Do Liverpool still have a fullback issue?

LIVERPOOL have had many good full-backs over the years; Phil Neal, Alan Kennedy, Steve Nicol, Joey Jones, Rob Jones, John Arne Riise, Markus Babbel , Stig Inge Bjornebye, Alvaro Abeola and Steve Finnan to name but a few.

However, in recent years that position has caused plenty of problems and grumbles amongst fans and pundits alike.

Since 2003 we have had Jan Kromkamp, Josemi, Antonio Barragan, Emiliano Insua, Fabio Aurelio, Phillipe Degen, Emmanuel Mendy, Andrea Dossena and John Arne Riise. I’m sure there have been more but you get the point.

Many have been tried and all have been cast to the wayside. Some, like Dossena who was bought to replace Riise would have been sold within 2-3 months if Rafa could have found a buyer – just like when Robbie Keane was shipped out almost immediately.

Rafa also brought in Arbeloa, Johnson and Aurelio. Barring injuries Aurelio would have also gone down as one of our very best full-backs in recent time. As for Arbeloa, he is Spain and Real Madrid’s first choice right full-back and a very decent left back also.

Glen Johnson is £18 million worth of English attacking full-back. When Glen is on form there are not many better full-backs out there. His energy levels are exceptional and his decision making, movement and final ball are all top notch. When he plays well then invariably Liverpool’s attacking play takes on another dimension.

Unfortunately for Liverpool and Glen he does sometimes let those levels drop and he struggles to make a pass to a team mate or even control a pass. He can also get beaten far, far too easily defensively, especially from a cross field ball, however, Glen offers so much to the way Rodgers sets up the team and wants the team to play that those mistakes can be over-looked.

That brings us onto Jose Enrique the Spanish left-back bought by Kenny Dalglish after two good seasons at Newcastle. A full-back that is not shy of getting forward but it’s fair to say that Jose’s main strength is his defensive work. His upper body strength is excellent and he rarely gets beaten in a foot race.

The problem with Jose comes once he crosses the half-way line as he seems to lose all confidence, he nearly always looks to come back and pass inside causing Liverpool to lose momentum. That then causes Liverpool problems when trying to attack quickly, especially when Coutinho or Suarez plays as the wide left attacker, as they love to come inside and get on their stronger foot and then leave the open space for the left back to run into.

However, In the interest of fairness to Jose, he can sometimes attack well and the goal at Anfield against Swansea this season shows how well he can link up and inter-play with Coutinho and Suarez when he wants to. However that is a rarity and not the norm.
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Liverpool’s style of play is moulded on Tika-Taka, short sharp passes, full-back providing the width. If you watch Barcelona and Spain play then you will see the likes of Dani Alves, Jordi Alba, Adriano and Arbeloa camped in the opposition half and stretching the midfield so that the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Busquests, and Fabregas time and space on the ball.

It’s not only the Spaniards that use this ploy however. If you watched Bayern Munich this season you would have seen Lahm and Alaba flying forward. The reason being? Javi Martinez is the answer. A world class defensive midfielder who understands the role perfectly. Fill’s the gap between the centre backs when in possession and covering the gap left by either full-back if the ball is turned over quickly.

It is my opinion that for Rodgers’ style to be fully effective and to get the best from both full-backs whoever they may be Liverpool need to have a defensive midfielder. Someone in the mould of Mascherano, Busquets or Martinez.

But back to the question at hand, how else could Liverpool improve the full-back areas? Well the obvious answer is buy better players. Unfortunately we aren’t City, Chelsea or Utd. We don’t have a bottomless pit of cash. We can wheel and deal for sure and as Rodgers has shown, he is happy to work with and try to improve players.

We have options at right-back with Wisdom and Martin Kelly playing there already this last season. Also, Glen Johnson is right up there with the best full-backs in the league maybe even Europe.

You could put forward an argument that Johnson had his best games of the season at left-back, however we ideally need a left footed left back to take advantage of the space created by the movement of our attacking players.

The fact is left-back is more of a concern and Liverpool have been linked with plenty of left-backs recently, Cissokho, Digne and Coentrao, all of which are excellent players. Digne in particular would fit in with FSG’s and Rodgers idea of buying young and developing them. Could we afford the other two? With the wages and transfer fee’s involved it is highly unlikely.

Now if you look at the likes of Jordi Alba and David Alaba then they started life as wingers, Alba even started at Barcelona before being converted at Valencia and then ending back at Barcelona, so we could potentially have the answer to our left-back issue at the club already, his name? Stewart Downing!

Now I am not saying Downing is in the same league as Jordi Alba but he does offer something different to Jose Enrique, especially going forward. Downing likes to take players on, likes to cross the ball and has natural attacking instincts.

Since Rodgers gave him a public dressing down he responded with some excellent performances and was an almost ever presents even though I’m sure there wouldn’t be many Liverpool fans who shed tears if Downing was sold especially as Rodgers has been looking for a new signing to fit into the right-forward position and even if we sold Downing we would be very fortunate to recoup even half the £20 million we spent on him and who’s to say a replacement wouldn’t want something close to his £80k p/w wages.

We have to strengthen other area’s first this transfer window and Rodgers has moved fast in that regard.

I feel that by moving Downing to left-back we would benefit from his move natural attacking instincts and it would leave us free to spend money on areas in more desperate need of improvement such as centre-back, defensive midfield and right-forward positions.
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