Basel brush off: Mario Balotelli endured a frustrating night in Switzerland. Pic: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda.
FINISHING second last season meant Liverpool were back in the Champions League. We’d been out of it five years and now we were back. That great tournament that makes everything else seem a bit rubbish.
It doesn’t really sink in then though. Especially when you’ve come so close to winning the league only to be so cruelly denied. The first time it sunk in was when the draw was made, and we all get to stare at our computer screens waiting for the four hours it takes to see what group you are in when you should be doing work.
The second time was seeing Anfield decked out in Champions League ‘branding’ hearing the music as the players came out. Seeing the players swapping club pennants that all end up somewhere in the Main Stand. The third time was this week.
It’s ten minutes before the Merseyside Derby and instead of talking about Everton, Callum who sits by me is showing me his flag he’s made for Basel. I wish I was going. Why aren’t I going? After the game the pub is full of moans and groans and talks of spawny shots from alehouse defenders, but after a while a few of the lads are saying how it’s only one day in work next week and then ‘they’re off’. I’d rather talk about last-minute Everton equalisers than that.
Then Tuesday, in work. Wading through documents full of jargon that are doing my head in. Trying to ignore the fact that my mates are flying out to watch the Reds in the Champions League and I’m not. Which isn’t helped when they send you pictures like this.
Bastards. By Wednesday its picture of flags in squares. Stories of police charges and acquired VIP passes. I’m happy for them now. This is great. It’s why we wanted to be back in it. The Champions League. Even when it’s rubbish, it’s great.
And for ages tonight, it was rubbish. Passing going astray. Final ball lacking. Footballers who aren’t aware we’re playing the offside rule tonight. They look slack with the ball and nervy without it. Is it the (very vocal) crowd? The occasion? The energy of the opposition? The team look like they’re lacking in quality but we know that’s not true, Maybe it’s the lack of experience at this level. Lack of confidence. Lack of lack of understanding with each other. Lack of steel.
But despite all of the above we created enough openings to score. Sterling is a concern in that he had the best positions but seemed to completely lose his head. Markovic is a concern in that he isn’t in the game enough and looks short of what we’d hoped. Balotelli is a concern in that he looks the odd one out. The target man surrounded by lads looking for through balls. The defence is a concern because they still can’t deal with a bloody corner.
I keep telling myself that everything will be fine when Sturridge is back. Lallana will love him. We already know Coutinho loves him. Pressure off Mario and Raheem too. But its looking negligent now that, knowing his injury record, we didn’t get anyone in who can play in a similar way. No-one on the defender’s shoulder looking to get in behind. With everything always ahead of their defenders it makes life much easier. Just stand tall and block.
But tonight a couple of thousand Reds are in Basel. They’ll over pay for drink and sing about Kenny Dalglish. In a month or two, three times as many will go to Madrid. We’re playing Real Madrid next! If you are worried about playing them you’re doing it wrong. Playing Real Madrid is what we are in it for. Its what we moaned about not having for five years.
We end the night on three points. Same as Basel. Ahead of Ludogorets. Handily placed. And next we play Real Madrid. The Champions League. Even when it’s rubbish, it’s great.
Thanks, now i can sleep…..
That maybe so but it doesn’t feel like we’re in it to make up the numbers. I’ve just had 2 hours of dissecting every aspect of our game with my mates so I’m not gone bore anyone with anything tonight. One positive I have taken though is – we may have lost tonight but at least we beat Middlesborough in the League Cup. Didn’t have his best game but Sterling did ok in that for 2 fuckin hours.
Where’s your style gone?
That was shocking. I rate it as the worst performance of the season so far. Basel are not bad but have lost some of their better players and are not at the level they were last season when beating Chelsea. Gerrard was correct in his interview afterwards: they looked like they wanted it more.
I’m more and more concerned about Markovic with each passing game. He’s going to be another Zenden, I fear. It all looks a bit too much for him. I know all the stuff about settling into a new country, new system of playing, etc., but he just looks short of the quality needed. And Souness is right; alongside Coutinho away from home in Europe, LFC’s midfield is just too lightweight.
I realise Can is injured, but we desperately need a genuine physical presence to dominate the central area. I wanted us to buy Wanyama 2 seasons ago for precisely this reason. These are the types of players who stop you losing games when you don’t play well. They had Sefrey Die and he was head and shoulders above anyone we had in the middle third. No huge amount of quality, but a fit, mobile, quick physical presence who drove them forward when they had the ball, and disrupted our play when they didn’t.
Sterling needs a rest. He’ll still produce some scintillating runs if you play him every game from now until next May, but at 19 he needs to be looked after. He appears mentally exhausted more than anything.
And one up front when that man is Balotelli is not going to work. People can and no doubt will criticise his performances but he has *never* been a player to run the channels and pull defences from one side to the other. I have less quarrel with the argument that says he shouldn’t start than I do with the one that argues he should but he should try to do a poor man’s impression of Suarez when he does. If you’re going to to pick him, at least try to play to his strengths.
I haven’t lost faith in Rodgers – far from it – but during this rather flat period, with injuries to key personnel, he seems to have too many square pegs in round holes.
Paradoxically, I think the defence in the last two games has done pretty well. The goal today is not great, but it takes a rather freakish backwards header, a further deflection via Lovren’s back and a rather lucky rebound from a good save for them to score. I don’t think this evening’s goal was typical of our recently-exposed weakness defending set-pieces. For one thing, we do actually win the battle to make first contact. That in itself is progress and they get a couple of lucky breaks before the ball ends up in our net. Apart from a couple of decent saves by Mignolet, I don’t remember them creating too many clear goal-scoring opportunities. Certainly not as many as we did: Markovic and Sterling should both have had at least one each.
I’m not ready to throw out the baby with the bathwater, but until we get Sturridge and others fit again, I’d like to see the players who are available playing in positions they know, and in a system that lends itself to their natural game. All good players need to be able to adapt, but this is a young, developing group of players low on confidence. A bit of familiarity is what is needed.
Personally finding it a strange European campaign thus far. Really missed Champions League , like the later kick offs living in America, but I’m left feeling not that arsed . Players looked like they feel the same way. Can’t help feeling more concerned about the West Brom game . Could do with a win Redmen, go on you know you want to……
Is nobody asking the question about Markovic, ‘why are we playing him out of position’.
He didnt play wide right in Portugal, he wants to play at the point of a diamond and yet with this shit system that we are employing (and seemingly unwilling to admit is failing and so changing it) he is evermore looking poor. Notwithstanding he is still within the first months of being in the side – he’s had 5 games ffs.
We can point at players but the buck stops with the staff and their tactics. set up, training and transfer deals. That’s the humungous elephant in the room.
Totally with you on the formation… I’ve yet to see a decent competitive performance with the 4-2-3-1 and I fail to understand why BR perseveres with it – surely he can see it just isn’t working…. the rest of us can.
clearly BR wants this system to work – the one striker system to be more solid in midfield I guess. 433 (=451) or 4231, both very much use a lone striker and the AMs/wide men have to support the attack.
But we’ve added the problem that Balotelli’s movement isn’t suited to being that lone striker, he’s too static and on his heels. It was so easy to play him offside the other night it was embarrassing.
Problem with 4231 is Gerrard is so poor as a CM. Never had the positioning and now doesn’t have the mobility. Putting Hendo with him removes Hendo’s influence around the park cos he has to stay back and cover Stevie / do the DM job rather than press higher up.
That means we lose the midfield, AMs get drawn back, so Balo gets drawn back and we lose our ability to stretch their defensive line. They get nice and compact and so we struggle.
For 4231 we have to drop Gerrard when there are players available. For 433, we need to play 4123 but we still have to learn to link the AMs/FBs with the striker.
Problems, problems…
Eamon Dunphy gets things mostly wrong these days but he made a point about Mario on RTE that had me nodding in agreement. He argued that Balotelli had one way of playing and that’s on the edge, instinctually, effectively lawless, and that by ‘behaving’ he was neutering much of what makes him a potent threat. No fireworks off the pitch, none on it either, kind of thing. He is trying, but the frustration is mounting, you can see the arms being thrown up in the air and the exasperated ambling around after a move has broken down, a sniper who’s left his cross hairs at home. He simply doesn’t suit the style of the team. Does Rodgers change it around to get the most out of one player who, tremendously likeable as he is, maybe just doesn’t fit? Let’s not forget, he isn’t a Rodgers signing. He ruled it out, only for the ‘committee’ to rule it back in. Plus there’s additional baggage here – Balotelli is replacing the third best player in the world (he’s that at the very least).
In a more basic level, I don’t know why Lallana didn’t start. I hope Markovic proves us all wrong but he seems too raw right now and on form shouldn’t have started. Defensively we’re still jittery. The fluidity isn’t there offensively and all it needs is for Raheem – overworked and arguably overplayed – to have an off-night in the box and we’re left counting the cost.
We have big players to come back and hopefully some others, like Can, who can make a difference. It’s a young team and squad that will take time to gel. We’ll have Origi next year, who might be exactly the type of player we need. Flanagan will be back. Imagine if we had a Xabi or even a Masch to knit it together and screen the back four. We don’t, unfortunately, but it’s not all doom and gloom. It is, however, Rodgers’s most challenging period so far and it’s up to him to find the answers. By the time we hit our stride we don’t want to be out of anything. We’ve got to hang on in there.
Lallana had played 90 and 120 so he was rested for WBA. That’s the right thing to do really.
Heard a rumour that the club isn’t impressed with Can which is a bit bizarre but boy those injuries haven’t helped us.
Real problem is hooking up the striker in a 1 striker system. we need to learn how to play it or start playing Borini a lot more. You can see BR’s trying it but we’re doing a bad job of it. Starts with Gerrard in a 2 man mid which is crap. that compromises the midfield which brings the opposition midfield forwards and makes our life very difficult isolating Balotelli.
The game Gerrard is dropped we’ll operate a lot better and move up the pitch. Balo won’t be so isolated and he’ll beable to produce something. But it’s that Gerrard thing. Big problem.
I feel people are looking too much at last year for the “It’s going to be all right on the night vibe”
This is a new season. New team. 9 games. One good winning performance. The signs are not good.
Agree with this, one performance out of nine is worrying. After almost every game we read comments such as “worst performance so far”, something is wrong with this team and it doesn’t look like it will be an easy fix. Teams do not fear us, even fat Sam was taking the piss, safe in the knowledge if you go one up against this current Liverpool side then the game is all but won.
@Andrew We’ve got a lot of players who’s “best” position has turned out to be at the point of a diamond – Coutinho, Lallana, Sterling, Markovic – but we can’t play a diamond without two of Henderson, Allen and Can fit to play ahead of Gerrard. BR clearly thought Lucas could be on that list, but we now know that he’s no use for anything other than Gerrard backup.
Anyway, what I think has happened is that BR sees a 4-2-3-1 -ish formation to give us the option of playing a number of those “point of the diamond” players in the rotating 3, when you only need 1 proper CM fit to be Gerrard’s legs. It damages Henderson’s effectiveness a bit, but it should allow the 3 to rotate between that central position. And they were a bit – Markovic had one of his best moments popping up on the left – but they’re not experienced enough in the system to adapt to the irregular way Balotelli moves the space around them.
The diamond appeared last season after a lot of trial and error to solve the problems we had and use the players we had most effectively – I still think BR will get there eventually, although I’m less certain on the defence.
tl;dr – too many injured CM players, too many “wingers” that actually prefer AM, BR struggling to find the answer. And no Sturridge. Give him time.
IMO, if we (and we should) switch back to a 4-3-3 or a diamond, all those players you’ve listed need to be capable of playing alongside Hendo. Coutinho proved he could last year, and I see no reason why Lallana & Sterling can’t. As for Markovic… like many others I’m really struggling to see what all the fuss was about, but here’s hoping he does find his feet and proves to be worthy of the hype that surrounds him.
They can all play in multiple positions – which is great, and basically a pre-requisite for being bought by Rodgers.
But the point I attempted to reply to (while somehow not noticing that the site has a “reply” function!) was that Markovic seemed to be playing out of his preferred position. And my response was trying to suggest that the point of BR’s formation is that they can all cycle through doing shifts in their preferred position and that the beauty of having lots of multi-position players is that no one ends up somewhere totally unfamiliar while this is going on.
Unfortunately, it’s not quite clicking yet. Possibly because Balotelli doesn’t take up the right positions to make the space other players are expecting, or possibly simply that too many new players cause a lack of understanding. Sterling played a great through ball to the edge of the box last night, but Balotelli had dropped deep and wanted it to feet. They’re not clicking at all and time will at least help, if not absolutely fix it.
The lad obviously has ability, good control, finds good positions and has a decent work ethic. He is also trying too hard, and mistakes follow.
When Lucas first came, he was played in an unfamiliar position and copped a heap of criticism. I thought he was okay, but because of the rubbishing he played safe all the time, little sideways and backwards passes. The danger is that Markovic will fall into the same pattern of avoiding mistakes.
When the crowd takes against you it is very hard to resurrect yourself. Lucas did it (and has lost it again).
Insofar as tactics are concerned, – I am about to attract an avalanche – Rodgers doesn’t have any tactical skills. Last season was an accidental blending of individuals that didn’t need Suarez to work, but he enhanced it. I have little regard for Rodgers, but as wholehearted adulation is de rigueur on TAW, I hold my tongue. He has the tactical knowledge of Kevin Keegan (who also presided over an exciting team which had major defensive problems due to the absence of tactics), the ego of Brian Clough, and now the teeth if Shane Warne.
And don’t tell me to eff off to OT – I have been a Liverpool fan since we were in the second division: my view is equally valid to that of the ‘new shirt every season ‘ brigade.
And I played semi-professional football…
Those tickets are expensive aren’t they?
The #corporatebuttkissers refuse to discuss it !
Our manager’s strategy for dealing with questions from the press about Mario seems to already be about saying that it isn’t his fault and he didn’t really want him anyway.
Suddenly, we seem to be as far from where we want to be as when Kenny was in charge, except we now have 2 Andy Carrolls and no Suarez. It is very difficult to see this ending well.
I think it might be time to ask the lads in the podcast if they would still take 84 points (or whatever it was) this season. I would now take about 69-70 (expecting us to fall short of that) and pray that it is somehow enough to steal 4th spot.
Failing that, I just want Rodgers to shut up, or at least respond to questions about players under pressure with anodyne remarks about how we win and lose as a team.
Time for the boss to show a bit of form, as well.
Yeah, bizarre his comments, throwing Mario under the bus. He’s also blamed sakho for one goal that Lovren was responsible for (same for Moreno but you know he likes him).
But then he said during the US tour we weren’t buying him and look what happened. Maybe he was sending a message to the club that he didn’t want him, cos as you say he’s a long way from the kind of player/movement we would want.
BR has said that Lambert offers us something different ie publicly supporting him. Nothing of the sort about Mario.
We have to learn how to hook up the AMs with Balotelli, and Balo has to learn to move a little differently up front. Might be tough but it’s not impossible.
next few games will determine what we’re likely to achieve on a ppg basis. 70pts won’t get us 4th, no way.
It’s been 79, 74 (?) last couple of years, hard to imagine it falling back to the prior average of 69.
Agree its very unlikely. One ray of hope is that United and Everton are no better than us and Tottenham just never qualify. The scenario would be a 10-12 point gap between 3rd and 4th, with us winning a rats-in-a-sack fight with the 3 clubs I just mentioned.
Scenario sounds like some dodgy Brazilian striker we’ll pay 40 million for at ten to midnight on January transfer deadline day, the way things are looking!