Well I guess it's fair to say that tonight highlighted, in the most damning way, that we truly are short on quality.
Mainly the issue is the fact we remain anything but clinical. I don't know if the shooting coach should be blamed for this recurring problem or the players just can't finish, whatever it is it needs sorting out. If that means paying an extra £2m to bring an attacking player in who is sure to add 10/15 goals to us this season, then so be it. Because otherwise we'll be spending the whole season praying that Sturridge remains injury-free and Suarez doesn't get banned, both of which are unlikely given their track records. Coutinho, Aspas and Gerrard will chip in with some goals and create a fair few but that's not enough for a team who want to be where we do. Arsenal may lack quality in certain positions but Giroud, Podolski, Walcott, Cazorla and Rosicky are all going to score lots of goals. Tottenham may be losing Bale but it seems they're replacing him with Lamela, who's a very good goalscorer, as well as having Soldado and Paulinho, and more than likely they will bring another offensive footballer in before the window shuts.
Of course, goalscoring isn't a massive issue for us, and can be remedied by bringing someone in to take the burden off Sturridge and Suarez somewhat. What is an issue is our tactics in games like tonight; there is simply no need to go gung-ho when 2-0 up, even against a League 1 side. By all means try and look for more goals but not by committing seven or eight outfield players forward, because you're going to get duly punished. It happened to us last season, it happened tonight and it will continue to happen unless Rodgers lets the players know this.
I don't want to come across negative though because I'm happy we progressed and do like what Rodgers is building here. It's just plainly obvious that a couple of players are needed to strengthen our first team, which in turn would improve our squad as decent players like Aspas can be used as squad players as opposed to guaranteed starters. Also, our defensive situation is well documented, but it's been made even more clear tonight that we need someone in, and fast. We've a couple of injury prone centre halves, one who got a bad injury tonight by the looks of it, one who is young and simply cannot be relied upon, one who is likely out for the season and one who the manager doesn't seemingly fancy.
Sterling and Ibe put in decent shifts but were perhaps naive at times in trying to beat players. They are both talented though and have good futures. Sturridge was obviously the difference, again, with one good finish and one fortunate one, but those fortunate ones tend to come off when you're in such hot form. Toure I thought was boss until his injury, I really do hope he isn't out for too long. Henderson did well when he came on. Alberto was lively but will take time settling to the tempo of the game over here. Rest of the team okay at best, except Johnson who I thought was pretty awful tonight. He really needs to recapture the form we saw from him in the first half of last season. As things stand I have little confidence in him defending, and his headless chicken act in attack is quite infuriating.
Disappointing night in some ways, throwing away a lead against a lesser team which ultimately led to the injury of a very good defender, two other injuries to useful squad players and conceding two goals in our usual manner- via a set-piece and a counter-attack. Things that need to be worked on.
Ultimately, though, we won the match and are through to the next round. I don't think the 120 minutes thing is a big deal at this stage of the season, especially as the next game isn't until Sunday.
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