Sometimes you need to learn to crawl before you can walk, said Steven Gerrard after Liverpool’s none too convincing display against Ludogorets Razgrad on their return to the Champions League. If that seemed an odd comment from the captain of a club with the proudest European record in the country at least it was an honest one. Pitted against the Bulgarian champions, at home, Liverpool were poor. Ludogorets seemed to possess all the pace, flair and invention, and with slightly better finishing and a more composed goalkeeper they might have taken something from the game. The visitors deserved at least a point and, had they managed a shock win – they had the chances – Liverpool would have had little cause for complaint.
With the comfort of three points in the bag courtesy of Gerrard’s stoppage-time penalty, Brendan Rodgers was able to reassure supporters with the old cliche about winning being the most important thing, not the manner in which you win. There is a certain amount of truth in that too. Liverpool did not fall apart or begin to panic, they kept going until the end and managed to get a lucky break because of that.
Yet what Rodgers and the Anfield supporters know equally well is that luck will run out eventually, and probably sooner rather than later for a team that seems to have lost its way in defence, particularly in the centre.
Most of Liverpool’s five European Cups were based on narrow victories and giving nothing away at the back. Some would go as far as to say that Liverpool’s fabled defensive compactness was one of the reasons the back pass to the goalkeeper was eventually outlawed, but there is no need to reopen that old argument here. Liverpool’s basic philosophy was one of “what you have you hold”, and as long as the back door is bolted then it doesn’t take too many goals at the other end to win you the match.
That is history. In the present, Liverpool lined up against Ludogorets with Dejan Lovren and Mamadou Sakho as a centre-back partnership, with Kolo Touré on the bench. Can it really be true, as one supporter commented online after the game, that Liverpool managed to keep those three and part with Daniel Agger? Lovren is a new signing, to be fair, and perhaps needs time to settle and Martin Skrtel, normally so reliable, is currently injured. But on the evidence of the last two games Lovren is nothing like the smooth operator that so impressed Rodgers when Southampton won at Anfield last season.
Word seems to have got around that Liverpool are a soft touch at set pieces. Aston Villa scrambled a winner from one on Saturday, Philippe Senderos could have doubled their lead with a free header from a free-kick later in the first half, and Ludogorets’ Cosmin Moti found exactly the same freedom at Anfield but put a header from a flighted free-kick over the bar. It has been suggested that Simon Mignolet needs to dominate his area with more authority, which is possibly true, though in turn the goalkeeper is entitled to more protection from the two 6ft 2in stoppers ahead of him.
Lovren looked as though he could play a bit when he brought the ball out of defence for Southampton, yet on Tuesday night in the Champions League he almost conceded a goal by dallying too long in possession by the touchline.
Caught, he had to give away a throw-in, then when it was taken quickly he was still out of position near the half way line when Roman Bezjak raced towards the penalty area for a shot on goal. Neither does Sakho inspire confidence on the ball. At least he is back in his preferred position now, after a few unconvincing outings at full-back last season, though his decision-making and positioning is still questionable. The goal that Villa scored at the weekend, the one that won them the match, came as a result of allowing Senderos a free header at a corner. But the corner was conceded by Sakho, who was initially favourite to reach a long ball forward before Gabriel Agbonlahor, yet still allowed the Villa player to gain possession.
As Rodgers accepted afterwards, not only did Liverpool fail to defend the set piece, they should never have given it away in the first place.
The set-piece uncertainty set in last season, when Liverpool conceded a run of similar goals, and Rodgers said it was simply a matter of concentration, something that could be worked on at the training ground. It has not gone away, and neither has the view that Liverpool will not be back among the major prizes until they sort out their defensive issues. While they undoubtedly overachieved by finishing second last season, they conceded 50 goals in the process, more than anyone else in the top six and getting on for twice as many as Chelsea.
Rodgers accepted the need for improvement at the start of the season – “defence is where we want to be better, it wasn’t good enough to concede that many goals considering the amount of possession we had” – yet the only central defender he has brought in is Lovren as a replacement for Agger. While there are two new full-backs for this season in Javier Manquillo and Alberto Moreno, like some of the other summer signings Liverpool have made their principal attraction is the speed at which they can attack.
Moreno, in particular, is a sight to behold in full flight, as Tottenham can testify after the virtuoso goal he scored against them last month. Manquillo got so far forward so late in the game against Ludogorets that he won the penalty that earned Liverpool the points. But while a cavalier attitude is exciting, and a “we’ll score more goals than you” approach refreshing, Liverpool supporters know better than most that there are two aspects to the game and defending is one of them. None of the old Liverpool titles were won by giving goals away unnecessarily, and without Luis Suárez and (currently) Daniel Sturridge to paper over the cracks the goals-against column could be just as much a worry this season as it was the last.