Gerrard, Lucas, Adam, and the Midfield Dynamic

By: Noel | October 4th, 2011

Against Everton, Lucas Leiva only passed to Charlie Adam twice in their 67 minutes on the pitch together, while Adam passed to Lucas five times. By comparison, Lucas passed to Steven Gerrard three times after he came on for Adam, a limited data set but one that nonetheless would equate to a healthy nine passes across a full ninety minutes. In return, Gerrard sent the ball to Lucas on five occasions, the same as Adam despite their much more limited time together.

In total, Lucas made 67 out of 74 passes from open play, a ninety percent completion rate. He made 57% of his passes to players ahead of him, and 5% to players behind him; went four out of six in tackling, attempting one every 14.7 minutes; and logged a pair of interceptions while winning a dozen 50-50 challenges in the air and on the ground.

Adam, his midfield partner to start the match, completed 34 of 42 passes from open play^*, the resulting 81% completion rate his second highest of the season after Arsenal’s 83% and only the second time he’s topped 80% with Liverpool. Over a full ninety his rate of passing would have resulted in 56 attempts, on par with the matches this season where Adam has been most influential—for good or ill—from open play: Sunderland, Arsenal, and Stoke. He made 51% of his passes to players ahead of him and 7% to those behind him, and though he put in more effort defensively before Everton went down to ten men—he won five of his six successful 50-50 challenges before Jack Rodwell got sent off—he didn’t attempt a clean tackle at any point. He was also dribbled past twice in defense, though in attack he was the only one of Liverpool’s central midfielders on the day to be credited with creating chances—three of them, in fact—from open play.

Lastly, Steven Gerrard matched his pass completion rate of 80% from the 2010-11 season, completing 20 of 25 passes after coming on for Adam. He won two 50-50s and didn’t record a successful tackle. He sent 55% of his passes forward and 5% backwards.

*

That Adam and Lucas could only manage to exchange seven total passes in 67 minutes together on the pitch is downright shocking, though it appears largely the result of the two players seeking to take up similar, parallel positions when building attack. Both would typically seek to drop back and provide the first outlet for the defenders and, as the ball moved up the pitch, wide players. And often this led to Adam and Lucas being mere yards apart without any Everton pressure in sight.

Lucas would typically already be in the deep lying midfield position as a result of his defensive duties, with Adam dropping back once Liverpool gained possession in the hope he would be handed the ball so that he could then launch the attack. At Blackpool, with two other midfielders tasked with the dirty work and Adam the star of the show, the ball being given to him in close quarters so that he could look to pick a pass would have been par for the course. But while Lucas has certainly established himself as one of the premier holding midfielders in the league, unlike Mascherano before him and the players Adam lined up with at Blackpool he has a clear idea of what he wants to do with the ball—and against Everton that meant that he wasn’t going to just hand it off to a player sitting five yards square when the opposition wasn’t exerting any pressure.

It’s a touch ironic, given Lucas’ initial reputation as a player who only passes it sideways and backwards to shirk responsibility, though of course the idea that Lucas only liked to play five yard square balls was always an oversimplification.

*

In search of space, Adam would at times drift to the left of midfield when he didn’t receive the ball out of defense, looking to combine with Enrique and Downing on the flank to mixed results. At other times, with Everton down a man and unable to press as heavily after 23 minutes, Lucas also often took up advanced positions that he wouldn’t have under normal circumstances. As with Adam’s reluctance to stay forward when his natural instinct was to drop back after possession had been won, however, there was an obvious hesitancy on Lucas’ part to vacate the holding position when Adam dropped back.

By contrast, when Gerrard replaced Adam in midfield the space between the two central players immediately increased. Instead of a level pair with both inclined to build attack in their own way, Gerrard immediately sought out the positions that Adam moved to only if he didn’t receive the ball when shifting to provide a second outlet at the base of midfield. As a result, Gerrard became one of the players Lucas looked to cycle the ball to, and in return when Gerrard was put under pressure he showed a great willingness to play the simple pass back to Lucas so that the ball could be spat back out to an open teammate and the attack begun again.

This left Lucas largely alone at the base of midfield whenever Everton didn’t have possession, yet on the handful of occasions when Gerrard did drop deep, Lucas showed a greater willingness to move forward where before he would only seem to vacate his role as the lone holding player grudgingly.

*

It might not entirely be a condemnation of Charlie Adam, who had his most effective showing in recent weeks, but it wasn’t a coincidence that the more fluid interaction between Gerrard and Lucas was mirrored by a more fluid display by the entire Liverpool side in the final third of the match—and the pair of goals that provided the winning margin. It also can’t be ignored that at least a portion of Adam having his most effective game in recent weeks was down to Lucas at times leaving him alone to build play as he saw fit, while when they both sat back there was an at times uncomfortable overlap between two teammates seeking to occupy the same space. It worked to an extent against Everton, albeit awkwardly, but more often than not it would be a suicidal approach unless Adam can greatly improve the defensive side of his game.

All of which in the end makes it hard to imagine that Adam and Lucas will ever really have the chance to blossom as a midfield pairing unless Adam is able to adjust to a slightly more advanced position on the pitch instead of seeking to drop nearly level with the back four even when Lucas is already providing an outlet there. The contrasting dynamic between Lucas and Gerrard set next to Lucas and Adam, with the latter looking disappointingly static at times by comparison, also hints at a possible source of Liverpool’s less than stellar play in recent weeks, especially against opponents that didn’t allow Lucas the freedom to wander from his shielding position with any regularity.

Perhaps more ominously, it also suggests that returning to a three man midfield now that Steven Gerrard is fit won’t do much to improve that fluidity in midfield: no matter if he’s paired or in a trio, Adam likely needs to shift his approach to fit in at a club where he isn’t the star of the show. Fortunately, this is just the sort of time that the old cliche of players needing time to settle might have some truth to it—or at least when there’s reason to hope there’s some truth to it.

By RedNigerian via FootyLounge.

^* The corners shown in Adam’s chalkboard are not included in his open play passing numbers.

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: Premier League, Team News

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Smith

It's good article this, and shows why many doubt Adam is anything more than a squad player in a team with the quality we have. Big fish in small pond (Blackpool), he does well, but his weaknesses are just too exposed in our team. Poor defensively, poor positionally. These failings do not make up for his attacking contribution when we play 4 -4 -2.

Whilst Gerrard is obviously a superior player to Adam, it wasn't his Gerrardesque style that made the Lucas/Gerrard pairing work so much better in this match, it was Gerrard's understanding of where to be, and how to play in triangles. Get the ball, pass the ball, move to be ready for the return pass. Gerrard could move forward safe in the knowledge that Lucas would cover. But he also knew that when he sat deeper, he could feed the ball to Lucas and he would do something positive with it. At the very least Gerrard knew that the ball would not be lost, proven by Lucas's pass completion of 23/24. The inter-passing between Gerrard and Lucas showed how a central midfield pairing should work. The interplay, as evidenced in the article between Adam and Lucas is non-existant.

Adam has a lot of improvement to make to be good enough to play for us in a 4 -4 -2 against better opposition. The question is whether is will be able to improve this much.
lsusobeast

Anyone know what Lucas' pass completion percentage on the season is? He has improved his holding/passing game tremendously. Just curious as to what his passing % is this season compared to last season.
Noel

2011-12 (7 starts)

Minutes per ground challenge: 6.04

Ground challenge win rate: 63%

Minutes per aerial challenge: 22.43

Aerial challenge win rate: 50%

Minutes per tackle: 14

Tackle success rate: 73.33%

Open play pass completion rate: 84%

Passes forward & backward: 59%, 9%

Chances created: 7 (1 per game)

2010-11 (32 starts)

Minutes per ground challenge: 5.57

Ground challenge win rate: 58%

Minutes per aerial challenge: 23.23

Aerial challenge win rate: 52%

Minutes per tackle: 17

Tackle success rate: 64.53%

Open play pass completion rate: 83%

Passes forward & backward: 66%, 8%

Chances created: 23 (0.72 per game)
Kiwiscouser

Hey guys what do you think of a formation similar to this??
Lucas and Adam providing the cover in front of the backline and for the fullbacks as they slide across with the movement of play and can basically just sit while on defence while taking turns or something similar to push on attack giving the other a breather. The front four of Suarez Kuyt Downing and Gerrard can have freedom and constantly switch position to cause havoc with any sort of zone marking that we see with the likes of Arsenal. Between these four getting goals should not be a problem.
I also have faith in our fullbacks now (Aurelio being the 4th) to defend well and receive help form Lucas and Adam. If Adam struggles with this I would think that WEE JAY should be a great replacement
Tell me your thaughts guys...

Reina

Kelly/Johnson   Carra   Agger   Enrique

                   Lucas       Adam

                       Gerrard
Kuyt        Downing
                     Suarez
Kiwiscouser

Also i forgot to mention that our fullbacks LOVE to come forward and attack so i think they will give lots of firepower when needed
Jake_LFC

Would the reverse work? What if Lucas advanced beyond Adam? This way Adam could collect the passes from the back four as he'd like, with Lucas as a target as well. And Lucas, with his insane work rate, could probably handle a little bit more running, plus with his more adventurous forward wanderings it would appear he'd thrive in this sort of role. Basically make Lucas the ultimate box-to-box player, and let Adam sit back and pass. Would this maximize the skills of the players we have or ultimately expose us more?
Suarez from the car park...

don't think we could do without Lucas in the defensive roll.

We might concede less with the opposition falling around laughing at the idea of Adam being the defensive midfielder, but that's about it. Red cards might come thick and fast too.

He could pre-book his easyjet flights off for a 3 match holiday every month.
redtrev73

All day I've been pondering stats and chalkboards and defensive duties and tucking in and getting forward and pass completion and well......  This can work !!

                                              Reina

Kelly                      Carra                           Agger                                Enrique

                                        Lucas

                      Gerrard                             Adam/Wee Jay

       Kuyt                          Suarez                                   Downing
deadpool1023

Problems with this plan. You are removing our 35million pound English Golden Child. That's a hard sale over time. Secondly, you are going to have some issues on the adam/spearing side. As Noel intimated with charlie holding a midfield position that is not the trequarista, we will get overrun against five man midfields. Especially on the Downing Enrique Adam side, i.e. 10 man Evertons attacks.
redtrev73

Oh, that's just a possible/likely hybrid for the manc game deadpool. I would hope to see Andy become an LFC great over time but my Spidey sense tells me it may take a while. If Wee Jay plays (unlikely) the defensive side is not an issue with Lucas mopping up and two industrious chaps like Dirky and Stewpot tucking in and tracking back. If Chaz is selected (likely) and doesn't suddenly display defensive nous and positional discipline, then the afore mentioned trio may be overworked and the imbalances you mention become a problem.
brother jon

i like the idea - stable at the back, a chance to win the middle, and mobile/industrious/creative going forward. i like it better with Jay, mo' better with Jonno at rb, and most best with Bellamy instead of Downing.
redtrev73

Yeah it would work as well if not better with Jonno, Jay and Bellers, Brother Jon, but I reckon Jonno might not be ready for 90 and Downing is growing into being a proper Redman and should probably be given the chance to continue as a starter. That's harsh obn Bellers though. No arguments with Jay over Chaz Adam. I really rate the kid.
Latortillablanca

i fucks wit dat lineup right there, son...
redtrev73

That's a good thing 'blanca...right...?
Latortillablanca

u bet ur sweet ass it is - translated to suburban vernacular its "i am in wholehearted agreement with your hypothetical squad selection, my fellow."
redtrev73

Top man...I may need you to perform interpreting duties again in future should you or any of the other young bucks on here slip into urban 'yoof' speak...now, i'm off to share a bag of boiled sweets with uncle woy and some other old geezers!!!
Nbusa

I would be interested to see how this would work... I think if it started as a 4-1-4-1 it would provide a chance to have a solid defense but with that personnel we would still see plenty of movement forward in attack more into the formation you have shown as kuyt and downing support suarez.
redtrev73

Hey Nbusa...Yeah, just feel that this line-up (preferably with Jay, but bven with Chaz Adam) would play the type of hi-tempo pass-and-move footy we all crave. Also, with Jonno, Bellers and Andy to come in there's the potential for real game-changer tactics if needed.
Latortillablanca

Chaz! lol - cold hearted, man... i like it.
Nbusa

I know using the numbers to indicate formations doesn't really matter but I guess that this formation could be similar to the one used by Roma in 2007 and described here http://www.zonalmarking.net/20...
Guest

Some questions that I thought of:

Is it possible that Adam stays on the same plane as Lucas because he is instructed to be careful about his forward wanderings? That Daglish and Clarke, concerned about Charlie's ability to get back on defense after moving up the pitch, order him to stay as deep as Lucas? That Gerrard played more box-to-box than Adam because he's Steven Gerrard, and him and his groin are given more license to go forward?

I obviously answered yes to all of the above, but I could be wrong...
Suarez from the car park...

I thought at some point we would be talking about Gerrard's best position but it's the old Adam chestnut once again.

Amazing sentence given that he's played 7 games for us and he's already an old chestnut in the bowels of the blogosphere!!

The weakness in the middle of the pitch (in front of Lucas) looks like a problem as it appears to hand the midfield initiative to the opposition who are typically playing at least 3 across and running rings around us.

But that also seems like a limitation of our formation which has been set by design and purchases/sales to be 442 or 4222. (Interesting to see if ManUre results in 1 up top and therefore a different formation and look).

So, even if Adam plays with better positional sense, I wonder if we're not going to 'look' under pressure all season. I can't see us changing that formation with the purchases we've made, suggesting that connecting with the fowards is always going to need high margin incisive play.

Everton kept the wings quiet (their speciality), Spurs stopped us getting forwards and just took over the game.

While that is disconcerting for us watching and seems to underpin the sobering reality of the Spurs game, 5 of our 8 dropped points have come from us not taking our chances. A further strength has been that recently, substitutions have won us games.
So just developing Adam's positional sense can have a great impact wherever he plays and might make us look better. But taking our chances, some of which have been glaring, is going to pick a massive amount of low hanging fruit.

The manure game is going to be very interesting, not just for Adam's role, but if we look strong in midfield. You would have thought, after Spurs, we can't go into it like that game. Spurs were wasteful for 70mins despite dominating, Utd haven't been in any game.

Lets hope we have a solution to that game, nothing would give us greater confidence and belief.
JPR

Jonny. Agree with you that had we taken our chances at Stoke and in the first half against Sunderland, we could very well have 5 more points. But, I was also curious just what the first 7 games looked like as far as us creating chances, putting them on goal and getting goals. So, I put together some data and looked up some averages for the EPL for 25 games thru February 2011 to see what it looked like. Have to say, my feeling also was that we are just not coverting our chances; too many missed easy goals.

So, the data I collected is as follows: (7 EPL games)

                                Shots          On Goal             Goals

Sunderland                    12                  3                   1

Arsenal                          13                  7                   2

Bolton                           21                  7                   3

Stoke                            21                  6                   0

Spurs                             3                   1                   0

Wolves                          15                   5                  2

Everton                          15                  7                  2

Total (7 games)           100                36                 10

'Pool Avg Per Game      14.3              5.1              1.43

EPL Avg Per Game        12.4              6.7              1.47

EPL Avg Goal to Shot ratio = .119

EPL Avg shots per goals =8.4

Two things pop out immediately. For the first 7 games, we created 100 chances while the average EPL created 87. So, we are well above average there, for creating chances. The next thing I notice is that we only put 36% of our chances on goal, while the average for the EPL is 52% (6.7/12.4). We evidently are not too accurate with our opportunities.

I was really curious to see how our finishing % stacked up to the average. The average side would have scored 11.9 goals out of 100 chances. (1.47/12.4 x 100) We only scored 10. So we are a little below average in finishing chances. No doubt, probably caused by not putting our shots on goal. But, also caused by Stoke parking the bus and us not finishing there. If you remove Stoke from the above table, the 79 chances should have scored 9.4 goals, and we scored 10. ( Without Stoke we scored a goal for every 7.9 shots, which is pretty good). So our goal scoring % is actually a little better than average if not for Stoke. ( I already know that I don't much like that demon Pulis, so not much learned for me there).

So, my conclusion is that we are finishing our chances OK (without Stoke) based on the EPL averages. But, we are not really doing very well at putting our shots on goal. And we are doing pretty well at creating chances.

Of, course the sitters that we didn't finish, Suarez head ball at Everton and maybe Hendo's chance at Stoke and one or two more, always leave the impression that 'we are not finishing", but I'm not so sure that's the case based on the averages. Teams are always going to miss a sitter or three, and that's what we usually remember.

But, we are certainly not working the keeper as much as we should be!
Suarez from the car park...

good stuff. Don't remember too many shots off target, but I do notice that number is always ticking up.
Latortillablanca

that's some pretty Noel-tastic chartage right there from JPR! nice one.
NotTooXabi

As always, some incisive points robed in a fluid La Masia lack of brevity. Gerrard is more dynamic than Adam; I'm glad we got that squared away. Let's move on.
poorscouserbobby

yeah but it sounds sooo much better when Noel says it.
Nic

Fair, balanced and a good interpretation of the stats and only slight digs at #26

What we're essentially saying is that when Gerrard plays, Liverpool look better than when Adam plays, not sure even me or @4d6c17fe7b8e21181ca6ecc7d13e2124:disqus can argue with that.

I guess the question becomes if we free Adam from the defensive side of things as much as possible would that benefit the side in general or would it add further pressure to Lucas [who is playing exceptionally well so far this season] and surely that would destroy even further Adam's tackling stats.

It's clear that Adam is not being asked to play the same kind of game as Lucas and clearly Adam doesn't have the skills to play Lucas' game BUT likewise Lucas doesn't have the skill set to play Adam's game. [This can be seen from each of their shooting, scoring stats so far this season]

Let's also not forget that with the return of Gerrard's Dong it frees the side to play with Gerrard in the middle against the bigger sides who would punish us if Adam was freed from the defensive side of the game and also allows us to have Adam for those away games when Gerrard and His Groin need a break!
Latortillablanca

bloody horse groins turnin up in ppls beds, gerrard's dong - its turnin into yet another headlining week - unsurprisingly - for #8's wedding vegetables' blogosphere rep...
Ryan

So Adam does suck? Or not suck?
Suarez from the car park...

his groin dong is pretty good.
Latortillablanca

i like the article, as usual. what i picked up on:

"the idea that Lucas only liked to play five yard square balls was always an oversimplification." - in the same sense that pointing to passing/tackling statistics as the be-all-end-all of adam's liverpool career is an oversimplification?

Also, the comparison of the lucas-gerrard partnership and adam-lucas partnership is a bit unfair on the latter because a.) gerrard is one of the top 5 midfielders in the world year in year out, and as such is much more effective/easier to play with than adam and b.) adam and lucas have played a handful of matches together, while gerrard and lucas have been in the same squad for, what, 4 years now? so, i'm not saying this point came as a surprise to Noel, but it also shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, and its more of a "plus-one" for starting Gerrard as a CM, than it is a "minus-one" for adam ever having a chance to cut it at this level.

"...it also suggests that returning to a three man midfield now that Steven Gerrard is fit won’t do much to improve that fluidity in midfield" - can't follow you down this rabbit hole, mate. If you're stating, empirically, that lucas played better/was more effective with gerrard on the pitch, then why wouldn't gerrard have the same effect on adam in a three man midfield? I get that it's a minor leap of faith since adam and gerrard have never been seen functioning in a three man midfield before (and there are therefore not opta graphs to back it up), but I for one can totally see how gerrard's movement, skill, anticipation, and leadership, paired with adam's tendancy to lie deeper and look for the type of runs gerrard is prone to make, paired with lucas' selflessness in possession could actually work out quite nicely. Throw in the Kuyt-Suarez telepathy and downing's overall game i.q., and id say that's as strong a case for a classic 4-3-3 set up as can be made... Then carroll and hendo come off the bench, and when they do we can revert to the 4-5-1, 4-4-2, or 4-2-2-2 depending on game dynamics...

All in all, am I sensing a bit of a contradiction coming from noel this week compared with the tottenham week? is it possible you just may have a tiny sliver of space in your heart for ol' #26? perhaps his boyish dental history, and fat-kid-love-cake body type is starting to work its charms on you after all? just a little...?
Noel

"...then why wouldn't gerrard have the same effect on adam in a three man midfield?"

Because the changing dynamic was as much down to the departure of Adam as the arrival of Gerrard, with the biggest problem with the Adam-Lucas partnership to date being Adam's desire to set up shop in the space Lucas is already occupying through his defensive efforts—he wants to drop back and be handed responsibility the second Liverpool get possession. Throwing Gerrard into the mix doesn't solve that problem, as the added fluidity he brought to the midfield duo—and don't forget, Lucas and Gerrard have hardly played a tonne together as a midfield pair—came by him looking to move into areas where Lucas wasn't.

Either way Adam needs to learn to shift his game ten yards up the pitch; though unlike with some of his issues, it's far easier to imagine him figuring this out over a couple of months of "settling in."
Latortillablanca

u typed the words "settling in" without it being a negative connotation! Progress! jokes aside, ya i can c ur point, both points are conjecture so far (except for the fact that currently the adam/lucas pairing needs improvement in spacing, thats agreed) - we'll see what's to be seen when we see it, i guess... and ill remain more than a smidgen interested in how/if we play a 4-3-3 with an adam/gerrard/lucas mid...
Suarez from the car park...

"we'll see what's to be seen when we see it"

Shall we start calling you yoda?
Latortillablanca

i am pretty green this morning, but i thnk it has less to do with a prophetic mastery of the force and more to do with that one for the road last night...
Sandro

like you identified Gerrard is one of the top 5 midfielders in the world year in year out.. can i also throw in that Lucas is one of the top holding midfielders in the world. going off this it makes complete sense that Gerrard and Lucas appears a better partnership than Adam and Lucas. Adam is definitely a good player to have in the squad but if Kenny is going to stick to the current formation and Gerrard won't play wide right then surely Lucas-Gerrard is a better combo based purely on Fifa12 skill levels as well as those statistics we see above?

also yeah i realise Lucas is rated shit on Fifa12 but that's a joke - biggest complement I can pay him is he managed to shine when Roy was making the calls.
Guest

After my first season, Lucas went from a 78 to an 81 overall. I cannot state whether or not Adam gets better, on account that he was unceremoniously sold to make way for Xabi. Also brought in Matuidi for my second season...
Latortillablanca

nice one bringin alonso back... matuidi's been such a good buy on fifa for about 2-3 years now, too bad psg snapped him up i get the feeling comolli wuda been interested...
Guest

It is safe to say that Comolli was indeed interested, having been familiar with him at St. Etienne. Worth noting that he cost PSG around the same money as it cost us to swoop for Adam...
Latortillablanca

my fifa12 n'ily est pas arrive and its startin to piss me off... wats lucas' rating?
Shucore

song plzz...?? hehe
Suarez from the car park...

along what theme?
yahoo-X5CX25AU3ROVDAHOAWU2IX7DHI

I think this merely shows from the Lucas-Adam pairing how very unfortunate that we rid ourselves of the much more dynamic Lucas-Aquilani duo. In this we would have had 2 incisive thinkers and developers of play rather than reverting to the old standby of whatever can we do when Gerard is out injured. The Lucas-Aquilani would have a simply fluidity than Adam will never bring.
Latortillablanca

if we were living in a Fifa 12 world, this argument holds water. but for watever reason, in this dimension, the aquaman and liverpool just do not jive - perhaps its unfair on aquilani, perhaps his roman, headstrong demeanor came through and rubbed the King the wrong way - whatever the reason, I think its time to let this one go.
Jake_LFC

First thing I did in my FIFA 12 season was recall Aqua from his loan. Then I bought Neven Subotic and took Thiago on a loan. Vamos Liverpool
Guest

Also bought Subotic. You having the same morale problems with Carra and Skrtel?
Jake_LFC

I've only played one game and now I'm rethinking the transfer moves. All the good players are so expensive!
Guest

Yes, which is why after paying for Subotic I had to sell Adam, Carroll, Aqualiani and Cole just to afford Alonso and have a little left over.

It's embarrassing how much I've played that damn game in the past eight days.
Jake_LFC

Are you on PS3? If so, let's play..sn is jakesing. I can finally tell my mom I played video games against a real live football player.
Guest

I'm an Xbox man, so you're out of luck. And I can't speak for the real Lucas Leiva, but I imagine he's busy with other things. Like being his awesome self every single day.
Ryan

I totally agree with the Fifa 12 comment. Aquilani wanted to play every game, even if Gerrard was it or not. That just wasn't possible, so he had to go. But more importantly, instead of sulking about loosing Aquilani, let's sulk about loosing Meireles, with whom we'd be shootin' shit for sport.
Suarez from the car park...

yeah, we can't worry about Aqua, damage was done far earlier - Rafa contributed to it a bit but Roy put the final nails in the coffin.

He should have said to Aqua man, "you're a top player, work with me till January, and if it isn't right for you then we'll do what you need" rather than just be Mr Manager and say ''I call the shots''. But Woy's playing setup would have killed his interest anyhow.

Once his wife had had enough, that was it even if supportive at first. Italian wives - definitely high maintenance.

Meireles was clearly an FSG type strategy decision, feeling his place was covered by others/Gerrard, not particularly a set piece or wide player. Big wage rise for a player who might not have enough years when you could re-invest in a strategic position player, and a chelsea contract that you're not going to match.

I'm trying to justify the Meireles sale rather than believing in it, and personally I don't think Kenny wanted to lose him. Worked well with Lucas and the front players. Depressing.
JPR

I also thought KK was expecting Raul to be here for a year anyway. They seemed to be more keen on holding him than selling. I expected Raul to leapfrog Charlie soon after the season moved along and Raul played a few games. Once the Chelsea offer came in, we were never going to be able to hold him. Was a kick in the ass for many of us (& kk?) on that last day.

Aquaman had enough and, like you said, had to consider his wife wanting Italy too.

Should we/will we give Charlie a chance to pair up with Stevie G and see how that goes? Against the non-top teams only, though. Charlie may be forced to play some D, but that's always gonna be a stretch.
Suarez from the car park...

I think there'll be relentless opportunities given to the midfield personnel but the progress is not going to be immediate. If development comes along however, it could lead to a strong last 1/3 of the season and that's how we have to look at it.

After ManUre, we've got a string of lower sides until the Citeh/Chelski back to back fixtures, so it'll be back to the newbies.
Latortillablanca

i shoot shit for a living, with or without Skinnyfuzzycardigantruckerjeanhats Man
poorscouserbobby

with guns? Cause now I'm interested.