A week is a long time in football. Two 2-0 defeats in the space of four days, have for some supporters, left Liverpool’s season in ruins. The results have apparently taken The Reds from challenging for the Champions League places, to a side who will be lucky to finish eighth.
The fact of the matter is Liverpool were never going to finish in the coveted top four positions in the Premier League this season. In the summer, the club let the likes of Craig Bellamy, Dirk Kuyt and Maxi Rodriguez go, as the wage bill was trimmed, freeing up money for Rodgers to invest in younger players.
The players bought in to replace the experienced heads who exited were young. Fenway Sports Group, the clubs owners, have a vision for their project that is Liverpool Football Club, to build a side who will play a certain style of football, be mainly made up of young players, and be headed by a young manager, who will grow together over time.
The style of play is improving, it isn’t there consistently yet, but despite this weeks gutting results, recent performances against Norwich, Arsenal and Man City aren’t to be forgotten.
The side being made up mainly of youngsters has also not disappointed this season. It’s easy to forget the likes of Andre Wisdom, Suso and Raheem Sterling all only made their full debuts at the start of this campaign, with the trio having clocked up seventy appearances between them this season already. In addition to these three, Rodgers has fielded a further seventeen players in competitive first team matches this season, who were aged twenty-three or below at the time of appearing.
Supporters expecting a side to learn a totally new system and new style of play, whilst also incorporating this amount of young players, and also having a new, young manager, to jump up from last seasons eighth placed finish to fourth were either naïve, or very delusional.
Granted, there have been mistakes along the way, quite a few in fact. At times it has been obvious this is Brendan Rodgers’ first job at a big club. The naivety of his in games tactics, and approach for the Europa League trip to Russia to face Zenit St. Petersburg didn’t help The Reds in their quest for a place in the last sixteen, with Liverpool only still in the competition by the skin of their teeth.
The starting line up was strong-looking in terms of personnel, however going away in Europe against a side with the likes of Axel Witsel, Danny, Kerzhakov and Hulk, all of whom like to shoot from distance, and attack the hole between the opposition defence and midfield without a proper defensive midfielder was as naïve as a teenager going to a mathematics exam without a calculator. It might not be a big problem to begin with, but eventually the schoolboy would come up against a question he simply didn’t have the answer for, and in the end that is what Liverpool came up against, with Hulk’s unstoppable, sumptuous strike in the seventieth minute putting the Russians in front after the Brazilian got a shot away from the edge of the box with no one closing him down, the kind of position on the pitch you’d normally find a certain Lucas Leiva harrying around, protecting his sides goal.
This wasn’t the first time we had seen naivety from the manager, in other recent matches the decision to bring Martin Skrtel on at Man City didn’t help Rodgers, who saw his Slovakian centre back involved in a confusing situation with Jose Reina in which neither player took command, and City ended up capitalising costing Liverpool two valuable points.
Even more recently the decision to start Jonjo Shelvey in the front three against West Brom came as a surprise to many Liverpool fans, and the youngster who’s best position is in midfield had a night to forget as the home side slumped to a 2-0 defeat. The substituting of Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing, who were arguably Liverpool’s best two players on the night were also questionable.
That’s not to say I’m unhappy with Rodgers, far from it. He’s not the perfect manager exempt from criticism where it’s due as some would have you believe though. He’s a good, young manager, who will make mistakes from time to time, but he has to learn from them. I’m sure he will, and confident he will take us back to Champions League qualification, just not this season, and probably not next season either. It is the unfortunate reality we have to face that while Liverpool as a club, are still one of the biggest in world football, the squad currently at the managers disposal is not at the same level, but given time and patience, the Merseyside giants can can get back there.
Back to Thursday night and just like at The Emirates, as soon as Liverpool conceded their first, a second soon followed with veteran Sergei Semak doubling the hosts lead, after some questionable defending from Martin Skrtel who’s form is deteriorating at a similar pace to the rapidity of Zenit’s goals.
Liverpool had their chances to knick that all important away goal, with Luis Suarez guilty of missing four huge opportunities to put Liverpool in a much more favourable position. No blame can be laid on his shoulders, Suarez has been in sparkling form for The Reds this campaign, carrying the side at times. Everyone has an off day, and it was just unfortunate that day had to come for Suarez when goals were even more valuable than usual.
What was more concerning was Suarez was the only player who created anything in terms of an attacking threat in the ninety minutes. The Zenit defence looked weak and vulnerable in the early stages, but not once did Sterling or Downing really test the hosts back four, and it was evident quite early on, that although the pair were doing a lot of defensive work, this wasn’t going to be their night. No change was made until Liverpool were 2-0 down, and Lucas replaced Sterling twelve minutes from time, with damage limitation in mind.
Rewind to Monday night. Another case of dominating proceedings, missing a hat full of chances, and being punished by the opposition for Liverpool. Credit to Rodgers, he’s made Liverpool more clinical in front of goal this season, and the addition of Daniel Sturridge will only help this further, but the defence is now a real concern.
So far this season in the Premier League, Liverpool have conceded thirty-four goals. At the same stage (after twenty-six matches) last season, Liverpool had conceded just twenty-seven goals, seven fewer, with exactly the same first choice back five.
It is also worth noting The Reds had kept ten clean sheets at this point last season, including six away from home, Liverpool have currently kept eight clean sheets, with a paltry two coming away from home.
If you don’t concede, you won’t lose, and Liverpool’s current tally of thirty-six points is three fewer than at the same stage last season. If Brendan Rodgers’ men are to show progress then they will need to conjure up more than sixteen points from their remaining twelve matches, sixteen being the number which would equal last seasons points tally, a very achievable points total.
Comparisons on last season aren’t all doom and gloom though, Rodgers has Liverpool scoring a lot more goals this campaign. At the same stage last season Liverpool had scored just twenty-eight goals, an absolutely abysmal return for a side looking to finish in the upper echelons of England’s top division. The Reds are currently on forty-four league goals scored, an outstanding sixteen goal increase on last season’s total. The signings of Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho will only help this cause further, and the proof is there that attacking football is back at Anfield, it’s up to Rodgers and his men to get the defence back in order before real progress can be made.
I pointed out in my last piece that I saw West Brom’s main threat their aerial ability and The Baggies stayed true to form, with Gareth McAuley’s header nine minutes from time putting the away side in front before the brilliant Romelu Lukaku broke away and tucked the ball past Reina, who should have done better, to compound Liverpool’s misery. Steven Gerrard’s penalty miss was the turning point in what was another frustrating night for the Anfield faithful, with Ben Foster in inspired form in the West Brom goal pulling off a number of saves to deny the home side.
Next up sees Swansea City visit Anfield, in what promises to be a good footballing spectacle. Rodgers’ ex club currently a point above Liverpool, so it’s a chance to leapfrog their Welsh opponents and The Reds will be looking for all three points on Sunday, after a run of five games without a win.
Only one Liverpool side in the last fifteen years have gone six competitive games without a win and that was Roy Hodgson’s side, with the sixth match being a 2-0 Merseyside derby defeat at Goodison Park in October 2010. This record is one Brendan Rodgers will not want to match, and a bullish, fast start from his side is what is needed to secure all three points against Michael Laudrup’s League Cup finalists.
Against West Brom we again saw what can happen if Liverpool don’t get an early goal, in contrast the Norwich and Arsenal games saw Brendan Rodgers’ men score early, and play out the rest of those matches with confidence.
The obvious key men for Swansea are Michel Vorm, Ashley Williams and the sensational goal machine, Michu. Liverpool must also watch out for Pablo Hernandez, who was instrumental in the Welsh sides 1-3 League Cup win at Anfield in October. The Swans will be without influential centre-half Chico Flores, who has been magnificent since signing in the summer for £2 million, the Spaniard misses the games after rupturing his ankle ligaments.
I expect a reaction from The Reds, and nothing less than three points will do, especially as Liverpool are yet to beat Swansea in the four matches played in the league and cup since their promotion. The Swans may also have one eye on their League Cup final with Bradford City next week, so I’m going for a narrow home win.
Prediction: Liverpool 2-1 Swansea City.
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