With the news that Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge would be on ice for at least another six weeks with a recurrence of his long-standing thigh problem, Reds boss Brendan Rodgers has admitted that he’s going to have to shake things up in order to find a winning formula for the Anfield outfit.
It’s a startling fact that Liverpool don’t have a striker on the books — the injured Sturridge aside — that has found the net in the league. Mario Balotelli has failed to adapt as a lone striker, Fabio Borini has been more of an after-thought than a serious option and Rickie Lambert hasn’t been given an nearly enough of an opportunity to justify being handed the iconic Number Nine shirt. Apparently, that’s about to change.
With the controversial Italian failing to recover in time from the injury he picked up while on international duty, Rodgers will have to choose between Lambert and Borini when the Reds run out at Selhurst Park later today — though it sounds like he was planning on making a change regardless.
“You have to find the solutions when you are not winning games. You have to assess where you can be better and that is something I will always do,” said the Northern Irishman. “I am not dogmatic. I have shown in my time here we have played in various systems: possession and fast football, counter-attacking football. There are other possibilities for us and we will always explore that.”
Regardless of whether this means that he’ll stick with the lone striker or field two of them is yet to be seen, but he did hint at an expanded role for the former Southampton man. “That was one of the reasons we brought in the likes of Rickie. He is a talented footballer but he gives you a different option of playing in a different way” he continued. “When he is in the team you have to ensure you get crosses into the box and get service for him, but it is the job of the manager to analyse that and pick what is the best structure in the game to get you a result.”
