recent release of the Premier League fixtures<\/a> for next season could, in a strange way, have an impact on the choices Rodgers makes when he sets his defensive stall up during the pre-season period.<\/p>\nLiverpool\u2019s first seven away games are against Stoke, Arsenal, Manchester United, Everton, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City. With his job well and truly under pressure after a disappointing season that culminated in a 6-1 loss away at Stoke, Brendan Rodgers really can\u2019t afford to take any chances at the start of next season.<\/p>\n
So even if Gomez isn\u2019t sent on loan immediately, expect him to play a small part, if he plays any part at all, at the start of the 2015-2016 season. In fact, the players that Rodgers will likely pick the most will depend entirely on which formation the Northern Irishmen plans to employ moving forward.<\/p>\n
Liverpool\u2019s most successful season under the former Swansea manager came when he was using a 4-4-2 (diamond) formation, with Steven Gerrard sitting at the base of midfield offer the defence some cover. But last season the Reds seemed to convert to 3\/5 at the back for the period of games when they went unbeaten and equalled a club record for consecutive away clean sheets.<\/p>\n
That said, Rodgers seemed to abandon the 3\/5 at the back as soon as Liverpool lost a game and the formation was called into question, so perhaps it won\u2019t be the one he turns to long term. Indeed, noises from the club suggested that most of Liverpool\u2019s purchases in the summer between the 2013-2014 season and the 2014-2015 season were bought with the 4-4-2 (diamond) formation in mind, only for Rodgers to need to adjust his thinking when Daniel Sturridge spent so long on the treatment table.<\/p>\n
With Liverpool reportedly in the market for at least one more striker this summer \u2013 with Sturridge, Origi and Ings already in the squad and Balotelli, Lambert and Borini yet to leave \u2013 it could be fair to assume that Rodgers doesn\u2019t want to be in a position were he has to abandon his plans due to injury again.<\/p>\n
On top of that, Lovren is not a player that suits playing on the right side of a back three, which is why Emre Can was employed there so often last season instead of the Croatian. It is easy to imagine that Lovren will be used mainly as cover for Sakho and Skrtel next season rather than as the first choice central defender \u2013 unless, of course, he has the best pre-season of any player ever.<\/p>\n
So expect Liverpool\u2019s defence to line up in a back four at the start of next season, with Skrtel partnering Sakho \u2013 presuming the Frenchman\u2019s injury issues don\u2019t rear their ugly head again \u2013 and Nathaniel Clyne in the right back spot and Alberto Moreno on the left.<\/p>\n
That would leave a combination of Wisdom, Flanagan (when fit), Manquillo, Toure and Lovren to cover them should they pick up injuries or need a rest. If Joe Gomez stays at the club then he will likely also be amongst those players, getting a run out in the likes of the League Cup and Europa League.<\/p>\n
Whatever the combination of players Rodgers opts to use most often next season, the truth is that Liverpool\u2019s defensive unit still isn\u2019t as good as it should be. One injury to Sakho and the whole thing seems to fall apart \u2013 that\u2019s how important he is to the back four or five. Skrtel may well be Liverpool\u2019s best option right now, but he isn\u2019t the sort of player that can be counted upon should backs be against the wall.<\/p>\n
Pre-season will be an interesting time for Liverpool fans, as they\u2019ll get the opportunity to suss out what options Brendan Rodgers will think about before the season begins. If the defence has the same rough start to the season as they did last year then don\u2019t be surprised to see Rodgers ringing the changes \u2013 before the noose tightens around his managerial neck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Old And New With news emerging over the weekend that Liverpool have signed 18 year old Joe Gomez from Charlton for \u00a33.5m and conflicting reports coming out about Martin Skrtel\u2019s new contract, it seemed as good a time as any to have a look at Liverpool\u2019s defence. The suggestions emerging from the club seem to be that Gomez will be sent back out on loan no sooner than he\u2019s arrived at Melwood, but is that really the best thing for either LFC or the youngster himself? Skrtel is an interesting one as far as Liverpool\u2019s defensive set-up is concerned. He\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions\/104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}