Rodgers Sterling gamble pays off

After his team’s 1-0 defeat of a rather hopeless Sunderland side at the Stadium of Light Brendan Rodgers immediately leapt to his won defense over the omission of Raheem Sterling. Raheem Sterling has quite easily been Liverpool’s best player this season. Additionally, playing him as a false striker has seen a sharp upturn in the performance of the team. So, understandably, reactions were mixed but still overwhelmingly of confusion and disbelief. After all, with Liverpool currently on the up, how could Rodgers afford to take his foot off the pedal by recalling Borini, who quite frankly has looked out of his depth, as his main striker, and dropping a player who has been as important to his side as Alexis Sanchez has been for Arsenal? “He has been a real focal point of my plans since I have been here and if we are going to get the best out of him then I feel, at times, he needs that bit of a rest,” said the Reds boss. He just turned 20 years of age in December and he played every one of the Christmas games - he has been a real catalyst for the team - and I just felt he could go away, recover, relax and come back. “As we move into the second part of the season, which we have been excellent over the last couple of years, we will get him back fresh, we get Sturridge back fresh and fit, and we have got Adam Lallana coming back. “I gave him a breather and I was thinking of him and his football career, not just scoring and winning games for me.” I can understand the frustration of Liverpool fans that were left disappointed and disillusioned by Sterling’s omission on Saturday. However, Rodgers’ gamble paid off. Liverpool looked quite comfortable against a rather helpless Sunderland side that, other than Adam Johnson, lacked any ideas going forward. Additionally, we have seen it happen all too often; young English talent burning themselves out, and failing to live up to their lofty expectations due to being overplayed at a young age. By the way, I should also mention that Mario Balotelli had the most lively, and encouraging, performance of his Red’s career, albeit for only 25 minutes. In the end, Rodger’s deserves some credit, and so do his side.

Source: DSG