Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers reinventing his philosophy to get season back on track

Brendan Rodgers has re-jigged his team’s formation to try and kick-start their season

After a week in which Liverpool improved steadily with an entertaining and dominating draw against Arsenal and the “positives” from Old Trafford, Liverpool would look to cement their upturn in form. Rodgers last season emphasized on the word “philosophy” and that included the message of pressing aggressively and dominating the ball.

Against Arsenal, Liverpool reverted to a 3-4-3 formation, and for the first time this season, dominated a game completely, although the result was only a draw. The team though is showing signs of waking up from the slumber and the inconsistency that has riddled their title challenge. Post-Suarez, Liverpool have been hit with a spate of bad luck and injuries, but great teams who aspire to be Champions do not dwell over the past but rather concentrate on the present and plan for the future.

Summer signings yet to come good

A summer of upheaval led to signings worth more than £100 million. A Champions League return didn’t exactly work out the way the team had hoped it would. Their performances last season were quite brilliant. Extraordinary was the word associated with them, but this season the word has been used mostly in the negative sense.

Finally, a change in formation that was brought into effect recently has helped liberate the new signings, mostly Markovic and Lallana who are starting to find their feet in the Liverpool team. Injuries to their spearhead Sturridge again, and the not-so-great form of Lambert and the under-utilisation of Balotelli hasn’t helped matters either. Lovren has been poor in defence and has look woefully out of form. The calmness from his game seems to have disappeared.

Liverpool may have missed a trick or two by planning too ahead as Can and others look positive signings but this season, Liverpool needed a good combination of seasoned campaigners and exciting prospects. Some of the people who were expected to be more authoritative have at times suffered from the confidence which was flowing through the team last season.

Joe Allen hasn’t been very good and Lucas has of late started coming good. Henderson cannot be blamed given the varied roles he has been asked to perform. While his dynamism is welcome, the creativity in the team has been missing, and Coutinho at times has been left to do all this on his own.

Initiative going forward is missing

Steven Gerrard has played deep and then as an attacking midfielder this season and has been the most effective player in linking the play. At times this season, he has single-handedly kept Liverpool in the game, but he too has struggled to exert his influence for long periods on the game. Lucas seems to have lost that dynamism since his major injury a couple of years back, and looks like a shadow of the player he was before that.

Allen was making more forward runs last season as well as keeping the game flowing. You can see this season that Allen looks to attempt lesser dribbles and that is a step back to the qualities he was delivering in his first season. Last season, Suarez was picking up the ball from the midfielders and running towards defenses thus giving the other midfielders to operate in the space that he created.

Obviously, the terror of Suarez helped, but Rodgers could have adopted a similar system with Borini from the start, given the fact that he is a much more mobile player. Keen observers of the game would have noticed that Sterling against Arsenal was always pulling one of the central defenders away from their central position thus allowing spaces to open up on the flanks with his runs across the defense.

Liverpool were exploiting those positions down the flanks either through their full-backs or deeper runs by mid-fielders. Against lesser teams and teams with defensive frailties, it is easier to take advantage, but the lack of pace in Gerrard and the missing dynamism in Lucas is leaving them susceptible to quick counter-attacks.

In order to restore that balance, there is a need for an all-action midfielder who can make those box-to-box runs. Henderson would do well but currently he is being utilised on the flanks.

Rodgers slowly turning it around

In the last few games, Rodgers has countered their problems by adopting a more solid centre. Weakness at set-pieces though is proving to be the Achilles heel and in football the need to win the first ball has always been emphasized.

If you look at the goals conceded last week, Arsenal exploited Liverpool’s weaknesses through three touches in case of both goals - the first set-piece where the ball in the air was won by all Arsenal players. The second goal saw Gibbs cutting down the pass, as Liverpool looked to attack, and then speed down and play an early ball into the feet of Giroud, which enabled Cazorla to run into the open space and cut back for the Frenchman to smash it through the goalkeeper’s legs.

Olivier Giroud gave them a lot of problems and defence is something the Merseysiders needs to work on

The lack of pace in defence led to the striker shaking off their marker, but if you look at the line of the Liverpool defenders, they were all closer to the goal-line rather than the player. It is still early days, but the defense will find their feet once they know how to pace themselves. Getting closer to the player should be the primary objective, especially when you are defending deep.

With matches against Burnley, Swansea and Leicester City coming up, there is a need for Liverpool to pick up more points if they want to be in the Champions League. A change in formation may not be necessary, but a change in tactics will maybe just provide Liverpool the opportunity to get more clean sheets.