THE last couple of results will have boosted the morale of Liverpool players and possibly even that of the fans.
Maybe last weekend’s win against Reading was a more nerve wrecking experience than that of ecstasy, and perhaps the mid-week win over Anzhi Makhachkala could breathe a little bit of certainty amongst all the Anfield faithful.
Granted, the Russian side wasn’t exactly a stern test but Liverpool haven’t held up well against mediocre teams of late either, so to come away with a win and a thrid consecutive clean-sheet will boost confidence nevertheless.
Even if it’s just more a mathematical feel good factor going around Melwood, it’ll still be something.
On top of that, Stewart Downing’s show Thursday night after being put in the left-back position to accommodate Raheem Sterling ahead of him, may even open up a tactical window for Brendan Rodgers.
Glen Johnson already is a bit of a wing back from the right-hand side, Jose Enrique’s done the same down the left last season. But when he’s injured or unavailable, in Downing there may be another way of doubling up on the opposition wing backs with quality attack.
Suso has done well off late as well, so exploiting the wing play could be a great way for Liverpool to draw out defenders towards the wing, which may allow the likes of Nuri Sahin, Luis Suarez, and Steven Gerrard to open up gaps down the middle.
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Chances have to be put away though. Liverpool have had too many chances which have gone agonizingly wide. That’s the main difference between the likes of Manchester United and the Reds. United could have a scrappy game, yet come away with a win because they’ll get maybe 4-5 chances and convert at least 2 of those.
Against Everton this Sunday, pride is of course at stake. But the confidence of yesteryear when it would still be more than a win-able fixture is a thing of the past. If anything, Everton will be the favourites, especially playing at Goodison Park.
A decent start to the season sees them lie 4th and 6 points ahead of Liverpool. Their League Cup loss to Leeds United in the mid-week might have them rattled a bit though and it’s something Rodgers must have his players exploit to the extreme.
At the end of the day, possession and conversion of chances – that’s all it comes down to for LFC.
Liverpool have done the first one well most of the time. It’s time to master the second one as well.
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We need to attack much not us we did with reading … Assaidi deserves to start and suarez should be passing instead of diving .he gives the ball easily at times..
Suarez should not be striking for liverpool if we need goals…He’s a better player from the wing.
Come on red men.we hav the momentum goin into today.suso an Gerrard 2 nil.let’s hav it
Ynwa
if you thiink football comes down to possession and conversion just , then you are exceptionally unintelligent . there is far more to it than that . possession is totally irrelevant , the most important things are defending and scoring – one of which we are not very good at