After two positive displays away to Arsenal and Manchester City, many people were of the opinion that Liverpool would breeze past West Bromwich Albion on Monday night. It wasn’t to be.
As many have said, this performance was very much reminiscent of the Liverpool that had been on show before the acquisition of Daniel Sturridge. After being ruled out of action for England the previous week, Liverpool were dealt a blow when it emerged that Sturridge would not recover in time for the clash with the Baggies. This performance showed just how important Sturridge is, and for me it reiterated how essential it is that Suarez has a strike partner.
West Brom played some good football in the very early stages of the match, and Liverpool found themselves chasing the away team for a lot of the first 10-15 minutes. The longer Steve Clarke’s well organised side frustrated Liverpool, the more mistakes that creeped in to the reds’ game. Liverpool grew in to the game but couldn’t get an early breakthrough. This proved to be costly.
It’s unfair to single anyone out, but I’m sure the likes of Jose Enrique, Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger and Jonjo Shelvey would agree when I say that they certainly weren’t at their best on Monday night. For Enrique, having been in such good form before his injury, it’s proving to be a tough ask for the Spaniard to reach that level again. Enrique’s performance at Anfield on Monday night was the same sort of performance we were seeing from him at the back end of last season and the beginning of this season. Despite utilising his undeniable strength and pace, on the ball, Enrique could have been a lot better. There were a numerous amount of misplaced passes from the Spanish full back, and his decision making with the ball was often disappointing, too. Exactly the opposite of what Brendan Rodgers wants in a left back. Rodgers will need to ensure that Enrique is back to his best sooner rather than later.
Liverpool’s other fullback on Monday night was Glen Johnson, usually so consistent in his game. The game against on Monday was the game where an awful lot of football looked to have caught up on Johnson. There were a lot of totally uncharacteristic errors from the England right back, but he looked a lot more like his old self again against Zenit St Petersburg on Thursday night. Daniel Agger has taken to Twitter to reveal that he feels his performance in the last 10 minutes on Monday night was ‘not good enough’. Some people have argued that Agger was at fault for the goals, but I think it’s unfair to solely lay the blame on him. Romelu Lukaku is a very powerful boy, and an extremely hard man to stop when he’s running at you. As for Jonjo Shelvey, he was chosen as the man to replace Daniel Sturridge for Monday night’s clash. His inclusion meant that Luis Suarez moved up to be the furthest player forward for the reds, with Shelvey taking up a role similar to where Suarez had been playing with Sturridge in the side. After a good performance for England’s U21s the previous week, Shelvey found it hard to get in to the game on Monday. I for one wonder whether using Shelvey in a deeper midfield role may be the way forward for him. The London born midfielder had a goal correctly ruled out for offside after Ben Foster could only parry away Glen Johnsons’ stinging effort. The ball fell for Shelvey who put the ball in the net, only to find that he was standing in an offside position when Johnson connected with the ball.
But it’s unfair to lay the blame on several individuals. It was very much a team performance, and despite a lot of hard work in the game, Liverpool failed to find the breakthrough first.
It could be worse for Liverpool. This was always going to be a campaign where the main aim would be to build a competitive squad, and to finish higher than where we did last season. Nobody is expecting a 4th place finish for the reds this year, so this result is a little easier to digest than it would be if it were in the next season or two. I’d also be a lot more concerned if we didn’t know the reason for the result. For me it’s simple. If Daniel Sturridge was fit for Monday’s game, Liverpool would have been a lot more clinical in front of goal and they’d probably have won the game. His injury came at a bad time for the team. There have been real signs of this Liverpool side starting to take shape against Arsenal and Manchester City, and Sturridge was a main part of that, particularly against Manchester City where he was excellent. His injury saw Rodgers change the dimension of the attack by pushing Suarez forward to be used as a lone striker. For me, that’s a no go. I have always said that I feel Suarez needs to be playing with another striker. This allows him more space to terrorise defences, and gives him more of a free role, something he is perfect for. For this reason, before the game I had welcomed the idea of bringing Borini in to the side and using him where Sturridge has been playing. If I were Brendan Rodgers, I’d definitely be looking at bringing in another top class striker in the summer to compete with Sturridge, Suarez and Borini. The Reds cannot afford to miss Sturridge the way they did on Monday night every time he can’t play. I’d start with both Borini and Suarez for the rest of this season’s Europa League campaign with Sturridge not being eligible to play.
There were positives to take out of the game on Monday. Lucas Leiva is looking a lot like his old-self again. His break up play and passing was very good again on Monday, just as it was against Arsenal and Manchester City. Steven Gerrard was excellent again. The last month has seen him really kick on in the side as he adapts to the managers’ style of play. He is now looking like the ultimate Brendan Rodgers midfielder, and he’ll be very disappointed about his penalty miss.
Monday night also saw a debut for new signing Philippe Coutinho. Of course, because of the scoreline, it wasn’t an ideal match for the Brazilian to make his debut, but in the fifteen minutes he was on the pitch there were flashes of what he was all about. He may well have had a goal to his name if it wasn’t for a controversial block by defender Gareth McAuley. Brendan Rodgers will be pleased to see him on the pitch and will hope to have the option of picking him from the start in the near future.
Big money pair Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing continued their good form. Downing’s first half display was one of the best I have seen from him since being at the club. On the other side of the pitch, Henderson brings a real balance to the side and would have had another goal to celebrate if it wasn’t for a very good reaction save from Ben Foster.
The team has made real progress on the pitch in recent weeks, and that is showing in their performances. You don’t get the sense that this Liverpool side is going to crumble at the end of the season like Kenny Dalglish’s side did last year. In fact I think it’ll be the opposite. Keeping Daniel Sturridge fit is essential if the reds want to finish strong. Brendan Rodgers has been impressed by his side’s ability to bounce back well, and he’ll be hoping his players do just the same with a positive result at home to old club Swansea City on Sunday.
