Brendan Rodgers: Tactically Versatile?
Before I start, a confession: I'm a tactical ignoramus. I understand the basic logic of a 4-4-2, and I've read 'Inverting The Pyramid', but that's as far as it goes.
What follows is a presentation of info that I researched via WhoScored; I don't have the knowledge to verify how accurate it is. However, I thought it was interesting and therefore worth sharing.
The aforementioned site lists what formations each team in the Premier League has used when starting games this season, and how often.
By compiling this information, we can see which managers are most firmly wedded to a particular formation, and which are more versatile and mix things up more. The table below displays this:
The thing that strikes me most here is how popular 4-2-3-1 is! It is the most common starting set-up for half of the division, including the three teams who are most reliant upon one formation.
Although only four teams have used fewer formations than Liverpool, I'm encouraged to see that Rodgers is less reliant on one formation than fifteen of the clubs have been. To my mind this demonstrates a flexibility and variety with his tactics which can only be a good thing.
As I said at the beginning, I'm not the right person to analyse this information to any depth; this isn't to say that Rodgers always uses the most suitable formation, after all, and even with my limited tactical knowledge I'd say with hindsight that he hasn't.
I did however find the figures heartening from a Red point of view though, as Rodgers' management style has been accused of being more about the system than anything else. All comments explaining this to me further will be most welcome!
Related posts you might like:
Managing Liverpool's Small Squad - The stats on how Rodgers has rotated to get the best players on the pitch when it counts.
Brendan Rodgers: Making Progress? – An in-depth look (for The Tomkins Times) at Rodgers’ stats, compared to Dalglish’s.
Pressing Issues – Brendan Rodgers is known to want his teams to press the opposition; are Liverpool doing this effectively yet?
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