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Liverpool: Brendan Rodgers' selections mystify Mark Lawrenson
By Chris Bevan BBC Sport
Liverpool are "rudderless" and "going backwards just as fast as they went forwards last season", according to former player Mark Lawrenson.
Lawrenson says he is baffled by some of the team selections and accuses manager Brendan Rodgers of changing his side "like he does his socks".
The BBC Sport pundit also says Daniel Sturridge will not prove to be the "saviour" of the Anfield club.
Yet he feels the Reds can still qualify for next season's Champions League.
Liverpool went out of the Champions League at the group stage following Tuesday's 1-1 home draw with Basel and lie ninth in the Premier League ahead of Sunday's visit to Old Trafford to face Manchester United.
Lawrenson believes the club have regressed since the fixture between the sides last March, when Steven Gerrard scored two penalties and missed a third in a 3-0 victory over the then Premier League champions, and worries that Rodgers seems unsure of how to set up his team tactically.
"It is eight months since Liverpool blew Manchester United away to win 3-0 at Old Trafford but it seems an awful lot longer than that," he said.
"To be frank, Liverpool are all over the place at the moment. They are rudderless, low on confidence and do not seem to have a definitive way of playing."
The former Liverpool and Republic of Ireland defender was particularly scathing about Rodgers' team selection for the must-win match against Basel at Anfield, feeling that England international Adam Lallana, 26, should have started in midfield and questioning the inclusion of Jose Enrique at left-back.
"I do not understand some of Brendan Rodgers' selections - leaving Lallana out against Basel mystified me, as did the inclusion of Enrique, who looked overweight," he said.
By Chris Bevan BBC Sport
Liverpool are "rudderless" and "going backwards just as fast as they went forwards last season", according to former player Mark Lawrenson.
Lawrenson says he is baffled by some of the team selections and accuses manager Brendan Rodgers of changing his side "like he does his socks".
The BBC Sport pundit also says Daniel Sturridge will not prove to be the "saviour" of the Anfield club.
Yet he feels the Reds can still qualify for next season's Champions League.
Liverpool went out of the Champions League at the group stage following Tuesday's 1-1 home draw with Basel and lie ninth in the Premier League ahead of Sunday's visit to Old Trafford to face Manchester United.
Lawrenson believes the club have regressed since the fixture between the sides last March, when Steven Gerrard scored two penalties and missed a third in a 3-0 victory over the then Premier League champions, and worries that Rodgers seems unsure of how to set up his team tactically.
"It is eight months since Liverpool blew Manchester United away to win 3-0 at Old Trafford but it seems an awful lot longer than that," he said.
"To be frank, Liverpool are all over the place at the moment. They are rudderless, low on confidence and do not seem to have a definitive way of playing."
The former Liverpool and Republic of Ireland defender was particularly scathing about Rodgers' team selection for the must-win match against Basel at Anfield, feeling that England international Adam Lallana, 26, should have started in midfield and questioning the inclusion of Jose Enrique at left-back.
"I do not understand some of Brendan Rodgers' selections - leaving Lallana out against Basel mystified me, as did the inclusion of Enrique, who looked overweight," he said.
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