View from the stands: Liverpool have to get the crossing right again

Feb 4 2008 by Paul O'Leary, Liverpool Daily Post

STAMFORD Bridge has been a no-go area for any team during the past four years.

We have certainly gone there in better form than we will be going next week, even before ‘The Special One’ took over we did not had a good record there.

Watching the first half on Saturday was almost as bad as having to listen to Terry Christian on the radio… well okay, maybe not that bad.

We were totally devoid of confidence which resulted in patchy phases of possession, sideways and backwards passing. Sunderland didn’t have to do much to snuff out our threat, they basically doubled up on Torres and made sure Gerrard had at least four men directly in front of him when he picked up the ball.

With the middle congested and Lucas playing narrow on the left, (which I hope is not the start of Rafa’s equivalent of Houllier playing Igor on the wing) we should have been encouraged to play more down the right, where Pennant was getting some joy, but seemed reluctant to put crosses into the box.

Is it just me or has anyone else observed a marked reduction in the amount of crosses we use? The fact our first corner came in the 60th minute supports my view.

With Crouch in there, plus Torres, who isn’t exactly a midget, it seems logical that we should be putting as many crosses into the box as possible.

We used to play this way, and in my opinion the most potent we have looked as an attacking threat under Rafa was in the second half of the 2005-06 season when we had crosses and diagonal balls played into Crouch with Gerrard and Garcia sniffing around for second balls.

I believe we should start using this option. I don’t care how good a defence is, they would be hard pressed to deal with the first ball into Crouch never mind the second with Torres and Gerrard lurking. Let’s get back to what we know.