The defense might not be really working, but Liverpool are still in the championship race after a dramatic 4-3 win over Swansea, as Jordan Henderson and Daniel Sturridge kept them ahead of the visitors just by about enough each time they came back while Luis Suarez struggled in a winger’s role.
Both Sturridge and Henderson scored twice as Liverpool led and each time found a way to kick the bucket.. Kolo Toure and Martin Skretl, the nightmare duo in terms of Liverpool fans, were at their worst once again, allowing Swansea, with two goals from Wilfried Bony and one from Jonjo Shelvey.
The bottom line was Liverpool are still four points behind the league leaders and very much in the championship race behind Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City. However, with this kind of defense and keeping Suarez so much out of the picture without switching to the middle from time to time, it’s going to be very difficult to keep up with deeper, better teams.
Steven Gerrard remains excellent in his new role as something of a third, advanced centre back. Daniel Sturridge is the hottest striker in the Premier League while Jordan Henderson and Joe Allen (when he came in for Raheem Sterling) are dynamic and energetic, resulting in two goals as well.
However, the Kolo Toure mistake marathon continues, dragging Martin Skrtel and Simon Mignolet, an excellent goalkeeper on most days, down to his level. Philippe Coutinho has matches when he hardly exists, and the same applies for Raheem Sterling, who needs to be a bit more consistent and find ways to contribute when there’s not so much space given to him.
A good win for Liverpool, but not an excellent performance, take from it what you will. It shows Liverpool have the will and mental ability to come back from pretty much anything, but there’s some point which will be too much for Sturrdige and Suarez to pull off another resurrection from.