The way that our defense has deteriorated in the last few seasons seems to raise a lot more questions than answers. And here we are this summer having already purchased a (presumably) starting CB in Lovren, and are apparently on the cusp of buying Moreno and Manquillo.
I've been wondering lately: is it really just that simple of a problem? is it really just an issue of "our defenders aren't good enough"? And can we honestly just solve the problem by buying "better" defenders and plugging them in?
It seems to me that there is something larger going on here, or... not going on here. During Kenny's second spell we had a good and occasionally great defense. And it consisted largely of the same players we had last season. Does it really make sense that suddenly they just became sh*te players under Rodgers, but were great under Kenny?
We all know that Steve Clarke was the defensive coach and a lot of our solid defensive play was down to him. So who is our defensive coach now? well, we don't have one. Something that stuck with me last season was when Rodgers made this quote about our defense:
“The problem is it is not coaching. Some of the things we concede goals in, you can’t coach that. There’s a feel when you are in the game of how to defend and you have to use your experience to defend properly. We concede poor goals. It isn’t so much structurally. It’s mistakes or decision making that cost us."
he said that back in February, quote is in this article:
http://www.espnfc.com/barclays-premier-league/story/1725715/brendan-rodgers-concerned-by-liverpool-defendingHonestly. Does that make sense to anyone here? really? there's NO WAY to coach the defense to have a better shape, to put themselves in the right positions so that they DO make right decisions? if someone dives in and gives away a stupid foul or penalty, often times it is because they have been beaten, likely because they were out of position. How is it not possible to coach them to be more disciplined and maintain their shape?
And if it's not possible to coach decision making in defense, then why on earth did we employ Steve Clarke for nearly two years? was he just sitting around doing nothing? Something tells me Steve Clarke would disagree, that you indeed CAN coach defensive discipline and decision making.
Some players, I'm thinking here about Glen Johnson in particular, really have dropped off in form and they likely wouldn't play well no matter who was coaching them. But looking at our games last season, how many times did we give away goals with the back line being all over the place? were they really disciplined and organized under Kenny, then suddenly became sloppy under Rodgers, for no reason at all?
Just for example: can you think of even ONE SINGLE TIME last season when we played an offside trap? I can't.
Even this pre-season, we look like we really have absolutely no defensive shape. On the counter suddenly everyone is running back like a chicken with their head cut off, it's just awful and so random.
No one can deny Rodgers' prowess as a coach in structuring an attack. But I think it is pretty odd when he essentially says that defense is down to decision making and can't be coached. Other top clubs spend a lot of time coaching their defense, but Rodgers doesn't think our defense needs coaching. Okay. Even sometimes in matches, some "hands-on" coaching would have been of really good use. I'm thinking about when we were away at Crystal Palace, for example, and Glen Johnson on the third goal was all the way up the field, when they had the counter, why couldn't Rodgers get up and scream "Glen, get your arse back!" I never see him doing stuff like that.
My worry is that IF the defenders weren't being coached well when the players weren't up to scratch, then even if we do improve on those players, the new ones, even if they are better, are still going to be left to their own devices to figure it out on their own instead of having the manager give them specific instructions. How can we expect them to settle if they're being left to their own devices and are to rely only on "experience" and not on tactical solidity and shape?
I for one wouldn't mind at all having someone like Steve Clarke back at the club just to focus on our defense. I know Rodgers tried to keep him on but Clarke left out of respect for Kenny. I don't think there's any harm in delegating that responsibility to a different coach.
I just find it hard to believe that defensive players can't be coached to be better. If Rodgers can turn Sterling and Sturridge and Henderson into much better players, why can he not do the same with the defensive players?
