Liverpool cursed by the lack of attacking talent to wear its legendary No. 7
The last time Liverpool and Chelsea faced one another, Steven Gerrard slipped and Liverpool’s dream of hoisting the Premier League trophy slipped away. Regardless of Saturday’s result at Anfield, the 2014-15 season is too young for any result to decide the league title.
Entering the fixture, Chelsea sits at the top of the table, 12 points ahead of Liverpool. Following only one win in their last three league games, Brendan Rodgers’ men are settled into seventh place. Seven, incidentally, is a number Liverpool Football Club cannot seem to shake.
Liverpool’s No. 7 shirt may be the club’s most famous. Its top scorer for the past three seasons, Luis Suarez, wore the famous No. 7 jersey. But with Suarez gone, Liverpool’s legendary No. 7 shirt – worn by club greats Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish and Steve McManaman – no longer appears in the dressing room or on the team sheet.
In many ways, the vacated No. 7 represents the club’s failure to properly replace the quality that it shipped off to Barcelona over the summer.
With Suarez sent packing to Spain, Liverpool looked to equally eccentric Mario Balotelli with high hopes. The former Manchester City forward has failed to make the most of his second chance in English football, wasting far too many easy scoring opportunities.
Let's not forget that Suarez led Europe, not just England, in league goals with 31 a season ago. He shared the European Golden Boot with Cristiano Ronaldo, and Liverpool legend Dalglish personally presented the award to the troubled Uruguayan. At one point during the event, Dalglish joked that Liverpool would gladly welcome Suarez back on loan if everything did not work out in Spain.
After watching Liverpool play 10 rounds in the Premier League, Rodgers should be making weekly calls to Catalonia until the January transfer window closes, however remote the possibility of Suarez's return to Anfield.
Obviously, Daniel Sturridge’s absence due to injury has hurt the club, but Liverpool’s scoring substitutes simply have not hit the mark. Along with Balotelli, Ricky Lambert, Lazar Markovic and Adam Lallana moved to Merseyside over the summer. So far, the foursome of attacking additions has combined for one Premier League goal with more than a quarter of the season complete.
Liverpool also brought in Divock Origi, a Belgian striker who gained fame for a strong performance during the 2014 World Cup, but the 19-year-old was inexplicably sent back out on loan to Lille. For the Ligue 1 side, Origi has already scored four goals in 14 appearances. Rodgers may want to consider calling Lille after Barcelona hangs up on him.
After scoring 101 goals in the Premiership a season ago, Liverpool is currently on pace to score fewer than 50 goals. The Reds' scoring rate has dropped from 2.7 goals per game in 2013-14 to 1.3 goals per game this campaign. The attack has been cut in half.
Defensively, Liverpool continues to have issues. Last season, the Reds allowed 1.3 goals per game as their defensive record was a constant point of criticism and was the worst of any of the clubs that finished in England’s top five. Even David Moyes’ Manchester United, which finished seventh, allowed fewer goals (43) than Liverpool (50).
To remedy the weakness, Liverpool spent notable sums on the likes of Dejan Lovren and Alberto Moreno in hopes to bolster the defense. After 10 matches, Liverpool's defense is again allowing 1.3 goals per game. So, statistically speaking, the defense has not improved, and the eye test matches the statistics.
With a faltering defense and a misfiring attack, Liverpool enters its own stadium as a decided underdog against the Premier League leaders on Saturday. Sitting in seventh place, Liverpool will continue to be haunted by the number 7 until the Reds add quality and find a new forward worthy of its famous No. 7 shirt.
Shahan Ahmed is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. He has previously written about the 2014 World Cup and 2013 Confederations Cup and regularly provides opinions on the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and Spanish La Liga. Follow Shahan on Twitter: @ShahanLA
