The Defence

Thanks partly to injury and partly to squad rotation, Liverpool have fielded many different back 4’s over the course of this season. In fact, some haven’t even consisted of 4 at the back. Brendan Rodgers has experimented with many different players in varying formations. The question is, which combination works best for LFC?

My personal favourite combination of defenders is (from right to left) Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique. They are all very talented, and Johnson and Enrique are very good at pushing forward and starting attacks. Indeed, Rodgers has experimented with playing them in the wing-back role, which in my opinion is extremely effective. When they play at wing-back, they are given more freedom to attack, which really unlocks their full potential. Obviously this means they have to track back a lot to make sure we aren't left vulnerable at the back, but when they do get caught too far up the pitch, Agger and Skrtel are solid defenders, perfectly capable of covering.

Unfortunately, this combination is not currently possible, as Jose Enrique is out injured. In his absence, Brendan Rodgers has been playing Johnson on the left and Wisdom on the right. This works fairly well, but I think Johnson is much more effective at right back. For this reason, I would play Downing at left back and keep Johnson at right back. Some may argue that Downing is needed as a winger in the front three, but personally I think that Sterling, Suarez and Sturridge is the best attacking combination.

Although I said earlier that my favourite pair of centre-backs is Agger and Skrtel, they may well have some competition for their places in the starting 11 when Martin Kelly returns from injury. Although he has often played as a full-back for Liverpool in the past, he is a centre-back by trade, and I think he works best there. Agger is a great defender, and I think he is certain to keep his place in the team, but Kelly may well give Martin Skrtel a run for his money. Skrtel, though usually solid, does make some costly mistakes. If Martin Kelly can show that he doesn't make such errors, he may well break into the first team once he recovers from his injury.

To summarise, my current favourite combination at the back is Johnson, Skrtel, Agger and Enrique. However, in the absence of Enrique I think Downing should function as a left back, and Skrtel may well lose his place when Kelly returns. It is good that Rodgers has been experimenting so much, but now we are more than midway through the season, we are at a stage where we need to consolidate our position. He should now pick the most effective combination of defenders, and stick with it until the end of the season.

QPR 0-3 Liverpool: Great Performance, But It Could Have Been More

On Sunday 30th December, in the last Premier League game of 2012, Liverpool faced QPR at Loftus Road. Liverpool dominated the whole game, and came out comfortable victors.

The first half performance from Liverpool was scintillating. They played the sort of football we all hoped for when Brendan Rodgers was appointed as manager (though incidentally, he wasn’t at the match due to illness), with the team passing the ball around brilliantly, stretching the opposition, and creating chances. They carved through QPR’s defence with ease, and the first goal looked inevitable right from the start. Sure enough, in the 10th minute, Luis Suarez opened the scoring with a great goal. Suarez continued to look exceptionally lively, in my opinion the best he’s played all season. He darted around, terrorised the defences, but also passed when it was the right option. He got his reward for such excellence, with another goal in the 16th minute. Liverpool continued to press, and Agger headed home in the 28th minute to make it 3-0. In all honesty, we could have been 5 or 6 goals up at half time, but we had to settle for 3.

In the second half, the tempo dropped significantly. Although QPR never looked at all likely to score, I was quite disappointed with this. After the first half performance, I wanted the players to go out there and carry on where they left off. They created a few chances, but were not able to score again, meaning the game finished 3-0. Obviously, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter at all, because we went on to comfortably get the three points. However, it would have been a huge lift for the players and fans had they gone on a real rout. They were certainly capable of scoring more.

Suarez looked absolutely deadly in this match, with no trace of the ankle injury which looked set to keep him out of the game, and, until he came off injured, Enrique looked great. Other performances worthy of note were those of Allen, who pulled the strings exceptionally in midfield, and Agger, who got forward a lot, resulting in a goal, and defended well on the very few occasions he was called upon. Sterling was disappointing, but showed some promising signs. Downing also played quite well, and played a large part in the second goal. I certainly hope he doesn’t get sold in January, as he has been an asset to us in the last few games.

On the whole, I was thrilled with our performance. Although QPR were frankly poor, Liverpool capitalised on their bad play brilliantly, and the first half was the best 45 minutes of football I have seen them play all season. Admittedly it was a shame they slowed down in the second half, but overall I was delighted with the win.