As the calendar turns to 2015, things are not going as planned for Liverpool FC supporters.

Liverpool exited the Champions League after a series of poor performances in group play, Daniel Sturridge has been injured the majority of the season, the new arrivals – most notably Balotelli – have yet to find their form, and after a disappointing tie with bottom-of-the-table Leicester City on New Year’s Day, Liverpool finds itself in eighth place with 29 points.

Liverpool has reached the midway point of the Premier League season with plenty of questions, so we’ve brought together an esteemed panel of Liverpool supporters in an attempt to find some answers.

Stuart Fearon, a member of the Houston LFC supporter’s club, was born into a LFC family in Liverpool, “although I have plenty of blue-nosed cousins, but that’s their problem.” He’s lived stateside for 28 years. You can find him on Twitter @3lions1962 and can follow Houston LFC @HoustonLFC.

Scott Gregory is law student from North Central Ohio who’s closely followed LFC since discovering Steven Gerrard’s scoring abilities in FIFA ’06. Follow him on Twitter @ScjGreg.

William Bryson has been a Liverpool supporter since 1991, when the exploits of a young Macca first caught his eye via the family’s newly-installed satellite dish. He has 30 years and counting as player, ref or coach of the world’s greatest game. Follow him on Twitter @Bbo13.

Bryn Griffiths is a member of the LFC Madison supporter’s club and a lifelong Liverpool supporter. “While my Mum and Dad are both Liverpool supporters, the inspiration for my LFC love really came from my Dad.” He was the youngest of four brothers growing up in Liverpool in the ’50s and ’60s, playing footy in bombed-out churches and on cobbled streets and although his Dad was a Liverpool supporter, too, all of his older brothers were Evertonians (“Dad/Granddad – I am eternally grateful for your excellent taste in football teams!”). Follow the club on Twitter @LFCWisconsin.

Question 1: Of all the things that are currently wrong with the club, which one worries you the most?

Stuart: Off the field, I think the club has been making progress in improving the commercial side, which had long been neglected by former club chairman David Moores. We lost ground and are now trying to catch up. On the playing side, it’s the spine of the team, from center forward, center midfield, center of defense through to goalkeeper. There are too many question marks and weaknesses in these areas, whether that’s through injury, poor signings or loss of form, it doesn’t matter – we are just not solid in these key areas.

Scott: The defense. The stat that comes to mind has been floating around Twitter and involves LFC having only two clean sheets under Brendan Rodgers that didn’t have Daniel Agger in the starting XI. Dejan Lovren and Simon Mignolet in particular continue to be horribly mistake-prone, and none of the players look to have any trust in themselves or one another. Glen Johnson appears equally disinterested and inept from both sides of the pitch, and set pieces continue to be a glaring issue.

What worries me is these are problems that have been a part of the Rodgers package since day one. They don’t seem to be going anywhere, and I question whether the players available now have what it takes to turn the ship around. It’s like there’s a web of entangled problems.

William: Three words: defense, defense and defense. To be fair to the 2014-15 edition, this problem is not new. For all of the excitement surrounding the club’s performance a season ago, the defending third was rarely a place a Reds’ supporter could feel comfortable seeing the ball. And a more potent attack might allow these defensive deficiencies to continue to go overlooked. But with Luis Suárez gone, Mario Balotelli struggling to get acclimated, and Daniel Sturridge working to recover from injury, there is no consistent attack to cover up the blemishes.

So why not highlight the weakened attack as the issue? It is because goals rely on a good deal of chance, in addition to strategy and execution, whereas consistent, quality effort on defense is far more within the control of the players and manager. Provide a sturdy defense, and a team can get by on finding goals over time.

Bryn: The most worrying thing for me is the sheer scale of the demise from being arguably the best team in the league during the last six months of last season to one of the worst in mid-table. I understand we’ve lost Luis Suárez and Daniel Sturridge, who were our two best players and contributed 51 of our 101 goals last year, but the players brought in haven’t been able to improve us in the other areas of the pitch. Our wing backs are probably better, but the centre-backs have regressed, midfield looks disorganized, and the strikers brought in haven’t been able to hit the ground running.

Transfers aside, though, the lack of fight, passion, soul and a clear plan are what’s really troubling me. Brendan Rogers was able to get the best out of the team last year, but this time around he has been persisting with players out of position or out of their element, and has been unwilling to change the team based on form or performance.

Question 2: Of all the things that are currently wrong with the club, which one can be fixed this season?

Stuart: If Daniel Sturridge can come back then maybe he’ll form an effective partnership with Raheem Sterling and/or Mario Balotelli, and we might be more effective at the attacking end. Now having said that, I think it’s time for a new keeper. Simon Mignolet is a nervous wreck out there, and it’s certainly impacting the lads around him.

Scott: Tactics and player selection. Rodgers needs to get back to being the adaptable manager he was last year (I’ll address that further at the final question).

William: The current lack of offensive potency can (and I believe will) be resolved this season. Love him or hate him (and I have always found myself doing far more of the former than the latter), Luis Suárez is among the most creative and disruptive attacking forces in the game today (notice I didn’t include consistent, but that’s for another time). The idea that anyone, the ever mercurial Mario Balotelli included, could step in and immediately replicate what Suárez brought to the pitch each match was patently foolish, yet commonly held among fans.

The chemistry between Raheem Sterling and Suárez in the attack was the stuff of epic Greek poetry, their ability to riff off of one another in the moment akin to Coltrane and Monk playing Carnegie Hall. But as magical as such pairings are to behold, they also create unreasonable expectations. “Those two make it look so easy! Why can’t that happen all of the time?!” We fans – Reds’ and soccer in general – were spoiled by something unique last season. Expecting it again this year and beyond is entirely unreasonable.

But Sterling is still one of the best young footballers in the Premier League and beyond. Balotelli is, for all his idiosyncrasies, still a formidable talent. Daniel Sturridge will (hopefully) heal and return to form in time. The individual talent is still very much there for the Reds. With time, it seems inevitable that they will find harmony. We must simply be patient.

Bryn: Moving Steven Gerrard from defensive midfielder and playing Fabio Borini up front with Mario Balotelli or Rickie Lambert – Borini’s movement will help Philippe Coutinho, Raheem Sterling and Adam Lallana moving forward as he can find or create gaps with his constant running. I’d also play Alberto Moreno, Mamadou Sakho, Kolo Toure/Martin Skrtel and Javi Manquillo as much as possible to help them and Simon Mignolet foster some understanding, while giving them a proper defensive midfielder (Lucas Leiva/Emre Can) as protection ahead of them.

Question 3: What is up with Mario Balotelli? Is it possible he’s no longer a top-flight player at age 24?

Stuart: I think Mario can still play, but our team for years has been built around movement up top, which we saw to great effect last season. I don’t think he can play up top on his own, so if Sturridge gets back shortly maybe they can make it work together. They played together against Spurs (can we play them every week?) and it worked really well, so for me there is still hope.

Scott: I think Balotelli’s style of play just doesn’t match with the style Rodgers wants or needs the team to play. Being a Cavs fan, he reminds me of Dion Waiters in that the game and offensive movement seem to slow down when the ball gets to him. If the ball doesn’t get to him, he works hard to get involved further up the field, which is precisely what Rodgers doesn’t need with such few other options in the box.

I’d prefer to see Balotelli alongside Daniel Sturridge a few more times before being ready to call Balotelli a bust.

William: At my own ripe old age of 34, the idea of writing off an elite athlete a decade my junior seems laughable. I have every confidence that Balotelli is still the Super Mario fans the world over have marveled at since his arrival on the football scene. That said, he is still Mario Balotelli, and that has not been without its burdens and frustrations. Adjusting to a new side and a new style often necessitates changes to both your physical and mental approach, the latter of which the young man has repeatedly shown himself to be … hesitant to embrace.

As is the case with many great performers, Balotelli has a certain mindset as to what he is best suited for and how he should do it. The question is not if he can improve at Liverpool, but is he willing to do what is necessary to assimilate. Mario would not be the first incredible talent to fail to reach his enormous potential because his ego blocks the path.

Bryn: It’ll take him time to settle and he’s not benefitting at all from being played up front alone. Had Daniel Sturridge not have gotten, injured we’d be seeing a very different Mario and probably a very different league position. Give Mario time and I believe he’ll prove his value.

Question 4: What is Steven Gerrard’s best role with the club and does Brendan Rodgers have it in him to put Gerrard in that role?

Stuart: I said at the end of last season that I expected Stevie to play a lot less, about 25-30 games, to keep him fresh for the big games. He hasn’t been managed well this season by Brendan Rodgers, however. Rodgers has been forced to play Gerrard because we don’t have anyone else who can do what he does in midfield, although Emre Can needs to be given the chance. I think Gerrard needs to play with a defensive midfielder alongside him as he’s not one. So for me, further up the field is where I see him and I think Rogers has realized that of late. Gerrard still has quality.

Scott: This is the question I hate because I think Gerrard’s best role at this point might be on the bench or, at the very least, not in his current defensive midfield role. He no longer has the dynamic movement of Luis Suárez and Daniel Sturridge to ping the ball up to, making Gerrard’s trademark long passes less effective. When the ball gets forward and then turned over, he struggles to break up counterattacks up the middle, leaving the center backs vulnerable. If not preferable, Lucas Leiva and Emre Can have at least shown enough to deserve a chance in the role instead.

For me, the best position for Gerrard is back in his forward center mid spot, which is where Rodgers had him against Ludogorets (in the Champions League). However, I don’t think he should be playing over Philippe Coutinho or Adam Lallana. Bring Gerrard on as a sub, just not in a position that forces him to be an anchor.

William: Make no mistake: Steven Gerrard is one of the true greats of his footballing generation, and belongs in the discussion of great English footballers of all time. Having watched the man’s ascension over a career of 17 years and counting with Liverpool, I thought it was almost impossible to think of a day when he was not or will not be a mandatory inclusion in the starting eleven. As someone of the same age who spent his playing career largely in the midfield, it is difficult for me to separate my admiration for the player from the realities of the current situation. But Steven Gerrard is not long for the starting duties at Anfield. Not because there is some young talent that he is blocking for the pitch, and not necessarily because he is unable to perform at the elite level. The problem Gerrard faces is that he appears to be a square peg in what has increasingly become a round hole in the current strategy.

For all of the successes the club experienced last season, one couldn’t help but note that Gerrard seemed … unsettled. He is still an absolute assassin from the penalty spot, and his leadership cannot possibly be overstated, but he has appeared to be contributing in spite of the team’s style of late, rather than within it. And while I feel he is capable of continuing to make his mark on this team as a starter this season (we have not seen the last of greatness from Stevie G), the time is coming when he might best be utilized in relief of younger legs.

Bryn: Gerrard should not be playing as the deepest lying midfielder now that we don’t have the movement of Suárez and Sturridge up front. Anything Gerrard can bring to the team is being nullified by the weaknesses he has in that role, and the sacrifices players around him have to make to cover for him defensively.

I want to see him as an attacking midfielder (No. 10) or even wide right, starting some games and coming off the bench in others when we need some spark or inspiration brought to the team. Sadly he didn’t do that recently against Stoke and we were arguably performing better in the second half without him.

Question 5: In Brendan We Trust, yes or no?

Stuart: Yes, in Brendan we trust. We can’t keep chopping and changing managers. I’m not sure all of the players we’ve bought were his first choice, but it is what it is and he can still improve this team. He has enough credit in the bank from last season. I think he needs some help on the defensive side of the game, sometimes the way we are set up, or our shape during the course of a game, shows me he needs some help in that department.

Scott: Yes for now, but the tides are turning fast. Even with Suárez to lean on last year, Rodgers still showed an ability to adapt well to situations as they arose, and I can’t count many other managers who I could see finishing better than second in the table. The switch to the diamond midfield got the most attention, but he also switched and used a classic 3-5-2 and 4-3-3 effectively earlier in the season.

What’s frustrating is seeing that adaptability seemingly vanish into thin air. He continues to talk about team selection based on merit, but practices the opposite. As Gerrard’s struggles drag out, Rodgers shows no willingness to even entertain the thought of giving him less than 90 minutes every match. He refuses to drop Dejan Lovren despite the latter’s desperate need to regroup. The latest shocker has been Glen Johnson over Alberto Moreno, and playing with a lone non-Sturridge striker up front still doesn’t work.

If this were Jose Mourinho’s squad, I think one would almost expect to see names of players from the academy making the team sheets at this stage. My point is, even if that’s a bit drastic, what do you have to lose in switching things up when things can’t get any worse? Some personnel changes will be necessary eventually anyway, and it could provide some of the young new players with a platform to actually justify their purchases.

So based on where Rodgers’ gotten us to previously, the answer’s still yes. But with that being said, if results don’t improve and changes aren’t made soon, I’ll be ready to give Jürgen Klopp a call before Arsenal get the chance to.

William: Yes. Solidly. While I join many (most) supporters in questioning some of the decisions I’ve seen this season (punting the match against Real Madrid, even at the Bernabeu? Embarrassing), I look at how this club has evolved since Rodgers’ arrival, and I like what I see. It has been an approach with its own growing pains to be sure, but it would be hard to say that LFC is not in a better place now than it was in the days of Kenny Dalglish or Roy Hodgson. There is an identifiable philosophy and coordinated approach at the top that has been previously lacking.

The question now becomes whether the confluence of events that brought us the 2013-14 season can be the new standard, or were simply an aberration. I only wish I could say for sure either way.

Bryn: Yes but it’s starting to fade with these poor results and performances. His stubbornness is very frustrating as many changes and substitutions to the team haven’t been made, though the performances seem to be crying out for it, e.g. two up front, Can or Lucas as defensive midfielders, Johnson in the starting XI, Lovren & Skrtel, etc.

However, losing Suárez and missing Sturridge through injury would be a huge blow to any manager, so by no means am I writing Rodgers or our season off just yet. Last year was too good to start calling for his head, though at times I do think that the rhetoric he spouts may be a little hollow sounding when the results aren’t matching the quotes.

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Great work everyone. Now that you have seen what our panel thinks about the current situation at Anfield, have your say in the comments section below.