http://www.thisisanfield.com/2013/1...rotation-liverpools-defence-causing-problems/ [HR][/HR] As Martin Skrtelâs thumping header into his own net put the icing on the cake during Liverpoolâs poor 3-1 defeat to Hull City, Liverpoolâs constantly shifting defence resembled yet another unorganised mess. Since Liverpoolâs impressive start â with three clean sheets in three games and a 100% win record â Liverpool have chopped and changed their defensive line a staggering nine times. Admittedly, some of these changes have been down to a change of formation, a change of players available and a change in defensive form. However, the defence is one area of the pitch where constant rotation and change can lead to a disadvantage. Hull: Johnson, Skrtel, Toure, Flanagan = Conceded 3 goals Everton: Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Flanagan = Conceded 3 goals Fulham: Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Cissokho = Conceded 0 goals Arsenal: Flanagan, Sakho, Skrtel, Touré , Cissokho = Conceded 2 goals West Brom: Johnson Touré, Sakho, Skrtel, Cissokho = Conceded 1 goal Newcastle: Jonhson, Sakho, Skrtel, Touré, Cissokho = Conceded 2 goals Crystal Palace: Henderson, Touré, Skrtel, Sakho, Enrique = Conceded 1 goal Sunderland: Henderson, Touré, Skrtel, Sakho, Enrique = Conceded 1 goal Southampton: Toure, Agger, Skrtel, Sakho = Conceded 1 goal Swansea: Wisdom, Skrtel, Sakho, Enrique = Conceded 2 goals Man Utd: Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Enrique = Conceded 0 goals Aston Villa: Johnson, Agger, Toure, Enrique= Conceded 0 goals Stoke: Johnson, Agger, Toure, Enrique= Conceded 0 goals Clean sheets since opening 3 games: 1/10 Goals conceded since opening 3 games: 17/10 As evident from the above stats, Liverpool have only kept one clean sheet (against a lacklustre Fulham) in 10 games, conceding goals to teams such as Crystal Palace, Sunderland and Hull. There has also been an astonishing 17 goals conceded in just 10 games â conceding 1.7 goals per game on average. That simply isnât good enough for a top four position. You can see why; while playing in defence, organisation, confidence and routine are sacrosanct to a cohesive and successful defensive unit. So, how can a player feel confident when one poor performance can see them sitting on the bench? How can a defender benefit from routine when the formation and personnel are constantly shifting? How can the back line be organised when they are not used to playing as a consistent unit? Rotation is key to prolonged success over a season, but more so in attacking areas than in defence. This is because offensive play requires a creative mind, physical stamina and a variety of assets to help expose the oppositions weakness. Players with pace are also prone to injury if played on a too-regular basis, further reinforcing the importance of rotating the personnel on occasions. This is where Rodgers has made his biggest mistake this season. Heâs got the balance wrong and allocated too much resource into the central defence, and not enough in offensive areas. Against Hull, Liverpool had central defenders such as Daniel Agger and Mamadou Sakho warming the bench, which would most likely find a starting position in most other Premier-League teams, while the likes of Raheem Sterling and Victor Moses started with little competition from the bench. With Daniel Sturridge out for the next 6 to 8 weeks, there seems to be nobody who can fill his boots. Sterling and Moses continuously lost possession of the ball and regularly failed to play incise and to create opportunities for Suarez. Outside of the pair, Iago Aspas has struggled with the intensity of the league so far, failing to net a single goal. Luis Alberto hasnât made an instant impact either, failing to get an assist or score in the Premier league so far. None of these, based on their performances so far, can challenge Sturridge for a starting berth, so a lack of competition for places up-front is apparent. So could Rodgers have spent more of the transfer budget on attacking options instead? Did Liverpool really need £7 million Ilori -who has yet to make a senior appearance-and £15 million Mamadou Sakho, who has struggled to start since changing to four at the back? Arriving into a hectic December, Rodgers needs to learn from the opening three fixtures of the season by deciding his best back-line and sticking with it. With this consistency, Liverpool should concede less goals and therefore hopefully more points. This may leave established defenders such as Cissokho, Touré and Skrtel out of the starting 11, which in turn may lead into âdressing-roomâ issues, raising the aforementioned question of whether it was correct to allocate such a high budget to defensive depth. Regardless, rotation of defence is clearly disrupting the back line and costing the team precious points. It is paramount that Rodgers addresses this immediately if Liverpool want to stay challenging for the Champions League positions.
Totally agree about the defensive rotation I can't bloody stand it. How many league winning teams have ever used a multitude of defenders? Fair enough Rodgers may well be searching for his best combination but how do you ever find it when the back line is different from one game to the next. I understand a manager will always have to deal with injuries so I have no issue with him adding the depth to the squad that he did in the summer but the fact is he still hasn't got a clue what his best back line is and we're a third of the way into the season. No offence to Flanagan but when he looks like our best defender you know the others are under-performing in a big way. I don't mind him giving Sakho and Ilori time to settle in England/at the club and using them sparingly but if that's the case he should have utilised the pairing who know each other best and stuck with them for the first 10-15 games (injuries permitting of course). He should have laid down the challenge and said "you have competition now lads, fight for your places and perform at your best and make it so I can't drop you". I'm far from convinced by Cissokho and Johnson looks like a man who's lost the will to live. Sakho has impressed, Toure has been decent in the main and Skrtel over the season has probably been the stand out performer but basically he's looked the best of a bad bunch. Yet they aren't a bad bunch. They are all talented top level players who we know are capable of better so why are they playing like complete strangers at the moment? IMO it is as you say JS down to the fact that firstly they don't know whether or not they'll be playing the next game and secondly they haven't got a scooby who will be playing next to them and where that player will be from one minute to the next (partly that's down to the chopping and changing of formation too). The good thing is we still have plenty of the season to go and due to our good start we might be able to put the Hull debacle behind us over the next few games. Fingers crossed we will get a back line who settles and we can build the rest on a solid foundation but if we don't I fear it will cost us any chance of a top 4 spot.
for me there are issues at hand that are unavoidable.. namely injury... HOWEVER having given that to rodgers i also want to say that he has bottled picking his best back 4 out of the lot and telling the others to accept their fate. IE when toure did his groin the solution was not drop skertl again it was a back 3... toure looks worse for it. if rodgers buys toure and sahko they are his choices and skertl in particular needs to lump it but agger too. Rodgers NEEDS to decide how he wants to set up.. ie 4 at the back with 2 attacking full backs... then figure out his best players and then play them except for injuries. Yes everyone of them has had injuries and thats just that but the 4 cbs and 3 cbs stuff was IMO rodgers bottling it and not trusting younger players to fill in. wisdom was pushed out the door... for example.
I agree with most that has been written on here but I am also aware that that expectations have gone a bit too high and we are starting to pick fault with things a little too harshly IMO. I think BR expected Skrtel (no, not because I don't like him) and Coates to leave meaning he would have had the money to sign Ilori and Sakho plus that elusive attacking player; aka Bernard, Eriksen, Henry Ryan, Willian, Costa, etc. As it turned out, that didn't materialise and we struggled to attract the attacking player. I can understand the thought pattern; BR weighed up his options and recruited the two CB's and loaned Moses as a temporary solution. Some of us may have thought Moses was a good move (I believe most did) and others not. Hindsight is a wonderful On the defensive rotation; I agree that we shouldn't be rotating in this area, a stable back four, keeper and DM is required and I don't think we've played the same six since those first three games of the season We have an abundance of talent at CB and a lot of us called the squad inbalance quite early on. It is what it is and we have to deal with the hand we have. We need to pick our strongest team and stick with it. Injuries and suspensions happen and that is when the squad comes into it. If someone comes in and plays well, they keep their place and the injured / suspended player has to earn their place back. Simple on paper but...
It seems like he's trying to keep everyone happy by constantly rotating but players should be playing on merit. It's tricky because you could say Skrtel is likely to be off soon so who cares if he's unhappy? But then keeping an unhappy player for half or a full season could be disruptive to the rest of the group. It's a tough balancing act and the fact we have 4 main CB's who all believe they should be number 1 makes things even harder. Normally you'll get 4 CB's in a squad, 2 nailed on 1st team, 1 experienced back up and a young player to help bed in. No doubt I think we'd all like to see a settled back CB partnership (be it Agger/Sakho which is my preference, or Agger/Toure or Sakho/Toure) and give them 4 or 5 ames to really develop an understanding together.
The two left out won't be happy and nor should they be, but they should also realise the standard at the club and appreciate that you get picked on form. If the two playing re doing the business then the two left out should have the professional respect and wait for their chance which will inevitably come since defenders get booked!
Very nice post. Much better argued than I ever could do. And of course I wholeheartedly believe that it's the failure to find a solid CB partnership that is to blame for last weekend.
