Well…nobody can ever say LFC is not a charitable team. Watching our game against West Brom, the only way I could describe our performance is tired. Just tired. We lacked imagination to break down the team. Their midfield seemed more aggressive and determined than ours and our striking duo of SAS seemed to be just that half a step too slow.
I was looking at the stats of our season so far, and I am sure everyone is thrilled by the fact that only Manchester City have scored more goals than us. But, the concerning aspect is that six other teams have conceded less goals than us. Including Southampton, down in ninth. More concerning, of the ten matches in which we did not pick up the full three points, four of them we were actually leading. This means we threw away ten points from winning positions that became two draws and two defeats. Ten points lost because of shoddy defending. Add those ten points onto our current total of 47 points, equals 57 points, top spot and two points ahead of Arsenal. But we are not. Our defence is shaky enough without Kolo Toure donating goals to the opposition.
I shall raise my hand in this situation and say I was wrong. For months, I have argued that our defence was good enough and we did not need to strengthen. I was wrong. Sakho has looked strong and uncompromising when he has played, but our fullbacks need a lot of work. Most worrying is that during the recent transfer window, Brendan Rodgers seemed more concerned with buying a winger and not a full backs. We can get by with Skrtel, Agger, Sakho and even Toure. But Johnson has been poor for the last season and a half, Jose Enrique is prone to mistakes, Kelly is prone to injury, Cissokho is painful to watch and Flanagan will be a top class full back in a year or two, but currently lacks the experience. I managed to see Andre Wisdom playing for Derby during the FA Cup and was very impressed with him there. So perhaps he could fill the full back role upon his return. In my opinion though, we still need a Left Back. My thoughts go to Luke Shaw at Southampton and Davide Santon at Newcastle. Unfortunately, teams with more money are also looking at Shaw and I doubt if Newcastle would want to sell a second Left Back to us in a row. That means we should look overseas and players that stand out for me are Domenico Criscito (Zenit St. Petersburg) Mattia De Sciglio (AC Milan) and Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid).
So how do we beat them?
But, let’s put that wishful thinking on the backburner and focus on the visit of Arsenal. The table topping Arsenal come visiting with a weakened midfield. Ramsey, Diaby, Walcott, Wilshere and Kallstrom injured and Flamini suspended. They have pushed Oxlade-Chamberlain into the centre of the midfield to fill this hole and he did a very good job against Palace in the last match. This is a match between the most attractive footballing teams in the premier league, but I think the victor will come from who has the most muscle and strength in the middle of the park. I would like to see a 4-3-3 formation, with our midfield three playing in a very tight triangle. Arsenal are not a team that looks to play the ball out wide and then cross it in. They want to play the ball through the middle with quick one-twos. We need to clog the middle of the field and prevent them from doing so. Our back four should be who ever is fit, but I think Cissokho should be dropped and Flannagan moved to the Left Back role. Martin Kelly coming in on the right. I also think Coutinho should be dropped in favour of Joe Allen for this match. Gerrard and Allen playing deep with Henderson playing in a deeper number ten role. A box to box type role. Our front three should be Sterling, Suarez and Sturridge.
Arsenals main threat will come from Ozil, Carzola and Podolski. If we can keep them quiet, then we should keep the three points.
And our competitors…
I was very happy with my review of our competitors last week. I saw the upsets in the Spurs and Man United games, and Aston Villa almost did the same with Everton.
This week, Chelsea are hosting Newcastle. And dare I say it…a Magpie win? With Loic Remy, I would think it would be possible. Maybe not a win, but a draw. But without him, I do not think this will happen. I don’t think it will be a walk-over, but I expect Chelsea keep the three points. Manchester City visit Norwich, who at the moment, do not look able to find three points in a triangle. City will leave with a win in this match, especially after being beaten by Chelsea. Spurs host Everton, and I think Spurs will collect the points in this match. Everton’s lack of depth is being exposed and Spurs under Sherwood seem a more dangerous team. Man United then host Fulham. Unfortunately, the way Fulham are playing, I expect this match to be a real, real embarrassment. I see four goals or more for United.
Follow Kurt Ellis on Twitter @kurtellis2
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