Brendan Rodgers, standing at the crossroads

Liverpool’s decay this season is not just a result of the absence of Luis Suarez. It’s because Brendan Rodgers neglects his own football philosophical core!
This blog will prove that the departure of Suarez is not the real reason for Liverpool’s poor season:

What charachterized Liverpool FC last season, was an extremely fast and creative attack. However, they missed out on their first title in 24 years due to a momentarily shaky defence.
This season, the pace and creative flow in the Liverpool attack seems lost, yet the only thing remaining from last season’s brilliant Liverpool side is the defensive vulnerability.

Why has Liverpool lost momentum?

THE ATTACK

Players come and go, but a manager’s vision and his tactical core must remain stable no matter what happens. No matter which tactical approach he preferes (even if he constantly changes formations), a manager needs a clear vision! Brendan Rodgers has a clear vision and he’s a cunning tactician. Sacking him now would be a desperate and ridiculous move, and very surprising considering the rare patience and long-term vision the Fenway Group has demonstrated so far. No doubt the season has been poor. The problem is that Rodgers has felt compelled to change his tactical core due to the absence of Suarez and the injuries of Sturridge. But if he’ll find his way again, if he sticks to his own principles and starts playing the same kind of football he did last year with fast and creative forwards, he might be able make Liverpool champions in a year or two. Even without Luis Suarez!

Until now, Brendan Rodgers’ transformation of the Liverpool Football Club has been a formidable revolution. The Liverpool success last this season did not come out of the blue. The ideas and strategies of Rodgers were already implemented by the players during the end of the 2012-13 season. The momentum continued without the banned Luis Suarez and when the Uruguayan star returned to the Premier League on Matchday 6 last season, Liverpool was already leading the league. With and without Suarez, Liverpool was flourishing playing high tempo football with high pressure and constant passing.

Both Sturridge and Suarez are fast and technical skilled strikers, which last season enabled the Reds to keep their attack fast and flowing. But let’s face it: Rickie Lambert is not a fast striker. During the transfer window, Rodgers felt he could use a target man-kind of striker to add a different kind of threat to his attack – but Lambert was only meant to be a part of this season’s team as a substitute. However injuries of Sturridge and Balotelli has made Lambert the present nr. 9, and even though he has fantastic vision and finishing abilities, he’s slowing the Liverpool attack down. But even worse, so is Mario Balotelli! Super Mario was Rodgers’ calculated risk in the transfer window, and it was an understandable gamble. Balotelli has extraordinary potential – he’s fast, strong and a great technician. But unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to link up with the brilliant creativity of Sterling, Lallana and Coutinho. If Balotelli, when fit, learns how to play high tempo, creative football, then he can be a state-of-the-art striker. Balotelli’s best game was against Tottenham where he (although he didn’t score) teamed up with Sturridge very nicely, which might indicate that Super Mario – just like Suarez – preferes not to be left alone, but to be part of a duo. I expect Balotelli to improve once Sturridge returns, but so far Mario hasn’t fullfilled his potential at all in a Liverpool shirt.
Instead of joining the fast passing game, both Lambert and Balotelli have a tendency to slip into the role of a “target man”. Waiting for the ball to arrive in the box in order to either pass or finish. Waiting for the ball in the box instead of seeking the ball whereever possible on the pitch. It’s predictable, easy to mark for the opposition and it’s slowing the Liverpool attack down. It’s stopping the creative flow from Sterling, Lallana and Coutinho.

Suarez leaving Liverpool for Barcelona was always going to be a tough blow for the Reds. But the injuries of Sturridge have had equally as serious consequences for the Liverpool season as the departure of Luis Suarez. Sturridge is not just a lethal finisher – he’s fast, creative and he passes well – sometimes as a striker, sometimes as a deep lying forward rotating positions with Sterling, Lallana or Coutinho. Lambert and Balotelli are more stationary strikers – both with great qualities, but a target man up front is the last thing Liverpool needs. And playing this kind of direct, predictable football marks a remarkable and regretable departure from Brendan Rodgers’ own football philosophical core.

The Liverpool-attack’s new, slow tempo is the real reason for the club’s poor season so far!

And Rodgers seems trapped in the decision to use his new signings at any cost.

Liverpool scored 101 league goals last season, Suarez scored 31, Sturridge netted 21 times. If you take away the Suarez goals it’s 70 (United won the league in 2009 scoring 68 goals). I know the prolific Uruguayan did more than score goals – he lifted the quality of the entire team. But with Steven Gerrard making more assists than anyone else in the league last season (and with Sturridge, Hendo and Coutinho making 7 assists each), it should have been possible for this season’s Liverpool side to at least secure a Champions League spot by using the same tactics as last year. But apparently Sturridge’s injuries has forced Rodgers to abandon these tactics.

But is there a way to restore the free-flowing attacking football from last season?

I’m surprised Brendan Rodgers insists on using Lambert and Balotelli – they are both great strikers, but they don’t fit into the high tempo, almost tiki-taka-like kind of attacking football Rodgers prefered last season. With Sturridge out injured, Rodgers could of course have considered giving Fabio Borini more than one chance to prove himself, but my suggestion would be this:

Try Raheem Sterling in a striker position!

BR himself has compared the qualities of Sterling with the ones of a young Lionel Messi. Then why not try Sterling in what has proved to be Messi’s favorite position: the deep lying forward (or false nine)? I know Sterling isn’t much of a finisher, but apart from that, he has many abilities in common with Sturridge and even Suarez. Sterling is the fastest of those three. and having his speed and creativity in front of goal would allow the Liverpool attack to flow once again. Yes, he probably would miss a lot of chances himself, but with Sterling as number nine, at least Liverpool would create chances again! And he and his teammates would definately score more goals than they are doing right now, where they are not creating nearly as many chances as they did last season.
Even when Daniel Sturridge returns from injury, the previous seasons have shown us, that Sturridge also thrives when having a fast and creative partner in front of goal, and Liverpool’s most scintillating matches last season were when BR required two men up front in a 4-4-2 diamond formation. In this context, Divock Origi seems like a great signing, But LFC needs at least two strikers with both pace and creativity, and right now only Sturrridge has both abilities – and unfortunately he has been injured a lot.
So… Why not try Sterling?

One thing is certain, if Rodgers continues to use either Lambert or Balotelli alone upfront, Liverpool won’t play at their best, the results won’t come and Brendan might risk getting sacked. And rightly so. Rodgers is standing at the crossroads right now. If he returns to his own tactical principles, he can be the Liverpool manager for years to come, perhaps even securing a title in a couple of years when his young players reach their peak. But if he keeps neglecting his own tactical core (the high-tempo attack), he’ll get fired. Soon.

THE DEFENSE

As regular readers of this blog may remember, I have been screaming for a reinforcement of the Liverpool midfield for years now (you can scroll down and read the blog from August 2013).
Several times I’ve pointed out the need of a defensive midfielder to LFC, but after Steven Gerrard has been deployed in this role, let me rephrase it:

Right now Liverpool FC are in a desperate need of a ball winning, central midfielder!

During Rodgers’ reign at LFC, the returning problem has been the defense. And even though there have been many personal mistakes by defenders, I believe the real reason for the defensive vulnerability, is the lack of physical strength and defensive skills in the midfield. The lack of ball winning midfielders exposes the Liverpool defense over and over again. It was also the problem last season, but many people didn’t acknowledge it then, because the passing and the possession worked so well – and to some degree it’s true, you don’t need a a strong and physical midfield if you are passing it around well enough to keep possession and let the opponents chase the ball. However, even though Joe Allen is a fantastic player, he’s simply not strong enough in the physical battles as a central midfielder – to be a ball winning, central midfielder.

Inspired by Pep Guardiola, Brendan Rodgers originally wants to dominate the midfield with ball possession, short passes, the use of only one defensive midfielder and an ongoing passing flow with two energetic and creative midfielders. But he has lately been using a traditional Mourinho-like 4-2-3-1 formation, with two defensive midfielders. Maybe it’s related to the issues I just addressed: maybe he wants to strengthen the midfield or perhaps he wants to prevent the lack of attacking flow from exposing the defense. And Rodgers has used 4-2-3-1 before, but having seen how effective his prefered 4-3-3 was last season, and also my personal favorite Liverpool formation the 4-4-2 diamond, the fact that he has gone back to 4-2-3-1 seems a little desperate and is another sign of how he feels compelled to overlook his own principles. I predict the attacking game will improve dramatically when the fast and creative striker Daniel Sturridge returns fully fit. And when the attacking game starts working, the whole balance of the team improves, and BR will probably then return to 4-3-3.

In 4-3-3, Gerrard is the only defensive or holding midfielder, with two central midfielder in front of him.
Gerrard is not a natural defensive midfielder, but due to his football genius he’s capable of playing every position on the pitch remarkably well. He sometimes has a tendency to react to the opposition rather than to be proactive in his new role as DM, but his out-of-this-world long passes add various possibilities to the Liverpool attack – sometimes short passing and possession, sometimes a direct pass from the captain to suit the speed of Sterling or Sturridge. So for the sake of Premier League, I hope the old Captain Fantastic will be able to cover this position for a couple of years to come. Lucas Leiva is his replacement as holding midfielder. Lucas had a bad start this season, but many people don’t realize how important he is to the balance of the team. A fine ball winning midfielder, but originally a typical versatile Brazilian central midfielder with great attacking skills as well (something that Rodgers sometimes forgets, just as Kenny Dalglish and Roy Hodgson also overlooked Lucas’ attacking potential). If Lucas is to leave Anfield this winter, Rodgers has to bring in a quality replacement!

Henderson keeps improving all the time – energetic and creative! He can become a true Liverpool legend. He has established himself as one of the two required central midfielders in a 4-3-3 formation, but the other central midfielder position is up for grabs. Joe Allen is fast but not strong, Emre Can has great potential but is still young. Lallana, Sterling and Coutinho are all not strong enough defensively to cover this position in the big games – they are attacking midfielders, not central midfielders. So I repeat myself:
Liverpool needs a ball winning, central midfielder!

A player with physical presence, who can break down the opponents’ attack, yet a player creative and fast enough to join the brilliant passing game of Sterling, Coutinho and Sturridge. Of course it would be unlikely to see Paul Pogba, Sami Khedira, Arturo Vidal or even Xabi Alonso in a Liverpool shirt, but there are other more realistic targets: Maxime Gonalons from Lyon comes to mind. Or perhaps his fellow frenchmen Moussa Sissoko, Yohan Cabaye or Blaise Matuidi could fill this role. Or the Swiss Granit Xhaka or the German Lars Bender.

TRANSFERS

Evaluating Liverpool’s last transfer window, unfortunately for the Reds all my worries have come true. Let’s take a short look at the signings:

Mario Balotelli:

I noticed that he scored most of his goals last season at AC Milan on penalties, but I still think he was a gamble worth taking at that price, due to his exceptional talent. I hope he can become a part of, and contribute to, the Liverpool trademark passing game from last season. Until then, he won’t be successful at Anfield.

Dejan Lovren:

he had a great season last year at Southampton, but his previous seasons in Lyon didn’t quite justify the huge price tag. As I said, the real problems in the Liverpool defense are to be found on the midfield rather than in the defense. When confident, Lovren is a sensational player, though hardly better than Agger or Sakho.

Rickie Lambert:

A good signing if Rodgers had sticked to the plan: just using Lambert as a powerful sub when LFC needed physical presence in the box

Alberto Moreno:

the best signing of the summer! He’s young and he has had some bad games, but he can be the best left back in the world in a couple of years!

Javier Manquillo:

a fine player. Worked particularly well with Henderson on the right flank in the 4-4-2 diamond. Still needs to prove he’s the long term replacement for Glen Johnson.

Adam Lallana:

Great signing! Not improving the A-team by being better than Coutinho or Sterling, but an excellent alternative! He has been the only positive surprise for me.

Emre Can:

A fine signing. A great talent! Although I’m surprised if LFC didn’t try to sign Can’s fellow young, German midfield talents: Lars Bender, Sven Bender, Christoph Kramer or Ilkay Gündogan

Lazar Markovic:

When judging a player, youtube clips aren’t exactly scientific proof. And I admit, I didn’t know Markovic before he signed for LFC, but no matter how many clips I saw last August, I couldn’t find a single clip that justified the enormous price tag for this guy. I don’t doubt he’s a fantastic talent, but a loan deal next season might do him good.

Brendan Rodgers has made some fantastic signings during his time as Liverpool manager, such as Daniel Sturridge and Phillipe Coutinho, and I understand the main priority in the last transfer window was to secure the depth in the squad going into a Champions League season. I guess the medical staff had their reasons to abort the signing of Loïc Remy, and it was a good thing Rodgers didn’t sign Wilfried Bony – another strong, yet too slow and stationary striker for the Liverpool attacking-game. The Balotelli gamble hasn’t paid off yet, and in hindsight Ezequiel Lavezzi probably would have been a better match for the club, but Rodgers’ biggest mistake so far, when it comes to transfers, is that he hasn’t bought a world class midfielder. I was shocked to see Barcelona’s Alexander Song go to West Ham. A Liverpool midfield consisting of Gerrard, Henderson and Alex Song would have made a significant difference, just as Song has been vital for the Hammers’ great success this season and current 4th position in the league table.

Modern football is fought in midfield.
I believe the midfield is the root of the problems in the Liverpool defense, and I hope Rodgers corrects this mistake in the upcoming transfer windows.

But first of all, I hope Brendan Rodgers returns to his own tactical core – that includes the 4-3-3 formation and most importantly: fast and creative strikers.

The Post-Sir-Alex-Era

This Premier League season has been highly entertaining and we may in fact witness the beginning of an new era of English football – one might call this the “Post-Sir-Alex-Era”.

It’s not just Manchester United who’s struggling to find their feet after Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement – also the Premier League itself has been quite unpredictable because of new power structures, new tactics and the many new managers, most notable of course Sir Alex passing the torch to fellow scotsman David Moyes.
Chelsea and Manchester City had a struggling period of time at the beginning of the season, where they had to settle in to their new managers, whereas clubs like Liverpool and Arsenal benefited from their managerial consistency, and performed well right away. This season underlines the importance of stability. But where Man City and Chelsea seem to have found their game, their concept and a continuous rhythm under their new managers, Manchester United obviously is still struggling with the transition. And this has not just something to do with David Moyes – in fact this has more to do with Alex Ferguson. The one, the only, the genius from Scotland! 

 

 

Manchester United 

 

When you take a closer look at the Manchester United squads Sir Alex had available during his time at Old Trafford, you’ll see some amazing players all around. But what strikes me as obvious, is the prolific amount of profiles in the 90’s compared to today. The United team included players like Cantona, Schmeichel, Keane, and the young Golden Generation with Beckham and the Neville brothers, and most importantly: Man United possesed the highest quality on EVERY position. Back then, all the players were world class – if not the best in the world on their particular position, such as Schmeichel and Keane. 
After Beckham left United in 2003, of course you had the occasional, individual brilliance of Christiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie, and in general all the players were great, but the last 10 years of Ferguson’s reign at the club, the squad didn’t have the same prolific profiles as in the 90’s.

AND YET UNITED WON TITLE AFTER TITLE! 

Which brings one to the conclusion, that Alex Ferguson is a magician! Apart from an obvious tactical flair, flexibility and ability to make people work together, he worked wonders with the players’ mentality and he implanted in the team an unbeatable winning mentality! What impresses me the most about Fergie’s record, is not the treble of 1999 with all the legends on his team, but the double of 2008 – and even his last league title in 2012-13 is quite remarkable, when you compare United’s squad that season with the one of Man City. In fact, some of Ferguson’s most brilliant players in the recent decade were the remaining ”dinosaurs” from the Golden Generation: the fantastic Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs (the latter impressively still going strong at 40 years of age).
When City demolished United 6-1 at Old Trafford in October 2011, pundits talked about how the landscape of the Premier League had changed immediately from that day on. Those voices silenced as United went on to win the title the following year. But even though the incredible Ferguson went out on a high note last season with a title, the 6-1 game back in 2011 was perhaps the beginning of the end of an United dominated Premier League. 
When you look at the current squad of Man United, you might expect them to do better in the league this season, but if you compare the United players with the players of City or Chelsea, would you really expect them to be the dominating force the club used to be? Or even lead the league? Of course players like Evra, Vidic, Jones, Carrick, Rooney and van Persie are all fantastic players, but nothing suggests that they should be superiour to Chelsea’s Terry, Cahill, Luiz, Hazard, Eto’o or Man City’s Kompany, Lescott, Yaya Toure, Fernandinho and Aguero (by the way, in David Silva, Man City has the type of creative force in the midfield which United has so desperately missed this season). 
In fact, when you study the United, City and Chelsea teams, in terms of quality, they all look quite equal. And it is not just this season –  this has basically been the case for the last 10 years. When United, in spite of this, remained a dominating force the last couple of years, a lot of credit goes to the brillance of Sir Alex Ferguson.

David Moyes has made some mistakes (tactically during games, as well as the pre-season firing of parts of the staff), but it’s an almost impossible task to succeed Sir Alex and to take over a team handpicked by the legendary predecessor, with the outside world expecting the same results.
With or without David Moyes, Manchester United will probably do a lot better in the upocoming seasons, they might even be a title contender next year, but the “Post-Sir-Alex-Era” can get even tougher on the club than it already is, if the club establishes itself as a sort of “normal” top 4 team, without being the dominating force of the Premier League which they have been consistently during Sir Alex’ reign.
And so, Ferguson’s retirement has left not just Manchester United, but the entire world of English football, upside down.

 

 

The football revolution

 

Sometimes revolutions happen in the world of football. Sometimes some people have new ideas, go in new directions and new decisions are made – and those decisions have a major impact. Such a revolution has happened in Spain, where Pep Guardiola’s perfection of the tiki-taka style during his tenure as Barcelona manager changed the landscape of the world of football. The tiki-taka style was actually more or less implemented in the 1990’s by the former “Dream Team” of Barcelona and its brilliant manager Johan Cruyff. And as Guardiola recycled Cruyff’s ideas, Cruyff himself was inspired of former Dutch coach Rinus Michels’ ideas from another football revolution: the Dutch invention of “Total football” in the 70’s. But Guardiola’s perfection of the style has changed the world of football significantly. Due to the outstanding results of Guardiola’s Barca team, more and more European teams are playing tiki-taka inspired football with short passing and movement, high pressure and the maintaining of possession. One of Alex Ferguson’s greatest tactical weapons as manager of Manchester United was the high level of possession on the United midfield, and in the global world of football managers like Cruyff and Ferguson may have inspired one another. Ferguson shifted easily between different formations: 4-4-2, 4-5-1 and 4-1-4-1. The latter could be a 4-1-4-1 when United didn’t have the ball, and approaching a 4-1-2-3 when they did – that means that Ferguson during matches temporarily used the exact same formation as Guardiola! However, not the entire time.

 

The disadvantage of the tiki-taka style, from a spectator’s point of view, is when Barcelona, on some less inspired nights, starts to play the ball around without any directness at all! As journalist Guy Hedgecoe claimed: “With no strikers, no defenders…no goalkeeper, perhaps, just 11 technically blessed midfielders merrily passing the ball around until someone walks it into the net”. However, I have the feeling that some of the criticism that has been raised against this particular style, might be related to pundits being bias to certain clubs – and for me, it’s obvious that the tiki-taka style is not only beautiful and hugely entertaining, but also very effective.

 

Due to some disappointing performances by English teams in the Champions League in last couple of years,  pundits have been pointing out that the Premier League lacks the level of imagination you’ll see in some other European leagues. Roy Keane contributed to the debate with his latest comments about how people are being brain-washed to believe in the superiority of the Barclay’s Premier League, which according to Keane is nonsense. And yes, compared to the height of Guardiola’s tiki-taka revolution only a few years ago and the new innovation in the playing style in German football (both on the national team and in the Bundesliga), one could argue that the response from English football in general has been reactionary, timid and un-imaginative. Even the appointment by FA of Roy Hodgson as manager of the England national football team, pointed in a less modern direction, when you compare Hodgson’s style of play with the one of for instance Germany’s Jogi Löw. And rather than trying something new, English clubs have chosen familiar faces and familiar tactical approaches to the game when they looked for new managers.

 

 

Liverpool

 

Bringing a new manager and new ideas to a club can be a difficult and elongated process, which is why I just talked about the importance of stability this season. However, what makes football fun and interesting is great vision – both on the pitch by the players, but also on the managerial level and in the directions set by the board. If there’s a club which has possessed, in these times, a rare combination of patience and vision, it’s Liverpool FC!

The American owner of the club John W Henry didn’t go for a famous and established name, when he appointed a new manager after Kenny Dalglish. He went with a young visionary: Brendan Rodgers, who had intrigued the league with his attacking, yet well organized type of football during his spell as manager of Swansea. And Rodgers has indeed brought new ideas to Liverpool FC, and by doing so, he has been a breath of fresh air in the league. Playing a high tempo, 4-3-3 kind of football, with only one defensive midfielder, one could call Brendan Rodgers the Pep Guardiola of the British Isles. 

 

Pep Guardiola:
“You win the ball back when there are thirty metres to their goal not eighty.”

 

And what the Liverpool midfielders lack in strength, they have in speed and in passion for high pressure and constant passing. The differences between Rodger’s attacking, 4-3-3 playing Liverpool side and Mourinho’s defensively solid, 4-2-3-1 playing Chelsea side, are almost as explicit as the tactical battle between Guardiola’s former Barca team and Mourinho’s Real Madrid. Although no team can be compared to the legendary Barca team under Guardiola, Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool team has become one of the most visionary innovations in the Premier League this season.
Even though Steven Gerrard sometimes has a tendency to react to the opposition rather than to be proactive in his new role as defensive midfielder, his out-of-this-world long passes add various possibilities to the Liverpool attack – not tiki-taka passing all the time, but sometimes a direct pass from the captain to suit the speed of Sterling, Sturridge and Suarez. There was a short period of time around 2007, before Messi and Christiano Ronaldo were on the top of their games, when Ronaldinho got injured and Zidane had retired, where Steven Gerrard maybe was the best player in the whole world. He’s nowhere near that standard now, he has lost too much speed due to age and injuries, but he’s still a classy and absolutely brilliant footballer, and I believe Rodgers is right to try the legendary Gerrard on the new position.

The Liverpool success this season did not come out of the blue. The quality and the results show that the ideas and strategies of Rodgers were already implemented by the players during the end of last season, and credit goes to Rodgers as well as owner John W Henry for the patience he and the Fenway Sports Group showed in this process. The results weren’t always pretty in the beginning, but Rodgers had Henry’s trust all the way through. Even though Liverpool is a great club, the bad results never led to panic, and the patience is beginning to pay off, due to the excellent vision and creativity of Brendan Rodgers, who’s a manager with a clear vision and a clear agenda. Nothing is left to chance in his managing, and because this discipline is being used in the purpose of entertaining and attacking football, we’ve seen some innovative, tikitaka-like beauty and effectiveness this season from the Reds. And Rodgers has a deep and humble respect for his new club and its history, yet he never hides from the fact that Liverpool Football Club is expected to be in the top of the league. But his results are impressive when you consider he’s coaching a club which isn’t nearly as rich as Chelsea or the Manchester clubs. 
So even though John W Henry has to prove that he has the money to make Liverpool compete for the big names in the transfer windows, he has shown great leadership, not being so fixated on results that he fired Rodgers early on, but instead making the right long term decisions. Something many clubs in the Premier League could learn from.

 

 

Chelsea

In contrast to this, Roman Abramovich has been a club owner who might sometimes have focused more on the results, money and high profile names, rather than on future visions and on how to actually get results in the long run. Which is why Chelsea has had 5 managers in the last 5 years. But now the legendary José Mourinho is back at the bridge. And apparently he just never fails. I have never been a fan of his defensive tactical style and during his Madrid years, his team didn’t play as beautiful football as Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona, and even worse: Mourinho didn’t dissociate himself from the destructive behaviour and anti-fair play of Madrid players like Pepe. And it was outrageous to see Mourinho try to break up the phenomenal Barca game with fouls and defensive play.

But this is 2014 and even though I think that Mourinho still behaves like a child from time to time, I absolutely love his eccentricity and his arrogance towards themes of no importance. He’s without a doubt a colorful and wonderfully unpredictable figure – exactly what a sport needs, and his impressive record speaks for itself. One of his key attributes is exactly what he has brought to his Chelsea side this time around: stability! They are strong again defensively. Gone are the days where André Villas-Boas wanted John Terry to defend high, and gone are the days of a Chelsea team who was confused to have to deal with yet another manager. Dad is home! And as the season progresses, the whole team is getting defensively solid as a rock, and with enough attacking talent to ensure the results most of the time. A typical impressive work by Mourinho: growing stability, with a lack of flow in the attack as the biggest threat to their Championship ambitions. He has formed this club more than any other, and his ideas were somehow ever present even when he wasn’t the manager anymore. With his strategic ideas dominating the club, Chelsea probably won’t win a title due to spectacular Brazilian-like, creative football, but take their Champions League triumph in 2012 (with Mourinho-protégé Roberto di Matteo as manager) as an example: even though they didn’t play the most creative and beautiful tiki-taka kind of football, they showed what it means to fight! They fighted with lion hearts! It was inspiring and because of that, they deserved the title. 

Where Brendan Rodgers sometimes asks his attacking players also to defend, Mourinho has (when he is most dangerous) a cautious team selection, but with a positive approach. But in the loss to Aston Villa at Villa Park a little while ago, the Chelsea attack seemed without purpose. They are always dangerous on set pieces and counterattacks. And José Mourinho is a master of defensive stability, but the last part of this season will show if he’s capable of adding a creative sense of purpose and stability to the Chelsea squad in every game. They need that, if they are to become champions.

 

 

 

Manchester City

 

Before this season I guessed that Manchester City would win the title this year, but now I’m not so sure anymore. Being an old fan of Manuel Pellegrini I had high expectations to his reign, considering the level of quality players available for him in this rich club. I’ve found his style of football in Real Madrid to be somewhat more positive than Mourinho’s (I’ve always loved some of Pellegrini’s flexible, almost 4-2-2-2 like formations), and he had some fine transfers – bringing Christiano Ronaldo and Kaka to Madrid. Pellegrini is a very flexible manager, who can make many tactical changes from game to game. Time will show if it’s confusing his players too much or giving them the tactical upper hand in the final stages of this season. 

 

When the world of football decides to reward a player with titles like Player of the year or Ballon d’Or, most people seem to focus on strikers or the attacking players. But over the last couple of years,  there’s a player – a midfielder – who has proved himself worthy of one the big titles, and his name is Yaya Toure. The prolific Ivorian has not received as much praise as he deserves. It’s unbelievable how this midfielder dominates the game, not only breaking up the opponents’ attack, but also by dominating and creatively controlling his own team going forward. And even though this might not be his best season, he’s right now, with 17 goals, number 3 on The Barclay’s Premier League topscorer table – as a central midfielder!? 3rd on the list! Right behind Sturridge and Suarez and in front of everyone else, including his brilliant teammate and striker Sergio Aguero. Yaya Toure is instrumental for City’s success, not just for his goal scoring abilities, but for the way he can totally dominate the midfield area, both defensively and attacking. 

 

 

Tottenham

 

In the beginning of the season, the Spurs seemed to suffer from a lack of structure inside the club. Of course they had to sell Gareth Bale when Real Madrid offered the insane amount of money, but it’s been suggested that André Villas-Boas wasn’t entirely in charge of the following transfers, and that an internal power struggle seemed apparent. With Tim Sherwood as a sort of a “winner” of this internal struggle and appointed manager. As a manager he’s been refreshingly outspoken and emotional, but time will see if his lack of experience and composure will prove a disadvantage. And surely, it was questionable to criticize the players publicly. You won’t win the hearts and minds of the players – nor the fans – by doing so. So even though perhaps he won the 1st round of the internal power battle at the club, he has not been playing his cards well since, when it comes to holding on to his current position as manager.

Arsenal

 

A manager who was under pressure last season, but who has played his cards well ever since, is the legendary Arsene Wenger. The fact that this London-based, french manager persuaded Mesut Özil in fluent german, to come and play for Arsenal, was the coup of the year, and it just underlines Wenger’s class. Perhaps the lack of winter break has caused Özil’s recent bad form, but there’s no doubt that the German playmaker was the marquee signing of the year which all other managers in the Premier League would have dreamed of. This time Wenger wasn’t cautious at the transfer market, as he used to be…..
After the retirement of the great old Arsenal generation of “The Invincibles” with players like Henry and Bergkamp, Arsene Wenger started a new project: he wanted to build a new generation of greatness which could win titles. And after a couple of seasons a new fine generation arised at the Emirates with players like Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song. However, Arsene Wenger slept during some crucial transfer windows, where he didn’t bolster his defense enough. That was a fatal passivity and Arsenal lost its momentum and eventually lost Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie – they grew impatient with the inexperienced defense and the lack of results! After the arrival of Per Mertesacker, the Gunners solved at least some of their defensive problems, but right now the absence of a quality defensive midfielder like Patrick Vieira or even Alex Song is obvious. Mikel Arteta is a fine player, but more of a central midfielder than a defensive one. 
Wenger seems to focus too much on the future and development of his team, and commendable as it might be, it’s perhaps on the expense of the results. But make no mistake, he’s a great manager with a great philosophy, impressive results – and he has embodied the previously mentioned importance of tactical stability for almost two decades now – in a top club which isn’t as rich as Chelsea and the Manchester teams. And the frenchman has also been consistent in his aim for positive and creative football at the Emirates – even 5-10 years ago, when most of the league seemed to be inspired by Mourinho’s more cautious approach and his 4-2-3-1 formation. I think the owners at Arsenal did well not to sack him last year, when the Gunners’ season started out extremely unsatisfying – and they should also show patience before firing the old man at the end of this season, which some pundits have suggested, due to the continued lack of titles. After a season with many injuries among his key players, Wenger deserves another chance, but he needs to start looking for a qualified defensive midfielder – and he has shown that he can still attract some fantastic players. Wenger has flaws, but he also has a clear vision. 

 

Vision

 

No matter which tactical approach he preferes, a manager needs a clear vision!

Mourinho has a clear vision: among other things he wants to dominate the midfield with two physically strong defensive midfielders and one creative midfielder, while Pep Guardiola wants to dominate the midfield with ball possession, short passes, the use of only one defensive midfielder and an ongoing passing flow with two energetic creative midfielders. The sport needs both types of play, but British clubs could benefit from focusing more on technique than on strength. Physically speaking, the Premier League is already the strongest league in Europe, but it would suit British football to get inspired by the tiki-taka revolution.

 

Liverpool is not the richest clubs in the league, but because of the brillance, vision and modern innovation of its manager, they are still serious contenders for the title. 
Barcelona’s home growing youth academy and Liverpool’s current season prove results are not just about money, Brendan Rodgers proves it’s not about experience, and Arsene Wenger and especially Sir Alex Ferguson prove it’s not about youth and freshness: it’s about stability, innovation and first and foremost: vision.

 

This is going to be an exciting end to a dramatic end fascinating season – the first one in the Post-Sir-Alex-Era.

 

 

 

 

 

Liverpool’s season so far

Liverpool’s season so far has been great. As I suggested in a pre-season blog, having Suarez out of the team wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, if LFC then started to play as a team – and they did!! And when Suarez came back, he joined a team in great harmony where the LFC game wasn’t only locked around the individual skills of the Uruguayan superstar. Great credit to the team, Suarez and great, great credit to the brilliant Brendan Rodgers!!! What a great manager LFC has. Great tactical skills, great transfers, great understanding of the soul of the club and great atmosphere around the team. My only concern is that BR is almost TOO skillfull tactical. He’s very aware of the opposition. But Liverpool plays like a great club again and doesn’t have to change their line up every game just to fit the line up of the opposing team. A tactical substitution is of course a fine move from time to time, but when a team is in fine balance, you don’t have to change much. Stability is of the essence! Don’t change a winning team.

 

What we saw in the Merseyside derby, was a crazy all out attack game with Liverpool almost playing a 4-2-4 formation at the end of the game. The LFC starting line up however wasn’t all that attacking. In fact, it was a bit cautious with Jordan Henderson on the attacking wing position instead of Daniel Sturridge. We don’t need to let ourselves be so dependent of the opposition.

 

Regarding the formation, I actually loved the 3-5-2, not because I miss the 80s, but because more than any other club in the Premier League, Liverpool has the players to play this formation (among other things, it requires great attacking wing backs, and Johnson and Enrique are almost borned to play this position). But I also felt it was very reasonable to go back to the 4-3-3 after the Arsenal game, where the obvious lack of width in the 3-5-2 formation was exposed. It’s important though that the core of the team is stabil. And the Suarez/Sturridge duo has been one of Premier League’s most exciting elements this season. Sturridge is more of s striker than a winger and he has perhaps looked a bit tired in some recent games, but that still doesn’t make it a good idea to leave him on the bench. Because, as I have stated again and again in my previous blogs: Luis Suarez is a great striker and he plays to his best when he has a fellow striker to play with. Whether it has been Forlan or Cavani on the Uruguayan national team or Dirk Kuyt (in the early days), Luis Suarez is not a “target man” kind of striker and he needs attacking companions to flourish the most. He is an outstanding world class striker and is of course brilliant also when he’s “alone” on top – we saw that more often last season, but LFC has benefited from the fact that he now has fellow attackers with great creativity and technical abilities – Coutinho and Sturridge. These guys are a lethal front trio in the 4-3-3 where they can swap positions and if their understanding of each other grows even stronger, Liverpool can have an almost Barcelona-like attack: fast, fluent, very creative and unpredictable. But we need all three of them on the pitch as much as possible. We need a stability in terms of who’s playing, not necessarily in terms of which formation. As long as we are winning, I see no problem in going back and forth from 4-3-3 to 3-5-2, as long as the front trio is the same. 3-5-2 allows Philippe Coutinho to play his favourite position as an attacking midfielder more central in the pitch, but 4-3-3 is more safe defensively because of the width in the formation.

 

 

So my point is this: let us rather change the formation from time to time than the starting line up. Of course there are obvious differences from 3-5-2 to 4-3-3, perhaps most notable the 3-5-2 requires 3 central defenders and not just 2. So of course the changing of formation will change the line up, but (even though I think Raheem Sterling is a great talent) in my mind there is no doubt: Coutinho, Suarez and Sturridge have to start in each important game if they are fit. Because of Coutinho’s injury in the beginning of this season, this outstanding trio has only played a couple of games from start together this season. And I hope we have yet to see the best of the trio.

 

Defensively Lucas finally gets the appreciation he deserves. There has been more uncertainty of who should be the backbone in the defense – “the new Carra”. All of a sudden we have a lot of top central defenders: Agger, Skrtel, Toure and Sakho (and also Coates and Ilori). I’m not sure if all Liverpool fans are aware of the qualities of Mamadou Sakho. HE REALLY WAS A MARQUEE SIGNING! A year ago it would have been unthinkable that LFC could land this guy – great job Brendan!! The football world has for some years considered him of the biggest talents in the sport. And when he gets more experience and adds a surden calmness to his game, plays more safely and stop taking chances, he will be the perfect man in the central defence for Liverpool. Because there is NO doubt about this man’s fantastic physical and defense technical abilities.
Toure and Skrtel has done great this season and when vice-captain Agger is in topform he’s the right choice for most central defenses (even Barcelona thinks that, but he turned them down to play for Liverpool). So Brendan has a lot to think about when it comes to the starting line up in the defense, but I don’t think he should ever play without the Suarez/Sturridge/Coutinho in the attack – not even against the top teams, because they need to play as much together as possible.
We need stability in the starting line up, not necessarily when it comes to formations. It may sound contradictory, but I believe it’s mostly important that the the players are in topform, because they have showed they are capable of playing both formations.
And the players have been outstanding so far this season, and now I have shared my concerns. To this I have to add: I think Brendan Rodgers has been world class. His wonderful and attacking style of football has begun to work and you have the feeling, that the team can grow much more on this solid foundation. I would not want any other manager right now to be in charge of Liverpool! Bravo Brendan!

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER TO LIVERPOOL

Spoken as a true Liverpool fan:

Mamadou Sakho….. WOW! Regarded for some years to be one of the best central defenders in the world… And because of coincidences involving new rich owners in Paris SG (and perhaps a temporary lack of form), he’s actually within reach for Liverpool? I must say, I’m thrilled with these news.

Brendan Rodgers has stated that he will try to sign a new central defender and a winger. We need both. But there’s one position where we need an addition even more:

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER.

Even with 5 central defenders in the squad, we need one more – hopefully a world class player who can be the long term replacement for Carra. And with Toure and Coates out injured and with Skrtel and Agger with a history of injuries, we most definately need a new central defender right now.

And a winger….? Only if he’s good enough! Suarez and Sturridge had some great games in the end of last season where Suarez were striker, Sturridge started as a winger, but where they rotated with each other and swapped positions all the time. With Suarez and Sturridge swapping positions, we only need one winger – a left winger. Raheem Sterling is in my opinion one of the biggest talents in the world on this position. And Philippe Coutinho has played this position in the two league games of the season, where Brendan Rodgers has had a slightly more defensive approach.

So one might argue, we don’t need a winger at all. Signing a great winger would of course boost the morale of the fans and yes, it would be really exciting to see the likes of Andriy Yarmolenko or Adem Ljajic teaming up with Suarez, Sturridge and Coutinho.

But I’d actually prefer to see us spending the money on a world class defensive midfielder….

Here is why:

Brendan Rodgers plays a 4-3-3 formation where the midfield consists of one defensive midfielder and two central midfielders just in front. A 4-1-2-3 formation you might say, instead of the 4-2-3-1 formations which is more common these days. Brendan’s formation 4-3-3 or 4-1-2-3 is used to perfection in Barcelona with Busquet as a holding midfielder and with Xavi and Iniesta (or Fabregas) as the central mdifielders. We can’t of course attract players like Xavi or Iniesta who can play their way out of trouble, we have to use players who also are defensively solid.

We have Lucas Leiva as a defensive midfielder just in front of the defence and Captain Fantastic as a central midfielder together with either Jordan Henderson (when we have a defensive approach) or Phillipe Coutinho (when we have a attacking approach). Hendo and Coutinho can even rotate during the game between left wing and central midfield, which enables Coutinho to play his favorite position as a central attacking midfielder.

In the Notts County game we turned the “triangle around”, but without Lucas. So we played with no defensive midfielder, but with an attaking midfielder in front of two central midfielders instead. However, that game showed us how important a strong defensive midfielder is and how fragile our team can be without Lucas.

I’m a huge fan of Lucas. He’s world class and often not recognized enough for how vital he is for the team. And it was obvious how much we missed his abilities when he was out injured. If LFC wants to be a serious candidate for top 4, then playing the same defensive midfielder in all the games in a season is putting extreme pressure on one player. It’s simply gambling with his physical condition!

What are the alternatives? Jordan Henderson could perhaps play this position, but he probably preferes to play the slightly advanced central midfielder position. And I don’t want to see Captain Fantastic spending his last couple of years of his magnificent career, being the player who has the main responsibility to “clean up the midfield” as the defensive midfielder, with the physical tasks that entails. And Joe Allen, “the Welsh Xavi”, doesn’t seem to have the physical strength to occupy the position as defensive midfielder, but as the real Xavi, he preferes the central midfielder position.

 

One of the real reasons why Liverpool hasn’t been in the top 4 in the last couple of seasons, is that we don’t have the likes of Mascherano and Xabi Alonso anymore. When we had them, we did much better in the league. And when Lucas got injured last time, we were extremely vulnerable.

We need a cover for Lucas Leiva and we need it in this transfer window! And let’s bring in a player of top quality who can either be a cover for Lucas, or form a defensive powerhouse on the midfield alongside Steven Gerrard and Lucas Leiva (let’s not forget that Lucas orginally also played central midfield with great attacking skills – he could do that again).

 

A couple of suggestions:

We probably should have signed Gary Medel who just joined Cardiff and who were man of the match in their victory against Man City, but no need to regret that. There are other great targets on this position:

MAXIME GONALONS, Lyon, FERNANDO, Porto, NEMANJA MATIC, Benfica, MARKEL SUSAETA, Athletic Bilbao, JERMAINE JONES, Schalke 04, ÉVER BANEGA, Valencia, or even ALEX SONG, Barcelona

Let’s win the midfield battles in Premier League by adding another defensive midfielder! This would make a substantial difference. And that would help us reach the top 4.

Modern football is fought on the midfield, so let’s win the midfield.

 

 

Liverpool’s transfer targets

It seems like the general assumption that we need another centre back, a left back and a winger in this transfer window. And if we were able to land central defenders like Mamadou Sakho or Micah Richards, then that would of course be a major coup for LFC. And yes, we most definately need a back up for José Enrique at the left back position. And no matter how the Suarez saga ends, we don’t need to strengthen our attack with adding another striker. In my opinion we have a world class forward in Daniel Sturridge and Phillipe Coutinho has been an excellent playmaker, so yes, I agree, we could consider buying a world class winger (if we are able to get one while we’re not playing CL at the moment).

 

But the position, where the need of a back up is most urgently needed is: defensive midfielder!! Brendan Rodgers plays a formation with Lucas Leiva as a defensive midfielder, just in front of the defence and Captain Fantastic as a central midfielder, slightly in front of Lucas.

I’m a huge fan of Lucas. He’s world class and often not recognized enough for how vital he is for the team. And it was obvious how much we missed his abilities when he was out injured. If LFC wants to be a serious candidate for top 4, then playing the same defensive midfielder in all the games in a season is putting extreme pressure on one player. It’s simply gambling with his physical condition!

 

 

What are the alternatives? Jordan Henderson could perhaps play this position, but he probably preferes to play the slightly advanced central midfielder position, and this position belongs to Steven Gerrard. And I don’t want to see Captain Fantastic spending his last couple of years being the player who has the main responsibility to “clean up the midfield” as the defensive midfielder, with the physical tasks that entails. And Joe Allen doesn’t seem to have the physical strength to occupy this position.

 

We need a cover for Lucas Leiva and we need it in this transfer window. And let’s bring in a player of top quality who can rotate with Gerrard and Lucas on the midfield. THIS is a strategy to get us back in top 4! Let’s not obsess about Suarez or other attackers, let’s win the midfield battles in Premier League! This would make a substantial difference. And that would help us reach the top 4.

 

 

 

LASSANA DIARRA

I suggest we take a look at the club Anzhi Makhachkala. According to rumours the Brazilian winger Willian from the club is an interesting Liverpool target already. And the club has transfer listed all of it’s players, not only Willian, but also Lassana Diarra. He’s a world class defensive midfielder, versatile, 28 years old, and already a former regular for Real Madrid and Chelsea. He would be a great signing, who could also cover the CM position and even the right back.

 

 

THE DREAM OF XABI ALONSO

With Ancelotti bringing in Asier Illarramendi on this position for Real Madrid, some stars has to go the bench or to another club. We could always hope that doesn’t mean Sami Khedira moving to Chelsea, but that Xabi Alonso would end his career in his beloved Liverpool (signing on a fee of course, which Real Madrid wouldn’t get next year when his contract expires).

 

SEBASTIAN RODE

The new Dietmar Hamann? The 20 year old midfielder from Eintracht Frankfurt is a less obvious choice, and to be honest, he’ll probably prefere Dortmund or FC Bayern.

 

one of these guys would also be a major coup:

MAXIME GONALONS, Lyon

FERNANDO, Porto

and specially:

NEMANJA MATIC, Benfica

 

 

To sum it up:

If we land world class central defender, that’s great. But when we have Kolo Toure, Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Andre Wisdom and Sebastian Coates in our team, we don’t need another back up on this position – we need a world class, long term replacement for Carra.

And let’s of course have a real back up for the left back position.

And even though Sterling is playing fantastic at the moment, it would be appropriate to buy another excellent winger. Perhaps one of the brilliant Brazilian wingers Willian or Bernard, or perhaps Adem Ljajic from Fiorentina or James Rodriguez from Porto, or of course Iker Muniain from Atletic Bilbao (even though the latter probably is a little bit unrealistic).

 

Suarez and Sturridge had some great games in the end of last season where they rotated with each other and swapped positions during the game. That is of course the dream scenario, a Liverpool team where the front four: Suarez, Sturridge, Coutinho and Sterling can rotate in some kind of a Barca inspired total football system. Sturridge has proven to be very effective starting as a winger with freedom to rotate with Suarez. And this is why, a winger isn’t as essential if we keep Suarez, but still a good idea if the target winger is a top player.

 

But….. Let’s not forget the importance of the midfield.

Liverpool

I am a Liverpool supporter and this is my blog:

 

Dear Brendan Rodgers!

If you feel the need to strengthen our squad, then please don’t buy a couple of good players – instead use the money to buy ONE WORLD CLASS PLAYER! Thank you!

LFC has an excellent squad with great depth in it. But if we want to be a serious candidate for top 4 we need one or just a few world class players – not a lot of fairly good players!
BR has stated that some of the signings so far this summer were meant to improve the squad and not the team. And they were probably good sighnings, but from now on the most important thing is not to waste a lot of money on players who isn’t good enough for Man City or Man United. Liverpool has a great squad and BR must be ambitious and should only consider adding new players to the team if they are world class.

Because this is the deal:
if LFC starts to buy fairly good players, then we will establish ourselves as a team which belongs in the middle of the Premier League table!!!

We still have the ability to attract some great players, due to our great history and our acceptable finances. But we could lose this ability if we don’t return to top 4 in the next 3-4 years. So there is a lot at stake right now! We have to realise that.

So this is the test:

look at a player outside (and inside) Liverpool FC and ask yourself: would he be signed by a team which could seriously challenge for the title?

Of course I’m not saying, that LFC are favorites for the title next season, but we should try to recruit players as if we were.

Now who should we sign then?

 

 

THE LUIS SUAREZ QUESTION?

Whatever happens with Luis Suarez will be crucial in terms of who BR will try to recruit. But as John Barnes says, we shouldn’t wait to sell him until the last minute, because then there will be no time to find a replacement if we need one.
I actually happen to believe that a deal with Real Madrid which included a large amount of money and Karim Benzema, would be great for Liverpool. But the latest signs from Carlo Ancelotti has cooled down the expectations of a Real Madrid bid for Suarez. And I believe selling him to Arsenal or Chelsea would be nearly impossible, considering those clubs are some of our main contendors for the top 4. Which is why I wouldn’t be surprised if Luis Suarez didn’t leave Anfield in this transfer window after all……….
However we should not obsess about Luis Suarez. He is a fantastic player obviously. But I noticed how fluent our the passing were in some of the last games of the last season – WITHOUT Suarez. And it wouldn’t be the first time a great player attracts to much attention, not just from fans and medias, but also from co-players, who instead of playing their own game, unconsciously deliver the ball to the genius and expect him to make miracles. Sometimes a team is better unit without the star.
Now don’t get me wrong, I believe Suarez is one of the best players in the world and we should try to hold on to him, because I actually believe him to be enough of a team player to a part of a great Liverpool-unit. But let’s not obsess about him. And who knows? If the Brendan Rodgers project works out in the next season, Suarez might be here for the rest of career.

What I also noticed last season was the great impact of Daniel Sturridge! In particular in cooperation with Suarez. Luis Suarez is not the type of striker who plays well when he’s alone on top in a 4-2-3-1 system. He is not a “target man” kind of striker. He needs someone he can play with, and left alone on top he’s using most of his time struggling physically with the opponents central defenders, and that is a waste of Suarez’s abilities. We saw that during the last time of King Kenny’s managerial run. Luis Suarez is one of the best strikers in the world (perhaps the best!), but he’s no “target man”. In Brendan Rodgers 4-3-3 formation the other attackers on the pitch create space for Suarez which enables the uruguayan’s creativity to flourish. We saw that with Daniel Sturridge last season. No matter if Suarez is here next season or not, when Sturridge comes back from injury, we have a top striker in Daniel who I believe will be good enough for a team which wants to challenge for the title.

 

The defense:

The defense is looking good. Kolo Toure was an excellent addition – well done BR! But we have to be honest, Kolo is 32 and we should keep our eyes open for a new central defender. For me, the perfect solution (and long-term Carragher replacement) would be Micah Richards. Rumors claim that he’s interested in leaving Manchester City, where has been used mainly as a full-back. He could play that position in Liverpool as well, but he’s still only 25 and in time (or perhaps right away), I would see him as a perfect partner for Daniel Agger in the central defense. A brilliant alternative could be Toby Alderweireld.

The midfield:

I believe Lucas is one of our most important players. He’s a world class defensive midfielder and he sort of “binds the chains together” on the team. However, my biggest concern regarding the LFC midfield is that we don’t have a replacement if Lucas should get injured. I would prefere not to use Captain Fantastic as a defensive, deep, ball winning midfielder and perhaps Joe Allen lacks the strength for that position. I guess those two are better off in front of Lucas as they most recently were against Thailand. I actually believe we should seriously consider signing a new defensive midfielder – perhaps Maxime Gonalons from Lyon. A brilliant addition and were he to be added to the team as a defensive midfielder, Lucas could play the other midfielder position just in front – if Rodgers wanted to use them both at the same time.
Another possiblity is Kyriakos Papadopoulos from Schalke 04. Rumors claim that Brendan Rodgers are interested in the greek central defender. That would be a great signing no matter what. He’s a central defender, but a rather short one. He’s actually also capable of playing defensive midfielder, and he could also be a substitution for Lucas once in a while.

The attack:

We should try to sign the brazilian winger Bernard from Atletico Mineiro at any cost. He’s an excellent young player who would fit right in with his pace and great skills. Having Coutinho, Sturridge, Suarez, Sterling and Bernard on the same team, would make the Liverpool attack (even without Suarez) the fastest in the Premier League. And that would not be a bad thing. As a part of the rising Brazilian national squad, this could prove to be the last time we have the chance to buy Bernard – we should try to sign him no matter what.

If it doesn’t work out though, we should definately try to buy the Serbian winger Adem Ljajic from Fiorentina. That would also be a major coup for LFC.

The reason why I’m looking for wingers such as Bernard and Ljajic, is because Coutinho is outstanding as a central attacking midfielder. But one could use Coutinho as a winger, and then try to sign Danish Christian Eriksen from Ajax Amsterdam. But having Coutinho in the squad, I would find it more reasonable to try to sign a winger.

Finally, I have a crazy idea. Why not make a bid for Sergio Agüero? He is pure magic and would fit in perfectly in Brendan Rodgers’ 4-3-3 system. The great Manuel Pellegrini has since his arrival as City boss, signed two star strikers: Stevan Jovetic and Alvaro Negredo, and with Edin Dzeko, John Guidetti and Sergio Agüero already in the team, City now has 5 strikers in the squad – but someone has to give. I know it’s probably not realistic, because Agüero – and Dzeko by the way – will probably not be interested in playing for Liverpool, but who knows….? Perhaps a swap deal with Suarez?
Brendan Rodgers should make a bid on Agüero – or Dzeko – if he wants to add a striker. Specially now Roberto Soldado seems lost to Tottenham. But we already have the brilliant Daniel Sturridge (and the promising Iago Aspas) in the squad, so even if we lose Suarez, we should only buy a new striker if he’s world class.

If we want to be among the best teams again, then we have to sign the best players.