After beating Stoke City on Saturday, Liverpool likely breathed a sigh of relief. Yet that exhalation could have been more of a whimper. The Reds had lost four of their five previous matches, with the fifth a draw. Beleaguered manager Brendan Rodgers still has more work to do, more work than he'd probably like to admit.
Liverpool beat Stoke, but problems still plague the side
Liverpool snapped a five-match winless streak against Stoke City, but they’ve still got a lot of work to do if they want to be good again.
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Liverpool may have won, but the single goal didn’t arrive until the 85th minute. On the whole, the performance was disjointed and disappointing. The same issues that have plagued the side this season were evident, and it seemed as though the Reds won in spite of those flaws, rather than because they overcame them.
Struggles In Attack
With Luis Suárez gone and Daniel Sturridge spending most of the season in the training room, the team has struggled to find a combination that works up top. The side that scored 101 goals last season has put in just 16 in 13 matches, a reflection of their inability to create a cohesive attack.
Mario Balotelli has struggled playing as a lone striker, something he's never been good at, and has been injured since the international break. Rickie Lambert has many qualities, but most of the time he's too static up top, especially since he too has been played without a partner. Fabio Borini has intrigued when he's been played, but that simply hasn't happened enough, and against Stoke he was left out of the squad entirely.
Against Stoke, Lambert struggled, isolated when the midfield was unable to get the ball to him, but not providing much help when the attack did reach the final third. Some of that was fatigue after playing 90 minutes against Ludogorets on Wednesday, but even then, it was an underwhelming performance from the former Southampton striker.
Add in the ceaseless experimentation and lack of good form from the attacking midfield band behind the striker, and it's little wonder that Liverpool have struggled to score goals. Raheem Sterling has looked overplayed, consequently finding little success this season. Philippe Coutinho has always run hot and cold, but this season has been more cold; against Stoke Coutinho was too frequently lost out in space, unable to aid the rest of the attack, and his passes lacked incision when he tried to pull something off. Adam Lallana has flashed a lot of potential, but like Borini he's gone under-utilized, an issue further compounded by a couple of frustratingly-timed injuries.
The other issue has been a lack of support in midfield. Jordan Henderson's marauding runs through the center helped create opportunities for Liverpool last season, but this year he's seemed chained to the center line, forced to help the defensively-hapless Steven Gerrard in midfield when Liverpool's captain has played deeper, and frequently called upon to shield the back line even when Gerrard isn't on the pitch. On Saturday he tended to stay too deep again, even with Lucas behind him in midfield, and even when he did get forward he wasn't much help. His passing touch was off, and his runs lacked any real edge or penetration.
What made Liverpool so hard to stop last season was that the attacks could come from anywhere, at any time. They were very good at executing supporting runs and, Luis Suárez aside, two or three players were available to crash a rebounding ball or switch the direction of the attack and catch the defense off-balance. This year, they’re not doing that, and their attacks have become incredibly predictable as a result.
Maybe Daniel Sturridge returning to health will help, but that’s just one part of the problem. The guys behind and around the striker need to be better than they have been if Liverpool are going to turn things around.
A Troublesome Back Line
For the last month, Kolo Touré has been Liverpool’s best defender.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Glen Johnson still looks like a tortured mess at fullback. Alberto Moreno shows flashes of brilliance on the left, but also makes some monumentally frustrating mistakes. Martin Skrtel has been a shadow of the force he’s been at times the last few years. Dejan Lovren has been an outright disaster since signing for £20 million this summer. Javier Manquillo has done alright when called on, but he’s largely looked as good as he has because he hasn’t caused any disastrous moments. Simon Mignolet has gone from a top-notch young shotstopper on his way to becoming a good all-around goalkeeper to a man with shattered confidence thanks to the extra work his porous defense has put him through.
Touré hasn’t been all roses and sunshine when he’s played for Liverpool this season, but he’s at least somewhat steadied what had been a mostly poor defensive unit for Liverpool. His ability to lead the back line and organize the defense is something that’s been sorely missing at times, as Lovren has done little to nothing in those areas despite his leadership supposedly being a major part of why Liverpool bought him.
Against Stoke, the return of Lucas Leiva in defensive midfield also helped, with Stoke forced to take most of their chances from wider areas as the Brazilian had a good lock on things in front of the center backs. This sort of shield in front of the defense has been lacking ever since Steven Gerrard was made in to a “defensive” midfielder about a year ago.
When Rodgers took Lucas out and put in Gerrard, and higher up the pitch no less, Stoke quickly started penetrating Liverpool’s midfield and defense through the middle. That’s when the Potters’ best chances started coming, too, which is just shockingly coincidental. But Lucas, never the same player after blowing out his knee nearly three years ago, physically can’t play three matches per week anymore. Liverpool must find a way to make things work without him.
The Steven Gerrard Conundrum
That brings us to the elephant in the room: Steven Gerrard. He may not have started against Stoke, but that was the first Premier League start he missed this season, and he’s also started four of five Champions League matches. The captain is revered, of course, but for the good of the club, the 34-year-old cannot be shoehorned into the starting lineup for almost every match.
As a defensive midfielder, Lucas is leaps and bounds better than Gerrard, and several others can perform there adequately as well. In a more supporting role, Henderson and Joe Allen have Gerrard beat. As the most attacking central mid, Gerrard just doesn’t have the legs or ability to execute his passes any more to be able to keep up with Coutinho or Lallana.
The reality of sports is that our favorite players will eventually get older and stop being the dynamic forces they once were. The challenge is to find ways to ease that loss and bring on the next generation. Sadly, that’s a challenge that Brendan Rodgers is miserably failing at, doggedly sticking with Gerrard most times when a better option is available. If Gerrard was a vocal and commanding leader on the pitch, sticking with his captain might be understandable. But Gerrard’s always been more of a quiet, lead-by-example type, and his example hasn’t been much of anything to follow of late.
Simply figuring out how to better utilize Gerrard, and with him the rest of t he Liverpool midfield, could be the biggest key to improving Liverpool’s season. On one hand it might seem like the easiest fix of the three glaring issues, but with the sentiment and fan pressure surrounding Gerrard, it might actually be the toughest to pull off.
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