Most of Liverpool’s players are hitting some kind of form, at the right time
Remember what it was like in November?
It’s almost as if the first half of the season was some sort of nightmare that we only really woke from a couple of months ago. While we went through a bad patch that saw the team hit depths as low as 5 losses in a row, in 2015 we’ve been the form team. In 3 months we’ve gone from an average mid-table side to only 2 points off 4th place. We’re 3 points off 3rd.
We’re only 7 points off second. We’ve yet to lose a game in normal time 3 months in to the calendar year.
There was a time when every Liverpool fan pinned their hopes of recovery on the return of Daniel Sturridge. Now he’s back, he’s arguably not even our best player. Sure he scored last night to ensure we enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 win against Burnley, but since he came back he’s only scored 3 in 10. He’s still trying to shake off that rustiness.
He’s not carrying the team like we hoped he would. Instead, the team is carrying him. And that’s not a bad thing.
In Sturridge’s absence, Brendan Rodgers and his squad had to solve their problems on their own. Somehow they’ve managed it. Every single player has stepped up. Coutinho has been playing well for months now since the formation switch and now he seems to have added goals to his game. If he keeps the consistency he’ll be world class by the end of the year and he’s only 22.
Henderson seems to have added goals too, but he’s also regularly making assists and leading in exemplary fashion. Since Gerrard was injured he’s taken on the captaincy full-time and he looks like he’s been our captain for years. Our record is fantastic with him wearing the armband.
Lallana clearly needs a run of games before he gets into peak form but he’s been looking good too, unlucky not to score in recent weeks. Markovic is much improved and looking more settled in his new league, grabbing vital goals in this unbeaten run. Jordon Ibe returned from loan and has hit the ground running. Joe Allen has been turning in man of the match performances against teams like Man City. Lucas became the midfield lynch-pin before his injury and should be back soon.
Mamadou Sakho has shown Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers what we were missing back in the winter and proved that he is our best defender before his injury. Martin Skrtel is in the form of his life and looks as comfortable as I’ve ever seen him playing in a back 3. Emre Can has also turned from a promising centre-mid into an extremely capable centre-back. Simon Mignolet’s confidence has returned and looks like a completely different player since early January.
Missed penalty aside, even Dejan Lovren hasn’t been terrible while covering for Sakho.
Mario Balotelli has scored vital goals.
Somehow, for the third season running, Brendan Rodgers has turned a half season of average-going-on-terrible football into something incredibly promising. We’ve come through a tough run of games where we managed to beat West Ham at home, Bolton away, Spurs at home, Palace away, Besiktas at home, Southampton away and Man City at home. Now we’ve kept it going by beating Burnley at home. Sure we lost 1-0 to Besiktas in extra time in Istanbul but we bounced back immediately against the league champions and that’s fantastic.
Beat Blackburn at the weekend and we have a great chance of winning the FA Cup. Beat Swansea away after that and we could go fourth if United lose to Spurs.
Somehow, after all the shit we’ve been through, we could still make this a successful season. Champions League qualification and a trophy.
Who would have thought that all the way back in November?
