Rodgers: Reshuffle versus Hull down to Liverpool’s defensive weakness

Liverpool’s Daniel Agger (centre)

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has told his vice-captain Daniel Agger to put more focus into his defending after his poor performance in the Merseyside derby.

The Danish central defender was dropped from the side for the trip to Hull after a disappointing display at Goodison Park and Rodgers has told Agger to put a greater emphasis on his defending.

Rodgers has previously praised Agger for his defensive abilities but has criticised his problem when facing aggressive and physical attacking threats.

Agger was subject of a bid from Barcelona in the summer but the player and the club rejected it as the Dane replaced Jamie Carragher as the club’s vice-captain, but it seems that Rodgers may prefer Kolo Toure in his defence when up against physical strikers.

“The first thing you have to do is defend,” Rodgers told the Daily Star, when asked about the decision to drop Agger. “The first attribute isn’t about the ball. It is to defend. When you can defend, you then look to build the game from there.

“I just felt we have struggled at times against big physical opponents so Toure has obviously coped well with that type of player.

“So that was the idea, putting him against Hull, and obviously [Martin] Skrtel has been excellent since coming in. It was simply tactical.”

Worryingly, Rodgers also suggested that he is unsure of his best central defensive partnership despite spending over £20 million on Tiago Ilori and Mamadou Sakho in the summer.

“It is something I need to look at in order to get that consistency,” Rodgers added “The last couple of games we were disappointed with the goals at Everton and obviously we made mistakes. So that has been the difficulty for us, getting that balance, the partnership that could cope with all types of strikers.

“There has been lots of change, and some of that has been down to me, knowing every game is an absolute cup final for us.

“If I feel I have need to change it going into a game to get a result, then I will do. But of course I also need to look at it from the coaching perspective as well, that that little run in the team might breed the consistency to the defence even though we have had to change it.”

Daniel Agger has struggled this season, winning just 36% of his tackles (5/14).