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Clarity of purpose has been replaced by utter confusion.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.