Aldridge: Rodgers is a breath of fresh air – he goes away to win. We continue to look good in the formation Brendan Rodgers has used in recent weeks, it’s the best system to utilise all the quality centre backs we have at the club, we can’t accommodate them in a flat back four, it’s as easy as that. Sakho, Skrtel and Toure have worked out well as a combination and it’s making their manager’s life a bit easier, if we are going to persist with this we need Glen Johnson to chip in with a few goals too, he’s a great asset and I think he needed that game at the weekend, he looked a bit rusty but he didn’t play badly and we won 4-1. Things are positive though, Coutinho has to come back in, Steven Gerrard in a more prominent role would change it again because he will get you 10 goals a season including penalties but additional to that, I think the wing backs have to contribute too. I sympathise with Daniel Agger’s situation but it was always the Liverpool philosophy that you can’t get back into the team when you drop out unless somebody is suspended or they lose form, if I was in that situation and I was asked to play right wing, I’d say: ‘Bloody right I will!’ and I am sure if Daniel gets the opportunity to come in anywhere he will roll his sleeves up and get on with it. I was watching Chelsea the other night and spotted players in their side I had forgotten they had even signed, they have unbelievable strength in depth and that is what we have to aspire to, the owners have to realise that regardless of what a player is valued at when he is out of the side, you keep hold of him. Chelsea have a sugar daddy and we don’t but Liverpool have to make waves to get close to that mantle. The Emirates is one of those places we have done well at in recent seasons with just one defeat in six visits, we historically struggled at Highbury but this place has been OK for us. In the past with one striker and two players wide of him we have been able to nullify their threat going forward, they stretch the pitch and with the wing backs we use at the moment they might just get into areas that harm us, Brendan will be aware of that I am sure but it is the main worry I have about the game there on Saturday. It’s a real top of the table clash, we haven’t said that for a while at this stage of the season. I think their recent form and suffering two home defeats on the spin can only benefit us, much more than them having won 4-0 and 3-0 at home, and they will also be worried about our two lads up front. I’ve always looked at our subs bench to see we were are strength-wise, you look at what we have to come on now and we might be able to call on Coutinho, Agger and Enrique at the weekend and that will make us stronger. We can go armed with the knowledge that Brendan Rodgers is a manager that goes to win games regardless of where they are, the most stark example of how things used to be was Roy Hodgson were away from Anfield you’d be thinking: ‘Do something’ but now we are going out to score goals and create. To go there and get three points we need a 90 minute performance, being dominant in half of the game won’t do, we can’t do what we did last year and fall apart. 5times.co
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 15:30:00 +0000