Playing towards the Kop....

[doctor_mac]

It is Liverpool tradition – someone better versed in LFC folklore will know when it started (Shankly's days you'd suspect) –that the reds, given the chance, played towards the Kop in the second half. The idea has been that the Kop sucks the ball in, gives us an edge, and encourages the team forward – sucks the team forward, as much as sucking the ball into the goal I suppose. That idea was given voice in the turgid end days of the Houllier era, when they boomed 'attack, attack, attack-attack-attack' at our plodding team. The idea of the advantage of playing towards the Kop, of course, supposes the greater importance of the second period. And this, you'd have to say, generally makes sense. The game ultimately gets decided in the second period, and particularly back in the day, some games barely got going until the second half (with teams figuring each other out in the opening half). Now I'm not sure how scientific this thinking is, but I've always liked it as an idea, and certainly, all LFC players prefer and remember their goals in front of the Kop.

To scupper the fiendish Kop effect, any opposing team automatically chooses to get us to play to the Kop in the first half, negating the Kop's magic. However, it seems to me it is time to break with tradition, and that we should play towards the Kop in the first half. Man City made us play to the Kop in the game just past, and it could be argued it was a massive blunder. Our team is a first half team. We consistently blow teams away in the first period and play more prosaically in the second. It has been the marker of our performances throughout the season. That 25 minute opening against City was mesmeric. it was stunning. We were a hurricane in red, and 2-0 far from flattered us before City began to gain some kind of presence in the game. So maybe we should embrace this first half pre-eminence. Go for it. Play to the Kop in the first half and leave a tattered and bloody opponent to come on to be jeered as they stare at the Kop in the second half. If Shankly was boss now, with this team, playing this kind of game, I think he'd do it.

Thoughts?

Bit long this. Maybe it needs Binnified.

 

[Dahuge]

What do we do if we don't blow teams away in the first half after we have used every advantage?

Surely it would be best to keep something for the second half such as attacking the Kop in the second half.

 

[Whirly]

What do we do if we don't blow teams away in the first half after we have used every advantage?

Then we bring on Moses and Aspas.

 

[doctor_mac]

What do we do if we don't blow teams away in the first half after we have used every advantage?

Surely it would be best to keep something for the second half such as attacking the Kop in the second half.

It is a fair point, but I sometimes think that in those games where we have struggled to score in the first half, and the team are feeling under pressure to score in the second, that the Kop might even intimidate our own players. I mean in terms of a fear of letting them down, and snatching at things. Particularly when our team was short on form and confidence, so perhaps a moot point with this team.

 

[Markeh]

It's a good idea, the thought of playing to the Kop in the second half seems to best suit a team that's facing a long drawn out process of gradually breaking down the opposition. We're definitely not having problems hitting the back of the net first half so maybe attacking in front of the Kop will make the opposition defense extremely nervy in our favoured period.

The opposite of that is concerning though, imagine a nervous defence in front of the Kop holding a single goal lead late in the game. Kolo would be set to hoof-con 5, maximum hoofing.

 

[jon545660]

Did I read we've scored 24 games in a row in the 1st half? Odd that we'd still choose to attack the Kop in the 2nd half just because that's the tradition.

 

[Hansern]

The City game is the first time this season we've played a top team at Anfield and attacked the Kop in the first half I think.

I like the tradition of playing towards the Kop in the 2nd half. It just feels right. Good idea though Doc.

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

We're great in first halves, Kop or no Kop. Thus, the marginal utility from the Kop's so called magnetic pull is IMO greater in the second half.

 

[gkmacca]

Don't most teams prefer attacking their fans' end in the second half?

 

[doctor_mac]

Don't most teams prefer attacking their fans' end in the second half?

Probably Macca. I'm just questioning if it is the right thing to do for us. @King Binny are there any stats on the breakdown of Kop end goals in 1st and 2nd half to test the Kop effect?

 

[Judge Jules]

Did I read we've scored 24 games in a row in the 1st half? Odd that we'd still choose to attack the Kop in the 2nd half just because that's the tradition.

I agree with what I think is your implication that we shouldn't feel obliged to keep to tradition just because it's tradition. However, IMO this has gone beyond that. Its importance may well be greater in people's minds than it is in practice, but to a large extent perception *is* reality in such things and I wouldn't want to see us take the risk of losing more than we gain by interfering with it now.

 

[doctor_mac]

I agree with what I think is your implication that we shouldn't feel obliged to keep to tradition just because it's tradition. However, IMO this has gone beyond that. Its importance may well be greater in people's minds than it is in practice, but to a large extent perception *is* reality in such things and I wouldn't want to see us take the risk of losing more than we gain by interfering with it now.

Yeah, I know it will never happen for this reason. Football is, as this site often demonstrates, a game scaffolded with a complex structure of superstitions. If we changed it and lost there would be uproar. And I would be hunted down by the pitchfork brigade and hanged.

 

[gkmacca]

I can't remember many times when opposing captains have asked for us to switch the order of ends, but it's been quite amusing when they have because obviously it backfires, gets the crowd up and gives us a bit more bite, so it's a win-win situation for me.

 

[nealmac]

I'd imagine that the Kop will do most of their "spurring on" in the second half though. As you say yourself, Doc, the second half is ultimately the deciding half. I don't think the Kop would generate as much noise in the first half. Keep it as it is.

Of course I could be talking through my arse.

 

[gkmacca]

It would be worth winding up John Terry, though. 'We'll attack the Kop in the first half, John'. 'Eh? You fahking well won't! I insist you attack the other end, you fahking fahkers! Hah - bad luck!

 

[doctor_mac]

It would be worth winding up John Terry, though. 'We'll attack the Kop in the first half, John'. 'Eh? You fahking well won't! I insist you attack the other end, you fahking fahkers! Hah - bad luck!

Even better if he wins the toss and makes us attack the Kop end and we start high-fiving and looking made up he's done so. 'Cheers John, you fucking ledge! ' *transform to solemn face* 'Now, prepare to die.'