Each Tuesday of the season I will
take an in-depth look at the progress and prospects of a Premier League club,
evaluating their season up to that point and envisaging what lies in store for
the rest of their campaign.
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| Where are all the world class signings then lads? |
Having just watched Brendan
Rodgers’ side fall to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the champions Manchester
City, Reds fans can certainly take some comfort from a game that they bossed
for long periods. For the first 30 minutes or so they played their usually
passing game at a high tempo, with Gerrard finding his range and Sturridge
looking bright.
However at the very top level you
must take advantage of the possession you accrue, perhaps a Liverpool team
containing a certain Luis Suarez would have, but this side displayed a distinct
lack of quality in the final third (a rarity in contrast to last season).
In a continuation of last season,
Liverpool also lacked quality at the back, which cost them dearly just before
half time as Stevan Jovetic pounced on hesitant defending from new signing
Alberto Moreno, firing past Simon Mignolet.
Any attempted comeback looked
doubtful as a beautiful piece of individuality from Jovetic allowed Nasri to
expose gaps in the Liverpool back line, setting up the Montenegrin for a
deserved second. This lead to Rodgers introducing £25 million man Lazar
Markovic, however it was Sergio Aguero’s entrance into the fray that sent
Liverpool crashing to the canvas, as the forward beat Mignolet from the angle.
Rodgers threw on Can and Lambert,
changes that arguably should have happened at 2-0. The former Leverkusen man
injected some energy and drive into the midfield whilst Lambert got his
sizeable forehead on a stunning yet seemingly effortless Sturridge delivery,
which was almost matched by Hart’s superb initial save, only for Zabaleta to
unfortunately bundle it over the line.
Liverpool’s new number nine was
then presented with a glorious chance to reduce the deficit to one, a chance
that the previous bearers of that hallowed shirt would have buried, however
Lambert produced a feeble finish that perhaps highlights his own reservations
about being a Liverpool player. With that the game was gone and City celebrated
their first home win of the season, leaving Rodgers with much to ponder.
The arrival of Mario Balotelli is
of course a genius bit of business and he could well recreate Suarez’s form
from the previous campaign, he has no less talent than the feisty Uruguayan.
This signing could certainly see them achieve Champions League football again,
but in terms of progression from one season to the next, I just don’t see it.
Lovren looked a tad exposed at
times tonight and is no better than the centre halves sitting on Liverpool’s
bench, whilst initially showing good energy, Moreno will naturally take time to
adjust to Premier League football. Can looks like a dynamic player, but is he
any better than Henderson or even the re-emerging Joe Allen, and the combined
fee of £50 million for Lallana and Markovic looks horrifically misjudged.
Then there is Rickie Lambert, with
their neighbours across Stanley Park tonight confirming the signing of Samuel
Eto’o on a two year deal, I have no doubts as to which ageing forward I’d
rather be bringing off the bench with 20 minutes to go. I’d also rather have
exciting Ghanaian International Christian Atsu in my squad as opposed to Markovic.
In conclusion, the Balotelli deal
may have just have revived Liverpool’s season, add in another world class
player and we could be talking about potential title contenders. Having said
that I can’t see there being much money left for Rodgers to play with and
ultimately I feel he has wasted the vast majority of it, very much in the same
way Benitez did with players such as Babel, Gonzalez, Riera and Aquilani.
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