Liverpool’s best formation and form

Soccerlens reader and forum member deridder8 wrote a very interesting article in the forum today – here’s an extract:

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After 6 games with 4 wins and 2 draws, I’m still not very convinced about Liverpool’s form this season.

It hasn’t been fantastic; they are not winning games like champions. They are SCRAPPING the wins. The frustrating display against Stoke City is a perfect example – so many chances, no goals.

After watching the match against Everton, they still don’t look championship material yet.

The question pops up again: What is Liverpool’s best formation / starting XI?

In my opinion, there are two formations they can apply now:

4-4-2

Reina
Arbeloa, Skrtel, Carragher, Aurelio
Gerrard, Mascherano, Alonso, Riera
Kuyt Keane

Note that Torres is not in the team. One, you can’t expect that man to play all the matches for Liverpool. Kuyt and Keane paired up against Manchester United and I think they did enough to show that there is at least some chemistry between these 2 players (well, better than Torres and Keane). You would see that Gerrard is on the right too. Pennant and Benayoun leave a bit to be desired in that position.

4-2-3-1

Reina
Arbeloa, Skrtel, Carragher, Aurelio
Mascherano Alonso
Kuyt Gerrard Riera
Torres

This was the formation Rafa employed mostly in the 2nd half of the 07/08 season. I still think that this is still their best suited formation too. What about the 20m Keane? He can come in for Gerrard – then perhaps it might work out for this Keane-Torres partnership.

Of course, in these 2 formations, Agger, hyypia, lucas, Babel, Benayoun will be rotated too. Then there is N’gog. I haven’t seen much of Degen yet, so maybe he can come in for Arbeloa.

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You can read the full piece here – feel free to comment with your suggestions.