Tuesday night marked a great night for Liverpool fans across Europe, securing another win was a primary goal for Rodgers and that was completed in great style.
Liverpool went with a similar attacking style formation as the game against Stoke. Taking the upper hand in the possession battle (53%) saw Liverpool bring home a total of 6 points out of 6 and helped build upon the fundamentals to an Anfield recovery.
Goals by Lallana, Gerrard and Henderson saw the Reds back on their feet once more, and ready to continue this momentum to next week’s game against Basel, which could see Liverpool advance to the last 16 of the Champions League.
Liverpool lined up with the following team:
Mignolet(GK), Johnson(LB), Toure(CB), Skrtel(CB), Manquillo(RB), (CDM), Lucas(CDM), Gerrard(CAM), Henderson(CM), Lallana(CM), Sterling(CAM), and Lambert(ST).
And players who made it on the bench were:
Jones(GK), Lovren(CB), Moreno(LB), Coutinho(CAM), Can(CM), Allen(CM), and Markovic(RM), with Lovren, Moreno, and Allen eventually coming on to replace Sterling, Manquillo, and Lallana.
The game opened up in the 22nd minute when Mignolet scored an own goal and turned the game from a positive must win, to a negative fight to get a goal back, and things were not going to be easy with the formation that Rodgers had sent out against Leicester, or was it?
Immediately after the own goal had been conceded a stunning strike from Lallana found the back of the net in the 26th minute putting Liverpool on level terms once more.
From there on Liverpool had complete domination and controlled all areas of the pitch for the full 90 minutes, scoring in the 54th minute with a low bound shot from Gerrard – which had great composure and precision – and Henderson scored the third Liverpool goal in the 83rd to end the showcase and secure the 3 points. Liverpool climbed up the table from 11th to 8th, and are slowly creeping up behind the top 4.
It was clear that Liverpool had completely dominated the game having a total of 11 shots on goal, an 80% pass completion and 62 successful clearances which complimented the 25 blocks that also took place.
Our line of defence was one of the best that Rodgers has played this season and when Sakho returns from injury to replace an ‘unwanted’ Skrtel it will surely get better. The defensive experience that Kolo Toure currently maintains looks to have also sealed him a permanent place in Brendan’s starting XI.
It’s also good to see Lucas returning back into the starting XI, after forcing his way in not once but twice already this season. The defensive midfielder has a range of assists that this Liverpool squad have been able to take advantage of.
Finally the skipper answered his critics once more, scoring a great goal and almost showing a sense of refreshment after returning to his original, younger days of playing high up the pitch just behind the striker. Whilst Lambert showed very little movement last night, Sturridge’s pace will only help improve Gerrard even further as he begins to head into a footballing decline and get closer and closer to the finish line.
Overall it is fair to say that Brendan is beginning to eradicate all of our weaknesses from our game, and if going back to basics is what it requires then so be it.
Substitutes such as Markovic and Can will get their time to prove to the Kop why they deserve to wear the Red and white shirt, but currently they are too young, lack experience and players such as Lucas, Sterling and Henderson are performing far better than anyone else, automatically closing any options for change in those specific positions.
Rodgers is heading in the right direction and is beginning to restore our florescent playing style that we had last season, it’s not too long until we get back to our very best, and with a slight bit of luck and consistency challenge current league leaders Chelsea for the fame and riches of the Barclays Premier League.
“At the end of the storm, there’s a Golden sky”, and we are not far from returning to last season’s glory days, we need to continue to back our Manager who is beginning to show signs of sanity once more, in a variety of different ways.
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