It’s been a season to forget so far. 11th place, 14 points from a possible 33, only 14 goals scored. It’s all been quite depressing, but one man had the potential to save it- Daniel Sturridge. After getting injured on 31st August, Sturridge was on the brink of a return after a 6 week absence, before pulling his calf in training. Just this week, he had reached fitness once again, and was ready to face Palace this weekend. Then, of course, the inexplicable happened, as we discovered our worst fears. He’s injured in training, yet again- this time a thigh injury, ruling our best player out for 6 weeks. No more Sturridge until 2015.
Source: liverpoolfc.com
With December being the most fixture packed month of the season, being without Sturridge will be a huge challenge. So what do we do now? Well, first of all, Rodgers must tweak his tactics for the time being. We cannot continue with Balotelli as a lone striker, it simply does not work. Surely Rodgers must play a diamond formation, with either Lambert or Borini partnering Balotelli, or perhaps even Sterling to offer some of the pace and skill that we miss with Sturridge out. There is even the possibility that we will be out of the Champions League before Sturridge even gets a chance to play in it. It will be very tough, and if we’re going to avoid this season being a complete write off, we must pick up the results to stay in the mix for top 4 by January.
Once we reach the January transfer window, action has to be taken. The club must sign a new striker of top quality. We currently have Sturridge, who is fantastic, but rarely fit. Balotelli comes with a big reputation but has struggled severely so far, whilst Borini and Lambert haven’t mustered a single goal between them all season. Possible candidates could be Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette, Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli, Porto’s Jackson Martinez or maybe even (gulp) Marco Reus. After all, Dortmund are bottom of the Bundesliga, so why not throw in a bid of £30m and test their resolve. What’s the worst that could happen? The bottom line is, we need a new striker who can fill in for Sturridge and partner Balotelli, as well as being capable of leading the line on their own. Someone with pace, and who can stick the ball in the back of the net week in, week out.
Many have suggested the idea of recalling 19 year old Divock Origi (Read about him here http://fanscorners.com/divock-origi-is-the-belgian-ready-for-the-premier-league/) from his loan spell at Lille, but in all honesty I don’t think this is a sensible thing to do. He is there because he gets regular game time, in a league where he can develop his game. He is a top talent, but bringing him back to the Premier League at this stage could be detrimental to his progress, and I doubt he’d significantly improve our side. Heaping the pressure of replacing Sturridge on Origi cannot be our solution. It would be far more beneficial to allow him the rest of the season in France, and for us to sign a new striker in January, before Origi joins up next summer as an improved player.
Taking a step back, when you look at the situation, it’s incredibly unfortunate that our best player is set to have missed almost half the season. Any club would suffer if that were the case. But the problem is at Liverpool, there is a lack of top quality in the squad to compensate for Sturridge’s injury absences. We know he has a proven track record of getting injured. This is his 13th injury in 52 appearances- averaging an injury every 4 games he played. Yes, he’s brilliant when available, but is was naive to head into the season with Balotelli as the only genuine backup- a striker who cannot function properly without a partner, whilst Lambert and Borini aren’t of sufficient first team quality.
We backed out of an £8 million deal for Loic Remy, and spent £45 million combined on Lallana and Markovic who haven’t played a single minute of our last 2 league fixtures. We also failed to secure Alexis Sanchez as he opted for Arsenal instead. You can argue that we don’t have the pulling power of some of the other top clubs, but I don’t believe that’s the case. If you pay the right money, players will come, and if you target the right players, you’ll have a better squad. After all, our net spend was only £35 million in the summer. Surely the money could have been better used to ensure that Sturridge being injured doesn’t have such an extreme impact as it now does. The idea of selling Sturridge is not something to be considered yet, as we know how good he is. But having a player on £150k per week who misses almost half our games is a liability to our squad. It’s not his fault, but if he reaches the end of the season and picks up even more injuries, it could be a major question to think about in the summer.
You can’t prevent a player getting injured, but you can create a squad that is able to cope without the player, and we have categorically failed to do so. The good news is, we are still just 4 points adrift of top 4, but it will take a significant improvement to still be in the mix come January. December could be the defining month of our season, and potentially Rodger’s job. The manager has to get his tactics and selections right, the players also have to step it up. We worked so hard last season to secure Champions League football, but finish outside the top 4 this season and it could be a long way back. It’s make or break now.
Red Regista
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