The effect of Rodgers’ style on Liverpool’s defence

Brendan Rodgers might not have been able to deliver on any of the fronts this season, but in hindsight Liverpool were never expected to scale the heights in the very first season under an entirely different style of management. Rodgers came into the club as a man preaching the beautiful game and to his credit, had only developed an entire side from Wales who could execute his plans to the word.

Brendan Rodgers turned out to be a man who stuck to his ideals, as no other manager would have disposed off a 35 million signing just because he didn’t fit his style. Another bold move saw him absolutely ignore relatively senior players like Downing and Henderson, and thereby promoting the untested talents of Suso and Sterling. Another factor that requires acclaim here is that how quickly he re-instilled the English duo of Downing and Henderson once they adjusted to BR’s style and proved their worth in training. Getting a goal or 2 from Downing in a Reds’ shirt alone can be counted as a huge achievement; and one look at Liverpool’s stats this season would show 71 goals being scored this time around, over the 47 in total last time.

While the attacking front was down to a certain Uruguayan’s tireless efforts, it is the defence of a team that suffers most of the time under a new management. Rodgers’ style placed huge emphasis on the duo of central defenders to be ball-playing rather than the hoofing type. The goalkeeper, along with the central defenders, was under strict instructions that long clearances was not an option now if there was a short pass available, however difficult that might have turned out for Pepe Reina and Martin Skrtel. In fact it was these 2 players who initially found themselves out of sorts and on many occasions, the Slovakian centre back was seen uncomfortably clearing the balls upfront.

Liverpool’s options on the bench at CB were the young Coates and the ageing Carragher, and so BR preferred giving Skrtel more time to get accustomed to his style. The other defenders Agger, Johnson and Enrique came to terms quickly enough and the defence was most of the time caught out by Skrtel’s lack of pace to move up from the back or his irregular clearances right to the opponents’ feet.

The final nails in the coffin were the games against Zenit in the Europa League Quarters and Oldham in the League Cup. Skrtel’s horror shows on both these occasions, in which the Slovakian was responsible for 3 of the 5 goals scored, led to his dismissal to the bench and then to one last hurray for James Lee Duncan Carragher.

Carragher’s entire career might be a tribute to the diversity he brings as a player, as his displays at CB, Right Back and CDM have all been applauded for club and country. In this case, he had to play a slightly different role. His age and fitness issues ensured that he was not brought in to slide into tackles or win headers at set pieces, in short be typically English; Martin Skrtel was better at these. The stats for these traits are pretty clear, as over the 24 games that Carragher played and the 25 that Skrtel played:

Key Stats	Carragher	Skrtel
Tackles per game	0.8	1.4
Interceptions per game	0.4	1.6
Blocked Shots per game	0.4	1

One particular number that perfectly sums up Rodgers’ decision to select the old man over Skrtel would be the ‘number of clearances attempted’. This stands as:

Number of Clearances per game: (3.9) Carragher, (6.7) Skrtel

So while Skrtel might have stood the bigger force in the Kenny era, Carragher now turns out to be the more elegant defender. A perfect example came out in the 2 quick League games against Southampton and Aston Villa, the first of which was started by Skrtel with Agger and the second by Carragher with Agger.

Skrtel completed only 35 of his 44 passes with maximum number of failures in tose attempted forward. Carragher whereas completed 37 of 40. Credits: www.squawka.com

Skrtel attempted 16 long clearances out of which only 8 were succesfull, whereas 7 out of Carragher’s attempted 10 were successful. Credits: www.squawka.com

Carragher’s retirement at the end of this season might have seen Sky Sports quickly bag his services alongside Gary Neville in their Studios, but Rodgers needs to find a replacement quickly. As a matter of fact, the defender Rodgers picks would not be Jamie’s replacement but would rather be BR’s first choice, as Carragher himself was only a short term solution to Skrtel’s inexpertise. Needless to say, Martin Skrtel’s time at Anfield is pretty much done, as he found himself below a guy to retire in 5 months time.

In a somewhat surprising move, Liverpool announced the free transfer of Kolo Toure from Manchester City when his contract expires on July 1^st. Now, if there was ever a bracket to be placed around the likes of Martin Skrtel and Jamie Carragher, Kolo Toure is the most likely candidate to complete it. Typically ferocious in tackles and heading away set pieces, he has had his fare share of experience at Right Back and CDM; Jamie’s footsteps exactly.

Though a strength that Toure brings to the table, that would have singularly led to BR’s latching on is his admirable composure to bring the ball out of defence on plenty of occasions. This part of his game was pretty evident during his Arsenal days, when his ventures out of the defence saw him occasionally take the ball out high enough to take a punt at goal; Bolton would remember a couple of those. His days at City were much more concentrated on proving that he was indeed on his wife’s medicine to reduce weight. Comparing some of his stats to the Liverpool duo:

Tackles per game 1.3

Interceptions per game 1

Blocked shots per game 0.6

Clearances per game 5.3

A denial of an offer from City and a last moment withdrawal by Fenerbache suggests that the only blocking point in Kolo’s case is not his high wages. Looking though Brendan Rodger’s glass at the moment, one does not see Toure playing a major role next season; pretty much similar to what Skrtel did for the 2^nd half of this season. What Liverpool need is a ball-playing centre back who can support the adventurous Daniel Agger. Logically, Ashley Williams’ name has been doing rounds of the club for the past 6 months. In fact, this is the exact role that Per Mertesacker has now specialized in alongside Koscienly, though it has left him quite underrated in Premier league circles.