so...do you agree...disagree?

[floyd the barber]

Torres is better as a lone striker?

 

Gerrard is far better when not restricted by a central midfield position?

 

Alonso is overated and hasnt produced the form required since his first season?........

[John am Rhein]

Torres is better as a lone striker?

 

Gerrard is far better when not restricted by a central midfield position?

 

Alonso is overated and hasnt produced the form required since his first season?........

 

Agree, agree and semi-agree

[McBain]

Xabi was outstanding alongside Momo in 05/06

Edited September 21, 2008 by Mcbain

[Guest Ant]

Torres is better as a lone striker?

 

Gerrard is far better when not restricted by a central midfield position?

 

Alonso is overated and hasnt produced the form required since his first season?........

 

Semi Agree

 

Agree

 

Totally Agree

[Andy @ Allerton]

Torres is better as a lone striker?

 

Gerrard is far better when not restricted by a central midfield position?

 

Alonso is overated and hasnt produced the form required since his first season?........

 

 

Disagree

[kop205]

Agree with the first two, disagree with the third.

 

Thought Alonso has generally played well this year, Boro apart.

 

What let us down yesterday was that nobody was able to produce that little bit of magic or burst of pace on the edge of the box to go past one of the 10 men they had stationed there.

 

That isn't Alonso's game. He is excellent at what he does - though I can see the argument that he does it from too deep and so doesn't directly hurt the opposition enough.

 

Fact is yesterday Gerrard sat too deep, Torres was off key (neither look totally fit), Keane and Kuyt huffed and puffed without looking like breaking anyone down, Riera didn't seem quite as involved as against Utd.

 

Alonso moved play well for and found people in plenty of space, but they didn't use it.

[Duncan Disorderly]

"Semi"

 

Babel should have been playing.

[Sion]

It's amazing how people can go from 'Yeah, Alonso had a great game versus Utd, that's why we kept him' to 'awww he's over-rated, not had a good run in ages' on the back of one game where pretty much everyone was below par

[psl]

I think I agree with all of them. Alonso's performance against the Mancs was the exception, not yesterday's.

[MFletcher]

And his performance when he came on against Sunderland?

 

Even Andy Gray (*spits*) acknowledged the excellent work he was doing in nullifying the threat of Carew away to Aston Villa. He's started the season in good form, and I would sooner play Alonso in the middle than Gerrard, who continues to exhibit a complete inability to strike the correct balance between defence and attack when played there.

[Red]

I still don't know why we changed from last season. Having Gerrard playing behind Torres gave us so many more, err, possibilities.

Maybe there's still a chance the Torres' partnership with Keane will still work once both players get back in their stride, Keane has after all, been a consistent performer in the league for years, so hopefully it's only a matter of time before he regains his form. Question is; how many games will Rafa' keep persevering with Keane before he's forced into reverting to one up front?

[Chili Palmer]

100% agree with the first 2.

 

100% disagree with the 3rd.

 

I think its no coincidence that xabi looks worse when Stevie plays in the middle with him. Just get in each others way. Stevie should be much much further up the pitch than Xabi.

Edited September 21, 2008 by Chili Palmer

[Zoob]

For me, Points 1 and 2 are basically just saying we're better playing 4-2-3-1, with Gerrard behind Torres. It worked so well in the 2nd half of last season. Going back to 4-4-2 to accommodate a 20 million pound player seems to have taken us backwards.

[Bo Benn]

Torres plus another bloke up front could and should work. Problem right now is Keane isn't carrying his own weight, both Kuyt and Babel has looked much better when playing there so far this season. Both of them could do a good job alongside Torres.

 

However I've seen Keane playing brilliantly before, if he could just get up to his normal standards I think a Torres-Keane partnership should work.

 

Having said that the 4231 formation from last season seemed to work very well, wouldn't mind seeing it again. If Rafa is desperate to keep Robbie in the side then I don't see a reason why he couldn't operate in the Babel/Kuyt position from last season.

[Flight]

Torres is better as a lone striker?

 

Gerrard is far better when not restricted by a central midfield position?

 

Alonso is overated and hasnt produced the form required since his first season?........

 

 

 

Agree, agree, not sure.

 

 

What I do feel is nailed on is, if we play 4 4 2 :

 

i) Kuyt should NEVER play on the right;

 

ii) Xabi plays poorly if Stevie is in the middle.

[Drexl]

An in form Torres is better than what we've seen so far this season. Whether alone or with a partner.

 

Gerrard showed what position he should play in vs Marseille, did he not?

[Mike S]

maybe

agree, although he played okay yesterday

totally disagree. For a start and it's been said many times by others, his best season so far was his second season. Also, I think he's played well this season, apart from the boro match. I thought he played fine yesterday apart from some poor shooting and set pieces, pretty similar to Gerrard really.