Crouch,Torres and mascharano

[floyd the barber]

Firstly.....please rafa `cmon...any chance that crouch can get an extended run in the side??......peter and torres as the game went on, were starting to find each other....and looks a promising partnership.........c`mon rafa do it..

 

Now Masch who i thought was sensational today and was all over the pitch, his passing an underrated part of his game...nearly at alonso class at times...and certainly has more to his game than xabi..

 

Gerrard for me.....was being carried by masch today, so many occassions when gerrard misplaced a pass and one occassion gave a horrible hospital pass to masch who was lucky to come away unhurt..

 

Mash is well worth the 17million and the guy is only 23.........now if only gerrard would move right, we`d play masch and lucas or alonso with a top drawer left winger coming in the summer..

[Mono]

I agree with most of that but I still think Gerrard is most effective through the middle.. that said he would be a better option than anyone else we have at the mo

[floyd the barber]

well for me he works far better when given freedom...at times it felt like masch was motoring all over the place to cover for gerrard who was out of position many times throughout the match..

 

nah hes a far better option on the right, as we have masch,lucas and alonso all good enough to play in the middle....and to be honest, gerrard is far better on the right than benyoun and pennant..........plus gerrard is the best crosser of a ball at the club.

[Lanus]

I think they should try gerrard as an out and out attacking midfielder with Torres up front on his on next game.

 

Give the central places to mascherano and lucas/alonso with babel and benayoun on the wings.

 

Its very narrow but bloody effective.

 

besides , gerrard bursting forward to play a one 2 with torres every now and then would be class .

[Guest dKing]

Question.

 

Does The fact there is/has been a debate over Stevie playing centre or on the right has distracted everybody from the fact he is inconsistent ? Don’t get me wrong as I’m fully aware players are not robots and have bad games but as he is our "main man" and until the arrival of Fernando our only match winner ……………………BUT inconsistent nun the less and we are over reliant on him.

 

This is not a go at SG but more at the rest of a squad filled with internation midfielder who just aint doing the business .

[floyd the barber]

id say its that when he plays central midfield...he is inconsistent.

 

Everytime hes played out wide hes been outstanding for me...

[Cooger]

It's funny because it is assumed that the best players need to be central, as they will get more of the ball, be at the heart of the action and therefore have more chance to stamp their authority on the game.

 

Over the last few years some of the best players in the world have been used out wide, as it enables them to roam, get forward more, without leaving the team exposed defensively. Nedved, Zidane, Ronaldinho and even Gerrard are examples of this.

 

Now Benitez beleived having Gerrard on the right was best for the team two years ago. But the Andy Gray and friend, started to say Gerarrd was wasted in that position. I believe all this media attention as well as Gerrard himself wanting to play this role, led to Benitez playing Gerrard in the centre more often than not.

 

But statistically we have more balance as a team when Gerarrd has been on the right. It gives him more license to roam and hirt teams in the final third. Having said all that it is hard to argue with his scoring form this season.

 

I think next season Gerarrd should be played on the right, Lucas (or Alonso) and Mascherano in the centre, with a new left winger. Arsenal played Fabragas when he first came to the country and now they are reaping the rewards for all the experience he's got and development at such a young age. I think should we want Lucas to develop the best way possible we should play him more and more, in his best position and watch him grow and thrive.

 

A midfield of: Gerrard---------Lucas---------Mascherano--------Ribery (for example) would have far more balance, goals and threat for me.

[Whitey]

I'd agree with giving the Torres, Crouch partnership a run - at least Crouch offers a different type of threat.

And after all.... what are the options

 

Mascherano was great, all over the pitch today and even became a great distributor - although when he does this is negates Stevie a little, and I do think Stevie plays for the team when other players do this, and holds back a little. Maybe that's why he's seen as inconsistent.

 

My worries today were seeing Lucas on the left. Why oh why?

And no Benayoun, when he's been the man in form, and yet he 'could' play on the left (at a push, but more likely than Lucas) and is defo ahead of Pennant in my book.

 

Seemed strange and proved that way, the balance was all wrong.

Edited February 3, 2008 by Whitey

[Guest dKing]

(Lets get Masched)

 

"Everytime hes played out wide hes been outstanding for me..."

 

in the run of games he got there I agree but then it seemed that there was a suggestion that it was a slight on his ability to be played on the right .....where as

 

(Cooger)

"Over the last few years some of the best players in the world have been used out wideas it enables them to roam, get forward more, without leaving the team exposed defensively."

 

totally correct , it takes some of the donkey work off them.

 

Problem is now apart from Masc being the only other central mid player playing well we nearly have no option but to play SG in the centre.

 

Problems,problems ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[floyd the barber]

really.. i disagree and feel we have decent options at central midfield with lucas,masch and alonso.....and not enough quality out wide..

 

pennant----gerrard---masch------?

benyoun-gerrard--masch------?

 

or

gerrard-masch--alonso/lucas-----?

[Rimbeux]

id say its that when he plays central midfield...he is inconsistent.

 

Everytime hes played out wide hes been outstanding for me...

 

Gerrard? Nothing like rewriting history to suit, do you remember last season?

 

But of course that was because he was sulking at having to play there.

 

 

When he plays well you can play him anywhere, not sure there is any correlation between how often he plays well and where a plays, or what it does for the team. It did well for sustained periods the season before last, it did badly for sustained periods last season.