How can Brendan Rodgers improve his Liverpool side defensively in 2015?

It seems like somewhat of a million-dollar question, given the manager is renowned for his poor defensive record; under Rodgers, Liverpool’s game plan has seemingly been to outscore the opponent, at all costs.

As LFC XTRA statistician Andrew Beasley noted, Rodgers has the worst record of goals conceded per game of any Liverpool manager since the tenure of Bill Shankly from 1959 to 1974:

Beasley continues to detail how Liverpool have experienced their best average of goals per game under Rodgers, however:

As such, this seems a phenomenal, institutional issue, and one that would require a major overhaul under the 41-year-old.

Rodgers has already stressed that “There won’t be a lot of transfer activity from us, if any, over the course of the January period,” as reported by James Pearce of the Liverpool Echo,

For the short-term, at least, the manager seems happy to make do with the personnel currently at his disposal.

With that in mind, there are three key areas Rodgers must focus on to improve his side’s defensive record in 2015.

 

The Back Three

Towards the end of 2014, Rodgers addressed his side’s poor 2014/15 season’s form with a major formation change, and the Reds lined up for December’s Premier League clash with Manchester United in a 3-4-2-1.

Although Liverpool lost that game 3-0, the upturn in performance levels was encouraging.

Rodgers saw his side create 16 chances, an vast improvement on their average of 10.3 per game in league games previous.

After a 3-1 League Cup quarter-final victory away to AFC Bournemouth in their next game, Rodgers praised this tactical switch, as The Guardian‘s Andy Hunter reports:

When you have got the players to play in the way we want to work you can see the issues and the problems we can cause opponents. We had that ability to break forward with speed and on the counterattack for probably the first time [this season]. That was clear. That tactical element is critical to how we work.

Clearly, the focus was on reinvigorating a stuttering attacking phase, but key to the success of this 3-4-2-1 is Rodgers’ back three.

After experiments involving Glen Johnson, Dejan Lovren and Kolo Toure in the lineup, a mixture of injuries and international duties has seen Rodgers settle on a hugely effective trio.

Mamadou Sakho and Emre Can serve as the defence’s more cultured, creative centre-backs, with the brutish Martin Skrtel utilised as a purely defensive outlet in between the pair in their three league games together to date.

Liverpool’s partnership of Lovren and Skrtel was hallmarked by a chaotic unease in possession, which saw the pair make 10 defensive errors between them.

Sakho and Can, with an average of 0.5 chances created per game as part of the back three, are clearly much more comfortable and confident in possession, particularly when compared to Lovren, who has averaged 0.06 chances created per game this season.

This has added a sense of calm to Skrtel, with his average of often rash clearances per game falling from 10.39 to 7.67, and the Slovak is yet to make an error when operating between Sakho and Can.

In three league games, Sakho, Can and Skrtel have conceded just one goal.

The signs of improvement are already there at centre-back, and Rodgers must resist the temptation to reintroduce £20 million summer signing Lovren in order for this to continue.

 

Wing-Backs

Ahead of the back three, Rodgers’ formation functions with a pair of wing-backs, and their role is crucial in the success of this system defensively.

As Jonathan Wilson wrote for The Guardian in 2009, the role of the modern wing-back is primarily to support the attack: “The advent of wing-backs can be seen as attempt to liberate both full-backs again—particularly in a world without wingers.”

Rodgers’ formation features no traditional wingers, with the wing-backs providing this width.

Goals from Alberto Moreno and Lazar Markovic from this position of late highlight the success of the wing-back in an attacking sense, with the latter’s man-of-the-match performance running from deep in Sunday’s 1-0 victory over to Sunderland the perfect example of this.

From an attacking point of view, the aforementioned pair would be Rodgers’ most effective wing-back options.

But with a testing run of games against West Ham United, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, Southampton and Manchester City to come in the next six weeks, the manager will need to address a balance.

In order to solidify this back line even further, Rodgers may need to opt for a more defensive outlet.

Javier Manquillo, the 20-year-old Atletico Madrid loanee, could provide this option, and his five defensive actions—including interceptions, blocks and clearances—per game since the switch to a 3-4-2-1 is higher than any other wing-back used.

Another option would be the returning Jon Flanagan, who WhoScored.com shows made the most tackles per game (3.4) of any Liverpool player last season.

Flanagan recently outlined the importance of his commitment in response to a question posed to the club’s official Twitter account:

Both Manquillo and Flanagan offer a more conservative option at right-wing-back, and in order to continue to improve defensively, Rodgers may need to opt for one of the pair to provide balance for the attacking Moreno or Markovic.

 

Lucas Leiva

The final, key defensive player in this new formation, and an increasingly important player in Rodgers’ revival of form of late, is defensive midfielder Lucas Leiva.

Lucas’ role is of immense importance to the side’s success, as Rodgers’ only specialist defensive midfielder, as a post-Sunderland statistic highlighted by Squawka shows:

In that Stadium of Light victory, Lucas ran Markovic close to being Liverpool’s top performer, and this was purely based on a diligent, simplistic approach in the defensive third.

Lucas made six tackles and two interceptions, according to WhoScored, and with 90.2 percent passing accuracy, the midfielder recycled possession confidently and was key to Liverpool’s control of the encounter.

Perhaps most importantly, with Lucas in the side, Liverpool have conceded fewer league goals this season:

As such, in order to improve defensively, Rodgers must continue to deploy the 28-year-old in front of his back three.

This may be scuppered, however. As David Maddock of the Mirror claims, Serie A side Inter Milan are interested in a £7 million move for the midfielder in January.

These rumours were fuelled by a cryptic tweet sent by Lucas after the Sunderland victory:

Therefore, if Lucas is to leave Liverpool, Rodgers must counter this move by signing another specialist defensive midfielder, of the calibre of Bayer Leverkusen‘s Lars Bender, Olympique Lyonnais‘ Maxime Gonalons or Southampton’s Victor Wanyama.

In some ways, this may be preferable.

Liverpool’s defensive improvement hinges on Lucas’ future, in this sense.

Overall, in order improve his side defensively in 2015, Brendan Rodgers should continue the course he is currently pursuing.

This means a back three of Mamadou Sakho, Martin Skrtel and Emre Can shielded by Lucas Leiva, with a pair of diligent wing-backs, perhaps offered balance by the introduction of a more defensively minded option in either Javier Manquillo or Jon Flanagan.

 

Statistics via Squawka.com, unless specified.

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