Liverpool can replicate Luis Suarez’s qualities but can’t replace his quality

The difference between Brendan Rodgers and Kenny Dalglish is never more pronounced than in the personnel each have signed whilst in charge at Liverpool. The latter’s recruitment in the summer of 2010, widely discussed, widely derided, featured the targeting of players that could create chances for Andy Carroll -- so Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam came in on inflated fees, representative of both Liverpool’s new era and the era of overpriced British talent.

Although history has been damning on the memory of Dalglish’s Liverpool, who played better football than the “Downing + crosses = Carroll headers” formula suggests, the desire of Liverpool’s new owners to play more progressive, attacking football, and move away from the Dalglish method, led them to Brendan Rodgers.

The contrast with Dalglish was immediately obvious. Rodgers had rose to prominence with a Swansea side built on the principles of dominating possession, and with players prized for their close control and ability to play through the spaces.

The scale of investment under Dalglish made it difficult for Rodgers to fully assert his favoured style during his first season at Liverpool - and was used as an excuse for ultimately underwhelming league form -- but having sold Downing, Adam and Carroll in the summer, this is now firmly Rodgers’s squad, or more accurately, Rodgers’s attack.

To go along with the original signing of Fabio Borini, Rodgers’s first signing in June 2012, there was the dual swoop for Daniel Sturridge and Phillipe Coutinho in the January transfer window, then the Spanish influx of Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto at the start of the summer, followed by a late loan move for Victor Moses. They’re all far more “Rodgers” players than they are “Dalglish” players, and having been forced to make do with an understrength mix of both approaches in 2012-13, Liverpool’s attacking options for 2013-14 firmly bear Rodgers’ footprint.

Underpinning it all, though, somewhat ironically, is a Dalglish signing. Luis Suarez remains Liverpool’s finest player despite all his transgressions and frustrating absences. Rodgers has had to deal with that unusual challenge -- building a side around his most valuable talent but also finding a way to replicate his attributes in those periods of inevitable suspension.

Whether by accident or by design, Liverpool’s squad options in attack all offer some element of what it is that makes up Suarez. Aspas, for example, has the Uruguayan’s aggressiveness, whilst Sturridge and Moses are similarly fleet of foot with excellent dribbling skills, even boasting the same inconsistent finishing that has often plagued Suarez. Perhaps it is Coutinho then that is most unlike Suarez, what with the Brazilian’s adeptness for sliding through balls in behind, but even that betrays Suarez’s vision.

However, the major difference between Suarez and the rest of the attackers is that the former is simply better than the rest. His probable return in the Capital One Cup tie against Manchester United is a shot in the arm to the squad’s quality and further exaggerates the variety of options Rodgers has at his disposal.

If it were not for Coutinho’s injury, it would have been intriguing to see what position in which Suarez would have returned. However, with the young playmaker absent from proceedings, Suarez will almost certainly start behind Sturridge, reprising the promising partnership that had been developing before Branislav Ivanovic had looked so tasty.

Sturridge and Suarez works because they offer clever, unpredictable movement -- normally it is Suarez who occupies the space between the lines, with Sturridge helping to create said space by pushing defenders back with his pace, but the latter is also adept at moving into deep positions, collecting passes on the half-turn and then moving in advance of the central defenders. Such fluidity in positioning can be difficult for defenders to track and United’s already-shaky central defence might struggle to deal with Liverpool’s agile, mobile attack.

With or without Suarez this would be the case but Liverpool will certainly be better for having the Uruguayan present.

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