Less than 3 months ago Steven Gerrard started as Liverpool's lone
striker in a 6-1 loss to Stoke at the Britannia. During that game, Gerrard, Can
and Ibe started out of position. Gerrard as a striker, Can as a right back and
Ibe as defensive full back brought later into the to tighten defense; the results of the tinkering were quite
evident. A 6-1 drubbing was the worst way to send –off Liverpool’s legendary
captain but the occasion highlighted Rodger’s weakness more than ever. Rodger’s has the tendency to buy versatile
players and play them out of position. Over the years Rodgers has primarily liked to
sign 4 different types of player:
·
Strikers with finishing ability (Borini / Sturridge / Aspas / Lambert /
Lallana / Balotelli / Ings/ Benteke – most of who scored at least 10 goals in the
season before they were signed)
·
Fast Wingers capable of take-ons (
Markovic / Origi / Moses / Assaidi )
·
Aggressive full backs not afraid to go up the pitch (Manquillo / Clyne / Moreno / Joe Gomez / Cissoko)
·
Fast & Strong center backs who can hold a high line ( Lovern / Sakho / Illori / Toure )
Herein lies the problem – Rodgers has only brought in 4 central
midfielders (Allen / Sahin / Can / Milner), none of them are known for being creative in
midfield. They all have strong work rate, versatility to lend the attack, and
drop back to defend. However, they don’t possess the acumen or intelligence of
a Paul Scholes or a Steven Gerrard. Rodger’s team relies heavily on creativity in
the final third from Coutinho, Lallana and now Firminio who tend to run out of
space against teams that park the bus. In the fast paced EPL central defensive
midfielders take their job seriously and mark the number 10 role out of the
game. Historically this has been the approach: Essien on Gerrard in the
Champions league under Hiddink or more recently Rece Oxford on Ozil. Given
this, Rodgers needs a plan B – which is to have a traditional playmaker in the
middle of the park who can distribute the ball around the park and bring in
more people into the game. Against teams that park the bus Rodger’s teams have
conceded too many goals on the counter, losing the ball in the final third
while maintaining a high line makes life difficult for center backs.
Overall, although Liverpool managed to gain three points at the Brittania their expensive Benteke focused Plan B seems more hopeful than ambitious.
We should not be surprised to see Rodger’s deploy a diamond formation
sometime soon to counter the lack of creativity in midfield.
