Liverpool’s Corner: Dalglish’s Tactics And Player Performance Led To Sunderland Horror

By Akarsh Sharma
13 years Ago

For Liverpool, Saturdayai??i??s horror show could not have occurred at a more apt place in England. Events at the ai???Stadium of Lightai??i?? illuminated the weak areas of the club, to further indicate that they are indeed darker than the clubai??i??s followers had initially anticipated.

An utterly inept performance by both the manager and the players led to the clubai??i??s third straight defeat in the Premier League. It is the first time Liverpool have suffered a hat-trick of League defeats in over nine years and perhaps, the first time this season that questioning the ‘untouchable’ Kenny Dalglish may not be a crime of the highest order, as it usually is, in the Liverpool community.

If there are any false positives that you can muster up from that performance against Sunderland, youai??i??re advised to stop kidding yourself. Of course, the routine positive (read ai???clutching at strawsai??i??) will always be there like Gerrardai??i??s late run out and well, Coates getting the feel of a feisty ai??i?? and devoid of skill – English encounter. But beyond these, there were none.

Before the match, Kenny Dalglish vowed to attack Sunderland and claimed his side did not change too much wherever they play. It was clearly a bluff, and Martin Oai??i??Neill probably didnai??i??t call it, since Sunderland didnai??i??t exactly put in an ambitious performance either. In fact, this encounter was potentially the worst possible advert for the English Premier League.

The inclusion of Coates over Carragher was a bold move by Kenny Dalglish and showed that sentiments donai??i??t play a role in the managerai??i??s team selections. After substituting Gerrard in the FA Cup tie against Manchester United, this was the second time in a matter of a few weeks when Dalglishai??i??s actions seemed to put the teamai??i??s performance over an individualai??i??s stature at the club.

However, the exclusion of Downing remains a mystery. Stewart Downing, arguably in the best form of his Liverpool career and Liverpoolai??i??s most influential playerAi??in recent matches, had been benched to make way for Craig Bellamy. Bellamyai??i??s presence is admittedly always a comforting sight, but at the expense of the clubai??i??s only and in-form natural winger is one that is hard to digest.

In fact, Sunderlandai??i??s James McClean was the brightest of sparks in the game and his resemblance to Downingai??i??s direct style of play made you wonder whether Liverpool were desperately missing a similar outlet themselves.

From the current Liverpool squad, Kenny Dalglish can approach a match in two ways – either depend completely on the forwards’ mobility in attack or stick Andy Carroll up front to play a more direct, but not necessarily unattractive, form of football. After a commendable performance against Arsenal at Anfield, Dalglish chose to place his faith in mobility over directness.

The above have been created with the help of this11.com

Kenny Dalglish couldai??i??ve realistically chosen one of three formations to play with the line-up he had selected; all involving variations in Hendersonai??i??s positions. The ex-Sunderland midfielder couldai??i??ve played as a right winger, a third central midfielder or an attacking midfielder behind Suarez. In the end, he was neither of the three with what didnai??i??t look like a defined role ai??i?? but presumably, a right-sided midfield role ai??i?? and he ended up putting in a performance not worthy of starting in a Sunderland team, let alone a Liverpool one.

Dirk Kuyt wasnai??i??t playing on the right side of midfield, which was refreshing to see, but wasnai??i??t playing as a full striker either. He was roaming behind Suarez trying to link up the Uruguayan with the midfield and was rarely seen in a position that gave him a chance to score (as can be seen from the below figure).

This heat map has been sourced from ESPNSoccernet

Throughout the match, however, Luis Suarez was isolated up-front without much support. The problem with the current Liverpool team is that their star striker, who should ideally be at the end of a moment of creativity, is the source of creativity himself. This means, he is usually on the lookout for somebody to help finish off the move and at the Stadium of Light, there was nobody to do so.

With the exception of Bellamy, the front six were the same that put in a commendable performance against Arsenal at Anfield. However, the dynamics of an away game are very different, especially without a natural winger to rely on. The below figure shows that there was a vast difference between Liverpool’s play in a home match against a superior opponent in comparison to an away match against a lesser opponent, even though the formation was similar and even though Dalglish had claimed there isn’t any difference in Liverpool’s home and away mentality.

The above figure has been recreated using ESPNSoccernet

In the absence of skipper Gerrard, Charlie Adam has the responsibility of making things tick in the Liverpool midfield. Thus, Liverpoolai??i??s overall display is heavily dependent on the Scottish midfielderai??i??s individual display. But from the above figure, it is clear that Charlie Adam played a much deeper role in the away match, which had three major consequences. First, it made it even harder for him to accurately pass the ball into dangerous positions. Second, he was too far from goal to provide any threat in and around the box. And third, it meant the forwards had to come even deeper to collect the ball from him.

Adam put in a dreadful performance, which consequently meant that Liverpool were bound to struggle. He had the highest touches per minute ratio for any starting player (69 touches in 67 minutes), highest number of long passes attempted and had the worst passing accuracy of any Liverpool player with only 72.9%. (sourced from Liverpoolfc.tv)

In addition to Charlie Adam, Martin Kelly wasn’t a useful outlet on the right – which is something Liverpool desperately need, considering Henderson has a magnetic attraction to the centre of any football field. This was due to two reasons. First, McClean’s threat drove the young Liverpool right back backwards and he couldn’t bombard forward as much as he did against Arsenal (see above figure). And second, Sunderland’s pressing on the right was exceptional.

Another huge downside of playing Bellamy over Downing, apart from a lack of natural wingers,Ai??was the lack of link up between the Welsh winger and Jose Enrique. Deployed on usually one of Liverpool’s most useful outlets, the two did not create openings down the left. In addition to this, whenever the duo did enter a position to cross, they had only Luis Suarez to aim at. Only 2 out of Liverpool’s 13 crosses attempted by the midfielders were successful in reaching the target.

Dalglish’s pass and move style of play requires a patient build-up, which steadily results in the team moving forward as a whole. However, lack of any sort of build up in the match meant that there weren’t enough players putting pressure on Sunderland’s defensive line.

None of the two central midfielders bombarded the box. Craig Bellamy was always on the fringes of the game and both him and Kuyt were too late to arrive in the box whenever Suarez carved an opening. Daniel Agger was sorely missed, since his forward runs would provide a much needed extra man in attack to break down stubborn defences.

But let’s give Dalglish the benefit of doubt that he couldn’t have predicted his players’ absurd display.Ai??If Dalglishai??i??s chopping and changing of the starting line-up hasn’t yet reeked of Rafael Benitez in his frustrating times, his stubbornness to change things certainly has. Gerrard and Carroll came on with a little over twenty minutes to play, which is asking too much of a player returning from injury and a player low on confidence.

And even more surprisingly, the fit and confident Stewart Downing was sent to weave his magic for only ten minutes. The managerai??i??s lack of reaction to an abysmal first half performance is a cause for major worry. It was clear in the first forty-five minutes (if not the first twenty) that Liverpool’s players weren’t going to click if changes weren’t made.

Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson are players that hardly improve as a match moves forward. This season, one characteristic that has stood out for both of these players is that when they start a game poorly, they never seem to improve as the game goes by.

Adam, in particular, seems to get worse because he – in an Alonso-esque role – cannot shy away from the ball. His inaccurate passing and extra touches when low on confidence, disrupt Liverpool’s game. Henderson, on the other hand, prefers to do nothing over doing a negative.

He has started so many matches this season that you wonder if Kenny Dalglish is only starting him to figure out a way in which he can be useful. The longer he doesn’t find an answer, the longer the youngster plays in the team. Till now, his movement – which is again dependent on the players around him – seems to be his only plus point. For a winger, he doesn’t possess crosses or the natural ability to go past full backs. For a central midfielder, he doesn’t seem to have an eye for a pass or the ability to get stuck into tacklers.

‘Re-building for the future’ seems to be a phrase thrown around in association with Liverpool football club this season. But you’d be a hard core optimistic if you saw any bright future in yesterday’s performance.Ai??Liverpool were better off putting in such a performance with Maxi Rodriguez instead of Jordan Henderson and Steven Gerrard instead of Charlie Adam, so that at least the future of Liverpool weren’t on the pitch.

But they were, and they produced exactly the kind of performance Liverpool had shelled out millions to avoid. And if Liverpool’s pathetic display wasn’t enough to rile you up, this is what Kenny Dalglish had to say after the match.

ai???We reacted well when we went behind, but sometimes you just donai??i??t get the bounce of the ball. I think we played as well as them”.

For Liverpool’s sake, one hopes that the above statement was simply to keep the players’ morale high and wasn’t Dalglish’s genuine assessment of the game.

Either way, in Kenny Dalglish, that trust must surely be fading by now?

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Categories: COVER STORY, Editor's Pick, English Premier League, Liverpool FC
Tags: Liverpool FC

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