I’ve not really been one to question Brendan Rodgers since he took over and I’m certainly not one to jump the gun when it comes to blaming managers, ask any of my Newcastle supporting friends, but the boss has started to make some strange decisions. Our most in form player at the moment is probably Lallana who was absent from last night’s starting 11 with Rodgers stating that he wanted to be careful with him because he’s not long been back from injury. That is perfectly understandable but surely a home game with West Brom on Saturday is a better opportunity to do that rather than a tricky away game in the Champions League.
The same could be said of his decision to rest Sterling in the home defeat to Aston Villa. The midfielder was in good form going into the game and based on Villa’s defensive performances early on in the season it seemed strange that our most creative midfielder was left out. Of course their absences aren’t the reasons we have lost both of those games. Our inability to defend set pieces has been a more decisive factor in both matches and even though players must take a large chunk of responsibility that is something that also must lie with Brendan.
My only concern with Rodgers when he arrived was whether he was more of a coach than a manager. Many good coaches don’t make good managers, especially at the top end where big decisions have to be made. He comes from a background of coaching youth where results aren’t as important as performance, where individual development is a priority, where tactical decisions aren’t so important and signing players is not required. The likes of Suarez, Sturridge, Henderson, Sterling and Flanagan I’m sure would all credit him for taking their games to another level and I have no doubt that his management techniques were as important as his coaching techniques in that process but we are in that period now where he is really being tested as a manager opposed to just as a coach. This is why Simeone is so highly regarded in the game. Year after year Atletico have lost top players but year after year they are challenging because he manages the situation well. To be fair Brendan is young and is new to top level title races and European competition so this is certainly a learning experience for him but he has to learn fast.
Transfer business is obviously a key part of a manager’s role and the jury is certainly still out on that one. It is probably still a bit too early to be judging signings and granted with the injuries we have had they have been thrown straight in at the deep end. Regardless of what you think of them individually Johnson, Flanagan, Allen and Sturridge all made contributions to last season’s success and right now all would be incredibly useful, even Glen! But this is an opportunity for the new players to make their mark and to make it difficult for those injured players to get back into the team. Right now if everyone was fit a few players would be struggling to get in. I can’t say I’d seen a lot of Markovic before he signed but everything I heard was positive. Even a couple of Mancs said to me he was a good signing. So far he hasn’t come close to justifying his price tag.
Balotelli is another who is starting to draw concerns. I was excited by his arrival and the early signs looked good but I’m starting to feel that those fans who said he doesn’t fit in might be right. He probably would fit in if we changed our approach slightly but right now there seems to be a slight loss of identity. Are we a possession team or do we want to counter attack? We probably don’t have the quality defensively to sit back and defend deep so that’s making us want to control games however we can’t seem to keep the ball as well as we used to either which allows teams more opportunities to break at us on the counter attack. Without Sturridge and Suarez have we lost a bit of the fear factor? Teams have more options when they face us now. They can sit deep because we’ll struggle to break them down and they know they can take the game to us because we aren’t as dangerous on the counter attack.
Yesterday’s game was there for the taking. Last season we would have won that match. Basel played offensively and with a really high line but they aren’t a top team. They didn’t have a lot of really dangerous players and when they didn’t have the ball they didn’t press us really intensely. There was space for us to play. A lot was made of the fact Balotelli never touched the ball in the box and that he was too deep. I partially agree with that but as a team did we give him enough opportunities to receive the ball in the box? I’m not so sure. If he was dropping deep why weren’t Sterling and Markovic using their pace to make diagonal runs inside to get in behind that high defence? It’ not just Balotelli’s job to be there. We know he likes to receive the ball into feet so he needs more players going beyond him. To be fair Sterling did make some good runs but once in the final third and in front of goal he was way below standard.
It was another disappointing night in what has so far been a disappointing season. A lot has to change and has to do so quickly because the worrying thing now is that confidence is really low. We have to get out of this rut soon otherwise it could prove a really long season. The Baggies come to Anfield at the weekend in what really is a must win game for us and should we win then the international break comes at an unfortunate time much like it did after the Spurs victory. West Brom haven’t had a great start to their campaign but they have found some form of late and will be playing with much more confidence when they visit. All in all; must do better.
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