Well, well, well. Another boring, mind numbing match, was horrible to watch. Once again the creativity debate arises and it is becoming a way too familiar occurence this season. City were awful, once again we faced a team that were there for the taking, once again we failed to go for the throat. This 4-2-3-1 formation is a great system, as was proved last season, but without certain players, it is proving very difficult to emulate this season, in fact it's proving impossible. Without Fernando Torres this system is defunct, we do not have another striker at the club that can play the lone striker role to good effect.
Now Rafa is a great manager, of that I have no doubt, but what infuriates me is that he persists with this system when it is so obviously failing thus far, especially with Nando's long injury problems. Without Torres we must play a 4-4-2 system, we must be able to adapt our system to absorb the loss of certain players. People are going on about Gerrard's lack of impact in the 'hole', well it's the same 'hole' he plays in when Torres is playing. The difference this season is that the players around them are not up to the task of playing the 4-2-3-1 system, this is painfully obvious to see.
My biggest gripe is Rafa's constant persistence with Lucas Leiva, come May of this year, Lucas will have been here for 3 years, and I for one am failing to see this dramatic improvement that many others here are seeing. I know he is not a direct replacement for Alonso, but he does occupy that position since Xabi's departure. When Rafa brought him from Gremio he stated that Lucas was an attacking midfielder who could get into the box and score goals. Not my words, the words of Rafa. I have yet to see this midfielder who he speaks of. Some people are saying that Lucas is being moulded into a defensive midfielder, well if he is, then that's fine, but this system has no room in it for 2 players of this nature, and for me, Masch is undroppable. For a supposed attacking, box to box midfielder, Lucas shows no attacking prowess at all.
The partner for Masch has to be creative, that is the duty of the holding midfielder ahead of Masch in this particular system. It's no use saying that Mascherano has to up his offensive game, he is there to do a job, the same job he did last season. And he is very f**king good at it, better than Lucas will ever be. It is this particular role that is the cause of most of our problems on the pitch this season, it is there for all to see. The Torres/Gerrard partnership thrives on intricate through balls, incisive passing and intelligent gameplay. Such is the high level of game intelligence between Torrres and Gerrard, then they have to have a player of equal, or at the very least, almost equal game intelligence to play in that role.
Going back to the 4-4-2 system, without Torres I'd be quite happy with a dual strike force of Kuyt/Babel/NGog/Pacheco. Drop Gerrard back into centre midfield with Mascherano. With the 4-2-3-1 system I'd put Aquilani in the hole and have Gerrard back in the centre also. I'm not quite sure Aquilani is up to the task of playing the central midfield role just yet, he's had a rough ride since he arrived, and Rafa refuses to give him a run of games to build his confidence. When he has played in the hole he has looked more comfortable, the season is too far gone now for Aquilani to make a strong impression, especially with his injury problems and extensive recuperation period.
Sorry for rambling, even though the points I'm making are directly attributed to the game today and the season as a whole. Rafa's reluctance to attack teams that are there for the taking could be a major stumbling block come May. As Brian78 rightly pointed out, our passing game has been shocking lately, an inabilty to master the basics of the game is going to do little for our Champions League aspirations. A couple of weeks ago Rafa stated that he had sorted the defence out and was now going to concentrate on the attacking side of our game. His decisions have done little to back that statement up. The defence has been tightened up and has vastly improved, but I see no signs of any improvement from an attacking perspective.
The run in is going to be very interesting. If we have any serious intention of getting that 4th spot then we have to attack teams. The return of Torres and Benayoun can only help us, but we have to gel together if we are to put any sort of run together. Skrtel or Mascherano were my MOTM today, but that save by Reina from Adebayor was world class and earned us the point. But Reina has had too many MOTM this season so it's Masch or Skrtel for me. With the return of Torres and Benayoun it makes for an interesting run in and I am eager to see how Rafa sets out his stall when we host Blackburn at Anfield.
For me, the choice of partner for Masch will determine his tactics, I pray that it isn't Lucas. IRWT
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