???️ Alberto Moreno; Back To Square One?

Just when it seemed to all be going so well for Alberto Moreno; one bad performance brings out all the same old questions about the left back’s ability and just general state of mind. After an outstanding first half for Liverpool it looked like Moreno was going to be able to shake off the performance against his former side in Basel that has plagued his time on Merseyside but in the space of 10 second half minutes the Spaniard was living his nightmare all over again. With the stop start nature of his Liverpool career it is easy for the opinion of Liverpool fans to sway back to what it was last season; he’s not good enough, we need a better left back etc. But due to the standard of his performances for Klopp this season we can’t be too quick to write him off all over again. Moreno is probably now going to face the same sort of backlash that Lovren got after the Spurs performance; it seemed like the defender’s career at Liverpool was over after being subbed off in the first half but an injury to Matip has meant he’s started the last two games and whisper it very very quietly but he’s been solid in both games. There’s also the fact that Moreno hasn’t been helped by the manager, I understand the need to start your strongest team and secure qualification to the last 16 as group winners but Moreno has been asked to play a lot of football by Klopp. He has started and played the full 90 minutes in every game since the 2-0 defeat to Leicester in the League Cup over two months ago and has been asked to play two games in four days at the time when he and his partner have just had a baby son. It’s not like there are no other options in the position; we bought Andy Robertson in the summer and in the few games he’s played he’s put in some solid performances, there’s also the option of playing James Milner there after he filled in at left back for all of last season and last night. With games coming thick and fast and with a big game at Chelsea at the weekend it wouldn’t have been an outrageous choice to give Moreno a rest for one game and have him fully fresh and ready for the big Premier League game at the weekend. Despite his performance against Sevilla, Moreno has to start at the weekend. It would absolutely destroy his confidence and there’s no need to throw away four months of good performances because he lost his head for 15 minutes. It also gives him a chance to redeem himself at the earliest opportunity as opposed to coming back after a couple games out and having that Sevilla performance hanging over him for weeks. There’s also a problem in the fact that due to the lack of rotation by Klopp Andy Robertson is nowhere near ready to start in a game as big as Chelsea at home. As mentioned he hasn’t played for other two months so to call him back in after so long to face up against the likes of Willian, Pedro etc. would really be throwing him in at the deep end. Personally I feel very confident that Moreno can come back in to the side and get back to his best, if he can motivate himself to reach the level he has after spending a whole season on the bench then it shouldn’t be hard to come back from a 15 minute blip. Despite the game last night he’s still been one of our best players this season so far so it would be unfair to use his past against him when it comes to team selection. If you switched up the personnel and for example Robertson had put in the performances of Moreno but then did what he did last night he would get nowhere near the amount of stick that the Spaniard is getting; there’s a stigma around Moreno and it seems like every one has been waiting for him to mess up so they could say “I told you so” when as supporters of LFC we should be getting behind our players and backing them to come back stronger than ever. The last thing he needs is the fans getting on his back all over again so as Liverpool supporters we need to play our part to make sure Moreno and the rest of the team come back with a bang and get a big result against Chelsea at the weekend.   Article by Louis Connor