Rodgers’ Liverpool lineup was more Capital One than Champions League

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/nov/05/brendan-rodgers-liverpool-real-madrid-team-selection

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I accept some of Brendan Rodgers’ reasoning for his team selection against Real Madrid but seven changes for a game of this magnitude is over the top.

It gave the impression that a Champions League game against Real Madrid didn’t matter when, for the thousands of us who paid to come out here, it was a massive game. These are the matches you want to watch.

It wasn’t a surprise when word came out Steven Gerrard wasn’t playing. Realistically. he can’t play every game although resting him at Newcastle on Saturday would have made more sense.

There were serious questions being asked, though, when we heard Jordan Henderson wasn’t playing and that the back four and the attack had also been changed. You don’t expect a Liverpool manager to change his whole team at the Bernabéu but, at the same time, it is a squad game. A lot of money has been spent on building the squad and if the players are not good enough for a game like this then what are they doing at Liverpool?

When I heard the team I was cautiously optimistic that we could do a job on Real Madrid and during the game we achieved more than what most people expected, which was to contain them to a certain degree. The result was still disappointing but not unexpected. At 1-0 at half-time we had a chance in the second half and we gave it a good go without doing enough to win or creating enough chances to draw. Not for the first time this season our play was all nice and neat until it got to the final third. Then it became very structured and organised, with no one willing to take players on.

You want to see your strongest team in a game like this and I take Rodgers’ point about using the squad to some extent. Two or three changes are fine, but seven smacked of a Capital One Cup game and suggested the intention wasn’t to win. I thought it was strange of Rodgers to admit before the game that his priorities are Premier League and Champions League in that order.

Even if it’s true, there are some things a manager shouldn’t say in public and that was one. If you’ve now decided the Champions League doesn’t matter as much and you’re not going to have a go with your first team then perhaps fans shouldn’t bother travelling in huge numbers for these games. Last season it was so important for the club to get back in the Champions League. Now we’re back in it, we’re not going to have a proper go? That suggests the motivation for qualifying was purely financial.

What I don’t understand is that Rodgers has stuck with the same side for weeks, especially with Mario Balotelli, and then suddenly decides to change it altogether for Real Madrid away. Whatever the logic, the bottom line is three Champions League defeats on the bounce, two defeats on the run and the manager has put himself under more pressure to get a result against Chelsea with the team he selected in Madrid.