Sure, it was a poor result against Basel and probably an even worse performance. Without Daniel Sturridge the required speed of attacking play wasn’t there and Liverpool just weren’t at the races.
But it’s far from curtains in The Champions League. If Liverpool beat Basel convincingly at home and get a result at Ludogorets they will have 9 points and have a better head to head against the Swiss side. Providing Basel don’t get anything against Real Madrid in their second game with the giants then The Reds should be through – even if they don’t take anything off Real Madrid themselves.
But they certainly haven’t made it easy for themselves and the performance level needs to improve dramatically, starting this weekend.
When asked if the main man would be fit for the game against West Brom the boss said:
“We will have to wait and see.”
“We agreed that it was probably too soon for Daniel to meet up with England, irrespective of if he was involved this weekend or not.
The suggestion is that Sturridge may play some part but will surely be eased back in after the sort of injury that he’s had.
Rodgers also said that none of the other absentees, including Johnson, Allen and Flanagan are yet ready to resume playing.
So it looks as if Mario Balotelli will start up top again and we think that he needs more service from out wide. Raheem Sterling is a penetrative number 10 but we would play him and Lallana wide this weekend to offer some genuine width and, in Sterling’s case, raw pace on the flanks.
Pop Coutinho in behind Mario and you have a really strong attacking unit. Further back it’s good to see Jose Enrique returning but, despite The Reds being a bit dodgy in defence hitherto, we would go with Moreno and Manquillo in the full back areas as they continue to bed in.
Having won, drawn and lost two games this season you don’t quite know what you’ll get from West Brom and Liverpool need to be positive from the off – dictate the game and get ahead early.
Here’s our team. Liverpool fans: what are your thoughts?
