Last night Brendan Rodgers started with Robinson, Kelly, Henderson, Shelvey, Sterling & Borini. Having 6 young players starting in an European encounter indeed is a gamble by the gaffer. Either they get a good result or Anfield will only be a place for Liverpool to say goodbye to Europe this season. After 90 minutes the 'kids' went home with a 1 goal advantage.
This is part of the 'work in progress' that BR has been saying that is happening at Liverpool Football Club. Liverpool FC had memorable time in Europe and last night was no exception. BR made a gamble and it worked.
Same situation different manager, could Liverpool won if 6 young players were ask to start? Most of the managers would have used the younger players in a domestic cups ie FA Cup or the Carling Cup. This is how these young ones gain their playing time and some experience.
But BR did it differently and this also came just after LFC had lost their opening game on the weekend with a 3-0 score line.
It wasn't that pretty but I can see how BR actually wants him team to play. Liverpool could have won comfortably but Borini's shot after he was teed-off perfectly by Sterling hit the post. (what's with Liverpool and the goal post anyways?)
Obviously Liverpool still have a long way to go before they can really be a strong team. The style of play under BR can only be seen partially in a match. The players are still adapting to it. What we need is a team that plays to a certain type of football at a certain of pace for the whole 90 minutes.
Once they understand BR's philosophy only then they are able to change tactics in a game. Last night's result was 80% because of their effort and tireless running. They played their 'hearts' out. Only 20% of their game they are trying to adapt to BR's style.
When they can do this at 100%, they can beat anybody easily without working too hard.
No comments:
Post a Comment