Liverpool’s August-September Progress Report

Liverpool Football Club have played in five competitive games so far this season and there is still no definitive answer to how they will cope in a post-Luis Suarez world. Out of the five, only against Tottenham away have they resembled the Liverpool seen in the latter half of last season. Manager Brendan Rodgers has been careful to remind everyone that last season started off slowly as well. The Reds started off with three stressful 1-0 wins in their first three games, lost to Southampton at home, and had a few lifeless trips to Newcastle, Hull City, and Arsenal littered in the first half of last season. From roughly February on, those flawed performances essentially ceased. Will Liverpool find their wings and soar with the contenders of the league yet again? The answer is not yet obvious, but the progress up to this point can be assessed.

Team Strengths

Liverpool have depth in attack this season. This could be seen in their Champions League game against Ludogorets Razgrad on Tuesday. Daniel Sturridge, Joe Allen, and Emre Can were out injured. Lazar Markovic missed the game due to a suspension that had carried over from last season. Liverpool still had Fabio Borini and Rickie Lambert on the bench to supplement their attack. Both players are good enough to be regular starters at mid-table Premier League clubs.

Liverpool also have youth running through the spine of their squad, but for the most part it is proven youth. Out of the players that can be expected to be regular contributors this season, only Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, and Lambert are in the post-prime stage of their careers. Gerrard is undoubtedly a focal point, but Johnson and Lambert should have a limited number of appearances. Youth can be listed as a weakness, but Raheem Sterling, Sturridge, Jordan Henderson, Allen, Philippe Coutinho, Mario Balotelli, Dejan Lovren, and Mamadou Sakho are only going to maintain their current level of effectiveness or improve. Young legs should maintain their energy throughout a long and grueling campaign in which Liverpool expect to compete for trophies.

Team Weaknesses

Unfamiliarity can be seen with just about every connection made on the pitch. The preseason didn’t make much of a dent as far as acclimating players. Injuries to Markovic and Adam Lallana meant that they only played 45 minutes combined in the preseason. Lovren was brought into the squad after they had returned from their American tour. Balotelli was brought in and has been immediately relied upon to bring a goal return in high-pressure situations. The players simply don’t know each other and it leads to stagnation in attack, communication and positioning errors on the defensive side. These are issues where the only formula for improvement is time and coaching. Rodgers is also going through a learning process – this is the first time that he’s ever had a deep squad competing on two different fronts.

While he has bought players with roles in mind, certain fits and combinations must be tinkered with. Scouting a player and actually coaching them can reveal the deepest of insights. It was one thing when Liverpool were in Europa League and the likes of Suso and Jonjo Shelvey could win away games, but the squad depth this time around will keep expectations high.

Goalkeeper Simon Mignolet had an average season overall last year and looks to be the same this year. Rumors are kicking around that Victor Valdes is incoming when he recovers from his knee injury and it would be a genuine improvement if he was anywhere near his top form if he arrives.

Star Player so far this Season

Raheem Sterling. Wide Left. Wide Right. Through the Middle. No matter where he is played, Sterling still manages to look like the most dangerous player in the team. For a 19-year-old to be this versatile and effective, any sort of ceiling projection has to be removed. It may still be a purple patch as far as goals are concerned, but time is starting to erode that hypothesis.

How was Liverpool’s Transfer Window?

A lot of evaluation is still to be done, but it was encouraging that Liverpool secured basically their first choice for every single need. The production of Suarez was never going to be replaced directly. Not even Suarez would have produced at the same level as last season. Comparisons to Tottenham’s handling of the Bale situation were always going to come, but Liverpool had a better core of players to fall back on than Spurs did. Liverpool had to increase their depth as Rodgers only had about 13 players he trusted by the end of last season and Champions League was looming.

Every transfer was done in a reasonably timely manner and Liverpool could sit back with their legs crossed on the table as other clubs scrambled around for moves late in the window. All three of the defensive signings have made encouraging starts to the season. Alberto Moreno and Javier Manquillo look like a great fullback pairing, with Moreno as the attacking threat and Manquillo showing the defensive qualities of a brick wall with legs. Lovren seems to be the leader and organizer that Rodgers craved in defense and he has looked capable on the right and the left. There is still some hysteria over Liverpool’s defense, but they are allowing the fewest shots per game in the Premier League thus far with one of the hardest schedules.

The midfielders and forwards bought are still tough to judge. Lambert was a cheap buy for a third or fourth choice forward. Lallana’s fee was a bit high, but he was the first target of Rodgers and the transfer committee and there are bigger plans yet to come for him when he’s at full match fitness.

Inflation due to an influx in television money and a premium due to his prime age and English nationality were definitely factors in the price. Balotelli’s fee was small for a player and goalscorer of his quality and will have been worth it even if this is the only season where he behaves and plays well. Markovic and Emre Can are young players with Champions League experience that look promising early. Perhaps a midfielder in his prime with European-proven quality could have been sought after, but that doesn’t seem to be the way that Liverpool go about their transfer business. Indications seem to suggest that they don’t want to create wage wars within the team and Rodgers genuinely seems to enjoy coaching players to their highest potential. Buying ready-made talents doesn’t seem to be on the agenda.

Best Starting XI

         4-4-2 (diamond)

           Balotelli    Sturridge

————–Sterling—————

—-Coutinho——Henderson—-

————- Gerrard—————-

Moreno   Sakho   Lovren     Manquillo

————-Mignolet—————-

Injury Concerns

Daniel Sturridge is one of the best strikers in the world, but he is constantly an injury worry. His health was the biggest fear for Liverpool fans as international duty approached, and it may have cost them some sort of result against Aston Villa and possibly more. England manager Roy Hodgson doesn’t come out in a great light judging by the complaints from the Liverpool side of things, but he doesn’t seem to be eager to change his ways anytime soon.

Jon Flanagan has just been ruled out for a few months because of knee surgery and that is a big blow as he showed capability last season of playing fullback on either side. That is a concern because Glen Johnson and Jose Enrique have totaled roughly three effective games between them over the last calendar year.

Joe Allen is still a few weeks away after suffering a knee injury due to a dodgy Andorra pitch for Wales and that is unfortunate as he had just found a run of form in the starting XI.

However, Martin Skrtel could prove his fitness and make a return to the side after missing the past three matches.

Manager Grade

7.5/10. Even with Sturridge out and unfamiliarity abound, losing to Aston Villa at home and barely scraping by against Ludogorets should not be happening. Rodgers waited a bit too long to change out of a 4-2-3-1 against Villa and having a left-back in the opposition box in the 90^th minute while up 1-0 in the Champions League has to fall on the manager’s shoulders somehow. Still, the underlying statistics, such as TSR(total shot ratio), you can summarise that it’s been a decent start for Liverpool and Rodgers’ charges.

Biggest Worry Going Forward

Will these players gel in a reasonable amount of time or at all? There’s no guarantee that a newly assembled group of players will find chemistry on and off the pitch. The track record of Rodgers and the players will go some way to alleviating these concerns, but the clock is ticking on the season and a few bad results can conceivably dig a hole too deep to climb out of. Manchester United, Everton, Spurs, and Arsenal have great talents and strong management. If it takes too long for the talent to click in the league, placing outside of the top four would be a major step back for the club.

Overall Team Rating So Far (out of 5 stars)

3 stars

The squad have only really put together one great performance out of the first five matches, but to come out with three victories in that process shows some sort of mental fortitude. A three star rating is based on the talent within the squad and there are higher peaks to hit. It will be interesting to see how the season plays out and who will become the star actors. Suarez and Sturridge looked to be just that in January of 2014, but the team ended up being the main attraction by the end of it. Rodgers and Liverpool fans will hope that history repeats itself.