Just going to throw some of my thoughts out there, some relevant, some perhaps not:
I personally felt that the 3-5-2 formation against Stoke last weekend was a poor tactical move from Kenny. It seemed to me he was trying to nullify a threat from Stoke that was never going to come.
At the Britannia, it certainly has its merits because they get into wide areas and cross balls into the box, they are dangerous from throw ins, and set pieces. Therefore it is good to have 3 commanding defenders.
However, at Anfield, Stoke were never interested in attacking, they haven't been in their other visits to Anfield in the premier league either. They are a very different away side to their home performances.
This was one of Kenny's first real errors IMO this season.
Then this weekend, he made another IMO. A 4-4-2 with Adam and Gerrard was doomed to fail. Neither of them are great at reading the game defensively, Gerrard has always switched off, and Adam is exactly the same, but also unable to chase back and tackle effectively. Kenny spoke about the players not showing Bolton respect, but I thought he underestimated them with that midfield pairing.
Also, I pointed out before kick off that Carroll was going to struggle against Wheater and Knight because they are both championship standard 6 foot 5 defenders. They are able to deal with cross into the box quite easily, but not so good at dealing with clever footballers. They were there for the taking if we had a more intelligent forward on the field. I would have started Dirk Kuyt.
We are missing Lucas and Suarez. When Suarez returns, I would guess that we will not see much of Carroll and the issue of a quicker, more intelligent player will be solved, but it will not be until next season we see Lucas. In the mean time, Kenny must play Spearing (when fit) in a holding midfield role, alongside Gerrard and Henderson (which means I would drop the 4-4-2 going forwards.)
A couple of signings to address key areas of concern would not go amiss, either.
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