1.) Suarez firing on all cylinders again: Helping himself astutely to the opening goal of Liverpool's latest haul, Luis Suarez marked the end of a remarkable period of nearly seven hours without finding the net, according to analysts Opta.The team haven't struggled for goals within the Uruguayan's barren run, with BBC Sport reporting that the Reds have managed 14 goals in the five games without a Suarez contribution. However, as per Squawka, Suarez has now scored 24 goals from Liverpool's exceptional tally of 73: just under a third of the club's goals this season. Whilst the goal-scoring form of strike partner Daniel Sturridge may continue, Liverpool will need Suarez to continue to contribute in the next 10 games in order to solidify their Champions League tilt. 2.) Shore up the back four ( or pick four and try to stick with it) : The clean sheet at St. Mary's was Liverpool's first in the last five games. According to Squawka, Liverpool have a league-high number of 33 defensive errors: eight of which have led to a goal. This is perhaps unsurprising due to the chop-and-change nature of Rodgers' back four, with injuries hampering any effort of providing consistency. Signed in the summer for a BBC Sport-reported £18 million, French defender Mamadou Sakho is poised to return from injury for the upcoming game away to Manchester United. Boasting an imperious defensive record of 69 percent tackles won, 57 percent headed duels won and an average of 11 defensive actions per game, Sakho will improve the Liverpool defensive immeasurably (all statistics again courtesy of Squawka). Likely to form a consistent partnership with Martin Skrtel in the coming months, Sakho is key to Liverpool's top-four hopes 3.) Give the Mig confidence : With a consistently performing back four comes a confident goalkeeper, and a more assured Simon Mignolet could prove pivotal to Liverpool in their final 10 fixtures. The Belgian shot-stopper, whilst performing admirably on the whole, has looked uncharacteristically shaky of late; seen not least when the goalkeeper horrendously misjudged a Gabby Agbonlahor cross to gift Christian Benteke a goal in January's 2-2 draw with Aston Villa. Statistically, according to Squawka, Mignolet is one of the league's worst at claiming loose balls, with a percentage rate of 94. Elsewhere, top-four rivals Arsenal and Chelsea boast superior clean-sheet records. Mignolet has kept eight clean sheets so far this season, with Petr Cech and Wojchiech Sczcesny joint-leaders with 12 each. In order to cement their charge for top four and beyond, Liverpool will need to work on their defensive record, and a consistent back four can only help to give Mignolet confidence in goal. 4.) Rotate Wisely : After an impressive cameo appearance against Swansea the previous weekend, Joe Allen was selected in Rodgers' Premier League starting XI for the first time since Liverpool's 2-1 loss at Chelsea in December. His role in the squad, as a purveyor of ball retention, is clear as Squawka shows: Allen won 60 percent of tackles attempted and made a midfield-high of five defensive actions. Starting in place of the effervescent Raheem Sterling, this demonstrated the qualities of squad rotation to Rodgers, with the Northern Irishman extolling the notions of the midfield diamond post-match, as per This is Anfield: “We’ve played 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 and 3-5-2 and today we played a 4-4-2 diamond. You’ve got to heap huge praise onto the players, who kept the tactical discipline in order to block up the space and be a threat going forward." Sterling's introduction early on in the second half provided the energy and the impetus with which Liverpool saw off the game; the Jamaican-born winger slotted home with his first touch to put the Reds 2-0 up. With the squad returning to full fitness, Rodgers can adapt and rotate his starting line-up to suit certain tactics. Players like Allen, along with peripheral figures Joao Carlos Teixeira, Luis Alberto, Aly Cissokho, and the returning Lucas Leiva, offer Rodgers with plenty of quality and tactical flexibility in the games to come. 5.) Win the 6-pointers ( Chelsea, City, Spurs, United) : With Liverpool still to play direct top-four rivals Spurs, Manchester City and Chelsea in the league, these fixtures are the greatest opportunity in the club achieving a top-four position at the end of the season. Having ransacked Spurs 5-0 away from home in mid-December, Liverpool followed this up with a pair of 2-1 losses, again away, to Manchester City and Chelsea respectively. The corresponding fixtures are all, ideally, to be played at Anfield. Liverpool's home form has been imperious this season; having played 14 games so far at Anfield, the Reds have won 12, drawn once and lost once, according to ESPN FC. If Liverpool can continue this fine form at home and translate this into wins against their direct rivals, they have a very realistic opportunity of achieving a top-four status this season, possibly at their expense. ( For me, if we take care of the teams we are meant to, winning these games could put us closer to the top rather than just top 4). Any others you feel that were left out? http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...77-liverpool-5-keys-to-finishing-in-the-top-4
What, you think I can't use big words? lol. Added the source, forgot about that, thanks for catching that. Thought I had it in there. A lot of this we have already hit on but I liked the stats in it. Stats obviously don't show the full picture, especially with footy, but it does show some of the frailities in the back and how much of a MONSTER Sakho is for us.
It's still as simple as this; beat the bottom half teams on the run in. Simple as cos with sas we should do that but then it's down to the big 4 games to decide the order LfC should get 4th I predicted my road map to it on the block of 4 thread. Win the lesser games home and away.... However to get 3rd we've got to push and get a win v utd and probably spurs To win the dames thing will take 10 wins
The bottom teams are going to be in relegation fight mode and the top teams are going to be in fight for the title/fourth mode. No game will be easy and I can see the 3-0,5-1s going bye bye to the 1-1, 2-1, 1-0 type of games from here on out. Everyone will be looking to tighten up and try and salvage as many points as possible. Also note we play those easier teams away but the harder ones at home. Should be interesting for sure.
The key for me is sound tactics coupled with a very aggressive type of motivation. City has the most difficult schedule ahead of them, therefore I see Chelsea as our toughest rivals to the title. We must beat them both of them when they come visit, and hope they suffer a defeat/draw in at least one of their harder games, which is feasable. City: United (A), Arsenal (A), Liverpool (A), Everton (A) Chelsea: Tottenham (H), Arsenal (H), Liverpool (A)
I acknowledge no easy games however we've as much to play for as anyone so we should be equal in fight which makes the quality important Beat the scrapers by matching the fight and just killing their will with our quality.... Don't you worry there'll be plenty of variety and surprises in results and I think we will win some 4-1 starting with the next game
Nobody has made a joke about "how to get out of Exodus" and Victor Moses yet? For shame board, for shame
Moses never saw the promised land. Happy? F sake next thing we'll be talking about blowing horns and toppling the walls of jericho But if someone could demolish the toilet.... Well it'd do
He can barely make it off the bench, never mind the promised land! City do have Jesus though, got to be in their favor!
We'll crucify him though..... Chelsea have Mohamed though. But we all know he just hides under a blanket on the bench talking to god LfC have god and lucifer himself. We've got it covered
Well if we have faith with Moses he will get us there... it will just take 40 years wandering around a desert of silverware though.
Funny... Driving to grocery store at lunch passed a billboard on interstate that said in big block letters" who is Jesus" and had a phone number under that. Felt like calling the number and telling them that he is a Man City player.
