I have been trying to write this article for weeks but I could not place myself in a state of mind to look at Liverpool’s weaknesses this season on the back of positive results against Swansea, Zenit, Wigan and Tottenham.
12 goals in the last 3 premier league games, a 3 game win streak and the Reds finally defeated a top 4 team this season. Rodger’s Liverpool seem to have turned the corner at long last!
Then came Southampton….and the weaknesses I could not get myself to write about suddenly rose to the surface….again!
So, enough procrastination and let’s take a look at the repetitive errors that have haunted Brendan Rodgers and his Liverpool side so far this season…
1. Fear of the Target Man!
Christian Benteke, Romelu Lukaku, Rickie Lambert, Kenwyne Jones – four players who looked like world beaters once facing Liverpool. Hell, even Oldham’s Matt Smith looked like a seasoned Champions League campaigner against the Reds defense this season!
Liverpool have struggled massively to deal with physical target men this season and the Reds have shown no sign of turning that around.
Brendan’s Reds have dominated possession in almost every game they have played this season – teams accept that now and the physical sides of the Premier League hit back by the oldest trick in the book – route one football to the big bad target man!
Stoke City, for example, tripled their attempts of aerial duels when facing Liverpool which produced positive results – Stoke earned 4 points against Liverpool this season.
The story was repeated again yesterday against Rickie Lambert – neither Agger nor Skrtel managed to keep the big Englishman at bay with the Southampton forward managing to keep possession or earning a free kick on several occasions.
2. We come not to fight!
Liverpool have a well documented style of play – suffocate the opposition by dominating possession.
Too many times this season though, Brendan’s Reds easily accepted being on the back foot if the opposing team decided to put on a fight.
Oldham showed no respect to the Reds and the Liverpool players were simply bullied by the fight shown by the Owls. Stoke City also dominated the Merseysiders at the Brittania through their sheer physical strength.
Once the going gets tough, too many times the Reds did not get going!
3. Slow Starters!
Brendan’s Reds started several games without the required desire to win.
Manchester United away and the game against Southampton are perfect examples of Liverpool only coming into the game after conceding the second goal – only a few teams in the Premier League have the capability to win the game after being two goals down and a club in transition simply does not fall under that category.
4. Repeated Tactical Errors!
Brendan Rodgers is in the process of adapting his favorite formation to the players he has available at Liverpool.
The Northern Irishman started the season with a 4-3-3 formation which has recently morphed into a 4-2-3-1 formation but that transition hasn’t quite worked out so far.
Take a look at the following data:
Against West Brom, Rodgers started with a solid 4-2-3-1 formation with the midfield comprising of Lucas and Gerrard in the holding midfield roles, Stewart Downing as the Right Attacking Midfielder, Jordan Henderson on the Left and Jonjo Shelvey down the middle supporting Luis Suarez.
In an attempt to win the game, Rodgers takes off the responsible Downing and Henderson and brings on the lightweight Sterling and the attacking minded Borini – in the 78th minute Shelvey was replaced by Coutinho.
Two minutes later West Brom take the lead.
Brendan Rodgers weakened his midfield and left Lucas exposed – Gerrard was asked to influence the game further up the pitch while neither Sterling, Borini or Coutinho offered defensive support in midfield.
Liverpool lost the game 2-0.
A one-off?
Look below...
Against Zenit at Anfield, Rodgers starts the game with another solid formation with Lucas, Gerrard, Allen, Downing and Henderson in midfield.
Liverpool dominated the game and scored 3 goals by the 59th minute – they needed one more goal to qualify.
Again to boost the offence, Rodgers decides to weaken his center midfield options to add more width – Liverpool’s chances dry out in the last 30 minutes and the Reds are eliminated.
Wait there’s more!
Against Tottenham, Rodgers starts with an attacking formation with Lucas and Gerrard in the holding midfield role, Downing on the right while Coutinho and Suarez interchanged in supporting Sturridge.
The Reds failed to control the midfield and were in danger of being overrun in the second half – Rodgers takes off Coutinho and strengthens his midfield by bringing on Allen during the 59th minute. Liverpool end up coming back from being a goal down to win the game 3-2.
Not convinced yet?
In the game against Southampton, Rodgers once again starts with an attacking line-up with Coutinho and Suarez supporting Sturridge. Liverpool struggled to maintain possession and lost the midfield battle against a pressing Southampton side.
Pochettino sealed the game for his team by adding another midfielder in the second half as Steven Davis replaced Gaston Ramirez – Rodgers failed to react to that change and Liverpool lost the game.
The key to Liverpool’s is by winning the midfield battle – Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing allow the Reds to dominate the midfield as they possess the physical strength and tactical responsibility to track back and aid the holding midfielder.
Rodgers has a dilemma to incorporate both Sturridge and Coutinho at once in his team - he needs to find balance between the attacking and defensive aspects of his team.
5. Stubbornness!
We as fans will never have the opportunity to assess players like managers do as they see the playing staff in training daily while we view our favorite stars once or twice a week on the telly or in the stadium.
Still, one cant but wonder regarding the sheer stubbornness regarding certain players.
Take Joe Allen for example – Brendan Rodgers insists on deploying the Welshman in the defensive midfield role despite the obvious lack of balance and physical strength.
I feel sorry for the little guy as he gets shoved off the ball with ease.
The worst part of it is that the midfield and the whole back line lose confidence when Allen plays instead of Lucas in that holding role – Gerrard does not have the confidence in his midfield partner to move forward and have a bigger influence on the game. The 2 center backs also think twice before passing the ball to Allen when trying to build the attack from the back.
Another example is Nuri Sahin who recently criticized Rodgers for playing him out of position – now we all believe that a player should put his head down and do as told but when Jurgen Klopp asks: “Whats was Rodgers thinking?” one must stop and take notice.
Now, I cant guarantee that switching Sahin to the holding midfield role next to Gerrard would have worked wonders with Joe Allen playing the forward role but it was certainly worth a try specially in the early Europa League games.
Again, we never know if this was tried in training or not but the utter stubbornness regarding Joe Allen and certain player roles certainly raises some questions.
Eight Games to Go!
Despite all the criticism I highlighted above, I still have great faith in Brendan Rodgers and in his philosophy regarding our football club.
I believe we are moving in the right direction and the massive improvement in the goals scored this season is evidence of our moving in the right direction.
The young Northern Irishman must adapt quicker though – he needs to find answers to several questions that have repeated themselves all season without proper response; most notably the Liverpool manager must find balance between attack and defense.
He must also be more open regarding certain views, players and their roles.
Onwards and upwards...
