This is the time of the season when the true grit of every Premier League club is exposed. And this is the time when a team’s credentials and true aspirations speak for themselves. The same could be said of Liverpool. From December 15, till January 1, 2014, the Reds play five Premier League games starting with Sunday’s away trip to Tottenham Hotspur.
As things stand, Brendan Rodgers’ men are in second place in the league standings and while the position speaks volumes of how well the Merseysiders have done, his squad has already been stretch quite a much with a few key players showing signs of a burn out which result in injuries more often than not.
Daniel Sturridge, who did ever so well for the Reds during Luis Suarez’s ban that will not be discussed anymore, is on the treatment table and will not be seen running around earlier than late January. If that was not enough, Steven Gerrard tweaked his hamstring against West Ham United and could be out for up to six weeks.
Young Philippe Coutinho has been a revelation since joining the club from Internazionale but the young Brazilian is nowhere near 100% which means that a lot of creative and goal scoring burden falls on the shoulders of Luis Suarez.
Defenders Jose Enrique and Sebastian Coates have both been ruled out for long and if Jordan Henderson fails to recover in time for the Tottenham game, Lucas Leiva and Joe Allen will be Rodger’s only two central midfield options.
Moreover, new signings such as Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto have made negligible impacts so far which has forced Rodgers to rely more on the players he had from last season. It is now time for Rodgers to start managing his squad better in light of a very congested schedule that lies ahead. After the luxury of an eight day rest, the Reds play Spurs this Sunday aware of the fact that they have struggled there in the past.
Uruguay international Luis Suarez has shown no signs of rustiness despite making a fairly late start to the current season and has once again been the driving force for his time and a source of inspiration for his teammates. The former Ajax star shone for his team in the last two games but there is a limit to what a player of his talents can do.
The game against Spurs, regardless of their domestic disappointments will not be an easy one and Suarez might not be able to do all those things he did against Norwich and West Ham at White Hart Lane.
Coming off the back of Europa League action in midweek, Spurs would be looking to secure a third league win on a trot and for all the Armageddon-esque nature of discussions taking place about Andre Villas-Boas’ team, a win could see the Londoners go level on points with Liverpool and effectively put a rest to all those rumours regarding the future of their manager – at least for a week.
AVB’s side have battled back from the humiliation they faced at Manchester City courtesy of two good away wins which means that confidence will be running high. In short, an animal that was wounded, has started recovering slowly, something Rodgers and co should be aware of.
