Unusually apposite from Cascarino here:
Tony Cascarino
Last updated at 12:01AM, November 27 2014
Another Liverpool game, another Liverpool mistake. In Sofia last night, it was Simon Mignolet at fault for the goal that gave Ludogorets the lead. It is not the first time this season that the finger of blame has pointed at the Belgium goalkeeper, but that hardly makes him unique. Dejan Lovren, Glen Johnson, Martin Skrtel, Mamadou Sakho and Kolo Touré have all been castigated at one point or another, too.
It is almost like there is a pattern emerging, almost like Liverpool’s inability to keep a clean sheet is not to do with their individual quality at all, but instead rooted in flaws in their collective structure.
Perhaps there would not be an issue if the problem was at the other end. There has been no debate, no mystery about why Aston Villa have not scored goals this season. Put simply, they are not set up to do so: they defend too deep, they cede possession, they try to strike on the counter. You simply cannot be prolific in those circumstances.
What is afflicting Liverpool is just the same. They cannot stop conceding goals because they are not set up to do so. To attribute their problems to a convenient succession of individual mistakes is a red herring. The issue runs deeper, all the way back to Brendan Rodgers.
Liverpool are a vending machine of a side: you’re always likely to get some change out of them. They are a team who continually give their opponents chances. Whether those opportunities are taken is a different matter, but they are always on offer. Liverpool always look vulnerable.
Is that a personnel issue? Are their defenders not good enough? That is the traditional interpretation, but it does not stand up to scrutiny. There is a reason that it does not matter who Rodgers puts in his back four. There is a reason that he can slot in Touré for Lovren or Sakho for Skrtel and it will not make a blind bit of difference.
That is because there is a far bigger problem than the names on the teamsheet: a chronic dysfunction in the system. Liverpool are a deeply average team without the ball. The midfield let runners go, they get caught on the turn, they miss tackles. The defence is not exactly top-class, of course, but they are made to look even worse by how little cover that they are offered.
They make mistakes because they are given so many chances to make mistakes.
All of this was true last season, even while the goals of Luis Suárez and Daniel Sturridge disguised it, and it cost Liverpool dearly. They could not keep a clean sheet in the two most crucial games of the campaign — against Chelsea and Crystal Palace — and that denied them the Barclays Premier League title.
Rodgers has neglected to address that weakness, and in doing so he has revealed his shortcomings. His team give goals and games away. If he wishes to have a prolonged career at an elite club, that has to change. He has to show he is capable of crafting a side who are difficult to beat, of tightening up a defence, of drilling his midfield to give them cover. His failure is costing Liverpool. Continuing to ignore it, hoping it will change, would be the biggest mistake of all.
