Lucas and Gerrard - Just Say No Brendan

Accentuate the positives, eliminate the negatives. 

That’s exactly what Liverpool did during the second half of last season. We all know that Brendan Rodgers’ team was far from perfect during 2013/14, but crucially, as the season went on he got them focussed on what they could do rather than what they couldn't. They imposed their will on games with an attacking brand of maniacal, front foot football regardless of the opposition. Whether it was top sides like Everton or Man City visiting Anfield or middling teams like United and Southampton away from home, Liverpool played their way and asked opponents ‘Can you deal with this?’. The vast majority of teams couldn't and that’s precisely why we ended the season so close to being crowned champions. 

It was curious and more than a little frustrating then, that on Sunday we abandoned that philosophy. Rodgers set his team out against Southampton in a way that didn't get the best out of his players. Two deep defensive midfielders worked great under Rafa Benitez when those lads were the mobile and tenacious Javier Mascherano alongside the serene and canny Xabi Alonso. With an ageing Steven Gerrard and an ailing Lucas Leiva though? Not so much.  

You can easily get bogged down in the numbers game: 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 4-1-2-3, 4-1-2-1-2, blah blah blah. People switch off in the face of that stuff and understandably so. The fluidity of modern day football renders such reductive terms as almost meaningless anyway and I have no desire to start banging on about numerical systems here. But if last season illustrated one thing it was that this particular incarnation of Liverpool does not require a babysitter for it’s captain regardless of the physical limitations being enforced upon him by mother nature and father time. Whatever the system, the reds don’t require two defensive midfielders on the pitch simultaneously these days.  

Lucas Leiva should play as a holding midfielder when Gerrard isn't available. Partnering them doesn't work. It rarely has in the past and it shows no sign of doing so in the future. It doesn't help either of them as individuals - one need only look at the amount of criticism they've taken this week, the Brazilian in particular - and it certainly doesn't help the players around them like Jordan Henderson and Philippe Coutinho as we saw on Sunday. So why go with it in the first place against the Saints? 

Well, perhaps the manager decided to pair them up in front of the back four against Southampton in an attempt to add solidity to a team that conceded too many goals last term. Maybe he saw Lucas as a more physical alternative to Joe Allen and decided that was what was required against the imposing midfield duo of Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama. In theory, I get that. In practise though, Liverpool were no more secure with Lucas holding Gerrard’s hand than they were when the shape eventually changed and Joe Allen and Henderson played in advance of the skipper. The only team whose threat was diminished by the presence of Lucas and Gerrard appearing in tandem on Sunday was Liverpool. It meant one less body breaking forward. It meant one less attacking player offering for the ball when we had possession deep in our half. The high pressing that became the calling card of this team last season was conspicuous by it’s absence.  

I realise the season is only 90 minutes old and I'm in serious danger of exaggerating the faults with what was ultimately a crucial opening day win, but we've seen this Lucas/Gerrard approach in the past numerous times from Rodgers and it concerns me a little that a manager who has generally demonstrated an acute ability to learn from his mistakes continues to revisit this particular aberration. 

I'm certain I wasn't the only one who groaned a little when the team was released prior to kick off and my dissatisfaction wasn't just down to the absence of the immaculately coiffured Emre Can. It seems to me that almost everyone knows that pairing Gerrard and Lucas together in midfield isn't the way to go these days. It’s a negative tactic in my mind that shows we are more concerned with our flaws than with our qualities. The contrasting fortunes against Arsenal and Everton last season are perhaps the best examples of why seeing Lucas line up next to Gerrard unsettled me on Sunday.  

Last November we went to Goodison Park and played with two defensive midfielders to negate the threat Everton posed between the lines - particularly that of the inform Ross Barkley. Gerrard and Lucas never got near Everton’s young star that day. Barkley drove at and beyond them time and time again. The Blues created enough clear cut chances to win five derbies but somehow we got out of dodge with a point. In the return fixture at Anfield in January, we lined up against an Everton team who many saw as favourites on the day with only Gerrard as a deep midfielder. Plenty of people I've spoken to since have admitted that they shared my personal concern before kick off that Barkley’s athleticism would once again expose the (in theory) isolated Gerrard in our defensive third. We needn't have worried. Everton’s young star barely got a kick because Coutinho and Henderson pressed Everton’s midfield high and cut off the supply line. We decimated Everton and Gerrard strolled through the game. 

Now let’s go back to November again. The reds travelled to north London to take on Arsenal who included Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil in their side on the night. In other words, three players who excel at playing in that gap between the opposition's midfield and defence. To combat this, Rodgers again deployed the Gerrard/Lucas axis. It was no use. Arsenal tampered with us like a cat who has cornered an injured vole. Mikel Arteta ran the game from deep as no one was closing him down and Ramsey and Cazorla bagged the goals in a comfortable 2-0 win for the Gunners. Fast forward to February when Arsenal came to Anfield. They were top of the league and had the best defensive record in the country. We all know what happened next. Philippe Coutinho was put in central midfield alongside Jordan Henderson and the pair of them bullied Arteta, Jack Wilshere, Ozil and co mercilessly. Arsenal could barely muster an attack because every time they tried to play through midfield Coutinho and Henderson were in their faces. Gerrard was left alone to patrol in front of his centre halves and he barely broke into a sweat as he ran proceedings. 

It's important to acknowledge that Gerrard is no specialist defensive midfielder. He didn't grow up learning that craft and his best days were spent as an attacking force, yet Rodgers' ploy of pairing two mobile lads (whether it was Allen, Henderson or Coutinho) ahead of him in midfield meant that it barely mattered as last season progressed. The two players in front of him masked his deficiencies. You don’t need Gerrard to have legs when Jordan Henderson is running a marathon for your team every week and Coutinho or Joe Allen is snapping at the heels of the opposition like a hyperactive jack russell. Gerrard’s influence as a match winner that we relied on for so long wasn't required in the latter stages of the previous campaign. He was free to concentrate on building play from deep rather than having to put out fires all over the pitch and bang in crucial goals from open play. No donkey work for him, just the ball at his magical feet and options ahead of him. It worked spectacularly well. Again, it was accentuating the positives and hiding the negatives.  

We go to the Etihad on Monday and there is no tougher fixture that we will face domestically all season. Last time out we played brilliantly there against City on Boxing Day and came away with nothing. That could easily happen again. They’re a bloody fantastic outfit who can beat anyone on their day. My hope ahead of this match is that, regardless of the eventual outcome, Liverpool go to Manchester and do exactly what they did in that defeat last season. Lucas played the holding role alone in Gerrard’s absence that day while Henderson and Allen went toe to toe with City’s midfield in front of the Brazilian. They created chances, we created chances. It was a thrilling, open game that could have gone either way and demonstrated to the rest of the league that Liverpool could meet the best squad in the country head on and come out looking formidable, even in defeat.  

The worry this time around for me is that we redeploy the same shape we utilised against Southampton. City are great between the lines, with Silva and Nasri wreaking havoc in particular, but I hope that fact doesn't persuade Brendan to start Lucas again. I’d much rather see Jordan Henderson and Emre Can (providing he’s fit) or even Joe Allen going toe to toe with Yaya Toure and Fernando (or little Fernando who happens to be the older Fernando) as was the case in both of those wonderful games against City last season. Sure, such an approach plays to their strengths as much as it does ours and would almost guarantee goals at both ends, but the alternative is to be cautious and full of worry about what they can do while simultaneously significantly reducing our own attacking abilities.  

This Liverpool team hasn't been constructed to eliminate the threat of others by being defensive. It’s been built to attack opponents and it challenges them to be good enough to deal with what we offer. Most can’t. City are a team that can overcome us even on our better days because of their quality, but to my mind we stand a much better chance of being successful if we approach Monday’s game, and the season as a whole, in the same proactive manner we did from December onwards last season. 

It’s time for another throw down between the two best English teams of 2014. It’s time to abandon the caution of Sunday and go back to doing what we do best. 

Monday is the time to once again start accentuating the positives and eliminating the negatives. 

On a Ming and a Prayer

That is why Pepe Reina isn't here anymore.

Simon Mignolet can be criticised for many things. The continued lack of improvement in his kicking is infuriating. His unconvincing juggling of crosses jangles the nerves. The lack of presence he exudes compared to his predecessor is obvious to everyone. 

I recently wrote about how sad it was to see Reina finally leave Liverpool and mentioned in that piece how many supporters still argue that the Spaniard remains a better all round keeper than Mignolet. It’s a view that I can understand, but for this team and for this time, Mignolet, not Reina, is the right man for the reds. That shot from Morgan Schneiderlin? Pepe doesn't save that. I loved Reina, always will. But he doesn't save that. Not many keepers do. It was little more than a fingertip that resulted in the most minute deviation of the ball’s flight. It was minuscule. But it won us three points. It was massive.

It's already obvious to me that we’re going to concede plenty of goals this season. Hopefully not quite 50 like last time round, but you can be sure we will ship our fair share. Promising new full backs and the signing of Dejan Lovren aren't suddenly going to turn this team into a clean sheet machine. You could put Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta in red shirts this season and we’d still give up plenty of chances. When a 34 year old is your primary defensive midfielder and he’s occasionally ‘helped out’ by an increasingly beleaguered Lucas Leiva you’re never going to be watertight defensively. What you need then, is a keeper who wins you points when opponents inevitably carve out their opportunities. Simon Mignolet, for all his faults, does this very well.

He proved he could do it early on last season. Jon Walters and Kenwyne Jones against Stoke - 3 points. Christian Benteke at Villa Park - 6 points. Clean sheet against United - 9 out of 9. Momentum was built from those three gritty, uninspiring 1-0 wins that Mignolet starred in. That momentum ultimately carried us close to the title. The same early season pattern emerged on Sunday.

Let’s be honest - we were pretty awful for most of our opening game. Lucas and Gerrard as a partnership didn't look any better than it did when Arsenal tore us apart at the Emirates last season. Coutinho was marginalised playing as the ten in front of them. Glen Johnson continued to be Glen Johnson. Two moments of attacking quality ultimately won us the three points, but the only reason Sturridge and Sterling’s goals were decisive was because of the Belgian at the other end of the field.

Mignolet made two crucial saves in front of the Kop in a second half where Southampton largely dominated proceedings. The first was a simple chance for Steven Davis. Yes, he fired it too close to the goalkeeper and with a lack of conviction, but it still required a smart stop low down to Mignolet's right. He held on to it, too. The second save was so good that most inside the ground and even those watching on TV won’t have even realised he touched the ball until they managed to catch a slow motion replay. After a spot of pinball in the box, Schneiderlin unleashed hell with a close range half volley that sped towards the roof of the net. Mignolet somehow reacted in a matter of milliseconds. Amazingly, he made the faintest contact with the ball which then crashed off the underside of the bar and out to the relative safety of Shane Long’s head. At that moment, Mignolet punched the air, Anfield breathed a heavy sigh of relief and Southampton knew the game was up.

Raheem Sterling may have returned home with a bottle of Sky champagne for his efforts and Daniel Sturridge will grab the headlines for his goal, but it was Simon Mignolet who was Liverpool’s match winner against Southampton, just as he was on the opening day last year.

And that is why Pepe Reina isn't here anymore.

Pepe Reina - A Sad Farewell

It was a sad image that will linger long in the memory. A brooding scowl lay upon the face of a man who sat motionless in a resigned slump behind his manager. Watching the football. Not playing it. Predictably, it went viral immediately on social media. It will probably be the final defining memory of a Liverpool career that really deserves to have ended in a much more celebratory manner.

Alas, there will be no big send off. No final game in front of the Kopites whose goal he defended so diligently. Pepe Reina’s exit was a forgone conclusion and, in reality, the only real possibility on the table this summer, but it doesn’t make the manner of this any more palatable.

Yes, the Spaniard effectively signed his own death warrant when he issued that letter last year but it takes a man with far less sentimentality than I possess to not feel a little bit saddened by the eventual departure and the surrounding circumstances of arguably the best Liverpool goalkeeper since Ray Clemence. To leave after essentially trailing his team mates around the U.S.A and watching them from the stands just doesn’t sit well.

Those who will coldly proclaim that Reina’s best years are way behind him and that he showed a lack of respect to Brendan Rodgers have obvious merit to their arguments. That said, it should never be forgotten that while others were fleeing the good ship Hicks/Gillett/Hodgson, Reina stayed aboard and did his best to steer Liverpool through choppy waters. While the iconic Benitez spine of Reina, Carragher, Alonso, Mascherano, Gerrard and Torres was being torn apart, our goalkeeper remained alongside the local boys. A fat contract will no doubt have helped persuade him to stay true to the cause but it’s not like he couldn’t have made a pretty penny elsewhere during that period. After all, he was undoubtedly one of the best and most sought after keepers in Europe between 2006 and 2010.

Reina’s Liverpool career deserved more than a solitary F.A Cup, a League Cup and a European Super Cup. He was a genuinely world class performer during his first few years on Merseyside. The mistakes that slowly but surely became more frequent in his game and the year on loan in Italy have apparently eroded those memories in the minds of some. They shouldn't.  

The penalty saves in the second Chelsea semi final and the unbelievable stop in the dying moments of the 2006 Cup final against West Ham should never be overlooked or downplayed. Nor should the fact that Reina provided genuine stability between the sticks for Liverpool for the first time in decades. He redefined what we thought of goalkeepers and how they use their feet. He was a dominant force who would gladly risk lamping his own team mates (ask John Arne Riise) if it meant keeping a clean sheet. He felt Liverpool. He laughed with us - as demonstrated by his celebration so beautifully in his reaction to David N’Gog’s clinching goal against Man United in 2009. He cried with us, too. No one was left more visibly distraught by individual errors than Pepe. He set high standards and when he failed to meet them he wasn't happy. Lamentably, we saw more scowling than smiling in his later days.

Sadly, after the departure of Rafael Benitez, Reina’s game suffered. His one season under Brendan Rodgers began poorly and, despite some improvement in the second half of that campaign, his new manager brought Simon Mignolet in to challenge/replace the Spaniard depending on whose account you believe.

Support for Reina unsurprisingly remains strong among certain sections of the Liverpool fanbase. Some will argue until they’re blue in the face that when he does eventually depart for good this summer - Bayern Munich have reportedly had a bid accepted for his services today (August 5th) - Liverpool will be ridding themselves of the best keeper on their books.

And yet, while those fans will continue to argue the case that Reina was Liverpool’s true number one to the last, plenty of others will view his seemingly imminent transfer as a logical and justified move. Ridding the club of huge wages and an ageing player who hasn’t impressed in the Premier League for a long time while also receiving a fee of any kind will be seen as good business. The debate will likely rage on well into next season and possibly beyond.

Whichever side of the Mignolet/Reina argument you come down on, memories like Cardiff ‘06 and Chelsea in ‘07 should never be forgotten. Neither should the commitment and years of consistency and stability that Pepe Reina gave to this football club.

Personally, I shall try my hardest to erase that picture of Reina’s glum face that was sent around the world in seconds and instead remember the good times he contributed heavily to during his years at Liverpool. Fortunately, there are many to choose from.

Sky Go is gone (At least for Xbox users)

Are you someone who watches Sky television via your Xbox 360? Well, if you are you probably aren’t any more.

The Sky Go free app that allows Sky customers to use two devices such as iPads, iPhones and games consoles has now been taken away from Xbox 360 users. The option to watch Sky through the console still exists but it now requires users to sign up to Sky Go Extra for an additional price of £5 per month on top your existing Sky bill. The Sky Go app is still available free of charge on iPad and various other devices but for whatever reason Sky have deemed it necessary to revoke the free app from Xbox 360 consoles.

Speaking from personal experience as someone who uses the Sky app regularly on the console, this is somewhat of an annoyance. I was only alerted to the changes while unsuccessfully trying to watch Sky Sports on Wednesday night. A quick search on the internet led me to the disappointing information that I really didn’t want to see: No more free Sky Go on Xbox.

The move to make Sky Go a paid service hardly come as a shock, but the fact that the app remains free on other mediums seems perplexing.

Plenty of people that I know myself use the accounts of family members or friends to utilise Sky Go free of charge through their own devices, therefore eliminating the need to personally subscribe to Sky at all. This always seemed to me like something Sky would crack down on eventually and the only surprising part of this news is that Sky Go remains free of charge on tablets and phones. This leaves people who previously used the service through an Xbox free of charge with two options:

1) Either pay Sky £60 per year for a service that was free until a few days ago to keep watching or;

2) Buy a cable to hook up a device that still has the free Sky Go app installed to link with their television for a one off fee of around £20.

Seems like a no brainer to me.

Some Pre season thoughts on LFC

After a few late nights spent staring at my TV and tablet screens as Liverpool do their best to entertain the American masses, a few things have stood out in my mind. I thought I’d share some of my own pre season thoughts with you:

Seb Coates may deserve a stay of execution

His 6ft 5in frame gives him an ungainly look. Lacina Traore(!) once gave him the run around. He turns as slowly as long life milk. He’s barely played football for the Reds in two years now and currently finds himself fifth (at best) in our centre back pecking order. Call me crazy but despite all of that, Seb Coates still looks like a potentially decent player to me. His distribution is impressive, he’s obviously a hell of a physical presence and, while mistakes still exist within his game, he’s generally very dependable one against one and positionally excellent.

Coates performed well in the friendly game against City early on Thursday morning, but he’s also done it in the competitive environment of the Premier League against the same opponents in Brendan Rodgers’ first ever home league game at Anfield. It may have been a long time ago now, but we’ve seen that he has quality in the past. It’s for that reason that I'm intrigued to see how he will progress this season following his long term knee injury.

Let’s be clear, we all know that any progression he does or doesn't make over the next year or so is unlikely to occur at Anfield. Mamadou Sakho, Dejan Lovren, Martin Skrtel, Kolo Toure and even Daniel Agger and Tiago Ilori (should they also remain at the club beyond August) are all currently blocking his route to gaining the much needed experience he must acquire in order to further his career. Injuries and a few dodgy performances under Rodgers have see Coates cast into a footballing limbo where opportunities are few and far between and any mistake he makes - should he actually get a game - see him castigated and dropped. Such is the life of young centre halves who move to big clubs who are in search of immediate success. Errors from defenders are obviously more costly than those made by forward players and young centre backs, in particular, tend to make quite a few howlers. As a result, the amount of trust a manager has to place in a burgeoning centre half like Coates has to be significant. If it is not, as appears to be the case here, then opportunities become limited for players like the Uruguayan and it is very easy for their careers to stagnate due to a lack of minutes on the pitch.

We've seen this before at Anfield with Gabriel Paletta who looked hopeless when he joined Liverpool as a teenager but subsequently went on to flourish in Serie A and became a regular for Italy during this summer’s World Cup. Maybe Coates will never fulfil the potential he displayed when he was voted Copa America’s Young Player of the Tournament in 2011. Maybe he simply won’t be suited to the Premier League’s pacey style, but if Liverpool are to release him this summer as we all expect, then I hope any potential deal is of the loan variety rather than permanent. After spending £7m to acquire the highly rated defender what would the club have to lose at this point by allowing him a year to go and put some much needed miles on his clock elsewhere before reassessing his future again in 12 months time?

Full back areas require immediate attention

Manchester City’s second choice right back this season is going to be Bacary Sagna. Their reserve left back will be either Gael Clichy or Aleksandar Kolarov. If any position on the field demonstrates a yawning gap in quality between the champions and last season’s runners up then it is full back.

We’re now just over two weeks away from the start of the domestic season and Liverpool are yet to sign any of the numerous left backs that we have pursued all summer long, while it seems like the club are fairly uninterested in the prospect of upgrading on Glen Johnson. To me that is staggering. Johnson’s form has been so wretched for so long now that he only needs to step on the field in a pre season game to make Twitter explode with anger. They may only have been two friendly games, but against both City and Olympiacos Johnson was not impressive. The ball was getting caught under his feet, he left the his flank wide open several times, his passing was careless and his threat going forward was minimal. In other words, pre season or not, those games demonstrated an extension of the malaise that seeped into his game before the mid way point of the last campaign.

On the other side of the pitch Jose Enrique is back doing his best bull in a China shop routine and, while he offers the physical capabilities to match any other modern full back, his questionable concentration is always a potential Achilles heel for opponents to exploit. Jon Flanagan might have been largely impressive last term but is he really ready to step up and play week in week out as a primary selection right now? To me he seems more like the perfect back up player to either full back slot rather than the man who should be tasked with being our first choice on either side at this stage of his development.

Hopefully a deal for at least one top quality full back is concluded before we kick off against Southampton because at this moment in time the wide areas in defence are clearly where we need to strengthen most.

Sterling can strike it lucky

He may have only got into the first team as a regular back in December and he’s still only 19 years old but right now Raheem Sterling is clearly Liverpool’s brightest attacking spark. He’s found the net against both Roma and City already on the American tour and, despite it only being July, he looks as sharp and fit as he ever has, much to his credit. At one point against City he gave Gael Clichy - who is no slouch - a five yard head start over a ten yard dash and still got to the ball first with time to spare. If any Liverpool player looks ready for the big kick off at the moment then it is Sterling.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about our latest teenage prodigy is that he looks like he can play to a great standard in a variety of positions. We've seen him star on both flanks in the past, of course and even as a number ten numerous times, but I'm eager to see him get a shot up front at some point this season. His coolness in front of goal is incredible for one so young and his pace speaks for itself. When he curled home a wrongly disallowed goal against City in New York after racing onto a through ball it immediately brought back memories of Michael Owen in his pomp. The fact that Sterling looks adept enough to flourish up front this early on in his career allied with his obvious proficiency out wide or in a deeper role gives Brendan Rodgers plenty of options to ponder and gives us supporters a lot to look forward to.

New season, same Coutinho

Robbie Fowler may now be an official club ambassador but I sincerely hope he turns up at Melwood with his boots before the season gets going. Brendan Rodgers needs God to give a few lessons to our talented Brazilian midfielder ASAP.

After nearly two years at the club and plenty of deserved adulation and praise, it is finally time to acknowledge and criticise a major flaw in little Phil’s game: His shooting is dreadful. It has been from the moment he arrived on Merseyside and it hasn't improved. Yes he scored a few big goals last season, but with the increased competition in midfield and the wide attacking positions Coutinho needs to start hitting the net more regularly if he is to remain an automatic selection. I've lost count, even over the course of just a hand full of friendly matches, of how many times he has dragged shots wide from the edge of the box or hit the keeper when he’s been in an inviting position to score. Frankly, it’s getting a little bit silly even if it is the only real frustration one can point to when assessing his performances.

Like Sterling, Coutinho looks like he’s never been away from football and has settled straight back into his groove after inexplicably missing out on the Brazil World Cup squad. His eye for a pass and dribbling skills have been a highlight of pre season so far and he’s often looked technically a cut above everyone else on the pitch, not that that is anything new. His performances have been universally impressive until he sees the whites of the goalposts.

The annoying thing here is that if Coutinho could somehow develop half of the composure that Raheem Sterling shows in front of goal then we would probably have one of the best all round attacking midfielders in Europe on our books. Nearly every other aspect of his game is bang on the money. His poise, his vision, those quick feet and even his much improved strength are all wonderful attributes that are sadly undermined time and again by his finishing. He scored just five league goals last season and regardless of how brilliant the rest of his game undoubtedly is, Liverpool will need that tally to be improved this time around. Someone get Robbie on the phone. Quick.