For the second time this year, against Southampton, we had injury issues, and for the second time Brendan Rodgers got the game plan completely wrong. And so, just like on the 16th of March, a confident Liverpool faced Southampton and were absolutely shocking on the day.
There was a wealth of negative points to take from the game. The result was unlikely before the ball was kicked. Rodgers’s team selection was arguably his strangest one so far: four natural center-backs occupying our back line was an odd choice. This eliminated the chance for overlapping runs and final third awareness of our fullbacks – something that is integral to our style of play.
Once again we saw a complete gap in midfield without Phillipe Coutinho’s ability to link the play from midfield to attack. There was a large gap in the middle of the park and there was no transitional play of note. I seem to write this point time and time again: we have no invention or spark or even vision in midfield without Coutinho, and the idea to omit a player who is able to drop deep, play triangles and get some tempo going was once again a problem. And again, the team just resorted to hitting aimless long balls or attacking down the wings. Every time Liverpool don’t perform this seems to be the underlying issue. How Rodgers doesn’t seem to have a contingency plan or ideas of alternative routes to goal must come under scrutiny now as we have seen this shambles too many times.
The loss also showed us that the forward line just doesn’t seem to be well-drilled in what they do, and have very few ideas. Sturridge and Aspas do not seem to be on the same wavelength, and whatever Moses’s tactical instructions were is anybody’s guess. Similarly, we don’t seem to rehearse any form of set piece – another issue that has not been sorted since last season. We couldn’t even win headers with four center-backs on the pitch. Performance wise, barring Henderson and Lucas, everyone was poor. When Henderson was switched to right-back when Luis Alberto came on, we instantly lost the midfield battle – a signifier of how important he is to our midfield. Lucas’s forward pressing was solid, but it was fruitless on a day when everyone around him was half-arsed.
The game brought into perspective an issue with the squad. We don’t have direct replacements in key areas of the pitch. Injuries to Coutinho and Johnson basically negate our game plan and make stringing two passes together seem impossible. We saw this very same personnel issue in last season’s defeat to Southampton, where we were without Lucas.
This loss is inexcusable. Rodgers must account for all these issues that continue to plague our team. These problems are not once-off, and neither are they new. Rodgers needs to prove himself during this injury crisis, and we really need to step it up if we don’t want that good start to be a mere flash in the pan.
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