Following Liverpool’s last two games which we have both lost and conceded from corners in both games, Brendan Rodgers has admitted that he will not be afraid to drop players who slack in defence.
“To concede two goals like that in the past two games was bitterly disappointing and it cost us,” Rodgers told the Liverpool Echo.
“It’s the one moment in the game where the ball is static. It’s you as an individual against another opponent.
“I felt coming in last year that we conceded some goals man-to-man so we went to zonal defending. But I prefer giving players responsibility so that everyone knows who they mark. Now it’s purely man to man.
“There are no grey areas with it. Everyone knows their job to do from corners. If you don’t do it then ultimately you suffer because you don’t play.
“We have been let down by us not doing our job in what is arguably the easiest part of the game.
“Sometimes when the ball is moving it can be difficult as you can lose track of your man when you are watching the ball. That sometimes happens, but when the ball is static you know where your opponent is.
“It’s not tactical or physical, it’s all about concentration – that is the biggest thing.
“That is one area of the game we have to be better at. It’s something we will address and improve upon.
“That one moment in the game at Old Trafford was the only negative but it cost us the tie.”
Jose Enrique is the player who went to sleep against Manchester United in the League Cup defeat and let Chicharito score the only goal of the match. You would expect better from Enrique who has been solid in defence thus far this season.
One player though who seems to have been struggling with marking this season from set pieces is Daniel Agger. The Danish centre back is costing us in defence as his opponents are easily getting away from him at set plays. Now that he is injured, we have seen Skrtel and Sakho coming in and those two seem to be much more solid. One flaw though so far with Sakho is that he is going to ground too often and early when he is making his tackles. I guess he just needs a bit more games to get used to the pace of the English game and to realise that you do not have to go to ground all the time when tackling.
Martin Skrtel has been outstanding thus far this term and it is funny to think that we almost sold him to Napoli in the summer. Skrtel may still leave the club following the arrivals of Toure, Sakho and Illori but it would be a bad sale in my opinion to let him go as he is still quality and is proving to be our best centre back right now.
As for Enrique, he is fortunate right now that Cissokho is injured so he has no one really pushing him at the left back position. But when Cissokho is back and fit again, I am pretty sure Enrique will not be a guaranteed starter all the time.
With all the options we have in central defence right now, it is easy to see why Rodgers has come out and said that he will drop those who slack. All the players have to be kept on their toes as they know there is an equally good player on the bench waiting to step in for them. I just wish we had the same amount of competition in our central midfield areas to give Lucas, Gerrard and Henderson a run for their money.
For me Skirts has been xlnt, but Toure has been outstanding also, I would just give Toure the nod over Skrtel.
Total rubbish from an average n confused coach,Rodgers u cant coach liverpool,even if u win d next 10 matches which is impossible u will still slack. U went and pack all d defenders without buyn one good midfeilder n u expect miracle.y did u loan Suso out n sold shelvy? U bought alberto who canot even trap a ball n there u wia making noise about disposing all d deadwoods bought by Daglish while u, u hav gone to pack d dead buried woods.useless players.Rodgers you are not good n bet me u will neva talk liverpool to any where!
Shut up you fool,you know f-all.
hahaha u are the biggest idiot god ever aloud to be born… i suppose u shud be next manager of liverpool mr kbow it all…. go back and play football manager and leave real life to ppl who are mentally stable
Go learn the language before trying to insult Brendan Rodgers with it you fool.
we eisly sign cheap players, but wen it comes to xpensive and xprienced players we strugle wy mr rodgers? So dont intimedate players just add quality plyrs to the squad.
Rodgers is n0t good en0ugh f0r Liverpool standard like Hodgson. Is Sakh0 the quality creative midfielder Liverpool so much desired he s0 intended to bring in?? And what about Skrtel conceding silly fouls backpasses… Why n0t playing Toure centre back?
DIZ SLACK IS NT CAUSED BY RODGERS OR ANY PLAYER, BT IS BEKOZ OF OUR STINGINES 2 BUY QUALITY PLAYERS E.G ASPAS IS NT EVEN A FOOTBALLER. I PREFER LOAN MOVE 4 HIM IN JENUARY
Rodgers got it wrong again in the summer by buying all those centre backs when he should have bought a DM and an attacking midfielder. I do not know why he did not get Eriksen. He would have been perfect and he was not too expensive. Now we do not have Coutinho and we are struggling big time. Rodgers must buy better in January.
I cannot understand why Rodgers has the need to publicly criticise and threaten players, I wonder how he would feel if FSG publicly criticised his frequent tactical errors and questionable selection of players….that also cost us points. Is this the “New Liverpool Way”???….I see Ayres doing it as well, publicly criticising Suarez and then expecting him to sign a new contract….never heard of washing your dirty linen behind closed doors.
Guys u shuold blame bran cuz he have done a lot to see liverpool as club to grow….cuz over 3years ago we never thinking of seen our ontop as it hapen dis season! So what we need to do now; is pray, for Bran and liverpool as a club so that thing will move well »??·??????????ªª¥.?????·???»??-?????? ….cheers kuta
Up kop! The basis of the problem is FSG who gave kenny daglish such a HUGE amount to buy underperformed english players and felt reluctant to give enough money to a man who is filled with mission, vission and ambition (BR), u could see that some of the best transfer(willian,erickson,mkytarian e.t.c) was discovered by this man but he was unable to secure them for of financial reasons and at least we are seeing somtn possitive if not for injury that want to disorganize d whole tn, by this time last season we were at 18th position so lets hope for somtn gud, by jan more beta players are comn.
We should be more concerned about the cutting edge in attack.we haven’t scored no where near enough goals for along time & our players shoot like Sunday league players who have been on the razzle the night before,stop jumping over hoops in training & practice attacking movement please mr Rodgers!
Letting Suso & Shelvy go is a mistake! Then missing on Erikson & not even trying on Ozil is the biggest mistake we’ve ever made!! Coming this Jan, are we going to watch Khedira & De Maria going to Arsenal or Manure without doin’ anything? Common FSG, you spend lots of millions with your Red Sox, why not with us???
Consistency is key , or so it seems our no. 21 is shite week in week out and seems like he is one of the first names on team sheet , the mind boggles .