We reckon our manager deserves a proper pat on the back for turning our season around…
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6) Forgiving Mamadou Sakho for his Merseyside Derby walkout – and bringing him back in for Dejan Lovren…
There were serious doubts over the Frenchman’s Liverpool future after he stormed out of Anfield back in September, having been left of the team for the Everton clash… On recent form however, we can perhaps understand why he was so upset at being dropped in the first place. When Sakho recovered from a thigh injury before Christmas though, Rodgers immediately brought him in to replace £20m Croat Lovren, and the expensive summer signing hasn’t been able to get back into the side since. In the 15 matches the 24-year-old has played since his mid-December return – we haven’t lost a SINGLE game within the 90 minutes. The powerhouse has played a huge role in our improved defence, and let’s hope his and our form continues. Rodgers was probably wrong to try and replace him in the first place, but should be credited for the realisation of his mistake.
5) Telling Mario Balotelli – ‘It’s our way, or the highway’…
The first few months of the season were a few of the most torrid Liverpool fans can remember in recent history, having to watch £16m summer signing Mario Balotelli toil as a lone striker in a remarkably uninspiring 4-3-3 formation. He lacked spark, energy, enthusiasm and finishing – and failed to score a single Premier League goal before injury struck him down in November. Although Balotelli returned from injury quickly, Rodgers had decided that the striker must seriously shape up if he was to have an Anfield future.
“He knows exactly what is required to be in this squad before he can be in the team,” Rodgers warned in January.
“It is difficult for him [Balotelli] but he knows the level of [where] this team is at – you see the aggression in our pressing and if you can’t do that you are not going to be a part of what this team is trying to achieve.”
Rodgers was right. Our style, which almost won us a title last season, is based on endless pressing, dynamic and varied attacking movement, and an inherent need to work for the team. Until Balotelli understood this, he’d be out of the side. Whether this seemed harsh or not (these characteristics don’t come naturally to Balotelli), it was for the good of the team.
Without wanting to jump the gun, it seems like Balotelli might have paid attention to his manager’s words… He came on and scored a crucial Premier League winner versus Spurs last week, and played an impressive 45 minute FA Cup cameo at the weekend, too – working hard, making runs, and pressing the opposition. It took a while, but it seems like penny may have dropped with the maverick 24-year-old.
4) Bringing Lucas back in from the cold…
Rumours were rife that the long-serving Brazilian was surplus to Anfield requirements early on this season, with Serie A clubs Napoli and Inter Milan credited with strong interest. In truth, not many Liverpool fans kicked up much of a fuss at the time, but having watched Lucas play such an instrumental role in our season revival, they certainly would now.
Steven Gerrard was struggling badly in the anchorman role, and Rodgers rightly moved him from the position in place of his 28-year-old teammate. Lucas is far more disciplined, and puts in a huge amount of defensive work at the base of midfield – using tackles and interceptions to create a platform from which the more technically creative players can perform.
He’s sadly injured now, but all season, Liverpool have lost two matches where Lucas has started – versus Real Madrid and Chelsea. His importance is vital.
3) Temporarily dropping Simon Mignolet for Brad Jones…
We don’t need to spend too many words reliving it, but Mignolet was pretty dire early on this campaign. At times, our defensive woes and set-piece lapses almost parodied themselves – to the amusement of rival supporters.
Brad Jones is not a particularly good understudy, but Rodgers still made the decision to pull the Belgian out of the firing line in place of the veteran Aussie.
While Jones was poor, Mignolet has been far, far improved since his return to the side – and he deserves praise from the same fans who were so happy to slaughter him a few months back – as does his manager.
2) Trusting Emre Can on the right of defence (and signing him for £10m in the first place)…
Emre Can is naturally a defensive midfielder, and at his previous club Bayer Leverkusen, he was occasionally used as a left wing-back. He’s never previously played on the right of a back three – but on Boxing Day against Burnley, Rodgers stuck him in that exact position in place of Kolo Toure.
He breezed through the 45, and has played the full 90 in each of the 12 games since – looking about as composed, powerful and intelligent as you could ever expect from a 21-year-old ‘defender’. Liverpool fans have naturally become increasingly excited by Can’s prospects, especially having viewed the ease in which he’s stepped up into a box-to-box midfield role during some matches.
Of all the summer signings, Can right now looks the best. And at £10m, he looks a serious, serious bargain, too.
1) Reverting to a 3-4-3 mid-December…
There is no way any fan – Liverpool or neutral – can take this decision away from Rodgers…
Without two top notch strikers available (Luis Suarez being sold, and Daniel Sturridge being injured), the boss couldn’t feasibly deploy the diamond that saw us rip teams apart in 2013/14, so started this campaign with the modern 4-3-3 which most big sides use.
For whatever reason, it didn’t work – and there were loud murmurings that the Northern Irishman would lose his job unless he drastically turned around our fortunes.
At the time, we were struggling defensively, but it was our complete inability to create chances consistently which was perhaps just as damning. So Rodgers fielded a 3-4-2-1 formation against Manchester United on December 14, and although we lost 3-0, there were actually signs of significant improvement. (Yes, we’d been that bad previously…)
Since then, we’ve played 15 games – only losing to Chelsea in the League Cup after Extra Time. Defensively we’ve improved, and the new formation has maximised our attacking midfielders – as Coutinho and Adam Lallana have been able to play more centrally, between the opposition midfield and defence. The former especially has shone, while Raheem Sterling’s done a solid job as a false-9, although he’ll likely be used in attacking midfield now Sturridge is back. What’s more, the new tactic (which has been used very, very rarely in Premier League history), has enabled summer signings like Lazar Markovic, Alberto Moreno and the aforementioned Emre Can to shine.
It may not be the long-term option, but Rodgers deserves a huge pat on the back for implementing the wing-back formation when he did – as virtually no supporters at the time were calling for it.
