The reality is the fact that we look inept with one up top and have done since Brendan employed this formation. The concern is he’s apparent stubbornness to change things. People ready to throw Balotelli under the bus; here's a thing to consider. The service to him has been nothing short of piss poor. Yes, piss poor. Glen Johnson probably touched the ball the most. He probably had 20 or so touches more than Gerrard, Skrtel and Lovren. We can't move the ball from the back with any conviction. It's called tempo. We lack it in abundance at the moment and to be fair, it’s beyond agonising to watch.
Some questions, which, quite frankly, are causing me sleepless nights.
Does Brendan actually know his best side? Why does he persist with a right back who won’t be offered a new contract and continues to regress as each minute passes while a perfectly able replacement in Javier Manquillo sits ponderously on the bench? This along with the decision to place Steven Gerrard on the team sheet week-in week-out are two decisions in which will stifle our ability to make the top four. That may sound dramatic, but sometimes the truth hurts. The former is simply not good enough for a top four team any longer, while the latter, while a true leader and legend of our great club, just shouldn’t be starting every match due to his own regressions. Trying to accommodate a player of his age into a style of play that requires a quick tempo is simply trying to put a square peg in a round hole. The worrying thing is that we have personnel to at least try to implement these things, yet are beyond apprehensive to put the practice into play.
Why does a player in Adam Lallana, our ‘marquee’ signing, sit on the bench? Surely we must find a way to accommodate both he and Coutinho in the same side? It worked against West Brom, that’s for sure. Why can’t Fabio Borini, Lucas Leiva, Kolo Toure, all of whom played their part in our preceding win in the Cup , fail to accumulate any decent game time? For me, Borini should’ve started in a 4-4-2 diamond formation. He might not be the most gifted of players to grace our team sheet, but what he lacks in ability, he makes up for in guile and determination, which are two admirable traits that just might help drag us out of the slump we’re currently in.
I love Brendan to bits and hope he manages us for the next 10 years, but he’s approaching the point where he needs to make some tough decisions. This was always going to be a tough exercise in the wake of losing Suarez, but it's evident that with the current formation and personnel he continues to select week-in week-out that things need tinkering. It's very worrying that Brendan seems so reluctant to do so.