Best Liverpool XI today.

SanzI agree with this. We don't really have too many other players who are performing well so that eleven is quite straight forward and they fit well into a 4-3-3.

I had to chuckle at LevBerner's comment. Thank the King we don't have you in charge! Let's go step by step...

Kyrgiakos instead of Agger. I am grinning as i write this. Ha! Kyrgiakos instead of Agger?! For offensive prowess?! The only thing Kyrgiakos does better than Agger is head the ball and you're right that attacking corners he would be a better player to have, but come on... we're not Stoke for crying out loud. I will say this quite simply, Agger is our best defender. Easily. He is our only defender who doesn't panic both out of possession and with the ball at his feet, and that's massive. Panic spreads panic and he is a calming presence in our defence. It also goes without saying that he's very comfortable on the ball and instead of lumping it to get clear he controls the ball and calmly picks out the right pass and plays it well. He plays the ball into midfield and is a massively important part of our attacking game from that point of view. We keep the ball on the ground far more with Agger in the team and we defend far better too. His only notable weakness is his injury record.

Soto on the other hand, though i like his grit and effort, is a journeyman defender who is as graceless as Agger is graceful, he is slow, weak on the ball and ultimately was always just a stop gap to replace Hyypia as fourth choice. I will give you a stat: in Kenny's 10 league games, Agger has been on the pitch in six and a half and in them kept five and a half clean sheets, while we're yet to keep a cleansheet while Agger has been out of the side. To push him out of the side for Kyrgiakos is lunacy.

Next up, Kelly instead of Carragher. I'm not sure what you mean by vet presence, but Carragher is not key. He has been a great player for the club but there is a time when all players need to let the younger players come through. Carragher has only been present in 2 of our 5 clean sheets under Kenny so i don't think there's anything to suggest he's key to our defence, unlike Agger. Whether Carragher should be in the team in central defence is an argument in itself but very, very few people would suggest that he is a better alternative at right back to Kelly; he doesn't have the legs to get up and down the flank like Kelly has, nor the ability on the ball to be effective. Look at the Sunderland game to see how little Carragher gives going forward, how the attacks would be worked over to the right and end up coming back across. His speed is also a problem when defending against quicker players and besides all this, he is known to dislike playing at fullback. He can fill in if need be due to injuries but if two of Aurelio, Kelly and Johnson are fit then he definitely should not be out there. Hopefully a new, reliable left back signed in the summer will put a stop to him playing there.

And now Jovanovic instead of Lucas. I would ask you, what has Jova done to get in the lineup ahead of Lucas? He hasn't had many opportunities, sure, but based on what we have seen he clearly isn't one of our better players. In fact he's behind Cole and Maxi who aren't even on that lineup and, after attempting to sell him to Wolfsburg, we seem to have shunned him from the squad. The problem with Jova is he plays with his head down an awful lot and runs blind into trouble, a bit like Baros did. He has a decent shot on him and works hard, but not a lot else. There's also the issue that you'd be replacing a central midfielder with a forward... is formation important to you? Would Jova take Lucas spot as the deepest midfielder?... The only way Lucas could be replaced by Jovanovic is if Jova and Kuyt played wide left and right, with Meireles and Gerrard in the centre, which would be horrible. Jova and Kuyt are not players who could play well in a four-man midfield because they are for all intents and purposes forwards rather than midfielders; and a central pairing of Meireles and Gerrard would be really weak defensively with both players tending to drift forwards. Think Gerrard/Lampard.

And lastly, Spearing instead of Lucas. This is the most ridiculous of the lot to be honest. Lucas, who sucks balls, is a Brazilian international, a regular in their side now. Alternatively, Jay Spearing has never been capped on any level for England. I can bet you if Lucas was English he'd be in that national team right now as the holding mid to Wilshere and Lampard. In addition, Lucas has already made over 150 appearances for Liverpool, to Spearing's 19; Lucas has captained Brazil's U20's and played a key role in (captained?) a Gremio side that made the final of the Copa Libertadores, South America's version of the Champions League, and of course has had countless experience in Europe's Champions League and huge Premier League fixtures.

Now of course that doesn't tell the whole story, but Lucas has done all that while Spearing has been in our reserves, and that's for a reason. There's only two years between them as well, aged 24 and 22, while Lucas has had to come over and adapt to a totally different culture of football. No matter what people think, Spearing is not the better player. No chance. He's no more talented than the likes of Warnock, Guthrie or Mellor who also weren't up to it, and the problem for Spearing is he lacks the physical qualities to make up for his average ability. He will be lucky to have a career in the Premier League.

The problem is people still don't appreciate players who keep it simple and aren't flashy. Alonso was a player who kept it simple 90% of the time but people always cite his long raking 50 yard passes as though he was doing that every other pass. Most of the time, in Alonso's own words, his job was just to keep possession, keep our play moving, speed things up and slow it down when needed. Lucas does this well, is improving all the time at it, and having gained more confidence to his game cannot be accused of not passing forwards either. He is also an accomplished tackler and tactically very, very good, while he's known to raise his game for the big occasions. He basically is ideal for that role and is pretty essential behind Meireles and Gerrard, who for all their abilities can both be sloppy at times in possession and neither are great defensively.

Spearing tries hard but he can't fill that same role, he is more similar to Gerrard in that he looks for the direct pass or looks to shoot, only he's far less capable. His only defensive quality is his work ethic and that isn't good enough. I wish him well and hopefully he proves me wrong, the Sunderland game was better, but right now he's our 6th choice midfielder behind Gerrard, Meireles, Lucas, Aurelio and Shelvey, the latter two being injured. To suggest he is in our best eleven on the back of one good game is plain daft.

If we brought Kyrgiakos, Carragher and Spearing into that side in place of Agger, Kelly and Lucas we would be unbelievably and indisputably worse off for it.

26.03.2011

Best Liverpool XI today.

Possibly related topics