Liverpool 1-0 Besiktas: Post-Match Thoughts

In the opening game of their Europa League campaign, Liverpool got off to winning ways by narrowly beating Turkish side Besiktas. The visitors had their chances on the breakaway – Ba nearly scored a very similar goal to the one he netted at Anfield in Chelsea colours last season but was denied by a great stop from Mignolet – but the reds were largely on top. This didn’t, however, translate into too many clear cut opportunities: it wasn’t until the 85^th minute that Liverpool could break the deadlock. The goal came from the spot – after some bickering over who should take it, the Italian showed his supreme composure to dispatch the penalty and give Liverpool a deserved lead going into the away leg.

Many people felt that Balotelli should have been given a place in the starting eleven. In his last two games he had come on and got the winning goal and assist respectively, but Rodgers opted to start him from the bench once again. After scoring the winner yet again in this match as well as putting in an excellent all-round performance after coming on, the manager will be under even more pressure to start him for our crucial game against Southampton on Sunday. The striker has a deadly combination of skill and power; he shields the ball from defenders exquisitely, and seems to be able to either skip past them or win free kicks with ease. I have maintained from the start that, given a proper opportunity to play with a strike partner, Balotelli could definitely still come good for us – his talent is, to my mind, unquestionable. Although the media like to make a big thing of his attitude and will consequently focus on his “stolen” penalty, I actually loved to see him take charge from the spot. He’s undoubtedly the best taker in the team, and his desire to get the winning goal for Liverpool shows his hunger for success with our club. I sincerely hope that Rodgers now gives him a proper run of starts with Sturridge; they provide a lethal combination of pace and power that oppositions simply won’t be able to handle.

I now have to fight my instinct to devote this entire article to how much I love Balotelli and move on – to not mention Jordon Ibe in this match report would, after  all, be nigh on criminal. The youngster was exceptional once again, picking up yet another man of the match award. I will freely admit that I was dubious when Rodgers recalled him; young players need to be managed well and given time to develop properly, and McLaren seemed to be handling him well at Derby. That’s why I’m not manager! The decision has proved inspired: his pace, skill, tenacity and confidence above his years have made him a deadly addition to this Liverpool side. He caused his full back all sorts of problems all evening, and eventually won the penalty off him. He has a scarily bright future if he continues the way he’s going at the moment, and while the main reason for recalling him was likely the Europa League he’s certainly staking his claim to be regularly picked ahead of (the also very talented) Lazar Markovic.

Rodgers will certainly not be complaining about the selection headache he’s being given. The fact that there are so many form players having to vie for a place in the first team shows just how well every single Liverpool player is doing at the moment: even Dejan Lovren has looked competent after coming on in the last couple of games! Admittedly the only real stand-out performers in the Besiktas game were Ibe and Balotelli (Can had a shocker, Henderson tried way too many ambitious long balls and Sturridge appeared to have forgotten how to get his head up), but in general the picture is exceptionally positive. One man who certainly isn’t having to fight for his place any more is Simon Mignolet: his form of late has been better than that of almost any other Premier League keeper. His save when Demba Ba got through one on one was a defining moment of the match, and while it won’t be remembered as such it could well be the save that gets us through to the Europa League last 16. His turnaround in form is, in many ways, surprising. Whilst I have maintained for ages that he is a very talented shot-stopper who will be world class once he improves his claiming of the ball and authority in the box, I certainly didn’t think that he would add these qualities to his game overnight. I’m certainly not complaining about it though, and I’m sure Rodgers isn’t either!

Hopefully the players can all continue to perform on Sunday, when we play a crucial game in our pursuit of fourth place. Southampton currently occupy the final Champions League spot, and if they were to beat us then we would move seven points adrift of them. A win, however, would put us within a point of them; a good result at St Mary’s is imperative if we want to somehow make up for our abysmal start and make this season a success. If we are able to continue our scintillating form then I have no doubt that we can not only get the win, but also finish in fourth or even third place.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

            

How Will Liverpool Line Up Next Season?

Photo: David Rawcliffe

The warning signs are there in the title to this article- the following piece of writing will contain no solid fact whatsoever. It will be almost entirely speculation on my part, and will, in all probability, turn out to be totally wrong. I am not blessed with the footballing brain of Brendan Rodgers, and as such my ideas of how Liverpool should play their football next season may not exactly tally up with his! Still, I’ll give it a shot.

One of the reasons it is so hard to determine exactly how Liverpool will look to play in the coming season is because the exact personnel of our starting eleven is unknown. It is a fair assumption that our midfield will be subject to a lot of rotation; we have more games this season due to being back in the Champions League (yay!), and Sterling, Markovic, Coutinho, Lallana, Ibe, Suso and Texeira are all capable of stepping up to the plate. All of these players can ply their trade in the number 10 role or in a wider position-this gives the side a huge amount of versatility. In some games we could opt for the raw pace of Sterling, Ibe and Markovic- this would lead to a deadly counter-attacking style. In other fixtures we could go down the route of sheer technical ability as opposed to pure pace; Coutinho, Lallana, Suso and Texeira are all extremely gifted on the ball. A combination such as this would lead to a shift towards the ‘total football’ style so widely discussed when Brendan Rodgers first took the reigns at LFC, as all of these players have exceptional passing ability. This ability to mix things up not only from game to game, but also within games, gives us a huge adaptability. This was something we were, to an extent, lacking last season.

All of this goes on the assumption that we will be playing three attacking players behind a lone striker- it is feasible that this might not be the case. The signing of Loic Remy from QPR looks imminent, and he is undoubtedly a talented player. It is inconceivable that he should push Daniel Sturridge out of the side, so perhaps Rodgers is planning on playing two up front. Of course, it could just be that Remy is being brought in to strengthen the squad, and is only being purchased as back-up, but the possibility of a two-man front line has to be considered.  With Remy out of the equation, a 4-2-3-1 would make the most sense: two of Can, Henderson, Gerrard and Allen could occupy the deeper roles, with a combination of the aforementioned midfielders in the three and Sturridge up front on his own. Once Remy is factored in, it becomes harder to predict what Rodgers might do. It is possible that he could revert to a formation he used at times last season- the formation he dubs ‘the 4-4-2 diamond’. Better known to some as the 4-1-2-1-2, this features one holding midfielder, two central midfielders and one out-and-out attacking midfielder playing behind two strikers. This was utilised sometimes last season to allow the SAS partnership to thrive; there is no reason to suggest that it might not be used once more to make full use of the SAR partnership (admittedly not quite as catchy). Though this could be deemed the most beneficial for Sturridge and Remy, it means there is only one attacking midfielder in the line-up, meaning multiple attacking midfielders would have to be played out of position. The signings of Lallana and Markovic this transfer window suggests to me that Rodgers is not looking to regularly go for the 4-4-2 diamond, and his preference is to opt for something closer to the 4-2-3-1 in order to make full use of our massive amounts of quality in the attacking midfield area.

The question many fans are most eager to find the answer to is whether Liverpool will play more defensively next season. Our one obvious shortcoming last season, the flaw in the team that ultimately cost us the title, was clearly our defence. As such, it would be ludicrous to suggest that Rodgers will not look to strengthen the team’s defensive qualities in one way or another. However, I don’t think he will look to address the defensive frailties by lining up in a more defensive manner. Liverpool’s main asset is their great attacking football, so to compromise that by committing fewer men forward would be akin to shooting oneself in the foot. Instead, I think it likely that our defence will be strengthened by means of new acquisitions in the transfer market. We have been persistently linked with Dejan Lovren since before the window opened, and he would not be a bad signing. The fees being bandied about are ridiculous, and I certainly don’t think he is worth the £20 million figure being cited, but he seems to be a solid centre-back. Other than Sakho we have no defenders who are good enough to be regular starters if we want to mount another serious title challenge, so the signing of Lovren (or similar) and at least one new full back is imperative. If we manage to bring in the right players, we won’t need to play in a manner any less attack-minded than last season, as we will have a defence which can be relied upon.

To sum up, there is no way of knowing for sure exactly what we’ll be seeing from Liverpool next season, but that’s all part of the excitement. On August 17^th the plans of Brendan Rodgers will start to be revealed, and we can begin to see for ourselves what Liverpool have in store for us in 2014/15. All we can do until then is hugely over-analyse pre-season games, get whipped up into frenzies about made-up transfer targets and altogether get carried away by the whirlwind of madness that is the close season. The only certainty is that, come what may next season, we will be behind the club with the huge support that can only be given by the best fans in the world.

 -James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013