Brendan Rodgers – Responsible for his own distress

This Sunday’s fixture at Old Trafford could decide Brendan Rodgers’ fate as Liverpool manager

The other day I was having a discussion with a very passionate Arsenal supporter who has been following Arsenal since his late teens. We were discussing our respective club managers and given that I am a Liverpool supporter, I didn’t comment much. Albeit the fact that he was lamenting Arsene Wenger’s regressive tactics, he still believed in Arsene Wenger for he has transformed the club but then the “promise of next season glories” has become quite tiring for the supporters.

Instead, it got me thinking of the current predicament Liverpool find themselves in. The Merseyside club lie ninth in the Premier League, six points adrift of a Champions League place. And they have been knocked out of the Champion’s League in the group stage itself, five years after the club actually made it there.

Lack of Clear Identity

Mark Lawrenson, a football pundit, has already made his feelings clear. Rudderless is exactly how Liverpool have played this season. The only exception to the entire season was the performance against Spurs, when the Reds were magnificent on that day. Rodgers last season emphasized on a playing philosophy and one of his often made statements were:“If your Plan A doesn’t work out, you work out to make Plan A better”.

This season Plan A clearly hasn’t worked out and well, there seems to be no Plan B. After the Crystal Palace defeat, Rodgers chose a “back to basics approach”, but when a must win game came against Basel, this approach didn’t work out too well.

Often this season, there has been a puzzling choice of tactics. Now I am probably not the best person to say this, given that I am thousand miles away from the actual matches and thanks to the digital advances, I have been able to follow each and every moment of Liverpool’s current campaign.

There clearly seems to be a lack of what tactics to follow. There is hardly any movement, Sterling and Gerrard are being overused and our defensive reinforcements seem to be making more mistakes than ever.

Last season, the tactics concentrated mostly on fast counterattacking game so as to suit the attacking trio of Sterling, Sturridge and Suarez. Players played in positions to suit the system of quick and between the line movements. Of course, Suarez was an integral person in coming back deep to get the ball and linking up play.

At the start of the season, Rodgers insisted on retaining that style, but surprisingly invested in Mario Balotelli who counters the attacking philosophy of movement between the lines. Currently, even when he is out injured his persistence of the same tactic and keeping into consideration that Rickie Lambert doesn’t have similar movement shows a certain confusion.

Balls are being played into spaces where earlier, there was Suarez to latch onto. Instead of taking a more direct approach for Lambert and Balotelli, that is pouring in of crosses/wing-play, the play is still being focussed through the middle.

The best example can be that against Basel as rightly pointed out by Andy Hunter in the Guardian, where Lambert came off at half time only for the winger Markovic to come in and there was more frequent crossing. From his time in Southampton, Lambert has been good in the air, Rodgers being the manager has to be aware of this but still chose not to start with Adam Lallana and Markovic who would have been more effective wingers than Henderson, Lucas, Allen who were the trio in mdifield.

Sterling’s role has been all over the park as well, he is currently being used by all the players as a get out of jail card, with everyone making the pass to him and hoping that something happens. Last season, he was at the end of fluid movements, this time on he is being expected to start the move and finish the move as well.

Reactive Tactics

Liverpool supporters have a long history of being patient and given that last season when they were playing some thrilling football, it was but obvious that there would be higher expectations this season. In my earlier articles, I had mentioned that after a certain point, the excuses of the Luis Suarez hangover and injuries would not go too well with the paying public. After spending in excess of £100 million in the summer, it is never a good idea to give excuses.

Earlier in the Champions League against Madrid, when Rodgers chose to leave out his best players for a crucial away game, he chose to say that the given players deserved their chance. The performance of the players were good but not enough to get a result, when Rodgers was questioned on the upcoming Chelsea game he simply relied on the statement of players deserving their chance.

Later that week he brought back those players who he had dropped earlier. Now when I mean reactive tactics, as a manger you sometimes have to alter your gameplay based on the opposition, which Rodgers did last season very effectively depending on the opposition, be it Sterling starting on the top of the diamond or then shifting him out to the wing. Again this was because Suarez could operate from deep, in effective the striker could function as a creator as well.

Now Balotelli and Lambert have mostly been target men who generally are more effective as second strikers, so here the onus should be on one of them to take that responsibility. Coutinho or Gerrard are being asked to play the role of second strikers.

Stoke and Sunderland had defenses who were susceptible to quick movement, but Rodgers went ahead with Lambert. It was thus easier for the defenses to mark them out of the game. Borini has not been given game time or he is nursing some injury or the other, but when Rodgers knows another teams weaknesses, he should be targetting that instead letting things pass by him.

Sam Allardyce of West Ham United has often been accused of being a reactive manager; he alters tactics according to the opposition and also changes the style of play. Recently, he was being criticised for this approach.

Reacting angrily and given the years of experience, he just shrugged it off. For he knows the fans want a brand of football which is exciting and result oriented. The fans are paying their hard earned money to watch these matches, at the end of the week they want to walk off with a smile and not with the feeling of being cheated.

Newer challenges ahead

Sport is cruel, everyone in this industry is well aware of it. The recent run of results for Liverpool has put the manager in, to put it mildly in a precarious position. An upturn in fortunes can perhaps start at Old Trafford this Sunday afternoon itself, where a well-earned draw is at least expected after the mid-week trauma of the Champions League exit.

A win would be a welcome boost. Manchester United themselves have their own set of worries but have seemed to somehow manage a string of wins and are in a respectable third position and seven points clear of Liverpool.

Adam Lallana will be expected to start and Lazar Markovic, irrespective of the performance on Tuesday, will be expected to enliven the proceedings. Last season, Liverpool romped to a 3-0 win and a performance on the lines of that would be certainly welcome.

Reiterating my earlier stance, stating a clear way to approach the game and urgency by the players would probably help the team get better. Recently, the games have passed by Liverpool. For a club like Liverpool, it has become obligatory for the players to stamp their authority rather than wait. It may not be a make or break point but if you are not taking one of the oldest rivalries in English football seriously, then it is only a fatal path which lies ahead for Brendan Rodgers.