Back to square one: Five things that have gone wrong for Liverpool

Suarez and Sturridge – The SASThe previous season was a joyride to remember for the Liverpool faithful as their team rode on the brilliance of SAS (Suarez and Sturridge) to rise from midtable blemishes to being genuine title challengers. The Reds had an air of invincibility about them as they bulldozed their way back to the Champions League by netting in 100+ goals in the league.However, as this season has unfolded, those memories look like a distant, faded reality. Liverpool have been lacklustre and have failed to continue where they left from. Let us see why:

#1 Poor Transfers

Some of Liverpool’s 2014 summer recruits.

After Luis Suarez had joined Barcelona, Liverpool had a hefty sum at their disposal and they didn’t utilize it to perfection. Instead of looking at world class options, they preferred to settle for Mario Balotelli who has been struggling since his Manchester City days. Rickie Lambert’s purchase was equally perplexing. Even if he is a backup, why would you opt for somebody who is in the dying embers of his career and doesn’t suit your fast paced quick passing approach?

Liverpool have lost several world-class players over the past six years namely Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres, Arbeloa, Mascherano, Suarez, and now with skipper Steven Gerrard having recently announced his plans to leave the Reds, he could be added to that elite departure list.

Safe to say Liverpool’s acquisitions over the same period has been nowhere near to the quality of their departures and the void thus created has resulted in Liverpool missing out on Champions League football only to return for a brief stint this season or so it seems as of now.

After a successful return to the Champions League, it was imperative that Liverpool focus on quality and not quantity in the transfer market. However, Brendan Rodgers’ has managed to splash his kitty on young talents which are far from finished products. Lazard Markovic, Divock Origi, Alberto Moreno, Javier Manquillo and Emre Can – all of them look very promising on paper but we cannot undermine the fact that they would need at least a couple of years of grooming to blossom in the Premier League.

#2 Problems Defending

The story of Liverpool’s shambolic defence aptly captured in this picture.

When Rodgers was blessed with a handsome budget for transfers, it was expected that after conceding 50+ goals last season, the defensive area would see a major upgrade, and accordingly, the additions were indeed made in the form of Lovren (20 million), Manquillo (loan) and Moreno (12 million).

This season when Lovren and Skrtel were playing as centre backs for Liverpool, Liverpool conceded 12 goals in 8 games, which would equate to 57 goals conceded in a complete season (more than the 50 goals the Reds had conceded in their last campaign.) During those 8 games, Liverpool, made a whooping 12 defensive errors and allowed 19 “big chances” for the opposition. The typical top four team makes 0.66 errors per game and concedes 1.3 big chances per game – that’s half of what Liverpool were conceding with Skrtel and Lovren at the back.

The problem doesn't end there. Conceding through set pieces isn't desired and Liverpool have conceded 6 out of the 27 conceded goals through set pieces. Out of 19 appearances, Liverpool's goalkeeper Simon Mignolet has only managed to keep 6 clean sheets and averages 1.16 goals/game. This clearly reflects his poor form.

Having spent £66 million on his defence and goalkeeper during his stint as manager, Rodgers needs to find solutions fast.

#3 Game plan and tactics

Liverpool’s current formation

It was the hallmark of Liverpool to finish oppositions early in the previous season. Another frequent aspect of their game was the forwards making runs behind the defenders – one would fondly remember the goal scored by Sturridge and assisted by Gerrard at Craven Cottage.

Liverpool made frequent use of the Diamond formation i.e 4-1-2-1-2. With the absence of Sturridge, those manoeuvres have dried up and the manager has been forced to switch to a more orthodox 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 on occasions to make the best use of his reserve strikers in the forward line. Over the course of this season, Liverpool have been primarily dependent on penetrative ground passing and cheeky one-two’s near the penalty area which hasn’t worked.

Perhaps they need to make greater use of the flanks and get more crosses flowing in for the likes of Lambert. To address tactical issues, Brendan Rodgers over the past month has trimmed his backline to 3 and is playing a 3-4-3 formation with wing backs covering for the back 3. This has yielded better results with Liverpool looking better and more stable with their defence.

#4 Lack of fire power

Left to Right: Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini

Liverpool’s substitutes bench hasn’t come to their rescue when they needed them to deliver. With Sturridge out since the beginning of the season, the other strikers namely Borini, Lambert and most importantly Balotelli have failed to make amends.

Balotelli is yet to score a Premier League goal since his return to the competition. When Balotelli signed for Liverpool, the Kopites expected that he would bloom when partnering Sturridge but that didn’t happen. The problem seems to be that Balotelli cannot adapt to the playing style that the manager wants.

Balotelli has often been seen drifting to the flanks and hovering around the centre when he should’ve been making runs into spaces. This has often resulted in the lack of attacking options in the penalty area for Liverpool and hence a lack of goals.

Rickie Lambert, on the other hand, has been impressive with his hold-up play but hasn’t found his purple patch yet. Fabio Borini has been unlucky with lack of opportunities and one would think he would have a greater role in the second half of the season.

#5 Injuries

Daniel Sturridge back to training and on his way to recovery.

The Liverpool squad has been plagued with injuries and this has made it difficult for the manager to ensure stability and consistency in the squad’s performance.

Daniel Sturridge has been out since the beginning of the season with a thigh injury which he picked up while on International duty. This injury was the cause of mild friction between England manager Roy Hodgson and Brendan Rodgers. Good news for Liverpool fans is that Sturridge might be back by the end of this month to face Chelsea in the Carling Cup.

Among other prominent absentees were Jon Flannagan who is yet to return due to a knee injury which has kept him out and aggravated Liverpool’s defensive problems. Glen Johnson, who was having a rather rare impressive run of games, was forced out with a groin injury and is expected to be back this month.

Brad Jones, the second choice goalkeeper was given a chance to prove himself thanks to Mignolet’s poor form, but destiny had different plans. Jones after just a couple of games was forced out with a hip/thigh muscle injury.