New manager: Roy Hodgson favors 4-4-2 at home but still could play 4-2-3-1 in some away games. Under Benitez, Liverpool plays lone striker formation most of the time even against lower ranked teams in the league, leading to countless draw games due to over-conservative approach. Hodgson is a traditional English manager who understands that height and strength are important elements in players to succeed in English league. This explains why he'd rather got rid of some short South Americans from the team but prefer to acquirie Scandinavians, who can be effective in English games and can be bought at bargain prices. In replacing the soon-to-go Mascherano, he took little time to sign Dannish veteran DMF Poulsen and attempted to bring Finnish LFC legend Hyypia back to Anifield. Hodgson is a fan of 4-4-2, focusing on keeping the team shape and pass-and-move. He likes players helping each other in pairs: 2 central back, 2 central midfield, wing backs making overlap runs to help out wingers, a tall center forward partnering with a quick,little supporting striker. In the defense end, he emphasizes on hard work and man-making rather than zone-defense in defending set pieces. Unlike Benitez, Hodgson is a player-coach with focus on good relationship/communication with his squad and keeping a happy locker room with great spirit and haramony. He respects players and believes no one single player is bigger than the team. He is honest and dislikes to make excuses for mistakes. He doesn't believe big money can buy success. He can work with limited budget and still keep the team competitive. He may not have achieved big success in his management career so far, as most of his past teams are non-title contenders. This season, Liverpool actually has a competitive team with quite a few quality and experienced veterans in the team, as evidenced by having the most number of players playing in the World Cup among all English teams. If he can bring out the best from his players, get in a few useful squad players to improve the bench and keep his key players healthy with the help of the new sports science team, Liverpool should be able to challenge for top 4 with a serious Cup run.
No comments:
Post a Comment