Three From Three - Can Liverpool Mount A Credible Title Challenge

No Luis Suarez, no goals conceded and a win against one of the big four in our first three games.  Is it possible Liverpool can mount a sustained challenge for the Premiership or at the very least gain a Champions League position?

The flourish which Liverpool ended the transfer window bringing in Mamadou Sakho, Tiago Illori and Victor Moses to supplement the earlier transfers of Luis Alberto, Iago Aspas, Simon Mignolet and Kolo Toure has given Rodgers some of the depth he sort from the window and in Toure and Sakho the experience the team has been crying out for.

Victor Moses gives Rodgers the pace and specifically the power, that at this moment the promising Ibe and Sterling do not.  Anyone watching Sterling, manfully trying to cope with Antonio Valencia during the dying embers of the recent East Lancs derby, will know that as talented as he is, he needs to be brought along gradually and the loan signing of Moses may just buy Rodgers the time he needs to develop the two youngsters.

Liverpool now have unrivalled strength in depth in the centre-half department and cover for both full-back positions.  Rodgers has a world-class striker soon to be back at his disposal and a young English striker in Sturridge looking for all the world, as if the £12 million paid for him was an masterstroke from the Irishman.  The inclusion of Aspas, a workhorse from the Dirk Kuyt School of hard work, with a tad more technical ability, lends itself to a powerful forward line, but with no fourth striker with Fabio Borin’s season long loan to Sunderland, as with last year's Andy Carroll loan leaving the team bereft of a striking option, the decision seems to lack foresight particularly with Daniel Sturridge's injury record.

The missing ingredient is in midfield.  Steven Gerrard’s transformation from midfield dynamo to a holding midfielder who  chooses his moments to break forward means that Liverpool are missing that truly dominant, powerhouse in the ‘engine room’ to drive the team forward and control games, especially in the final 20 minutes of games.

Can he lead Liverpool back into Europe?

Our recent win against Notts County in the Capital One Cup was a case in point.  Jordan Henderson, replacing the injured Allen, provided the energy and vitality to kick-start Liverpool again, after an excellent start looked like being thrown away.  Of the Liverpool midfielders, Henderson and Gerrard look the only two capable of providing anywhere near the combativeness edge and the goals to support the strike force.

If instead of Allen read Fellaini or Dembele could that be the difference to bridge the gap or does Rodgers’ team just need time to mature into the finished article?  It’s an interesting question when one considers that we have the best record in the Premiership since our last loss against Man United in January of last season (winning 11, drawn 6 and lost 2) and many of those matches have been without the brilliant Suarez.

Victor Moses could be ‘that’ player.  The auxiliary player capable of not only playing in his natural position on both wings, but being the fourth striker and switching to centre-midfield at a pinch should the need arise which would fit in with Rodgers belief that talented players can play in a multitude of positions.

 
Can Liverpool win the title? I would suggest, injuries permitting, there is no reason why a top four position should be beyond this team, but the lack of real quality in depth in midfield leaves us short of goals, experience and physicality with the result that we might be short on enough quality assurance on a continual basis to mount a sustained challenge for the title.