Started this post as a response to something in the post-match thread, but I think it makes more sense here.
It shouldn't be about dropping him or Gerrard or whoever. What has been done wrong this season is that there hasn't been enough inter-changing of Lucas and Gerrard in that role this keeping them both fresh and using Gerrard further forward if we want to.
Gerrard should be nowhere near playing 3 games a week these days. Not because he can't do it because he probably can to a degree, but because he will maintain a higher degree of freshness and physical capacity if he is can target his game time.
Similarly, if Lucas was playing 3 games a week his levels would drop.
This is one of the biggest transitions in moving to regular European football, the need to manage players so that you keep the team as fresh as possible is a totally different scenario. From early on, when Rodgers decided Sterling needed a rest, or when the same player was left out of the England team and all that followed, there has been a lack of understanding of the need for players, particularly the younger and older members of the squad, to not be overplayed.
The strains of overplaying can lead to a drop in performance, and increase the risk of injury. So you end up like Man United, where so many players have been out with injuries that others who would otherwise be rested are being played and picking up strains themselves. It becomes a viscious circle. With us, it's more a question of form. There's no doubt Sterling has looked a litle jaded from time to time as much of the attacking focus of the team has been on him. Also Gerrard clearly isn't the powerhouse he once was, and wherever you stand on the "quarterback question" a fit, rested Gerrard is more effective than a stressed out, overplayed one, whether that's coming off the bench or starting games.
Balotelli has been picking up knocks, too, and it could be partly that it's because he is being asked to do things, make movements, that his body simply isn't used to. It you're relying on strength in areas that just aren't used to that level of performance, then that has to have an impact on your chances of damaging yourself.
This is why it was absolutely essential for us to go out and buy as many players as we did over the summer, so that we can get back to the level we were at in 08/09 where the absence of any given player didn't dramatically weaken the team. You need three players in the squad for each position on the pitch. Having flexible players helps there, so you don't need a squad of 33, but you still don't want a situation like where we had Glen Johnson as both first choice right back and second choice left back, simply because it meant we had to overplay him and when he inevitably got injured we ended up playing kids at both sides of the defence. (The lads did fine, of course, but that's not a situation anyone would deliberately plan, given the choice.)
What we do have now, is a selection of good young players, who can come in and get games. Emre Can is a great example. A lad that age was never going to be "first choice" in his position when he was up against Gerrard, Lucas, Henderson and Allen, but he's had a fair few games, and will undoubtedly get more. As he seems to look better every time he plays, that's no bad thing. It's about easing the player in.
The trouble we've had was the need to ease in so many in such a short time. In an ideal world, Markovic, for instance, would have arrived when we had a settled team, and got the odd game as cover for Sterling, Coutinho or whoever, or come off the bench as an impact sub in a dozen games before Christmas. That way, the lad gets to know the team, but the team as a whole is still coherent, it's not a bunch of strangers out there, and it's a great way for a young player to gel in to the side, take his chances and make an impact. As it is, Markovic has also had to compete with Lallana, and the front line has been anything but settled, with any given two or three from Sturridge, Balotelli, Lambert, Sterling, Coutinho, Borini and Lallana to try and slot in alongside. Not as simple.
Could we have done anything differently? Arguably we could have bought more last year, but we were facing a possible season of forty games, so it wouldn't have been a case of resting players so much as dropping them. I think it's fair to say we did well last season with what we had availaible. And there were a few players who weren't even used much. So if we had brought in better than Moses, Aspas and co, that might have set us up better for this year, but usually it just doesn't work out like that. We had the right number of players last season, we needed a lot more this season. If we'd relied on the likes of Wisdom, Ilori, Alberto, young lads already at the club, then we'd have missed out on what still look like a decent selection of signings. And those players don't have much more familiarity with first team football here than the signings do, so there wouldn't be much advantage.
In the end, it looks like most of the problems were inevitable, as a consequence of obviously, losing the best player in the world last season, but also having to make so many additions to such a small squad at the same time, which combined with the injury to our key goalscorer, created a perfect storm.
A return to stability, in putting out a more familiar looking side, with Lambert the only "new boy", allowed the team to start to feel like Liverpool again. Someone said a while ago that Lallana was beginning to look like he believed he could play at this level, and I think he's been one of the quickest to adapt, Lambert now looks like he knows what is expected of him (he should do!) and given time, we should be seeing more of the same from the other signings. Moreno, if anything, started too well, scoring a wonder-goal (which obviously, is a good thing) before a couple of small but costly mistakes hit his confidence in himself. He'll bounce back if I'm any judge. Manquillo is still a very young player, but hasn't looked out of his depth at all.
It's at central defence where the partnerships are the hardest to from, and Rodgers' biggest headache going forwards is how to get a consistent solid back line out of Skrtel, Toure, Lovren and Sakho. There are six potential partnerships in there, and it feels like we've seen all of them at times, but the more games we play, the more they should all have an idea of how we are supposed to line up, where they are meant to play and how to read one another's games.
