Five things that we learned from Liverpool’s win over Bournemouth…
Liverpool beat Bournemouth 3-1 on Wednesday evening as we sealed a spot in the Captial One Cup semi-finals, here are five things that we learned from the game:
Raheem Sterling is the best striking option Liverpool have right now
He might have fluffed his lines against Manchester United on Sunday, but against Bournemouth, Sterling proved that he’s the best striker we currently have available to us. It’s not his best position by any means, but his pace and movement cause problems, a pleasant change to the less mobile Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli. Against the Cherries, he was in the right place to poach his first goal, before a wonderful individual strike for his second.
Lazar Markovic has plenty to offer Brendan Rodgers side
The Serbian winger made a promising cameo against Basel in the Champions League last week, before an unfortunate red card, and had the chance to impress from the start tonight. He definitely did just that, scoring once and playing a key role in the opener. For the first hour he was the stand-out player, before fading late on. We have to hope that this is a sign of the youngster beginning to adapt to English football, and that he will continue to impress in the weeks to come.
We need to see more of the 3-4-3 formation, when the moment is right
We saw both the positives and the negatives of the 3-4-3 formation tonight. Going forward we looked excellent, both Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho had strong games in addition to the two goal scorers, and there was plenty of exciting movement and interplay. However, the back three were exposed at times, and Jordan Henderson looked fairly uncomfortable playing as a right wing-back for much of the evening, although he did have a major role in the first goal. We’d like to see more, but it perhaps needs to be saved for certain games where we are expected to do well, and need the players to breakdown opposition teams.
Brad Jones is not the answer to Liverpool’s goalkeeper issues
If Simon Mignolet was dropped due to a lack of confidence, both in himself, and in his defenders, it’s hard to see why Jones is an improvement. The Australian certainly should have done better with the Bournemouth goal – letting Gosling’s weak shot slip through his fingers and over the line. He’s undoubtedly a short-term solution to take us up until the January transfer window, but if that’s indeed the case, could Mignolet not have maintained his position until then. He has, after all, conceded just two goals in his last four games.
The Capital One Cup could help turn around our season
So Liverpool take on old foes Chelsea in the semi-final of the Capital One Cup. It’s certainly a daunting task against the Premier League title favourites, but Brendan Rodgers knows that success over two legs could breathe new life into his side’s season. A final against Tottenham, who Liverpool have enjoyed a strong record against recently, or League One Sheffield United awaits, and if the Reds can get through, they will be confident of picking up a record ninth win in the competition.