Home La Liga FC Barcelona Brendan Rodgers losing patience with Liverpool misfit Daniel Agger

Brendan Rodgers losing patience with Liverpool misfit Daniel Agger

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Agger was substituted after 63 minutes of Sunday’s 4-3 win over Swansea with the Liverpool manager later confirming he did not think the Denmark captain was up to coping with the physical presence of Wilfried Bony in the visitor’s attack.

Kolo Toure, whose high-profile errors in recent weeks had left him exposed to ridicule, replaced Agger, who must now wait to discover whether he will remain on the sidelines.

The downturn in the fortunes of Agger, who has just returned from a month out with a calf injury, is remarkable given Liverpool rejected bids of £20million from Manchester City in 2012 and £15m from Barcelona last summer for him.

Rodgers has long since been unconvinced that Agger and Martin Skrtel can form a trustworthy partnership and with, the latter having impressed in the main this season, it is the Dane who seems most at risk.

Liverpool travel to Southampton at the weekend for a pivotal game when Rickie Lambert will lead the Saints’ frontline and Rodgers, hardly spoilt for chance defensively, now faces a key decision on whether to stick with Toure.

The defensive frailties evident all season mean reinforcements are essential in the summer, though the sparkling form of Daniel Sturridge and before him Luis Suarez mean Liverpool are maintaining their momentum in spite of their deficiencies.

Sturridge is on the cusp of joining Suarez in plundering 20 league goals in a season – he currently has 18. If he breaks through the barrier, the duo will join Albert Stubbins and Jack Balmer in 1946-47 and Roger Hunt and Ian St John in 1963-64 in becoming only the third set of players to both score 20 in a top flight season. On both previous occasions, Liverpool won the title.

Liverpool, seventh last season, boast a six-point advantage over Spurs in fifth and a nine-point cushion on Manchester United, with games against both looming next month.

“We need to be better defensively as a whole team,” said midfielder Jordan Henderson. “It’s not just about the keeper or the back four. It’s down to all of us. We can defend better, the shape can be better and we can stop conceding silly goals.

“We have shown we are very good going forward. We just need to address one or two things and if we can do that, we will finish as high as we want. We have got 11 games left and every one of them is vital. We’ve got to give it our best shot. We’ve got a big month coming up, starting against Southampton.

“We know that this is a big month. Man United and Tottenham are coming up too. We are just taking each game as it comes.”

Written by Steve Milne

For updates Follow me on twitter – @stevenmilnelive

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