Thursday 13 November 2014

5 Things Rodgers Should Do Over The Break

5 Things Rodgers Should Do Over The Break

 

If any of you are familiar with my Liverpool YouTube channel, you would know that I like to give the viewer a list of 5 things you need to know. This is constant on my preview views before games and I use a slight variation for my review videos. In the review videos I go over 5 things we learned from the match. So over the International Break I think there are 5 things Brendan Rodgers should do over the break

 

January Transfers

 

With many of the 8 new signing struggling to fit in many can concede that FSG, the transfer committee nor Brendan Rodgers will really be doing a whole bunch of business in the window. Who they may buy will either be players for the future, like the Norwegian wonder-kid Martin Odegaard, or older more established players. Brendan Rodgers should be targeting on two main areas that need help, the attacking third and the centre of defence. During the summer the mission was to add depth. The midfield benefitted the most from this tactic with players like Can, Markovic and Lallana bring more options to certain positions. The centre of defence has been a huge talking point around the Premier League. With the lack of leadership and suitablereplacements when injures hit, buying another centre back could only help. For myself 21 year old Frenchman Raphael Varane would be an ideal candidate. Young with the potential to be sold on at a profit would please FSG and skilled enough to help the team straight away would satisfy Brendan Rodgers. Reports suggest that Real Madrid may let him leave for around £19 million. The problem upfront is a little harder to fix. With an investment of £10 million already made in Origi it would be hard to bring in someone else for the long term to lead the line. Thats why  bea player like Xherdan Shaqiri of Bayern Munich would be ideal. Genuine player that can play out wide but also has the talent and skill to cut inside and attack directly with bags of pace. He was heavily linked with Liverpool before, during and after the World Cup but nothing came of it in the summer. Reports do suggest though that Shaqiri is growing frustrated with the lack of first team action.

 

Balotelli and Sturridge

 

Both players haven't been on the same pitch as each other since August. Now with Sturridgereturning to first team training it could not be stressed enough how dependant Liverpool are on this partnership working. Everything looked well as Liverpool beat Tottenham 3-0 away from home. Sturrigde and Balotelli looked to create for one another which had the Anfield faithful hopeful that Liverpool were on track to challenge again this year for the League. Then injury struck Sturridge twice setting the partnership and Liverpool well behind. But through the stormmany fans have been holding to the hope that Balotelli,with a dynamic partner like Sturridge will again be hitting top form. So for Rodgers its his mission to make sure he sets his team up to utilise their strengths as much as possible over the coming fixtures.

 

The Back Four

 

Its clear to see that Liverpool's back four have been anything but solid this year. With the full back positions pretty certain at this moment with Manquillo and Moreno, the best two centre backs at the club are currently an unknown. Sakho returned to training allowing Brendan to run the rule over the four candidates. Kolo showed his leadership against Swansea and in Madrid which has had many fans, including me, singing his praises and wanting him in the team. Sakho has been in the newspapers promising his leadership and after 11 league games Lovren and Skrtel have shown us everything we need to know about that partnership. Over time they may come good and bond together to become a defencive wall but at the moment many Liverpool fans see it is time for some new ideas.

 

Best Formation

 

Many say the Diamond midfield is when Liverpool are at their best. Rodgers at this moment, with his injury plagued team, has seeit best to either go with a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3. This has left many a pundit questioning what is the best formation for Liverpool. Now with Sturridge back in the fold the Kop may see a more settled and cohesive formation, that would play to Liverpool's strengths rather than at the moment hiding their weaknesses

 

Suso

 

Finally, for a team that is suppose to be built on giving young players a chance to develop and grow, allowing one to leave for nothing should be a cardinal sin. Suso who spent last year away on loan at Almeria is currently rehabbing a groin injury. There has been a lot of talk of the young Spaniard moving to AC Milan either in January or for a free in the summer. Suso possessesmany skills that would be extremely beneficial to Liverpool. his ability to play in a striking role,lying deeper in midfield or out wide gives Rodgers possibilities during a game to change things around. He is a bigger asset to the club than the potential transfer fee would be.

 

Rodgers has a lot to think about over this break, with a small faction of the support already calling for his head, this next group of games will really decide what way Liverpool's season is going to go.

 

Alan Bruce

@LFCRedchat

No comments:

Post a Comment