Time to Experiment!

When Arsenal goal-machine Robin van Persie brilliantly volleyed past Pepe Reina to give the Gunners a 90th minute winner at Anfield on Saturday, Liverpool's hopes of Champions League qualification all but disappeared. Robert Nevitt looks at what this means for the rest of the Reds' season.

Arsene Wenger's men now occupy fourth and the final Champions League spot and more worryingly for the Reds, they now sit 10 points in front of us. Although we do have a game in hand on the teams above us, which is Tuesday night's Merseyside derby, the likelihood of Kenny Dalglish's men finishing in the top four is fast diminishing.

The reasons are all too obvious. Whilst league leaders Manchester City have acquired a maximum haul from their 14 home games so far, we’ve dropped nineteen points from a possible 39 at Anfield. Some people will say we have been unlucky, with goalkeepers performing heroics and the woodwork coming to the opponents rescue on about 20 occasions, but can we rue bad luck all the time? The truth of the matter is we've been wasteful. Too many missed chances, as well as six failures from the penalty spot means we haven’t scored enough goals. Van Persie’s Anfield brace took his tally to 25 goals for the season. As a team, we have only netted 5 more!

So, after Saturday’s defeat, what does the rest of the season hold for the Reds?

With the Carling Cup already proudly on display in the Anfield trophy room following the penalty shoot-out triumph over Cardiff City, the Reds are already guaranteed a place in Europe next season, albeit on Channel 5 in the Europa League. In a week’s time we face Stock City at home in the FA Cup quarter-final. With the two Manchester clubs and Arsenal already out of the competition, it is realistic to believe that we can return to Wembley and complete a domestic cup double.

As for the league, whilst no-one at Anfield will publicly admit that the Top Four is out of our reach again, reality shows that we have a mountain to climb. Probably the best we can hope for is to finish fifth, although current occupiers Chelsea will no doubt improve following the sacking of Andre Villas-Boas, meaning leapfrogging them would be a feat in itself. Obviously, as always, the club should finish as high as we possibly can, but, with Champions League hopes all but gone, I can’t help but think that we should use the rest of the league campaign to try things out in readiness for next season.

Last summer, the Shankly gates could have been replaced by a revolving door, such was the rebuilding job undertaken by Dalglish. Out went the dead wood with Konchesky, Poulsen, Jovanovic, Cole, Aquilani, Ngog and several others surplus to requirements. In their places the likes of Adam, Henderson, Downing and Enrique arrived. Despite the expected failure to finish in the top four, there is no doubt that Liverpool have progressed this season, so this summer should be a quieter affair, with only a few tweaks needed. It is in these last dozen league games that we can use our squad to identify where these tweaks are needed.

One of the strengths of the current side has been our defence. Martin Skrtel has been transformed from a mistake waiting to happen to one of the best centre-halves in the league. Thanks to the tutelage of Steve Clarke, Skrtel now looks calm and assured on the ball, whilst he is dominant in either penalty area. Alongside him, Daniel Agger has been a rock, but the Dane’s injury means he is likely to miss a large chunk of the remainder of the season. Against Arsenal, Dalglish chose to recall Jamie Carragher in place of Agger. Whilst I think talk of Carra’s demise is a bit exaggerated, we now what he is about and what he brings to the team. Instead of going with the tried-and-tested Carra, I do think the loss of Agger gives us an opportunity to give Uruguayan defender Sebastian Coates a prolonged taste of English football. Coates has looked impressive in his handful of appearances so far and a run in the team now could see him pressing for a permanent first team place come the start of next season. 

Time to Give Coates a Chance

As stated earlier, when we look back at the end of the season, one of the main reasons we will cite for failing to make the Top Four will be a lack of goals. Whilst chances are being created, I think one of the reasons for this is our formation. Most of the time we play 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1. However, I don’t think these formations suit the players we have. We do not possess a decent right midfielder, Henderson prefers it more centrally, whilst if Kuyt is to play on the right, it needs to be in a front three as he hasn’t got the pace to break from midfield. Centrally, playing Gerrard in the middle two restricts the impact our talisman can have in an attacking sense. Finally, whilst Suarez is tremendous wherever he plays, using him to lead the line seems a bit of a waste to me. He would be better running at goal rather than with his back to it.

With this in mind, I’d like to see us try out a 4-3-3 formation. In it, Henderson/Spearing would sit in front of the back four, with Gerrard and Adam occupying the other places in a narrow midfield. Carroll/Kuyt would lead the line with instructions to stay centrally and hit the six yard box whenever we get the ball in or around the box. Suarez would start on the right of the front three, a position from which he couldn’t stop scoring for Ajax, with Bellamy/Downing on the left. Both “wide” players would be allowed to rotate and float to stretch defences. Width would be provided by, as now, the excellent attacking play of full-backs Johnson and Enrique.

Raheem Sterling - The next big thing?

The final thing I would like to see us do between now and the end of the season is introduce some more youngsters to the first team set-up. This time last year, John Flanagan and Jack Robinson both came in to great effect, gaining valuable experience whilst no doubt improving their game. In the current reserve and Under-18’s set-up there is a wealth of talent. Wisdom and Coady both look capable of making the step up to the first team in the not so distant future, but it is the attacking talents of Raheem Sterling and Suso who fill Reds fans with excitement. On Tuesday against a strong Everton reserve team, both winger Sterling and Spanish playmaker Suso were superb in the mini-derby draw. With the likes of Maxi more than likely to depart in the summer, introducing Sterling and Suso to the first team, even if it was brief cameos from the bench, could result in both players following Flanagan and Robinson’s in gaining valuable first team experience. 

So rather than let the season slowly peter out, we should use the last dozen games to do some experimentation. If it goes wrong, it's best it does now when it doesn't matter rather than the start of next season where it would mean we were once again playing catch-up.