The only positive that Liverpool could take away from their 3-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester United was a Christian Benteke goal out of the blue. Apart from that rather wonderful striker, Liverpool had nothing to talk about. The first half was as poor as any half in a Liverpool-Manchester United clash and when the home team came out in the second half with a determination to attack, Liverpool were more than happy to let them have a go.
There is nothing wrong whatsoever going into a big clash against Manchester United and playing for a draw but that could have been a tactic during the Sir Alex Ferguson era when his team was probably the best in England. This Manchester United team is still trying to find its feet and were there for the taking, especially with Wayne Rooney missing out.
Brendan Rodgers however decided to play with five across midfield and was guilty once again of a couple of players play out of position. Danny Ings and Roberto Firmino are most active and effective when they are in front of goal but playing them on either side of midfield greatly reduced their effect. Christian Benteke was left to fend on his own and Liverpool never really seemed to have a plan except to hoof the ball forward to the Belgian striker.
Liverpool do not seem to be going anywhere with Rodgers at the moment, the Northern Irishman does not know which team is his best, neither does he know which formation suits his team. One of the most unexplainable traits of the Liverpool manager is to play people out of position. Joe Gomez, who is a right-back or centre-back, is still played at left-back. Granted the youngster still has a lot of time to learn and develop and has been pretty good so far this season, it does send the wrong message to other players who Rodgers had brought to the club like Alberto Moreno, who has become a bit part player.
In fact most of Rodgers’ signings have not been able to stamp their authority in the starting line-up. He still continues to play with Lovren when everyone knows that Mamadou Sakho could do a better job in central defence than the Croatian.
Ever since Luis Suarez left the club, everything has hinged on Philippe Coutinho and with him missing the game against United, Liverpool looked bereft of attacking ideas, despite spent more than £50 million on Benteke and Firmino.
Rodgers’ team has lost their attacking intent, something that saw them almost clinch the title a couple of seasons ago. They didn’t have a great season last time around, but Rodgers stated that he got the players he needs to do well with the club this time around. After this loss, it seems a lot of work needs to be done to ensure they have a decent season at least.
The season is only five games old and based on the performances of Liverpool, they have been quite lucky to have seven points from these games. There is a feeling of bewilderment from Rodgers at the moment, not knowing what to do and the tide is turning against him at least from the majority of Liverpool supporters, who mostly are loyal to their manager.
With a few managers like Klopp and Ancelotti available at the moment, Rodgers needs to be sure of what he does at Liverpool. It is an extremely thin line he is crossing right now and a few slip ups could see him without a job before the January transfer window. FSG did sack a legend at Liverpool in Kenny Dalglish when he couldn’t live up to the billing and quite frankly, this probably is Rodgers’ last season at the club, unless he is in the race for the top four in December.
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