Liverpool and Rodgers Have No Plan B

Last night, Liverpool once again dominated possession against their opponents West Brom but once again ended up on the losing side. It seems that Rodgers does not have any Plan B when things are not working for the reds.
The defeat meant that Liverpool are now 9th in the league and a massive 12 points behind the final champions league spot where Tottenham sit in 4th place. Any hopes of qualifying for Europe’s elite tournament might have ended with the loss.
The Reds had majority of the possession in the game and over 60% in the second half yet they could not capitalize. Steve Clarke is a brilliant tactical manager and set up his team in a way that Liverpool could not get behind the defense.
Merseysiders had a brilliant record at Anfield coming into this fixture but they could not create a single clear cut opportunity against West Brom. Their best chance was perhaps from a harsh penalty awarded but skipper Steven Gerrard’s spot kick was well saved by man of the match Ben Foster who kept the reds out numerous times with wonderful saves.
Liverpool did miss the prolific Daniel Sturridge but in his absence, Rodgers started Shelvey instead of an outwide player Sterling, in turn he had to shift Henderson out wide to settle Shelvey in the middle who was by far the flop of the game.
The problem is that Rodgers believes in his methods and that is perhaps only one method. Having seen that West Brom’s defensive set up was good enough to stop the passing style, Rodgers did make personnel changes, but the system remained the same. Again, reds are themselves to blame, and one cannot come up with this excuse all the time that they deserved to win but could not, just like it happened a week back versus Manchester City.
Once again a defensive error cost Liverpool. West Brom who could not threaten Liverpool all night eventually scored from a corner in the 80th minute, this time Agger let McAuley get away who headed the ball in the net. Adding insult to injury, substitute Lukaku scored in the 90th minute to complete Liverpool’s misery.
With 12 games left in the league, it is highly unlikely that the Reds can produce a miracle and somehow qualify for the Champions League. Whether or not they can recover from this loss remains to be seen but Rodgers must not be overly confident in his style of play when it is not working against a rigid defense. He must shift to Plan B but the question is, does he really have one, we really have not seen one.