Our Defensive Line

[Leo No.8]

How f*cking good is it.

 

When you watch our games on Sky, the endless replays of the offside decisions make you realise just how good our defensive line is.

 

I don't think I've ever seen a defence so well drilled in stepping up as one to catch opposing players.

 

There was one occasion when Finnan was a touch behind the rest yesterday leaving Davies to run through,and Reina had to come out and block, but in general the co-ordination is truly something to behold.

 

I'd be interested to know who 'calls the line', or whether all the players have to be on the ball for it all the time. In amateur games you can all hear each other, but I'd imagine it'd be that much harder to be heard over the crowd at that level.

 

One of our problems under Gerard was how deep our defensive line was. Rafa has cured that and then some - its not surprising our defensive record is so good...

[Chili Palmer]

How f*cking good is it.

 

When you watch our games on Sky, the endless replays of the offside decisions make you realise just how good our defensive line is.

 

I don't think I've ever seen a defence so well drilled in stepping up as one to catch opposing players.

 

There was one occasion when Finnan was a touch behind the rest yesterday leaving Davies to run through,and Reina had to come out and block, but in general the co-ordination is truly something to behold.

 

I'd be interested to know who 'calls the line', or whether all the players have to be on the ball for it all the time. In amateur games you can all hear each other, but I'd imagine it'd be that much harder to be heard over the crowd at that level.

 

One of our problems under Gerard was how deep our defensive line was. Rafa has cured that and then some - its not surprising our defensive record is so good...

 

Carra looks like he is the one who calls it, but I don't think you can underestimate the value of having a keeper like Pepe who isn't afraid to communicate with his defenders and keep them on their toes. Jerzy was great but I think that was the area he fell down on most.

[Gray - YPC]

When you play regularly enough you soon 'know' when to step up and when the drop deep.

[owenthomas]

i think it's more than that Gray - i reckon it's because it's drilled into them constantly by a man who knows his stuff.. if it was anything as simple as just playing regularly then most of the top flight would be as organised - they're not..

[Gray - YPC]

i think it's more than that Gray - i reckon it's because it's drilled into them constantly by a man who knows his stuff.. if it was anything as simple as just playing regularly then most of the top flight would be as organised - they're not..

I agree it's more than that. I have read about our training involving a lot of work on 'pattern of plays'. I think it is this work that helps it become a natural instinct rather than a communicated one. Whereas you can play together for years and learn what the others are going to do, by recreating these matchday scenarios day in day out in training it because natural in a lot shorter space of time. As such, I'm pretty sure our defenders can second guess what the others are going to do a lot of the time. Obviosuly there is still the need for communciation, but you also need to be in the right position to start with to get any benefit. It's no good hearing the shout to step up if you're 5 yards behind play, in much the same way as it's no good for you to make the shout if you're not sure where your colleagues are.

 

Huge credit must go to Pako as we are so well organised, but I think it's now got to the stage where we do not need the same amount of communication as we did in the early stages of Rafa's reign.

[Mike]

i wonder if agger is getting intensive training...

he seems to have disappeared off the radar

[Will]

i wonder if agger is getting intensive training...

he seems to have disappeared off the radar

 

He is apparently injured

[Stevie H]

i wonder if agger is getting intensive training...

he seems to have disappeared off the radar

 

he's injured.

 

on the offside thing, it's obviously something that's practised a lot as you can see by the way the full-backs step up so routinely. they're well-drilled.

[Leo No.8]

Unbelievably well drilled!

 

Agger was superb at Newcastle - but apparently he's injured.

 

If we can tie up 3rd place as soon as possible, it would be good to give him (fitness permitting) a few run-outs before the end of the season, get him acclimatised.

Edited April 10, 2006 by Leo No.8

[IgPig]

disproves the theory that's been going around since it started going wrong for Houllier that we needed Linford Christie at the back in order to play a higher line - Pepes helped in that respect too.