Deconstructing Bolton’s Goals v. Liverpool

By: Noel | January 23rd, 2012

After months of praise for being one of the best defensive units in the Premier League, Saturday’s game against Bolton saw Liverpool’s normally stout defensive line concede three against the side with the worst home record of any club in the seven leagues that make up the top end of the English footballing pyramid. This, one would infer, is not an especially good thing. However, the bulk of any blame to be laid for Bolton’s two goals from open play should be reserved not for the defenders but instead for the midfield duo of Steven Gerrard and Charlie Adam, who put in an even worse performance than in the fall against Norwich when Lucas was forced out through suspension. Without further ado, then, on to Saturday’s ugliness:

In the buildup to the first goal, Chris Eagles plays the ball into space towards Muamba (1), but his pass is too far behind him and runs through to the middle of the park where one would expect Jay Spearing or Lucas Leiva—were they available—to easily mop up the misplaced ball. Gerrard and Adam (2 & 3), however, are both trotting back from the attacking half at half-speed. That both had been beyond the half-way line when Bolton gained possession might have made sense had Liverpool had control of the ball and lost it suddenly. Instead, Bolton had just gained possession off a Reina goal kick that went directly to them.

With no midfielder close enough to lend a hand, Martin Skrtel is forced to press out, following David NGog (1) as the striker drops back into the deserted space between Liverpool’s defence and midfield to collect the loose ball. In the immediate aftermath, some might have questioned Skrtel allowing himself to be dragged away from his position at centre back, creating the hole that Bolton would exploit immediately, but without midfield support he had little choice.

NGog smartly flicks the ball on to a charging Mark Davis, who runs into space with Skrtel close behind. He evades Skrtel’s hesitant nibble from behind—the Liverpool defender careful to avoid being penalised—and the late closing by Johnson and Agger (2 & 3) before passing the ball past Reina into the bottom corner. Worried about maintaining cover on his own man, Agger being slow to close appears far more forgivable in retrospect than it did at the time—just as Skrtel pressing out on NGog seems the right move in the circumstances.

If one needs to find a member of the back four to blame for the goal, then, the easiest might be Johnson, slow to react to the space left behind Skrtel and without a nearby player to cover. However, in the end, the true problem lies in neither of Liverpool’s midfielders reacting quickly enough to Bolton’s threat. Given their positioning in the lead-up to the goal and how much space there was for NGog to drop into to collect the misplaced pass, the goal had the appearance of one scored on the break after a sustained spell of Liverpool possession in the final third. That this wasn’t in fact the case makes both Liverpool midfielders being so far up the pitch and slow to get back even more damning when even one of them trailing the play until it became clear whether or not Reina’s long kick—always a toss-up when it comes to maintaining possession—was collected by a Liverpool player or immediately went to Bolton.

For the second goal, both sides are pushed far to Liverpool’s left when Chris Eagles plays the ball inside to Muamba and blows past Charlie Adam (1) while Gerrard (2) takes on the shielding role in front of defence.

NGog again plays a key role in the buildup, holding up play with his back to Agger (1) and cushioning the ball back to Eagles while Gerrard is slow to react and Adam hardly moves at all after being beaten moments earlier.

Eagles skips past Agger’s desperate sliding tackle while Gerrard pulls up, like Adam no longer chasing the man now that he is clearly on the wrong side of him.

Skrtel is faced with two attackers and does his best to cut off Eagles from goal while positioning himself to cover Reo-Coker should the ball be played square (1). His effort to defend both of Eagles’ most likely options deserves praise, as it forces the Bolton player to loop an ugly aerial pass towards Reo-Coker that the Bolton player takes on his chest awkwardly but still manages to put past Reina after Liverpool’s two central defenders were outnumbered by NGog, Eagles, and Reo-Coker on the edge of the penalty area when both Adam and Gerrard were beat easily by their men and then failed to put in nearly any effort to get back into the play.

Perhaps Liverpool’s players didn’t respect Bolton enough, and perhaps both Gerrard and Adam doing such a poor job in defence reflects that the players didn’t respect Bolton’s potential threat, but expecting Gerrard and Adam to be able to effectively cover the defence as a midfield duo is in itself a tactical choice that implies a lack of respect for Bolton. True, many watching were pleased by the teamsheet when it was released, but much of that was based on an expectation that Adam, Gerrard, and Henderson would be deployed in a tightly-packed three-man midfield—hardly a defensively dominating selection, but likely the best Liverpool could do in the circumstances. In the end, just as lining up Gerrard and Adam as a duo was a mistake against Norwich that led to the Canaries’ equaliser, so to was sending them out against a side that on home form Liverpool would have expected to beat easily.

On both occasions, Liverpool was handed a hard lesson that there is no such thing as an easy opponent; that it is not only the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United against whom it pays to have a defensively conscientious presence anchoring midfield. Liverpool has escaped this lesson with at least a point to show for it before this season, allowing a focus on missed opportunities in the final third when it comes to determining who and what is to blame for dropping points. This time around, the lack of respect from Liverpool’s players and coaches evident in both the midfield set up and performance is nearly impossible to avoid. It will be interesting to see if, this time around, any lessons are actually learned.

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: Match Recaps, Miscellaneous, Premier League

« Video: Kenny Dalglish Post-Bolton Interview | Home | Lucas Returns, January Woes, and Other Tuesday Notes »

tony

We lose players to bigger clubs. We get players from smaller clubs. What does that make us? Spurs? Even they got genuine world class players from Real Madrid & MC.

Liverpool was fucked by H&G. I am sure FSG is nothing remotely like them. Its record has shown it's an owner for the long haul. Successful teams have owners who leave the football operations to the football men. FSG may be Americans whom we cannot expect to understand the beautiful game. But they look at results on the pitch. Dalglish has to deliver it.

Is Kenny a failure so far? IMO, to the owners, not yet. The product may not be there but he hasn't broken the owners' bank. He did rip Roman 50M. But the 80M wasn't well spent at all. 35M for Carroll when a year earlier Spurs snapped up a world class striker for 8M. How many of us would like to see VDV partnering Suarez instead of Carroll? It is unfair to compare the two deals somehow. But the fact remained 8M, undervalued for sure, was the market price for VDV. What I am saying is Kenny has shown less patience than his own bosses and spent in a rush and therefore, incompetently. That's how I read it.

The problem I have with Kenny is his stubborness in sticking with CHAD. We lack pace, period. Teams have learned that they can play high up against us. We invited that disrespect. Mancini is very conservative on away matches. Let's see if he shows us some respect tomorrow. Without Suarez and we expect Carroll to hold the ball? And Adam, there's nothing wrong with him. He just doesn't belong in this 'Pool.

FSG is a prudent owner who is not afraid to spend big when they trusted their manager. I don't know how many years they have given Kenny. With my two bits, Kenny should not be afraid to admit his mistake in CHAD. Add pace to our wide and ship Adam back to the other 'Pool. Would Carroll be such a dud if we have Bale & Lennon wide?
Joel

Cheers, Noel. This post sums up my frustrations with Adam this season as well as highlighting the difficulties in playing Gerrard in CM. Seeing that gaping hole between CM and the CBs fills me with rage every match it happens.

With Adam, he seems to be the buy to take Gerrard's place when Stevie was out injured, but now he's being played with Gerrard- a five-star recipe for disaster. Even playing in the theoretically more attacking of a midfield pairing, Adam clatters his way through midfield, clumsily closing down opponents and constantly gets sucked to the ball and out of position.

On Gerrard, he can be a very effective CM in games against inferior opponents where we need that extra attacking impetus from deep. He moves, he passes, he tackles. But, he doesn't hold position. If you want to get the maximum effectiveness from Captain Fantastic, you need him to be paired with someone who is positionally sound and plays the simple balls. Since Lucas is out, that player needs to be Jordan Henderson. Spearing, while nominally a more defensive midfielder, lacks the positioning of Henderson and isn't really effective as a holding player.

So, not that it's really anything new from me, but if we're playing a midfield pair, it needs to be Henderson partnered by either Gerrard or Spearing. There's just no place for Charlie Adam in a CM partnership with the personnel we have now- Lucas is absolutely essential to Adam's effective play.
lfcfan

i would put downing and johnson(switching at times) on the flanks with enrique and kelly behind.spearing and adam as cover for the defence,gerrard behind carroll,bellamy or kuyt depending on who or how the other team line up.
Mike

Reading your analysis smacks of the fans giving Bolton just as 'much' respect as your players & staff, was it ever thus! And therin lies your ultimate & inevitbale downfall.
Geoff Twentyman

"inevitbale downfall"

Are you a Spurs fan, you cheeky monkey you?
Geoff Twentyman

I had a brief look yesterday after talking about 4231 v 442 and albeit a brief look, all our victories in a 442 contained Lucas as a minimum in the CM positions and often coupled with Spearing. That all of those match reports talked about us dominating possession but not being incisive enough in the final 3rd tells its own story.
With a solid defensive base in the middle of midfield whether that be 2 destroyers, 2 holding midfielders, 2 deep lying playmakers - whoever, as long as there is that shield to the back four means it doesn't matter what team set up is placed in front of it ie

442 like Man Utd - they have Giggs and Carrick who sit deep and it works as they spread the ball out wide to their two quick versatile wingers who link up with their two mobile centre forwards.
We could operate this way with Bellamy and Suarez up front, but we don’t really have the wingers to make this work. Well, not with Downing so horribly off form and no right winger.

42211 like Man City De Jong/Barry/Toure sit deep allowing Silva/Nasri to operate as two tucked in wide attacking midfielders with Aguero dropping in between Midfield and Attack and either Balo or Dzeko leading the line.
With Andy Carroll in the side, this would seem the best approach and in flashes throughout the season when Bellamy or Suarez have dropped off Carroll, the partnership has looked promising. However, they have often been isolated and that may be due to the fact that we don’t have the skill or creativity in the attacking midfield positions to keep possession and cause problems in the final 3rd.

4231 Spurs broadly play like this with Destroyer/Passer combo in Modric and Parker; Creator VDV and two wingers who are happy to go wide as well as come inside to support the lone striker.
Ah, the Mash/Xabi/Gerrard’05 combo. The only thing that was missing was the wingers to compliment that spine. Lucas/Adam/Gerrard‘12 doesn’t have the same ring to it, especially considering that Adam just simply isn’t in the same class as Xabi or to compare to Spurs he’s no Modric either.

433 Arsenal have Song who sits deep, Wilshere who is ostensibly the deep lying playmaker, and (before he moved to Barca), Fabregas was the attacking drive from the centre. They then paired a technical wide attacking midfielder who drifted inside with a pacy winger to support the striker.
Barca have obviously perfected a slightly different version of the system; again a defensive midfielder coupled with a possession based CM and more of an attacking midfielder as a central 3. A forward line consists of a wide forward who tucks in, a false nine and a winger cum forward.
Lucas and Hendo with Gerrard as the driving AM sounds like a nice spine, but is not in the same class as Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta. Take out noe of those and add Adam to the mix and it could be argued that its not viable. The forward creativity is the problem here as well. Suarez is quite capable of playing the false 9, but there’s no attacking class from anyone else other than say Bellamy.

There are too many square pegs in round holes – and this is perpetuated by their continual selection. Kuyt is not a winger. Henderson is not a winger, and annoyingly, he is neither a technical attacking midfielder nor seemingly a deep lying CM of any classification (caveat: at this age he is able to develop). Adam is not a deep lying CM of any classification. Gerrard is not a deep lying CM of any classification. Downing is not a technical wing/forward and as a broad statement, we don’t have enough attacking quality, whether that been in the forward line, wings or the advanced midfield positions.

We’re left with 442 and please don’t tell me we sit in the 442 old school camp? – box to box midfielders with chalk on the boots wingers coupled with traditional big man/little man combo – we don’t really have that either.

If Kenny is trying to replicate the team of ’87, Carroll is falling short of expectation and Henderson is struggling with the transition to play further out on the right. Obviously Downing is struggling for form. Adam is a poor mans Gerrard. Spearing is a poor mans Lucas. The system looks fine – it morphs 442 with 433 with 4222, but the players suited the system – its like Kenny is forcing this system on his players when they’re not quite suited to it.

I suppose it will either click one day and we’ll start seeing the best football from the club since 87, or the players won’t adapt and he’ll draft new ones in to do the job. He might also have to consider the tactics and formation of course.
purify_the_body

It's like Harry Redknapp said the other day, "It's not rocket science. Good players give you a chance and we have good players..."
Geoff Twentyman

No its not rocket science - its also not rocket science to play good players in the positions that make them look good!

Whats that quote about persevering with the same course of action only to be dissappointed when you get the same result!?
Red2death

I think Kenny is flexible enough not to try and force a straight old 4-4-2 just because LFC '87 did it. He's evidently switched it up to good effect in big matches. But then to counter there's also the downright puzzling Stoke fiasco.

Though if we drag our memories back to the earlier parts of this season, there was in fact a time when the only things separating us from very consistent winning form were the woodwork and kryptonian goalkeepers. All this wasting chances and not finishing because our attackers were crap only came later. If the tactics are good enough to get us to hit the woodwork 3 times a match (with these same players), I think only a little refinement needs to be done. That and a massive kick up the arse, which I believe Kenny has given them.
Geoff Twentyman

And the performances you refer to could very well be the catalyst for drops in the confidence levels of Downing and Carroll, wo which we've seen no recovery.
Suarez from the car park...

Well, Noel, can't quite believe you did the dissection. Wasn't really required, it was so obvious on the night.

thought you might have picked a safe topic like the EPP rules or some such weirdo rich club socialism topic.

The team was an all out attack team and was completely unprepared for any pressure, which is a bit bizarre. If it had been a top 6 club, there would have been far less of a problem.

While gerrard and Adam together are defensive liabilities, they should beable to do the job with good positioning and a bit of thought.

The big question though is the last 6 games, with only 1 win. Citeh aside, that just isn't good enough.

That is the analysis that is required, as December and January were to provide the platform for a tough rest of the season.

That platform has now gone and we can't realistically expect to progress much from here given the games to come, looking at recent form. A scoring revolution is unlikely as we must admit.

So that analysis inevitably leads on to the discussion of where FSG's thoughts are and what their managerial strategy was.

If the summer plan was " go forth and purchase and bring me a top 4 position ", then it makes some sense of the amount spent and the number of players bought in, with some of them thought suitable both now and looking ahead, and some just for the now.

You could even say [probably incorrectly] that Downing, Adam, Bellamy were bought predominantly for the now BY DALGLISH to get the top 4, while the others, including Hendo, Suarez and Carroll, were bought for the long term plan with Comolli being the driving influence/analyst. Enrique sits in both camps, as does Carroll and Adam aswell to a certain extent based on age.

However FSG have stated that purchases were a joint decision, and it was clear we couldn't expect top class players to come to the club.

But given a middling grade of good performances but few goals (if that form returns), what will FSG decide to do. It's easy if the rest of the season is as dire as the last 6 games. Kenny will not survive.

But if we dominate again but don't score for much of the season will FSG allow Kenny more time, particularly if the likes of Downing and Adam don't come good? Will they sanction more spending. Will they stick with Comolli?

They will not be sentimental, that's for sure - a good thing given the loyalties/sensibilities that will have to be offended.

The questions have surfaced in the media already, though very crudely put.
Geoff Twentyman

Tomkins wrote about the best managers achiving a 50% success rate in the transfer market, which for me goes to show that you should never overhaul a squad.

If you do it piece meal, you reduce the impact of a player not being better than the one you brought him in to replace. At best, he will be an improvement, but to have Downing, Adam and Henderson thrust into starting berths, the odds were against us.
CheekyFellow

Why must you torture us?
Noel

Because lately the actual football just hasn't been doing it for me and so I need to get my kicks from somewhere?
CheekyFellow

Junkie

You could at least photoshop a banner image to numb the pain
heitz11

Did anyone else think aside from the laughably horrible whiff by carroll late in the second half he played decent? Or decent enough to not be called horrible?
Suarez from the car park...

I wasn't close enough to sample the whiff....
PDubz18

I think this performance and the one at Citeh were promising. At least not the same level of shit that he has done for the most part at Liverpool.
Red2death

Whoa, let's not push it here. 'Decent' might be a bit of a stretch. More in the 'atrocious' to 'well-below-par' range. If we give him credit for that one flick onto Bellamy for the goal, perhaps he could be generously promoted to 'unfit-to-wear-the-shirt'. But he'd still have to improve a few notches to hit the highs of 'decent'.
poorscouserbobby

Midfield. Gerrard has been out of the game for most of a year, he's not expected to be perfectly sharp, despite his offensive prowess. Adamn, well.. yeah. Midfield needs help... Wee jay is crocked for how long again?
purify_the_body

It's a lot like our loss at West Ham last February by an identical 3-1 scoreline. On that day the team also failed to show up against a bottom-three side. The first goal that day was very similar to these two, with our static players looking on helplessly while the West Ham players played 1-2 straight through them.

That's right, even though Meireles and Lucas have saint status these days, along with Gerrard they were pretty thoroughly owned by Parker and Hitzlsperger. The Spearing-Lucas combo is really the only solid 2-man central midfield we've had since we lost Mascherano.
Marque Pierre Sondergaard

One thing that thoroughly frightened me Saturday evening was with how much ease Bolton pushed us completely back and kept us there for the majority of the game. They were barely breaking and sweat as they resembled City trying to get a goal after we had parked the bus. On the other hand we could barely get any play going past the middle of the park to save our lives.

Shocking.
Suarez from the car park...

They took over midfield with 5 across. Simples.
elfc

If we see Gerrard and Adam like that again can we safely say that Kenny is a tactical mess? Without calling for his head and generally being an idiot, I mean.
purify_the_body

He somehow thinks Downing is Ronaldo, Adam is Alonso, Henderson is Iniesta, and Gerrard-2012 is Gerrard-2005. If he was right about that, the tactics against these lower table teams would be fine!
Red2death

Technically we only need Downing to be 2010 Downing, Adam to be 2010 Adam, and Carroll to be 2010 Carroll. Then we'd be fine too.

Wouldn't hurt to add a 2008 Torres. But there's a chance that one might have disappeared forever.
purify_the_body

Definitely gone forever, but speaking for myself, I won't be able to begin the mourning process until he leaves England. I still can't believe he is sleeping with Chelsea -- such a slut.
Red2death

And he's failing too. Serves him right. Went to bed with another girl and now he can't get it up. What's the point of an expensive boy toy who can't score?

Of course we're ones to talk. Carroll's just on the next pillow.
Red2death

Beyond unusual defensive frailties, concerns also have to be raised about how one of our most attacking line-ups contrived to score only one goal against arguably the weakest home defence in the league. Not only that, they weren't even creating chances to score and never looked a real threat.

Given the type of personnel we have in the squad, I'm actually surprised defence has been our forte this season. We're an extremely attacking squad hand-picked for chance creation and scoring goals. Looking at the players we have and their natural inclinations, it would seem our aim should be to out-score the opponent rather than bank on clean sheets.

Fact is, if we were averaging two goals a game like these players should be, we wouldn't be examining defensive lapses quite as much. We'd also be sitting pretty in the top four by some distance. So what if Gerrard or Kuyt are bad at tracking back, or Adam and Maxi can't defend. If they actually did the job they're in the team to do (control/attack/score), their weaker points would be merely academic.
Redarmy

The defence has been good because we have some very good individual defenders in the squad. Would be hard to find an upgrade over what we have in the back4 no matter the money available to spend.

I'm not sure about us being an attacking squad though. We look like it in terms of names on the teamsheet, but really, collectively, we are more like a basketball team, who is down one point with ten seconds to play, that is passing the ball around on the perimeter without even getting a shot off as the clock winds down. You know, there's no go-to guy who takes over. Collectively we often appear lost on the pitch, it seems the players just don't know what exactly they have to do to score a goal when they need to. So, as a team, we don't know how we have to play to win. That's what you call a lack of identity.
redtrev73

Lotta wisdom here...
Pridhvicharan

when is wee man coming back?
Ed

Was supposedly pretty close prior to Bolton on Saturday, but obviously didn't make the squad. Optimistically he'll be in contention for Wednesday and the weekend, although it's tough to get anything concrete out of Dalglish about personnel in between matches.
Suarez from the car park...

Citeh without at least Wii Jay is a frightening thought. If Bolton can score 3, the blues would tear us apart.
Red2death

Isn't that using too much conventional logic? Liverpool theory states that our chances of performing well are inversely proportional to our opponent's league position. Looking forward to two Manc scalps, and then a sputter against Wolves.
Suarez from the car park...

oh for a boring life.....
nebhamoo

I was hoping for a post about sunshine and rainbows...
Waiting for Sterling

I know it's been said tons since the game, but our lack of a holding midfielder is evident. When a team gets used to a "clean-up" man that holds down the fort while 2 other central midfielders attack, it not only affects the midfield, but also the defense. Whether Gerrard or Adam were ever assigned to play defensively, the blame lays on Kenny.

The defense - even though the opposition wasn't nearly as ambitious as predicted - was just not ready for an onslaught through the middle. I'm sure Coyle told the boys that if you press Liverpool hard enough good things will come; and they did. I love Kenny, but the goals (i.e. tactics) were his fault.

On the other hand, he is right about the players on offense. The just look like they're clueless on how to attack. Maxi clearly needs more minutes or that form he had for almost a year will diminish completely. That might not be totally Kenny's fault. I'm guessing FSG may have had something to do with playing the new and younger players. Bellamy can't keep this up forever and I think that reinforcements are needed; as well as a the sale of a few liabilities. (I was on his side for a second, but I don't even want Adam as a squad player)

On the bright side I think Jordan has forced his way into the starting central double pivot role. Would love to see him and Lucas behind Gerrard.
purify_the_body

Henderson did all right in that 2nd CM role in December, didn't he? He doesn't really tackle, but he does seem to do enough to be ok in there.

Spearing-Henderson in front of the back four might get us through quite a few games between now and May.
Noel

Smart positioning, being able to stick to the role, keeping it simple and playing the angles right goes an awfully long way to getting the job done defensively as a holding midfielder.
Red2death

Sounds like Hendo all right. No fuss, no flair, positioning according to the book, play the safe pass. Pretty boring, but I'd take that over Adam losing the ball when we have it and losing the man when we don't anyday.
Suarez from the car park...

It was shocking how ineffective Gerrard and Adam were, and they way they just stop when they should be getting back even when late.
purify_the_body

Any young Liverpool midfielder gets compared to Gerrard, but isn't it starting to seem like the profile for Henderson is more young Michael Carrick? Not a star, but useful, and certainly not a winger.
Red2death

Certainly does. He's pegged as an attacking midfielder, but honestly aside from a nice willingness to take pot shots at goal, I don't see it.

At least he's young, and plays decent enough for his age. Haven't quite found his forte though. He's not a good enough attacker, not good enough in defence, not a destroyer, not much of a creator, some vision but not a lot, has a calm head and can play a safe pass. Basically, Michael Carrick. Or a younger version of Scott Parker.

Not impressed by either of them, but evidently they have some value. Especially Parker. Hope we can deploy him well. And not on the wing for sure.
NotTooXabi

Well, there goes my sober Monday. Thank you.

Would it also be prudent to lament Maxi's obvious rust and lack of defensive work? No matter how you shape it (barring a 5 man w/Bellamy) a midfield featuring Maxi, Gerrard, Adam, and Henderson is beyond imbalanced/insufficient. No pace on the wings, no steel in the middle. A diabolical set-up, to be frank. And I fucking hate Frank.
Suarez from the car park...

Well if there's any good to come out of it, any Lucas doubters will surely disappear now.
The main press is full of Dalglish haters yesterday/today.