Liverpool F.C - Champions Elect?

Tomorrow, whilst kids all over the world will be jumping on their parents heads at ungodly hours of the morning before rushing to their tree/stocking to enthusiastically unwrap gifts which will delight or disappoint them depending on how accurately the contents reflect their pre-Christmas wish, Liverpool supporters can take their time. Maybe spend an extra few minutes in bed, take a shower before putting on their freshest clothes and sauntering in to join the festivities all the while basking in the glow that Santa has already been and gone having delivered their team to the summit of the table, where they shall remain until the big day has passed at least.

Of course over the Christmas period we have some major tests to face, and it is for this reason alone I have decided to stop tempering my expectations and begin to hope that maybe, just maybe this is no short term success. Brendan Rodgers said, in what would be praised as intelligent “mind games” if uttered from the mouth of Ferguson or Mourinho, "I still believe the title is Manchester City's to lose. They have the strongest squad. The resources they have are incredible. We can't ever think we have cracked it. We can't become complacent. You have to be focused and move on to the next game." This not only helped to put some pressure on City before the meeting it also gives an honest assessment of our chances at this time. There is still a lot of football to be played before the champions are crowned, but there is no denying that we are sitting pretty. That is why I have decided to simply enjoy our current situation. As Rafa might have said “We are in a good moment” as we embark on a difficult couple of fixtures in quick succession which will reveal more about our ambitions.  I have confidence in this team. I have confidence in this manager. I have doubted them before and they have proved me wrong. I honestly believe it is possible for us to get something from each of these games away to City and Chelsea. Unfortunately you have to acknowledge the challenge this entails and recognise that we could sit outside the top 4 by new year. If that were to happen we can re-align our targets and again become embroiled in the day to day mundanity of scrapping it out amongst the other troglodytes for one of the  runner-up spots that awards a seat at Europes top table next year.

Right now though, its Christmas and Liverpool are TOP of the League. We have a manager whose game plan seems to be coming together at the right time. We have a team who look equal parts stylish and dogged, ready to run through brick walls before deftly finishing an exquisite passing move. We have the best player in the world leading our line and scoring world class goals every week. Its not a bad place to be.

If, somehow, you are still struggling to enjoy it, just think back to the end of last season, how far away did the top of the league seem then?

I also want to take this opportunity to say Happy Christmas from The Red Article and a heartfelt thank you for all of your support throughout 2013. Eat, Drink, be Merry, enjoy every minute of it for who knows whats up ahead.

Liverpool FC – Champions elect..... for now at least!

Barry

Twitter:@barrymeehan7

Pressing the Point

Pressing the opposition successfully is something that has come into vogue in the last few seasons, mainly as a result of the successes of the dominant Barcelona side which was expertly perfected under the stewardship of their celebrated manager Pep Guardiola. Its something that Liverpool fans were already aware of from the time of our own outstanding manager Rafa Benitez. Back in 2009 we learned how profitable and successful effective pressing could be to a side looking to dominate and win football matches at the highest level. The successes of the Houllier teams of 2001 will not be denied but they were achieved through a more reactive style of defense  and attack for that matter. Even in 2005 we saw under our Spanish leader how we may look in the future as we rocked giants of the game on our successful Champions League run. It showed us a way of football we had forgotten but now could look forward to reveling in. As Benitez’s reign ended, and subsequent managers stepped into the fray, pressing became a less prominent component of our side. It was completely forgotten under the jaded and archaic management of the former Malmo kingpin Roy Hodgson. Then Kenny found it difficult to implement on any consistent basis, even if by this stage the quality of the team had diminished so much as to make it extremely difficult regardless of manager.

When Brendan Rodgers arrived we immediately looked to his previous team for guidance on how we may approach games. Swansea were excellent proponents of pressing the opposition and when this was married to their passing and movement they were a force to be reckoned with. “Philosophy” was the buzzword upon his appointment and Liverpool fans set about the task of learning as much as possible about his philosophy as soon as he was linked with the job. There were comments such as “when we haven’t got the ball is the moment for intense pressure to get the ball back’ which gave a glimpse of the future and excited supporters. Of course anybody expecting any immediate transition to this style soon had their expectations tempered as the complexities of the system were highlighted “You cannot go (press) on your own,You work on zonal pressure, so that when it is in your zone, you have the capacity to press. That ability to press immediately, within five or six seconds to get the ball, is important. But you also have to understand when you can’t and what the triggers are then to go for it again because you can’t run about like a madman.”. It was certainly going to take time to implement a complex system, and philosophy “You do(need time to implement that philosophy). There is no doubt about that. I'm very much a realist. It's certainly going to be a few years in relation to where the team is at now. It will need some investment and it will need time for me to work. But of course we're in the business of winning and winning games is important. But it's a philosophy and a style that's very much in the DNA of me and the club and hopefully we can roll that out over the years to come.” Since then there has been a lot of work done to implement this philosophy but at times there has been frustration, certainly for me, as there was little evidence of the work being carried out on the pitch on match days. It seemed at times that perhaps this was a part of the philosophy that had been left behind. Rodgers had said in his opening press conference “Your philosophy and your principles will always be governed by the players.” I had found myself wondering at times, if pressing had been deemed too difficult for this group and so had been left behind. It causes for incredible tactical awareness, good communication and very high levels of fitness. Perhaps Rodgers had decided to go a different way?

This season, however, there have already been signs that the philosophy is bedding in. Early in the season we ground out results to set the stall, in more recent games we have started to dominate possession all the while being clinical when chances are created. The last game, the 5-0 victory away from home against Spurs, showed us how effective this system can be when implemented correctly. This is not to say that we are now the finished article and we can expect to witness this level in every game while Rodgers is at the helm. We are still a work in progress and there is still plenty of work to be done before we can achieve this standard on a regular basis. The difference now is we have the sampler, the paradigm, for what we may come to expect. We have something to put our faith in as supporters and something for the players to believe in which will lead them to become further invested in the project.  Our league position is one thing, ok its the biggest thing, but for me the improvement in our performance levels has been the most satisfying part of the season so far. 

Twitter: @barrymeehan7

Spurs 0 - 5 Liverpool (Talking Points)

A couple of days has passed now since our 5-0 victory Spurs, but such was the impact of this result, Liverpool fans all over the world are still basking in its glory. Thankfully this result just confirms what many of us believed since the start of the season, Liverpool will be crowned champions in May. Of course that's not actually what this means,  no single game played in December could confirm that no matter how impressive.  What this result does so however is give Brendan Rodgers a base camp or platform on which he can build.  It gives him a reference point he can use in future to point doubters toward to assuage their skepticism   Up till now we had seen glimpses at best of where we might be headed.  We had witnessed some good periods of play, strong halves and fought to gain some confidence building results but up until Sunday we were yet to put all these aspects together into one 90 minute performance.

Expectations can only have been raised by such a performance and that is not only natural it is exactly what we need, we don't have to feel like pretenders to the thrown anymore. This results shows that our current league position if fully justified and has been achieved through our own merits. Everyone connected with the club is obviously on a high right now but there is an imminent test for Rodgers to prepare for immediately. It's his job to ensure that confidence isn't allowed to morph into complacency. He won't need to look too far as a reference point for disappointment, the recent abject performance against Hull will remind everyone how quickly a club seemingly on the crest of a wave can change to one being touted as pretenders. A win against Cardiff at home this coming Saturday is expected and has to be considered a must. Anything less than 3 points pretty much wipes out the achievements in London. Once Cardiff leave Liverpool we embark upon preparations for an extremely difficult Christmas period which includes away fixtures versus both Chelsea and City. We need to make sure they leave empty handed

Now for somewhere talking points from the Spurs game...

Pressing
I think the most frustrating part of the season, so far, for me has been the pressing. We've been inconsistent at best with regard to pressing. Although results have been good I've frequently worried that it would be impossible for us to control games in the manner proffered by Rodgers unless we were able to master this vital component of that style. Sundays performance more than tempered my concerns as we harried or opponents into mistakes in dangerous areas time after time. One or two players focussing on pressing is what has caused us trouble in previous games. Against Spurs we got the team approach spot on, with the midfielders and Suarez responding to triggers instantaneously to hunt the opposition in packs. After almost 1.5 seasons it seems the pressing style mentioned by Rodgers upon his appointment may be starting to come together.

That Flanagan Goal!
I honestly can't tell you the last goal I enjoyed so much. Of course it was a great goal,  made all the better by smashing in off the bar but mainly because of the pure and unbridled joy all over the face of the young Liverpuddlian. He looked like he had been introduced to the action directly from the Kop ten minutes beforehand. I think by now everyone has identified his improvement leaving few questioning his credentials as a Liverpool player. His primary role is not that of a goalscorer but having dangerous players all over the pitch is what marks or great sides.

See, we’re better without Gerrard
I’ve heard this said by plenty of people in the aftermath of the game and I want to speak about it briefly. My opinion is that rather than this game providing proof that Steven Gerrard should be dropped from the starting 11, this game showed that we now have several options in midfield, Gerrard is just one of them. In many situations he can still be the best option but maybe this doesn’t have to be every week anymore. 1 for 1, we still dont yet have any 1 individual midfielder who can provide the magic that Gerrard has the ability to bring, in fairness very few teams do,  but in his absence the sum of the alternatives can be better in his absence. Players like Henderson and Allen certainly stepped up to the plate in this instance ably supported by Sterling and Lucas but of the players just named, 3 are lacking in the experience needed and 1 is still trying to rediscover his best form after coming back from injury. Inexperience can bring the inconsistency that Hendo, Allen and Sterling have shown so-far in their Liverpool careers and the experience provided by Gerrard can guide them through these difficult stages. Regardless of that even, his statistics still show he is a fine addition to our squad. If the learnings from this game enable Rodgers to bench his Captain due to fatigue, poor form or purely tactical reasons in future, well that to me is an improvement on the season so far.

Quick hits

Sakho was immense, he quickly seems to finding his feet in the league . He looks strong powerful and comfortable on the ball. Once acclimatised I really feel he will become one of the strongest defenders in the league

Sterling had without doubt his best performance in the first team to date. He looked hungry, he pressed relentlessly and showed great skill in tight situations at times. He needs to maintain this form though as plenty will remain unconvinced after 1 (albeit excellent) performance.

The form of both Lucas and Johnson improved again for this game. Neither was impeccable but an improvement was needed and it was given. Lets hope this continues

Another cameo from Alberto who also seems to be finding his place in this side. He is showing signs of becoming a viable first 11 option. He has a long way to go yet but passes like the one for Suarez’s 2^nd will live long in the memory.

Clean Sheet...... well it was about bloody time!

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Liverpool v Fulham - (Preview & Prediction)

We've had a really good start to the season.  So good in fact that a defeat away from home against the league leaders had been greeted with huge disappointment because it seems to signal that we are not the title challengers we had convinced ourselves we were. Personally, I'm not so worried about the result but I must be honest and say the performance did leave me a little bit cold.

Our target at the beginning of the season was Champions League qualification, this is still the case. If at any stage during the season we seem to be on course to achieve more than that it can only be a bonus but our base target is top four and the result against Arsenal did not unduly damage our progress on that front.

In order to achieve top four it is essential that we win the games against the teams we are expected to beat and the game this weekend against Fulham is a prime example of this. A lot of people are taking it as a given that we will win comfortably and of course that's understandable because of the poor showing from Fulham so far this season, but I always fear teams a little bit more when they are at a particularly low ebb. This is mainly because results tend to improve eventually with the downward trajectory halted, it's our job to make sure any improvement doesn't come against us.

Having said that.... Fulham are a week side and on paper seem the ideal game for us following last week’s defeat. Individually they have some real talent in their squad.  They have some pretty decent game changers in their side even if they are yet to turn them into a team who can consistently perform.  In their last game against Utd they were truly awful in the first half and any improvement they showed in the second half was caveat-ed by the fact that Utd’s intensity dropped off a little with the game more a less won, they began keeping one eye on their big European game to come.

As for us, the only truly poor results we have had so far have come against teams with real quality who were bang in form. That's not a phrase that can be used to describe The Cottagers. We have some question marks around our line up.  Controversial as it may seem I would be happy to see Stevie rested for this one with Joe Allen finally getting a chance to show what he can offer. I’m not fond of Stevie playing as defensive midfielder in the first place, but he has also looked tired recently and a particularly poor showing from him last weekend should trigger a period of rest for our captain. I dont believe this will happen, but I would be happier if it did. Obviously if Johnno is fit again it may influence the set up drastically.  I think our 3-5-2 last week looked tepid in his absence even though Flanno's individual performance was decent.  Johnno is tailor made for the attacking requirements of the formation however we don't have any other player who can match his levels. If Johnno is still out we may consider going back to basics formation wise. Coutinho is in line to come back into the first 11 and a game against Fulham would seem ideal for him to get some good game time under his belt.  It will take him time to get back to top gear but the only way to do it is with minutes on the pitch. With the Goodison Derby coming up and a rough run of fixtures following on it’s tail, we really need to get him back firing on all cylinders ASAP. Even though Cissokho's performance last week was very poor I think he will continue on the left hand side of defense regardless of formation mainly due to Enrique’s continued absence.

All things considered, we have no reason to doubt our quality at the moment. Our strikers may have drawn a blank last week but they will truly relish this match up. We’ll need to be switched on to ensure there are no scares from their danger-men but overall I think we will prove to be to strong for Fulham in all areas of the park.  If we can get a goal early enough to settle the nerves of players and fans we could really push on and win by a decent margin. 

I’m going to predict a scoreline of 3-0 to the Red men for this one.

Swansea 2 - 2 Liverpool (Talking Points)

The Fourth game of the season saw Liverpool lose their 100% start to the season as we drew away from home against a dangerous Swansea side. But we did hang on to our unbeaten run. The result saw the reds return to the top of the table, a position few would have expected us to occupy as the season moves into the end of September. The result wasn't as impressive as some we have achieved this season but it is most certainty a respectable result and it was also a point which may prove valuable when you consider end of the game and the real possibility of walking away empty handed.

Sturridge

There's not much left to say about him, we have all seen he is an excellent striker by this stage, and more. We've seen him score every league game so far this season with different types of goal in the set so I won't go on about the finish but I can't not mention his anticipation for this goal. He recognised that Shelvey was in trouble before the man himself did and it was this that got him in the position to score because the failed back pass itself wasn't so dangerous without the movement and anticipation from Sturridge.

Sakho

Bit of a shaky start from of marquee summer signing. It didn't strike me as anything to concerning though and just looked like a man playing his first game for a while on a new league. He certainly did well in his aerial duels which was encouraging. He definitely grew into the game second half and his passing was confident and of excellent quality. It could also be that due to Aggers injury and Kolo's recovery he was thrown in a little earlier than planned. Swansea seems like a particularly difficult game for a central defender to their surroundings. Their passing and attacking game will make life difficulty for many defenders throughout the season. It may have been more straight forward for him to spend his debut dealing with long aerial balls but this game will at least have given him good experience

Phil

The little Brazilian got kicked off the park for most of the game and finally succumbed to a rotten challenge from Ashley Williams. It seemed that as he left the pitch our ability to control the ball for any length of time went with him. It was one of them games where he didn't do much you would consider exceptional but everything he did was good and helped us keep possession. It's a pity that his injury seems to require surgery. We're certainly a stronger team when he is on the pitch.

The Pessimism

Already after the game you’ve probably already heard a few whoppers giving the same old crap they always do after a performance which dips anyway below stelar. In fairness you would have to be completely blinkered to not have noticed some of our deficiencies in this game, but the simple fact is we took it on the chin and managed to pull out the draw, the draw which we needed to get back on top of the league. In fairness, there have been too many occasions in the past few years where it has been hard to find positives anywhere, so lets all make a pact to just enjoy this period eh. In kicking off a new campaign.... “Say No to Pessimism”

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Liverpool 1 - 0 Man Utd (Talking Points)

Following the 120 minute victory over Notts County in the week, and the injuries incurred in securing it, there were real concerns for Liverpool going into the big one against Utd. Liverpool had been in some strong form of course but this was a different test. The old enemy who had a new old enemy in charge. The fact that they are defending champions and other platitudes/insults (Delete as appropriate) combined to make this the biggest test we had faced so far this season. With an acknowledging nod to symmetry Daniel Sturridge scored again to record Liverpool's third 1-0 victory of the season out of three and send Reds all across the world bouncing. It may be early days but heaven knows its been a while since we felt we might actually be getting somewhere so let's just enjoy this on. We've got the light entertainment that is  international football now before the real football starts again so there is plenty of time to simply bask in this victory before the next challenge

Sturridge

He just keeps scoring. A proper poachers goal this time as he got he deftest glance to guide Daggers on target effort past the defender on the line. I still dont think he is 100 % fit,  he seems to tire at the end of games and footage of him feeling his groin during the warm up had all telly watching reds to panicking but for certain while he is in this form he will be very hard to rest.

Hendo

He just seems to keep improving and he is a offering a fight and aggression which seems essential to how we are playing at the moment, for me he is now one of the first names on team sheet particularly for these big games. Its not just his battling quality though he is showing week on week that his fight is aligned with no little quality on the ball. Lung bursting runs and never giving up on a ball are not all that is required of a footballer but Wayne Rooney seems to be getting on fine even though thats all he has offered for a couple of years now. I really feel this is going to be a landmark year for Jordan as he improves his ball retention skills. He seems less panicked when going in on goal too and although he has missed some chances already this season I can see him getting 8-10 league goals if he retains his place in the side.

Skrtel

Included in the line-up through necessity rather than choice he did everything he could to convince the manager he still has a part to play in this revival. He was awarded man of the match and kept the increasingly frustrated figure of Van Persie quiet for best part of the afternoon only allowing him one half chance at the death.  He would have felt the eyes of two newly recruited centre halves on him from the stands but he kept his mind on the job at hand and performed excellently.  He has shown he can offer defensive qualities which seem to escape Daniel Agger and although it may not be enough to salvage his Liverpool career it wouldn't be the first time BR had done a turn about on a player. If not and if he were to leave before Monday's deadline well he couldn't have left a better parting gift, and he can take solace from the fact that most players don't ever get the opportunity to say goodbye.

The future

We have shown some really good qualities so far and this is of course encouraging but I honestly don't think we have hit 100% iust yet and that to me is the most encouraging thing of all. With the new additions to come in before Monday to improve the squad it has to be said things are looking up, Sakho and Moses are both players who have lost their places in their respective sides’ first teams due to expensive purchases rather than form. Ilori is a young centre half who has good experience in a tough European league. Obviously we must bare in mind that not all players can settle immediately, and also acknowledge that even the best managers generally have about a 50% success rate in the transfer market, but with the team in good form they may be allowed room to breath before being thrown in and this may help them acclimatise.

We have hit the heights at times but it still feels like there is more to come and that is very exciting. Its way too early to be re-considering our pre-season ambition of a top-four challenge but there is no denying, as Rafa might say, “We are in a good moment”

Long may it Coutinho…..

Should Agger and Toure start the Season as 1st choice Centre Halves?

Recently I've been asked to submit a weekly post to www.tomkinstimes.com weekly symposium. The format is that a question is sent out once a week to symposium members who each submit their response to be published on the website created and run by renowned author, blogger and liverpoolfc.tv columnist Paul Tomkins. I will post my symposium posts on The Red Article one day after they appear on The Tomkins Times, this is because TTT is a subscription only website so I need to ensure they have exclusivity on what I provide in the first place.

If you enjoy this you should check out www.tomkinstimes.com it is a fantastic website which boasts an excellent selection of members who participate in some excellent well rounded discussions on all things LFC. Plenty of the content on there is available for free so you can see if you like it before considering getting a subscription.

Anyway, this week's question was:

Should Agger and Toure start the season as 1st choice Centre Halves?

Although Kolo has been signed as a direct replacement for the retiring Jamie Carragher, I don’t think this should mean that he automatically fills the starting position Carragher held for the second half of last season.

In my eyes he has been bought as an option and should therefore need to earn a starting berth in the same way any of our defenders should. It seems that there is little doubt Agger will start the season as the first choice so the real question is who will partner him. As things stand we have three experienced options for centre-back. Skrtel undoubtedly had a poor season last time out but it seems statistically he matched up to both Agger and Toure for the most part, outperforming them both in relation to Aerial Duel win % but obviously trailing behind them both by some margin with regard to defensive errors.

While I’m afraid it would be futile to make the case for Skrtel’s inclusion given that he is very likely to be sold this summer I can’t help but express my frustration that we may be giving up on him a little bit prematurely. If there is one out, there will surely be one in, and given Toure’s already joined I am interested to see what type of defender will be sought.

One thing it seems we may be missing in a Toure – Agger partnership is a dominating aerial presence – according to EPL index Agger won 61% of aerial 50-50s last season while Toure falls behind by some margin with only a 40% success rate, I think this is an attribute which is important to have in our first choice partnership. We already have a few young players who may vie to become the back-up option at centre-back in Martin Kelly and Andre Wisdom. Both have gained some experience at full-back but it seems both will be aiming to move to the centre and although they may have to wait for the opportunity they can be considered as cover at least for the season ahead.

It remains to be seen who we will add to the squad before the season begins and I think that we need to consider the quality of any new addition before we decide on what our strongest pairing is. I think Agger and Toure are definitely a capable partnership but that doesn’t mean they should be automatic first choice and I still think we can improve in this area.

Link to original Piece: HERE

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS BELOW GIVING YOUR OWN ANSWER:

Who should be Liverpool's next vice captain?

Its been a bit quiet on The Red Article lately, with the arrival of a brand new baby only 7 weeks ago to join her 15 month old sister and 8 year old brother! its simply been a bit hard to dedicate much time to the blog. I'm hoping to get back to posting regularly once the season kicks off but in the meantime I'm going to be posting a number of short articles at least once a week to keep things ticking over.

Recently I've been asked to submit a weekly post to www.tomkinstimes.com weekly symposium. The format is that a question is sent out once a week to symposium members who each submit their response to be published on the website created and run by renowned author, blogger and liverpoolfc.tv columnist Paul Tomkins. I will post my symposium posts on The Red Article one day after they appear on The Tomkins Times, this is because TTT is a subscription only website so I need to ensure they have exclusivity on what I provide in the first place.

If you enjoy this you should check out www.tomkinstimes.com it is a fantastic website which boasts an excellent selection of members who participate in some excellent well rounded discussions on all things LFC. Plenty of the content on there is available for free so you can see if you like it before considering getting a subscription.

Anyway, this week's question was:

Who would you make Liverpool FC's next Vice Captain?

Funnily enough, the role of Vice Captain might have even more meaning than it did for Jamie in that over the next while (although probably not immediately) Steven Gerrard’s playing  time is bound to be reduced somewhat meaning there may be a more frequent need to fill the actual captaincy. There have been plenty of times in the history of the club when we had an ample amount of standout candidates at any given time. Even three years ago there would have been plenty of names springing to the fore, but right now things aren’t so straightforward. As the playing squad stands there are question marks over almost every one of the players you might think of. Pepe Reina has been most people’s stand out candidate for a long time but there are obvious issues in that he may not be first choice goalkeeper this season, and he may not even be at the club. Daniel Agger was the subject of a number of strong bids last summer and after his dip in form last season you would have to think that if a big bid was received the club may consider sanctioning the sale. That said though, he played a lot of games last year and he wasn’t our only defender to have a dip in form. He certainly loves and understands the club and supporters so he is certainly one to consider. Lucas Leiva at his peak would seem to fit the role perfectly. He plays in a position which allows him to have good communications throughout the game with pretty much every other player. He may not be the most vocal player in the squad but he does seem well liked and when on form he truly leads by example, sacrificing himself for the good of the team. Also, it has been clear from a lot of the young players at the squad, particularly South-Americans and Spaniards, that they really see Lucas’ career progression at the club as something to look up to. The adversities he has had to succeed through show a strength of character which is there to be envied and it is something we should utilise to the full. The main issue with Lucas is that since his two injuries he is yet to re-attain his full performance levels, and many people believe that because of the injuries he may never do. I don’t subscribe to this theory and I think after a full pre-season he will become one of the players we like to describe as the “spine” of our team again. Having looked at what I consider to be the main options,  I think Lucas is man to fill the position of Vice Captain for the coming season.

Link to original article on TTT: HERE

Please leave comments below letting me know who would be your choice for our next Vice Captain.

Liverpool V Zenit - The Dilemma

Liverpool’s begin Thursday nights 2nd leg against Zenit St. Petersburg knowing that, as it stands, we need to score 2 goals to get ourselves back into the tie. Of course, having not scored in the 1st leg in Russia we also know that if we concede 1 goal. The difficulty of the task ahead increases massively meaning we would need to score 4 goals in order to go through to the last 16 of the Europa league. It leaves a lot of difficult decisions for the Brendan Rogers.


Fans will remember some of our great European games of recent(ish) years when we surprised the opposition by going for the jugular from the off. This has the added bonus of making sure to get the Anfield crowd excited and rocking in their support of the team. When at its best this becomes some sort of motivational circle whereby the players inspire the fans, who inspire the players right back and so on and so forth until Liverpool has become an unstoppable force which pushes frightens and harangues the opposition into submission. This has worked in the past and it may very well work again, but... If we do go for it in this manner it is also quite possible that we leave ourselves a little exposed. Zenit showed in the 1st leg that they have the players to hurt us if given the opportunity. If we were to concede a goal this approach could have the exact opposite effect. Immediately, players and fans would be hit with the enormity of the task ahead and rather than stifling the opposition with fear we may all become consumed by it and find our challenge seeming insurmountable before the half time whistle has even sounded.

The alternative would be to concentrate on not conceding a goal. This way even if the game remains scoreless until the 70th minute the task ahead remains the same, we would still need 2 unanswered goals to go through, which would seem perfectly achievable considering some of the chances we created in the first leg. Again though, there are complications to this option. If we do manage to stop Zenit scoring until later in the game, there will clearly come a point where simply we have to chase the goals we need. Once we do we are in the exact same situation, only this time, if we do concede a goal we leave ourselves with little time to rectify the situation.

On top of this we have some difficult team selections too. Daniel Sturrige is cup-tied and unavailable and Fabio Borini has graced the Anfield pitch for the last time this season as a result of his dislocated shoulder. This means Suarez is once again the only actual Striker available for selection. We saw in the first leg and in the defeat to West Brom that changing away from our system of 2 up top (which has been in place since the formation of our SAS) can leave us looking a little impotent. In this situation I feel that we need to change personnel to accommodate the system which has been functioning best for us over the past few weeks, rather than changing the system to suit the personnel. In order to do this we need to find someone in our ranks who can effectively fill the void left by Daniel Sturridge. Shelvey has been tried in this position a few times this season but not to any great degree of success, certainly not enough to warrant giving him the nod this time. I believe our best option for this job is Raheem Sterling. His form has dipped recently,as can only be expected from one so young, but perhaps a move to the forward line, absolving him from some of the responsibilities he would have as a wide midfielder would help in this regard. He may not match the strength or physical attributes of Sturridge, but he has the pace, he can shoot and we have seen that he has the potential to be a good finisher. He could be given the simple job of stretching the play, running behind the defence and getting some shots away. He is basically there to give the defenders something else to worry about so they cannot focus all their attention on Suarez.

Its a difficult match to plan for but I feel that this gives Brendan Rogers a very good chance to prove his mettle. In fairness this one match will not make or break his tenure as Liverpool manager. The damage was essentially done in the 1st leg so failure to escape this predicament will not be the end of the world. ButI feel that in order to qualify for the next stage of this competition we will need an almost faultless tactical plan as well as a little luck on the night. If Rogers does manage to steer the team through this, I think many people will have to accept that maybe there is more to this manager than philosophies and satirised soundbites!

TWITTER: @barrymeehan7

Liverpool 5 - 0 Swansea (Talking Points)

Liverpool celebrated a nice, straight forward win on Sunday. For the first time in a while it was simply just good fun to watch us thoroughly dismantle a team. Granted this was a below par Swansea team who had one eye on their first ever major cup final to come next week but regardless, Liverpool  put them to the sword with no apologies. The icing on the cake was in the fact that Red-men FINALLY got the monkey of having recorded no victories against a top 10 team off their back. According to the "experts" for the last few weeks, the failure to record a victory over a team in the top 10 at the time we played them so far this season was evidence of how poor our results have been this season. However it turns out that this "fact" was categorically not a "fact". At the end of play on Saturday 8th of December Liverpool sat in 12th place in the table, West Ham sat comfortably in 10th position on goal difference. When Liverpool beat West Ham by 3-2 on Sunday the 9th December, we knocked West Ham out of 10th position but this doesn't change the actual fact that Liverpool beat a team in the top 10 for the first time this season on 9th December. 

You can only beat whats in front of you
There is no denying this fact, and in these terms the players selected by Brendan Rogers did a very good job. We were expected to win the game and we did so with aplomb. Where i usually preach keeping set-backs in perspective at this time it is important to keep a strong victory in perspective, after all it is not the first time Liverpool have put a mediocre team on the rack this year. Its a telling statistic that Liverpool have recorded 7 victories by a margin of 3 or more goals this season whereas Spurs have only recorded 2. The fact that Spurs sit 9 points ahead of Liverpool, with a game in hand, at the moment should tell you the relevance of this stat (For perspective Man Utd have only recorded 3 victories by more than 3 goals). Alternatively Liverpool have only recorded 3 single goal victories whereas Spurs have recorded 8. It goes someway to shows that, while victories of this type are fun entertaining and of course if managed correctly they can breed confidence, until we master the art of winning tight games, or managing to score when not playing to 100% it is likely that our point gathering will remain sporadic rather than consistent.

SAS
I think even the people who advocated the signing of Daniel Sturridge would admit to be somewhat surprised by just how quickly he has settled and become one of the most important members of our squad. His directness, pace and power breath something new into the team, that is sorely missed what he is absent. The danger he provides is 2 fold in that he is a threat so not only might he do some damage, opposition defenders have to worry about him so much that it frees up space for others. A lot of people were worried about moving Suarez in order to accommodate him, but its clear in the short time that they have appeared together that the sum of the SAS partnership is greater than the value of either individual S. We may still lack depth up front, more-so now in light of Fabio Borini's season ending injury but our first choice partnership has the potential to become one of the strongest on offer throughout the Premier League

A Real Brazilian?
Its no secret that it took a long time  for the Anfield faithful to take to Lucas when he first arived. There are many theories ranging from his long hair to maybe he was just a bit pants. One theory put forward by the man himself i believe is that when people heard we had signed a Brazilian they, maybe understandably, had flashes of Romario, Rivaldo, Ronaldiho or even Juninho flash through their minds. When those visions tried to match up with the stylings of Lucas' game some sort of crash happened and people could not help but feel let down. When Liverpool's newest Brazilian arrived, an Inho aswell there was never going to be such a conflict. On his full home debut he showed tricks, flicks and scored the goal which opened the floodgates to allay any fears of him adapting to life in England. Its early days of course and he is still just 20 year old but what he has shown glimpses of is how the 8.5 million outlay is no great gamble for a player with such potential. It is important to bed him in intelligently but at least the first hurdle of a goal is out of the way.

Is Enrique levelling out?
A lot of people were excited when Liverpool signed the Spanish full-back from Newcastle in last year's January transfer window. For the first few weeks of his Liverpool career it seemed like we may have captured the signing of the season. This didn't last too long however when his performances started to dip somewhat. In fairness it is important to caveat this a bit by reminding everyone that the whole teams level's seemed to drop in unison to the Spanish bulldog's. At the start of this season it seemed like things hadn't improved and what in the beginning we had taken as the norm, seemed now to be the exception meaning he had over performed in his early days. Credit should be given to BR for the improvements in Enrique's performances, but we should also give credit to the man himself. We are now talking about  a consistent level of performance over the last 8 to 10 weeks. Perhaps he is showing that this is his true level and it was not the better performances that were the blip, it was the period when he was not performing that was the exception.