Five things we learned from today’s defeat – how will we respond after exiting Europe…
It was a tough night for many Liverpool fans on Thursday, as the Reds crashed out of the Europa League at the hands of Besiktas. We were certainly watching with grim expressions on our faces as Dejan Lovren blazed over the decisive penalty.
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What’s important now is that we respond in the right way. Our recent fine run of results have taken us to within touching distance of the top four, while we’re still just three matches away from lifting the FA Cup.
Here are five things we learned from this evening’s game:
5) Dejan Lovren doesn’t deserve all the blame for our defeat
The Croatian centre-back has certainly had his fair share of critics since his £20m summer move from Southampton, and it could be easy to make him a scapegoat for all our issues so far this season. However, what we saw tonight – right after the dreadful penalty miss – was something positive: Lovren was devastated. If there’s one thing he can’t be accused of, it’s not caring. Simon Mignolet and Joe Allen have both improved after difficult starts to the season, and we have to hope that Lovren is the next player to join that list. To be fair, he did well during normal time, too – and should be congratulated for having the bottle to take the pen.
4) Brendan Rodgers is still struggling to trust Mario Balotelli
The Italian was our best attacking player tonight, offering more than both Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge. Despite his decent performance, he was hauled off inside 90 minutes and replaced by Adam Lallana. Admittedly, the Italian was on a yellow card, picked up for a foolish tackle early in the match, but with a penalty shoot-out also looming, it came as a huge surprise to see him trudge off. What’s next for the £16m summer signing from Milan?
3) Raheem Sterling needs something of a reality check
The 20-year-old forward was extremely wasteful tonight, and then elected not to take a penalty in the shoot-out. Considering that he recently turned down a contract offer worth over £100,000-per-week, it’s time the youngster’s progress was put into perspective. He’s done brilliantly over the last two years, and is without a doubt one of the finest young players in the world, but he’s not yet ready to carry the entire team on his shoulders. The sooner he comes back down to earth the better.
2) There’s only so much we can do without a host of first-team players
Steven Gerrard, Lucas Leiva, Jordan Henderson, Lazar Markovic, Glen Johnson, Mamadou Sakho, Philippe Coutinho, Jon Flanagan, Jose Enrique, Brad Jones – you could name almost an entire team of Liverpool players who were absent from tonight’s game, many of whom have been key figures in our recent success. Of those, only Coutinho’s absence was not enforced by an injury or a suspension. No team will perform to their best when they’re missing so many players, and so it proved on Thursday.
1) A top four finish and FA Cup success would still represent a great season
Despite the defeat to Besiktas, it’s worth putting our recent success into perspective. Our latest run of results have taken us to within two points of the top four and into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Arguably, both those competitions are more important to us. Were we going to win the Europa League? At full strength, we had a chance, but it would have been a tougher task than any of our other remaining ambitions. Not playing on a Thursday evening could eventually prove to be a blessing in disguise.
