Where Do Liverpool Need To Strengthen In January? A Goalkeeper And A Striker Beckons

Time to bring in the analogies, Liverpool are falling faster than a cannonball thrown from the top of the building, if there was a comparison between this season and last season Liverpool would be known as the Jekyll & Hyde club. Liverpool’s goal scoring ability can be compared to Laurel and Hardy; they ate up defences last season but this time they are on an amazing austerity drive. Their defence has more holes than an inept lawyer’s closing statement, their defence is so bad that you wouldn’t expect them to keep a clean sheet against an under 9 side.

Liverpool are having a horrendous season and a 3-0 loss to Manchester United certainly has not helped them one bit, Brendan Rodgers is under fire and he has nothing to show for a team that was supposed to be challenging for the title this season after last season’s heroics.

Rodgers brought in a lot of players and none of them have clicked, their style of play has deteriorated from last season and their defence is still a shambles, Rodgers will need to make some quick deals in January if he is to salvage this season and hope that Liverpool can qualify for the Champions League at least. Based on current performance, Liverpool will be lucky if they make it to any sort of European competition for next season.

Everything needs an upgrade

A sad indictment but a truthful one, Liverpool ended up buying players who are just not ready for the Premier League. Manquillo, Moreno, Can and Markovic all are young and need time to develop; they have been given chances, except Can. The trio of Manquillo, Moreno and Markovic have flattered to deceive; they are still young but need a lot of time to develop into Premier League performers. It was Rodgers’ job to get the right players and he has failed in his imports from various leagues.

Buying tried and tested players from the Premier League or Southampton has not worked either. Rickie Lambert wasn’t expected to set the league on fire but certainly he is not geared to play in the setup Rodgers lays out. Adam Lallana has looked alright in the few chances he has been given but he still needs time and Lovren has been a pure waste of money from every angle.

Even the players who were there last season seem to have regressed, Sterling, Coutinho, Johnson, Gerrard, Henderson and Allen all look completely out of form and can’t seem to do anything now, the only bright ray of hope Liverpool hope is that of Daniel Sturridge, who needs to come back to the team as soon as he recovers from the injury.

While Liverpool may not buy any players for the defence and midfield in January, there are two signings which Liverpool must complete to at least get their feet settled in the league. They need a goalkeeper, one who is commanding and willing to communicate with the defence, time has come to an end for Simon Mignolet, who is a liability for the team, even when it is he who has possession of the ball. The Belgian must be benched and shipped off as soon as possible. Without a decent goalkeeper at the back, your defence will never be confident and mistakes will always happen.

The other signing Liverpool need to do is bring in a striker who has good movement, Balotelli works well when he has a player who does the running while he plays down the middle and uses his strength to great effect. Liverpool need someone who is going to do the running to stretch defenders, although they might have Sturridge back in January, there is no guarantee that he will be fit for the rest of the season.

Liverpool have a lot of problems and January is the time to try and fix some of them, there is no guarantee that the problems will be fixed as easily as said, if Rodgers does not get things right this time around, it could be curtains for the manager at Liverpool.