Watched a *great* game Man City vs Liverpool today in a bar in Andheri East (Mumbai). I haven't watched a full live EPL game for a long time, and even though Liverpool lost, I came away optimistic.
First, I feel confident Liverpool have the most important component right: Brandon Rogers. Comparing this performance with 2 years back is like night and day. Today, up against the best team in the EPL in their house, missing a very important player (I'm talking about Sturridge not Gerrard) and with inferior resources, he got Liverpool to go toe-to-toe with the champions, and would have won on points had it not been for two sucker punches that punished 2 mistakes. It took a lot of courage to go to Man City and play the type of pass from the back, attacking football that I saw today.
Coming to the team:
What great finds in Sakho and Cissokho. (I believe one of them is on loan). Strong, good positioning, good with the ball and good when defending one on one (which is not a common attribute of defenders :-)).
Mignolet - made a mistake today, but I've seen enough of him that I think he is a great signing. Rogers replaced a great but on the down-slope goalkeeper at the right time.
Skrtel - Ok as always, but Kompany at the other end showed everyone a truly great center back. And one thing I would like someone to explain to me. At every Man City corner, Skrtel is marking Kompany - which makes sense. The center-back should pick up the best header from the other team. Problem was his starting position was always a step *behind* Kompany, vs a step in front, even when Kompany was near the penalty spot! And every corner was targeted at Kompany, and when they were in a one-on-one, Kompany got his head to the ball *every* time. Ok, most times Skrtel did enough, but there was the goal, and if the player you're marking gets his head to the ball every time vs you, there has to be some problem. And to me it seemed ridiculously simple - you always stand 1 step in front at corners. A back-peddling header is generally not so bad. Now, I am sure Skrtel knows a little more than me about defending corners (me having played in high school and a couple of years in college in the sunday league in London..), but thats my analysis.
But, anything is better than the zone marking of Benitez (thats the only thing I hated with Benitez), where you concede and then no-one knows who was responsible :-)
Johnson: As always - pretty decent going forward, just about ok defending, makes up with his pace and athleticism.
Midfield:
I am a fan of Lucas - have always been even when everyone wanted him out. He does what he does, sit in front of the defence and tackle. Brandon Rogers has clearly insisted everyone pass the ball, and he's doing it ok. No-one else in the team can do what he does, so he's got to be there.
Allen: Great in our half, great to keep the ball and pass it out from the back, but just not good enough in the last 3rd of the field. Again, a good player, but Man City have the likes of Silva and Nasri, vs Allen and Henderson for Liverpool. Which brings us to
Henderson: Another very good player, but clearly the bar to be in the top 4 is competing with teams who have world class international players playing that forward midfield role (Silva, Nasri, Ozil, Mata, Oscar, … hmm actually ManU have the same problem). Maybe Henderson can get there with sheer stamina and covering more ground… unclear. But played well today.
Sterling: He seems to have learnt from his spell on the bench - playing with a lot more determination now. That miss was a bad one, but otherwise played well, took people on and handled the ball well.
Coutinho: Clearly not suited to playing on the left (or any) wing. He ideally should play the forward midfield role, but not sure if he has the physical ability (strength and stamina) to do it. Obviously can make those telling passes, but particularly lack of speed may be a problem.
Suarez: Nothing to be said that already hasn't. Best forward in the EPL right now by far. If only he had Sturridge alongside.
On the topic of missing a very important player, Sturridge and not Gerrard. From what I have seen for the last 15 months, Gerrard is done. Controversial I know, given he is in the top 3 players ever to play for Liverpool and thats saying something. Fact is, he needs 3 yards of space to play because he doesn't have the quickness to hold players off, and he can't run into the opposition box any more. So all he has is his long passing ability, and thats not enough.
