The defeat to Bolton has cause alarm to Kenny Dalglish. He said in the post match interview that most of the players already set their mind on the next match, thinking they will walk all over Bolton in Reebok Stadium. He might be correct but the problem lies much more deeper than that.
Lucas is missing
Suarez saga finally landed him 8 matches ban in all England competition and even though Liverpool has taste success without him in the Cup Competition, it wasn't the same in the BPL. Liverpool has not taste victory since the turn of the year and as much as King Kenny is missing Luis Suarez, he wish he has another South American on the field, his name is Lucas Leiva.
Liverpool has not been a menacing force in the attacking department this season with only 25 goals scored in BPL, even Norwich City has scored more than them. In a sense, this statistics confirm Liverpool's current problem on the front, they are missing Suarez while Carroll hasn't found his goalscoring touch with The Reds. Despite of that, Liverpool enjoy the return of Gerrard which has scored few goals since his return but he wasn't that effective on Bolton match. Why?
Lucas is missingAdam, Henderson and Shelvey is not a combative midfielder. Adam can be a defensive mid buthe is not a ball winner, he mistimed his tackle a lot and his temper has given him few cards this season. In order for Gerrard, and the two wingers to support the forwards, they need a midfielder who operates just in front of the back four, helping defense, do the dirty work for the team and when needed, able to pass the ball around confidently. Adam and Gerrard partnership isn't working out against Bolton, Liverpool were dominated in midfield on that match because both of them are midfielders who likes to roam forwards, spraying passes, dishing out through balls and long range shooting. When both of them paired, the midfield area become the weakest part of Liverpool's team against Bolton. They need someone like Lucas who is a great ball winner, do his dirty work for the team and has great range of passing as well. He is out injured until the end of the season and one of the solution for this is to look at the transfer window.
Even though I still believe Liverpool need to buy a clinical striker before the transfer window closed, it won't do no harm to work out a loan deals for one of the adept defensive mid to plug the hole until the end of the season. Liverpool only have Jay Spearing as the combative midfielder but he still below Lucas' quality and need another player to share the duty with him. A loan deal for either Mascherano and Nigel De Jong might be too unrealistic given their price tag and their respective clubs views about the transfers. Juventus' Pazienza isn't getting a regular playing time and could be viewed as an option. We'll see what King Kenny and Comolli has in mind before the window shut.
Liverpool need to be more clinical up front but the midfield problem can't be overlooked and need to be addressed. Liverpool is still playing in 3 competitions, surely an extra body or two could be helpful.
Lucas used to be criticized during the beginning of his Liverpool career. Now when he is out injured, Liverpool find themselves in messy midfield problem. King Kenny Liverpool's revolution has been working well so far, let's see what he will do to tackle this problem.
Links to Goal.com article concerning the Bolton match and the Lucas problem:
