22Feb

Lack of depth an obstacle for Liverpool’s long-term ambitions

by Ed James

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Since the Premiership began in the early 1990s depth has always been a key factor in building a squad to win the much coveted league title. The Manchester United sides of the mid-to-late 90s, the Arsenal ‘Invincibles’ side, the Chelsea sides under Jose Mourinho. They all had one thing in common – incredible depth.

Among other things, the most glaring weakness amongst the current group of Liverpool players is the depth, or lack thereof. Should Jose Enrique break down with a sudden hamstring injury as happened in early-February against Tottenham, crisis mode occurs. Should star striker Luis Suarez miss an extended run of games as happened in January, crisis mode occurs. Should remarkably improved defensive midfielder Lucas suffer a long-term injury as happened in November, crisis mode occurs.

Despite popular belief, the starting eleven is actually incredibly strong. The back three of Reina-Skrtel-Agger is the undisputed best in the league and provides a more than solid base to build upon. Johnson and Enrique then provide a magnificent mix of providing a threat in attack as well as being extremely resilient in defence.

Lucas Leiva has finally convinced opposition fans he is amongst the best in the business, occupying the famed holding role. Alongside him would be another of the best in the world at his required role, Steven Gerrard. On the right-hand side is the ever improving Jordan Henderson, who on his day can compete with the very best. Stewart Downing, who has had sub-par season thus far, also has the potential to create numerous chances. Craig Bellamy provides a better short-term option on the left-wing, currently, though.

As meagre as his season and Liverpool career has been thus far, Andy Carroll has shown glimpses of the striker that earned himself a £35million move to Britain’s most successful club. The aerial threat of Carroll combined with the spectacular footwork and pure ability of Luis Suarez presents a mouth-wateringly strong strike-force, when on song.

After this eleven (or twelve should we include Bellamy) the standard appears to drop quite dramatically.

Despite the fact that the standard of bench defensive midfielders is fairly poor, Liverpool lag behind. Jay Spearing has proven on various occasions that he’s not up to the Premier League’s incredibly high standards. Where other teams have the likes of Nigel De Jong, Sandro, Jack Rodwell et al as backup defensive midfielders, Spearing just cannot compete – mainly due to his lack of positional awareness; an attribute which his superior, Lucas Leiva, has in gallons.

The issue amongst the central defenders is also an issue. The Skrtel-Agger partnership has been incredible throughout the 2011-12 season, but Agger is well-known for not being able to strong together a long run of games. His backup is either a rapidly aging Jamie Carragher, or an inexperienced Sebastian Coates who has been found out in his appearances in England thus far. I’m not suggesting we bring in a central defender, because I feel Coates and Kelly will more than fill the void in the long-term. But in the short-term, it is most certainly an issue.

The lack of depth in attack is also worrying. Suarez, Carroll and Bellamy provide an excellent base of which to expand upon. For a number of years, the best sides in the world have always had at least four strong attacks. Cole-Yorke-Sheringham-Solskjaer. Henry-Bergkamp-Wiltord-Kanu. Owen-Fowler-Heskey-Anelka. And more recently, Aguero-Balotelli-Tevez-Dzeko. All it takes is one more top quality striker and the attack as a unit could easily be up there with some of the best in the Premier League over the past twenty years.

Kenny Dalglish and Damien Comolli should adopt this tactic when forming the squad for the 2012-13 season. The current squad has some excellent players in the starting eleven, and even some strong depth in certain areas. But it is vitally important to sign more players than we sell over the Summer if we are to mount a serious chance for the top four, and challenge for trophies. The likes of Maxi Rodriguez, Charlie Adam, Martin Kelly etc. provide excellent depth and one or two more top quality players would massively increase the depth of the squad, by pushing the current players onto the bench and fighting for a place. Iain Ayre commented that “money does not matter” concerning incoming transfers. Well, go on then, prove it.

Posted by Liverpool fan Ed Ames 

Follow Ed on Twitter @EdJames_