{"id":247,"date":"2015-10-02T15:58:20","date_gmt":"2015-10-02T15:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/?p=247"},"modified":"2015-10-02T15:58:20","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T15:58:20","slug":"liverpool-1-fc-sion-1-an-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/liverpool-1-fc-sion-1-an-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool 1 \u2013 FC Sion 1: An Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"
Liverpool take the lead, Liverpool concede a goal, the match ends in a draw. Haven\u2019t we been here before? FC Sion were 7th in the Swiss league when they arrived at Anfield for the second group game of the Europa League on Thursday night. At the weekend their owner had branded them a \u2018disgrace\u2019 when they lost 1-0 to their rivals. They are hardly the European greats the Anfield faithful is used to watching.<\/p>\n
Yet they did what teams like Juventus and Barcelona have failed to do at the famous old ground in the past \u2013 left unbeaten after a match in front of the Kop. How the mighty have fallen. Were there any clear reasons for the failure, or was it an accumulation of things? What are the major talking points of the game? We have a look at some of the key take aways from yet another disappointing home draw.<\/p>\n
Rodgers deserves some of the criticism that has been coming his way over the past couple of months and some of the harsh words are unfair. One thing he keeps doing, though, is making his own job harder. Virtually every game this season the players have taken to the pitch and looked like strangers who don\u2019t know what the players next to them are going to do \u2013 most of the time it\u2019s because that\u2019s exactly what\u2019s happened.<\/p>\n
The Liverpool manager said during the summer than the amount of signings that the club had made would allow him to consider picking one team for the cup matches and a different one for the league. It\u2019s an ambitious idea and perhaps one he might consider more readily if his job wasn\u2019t under imminent danger.<\/p>\n
When your back is against the wall, though, and you know that one or two wrong steps could mean the end of your tenure at the football club it\u2019s a lot more difficult to put faith in kids or players who you don\u2019t particularly trust. If Liverpool were flying in the league and the fans were singing Rodgers\u2019 name from the Kop once more, would Luis Enrique get a run out in the League Cup, for example? Possibly.<\/p>\n
The problem Rodgers has given himself is that he\u2019s trusting some kids, some of the time and sticking with experience at others. He\u2019s not confident enough about Divock Origi\u2019s ability to start him against League Two teams in a knockout competition like the League Cup, but he\u2019ll play him in compeitions that one defeat won\u2019t spell disaster like the Europa League. Danny Ings has made a great impression since he came on and scored in the match versus Norwich at Anfield, meaning that he\u2019s now a nailed on starter in the league alongside Daniel Sturridge until Christian Benteke returns from injury and gives the manager food for thought. The problem, however, is that Rodgers also wants Ings to lead the line in the cup games meaning he\u2019s running him into the ground.<\/p>\n