Can defence threaten Liverpool's Champions League ambitions?

Yet another memorable night at Anfield. The crowd witnessed flashy style of football from the men in Red, and a horrific one too, from those in whites. With another Luis Suarez heroics and Sakho scoring his first in England; Brendan Rodgers’ men climb up to 2nd in the table, 5 points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

Taking a look at the results so far this season, and specially at the last 4 games, Liverpool’s goal scoring run is mesmerizing, scoring 13 goals in which Suarez has scored 6 goals and was key man in nearly all of the goals netted. He is accompanied by Steven Gerrard, who has created 2 assists in the quarter of the games and also got his name on the score sheet in the process.

But there is a darker side too, the Merseysiders have conceded 6 goals in last 4 fixtures, just 2 shy of hitting an average of conceding 2 goals per game.

It is a bit ironical- considering the amount invested and the faces brought to add stability, the team keeps on getting sloppier and careless while defending; something the manager would not desire of.

And this run of receiving 6 goals also include an embarrassing 3-1 defeat against Hull City, ending their undefeated run over the Tigers for over 20 years. But with an excellent early start to the season, why is Liverpool’s back 4 crumbling all of a sudden?

Lack of defensive stability

I’m certainly not the first one to point this out, probably not the last one either. Beginning the season with a 4-2-3-1 formation, featuring last season’s star Agger and Kolo Toure in the heart of defence, Brendan started changing the template. Quickly shuffling between 4-3-3 and finally settling for a 3-4-1-2, mainly due to the return of Luis Suarez and to accommodate the new and improved Martin Skrtel.

But this formation allowed too much space for the opposition to exploit from the flanks. And courtesy of the slow and sluggish duo of Gerrard and Lucas (respectively), the center of midfield was cracked open too!

And after a humbling loss to Arsenal, the Northern Irishman decided to go back to 4-2-3-1.

Not to forget a 5-man defense with makeshift wing backs, this season has proved out to be a puzzle for his own players. With no favored back two in the starting XI, Rodgers is taking his time to find an idle pair with the perfect formation. But it seems to be taking longer time than expected. Toure and Sakho are still trying to gel with their mates, and develop an essential on pitch chemistry. And the alternate rise and fall of form shared between Skrtel and Agger isn’t helping either.

The constant change in formation has also affected the tactics too, 3 man defense focusing on zonal marking has not been a hit week in, week out. While 4-2-3-1 usually opting man marking, the players were subjected to swift change and while defending, defenders often looked clueless and ended up in giving acres of space for their target to make use of. And poor ability to tackle the threat aerially just makes the matter worse.

How will it affect the aim to reach Champions League?

One could not be sure if the manager is aware of the defensive disasters or just ignoring it, but it is a topic that demands attention. While majority of fans concerned about the absence of ‘S’ of “SAS”, but one has to realize if our defense continue to gift goals to our opponents, things might get nasty. And if the team didn’t prepare well and present an extremely strong defense to our upcoming opponents: Chelsea, Spurs and Man City, fans have to be ready to face humiliation in coming few weeks. And even if Reds managed to make it to the Champions League, there are very slim chances of doing well. Who knows, maybe the performance of the confused lads could sabotage the staggering performance so far.

Sooner or later, Brendan Rodgers must realize that and start working on finding a way to get it right because

“Attack wins the matches, but it is the defense that wins the titles..”