Liverpool formation this year?

                 Reina
Johnson  Carra   Agger  Enrique

             Lucas      Adam
          
Suarez         Gerrard           Downing
                    
 
                     Caroll

Just by going by 442 formation we have:

Reina

Johnson
Carra
Agger
Enrique

Lucas
Adam
Gerrard
Downing

Suarez
Carroll

OR for a 2nd Team

Doni

Kelly
Coates
Skrtel
Aurelio

Spearing
Henderson
Maxi
Shelvey

Bellamy
Kuyt


And that still leaves:

Flanno, Robinson, Wilson, Suso, Sterling and Wisdom.

Every position has a great back up and also has many options to evolve to 3-5-2, 4-3-3, 4-1-3-2 or 4-2-3-1.

All we are lacking is that other versatile out and out winger.

4-2-3-1. We're lacking nothing!

4-2-3-1. We're lacking nothing!

Who would you play in the 2?

Lucas/Spearing with Adam/Gerrard

Lucas/Spearing with Adam/Gerrard

We are lacking a proper alternative to Downing on the other flank if we were to play 2 wingers....know we haven't in years even when we had a proper squad.
Kenny seems to like having one winger that can switch flanks and one wide midfielder who can suck in and make a 3 in the middle when needed...hence Houghton.

Bellers and suarez love to cut in but one other real wide player as an option, alternative or to compliment Downing would be great.

Still utterly delighted by DC and KD's work.

We are lacking a proper alternative to Downing on the other flank if we were to play 2 wingers....know we haven't in years even when we had a proper squad.
Kenny seems to like having one winger that can switch flanks and one wide midfielder who can suck in and make a 3 in the middle when needed...hence Houghton.

Bellers and suarez love to cut in but one other real wide player as an option, alternative or to compliment Downing would be great.

Still utterly delighted by DC and KD's work.

Think playing Downing on the right would solve that, 2 wingers who can cut in are just as dangerous, they can still hug the touchlines creating width and cut in when needed, personally i would have Downing on the right and Maxi on the left.

I think we will stick to 4231, despite sky and motd getting it wrong.

Don't forget that 4231 is a very fliud formation, and easily morphs into other formations depending on what is happening on the pitch.

Exactly. Call it an asymetric 4-2-3-1 if you want. Something moving to a 4-1-2-3. Leave Lucas as the holding player and have two midfielders alternate between attack and defense. Rotating attacking 3 behind Carroll or keep 2 deep midfielders and have an evolving front four that goes from defense to attack throughout phases of the game

4-2-3-1

Reina, Kelly/Johnson, Skrtel/Carra, Agger, Enrique, Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson, Suarez, Downing, Carroll/Kuyt.

IMO we're playing a 4-3-3 formation, Hendo's playing in the centre

               Reina

Kelly     Carra      Agger      Enrique

                   Lucas

             Hendo     Adam
 
 Kuyt/Suarez   Suarez/Carroll    Downing

It's a 4-2-3-1. 3 interchanging. Becomes a 4-4-2 in defense. I like the idea of 3 at the back in some games as well. We may very well see it against Stoke again.               

It's a 4-2-3-1. 3 interchanging. Becomes a 4-4-2 in defense.

I think we will play like this.

Prem:

                                    Reina

Johnson     Carra/Skrtel          Coates/Agger      Enrique

                                Lucas  Adam

                 Suarez        Gerrard      Downing/Henderson

                                   Carroll

Prem weaker teams

                                   Reina

    Johnson/Kelly   Carra       Coates         Enrique/Aurelio

                              Lucas  Spearing

 Suarez/Henderson/Kuyt    Gerrard    Maxi

                                Carroll/Kuyt

League Cup:

                           Reina/Doni

Kelly          Carra               Coates        Aurelio

                   Spearing    Adam

Henderson                             Maxi
                     Kuyt
                          Bellamy

Think if Coates is to start against stronger Prem sides, he should be alongside Carra to start with

If Kenny's not thinking about giving him starts against big clubs just yet, Skrtel and Agger will do nicely

Bellamy can also be brought on as a sub against weaker Prem sides

Agger is must for every game(fit) its other cb spot on which we can see some variation .

It's a 4-2-3-1. 3 interchanging. Becomes a 4-4-2 in defense. I like the idea of 3 at the back in some games as well. We may very well see it against Stoke again.               

We've also seen 3-4-3, 3-3-4 & I swear I saw what looked like a 2-3-5 a couple of times in attack as well.  It's fluid 7 dynamic in defence & attack, with the proviso that we look so much better with the ball on the deck.

                                                Reina

                            Arbeloa    Carra      Agger    Aurelio

                                          Masch   Alonso

                            Kuyt           Gerrard            Rieira
                     
                                               Torres

Nows here,s a blast from the past and its how we set up when we had a very good season and came in 2nd. If we had,nt drawn so many games that season we probably would of won it. So how does this side compare now to what it was then. Quite similar I think but the one we have now has a little more quality player wise to what we had then.

Reina was and still is ever present in goal.
Arbeloa was quality getting forward, now we have a little more quality in Johnson and Kelly plus Flanno for the future.
Carra,s still around but at his age will not be quite the quality he was but we now have good back up in Skrtel and now Coates.
If we can get a full season out of Agger then thats still the same quality if not better.
Aurelio was great in this season, probably his best but Enrique can compete and has quality in bucket loads IMO.

Mash and Alonso dictated the play in this season but at the moment we have Lucas and Adam who are quite similar.

On the wings we had Kuyt, who had his best season yet and Reira. Although Riera is not the same quality as what we have now in Downing, he did offer an out an out left winger but now we have the same but better quality. We have several players now who can play wide right instead of Kuyt. Hendo, Suarez, Gerrard and Bellemy can now fill this position.

Gerrard and Torres struck up that fantastic partnership that looked like they could score at will. Where Torres prefered and was best as a lone striker we now have so many options for this position. Carroll, Kuyt, Suarez and Bellemy are all quality that we could call upon. So if you compare what we had then, in this formation, to what we have now if we have the same sort of season we could very well go one better and win it. The thing is now we can play in several formations with this squad compared to Rafa,s strict formation.

                                               Reina

                            Arbeloa    Carra      Agger    Aurelio

                                          Masch   Alonso

                            Kuyt           Gerrard            Rieira
                     
                                               Torres


                                               Riena
               
                      Johnson        Carra         Agger      Enrique
 
                                        Lucas       Adam

                       Suarez              Gerrard             Downing
 
                                              Carroll

                                       Reina

Kelly         Carragher/Skrtel             Agger            Enrique

That, IMO, is the best defence we've got. Johnson would have a tough time reclaiming his place back. Flanagan has been impressive to me but he's still young and therefore can be in and out of the side. Wilson and Coates can come in at CB for some games like in the league cup or when it matters. Aurelio deputises Enrique with Jack Robinson, also with time on his side, stepping in when needed.

Two primary RBs (Flanagan and Johnson), three primary LBs (Enrique, Aurelio, Robinson) and 6 primary CBs (Kelly, Coates, Agger, Skrtel, Wilson and Carragher) is more than enough and this leaves me happy with the defence as Johnson and Flanagan can play either wing or in a back 3, Kelly can play CB and Wilson/Skrtel/Agger can play as LB/RB and LB respectively when urgently needed.

The front 6 players, IMO, don't matter to me when attacking. Kenny likes to pass and move. Everyone of the six inter change often as we have seen in previous games but obviously, we need standard midfielders and attackers.

Henderson, Downing, Adam, Lucas, Maxi, Gerrard, Spearing and Shelvey are primarily midfielders and in recent games this season, we've started with four in a 4-4-2 and about 3 or 5 in a 4-5-1(4-3-3) formation.

Our strongest would probably be a side with Gerrard, Lucas, Adam, Downing and one more for a 4-5-1/4-3-3. For a 4-4-2, Suarez/Kuyt/Bellamy and Carroll take those two spots but of course, Suarez has to be in there.

As I've said, with the ball, the formation does not matter but when defending .. it should be something like ... (depending who is on the pitch)

                       Lucas/Spearing         Adam/Shevely                                                        Lucas/Spearing          Adam/Shelvey

Henderson/Kuyt              Gerrard                  Downing/Maxi         or             Gerrard/Henderson/Kuyt                               Downing/Maxi
 
                                 
, just realised how messy that looks.

it's a bit of an intrigue in the centre actually, especially when stevie gets back. I prefer

                        baldy

kelly        carra      agger      enrique

               lucas       adam

gerrard          uruguay           downing
                    
                  big geordie


or...


kelly        robinson    carra      agger      enrique

           gerrard     adam/lucas

hendo           uruguay           downing
                    
                  big geordie

or...

                        baldy

           carra      agger      coates

johnson                                 enrique
                   adam/lucas
     gerrard                    downing
                    
          uruguay     big geordie


nice to have options isn't it

I really feel KK needs to ditch 4-4-2, the formation is so static compared the 4-3-3/4-2-1-3.

I feel our players are more suited to the 4-3-3/4-2-1-3.

Want this from here on out.

                                                    Reina

                  Kelly               Skrtel                  Agger            Enrique


                                               Lucas      Adam

                            Downing               Gerrard             Bellamy
       
                                                  Suarez


Have Bellamy starting or Henderson and then swap them for half time.
                                                   

I really feel KK needs to ditch 4-4-2, the formation is so static compared the 4-3-3/4-2-1-3.

I feel our players are more suited to the 4-3-3/4-2-1-3.

I don't think we're playing 4-4-2 at all, it only looks that way when we defend.

kelly        robinson    carra      agger      enrique

           gerrard     adam/lucas

hendo           uruguay           downing
                   
                  big geordie

Are you suggesting that we don't play a goalkeeper? O.O