da betsul： When the wheels start to come off during a season, they can really really come off. That’s what looks to be happening to Liverpool right now. Chasing the Champions League, they were unbeaten in the league since December 14th, right up until crunch games at home to Manchester United and away to Arsenal left the Reds reeling.
da 888： Since then they’ve been dumped out of the FA Cup when it looked like they had a great chance of making the final and even winning the trophy itself and this weekend’s draw at the Hawthorns means they’ve fallen even further back in their hunt for fourth. It’s still on, but hanging by a thread.
But then today the news got even worse for Rodgers, as he announced to the assembled reporters at his press conference that Daniel Sturridge could be out for the rest of the season. The man they missed so sorely at the start of the season will be missing for the run in.
And this is a huge problem for this Liverpool team.
The start of the season saw Raheem Sterling provide Liverpool with their only real outlet in front of goal. This was a team still struggling to cover for the departed Suarez and the injured Sturridge – while Balotelli and Lambert were not up to the job.
And they still aren’t.
The fact is that Liverpool rely a lot on their best players. Most teams would, of course, but Liverpool have some players who they’d be lost without. And it’s been like that for years – look at how often Gerrard pulled the Reds out of various deep holes over the years, or Suarez too.
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But now, even if Sturridge were fit to lead the line, Rodgers should be trying to build more of a team he can rely upon.
To be fair, he is trying to do this. The players brought in to replace Suarez are players which, in the years to come, will make the team stronger. That is, they’ll provide strength to the team as a whole, not just add flair or make the team become reliant on new stars.
So Rodgers can rely on Sterling and Sturridge up front. And then he’s got Henderson, Lallana, Allen and Coutinho in the midfield. Not to mention Markovic and Can who can play there too. None of these players are ‘stars’ who are going to be the team’s best player, but all of them can be useful in different ways.
But the same can’t be said for Liverpool’s attack. Rodgers just cannot rely on Balotelli and Lambert to deputise for Sturridge when he’s injured. Balotelli is just too temperamental and has too many off games. He’s also had such a poor season that you just wouldn’t fancy him to get the goals to win games anyway.
The Metro and The Mirror are both reporting that Liverpool are set to shake up their striking options. Bringing in a player like Benteke and getting rid of Lambert and even Balotelli would make perfect sense for Rodgers.
His midfield and defence aren’t quite so pressing. He probably could be doing with another midfielder, just because Gerrard will be leaving and Lucas doesn’t seem to be getting too much game time.
But up front, Liverpool rely too much on Sturridge, and without him they look light. It’s hard to see who’s going to score the goals. In fact, Sturridge has four league goals in only seven starts, and despite his long injury absence, is only three behind top scorer in the league Raheem Sterling. That’s how much Liverpool rely on their front man, or more importantly, how little they can rely on his deputies.
Liverpool have only managed 47 league goals all season. Miles behind City’s 70 and even United’s 59. If Liverpool do manage to level up their points tally with the teams in front, they might be rueing their ineffectuality in front of goal. So bringing in a new striker is crucial to their assault on the league next season.
Liverpool need to be able to rely on their bench as well as their starting XI, and at the moment the goals aren’t coming from reliable sources. The wheels are coming off Liverpool’s season already, and without Sturridge it’s hard to see them going any way but down from here to May.
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