(Here) We Go Again

This weekend was the moment that belief degenerated into hope for me. I no longer have any degree of certainty that Brendan Rodgers turns this around. I still think the season is salvageable (have you seen the state of the Manchester United side that currently sits in fourth place?) and sincerely want the manager to reverse the team’s fortunes but, if I’m totally honest, I have little confidence in that happening any more.

12.30 on Sunday was my own personal tipping point.

Watching this Liverpool side right now is akin to Groundhog Day without Bill Murray; Repetitive, mundane, predictable, inevitable and no bloody fun whatsoever. Each time match day rolls around I hope for change. Then the team sheet is released an hour before kick-off and the realisation that precious little has altered and the same monotony will envelop us once more sinks in. Same faces, same approach, same mind boggling decisions.

It’s easy to say this after the fact of course, but was anyone really surprised by what transpired at Selhurst Park after they saw Liverpool’s latest starting line up? I know I wasn’t. There were no solutions offered up to the problems that have plagued the team this season. The comical centre back partnership remained intact still with a lack of a screener in front of them and Glen Johnson found his way into first eleven yet again.

Ah, Glen. Can anyone explain why he was accommodated once more or why he was deployed on the left side? I’m assuming he didn’t start at right back because Yannick Bolasie’s pace would have torn him to shreds. Understandable. But why start him over one of the few summer signings who have actually impressed this season? Alberto Moreno has pace and gets the team up the pitch. Isn’t playing without natural width in midfield - as Liverpool did on Sunday - generally offset by having at least one full back capable of offering an attacking outlet in wide areas? Moreno does that. Johnson doesn’t. Not in 2014. He still meanders forward now and again, albeit with the threat of a sedated puppy. Yet he also requires constant protection even when he’s matched up against a bang average winger like Jason Puncheon.

At least the man charged with supporting him did his job admirably before he was predictably hauled off for no discernible reason other than the fact that he isn’t named Steven Gerrard.

Joe Allen was Liverpool’s outstanding performer against Palace. He offered constant support and protection for Johnson on the left. He kept the ball. He moved. He pressed. He tackled. He created a great opportunity for Rickie Lambert. Then he got hooked while the skipper remained on for yet another 90 minute slog before undoubtedly being required to do the same again just 72 hours later in Bulgaria. Immaculate planning, that.

Everyone knows how much Gerrard is struggling right now and he had a stinker once more against Palace. Yet, despite Lucas and Emre Can being available from the bench and Allen impressing in midfield, the captain remained out there for the duration as Rodgers once again took the easy option of replacing the diminutive Welshman rather than the labouring club icon.

Speaking of easy options, one would have thought there was a pretty simple selection choice on offer at the heart of Liverpool’s defence for Brendan Rodgers against Palace. The return of Kolo Toure at the expense of Dejan Lovren is seen by most as somewhat of a no brainer. We’ve been at the point for too long now where Lovren’s mere presence alone is basically costing Liverpool a goal a game. Toure impressed everyone in Madrid and yet hasn’t even had a look in since. So much for that ‘meritocracy’.

Toure again didn’t get a second on the pitch in South London. Instead it was another game, another Lovren start and another crucial goal that could be chalked up to farcical ‘defending’ from the Croatian. At this point I can only assume that Rodgers was personally responsible for recruiting the former Southampton man this summer. That’s the only possible reason I can see for the myopic approach he’s adopting when it comes to the out of form £20m centre back.

Mamadou Sakho was brought in for a similar fee last season and hasn’t received half of the backing and patience from Rodgers that Lovren has been afforded. The Frenchman may hardly been faultless during his time at Anfield but his replacement has made double the mistakes in a quarter of the game time. If Sakho’s form had been as poor as Lovren’s I’m certain that Rodgers would’ve bombed him out long ago yet, infuriatingly, the Croatian remains a fixture in the first team. Unless the manager is sticking by Lovren because he personally handpicked him as the solution to Liverpool’s defensive woes this summer then I’m truly at a loss to explain the continued stubborn persistence with the player.

This isn’t intended to simply be a hatchet job on Lovren, Gerrard and Johnson. Plenty of other players are underperforming also but the managerial approach to these three best symbolises Rodgers’ ongoing resistance to change and my exasperation with his team selections.

All three men have been horribly out of form for a prolonged period of time now and yet they are constantly selected ahead of players who have performed relatively well when given a chance in their absence. It’s not hard to imagine what the likes of Toure, Lucas, Can and Moreno were thinking as they watched Liverpool on Sunday when Lovren, Johnson and Gerrard all made it to the final whistle yet again.

If the preferential treatment to Lovren can be chalked up to him being a ‘Rodgers signing’ then the only possible reason for Gerrard’s continued presence in the team that my brain can muster is arguably even more concerning.

Basically it seems to me to come down to the fact that this manager doesn’t have balls to drop or even substitute his club captain regardless of how he is performing. Gerrard isn’t offering any protection to a defence that requires it in spades right now and his offensive weapons are no longer hurting opponents. Playing 90 minutes in virtually every game is doing him no favours whatsoever. He looks physically and mentally drained, devoid of confidence and belief. What harm could come from using him as an impact player from the bench for a while?

To be honest I’m sick of even thinking about what Liverpool could or should be doing when it comes to the deployment of Gerrard. It’s something that people have been debating all season long despite the fact that we all know it’s a futile discussion. Rodgers isn’t dropping Gerrard any time soon and while the skipper isn’t Liverpool’s biggest problem, the fact that he seemingly has to play in this team irrespective of how poor his form is is damaging the team and putting the manager under more pressure.

Admirably, Rodgers acknowledged after the Palace debacle that his job will be on the line if results don’t improve. While that is commendable it is only going to be of any real significance if it drives him to a new approach. Quite why he wouldn’t make sweeping changes from here on in is beyond me. It’s his head on the chopping block and maintaining the status quo is only going to see his reputation and job security diminish further. He’s been eating his way through a turd sandwich for months now and yet inexplicably hasn’t decided to order something else from the menu. He just keeps chewing and hoping it will eventually taste better.

I wrote a piece just a few days back stating that Liverpool had six winnable games in a row and could get their season back on track over the next few weeks. I firmly believed it possible if the manager made some changes. At 12.30 on Sunday my belief that improvement was imminent all but evaporated. It seems clear now that Rodgers isn’t changing. He’s doubling down. He’s sticking by his underperforming players, ignoring alternatives and hoping these lads will magically rediscover their form. It’s a hell of a gamble and evidence suggests the odds are well and truly stacked against him.

The manager is in a hole and he’s only digging himself further into trouble at the moment. I suppose all we can do is hope, like him, that things somehow get better from here. But when ‘hope’ is all you have left to cling to you know you are in serious trouble.    

The Next Six

Crystal Palace, Ludogorets, Stoke City, Leicester City, Sunderland and Basel.

When you’re managing a team in desperate need of victories you can’t ask for a more appealing set of fixtures than that. Those six sides are the opponents that Liverpool will face before their trip to Old Trafford on December 14^th. Frankly, they range from very poor to average in terms of quality. Brendan Rodgers should be relishing the prospect of getting his team’s season back on track over the next three weeks, but confidence in Liverpool’s ability to negotiate that less than daunting group of games is pretty low right now.

Despite it only being November, the reds are already perilously close to entering these matches with a ‘must win’ feeling hanging over their heads. In truth, this potential do or die perception to upcoming games would have already been a reality in recent fixtures were it not for the stuttering form of Champions League chasing sides like Arsenal, Everton and Manchester United which has mercifully postponed that particular narrative. The incompetence and inconsistency of their rivals has somehow left Liverpool with much to play for even after their depressing opening third of the season.

Despite the fact that Liverpool are still within touching distance of the top four, pressure is undoubtedly mounting on Brendan Rodgers. Sadly his much needed release valve is again out of reach now that Daniel Sturridge is injured once more. The striker’s absence has no doubt been a cause of many of the ills that his team have experienced since August, but the continued absence of the England forward cannot be used as a viable excuse over the next three weeks.

Sturridge or no Sturridge, Rodgers has a better squad at his disposal than all of his next six direct opponents and, bad form or not, Liverpool can beat all of the sides listed above. Indeed, they should beat all of them.

Yes, major problems exist in every area of the Liverpool team right now but it’s high time for the manager to step up and start finding some solutions. And make no mistake, despite the disastrous form, there are solutions residing within this squad of players. The question is whether Rodgers is willing to augment his failing approach and go in a new direction or not. To date this hasn’t been done, but now is surely the time for changes to be made. Things can’t go on like this much longer or Liverpool’s season will be effectively over before the New Year.

At the back the manager needs to accept that his much talked up (by himself) £20m signing Dejan Lovren isn’t working out while Martin Skrtel remains the inconsistent centre half he always has been. A very strong argument could be made for dropping both players as soon as possible, especially given Kolo Toure’s performance in Madrid which undoubtedly leaves him deserving a recall. Mamadou Sakho should soon return from injury and while it’s pretty obvious that the manager doesn’t particularly fancy him, it seems natural that the Frenchman should be Liverpool’s first choice centre half when he’s fit again. Sure, he can look ungainly but he offers genuine pace and physicality – two more attributes than either Skrtel or Lovren are displaying at present.

Glen Johnson’s form may have been deemed acceptable enough to have somehow earned him a new contract offer from the club but it is hard to argue that it should currently merit him a place in the first team. Javi Manquillo is available and a far more dependable alternative at present even if his attacking limitations are obvious. Decisions need to be taken when it comes to Liverpool’s wretched back line and the problems don’t end there.

Further forward the balance in midfield this season has been absent but again, options for Rodgers are plentiful. Emre Can has played himself into form and it seems safe to assume that he’s cemented his place in this team right now. Philippe Coutinho is slowly emerging from his early season slump and showing signs of life once more while his compatriot Lucas Leiva, lack of mobility aside, offers some level of actual defensive protection and knowhow which is more than can be said at present for Steven Gerrard.

The captain has suffered more than most of late and the folly of him playing for the full 90 minutes in every meaningful game this season needs to be addressed soon. To write the skipper off completely would be extreme but to claim that he’s undroppable at this stage is just as fanciful. Lamentably, Rodgers hasn’t looked like excluding Gerrard from any big games in two and a half years so to expect him to do so now would perhaps be asking a bit too much. Something needs to be done though. This Steven Gerrard is offering nothing to this Liverpool team. This Liverpool team is offering nothing to this Steven Gerrard.

When you add Joe Allen, Adam Lallana and Jordan Henderson to the midfield mix, Rodgers could scarcely ask for more pieces to figure out this particular puzzle. He wanted the ability to rotate and he certainly has that in abundance in the middle third of the pitch. Now he must find the best combination to get Liverpool’s engine room ticking again. Gerrard sitting deep with a partner alongside him has left it spluttering so far and stalled the entire team. An improvement surely shouldn’t be too difficult to find given the mix of talented players at the manager’s disposal.

Up front things are admittedly more complicated, but again, there are other methods that the manager will hopefully explore over the coming weeks. One would think he has to. To suggest that what we’ve seen thus far isn’t working would be the ultimate understatement. Liverpool’s play in the final third isn’t even threatening to work these days. Mario Balotelli playing as a lone striker provides few worries for opposition defences. Ditto the industrious but lightweight Fabio Borini. It’s not difficult to imagine that if the Italians were paired together they would be more likely to actually create a few chances or even – imagine this - score a few goals. Raheem Sterling could certainly inject some much needed pace and threaten sides in behind if he were pushed up as foil for Balotelli. It remains a mystery that Liverpool’s best player has been largely confined to the touchlines for most of the season to date. The less said about Rickie Lambert right now the better, sadly.

On a personal level the most concerning and frustrating aspect of this nightmare of a season so far has been the reluctance of Rodgers to accommodate a second centre forward in his team selections. The persistence with a single front man is way beyond ridiculous and bordering on negligent at this point. To continue with a lone striker system seems unlikely to result in anything other than accelerating the possibility of the manager being served with his P45. It certainly isn’t resulting in goals.

Liverpool have scored just 8 times in their last 8 league games which is surely proof enough that the current approach needs to be binned. Change is now a necessity. Admittedly, any of the alternative systems or personnel changes on offer could also flop, but what is there to lose at this point? When none of your strikers have mustered a single league goal to their names it would be literally impossible for any alternative approach to produce worse results. At the very least a change would offer some variety and show fans that there is a desire to abandon the monotonous status quo and fix things. Right now watching Liverpool trying to score goals is as predictable as it is dull.

All that being said, if Rodgers can somehow turn things around and win 5 or 6 games before he takes his team to Old Trafford, then he will likely find his team in the last 16 of the Champions League and back the top four domestically. It’s an achievable goal to set and not unreasonable to expect a squad of this expense and quality to be able to do just that.

A good run now would see the gathering questions about Rodgers’ future fade into the background again. If things don’t change and results remain poor then those questions will only grow louder, and rightly so. If Liverpool are still languishing in mid table and have departed from the Champions League by the time they face Manchester United then Rodgers will have nowhere else to look but the mirror. Sadly, if significant personnel or systemic changes aren’t going to occur you would have to presume that the current malaise will endure.

Difficult decisions need to be taken, underperforming players need to be dropped, noses need to be put out of joint and the repetition of mistakes must cease. If the manager can do these things then Liverpool fans should be looking forward to the knockout stages of Europe’s elite competition and believing in their team’s ability to return to that competition again next season.

The time for excuses and lamenting bad luck is over. The mistakes need to stop. Liverpool need to start winning football matches urgently and how they go about achieving that is down to their manager. The next six games give him the perfect opportunity to get the train back on the tracks. Come December 14^th we will all have a clearer understanding of how capable Brendan Rodgers is of sorting this mess out. 

Liverpool - A Confused football team

Confusion rules my mind when I think of my football team these days. This Liverpool team confuses me. Brendan Rodgers confuses me.

Question marks are everywhere and never more so than now, in the aftermath of defeat to Real Madrid and prior to the impending visit of Chelsea. I have no idea of how I should even be feeling at the moment.

Should I be proud that an ‘under strength’ Liverpool eleven were so resolute and committed away to a side clearly superior to them in the Spanish capital? Or should I be worried that we've essentially been reduced to playing a Hail Mary pass in the Bernabeu as early as November?

Should I be pleased that Kolo Toure was reintroduced on Tuesday and looked solid during 90 testing minutes against one of the most potent attacking outfits on the planet? Or do I instead lament the fact that Dejan Lovren – a player we signed for an eye watering £20m - currently looks less reliable than everyone’s favourite internet meme from the Ivory Coast? I like Kolo, I just don’t like the thought of having to trust in him very often.

Should I be encouraged that Javi Manquillo put in another accomplished defensive performance at right back on his to return to Madrid? Or do I worry that, come Saturday, the Spaniard’s attacking limitations may leave Brendan Rodgers unable to resist yet another roll of the human dice that is Glen Johnson? Roll a six and you’re rewarded with the composed, enterprising Glen from Cardiff away in March. One through five though and you get Glen from, well, take your pick from any number of stinkers over the past 18 months. Rodgers has rolled that particular dice many times and it’s fair to say he’s not landed on six very often lately.

Should I admire Fabio Borini’s endless movement and insatiable levels of graft or remain frustrated by his ultimate lack of oomph when it really matters? Fabio has movement and graft in abundance but bloody hell how he could use some additional oomph.

Mario has oomph. Loads of it, in fact. But he lacks the movement and some would say the graft. Together I could see Mario and Fabio being something. Sadly, I suspect they will be separated again on Saturday for yet another ‘one up top’ job that I have come to despise of late. The disjointed 4-2-3-1 system the team has adopted recently may offer an obvious scapegoat for people in the form of an isolated and frustrated Balotelli, but it’s providing precious little threat to our opponents. Of all the question marks against this team and it’s manager right now it is the consistent use of a system that seems to suit none of the club’s best players that is undoubtedly the most infuriating.

And so to Chelsea.

I hope Brendan surprises me this weekend and abandons the recent approach of Gerrard playing deep with a partner alongside him, two wide players and a lone(ly) striker. Whatever the reasons Rodgers has for playing in this manner, it’s clear that it’s not been working and I would very much like to see it binned sooner rather than later.

Brendan used to be brilliant at rectifying his mistakes and solving problems. These days he appears to be making the same cock ups over and over again while creating further dilemmas for himself in the process. Perhaps having to juggle a larger squad deprived of it’s two greatest offensive weapons from last term has muddled his mind too. Maybe he needs to go back to his roots. I’d certainly like to see him revisit a buzzword of his that he was previously rather fond of: Meritocracy.

That word means that the footballers who perform well deserve to play again and duly do so. Those out form don’t, regardless of their status in the squad or their price tags. Going back to that word and all that it implies at this stage would require balls. It could mean selecting a kid with fewer than 20 senior league games to his name over an experienced international full back to mark the magnificent Eden Hazard on Saturday.

The real world implementation of that buzzword would also require the manager to accept his own mistakes and set about rectifying them rather than ploughing on regardless full of bloody mindedness and blind faith. It could mean laughing stock/cult hero (delete as applicable) Kolo Toure coming in for a prolonged run in the side at the expense of the woefully out of form ‘defensive leader’ that the manager recklessly splashed £20m on this summer.

Based on the idea of a footballing meritocracy Fabio Borini should play against Chelsea as well.  I doubt he will but if he does then I hope it’s not as a lone striker. The alternative may very well mean relinquishing midfield control against high class opponents to facilitate a conventional strike partnership comprised of two Italian lads, neither of whom seems to have the manager’s full trust, but why not try it? It seems no more likely to fail than persisting with the unimpressive setup we've seen recently. Who knows, it might just help to get something out of Balotelli and it would certainly allow Raheem Sterling to play with more freedom in the centre of the pitch again rather than being confined to the touchline playing as an default winger or an auxiliary wing back.

One positive from the defeat to Real was that, whether you agreed with his decisions or not, Brendan Rodgers clearly showed everyone that does indeed have the balls to make big decisions. His team selection left him wide open to a media lynching had Liverpool been humbled. In truth he’s still received a lot of criticism for the starting eleven he chose. If he follows that with a defeat to Chelsea one can only imagine the hysteria that could ensue.

Yet, despite the obvious negative reaction and ramifications of his selection in Madrid, the manager stuck to his guns and rotated heavily. It didn't work as well as some are implying – we lost, that’s never an indication of success – but the performance was of a high enough level to provide him with a shield to defend himself with. It hasn't pacified everyone and losing to Chelsea will only compound the anger that many are feeling right now but at the very least Rodgers did it his way on Tuesday night. Rights or wrongs can be debated but this wasn't a half baked plan and nor was it only partially executed. It was a clear and obvious ploy with genuine thought behind it. He went about his task with absolute conviction.

I want to see more of that.

More certainty. More clarity. For better or for worse. Losing football matches will always hurt no matter what the circumstances but as long as there is a clear plan on show then there is always hope of a brighter tomorrow. That’s the reason that Man United fans are more upbeat with fewer points under Louis van Gaal than they were at the same stage under David Moyes last season. They feel like they’re building toward something again rather than merely flinging muck forlornly at a wall and hoping for the best.

Giving the likes of Manquillo, Toure and Borini a run of games may not be what Rodgers envisaged himself having to do back in August when he was fresh from throwing £100m around the transfer market but it would at least offer some stability at a time when it is badly needed. So would allowing Borini and Balotelli the opportunity to get a partnership going before Daniel Sturridge returns. Whether these potential changes would succeed or not is up for debate – what isn’t right now? – but at least they would restore some order and return some semblance of identity to a team who appear to have lost theirs of late.

Whatever path the manager decides to go down from here we must hope that he embarks upon it devoid of the murky, muddled thinking that has surrounded his team selections too often this season. Liverpool need their identity back. Confusion currently reigns but confused teams can never reign. It's high time Liverpool stepped out of the gloom and got back to the business of being about something again. 

Anfield on Saturday is as good a place to start as any. 

Forget Mario - Liverpool have Real problems

Brendan Rodgers and some of his players should be buying Mario Balotelli a pint at some point this week. It’s the least they could do for the deserved scrutiny he has unwittingly helped them to avoid.

Naively swapping shirts a few seconds too early has unsurprisingly directed the focus and ire of many supporters and the media (sadly this includes the local press as well as the nationals) on to the misfiring striker’s ‘offensive behaviour’ while the real questions that should currently be being addressed are going largely unreported. Clicks are obviously easier to come by when headlines include the word ‘Balotelli’.

The most worrying issue surrounding Liverpool right now isn’t a shirt changing hands at an inappropriate moment. It isn’t even the team’s inability to find a way to coexist and flourish with Balotelli in it (though that is certainly a bone of contention worthy of addressing). No, the underlying problem here is that this team is about as easy to break through as a pane of sugar glass and it has been for far too long. No defensive progress is being made and it’s costing the reds week in and week out. Having to score a minimum of two or three goals per game to accumulate points is doable when you have Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge in your side as we saw last season. Without them, though? Well, it gets a lot harder. Not every side is going to be as accommodating as QPR. Real Madrid certainly weren’t.

Every single concern that supporters have harboured this season was cruelly laid bare on Wednesday. The goalkeeper. The centre halves. Glen Johnson. The lack of protection in midfield. Liverpool’s performance was a lethal cocktail of problems that Real Madrid dismissively downed in one go before putting their feet up for 45 minutes of relaxation in preparation of far greater tests to come.

So where to start? The man between the posts seems as good a place as any. When keepers at Anfield lose their way history tells us that they rarely find it again. David James, Sander Westerveld, Jerzy Dudek and Pepe Reina all went through severe dips in form that they never recovered from. Simon Mignolet looks as though he’s the latest Liverpool number one to suffer this fate.

For all his faults, last season the Belgian did win crucial points for his team. He was obviously flawed in many respects but by and large he was excelling in the areas that Liverpool most expected and required him to. As recently as the opening day of the current domestic campaign his stupendous save late on against Southampton secured his team two additional points. Since then it’s been all downhill.

The indecision in his game is tangible. He’s not staying on his line but he’s not dominating his box either. Seeing him diving at the ball with his feet rather than his hands as if he were an outfield player asked to fill in between the sticks last night was as sad to see as it was alarming. No confidence resides within the man these days.

Brendan Rodgers recently asserted that Victor Valdes isn’t coming to Anfield. We’re getting to the point now where we have to hope that that is only the case because someone else has been lined up.

The relationship between Mignolet and his back four is a toxic circle of never ending doubt and distrust. Defenders don’t know if the Belgian is coming or staying. Mignolet doesn’t look as if he knows himself. How could he? When his centre halves are defending the edge of their box and through balls are still finding their way to the feet of opposing strikers (as was the case with Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal) it offers a reason at least for why the Belgian is so regularly caught in no man’s land. Twelve months ago the keeper was no more dominant than he is now but at least he was consistent in his play. His back four seemed to be confident that he would stay on his line for better or worse whereas these days the only certainty is uncertainty.

One clean sheet since March can’t be all down to the goalkeeper, though. Real Madrid are undoubtedly a wonderful group of footballers, but at Anfield they scored two goals from build up play that Sunday League sides could have put together without too much fuss. Glen Johnson looking at Karim Benzema three times before ultimately neglecting to get tight to the striker was embarrassingly shoddy work, but sadly not untypical. Yet another goal direct from yet another set piece minutes later was beyond frustrating. Giving young Alberto Moreno a pass for a moment, could anyone seriously point to any of Liverpool’s starting defenders on Wednesday and claim with any certainty that they are good enough for a team with genuine aspirations of success?

As with Mignolet, Johnson and Martin Skrtel’s deficiencies aren’t news to anyone. If replacements who can improve upon the standards that they offer can’t be found or aren’t being sought then we have major problems. In the summer Liverpool elected to replace Mamadou Sakho rather than Skrtel. People can debate all they want about the rights and wrongs of that but what isn’t up for debate at this juncture is whether they succeeded. Dejan Lovren cost £20m. Amongst all the outrage and pontificating about shirts being swapped last night, this is a fact that too few are concentrating on. When you spend £20m on a centre back you have a right to expect top quality, yet the Croatian looks worse than any of our much maligned centre halves did during last season. If that was the best deal that the transfer committee and the manager could come up with after a summer of work in the market then one wonders exactly what they were playing at.

There are a number of people willing to write off a £16m striker in October after a poor start and I wonder how much longer our £20m centre back will be given before the same fate befalls him. His performances certainly haven’t merited any more leniency than what is currently being offered to the likes of Balotelli.

As daunting and as likely as the prospect of an even more severe hiding in the Bernabeu currently is, what remains more concerning still is the fact that Hull City are likely to have red pulses racing every time they get in to Liverpool’s half at the weekend, especially when they have dead ball situations to exploit. Set pieces haven’t been this scary since Gary Pallister was nodding them in at every opportunity against Roy Evans’ Liverpool nearly two decades ago.

Thankfully, plenty of the season still remains. The problems are obvious and now is the time to find solutions. Nothing is gone at this point. Progressing from the Champions League group remains a possibility and, Chelsea and City aside, no other teams look any less flawed than we do domestically. If Rodgers can somehow, someway get his side’s defensive act together then this campaign could still be one of promise and expectation rather than one defined by the present mood of fear and pessimism.

My Lovren Problem

As we all know, Didier Deschamps was once firmly in the running to become Liverpool manager in the not too distant past. If the former World Cup winning captain keeps an eye on the reds these days then I reckon he might be a little perplexed by one of Brendan Rodgers defensive selections.

The reigning France manager appears to be a big fan of Mamadou Sakho who regularly starts for and has captained the French team under Deschamps’ leadership. Highly regarded defenders like Eliaquim Mangala and Laurent Koscielny are overlooked in favour of the ex PSG skipper currently plying his trade at Anfield. I purposely use the word ‘currently’ because it’s becoming increasingly likely to me that Sakho’s Liverpool career will be over before too long.

Walking out on your team prior to any game, as Sakho did before the Merseyside derby, is a stupid thing to do. The player was rightly criticised and punished for his actions. He was bang out of order to abandon Anfield when he wasn’t selected for that match and while I can never condone or accept that kind of behaviour, I’m beginning to at least understand his misguided petulance more every time I watch Liverpool’s comical attempts to defend this season. One player’s performances in particular have left me empathising with Sakho’s poor behaviour.

I wasn't a big advocate for signing Dejan Lovren in the summer. The eventual £20m price tag made what seemed to be a somewhat unnecessary transfer look downright foolish to me. I didn't understand why Liverpool were looking to sign a player at such a high price to replace the newest and arguably best centre half at the club. Sakho’s ungainly style unquestionably divides opinion, but after his first season in English football his potential was evident even if his consistency wasn’t. Quick, strong in the tackle and – crucially - rarely bullied, I considered him as a player who could really go up a level or two in the immediate future with some tweaks to his game. His front foot approach and ability to defend high up the pitch seemed to fit perfectly with Liverpool’s playing style. He impressed in the World Cup this summer as well and it seemed obvious to me that there was a lot more to come from the player going forward. Brendan Rodgers clearly didn’t share this optimistic line of thinking.

Whatever anyone falsely claims about all centre backs being able to play equally well on the left or the right hand side of defence, Dejan Lovren was signed to play instead of Sakho. His sole season at Southampton (presumably Liverpool signed him because of his performances during that campaign and nothing he’d done prior to it as the club could have purchased Lovren for a fraction of the cost from Lyon before he joined Saints) was played almost exclusively in the left centre half position. In other words, Sakho’s position. That was strange to me.

As I said, despite an up and down début season at Anfield I looked at Sakho as a player could easily go on to bigger and better things if he ironed out some of the kinks in his game. Then I’d look at Martin Skrtel. Everyone knows what Skrtel is. We’ve seen it for nearly seven years now so we’re fully aware; He’s a decent but flawed defender and is unlikely to become anything more than that at this stage of his career.

At the end of last season Skrtel was the centre back that I expected Rodgers to upgrade on during the summer transfer window. At the beginning of the last campaign the manager looked as though he’d lost faith in the Slovakian. Kolo Toure was starting games in his place before injuries allowed Skrtel back into the side. To his credit, Skrtel scored a few goals and had an okay season when he regained his place, but the same problems that existed in his game five or six years ago still endured. Easily bullied by big target men, rashness in the tackle, happier defending the edge of the box than pushing up, a walking penalty at set pieces - why wouldn’t Rodgers have been looking to replace Skrtel rather than the younger albeit more raw Sakho? Whatever his reasons, the manager clearly identified the left of his central defence as the primary problem area at the back.

As things stand today Skrtel and Lovren are the partnership that will start games together for Liverpool when everyone is fit and available. We’ve seen that already this season and this represents a huge problem for me. It’s early days of course, but Dejan Lovren doesn’t look like a better option than the dwindling version of Daniel Agger who fell out of favour with Rodgers last season, let alone than Sakho.

Before I wrote this piece I looked back over the fourteen goals Liverpool have conceded in the Champions League and Premier League to date. Eight of those goals contained a significant involvement or mistake from Lovren. From allowing forwards to easily run in behind him to score for Manchester City and Ludogorets to losing a physical battle with Philippe Senderos on the corner that led to Aston Villa’s winner at the Kop end, Lovren has made costly error after costly error when you assess the goals this side have given away this season. Even in Liverpool’s outstanding game of the campaign against Spurs, Lovren twice made critical errors that should have resulted in goals against his team. His blushes were spared on that day by a poor finish from Emmanuel Adebayor and a great Simon Mignolet save from Nacer Chadli.

In a red shirt Lovren has been repeatedly rash. His passing hasn’t been particularly impressive. He’s painfully slow on the turn and has little speed in his legs – Roberto Soldado left him for dead in a foot race at White Hart Lane last season. His judgement isn’t there either as shown by the penalty he conceded against West Brom and his missed headed interception that preceded QPR’s opening goal at Loftus Road. So forgive my negativity when I pose this question, but what exactly does Dejan Lovren actually offer that Mamadou Sakho, Kolo Toure, Martin Skrtel or even Daniel Agger didn’t last term?

When he joined the club we were repeatedly informed by Rodgers and others in the press that Lovren was an exemplary leader. Sorry, but shouting a bit and waving your arms doesn’t constitute leading. Liverpool’s defensive line looks even less organised now than it did last season and he’s not advanced the team’s cause in that respect in any discernible way. I also saw lots of people claiming he’s a ‘beast’ which I understand is teenage speak for physically imposing. Well, Bobby Zamora repeatedly bullied him at QPR as though he were a school boy on Sunday so I guess the ‘beast’ theory now lies in tatters in the bin. Plenty of excited Lovren advocates told me during the summer he was better on the ball than Sakho or Skrtel. I don’t see this either. Often times he plays people into trouble in midfield and if you aren’t having kittens whenever he and Simon Mignolet exchange passes then I’ll need some of what you’re having please.

Of course, while it would be ridiculous to lay the blame for Liverpool’s defensive woes solely at the door of one player, I have to point out that the extravagantly priced defensive signing looks as odd to me now as it appeared back in August. Bar a decent début nothing has allayed the fears I had regarding Lovren’s signing and his transfer fee.

To be fair, Lovren isn’t exactly surrounded by team mates who inspire confidence or coherence. Whether it’s having to play next to a perennially distracted Jose Enrique who is likely to be day dreaming about his next online FIFA tournament or having to protect a keeper who looks as confident as Jerzy Dudek did whenever Manchester United rolled into town during the mid 2000s, there are undoubtedly mitigating circumstances involved when it comes to Lovren’s maladaptive start to Anfield life. However, all that being said, I need to see something soon. Anything that will help me understand why we paid top dollar for a player that the club wasn’t interested in at a third of the price just twelve months prior to his eventual arrival in L4.

Rodgers talked Lovren up all summer long and has protected him even at the expense of others. The manager publicly placed the blame for Sergio Aguero’s goal at the Etihad stadium on Alberto Moreno to avoid criticising his £20m signing. Apparently, Aguero walking on to the pitch, jogging behind Lovren and leaving him for dead wasn’t as crucial to that goal being conceded as our Spanish full back not getting tight enough to Jesus Navas (on the half way line of all places!). Shifting the blame on to Moreno that day when Lovren was clearly at fault set alarm bells ringing in my head. It appears that Lovren is a player that Rodgers badly wanted and fought hard for this summer and as a result he will defend him to hilt. We’ve seen precious little in the way of criticism for the Croatian despite his numerous costly errors while others have been hung out to dry or dropped from the side entirely for less significant mistakes. It seems obvious to me that Lovren isn’t going to be left out of the team anytime soon despite his wretched form. Rodgers has invested a lot of money and a lot of hot air in his newest centre back and he’s obviously one of the first names on the team sheet as things stand. Sakho fans like myself will just have to lump it.

Fair enough. Rodgers knows a lot more about football than I could ever hope to and he’s earned a bucket load of credit during his time as manager. Hopefully the faith he has placed in the defender pays off in the long run and Lovren improves. He drastically needs to, because right now he is the anointed leader of a shambolic defence and that simply can’t continue if Liverpool are serious about keeping their place in the top four this season.

If, as I expect, Lovren remains as the focal point of this team’s back line then one would assume that Mamadou Sakho isn’t going to get many games this season and will likely be off sooner or later. Considering the qualities both players have shown to date that would represent somewhat of a blunder for me. Sakho can be shaky now and then, but at least he’s shown glimpses of the player he can become and he doesn’t cost his side a goal every other game. I can fully see why Didier Deschamps puts faith in him for the French national side.

Now we need to see something to justify why Brendan Rodgers is placing the same kind of faith in Dejan Lovren because at the moment there is precious little to suggest that preferring the Croatian at the expense of Sakho when he returns from injury would be anything but folly.

Just as I’m sure that Didier Deschamps is, I remain perplexed by Dejan Lovren’s standing in this Liverpool squad right now.

Balo criticism is just lazy

Graeme Souness, Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and that no mark troll Adrian Durham are just some of the public figures who have thrown their hats into the public ring this week. Plenty of others have already had their say. Criticism is rife and it’s anything but unexpected. This is what Mario Balotelli brings with him.

When you ‘put yourself out there’ as Mario does (he gets weird haircuts and does daft stuff once in a while, dontchaknow), you’re open to shots against you. With just one Liverpool goal to his name and plenty of detractors who have been waiting to jump on him from the moment he signed on at Anfield, Balotelli is under fire. But should he be?

‘Work rate’ and ‘Attitude’ are two phrases that are never far from anyone’s lips when they are looking to chastise the Italian. Indeed, a national newspaper this week compiled a head to head comparison of Liverpool’s forward and Arsenal’s Danny Welbeck. Predictably, two of the categories used were centered around those exact attributes. Unsurprisingly, Balotelli did not come off favourably in either sub section.

The problem for Mario is that so many people have already made up their minds about him. They did so long ago. He’s marmite. You have to be compelled to love him or hate him apparently. No nuance or objectivity is required, just sweeping generalisations and stereotyping. When Jose Mourinho criticizes a player many lemmings, particularly in England, immediately write said player off. Souness mentioned how the Portuguese manager disposed immediately of Mario on Sky prior to Liverpool’s game with Basel. The ex Liverpool manager failed to mention that - apart from the fact that what he asserted was total bull shit - Mourinho used Balotelli regularly during the season his Inter Milan team won the treble. Mario played wide a lot that season, too. You know, as one of Mourinho’s famed ‘defensive forwards’. Fancy that, eh Graeme? It matters not to people like Souness though. Perception is everything when it comes to Mario.

We know this, not because of the fact that his performances are being criticized, but because of the nature of the criticism. Ask any Liverpool fan what has frustrated them about their new striker so far and it will likely be one of two things. One, he’s not scored enough goals. Two, his movement in the box needs to improve. The thing that has impressed the supporters of Balotelli’s new club? They would most likely be his work rate and his attitude.

In almost every game Balotelli has featured in for the reds he has been targeted physically. Whether it was Eric Dier lunging in at him from behind with a brain dead ‘welcome to the Premier League’ challenge, Alan Hutton and Tony Hibbert ‘leaving one on him’ (following through with intent after winning the ball as it’s also known) or Philippe Senderos blatantly booting him up in the air off the ball, Balotelli is coming in for some severe stick during matches. He has a temper and opponents are trying to stoke the fire within to get him sent off. It hasn’t worked yet. Despite numerous occasions where he would have been justified in losing his rag and reacting to the provocation, the Italian has kept his head. He’s usually muttered some words or limped away (something else Graeme Souness doesn’t like about him, incidentally. Limping after being kicked? Not in my day etc etc) to get on with the game. Long may it continue.

Of course, no one out to slam Balotelli cares about such a thing. The way he deals with provocation will only matter when he loses his cool. It is easy to guess what the media’s reaction would have been had the Italian lashed out at Stewart Downing in the hilariously idiotic manner that Wayne Rooney did last weekend. ‘Liability’ is a word that would probably have been written and uttered repeatedly. In truth, it’s a word that is already out there when it comes to Mario.

Yes, minds are well and truly made up. Too few people who analyse the game of football are willing to scratch beneath the surface and actually break down what the Italian is or isn’t doing at Anfield. It’s apparently much easier to simply stick to the cliches about how he’s a lazy madman who couldn't care less about his team. Neville Southall gave an unintentionally hysterical radio interview recently where he proclaimed that he had ‘never seen the lad (Balotelli) have a good game, ever’. Remember he’s talking about a player who led Italy to the Euro 2012 final, helped send England packing from the recent World Cup, scored the opening two goals in Manchester City’s most famous 6-1 demolition of city rivals United at Old Trafford, scored 12 times in 13 Serie A matches to drag Milan into the Champions League and has a winners medal in that competition, Serie A and the Premier League at the age of 24. Neville mustn't watch much football. As for facts? Bah, who need them? He’s got mad hair, has had the odd fight in training and wears colourful boots. He’s ‘hard to like’ as Souness again said on Sky during his pre game hatchet job….sorry ‘analysis’.

The predictable, ignorant barbs aimed at Balotelli were always likely to come. A striker that isn’t scoring goals is never far from negative headlines, especially one with such a profile as high as his. Critiquing his performances is expected. There are aspects of his play that require work and it’s completely justified to focus on those areas. But the amount of asinine ‘he doesn’t work as hard as Luis Suarez’ style drivel that is saturating the media at large and social networking sites is enough to make your head spin.

Take his performance against Everton. He was given a standing ovation from the Anfield crowd when he was substituted. Safe to say they liked what the saw. He battled, tracked back, tackled, won fouls, held the ball up, brought others into play and was two inches away from finishing the game off when he hit the cross bar. If the ball hadn’t clipped an unwitting Tim Howard on the shoulder he’d have been the derby day hero and probably the man of the match. As it was, the ball didn’t nestle in the back of the net and people merely chalked it up as another goalless, bad performance from the polarising clown that is Mario Balotelli. Ex red Steve Nichol said on ESPN that Rickie Lambert would have done just as good a job in that match after the final whistle before going on to castigate the Italian’s performance. The word ‘ridiculous’ doesn’t do such analysis justice. If you know a word that does please feel free to let me know because I’m struggling to sum that little gem up.

I could go on to question exactly why it is that a player who has clearly put in a great amount of effort during his time in a red shirt is still widely perceived as lazy. I’ll save that potentially controversial topic for another day though. I’ll just say that Andy Carroll barely put in 10% of the effort Balotelli has exhibited during his stint on Merseyside and yet the tall, aggressive, bull-dog spirited Geordie’s work rate was and is seldom questioned. You can make your own minds up on why that may be. I can think of numerous reasons that I won’t go into here.

Instead I’d rather focus ultimately on how Balotelli is performing for the reds and how the future looks for him. To me, as an individual the striker is playing well. He’s winning plenty of battles, he’s got obvious skill and great control and he’s showing a real desire to work hard for his team mates. His performances against Everton and Spurs in particular point to better days ahead. His goal record from open play doesn’t suggest he will ever become a man who can score 20 league goals in England unless Steven Gerrard relinquishes penalty duties, but then we all thought that about Luis Suarez after 18 months on these shores. For me, the keys to harnessing Balotelli’s obvious qualities are Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge.

With the Italian playing up front on his own Brendan Rodgers’ side have looked somewhat toothless. There are too few darting runs behind and across opposing defences. People will say that this is Balotelli’s job and he’s not doing it, but it should be clear to those detractors that things like that aren’t natural to the big forward. He’s not Daniel Sturridge or Luis Suarez and he never will be.

He’s far happier feeling a defender up against him, rolling his marker and popping it off or firing at goal. The lack of a striker like Sturridge and the repositioning of Sterling within the Liverpool team has hurt Balotelli’s game. Opposing defences focus intently on him, safe in the knowledge that they have little else to worry about in central areas. He doesn’t have a player to slip in when he gets the ball under control near the box. Too often, there is a lack of runners breaking their necks to get beyond the target man. Jordan Henderson is either sat way too deep or living in fear at having to track back should he not receive the ball after a forward run because he’s the only one with legs in the centre of the park. Raheem Sterling is playing out wide hugging the touchline a lot of the time and Lazar Markovic is completely lacking in conviction and confidence. Only Adam Lallana has semi regularly linked up with Balotelli and he’s hardly a player that looks to spring in behind defenders too often.

One assumes that with Sturridge in tandem and Sterling breaking from behind, as was the case at Spurs on Mario’s debut, space and the quality of opportunities for the Italian will be increased. When Sturridge has been reintegrated into the team and lined up regularly with Balotelli that will be the time to properly judge the striker. Right now he’s merely an isolated forward lacking in service and support in an underperforming outfit. Most top strikers would struggle to excel in such circumstances and Balotelli undoubtedly is.

Please, just don’t tell me it’s this way because he’s lazy.

We Were Liverpool

‘Who am I? Where am I going?’

A dazed and confused Tony Soprano is in shock and about to slip into a coma after being shot in the stomach. In his last moment of consciousness he asks these two questions aloud. Bear with me, this isn’t just an excuse to mention the greatest television show in history, there is a point to this. You see, these days ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Where am I going?’ are the two questions that run through my mind whenever I think about Liverpool Football Club.

It shouldn’t be this way. Afterall, just five months ago everyone in the land knew who Liverpool were. We all knew where they were going, too. ‘We are Liverpool Tra La La La’ and ‘We’re going to win the league’ constantly accompanied the team throughout that exhilarating run of matches towards the climax of the 2013/14 season. These days those songs aren’t heard very often. It’s little wonder.

Clarity of purpose has been replaced by utter confusion. Bravado and bullishness have been usurped by anxiety and hesitancy.

Five months ago we knew that Simon Mignolet was an excellent shot stopper who stayed on his line, for better or worse. He knew too. Now he seems to be engaged in a constant battle against that magnet in his goal, trying in vain to push up the field and be something he’s not. It’s costing the team goals.

During the second half of last season we had evidence that Steven Gerrard was capable of sitting deep on his own in midfield and influencing games if legs were provided slightly further forward on either side to assist him. Now he’s playing more often than not with a babysitter stationed directly alongside him.

We also knew that Jordan Henderson’s energy was crucial to how the team played in one of those more advanced midfield roles. He pressed, he pressed again and he pressed once more. Against Basel he was instructed to essentially hold Gerrard’s hand in front of the defence to no great effect.

Last season Brendan Rodgers discovered that Philippe Coutinho could play in central midfield in games against Everton and Arsenal and dominate top level opposition. The Brazilian has played in four different positions by my count already this season and is yet to get going.

Raheem Sterling had developed from a jet heeled wide player into a footballer who could destroy opponents from central areas. Now, like Coutinho, he’s also being shuffled from side to side and even played as a wing back at West Ham.

It seemed obvious to most that Mamadou Sakho had been earmarked as Daniel Agger’s long term replacement on the left of Liverpool’s central defence when the season ended. Last week he was driving back home before a derby match because he’s been replaced himself by an expensive signing who has injected no added stability or additional quality to the back line despite his hefty price tag.

We knew that Liverpool looked a match for everybody when they played with a diamond shape in midfield. Now that Brendan Rodgers has abandoned that system of late, his team rarely look a threat for anybody.

In short, we’ve seemingly done away with a lot of what made Liverpool Liverpool. There is no identity to this team right now. Nothing is certain. There is nothing to hang your hat on. Nothing to believe or invest in.

‘They’re not a pressing team. They’re not a counter attacking team. They’re not a possession team. I don’t know what they are.’’

Those were the words of Gary Neville in the aftermath of the latest defeat in Basel on Wednesday. He was right. Presently Liverpool resemble the England team from this summer’s World Cup. Good players everywhere but no discernible plan. Ponderous and porous at the back. Wasting two key players in Gerrard and Henderson by blunting their weapons of choice. Raheem Sterling stuck out on the flank in the vague hope that he will conjure magic because, well, he’s just that good and why shouldn’t you just expect a kid to deliver week in week out from any position?

Watching Liverpool right now is like looking a thousand piece jigsaw of the Mona Lisa that has been deconstructed and thrown into a jumbled pile. The pieces that once slotted together to create a beautiful image remain, but they are no longer in order. What we are left with is a jumbled mess. To continue with the jigsaw analogy, it should be noted that a few of those pieces have also gone missing.

This brings me to the one comforting thought that I revert back to when seeking some much needed optimism for the season ahead; Things will be different when Joe Allen and Daniel Sturridge return. The reintroduction of those two players into this team would allow Rodgers to implement the same system and the same group of footballers that took to the pitch at White Hart Lane and trampled all over Spurs just a few weeks ago. You know the system. It was that diamond thing where Henderson and Allen provided the legs and nous either side of the captain while Sterling, Balotelli and Sturridge moved in and out of spaces all game long and bamboozled defenders with their technique, pace and power.

It may be an overly simplistic theory to suggest that merely replicating those tactics with those same players will solve the team’s problems, I grant you, but the one time the reds have genuinely looked like Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool this season was by doing just that in North London. The problem is that Joe Allen and Daniel Sturridge pick up knocks regularly and we have precious little in the way of like for like replacements given Rodgers’ new found aversion to having Coutinho play Allen’s role and Emre Can’s injury problems. Further forward Fabio Borini is a capable and willing lad but he isn’t Daniel Sturridge and Rodgers has already seemingly made his mind up on the Italian. The decision seems to have been taken that if Sturridge isn’t fit then the team will play with one up front. I’m sure there are valid reasons for that beyond my comprehension but whatever those reasons are, it clearly isn’t working out on the field.

Then we come to Adam Lallana. The piece that stumps me every time I try to mentally put that displaced jigsaw back together again.

Rodgers paid £25m for the former Southampton man. Lallana was his self confessed number one transfer target. The manager is going to want to play him. Lallana is unquestionably a good footballer who works best in advanced central areas just like a certain Raheem Sterling. He can also play wide, but if Rodgers does eventually go back to the diamond (as I’m obviously hoping he will), then the width will be provided almost exclusively by the full backs or strikers moving into those areas in that system. There simply are no wide midfield starting spots in the formation that seemingly compliments this team the most. For me, that means that in a diamond set up Lallana either plays at ten or he doesn’t play at all. The player himself has looked neat and tidy (whether neat and tidy is good enough is for you to decide) recently and hasn’t done too much wrong but, given the choice, I’d assume that most fans would have Sterling in that number ten role over Lallana seven days a week. He offers more pace, more penetration and more goals too going off what we’ve witnessed so far this season. This Lallana quandary leaves a nagging doubt in my mind.

When the latest monotonous international break has thankfully passed and Allen and Sturridge are hopefully available again, will Rodgers seek to find a spot for his most expensive signing to date or will he accept that he possibly overpaid for Lallana who - at a club that has Raheem Sterling on it’s books - should be a squad player able to deputise for the nineteen year old jewel in Liverpool’s crown?

Again, I admit all of this diamond talk looks oh so simple on paper. In reality it never is. But, to my eyes at least, Liverpool’s players are largely suited to that formation as I've argued before on this site. We know it works. Moreno can maraud forward and offer genuine width. Henderson and Allen can press in advanced areas and offer legs to support their ageing captain. Sterling can be involved as often as he should be rather than loitering on the fringes out wide. Balotelli will finally have someone to take defenders away from him and actually feed off his intelligent hold up play. Liverpool can play like the Liverpool we all fell in love with again.

Sure, they won’t be water tight at the back but if you are winning the ball high up the pitch and attacking teams with the quality that the trio of Sterling, Balotelli and Sturridge showcased at Spurs that becomes less of an issue. As it is, despite playing with two ‘defensive’ midfielders in a 4231 system, this team are no tighter at the back but are unquestionably far less threatening going forward as they’re playing with a single striker who has precious little support or service. The midfield offers hardly any protection or penetration when it is short of Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson is reduced to picking the ball up alongside his centre halves and exchanging five yard passes with Gerrard, Lovren and Skrtel. I’m struggling to see a reason for persisting with this set up when Sturridge returns. I hope Rodgers is too.

Whether the manager will choose to revert back to what has worked so well in the past seems up for debate to me, largely because of the implications it would have on his record signing. I sincerely hope he does revert though. If he doesn't then those two questions that I’ve been repeatedly asking myself over the last few weeks seem well set to be running around my mind in circles for a long while yet as Liverpool try and figure out exactly who they are these days and where they want to go.

O Captain! Roy’s Captain! - What happened to Wayne?

28 years old. Captain of both his country and one of the biggest football clubs on the planet. £300,000 a week wages. Commercial deals coming out of his ears. The prospect of becoming both England and Manchester United’s all time record goal scorer looms ever closer on the horizon.

‘So, where did it all go wrong, Wayne?’

If, like me, you grew up in the north west of England and took an interest in football then the chances are that you had heard of Wayne Rooney before he made his explosive Premier League entrance with that goal against Arsenal. Murmurs about a special talent dwelling in Everton’s youth teams were around long before David Seamen was left helplessly clutching thin air in front of a jubilant Goodison Park in 2002. Back then it was easy for a sceptical non Evertonian like myself to scoff at the notion that the Blues had some secret weapon ready to unleash upon the Premier League. I’d heard it all before and the reality never stacked up to the stories: Michael Branch, Franny Jeffers, Danny Cadamarteri, need I go on? Well, in this case, yes actually, I must. Because Wayne Rooney was no myth.

Within a few months of that famous goal against the then reigning champions, Rooney was lighting up English football on a weekly basis. Terrorizing defenders with a mixture of rare natural ability and breathtaking power, he blazed a trail through the Premier League and was, soon enough, making Euro 2004 his own personal coming out party before injury struck.

A £30m move to Manchester United quickly came along and with it a Champions League debut hat trick that confirmed what we already knew: Rooney was more than ready for the big time. During his first two seasons at Old Trafford he was undoubtedly United’s star turn. A period of transition was taking place at the club and the young Scouser was set to be the man who would lead United into a new era of success.

That success duly arrived in the form of multiple league titles and three European Cup finals. But this is where things become complicated in the Wayne Rooney story.

By 2007, Rooney’s downward trajectory was already in motion even if the public couldn't yet see it. Despite being England’s main man by this time, he had already become a supporting act at club level. He remained an audaciously gifted player capable of the extraordinary, but a supporting act none the less. It was Cristiano Ronaldo who had took on the mantle of becoming United’s next talisman. The Portuguese, who Rooney was often compared favourably to during their early days together in Manchester, had moved onto a new level and England’s latest great hope was now required to do a lot of the leg work while Ronaldo took centre stage.

People complained at the time - and indeed since - that Alex’s Ferguson’s decision to often use Rooney out wide and make the most of his work rate to free Ronaldo was what stunted the progress of England’s most talented footballer in a generation. They may be right. But so was Ferguson to do what he did. Vindication of his decision to ‘sacrifice’ Rooney in order to get the best out of Ronaldo was immediately apparent and hasn't diminished with the passing of time. Seven years on, it now seems almost unfathomable to think that debates ever existed about which player was more gifted or who United should have built around. In 2014, Wayne Rooney remains a very good Premier League footballer. Cristiano Ronaldo now belongs to a different stratosphere altogether and has done for years. The gap between the two continues to accelerate at a high speed.

Following Ronaldo’s protracted defection to Madrid during the summer of 2009, a new incarnation of Rooney emerged and flourished. He took his place as the spearhead of United’s attack and scored 26 league goals playing as a striker in just 32 appearances. One must acknowledge that his numbers have always been impressive. Goals and assists have never been in short supply during his career but, as early as that successful 2009/10 season, it was apparent that the Rooney we were witnessing was a different beast to the teenager who had defenders in a perpetual state of panic. Statistics were, and remain, enduring evidence of his undoubted quality, but the fantasy footballer who got people off their seats and had England fans dreaming of a bright future was no more. At this point he was ‘just’ an excellent striker, not the ‘White Pele’ United fans expectantly sang about upon his arrival.

There are many theories as to why this came to pass. A lack of professionalism off the pitch has regularly been cited. Rooney’s fluctuating weight, for example, has often been a source of ridicule for his detractors and frustration for his supporters. Injuries have been quite a regular occurrence also, and there is little doubt that they have taken a toll on a player has never resembled the finely tuned athlete he probably should have been. Whatever it was along the way that took the spark from Rooney’s game, it left him devoid of the one thing that made him truly special. The ability to beat a man with raw power or pace has been absent for a long time now. If you can’t beat players the chances are you won’t be perceived as an elite forward in modern day football. People gawp at the likes of Messi, Ibrahimovic, Suarez and Ronaldo because they effortlessly leave defenders trailing either by way of excessive skill, pace or power. Their status isn't what it is because they simply put up decent numbers. Like the defenders they torment every week, those elite players have left Rooney in their rear view mirrors.

So what of the present and the future? Wayne Rooney currently captains Manchester United yet there are plenty of Mancunian supporters who don’t even want him starting for their team. Robin van Persie usurped him, like Ronaldo, as United’s main attacking threat when he at the club arrived two seasons ago.

The Rooney of today works best as an out and out striker and, with the recent acquisition of Radamel Falcao, he’s probably the third best man in the United squad equipped to fill such a role. This puts Louis van Gaal in a tough position. The Dutch manager has made Rooney his captain. The idea of being able to sell the Scouse forward should he have a change of heart and prefer to marginalise his skipper and instead partner Van Persie and Falcao doesn’t appear to be realistic. No top club in the world is likely to come calling for Wayne these days. Certainly not when you add those £300,000 wage slips into the equation. He simply isn't worth it anymore.

Rooney remains a world class player only in the minds of marketers who know that, despite the progressive dwindling of his star, his name still resonates around the world. Van Gaal will have to find a solution to the Rooney problem and quickly or a storm could well be brewing in the Manchester skies before long.

On the international stage, a similar conundrum exists. Daniel Sturridge is undoubtedly the best out and out striker the country can field these days and has taken the number 9 shirt as his own. Rooney was deployed out wide in the first game of the World Cup against Italy and, despite an assist (he always has put up the numbers, remember) he looked poor and came in for criticism. Fortunately, with a press clamouring for the national side to still be built around him and a manager more than willing to oblige, Rooney was moved back in field for England’s crucial game against Uruguay. The man that switched roles with him was Raheem Sterling who was England’s best player in that opening match. Predictably, despite being indulged and allowed to play where he feels most comfortable at the expense of others, Rooney failed to galvanise his team and England were defeated by Uruguay.

Today, in the immediate aftermath of a drab 1-0 friendly win over Norway in Rooney’s first official match as his country’s new captain, even the English press appear to be waking up to the fact that their golden boy isn’t what he once was. There is a clamour for Sterling - as irony would have it, a teenage prodigy playing on Merseyside - to finally take Rooney’s central role behind Sturridge.

Wayne Rooney was a once in a generation talent. My personal prediction ten years ago was that he would either become one of the greatest players of his time or at least burn out in a blaze of glory a la George Best, giving us a handful of wonderful years before something went wrong and curtailed his progress. Neither really happened.

What came to pass was far less romantic than either scenario. Rooney never did conquer the footballing world, nor did he hit previously unscaled heights before prematurely self destructing like a shooting star. Instead, he just became a very good footballer who had peaked by his early twenties and has been slowly, gradually, fading in front of our eyes ever since.