Liverpool’s struggles continue with Basel defeat

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers will be looking to turn his teams season around after their 1-0 Champions League defeat against Basel last night

Liverpool really have made a slow start to the campaign.

That slow start to the season continued last night when they suffered a 1-0 Champions League defeat at Swiss champions Basel. The display was a tame one from the Reds.

Soft

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard revealed his frustration at his team’s performance after the game telling Sky Sports: “I think we created a good few openings where you would expect us to go and score but we didn’t deserve anything out of this game,”

“I thought we were too soft all over the pitch. I thought they wanted it more, which is very disappointing”

Liverpool teams never seem to lack application or fight, but there was very little of either on display Switzerland as the Reds suffered their first defeat to a Swiss team in 10 games.

Set-pieces

The Reds have looked vulnerable to conceding goals from set-pieces this season and that was the case in Basel, with Switzerland international Marco Streller scoring the only goal of the game from a set-piece. Opposition teams will take advantage of the Reds weakness at the back.

This will cost Liverpool points this season. The Reds paid the price for poor defending last season by failing to win the Premier League title. Conceding from set-pieces was part of that poor defensive record and that has continued into this season.

Set-pieces are just a matter of organising players in the right way. There is no excuse for continually conceding goals from them. Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has stated that his team will to look at set-pieces and analyse them. Has he not already been doing that considering that the Reds have had this problem for a while.

Fear Factor

Liverpool’s good performances last season were based on the fact that opposition teams were scared of strikers Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge. It is easy to put Liverpool’s down turn in fortunes this season down to the summer of departure of Suarez.

The Uruguayan’s presence on the pitch made opposition defenders scared before they had even kicked-off. He was just such a menace to opposition teams. Suarez was always going to be difficult to replace and Liverpool have not came close.

Controversial Italian international striker Mario Balotelli arrived this summer, but he is nowhere near the same quality of the Uruguayan. His scoring record may look decent on paper, but he tends to be a striker that goes through scoring streaks, rather than scoring on a consistent basis.

Balotelli may turn out to be a decent signing for the Reds. However at the moment he is struggling to justify his position in a Liverpool shirt.

The recent absence of Daniel Sturridge has also had a big effect on the team. He is the Reds best striker and a constant threat to opposition teams. He has been sorely missed since his injury. Without their dynamic duo from last season the Reds look lifeless in attack.

Signings

As I have previously stated the players that have been brought in by the Reds this summer have yet to convince of their quality. The likes of Javier Manquillo, Lazar Markovic and Alberto Moreno are all relatively young and have had to settle into a new country as well as a new club.

Although the two full-backs have shown glimpses of their ability, attacking midfielder Markovic seems to be struggling to adapt to life at his new club. However he has time on his side and is highly-rated.

The new players will obviously need time to gel and adapt to life at Liverpool. Like any new signings though, some will prove to be successful at the club and some will not.

Early

The Reds are not playing with the same attacking verve as last season, but it is very early in the season. I have read some ridiculous comments calling for Brendan Rodgers to be sacked.

If it was not for Rodgers Liverpool may not even be in the Champions League this season. It was Rodgers who masterminded their return to Europe’s elite competition and those Liverpool fans now doubting Rodgers need to remember that.

The Reds no doubt have to improve their performances and quickly, but the season cannot be completely written-off because of a poor start to the season.

Liverpool still have a decent chance of making the knockout stages of the Champions League and are odds of 8/15, which makes them second favourites from the group to make the last 16.

All is not yet lost for Liverpool this season, but a big improvement is needed if the Reds are going to be successful this season.

Can Liverpool turn their season around?