David Douglas (dedlfc)
With the bitter memory of the goal that wasn't given in Sunday's derby still fresh in the minds Rodgers had the personal visit of his former employers Swansea to try and get us into the quarter- finals.
He decided to give Suarez and Gerrard a rest and started with Yesil and Cole. He also played with three at the back as that formation seemed to work in the second half of the league game vs Everton.
The problem we seemed to face tonight was the fact that we do not have a striker to hold the ball up and for the team to work around whereas Laudrup has smartly picked up for a bargain a striker/midfielder named Michu.
Michu was the outstanding talent on show and he totally terrorised our defence. With Joe Cole not making any impact and Joe Allen having a more subdued approach to our game. Swansea totally dominated the first half with the type of expressive football Rodgers had hoped Liverpool would now be able to produce and took a deserved first half lead through a headed goal which was disappointedly defended by our team Flores doing the damage.
Rodgers hand had now been forced and his first choice players Suarez and Gerrard were brought on to try and change the game but to no avail as Swansea again dominated the second half with the ultra talented Michu again leading the line magnificently.
Swansea took a 2-0 lead through Nathan Dyer after further excellent build up from Michu and Hernandez, Rodgers must have sat there regretting not bringing across further players from his old club.
The enigmatic Suarez then scored another glancing touch from a Gerrard free kick and then missed a glaring chance to take the game to extra time after Gerrard had previously tested the strength of the woodwork with a trademark pile driver.
The Swans sealed the win 1-3 with another incisive counter attack this time with Michu laying the ball across for an easy tap-in for Guzman to complete a comfortable win for Swansea and give Rodgers and Liverpool a reality check on where they really are at the moment.
LFC Man of the Match - Suarez came on and again showed why he is one and only goal threat but not clinical enough to produce the required goals of a 25 - 30 goal clinical poacher.
Negatives: The Rodgers philosophy is constant movement with angles and a pressing game showed by Swansea to a tee. To get us playing to that level will take time but how much patience and effort it will take is going to be more down to the owners than the fans as finishing 10th this season may be acceptable to some fans but the owners agenda is going to be something we can not predict.
As we constantly state on the blog we need more assistance for Suarez up front and it just looks to me like we need a reliable goal scorer with experience like a Huntelaar or Soldado even if it costs 20m having one of these two players as the head of our attack will give us the base to start our attacks. We need a player that if we play the ball up to them can keep possession of it and then get midfielders to drive forward from their possession.
The reality is that Reina has under-performed without any top level competitive keeper to train with on a day to day basis - with this not being addressed we may never again see the best of Reina as he is now just too complacent - When he is out of the side we then see how poor the reserve keepers are - with Jones getting a couple of games in Reina's absence he is not the answer to getting Reina to produce his top level performances on a more regular basis again.
Without Champions League football going into another year there is a real chance we will lose our better players such as Suarez, Reina and Agger, the owners will need to show even more ambition or be faced with mid-table mediocrity in a 60,000 capacity stadium!
The game Swansea imposed on Liverpool seemed like an upgrade on Liverpool’s possession game played at high octane speed with a cutting edge. We were at times chancing shadows with Joe Cole, once euloguised as a 17 year old prodigying, now looking like Uncle Albert in Only Fools and Horses. His Anfield career may just be drawing to a close juddge by his cart house like speed around the pitch.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Liverpool need something new upfront. Yes Swansea were the better team but Liverpool had chances, especially at 0-1, when Stewart Downing missed a sitter from literally six yards. Chances have to be taken and right now we don't appear to have the personel take up the challenge and with that in mind, January may just be too late to mount any challenge on the FA Cup or Europa League let alone a Champions League position.
The truth can hurt and we realise this when you start to go few months into the football season with you come up against battling for the league and other cups.
ReplyDeleteFar apart from some of the big names. I agree with are lacking of squad depth.
BR, has given the opportunity and chances to our young players and you just have to perform.
Cole, Downing and Henderson all struggled. We can’t keep playing Gerrard and Suarez, they need a rest to, and if we want to compete then we need quality the quantity, we should not just depend on them to save the day.
These sort of loses are not emberressing anymore, its how we are, it reality.