re: Liverpool FC 2013/2014 - Season Long Thread

Sturridge, Sterling, Henderson, and maybe Flanagan. Gerrard is good for another 2-4 years and I think Johnson will be passed up very soon, if not already, for England.

Ahhh okay. Sorry I thought you meant for the future

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I've never gotten the impression it's too British.

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Which would be a funny qualifier. I don't think it's too British. It is a possession based side which even SAF would eschew readily when he felt the need. For me SAF's teams were about spacing, which was characterized by striker interplay and width, which forced narrow teams to meet ball carriers, creating 2 v 1 situations which often led to chances created at the byline. Though SAF was successful using that method, I think this is largely antiquated.

This 'Pool team certainly isn't like that. It's actually much more like Chelsea during the last decade. Rather than focusing on pace and power, the focus is on technique and movement, with pace and power beneficial but nonessential elements. And then you have elements of last year's Bayern, with relentless pressing and the breaking at speed. So if we can say that the Arsenal teams of the early noughties was the essence of the continental, pressing/counter-attacking style, those Chelsea teams were the essence of the deep line/counter-attacking style which combined the very British use of the deep line with the false pressing from the continent, resulting in the best team of that era.

If you watch videos of early 80s British teams (I wish I could find that one video of either Liverpool or Southampton where the interplay resulted in a fantastic team goal), Rodgers style isn't dissimilar, though I can certainly concede the nuance of the space, movement, and pass types.

I mean, 'Pool's passing stats are not that much different from Arsenal and Man City, two teams that are continental to the core, but there's a difference in the execution of the passing patterns. While Arsenal's still remains solely about finesse, City has moved to a hybrid which centers around the 360 degree movement of the forwards, which isn't all that far from how Pellegrini had Real playing. 'Pool's forwards retain a directness which, for me, is very British, although they are both complete forwards in every sense, which makes their pairing and success together all the more impressive, as we've seen it isn't easy to deploy two complete strikers in the same formation. Namely what impresses me is that neither seem to play with their back to goal very often, posted up on the CB, as 'Pool's movement ensures support for them almost immediately, which is certainly a very British style of playing which is retained by City and especially Arsenal. This frees them to make direct and diagonal runs, which lead to a high number of chances. Thus it becomes about how 'Pool uses the space in front of the defense, essentially relieving the front men from a primary responsibility. There's a fascinating mix of styles going. I hope to watch them more in the coming weeks and see if I'm making a conclusion based on a small amount of data.

Personally, I think our ability to adapt tactics, and excel at a variety of attacks is what has made us not only so much fun to watch, but also hard to beat.

We can grind out some wins. We can flood the midfield and play their game (though not necessarily very pretty) We can counter attack and get a goal with two passes. We can work it around and get the opening we need. All teams, of course, score goals this way throughout the year, but our ability to do it comfortably as the situation/opponent calls for it has been crucial. Not many teams can turn the dial to the correct frequency for the opponent on that given day.

While our style does not resemble Arsenal (over the last 10-15 years - not necessarily currently or in any given small stretch) to me, that ability to comfortably attack/score/win in so many ways does.

The only downside of Liverpool's current form may be having to root for England in Brazil with so many possible starters.

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Sun LFC v Olympiakos

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Might be going, depends on where I decide to go to law school (If I go to Marquette Ill be there)

Ill know next week for sure though

just droppin' in to say frick agger with an AIDS dick

good morning y'all

Really didn't think it was that bad of a tackle. He clearly is trying to kick the ball. His foot hits the side of aggers foot. Heck, we're lucky Agger didn't turn his ankle based upon how it hit.

Looked like a solid 50-50 challenge to me