1. Do you think Rodgers’ use of academy players was a forced hand?
[quote]Partly, yes. There’s no question that the likes of Andre Wisdom and Suso, in particular, have featured this season either because of the lack of options in certain areas, injuries, or the poor form of senior first-team players. Sterling is a little different, in that his talent has forced the manager’s hand as much as anything else – particularly given the club’s lack of real quality wide players for the best part of 20 years.
Plus, don’t forget that the use of young players has been edging into the club for the last two years or so. Kenny Dalglish used Jay Spearing, Martin Kelly, Jon Flanagan and Jack Robinson a fair bit in his time at the club – and, in most cases, got some good performances from them. The Rafa Benitez era saw some big changes within the club at Academy and youth level, and it was always going to take time for those to bear fruit.
But that’s the way to use young players, in my opinion. It is perhaps a bit unusual for a Premier League club to field three raw teenagers together, as Liverpool have on occasion this season, but the time to use them is when they are needed, and when there are enough senior, experienced players to support their transition. Liverpool definitely have that (think Reina, Skrtel, Johnson, Agger, Lucas, Gerrard, Suarez, Downing, Carragher), so it has made sense to use them.
The bottom line is, young players have to be good enough to play, and they have to be allowed to learn on the job by their managers. Liverpool seem, to me, to have their youth coaching in good order at the moment, and they are producing players with good technical and mental skills, which can only benefit the first team. Sure, some of these have been given a chance through circumstance (I don’t think we’d have seen much of Suso this season, had Clint Dempsey or Daniel Sturridge signed in August, for example), but such is life. Opportunities are there to be grabbed, and I think the likes of Wisdom and Sterling have done that particularly well.[/quote]
2. Last season, Liverpool had a good defensive record whereas this season the defence has looked susceptible at times, how big of loss has Steve Clarke been?
[quote]That’s a hard one to quantify. What I will say is that Clarke was hugely respected and appreciated during his time at the club – and that during the summer there was an effort made by the club to retain his services.
His replacement, Colin Pascoe, is very popular, though it stands to reason that having worked his career at Swansea, he maybe hasn’t had to deal with the kind of players that he has at Liverpool. Likewise, Mike Marsh, who was promoted to first team coach during the summer, is in his first senior coaching role outside of non-league football, and will I’m sure be adapting to that.
My personal opinion is that Liverpool’s defensive issues stem more from a lack of protection in front of, and behind, the defence. If you think back to 2009 for a second, Liverpool’s defence had Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso in front of it, and Pepe Reina, in stunning form behind it. The protection it was offered was incredible, to the point that it actually became an issue with some people who the Reds were too defensive-minded, too protective.
The current squad doesn’t have that luxury. Reina’s form has not reached those heights for a couple of seasons now, and he is missing more and more games per season. Brad Jones, whilst a capable understudy with a great attitude, is not a commanding, authoritative presence, and doesn’t seem to me to be the most vocal, which must impact on a defence.
In front of it Lucas missed basically a year of football through injury, and is still some way off being back to his best – as someone who has suffered similar injuries, I know exactly how long it takes until you are 100% confident changing direction, closing down at full pace and committing fully to headers and tackles. That has been a big miss for Liverpool, having that screening player. Joe Allen filled in pretty well during the early part of the season, but Liverpool’s midfield has been easier to play around than it should be, and that puts extra pressure on defenders, some of whom (Martin Skrtel, for example) have not been at peak form themselves this season.[/quote]
3. Is there space in the midfield for both Joe Allen and Lucas to play together?
[quote]In my opinion, not at the moment, no. I’ve revised that opinion too, I must confess. I had thought, initially, that with Lucas back, we would see Allen push on and show himself more in an offensive capacity. That hasn’t happened, partly because Lucas’ return hasn’t actually tightened things up as much as it was expected to, and also because Allen’s own form has not been very good.
For me, at the moment the blend needed is one of those two, alongside Gerrard and the energy of Jordan Henderson. It was one reason I was skeptical as to the “pursuit” of Wesley Sneijder, as I think mobility, energy is what Liverpool needed to be looking at, not static (if gifted) playmakers. I’ve always been a fan of Henderson, though it is clear he found life tough last season, and I think his game is perfectly suited to what Liverpool are trying to do under Rodgers. His form has certainly played him ahead of Allen in the last couple of months.
I see a lot of fans on Allen’s back (not at games, but on forums etc), which I think is a tad unfair. I think he’s a specialist player, a system player, rather than someone who can ostentatiously stand out in a team. His strengths are clear, he generally passes the ball very accurately and swiftly, he closes down space very well and his awareness is very good. But he needs to work on certain other areas, such as his forward runs and his defensive positioning.
His price tag probably excludes this option, but I think a bit of patience is needed with him. He is a good player with good talents and the capacity to develop and add to them. He also strikes me as someone who learns even when he is not playing matches, which is rarer than it sounds. I can see him bouncing back from this rough patch and becoming a more than useful player for Liverpool.[/quote]
4. With Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher coming to the end of their illustrious playing days at Anfield, how do Liverpool compensate for the loss of their two ‘go-to’ men?
[quote]Their retirements will certainly be felt, but Liverpool should have been planning for this. History tells you that it takes most clubs a period of time to get over losing their best player (in this case Gerrard). Manchester United had a trophyless season after Eric Cantona retired, they struggled for years to replace Peter Schmeichel and Arsenal have won nothing since Patrick Vieira retired.
A few clubs will have this problem in the coming years, you suspect. United will lose Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, as well as Rio Ferdinand, Chelsea will have to replace Frank Lampard and John Terry, perhaps as early as next season. The difference is that those clubs have the backing to do so with big money signings – it is not fanciful to imagine those clubs splashing £30m+ on a single player, is it? – Whereas Liverpool are, at the moment, not in such a position.
So what do they do? Ignore the financial realities and try to replace these stalwarts with inferior players? That won’t work. So what you need to do is to be clever, to minimise the impact of their loss by improving the overall balance of the team. For example, what will Liverpool miss about Gerrard? Goals? Drive? Leadership? Ok then, add goals to your attack, add leadership to your defence, sign young, energetic players who can, between them, compensate. You can’t replace one-offs, but you can change the way your team is structured, the way it plays, so that they aren’t as keenly missed as they could be. United have done that particularly well over the years; Michael Carrick is not Roy Keane, is he? But when you switch the focus from Keane’s midfield drive to brilliant wide/attacking players, you can still prosper. Keane left United at a low ebb in 2005, but they recovered, bought shrewdly, rebuilt their squad, and won three league titles in a row after that season.[/quote]
5. Luis Suarez has always been part of the media storm, what do you make of the controversy that seems to follow him?
[quote]Honestly? I’m bored of it. The player doesn’t help himself at times, let’s not deny that, but there is a Pantomime element to Suarez coverage that is very unedifying at times, and brings out the worst in people on both sides of the argument.
I witnessed an incident earlier in the season, after Liverpool had beaten Southampton, in which a journalist (i won’t name him because I don’t know him!) asked Rodgers about Suarez’s booking for deliberate handball. Rodgers replied that he hadn’t seen it yet, so couldn’t comment, and was then asked how he felt about one of his players “cheating”, a question he took great exception to. I could see why, too. It may be argued that it is a fair question, given that he was booked for deliberate handball, but it seemed to me to be a targeted question, to suit a narrative on ‘Suarez The Cheat’. Maybe that’s me, but it does seem that Suarez gets treated differently in some quarters
Let’s be blunt about this; footballers are imperfect. People put them on pedestals, but they are like you and me. They make split second decisions, they have drive and ambition, and they can make big mistakes. Suarez has made a few in his time at Liverpool, and before that, but some of the things I have read have been over the top, to say the least. The amateur psychology that goes on where players like that are concerned is inevitable, but not to my taste. I don’t know Suarez the man, so how can I make conclusions about his morality, his psyche or personality? I can judge his actions, because they are there for all to see, but anything more should be left well alone, in my opinion. And that goes for any footballer.[/quote]
