What now for Brendan Rodgers?

No matter what has happened at Liverpool so far this season I have been a staunch supporter of Brendan Rodgers and what he is trying to achieve at the club. I have at times questioned his tendency to be a little naive in the way he sets out his team with the 2-0 loss against Chelsea late last term being the prime example.

On that day Liverpool didn’t need to win and Jose Mourinho played in to our hands by sending out a team with the instructions to frustrate rather than dictate. Rodgers could have played along, got his 0-0 and moved on to Crystal Palace where we wouldn’t have been forced to chase goals to make up a goal difference deficit with Manchester City. Instead he went out all guns blazing to try and prove a point to The Special One.

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Despite his short comings I was hoping he would learn and continue to improve. The players seem to love him and the way he goes about his business which in management is half of the battle. But the embarrassing performance against Crystal Palace at the weekend has left me wondering whether my staunch support for Rodgers has been misguided as there are obvious floors in his system that he seemingly refuses to try and fix.

Firstly Brendan likes to defend by dominating possession. The theory is that if you have 60-70% of the ball you are going to restrict the number of opportunities that the opposition is able to create. It isn’t a new tactic. It has been in circulation for a number of years with the likes of Brazil and Holland using it before Pep Guardiola perfected it with Barcelona. The possession based defence was even taught on the Football Federation Australia C Licence course that I recently attended.

While in possession of the ball Rodgers likes his fullbacks to push on as high up the field as possible to create natural width and add that extra attacking option often leaving his two centre backs in 2 Vs 2 situations or 3 Vs 2 if you count the goal keeper. The hope is that both of these defenders are good enough at defending one on one to avert the inevitable counter attack while the goal keeper can sweep up behind. Unfortunately for Liverpool none of Skrtel, Lovren, Sakho or Toure have the pace or natural ability to read the game to manage this successfully.

The Germans do this very well thanks in no small part to Manual Neuer who acts as the third centre back organising his troops and snuffing out any danger. While Liverpool’s Simon Mingnolet is nervy at best with the ball at his feet and would struggle to command a plastic sub in the bath tub never mind an EPL defensive line. This indecision and insecurity at the back then leads to problems further forward as the full backs tend not to fully commit on the attacking end meaning that the important width that they are meant to provide simply disappears.

In midfield the Northern Irishman loves his naturally gifted creativity. Coutinho, Sterling and Lallana all started against Palace and all of them were bullied and beaten off the ball putting un told pressure on Gerrard and Allen who worked tirelessly to pick up the slack.

For me Coutinho in-particular is a real worry. Surely his up there technically with some of the worlds best, but he is just too light weight to have a sustained 90 minute influence.

Picture Courtesy of www.kopology.co.uk

Teams will set up with a diamond midfield against the reds, the top of which has the job of man marking Gerrard to stifle his impact on the game. Last year he was the fulcrum through which everything ticked. He switched the angle of attack at ease with his sweeping passes out wide, but with that gone so has a large chunk of our attacking dynamic.

And the lone man up front simply isn’t working this season. People keep saying that Rodgers played with two up top last term but if you watch the games back you will see that more often than not Sturridge, Suarez and Sterling all rotated and would all come deep or push out wide to try and influence proceedings. Henderson was also a threat breaking from deep giving defences more than one thing to think about.

For this to click you need to work hard and have the ability to pull it off which we simply haven’t this year. With Suarez in Spain, Sturridge injured and Sterling looking more and more frustrated every week the confidence to push on no matter what has simply evaporated from the team.

For me Rodgers should consider a 3-5-2 formation, which can be implemented without compromising his possession domination ethos. We can slot Toure in at the back with Lovren and Skrtel to give that bit of extra cover allowing Manquillo and Moreno to push on down the flanks with a little less fear.

The three in the middle of the park gives you that extra man making it easier to dominate the centre of the park and retain possession. I would go with Can, Gerrard and Henderson. All three are comfortable in possession and have a physical presence that will be hard to break down. This centre triangle can be flipped to have two playing defensive or two pushing further on depending on the situation at the time. The point is that all three are capable of creating opportunities and aren’t afraid to get stuck in when they need to.

Up front I would put Balotelli with Sterling. I would let Sterling work the whole line. He can drop deeper, push out wide or hang on the shoulder of the last defender. Balotelli is great at as a hold up player. He has great strength and a sharp first touch that will allow the likes of Moreno and Henderson push on and break beyond the forward line which is something that simply hasn’t happened enough so far this season.

It might not be the perfect solution but we have simply become too predictable this season and Brendan Rodgers needs to try something different if things are to change. They say the first sign of insanity to keep do the same thing over and over again all the while expecting a different result. Lets hope Rodgers isn’t losing his marbles and that he can go on and prove that he is the coaching prodigy that many experts have recently predicted.

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