Rodgers right to drop players but this trio deserved to start
BRENDAN RODGERS felt the Chelsea game would be the biggest of Liverpool’s week. After an extraordinary night in Madrid on Tuesday, it has now become bigger than even he could have imagined.
I was in Madrid as a fan. These occasions sum up what Liverpool are about: the Champions League, a capacity crowd in a magnificent stadium, supporters travelling in vast numbers, dreaming they will be able to say in years to come: ‘I was there the night we beat Real Madrid.’
It turned out to be a game that will live in the memory but not for the reasons anyone hoped would be the case. The team sheet that Rodgers handed in before kick-off — and the relentless debate that followed — has seen to that.
Rodgers has received some scathing criticism for making seven changes but I am not going to join the chorus of disapproval. Some of his decisions I didn’t agree with, others I could completely understand. This is how I saw it.
When we got into the Bernabeu before kick- off, the full extent of how much Rodgers had altered his team had circulated and it left many high up in the away section, who already viewed the fixture with trepidation, fearing a night even more painful than the one Madrid inflicted at Anfield.
So then I began to study the team sheet. Javier Manquillo instead of Glen Johnson? I could understand that. Manquillo has been Liverpool’s best right back this season. Kolo Toure for Dejan Lovren? Again, no problem. Lovren’s erratic form meant he didn’t deserve to be picked.
Fabio Borini for Mario Balotelli? No issue there. Borini covered more ground in one game than Balotelli had done in 10.
The absence of Philippe Coutinho didn’t bother me, either, as he can’t be trusted to deliver in big away games. Those players who came in all deserve to start against Chelsea.
Rodgers, remember, wasn’t ripping up a team that had won six straight matches. Nobody knows what Liverpool’s best XI is at present, not even the manager. And if we think the best he had were on show when Madrid came to Anfield, being on the end of a 3-0 battering weakens those claims. What’s more, Liverpool were never going to attack Madrid, so the changes didn’t alter tactics. Anyone who believes Liverpool, under Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez, took on top teams away in Europe are living in a dream world. We didn’t. Neither did the allconquering sides in the 1970s and 1980s.
Yet what I couldn’t fathom were the omissions of Steven Gerrard (Rodgers’s captain), Jordan Henderson (his vice-captain) and the best attacker, Raheem Sterling.
Those three, along with Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, were the reason they came so close to winning the title and returned to Europe’s elite. After their efforts last season, they deserved to start in the Bernabeu.
The reason players love the Champions League so much is the thought of playing in an arena such as the Bernabeu. What are the chances of Stevie playing there again? Will Jordan and Raheem ever have the opportunity in the future?
You believe that you will get plenty of chances but I played for Liverpool for 17 years and a trip to the Bernabeu only came around once. I felt those three deserved to be in the team and it had nothing to do with sentiment. They deserved to play because they are part of Liverpool’s best team.
I can imagine how they would have felt when Rodgers told them they were out. They would have been professional but they would have been devastated. When you grow up, you dream about playing against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu.
During my career, I won several big trophies but, believe me, nights in the Nou Camp, the San Siro and the Bernabeu, three of football’s cathedrals, are up there in my memories; victories against Barcelona (February 2007), Inter Milan (March 2008) and Real (February 2009) were special.
This squad had a similar opportunity. Yes, Liverpool played reasonably well and showed more than they had for a number of weeks but relief that they didn’t suffer a heavy defeat is not what following Liverpool in Europe should be about.
What confuses me is the importance today’s game has been given. It is big, of course it is. But there are 28 matches to go.
Winning today won’t guarantee Liverpool’s place in the top four this season, in the same way a defeat won’t leave them with too much ground to make up.
It baffles me when teams are more interested in qualifying for the competition next season than doing their best in the competition they are already in. Chelsea isn’t make or break.
Had Manchester United — a side with no European commitments — been the visitors to Anfield this lunchtime and Liverpool had played abroad on Wednesday night, I could have seen why Rodgers wanted Gerrard, Henderson and Sterling refreshed, but not on this occasion.
They are playing a Chelsea side who have been away in Europe and had 24 hours less to recover. Liverpool stayed in Madrid after the game to train on Wednesday, too, so the players haven’t had a disrupted night’s sleep to contend with. The physical demands haven’t been so severe.
This, however, is where we are. When you are involved with Liverpool, things can be moving along quietly when an issue explodes and takes over.
This is one of those times.