Four changes Brendan Rodgers needs to make to salvage Liverpool’s season

Much has been said of the sale of Suarez & absence of Daniel Sturridge to injury on the recent woes of Liverpool on the football pitch. No doubt these two were the biggest influence on Liverpool’s stunning run last season when they came closest to winning the title in 24 years. The money from Suarez’s sale to Barcelona for 75 million pounds was used to add depth to the squad that the team so badly needed with a definite eye on future for the football club. However, things have not gone as per plan as Brendan Rodgers agreed in the post-match interview after seeing his side suffer a 5^th straight defeat in all competitions at the hands of Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. There is an urgent need for change & it begins with Rodgers having to bite the proverbial bullet & take some hard decisions.

Change #1: Drop Gerrard to the bench

To the Liverpool faithful this statement is tantamount to blasphemy. Who would have imagined this day when people start doubting the influence “Captain Fantastic” has on a game. But, at 34, Gerrard is way past his prime. Nobody can ever question his commitment for the club with whom he has been synonymous for during the last decade and a half. Liverpool is Gerrard & Gerrard is Liverpool as many fans have grown up seeing, believing & chanting. But the time to hand over the baton has come. It’s also time for Rodgers to realize that Gerrard probably has to play fewer games and be used more as an impact sub rather than midfield star he has been throughout his life. And if history tells us anything, it’s how great players continue to deliver for their clubs even while going into sunset. Frank Lampard, Zinedine Zidane, Carlos Puyol are such examples of great players who have continued to achieve success even after not playing regularly for their teams. It’s a tough ask of both the captain & the coach but it needs to be done. The replacement(s) with the likes of Jordan Henderson or Joe Allen who have been Gerrard’s understudy for two years now must take up the role that he has played so exquisitely & stand up & be counted as men.

Change #2: Deploy two strikers upfront

Yes Suarez & Sturridge are brilliant players but going back to last season it was the famous “SAS” that was the talk of the media circles before & after every match Liverpool played. A lethal strike partnership that destroyed defenses at will. Why Rodgers prefers to play Balotelli as the lone forward in the absence of Sturridge is beyond comprehension. Balotelli is a much better player when he has a strike partner who he can feed off from, who can create the odd knock down for him or set him up to score with a tap in. Asking the same of Sterling, Coutinho or even a returning Lallana is too much burden for players who generally are more useful when the defense is busy attending to the central strikers upfront. With Sturridge out injured till January, it leaves the club to play 11 more games till his return in a period which will pretty much define Liverpool’s season. Rodgers must change his outlook & put out a team that can get the best out of the player he spent 16 million pounds on.

Change #3: Drop Dejan Lovren & shift to 3 player defense

Lovren signed from Southampton in the summer is yet to prove why Rodgers forked out 20 million pounds for him. After 15-16 starts questions have to be asked why Rodgers is persisting with a defender who is making boys look like men in front of him. In contrast the new defensive setup of Southampton after departures of Lovren, Luke Shaw (to ManU) has been one of the stingiest in the league with more than half a dozen clean sheets in the 12 games played so far. Many would agree that letting go of Agger was a mistake, injuries to Sakho & Flannagan have not helped Rodger’s cause either. But why a club which thrives on giving opportunities to players from its academy, a point well branded in Rodger’s philosophy too is not doing so in the much criticized defensive setup is bewildering (Liverpool shipped 51 goals last season, 3^rd highest in the league & have already let in 21 in 12 games so far of the current season). Lovren has clearly not settled well in the team & it is time Rodgers took a chance with a different set up. Even Man Utd with all the injuries were able to scrap a win against the attacking prowess of Arsenal with 3 central defenders (two of whom are 17 year old academy players).

The new setup would mean Rodgers would have to move away from his preferred 4-3-3 formation which has brought him so much success to a new 3-5-2 by using Lallana & Sterling as wide players supported by Johnson/Moreno & Manquillo as the overlapping fullbacks. It’s time to fit the formation to suit his players rather than fit the players to suit his formation.

Change #4: Change the scouting team

History suggests that Liverpool have never been good at buying the right players for the team, names of Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing, Alberto Aquilani among many more remind the club’s fans of how the money was wasted on securing the services of players who were yet to prove themselves at the highest level. These three alone cost Liverpool around 75 million pounds with little or no returns.

Names of players like, Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt, Luis Suarez, Xavier Mascherano stick out of having come in & made a huge impact on the club but, these guys were already match winners before they came to Liverpool. Same can’t be said of somebody like Carroll who was in his first full season in the premier league and yet to establish himself as a prolific striker before he was snapped up by Kenny Dalglish for a then record fee for a British player for 35 million pounds.

What Liverpool need is a change of scouts to find the right guys who can fit into the club’s philosophy. Granted it is easier to work with great players who can blend easily into any setup but they come at a price and Liverpool have not had access to such resources for a long time. So the next best thing is to find players whom the manager can mould into his own. With the upcoming January window, the target must be to find the right players not just any player to fill the Suarez void.

Liverpool need to ring in the changes if they have to salvage their season. Title is long gone and the only hope they have worth fighting for is a top four finish which is getting increasingly difficult with the likes of Swansea City & Southampton biting at the heels of the proverbial big four. Maybe the changes bring the effect that the club’s supporters want to see and maybe the rub of the green which has eluded Liverpool this season might come back to bring a cheer to the fans in the New Year.