If, like me, you’re not the most bullish of Liverpool supporters, you might be quite worried about the prospect of facing Everton this Saturday considering how bloody awful we’ve been in recent weeks.
There are three main reasons for this: now that Luis Suarez has gone and Sturridge is out injured, Rodgers is trying to switch back to his preferred 4-3-3 formation or the 4-2-3-1. The 4-4-2 diamond is rarely being used, despite it giving us so much success last season. As a result, we have a squad struggling to gel together in an unfamiliar formation that further complicates matters.
The second reason is the injuries. If Daniel Sturridge hadn’t been injured on England duty I wonder if Rodgers would have gone back to 4-4-2 by now, with Sturridge partnering Mario Balotelli up front like we saw against Spurs. Balotelli could come deep, receive the ball and ping it to Sturridge who constantly looks to run behind defences. Unfortunately, with the England man injured we just have Balotelli, who doesn’t like to make runs behind. Apparently neither do our wingers, so all our football gets played in front of the back four, and even with Borini partnering Mario, we seem unwilling to get behind and penetrate the defence.
Injuries have also drastically affected our performance in midfield. As I expected, Gerrard has been found out. Opposition teams know he is the weak link in our midfield defensively. Assign a forward or two to mark him and he’s suddenly incapable of protecting an already shaky back four. If Joe Allen was fit, he would be able to help Gerrard out in these situations and the problem would be somewhat negated. Instead, Gerrard is either partnered with Lucas, whose pace has left him since his injuries or has Henderson come back and help him out, which sacrifices all the good work Hendo does linking up with the forwards and pressing the opponents.
The third problem is that with these injuries, we have been forced to blood new signings much earlier and more frequently than we’d have liked. Ideally, you want to integrate one or two into a game at a time to allow them to slot in to a team with great chemistry. Due to injuries, we haven’t been afforded that luxury. Since the international break, we’ve been starting 5 or 6 new players in the same games; that’s half a team who haven’t had time to develop an understanding with each other, and thus look indecisive and sluggish on the ball. That applies as much to our defence as our attack – in our back four, three players are completely new signings.
With Sturridge set to return for the derby, I hope that we return to the 4-4-2 diamond so that we can be more comfortable going forward again. Allen will return the week after so hopefully that will restore some confidence to the midfield and give Gerrard the help he needs. With the new signings, give them time. Understanding takes a long time develop, especially in circumstances such as these.
Hopefully this weekend, the return of Sturridge is all we’ll need to exploit an equally leaky Everton defence. Until these three issues are dealt with, we all just need to hang in there.
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I Expect Liverpool Win Against Everton.
On the plus side, we have some great youngsters coming through. Rossiter, phillips, ojo, williams, sinclair and wilson to name a few. Hope they get game time with the seniors this season
Emre Can and Joe Allen hopefully when they are fit should be giving the holding midfield role because Gerard’s legs are tired and should be reserved for the CL.
Please, som1 should tell BR to bring back Andrew Wisdom, Jordan Ibe & incorporate Suso into the team. These guys are good and can deliver. see what Stewart Downing has become. wish them luck & Godspeed for the derby.
Br. Should give young suso a chance on this derby. Also get ready to get us new striker during january window. Balo is not a dribling type like suarez.