Is it time to commit to 3-5-2?

ON Wednesday against Manchester United, Brendan Rodgers sent out what was possibly the strongest Liverpool side he could muster together.

Shorn of Daniel Agger and Glen Johnson, the Reds manager’s hand was forced into again playing Kolo Toure at right-back and again throwing a still shaky-looking Sakho in at the deep end.

What transpired was not what we’d all hoped when we saw the starting line-ups prior to kick-off but the domination of the Champions (whose crown is quickly slipping) in their own back yard was promising, particularly in the manner it was achieved.

But of the 17 chances Liverpool created, I can recall perhaps about 3-4 that were on target. If that. And that is a common theme this season, just as it was for much of the last couple of seasons as well.

For part of Wednesday night Liverpool went with a system that I’ve championed for years, one that I believe to provide the best of both worlds – in terms of defending and attacking – and would seem to provide the manager with the fluidity he likes to see in his passing game.

In the final stages on Wednesday night Liverpool looked far more likely to score (even if the Kelly for Lucas swap was a slightly confusing one) and I believe a lot of that was down to opting for a 3-man defence at the back.

In many ways, pushing those full-backs further up-field and putting an extra man in at the back provides much more solidity. You have those two – hopefully, attacking – full-backs able to rampage down either side whilst also being able to fill in at the back.
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Not only this, but it also means there is less of a need to Rodgers to play Lucas and Gerrard side-by-side in front of the back two, allowing the captain to be pushed further forward.  That doesn’t appear to be in Rodgers plans at the moment, with Moses seemingly the preferred option behind the front two in Phillipe Coutinho’s absence but against Sunderland on Sunday Gerrard was much more impressive the further he pressed upfield.

I believe that this is one of the keys to this working and to Liverpool getting back in amongst the goals, as Gerrard’s form this season has left a lot to be desired and he just isn’t suited to, and is very wasted, in such a deep role. In Coutinho’s absence it is important to have such an influence further forward where he is able to better influence the game.

Another purpose of the switch is to allow us to utilize an area of the team in which we are truly blessed with diverse and plenty options. We’ve Agger, Toure, Sakho, (the injured) Coates, Wisdom, Kelly, Ilori and the in-form Skrtel.

It is likely that, when fit, Agger will be the first choice but with a 3-man defensive line it allows for more options and groupings, depending on the opposition. It also allows for the less experienced and younger players to be put together with a couple of their more experienced team-mates – everyone’s a winner.

With our defensive options, having two great full-backs and being limited in experienced attacking midfielders we really need to play to our strengths and make use of what players we have. If we’d managed to sign a Willian, a Mkhitaryan or similar then I might feel differently but until we do, I believe that this could be our best bet for scoring goals, regularly, whilst keeping it tight at the back.

You could see the fruitful beginnings of this setup against Manchester United and, despite being second best for much of the first half against Sunderland, Liverpool still manage to carve out (and score) two great chances.

Suarez’s return is obviously a huge part of the Reds scoring more than 1 goal in a league game this season, but changing things up a bit, formation wise, has seen us begin to get the best out of some key players and 3-5-2 (3-4-1-2) would seem to be the way forward in the meantime.

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