Defending as a team

[Cooger]

Not too many teams around who defend better as a team than ours. Obviously our defensive record backs this up, with the least amount of goals conceded in the league and only three conceded at home.

 

At Valencia, Rafa?s team was known for their work rate and defending, with them having the best record in Europe. Now I think we are getting a team which has an incredible work rate, defending from the front. Bellamy and Kuyt do this particularly well, chasing down defenders, even lost causes. The amount of running they do is impressive and Kuyt even acts as an extra midfielder at times, making our team even harder to break down.

 

In midfield when Momo returns and Gerrard goes to the right (which I expect will be the case more often than not), we will have a midfield that really swamp the opposition. Momo, Gerrard and Alonso as a combination will give the opposition players little time and space on the ball, making it easier for our defense.

 

Rafa constantly talks about balance between attack and defense ? ?Defending as a team and attacking as a team?. We have seen glimpses of this recently and when Momo returns I think it will be even more effective. The difference between this team and his Valencia team is he has bought players that can cope in the Premiership, rather than more technical players for La Liga. Hence Kuyt, rather than Aimar is more suitable for this team and league.

[Swagger]

Spot on. Now if we could get the fluidity to our attacking play that Valencia had under Rafa, then there will be no stopping us.

[Magic8Ball]

all possibly true, but where would Mascherano fit in ? - I cant help but think that means Rafa has a midfield 3 in mind 433 or something like that - especially if Pennant keeps taking those Garcia pills

[Cooger]

I would imagine Mascherano would do a similar role to what Hamann did last season. He would enable us to play with a three man midfield at times, even if one of Momo, Gerrard or Alonso got injured. He can play in the centre and allow Gerrard to play off a lone striker or on the right at times. He would simply increase our options. Think we have lacked a true holding midfielder option since Hamann left.