderson, but I think to start Allen is more likely.