Who's to blame for Liverpool's crisis?

Image: BBC

You've been reading a book entitled 'What's gone wrong at Anfield' for the past five years. 

Your eyes are firmly glued to the page, mesmerised by the twists and turns in stages of decline of this once great football club. 

Chapter five finished. A glimmer of hope in your voice and a twinkle in your eye after you put the book down temporarily. 

What you believed was a positive turn in the story - it wasn't.

You pick the book back up, you just had to, the story is just too engaging. Prepare to dust yourself down and get ready for another twist as chapter six is ready to grip your attention ever tighter. 

'Who's to blame this time?' is what you're already thinking.

Pointing the finger at Brendan Rodgers is a brave move. 

This is the same man that fine-tuned an average Liverpool side into title contenders just six months ago, remember?

Coming out in public and accepting the blame for the recent poor run would have been an admirable decision by the Northern Irishman.

Well that's exactly what the 41-year-old did in a recent interview.

“I’m not arrogant enough to think that I will be in a job through anything,” Rodgers reveals,

“Any manager will tell you that you have to win games and you have to get results, especially after how we’ve been developing as a football club. 

"But I have a great communication line with the owners. 

"We’ve been honest enough with each other but ultimately you have to get results. 

"You have to perform."

Has it really been Rodgers' tactics that have silenced Liverpool fans this campaign, or is it the lack of effort some of the first team players appear to be giving?

Defence is the obvious key issue at Anfield.

Croatian centre-half Dejan Lovren joined the club in the summer in a midst of hype over Liverpool's first season back in Europe's elite competition - the Champions League.

Look down into the drain and you'll find the £20 million pounds spent on him.

The 25-year-old defender has struggled to break into the side, with Rodgers preferring French International Mamadou Sakho and fans favourite Martin Skrtel. 

Lovren has looked unmotivated in the games he has featured in, seeming to lack any passion for the game.

Simon Mignolet. Need I say more?

Mistake after mistake. He's cost us a lot of much-needed points this season.

Absentee Daniel Sturridge has also proved to be a huge loss for the red half of Merseyside.

Prolific and dangerous - he poses a threat against every team we play. Injured until New Year, we'll have to scrape through December and hope Ricky Lambert and Mario Balotelli can prove useful.

However there is one thing I can’t defend Rodgers on, and that’s replacing the poor replacement for the devastating loss of Luis Suarez to Barcelona.

Liverpool currently lay 12th in the Barclays Premier League - losing as many games as they did in last years campaign in just 12 fixtures.

By Daryl Greenland & Stephen Matthews