Liverpool’s recent form has been worrying and a poor performance against the Hammers is not the response we were looking for. Rodgers lined up with the diamond formation; Borini started his first game of the season and partnered Mario Balotelli up front. Raheem Sterling played at the tip of the diamond with Henderson, Gerrard and Lucas behind. Martin Skrtel returned to the starting 11 by taking the place of Sakho; the rest of the back four stayed the same.
1) Pressing
Last season our pressing was our best attribute as a team. We gave no team any time on the ball, we won the ball back in dangerous areas and counter attacked with speed. On Saturday night our pressing was absolutely non-existent. We gave West Ham far too much time on the ball and even at 2-1 down during the second half, the hammers had spells where they could pass the ball around their defence with no real pressure on them.
Pressing isn’t all about physical attributes nor is it a skill that each individual has. It’s a collected effort that needs communication and an understanding of one another. It starts from the front and then the team as a whole needs to close the space by moving together as one unit. If done correctly it can be a joy to watch, if done poorly it can do more harm than good, but if you don’t press the ball in the Premier League then you give good players time and they will hurt you.
2) Killing the game
The main difference between us and a world class team at the moment is that ruthlessness. After conceding the first goal and sensing the momentum the opposition were gaining, we needed to kill the tempo of the game. Go down injured, take a minute over a goal kick, take time over every throw in etc. It’s not pretty but sometimes it is necessary. At 1-0 down we were still really in the game but once we go 2-0 down the best we could have expected would have been a draw, considering our attacking deficiencies.
Brendan Rodgers is a truly brilliant manager and once he trains his team to be ruthless he’ll be one of the best in the world. Imagine Mourinho’s Chelsea were in our position last season where we needed 7 points from 3 games to win the league. He’d have played for a draw against the best of the 3 teams and won the other two. We need to learn how to do that.
3) Time for Lucas?
When we’re scoring for fun and our attack is in full flow we can play no defensive minded midfielder and still win the game, we’ll just outscore the opposition. But when our attack isn’t firing on all cylinders we need more protection of our defence from our midfield and Gerrard just doesn’t offer that.
In an ideal world we wouldn’t have to play Lucas, since his knee injury against Chelsea a few years back he hasn’t been the same player. But the injuries too Can and Allen means unless we decide to give young Jordan Rossister a chance, we don’t have many options in that position.
4) Patience
It doesn’t seem like fans these days have any patience. It’s times like this when things aren’t going our way that we need the full support of the fans to carry us forward. We have a fantastic manager who proved how good he is last year and we have a squad that’s full of potential with some brilliant players. It will come together this season and once we hit some form we’ll prove to the rest of the league that we aren’t a one season wonder and we’re still a force to be reckoned with.
It’s Middlesbrough tonight and we have a chance to give our youngsters some game time and rest a few of the senior players for the Derby on Saturday. Let’s just calm down and try and enjoy it, if that’s at all possible.
Conclusion
It was a poor performance and there’s no denying it. There’s plenty to work on but we’ve seen what we can do when we play well, just ask Spurs. The return of Daniel Sturridge can’t come quickly enough; he’ll add some impetus to our attack and should see a few more goals. Hopefully he’ll bring out the best in Mario Balotelli too.
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