Five Liverpool players who continued their indifferent starts to the season at Upton Park.
Liverpool’s start to the 2014/15 Premier League season has been in the stark contrast to the rampant way that they finished the last campaign, with this afternoon’s 3-1 reverse at West Ham United being the third defeat for Brendan Rodgers’ men out of their five Premier League fixtures so far.
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With teenager Raheem Sterling perhaps being the only member of Rodgers’ troops to have appeared at Upton Park who can truly hold their head high after the game, there is plenty for the Reds to improve on in the coming week as they prepare for a League Cup tie against Middlesbrough.
These five players, in particular, really need to up their games:
Steven Gerrard
The long-serving Liverpool captain seems to have largely escaped criticism during the club’s start to the season, but his lack of form in central midfield has contributed as much as anything else to their shaky form. This was on display again at Upton Park, with Gerrard largely being peripheral and unable to drive the team forward at a tempo which was going to get them back into the match once two early goals from the Hammers had given Sam Allardyce’s team the initiative.
Dejan Lovren
Having spent £20 million on Croatian international centre back Dejan Lovren from Southampton this summer, Liverpool are entitled to expect more from the former Lyon man, despite a few promising signs early on in his Anfield career. Lovren certainly needs to work on his positioning and the relationship that he has with fellow central defenders Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho if he is to prove worth the substantial outlay, having put in a string of erratic performances so far.
Simon Mignolet
Belgian ‘keeper Mignolet rarely makes a clear mistake, but concerns are starting to arise about how well the former Sunderland man marshals his area – something that was again exposed by West Ham United this afternoon as they scored one goal from a set piece that wasn’t all that far away from Mignolet’s line, whilst a lob from Diafra Sakho also seemed to catch out Mignolet positionally.
Lazar Markovic
The Serbian is yet to get up to full fitness at Anfield and has only put in a couple of substitute appearances so far – but with a lack of creativity clear this afternoon at Upton Park, Liverpool really need their £20m wide man to step it up and start providing for the misfiring Mario Balotelli and Daniel Sturridge, upon the England man’s return. If the Serbian can find his Benfica form in the Premier League then Liverpool have an exciting prospect on their hands, but they need to get him on the pitch for that to come to fruition.
Mario Balotelli
Striker Mario Balotelli cut a largely frustrated figure undernear the floodlights in East London and, despite a significant amount of the issues that Liverpool displayed not being Balotelli’s fault, he still needs to do a little bit more when he is provided with an opportunity. Once or twice Balotelli wasted useful openings around the edge of the box and his lack of confidence when presented with chances so far in his Anfield career has to be a concern.