Swansea hinted at Liverpool’s weakness, Arsenal exploited it

KARACHI: It was against Swansea that Brendan Rodger’s tactics faced a significant test for the first time since the Red’s 3-0 loss to Manchester United in December. Gary Monk exposed Liverpool’s soft underbelly in the centre of the pitch and although the Reds won against the Swans through a fortunate deflected goal from Jordan Henderson, it raised a lot of questions for the country’s most in-form team at the time to answer.

Many questioned Rodger’s persistence with a three-man defence and how that impacted the rest of the team. While Liverpool had a relentless 13-game unbeaten run in the league after the loss to United, Rodger’s system started showing weaknesses, something the opposition managers pounced upon and was evidenced in the clashes against United and Arsenal.

Simply put, Liverpool’s midfielders started running out of ideas as soon as pressure was intensified and the once-solid partnership of Henderson and Joe Allen started creaking when the opposition started closing them down.

Liverpool’s weaknesses were exposed fully for the first time against United when the physicality of Marouane Fellaini and creative genius of Ander Herrera and Juan Mata ran riot at Anfield and silenced the home supporters. Not only that, they did it in such a convincing fashion that Liverpool did not have any resemblance to the side that had been defeating one opponent after the other.

Liverpool were out-thought and out-witted in their own style of play and Louis van Gaal had the last laugh when United comfortably cruised four points adrift of their arch-rivals, who sat fuming on fifth.

The same happened against Arsenal at The Emirates when Liverpool — reeling from a fresh round of injuries, suspensions and contract controversies both on and off the pitch — failed to bridge the frontline with the rest of the team as the midfield was rendered non-existent, even though Rodgers had stacked the middle with five Liverpool players.

Henderson made way for Lucas Leiva in the centre of the park, making him entirely irrelevant and Allen gave away the ball cheaply too many a times. Lazar Markovic and Alberto Moreno had highly mediocre games and were often running aimlessly with the ball, only to be cut short by the highly disciplined Arsenal defence.

Raheem Sterling had some chances that brought the fans to the edge of their seats, but were not enough to redeem the England forward for his interview with the BBC.

With the Reds playing without first-team regular Martin Skrtel, former Arsenal defender Kolo Toure was brought in but was rattled instantly when the Gunners came out all guns blazing and forced some spectacular saves from Reds keeper Simon Mignolet.

Mamadou Sakho also came under intense pressure but apart from a few slip ups in the first half, the French professional was the most astute of the back-three. It speaks a lot for the others when Sakho was Liverpool’s best defender on the day.

The back line was often trying to link directly with the forwards, leading to lost possession, and even though Liverpool had some moments of domination in the first half, when they started to keep possession and dictate terms, that turned out to be short-lived as Arsenal — just like United and Swansea —found a way to curb the Red’s trademark pass-and-play.

Arsenal wrapped the game up in the first half after three stunning strikes in a gap of eight minutes dented Liverpool’s hopes of a Champions League spot next season and Emre Can’s sending off and Olivier Giroud’s late goal were just garnishing in the one-sided encounter.

It is hard to find any positives from the game for Liverpool as it was Arsenal who rightly took the headlines and simply swept the Reds off their feet. The Reds need to bounce back in the remaining fixtures and keep their heads up as we enter the last seven matches of the Premier League.

With Rodger’s system showing signs of weaknesses, the Northern Irishman must come up with an answer to solve the midfield dilemma, which has allowed three opposing teams to completely choke the Red’s creativity and control in the middle of the park.

Although it might seem as if the top-four race is off for the Reds, there is still outside hope but the Reds would have to now rely on others dropping points to keep the European dream alive.

 

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