3 Liverpool Players Who Need to Improve in the Coming Weeks

Liverpool's indifferent start to the 2013/14 has seen the Reds win two and lose three of their opening five Premier League fixtures and a number of key players are struggling for top form.

Mamadou Sakho and Steven Gerrard have looked lethargic in the majority of the Reds' encounters, and summer signing Rickie Lambert has not really had the impact many expected when coming off the bench.

Fitness issues have troubled fellow summer signings Adam Lallana and Lazar Markovic, while Glen Johnson was—as he has been for a while—way off the pace both defensively and as an attacking presence in the Reds' opening two fixtures.

Arguably, only Jordan Henderson and Raheem Sterling have come out of the Reds' opening five games with any real credit. Simon Mignolet has followed up a solid start to the season with a couple of shaky performances.

This article will select the three players that need to improve heading into a Merseyside derby that could either kick start the Reds' season or leave the players' confidence in tatters.

Players will be selected based on current performance during Liverpool's first five Premier League fixtures.

Read on to see who makes the list.

No. 3: Fabio Borini

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Italian striker Fabio Borini comes in at No.3 on the list after failing to make any kind of impact during the opening stages of the new season.

Borini started the Reds' most recent league fixture—a disastrous 3-1 defeat away at West Ham United—alongside Mario Balotelli in attack but failed to impress and was replaced by Rickie Lambert after 75 minutes.

The former Chelsea youngster has failed to justify his reported £11 million fee since arriving at Anfield in 2012 and, after spending the 2013/14 season on loan at Sunderland, was expected to leave Anfield during the summer transfer window.

As reported by James Dickenson of the Express, Borini rejected summer moves to both Sunderland and Queens Park Rangers, opting to stay and fight for his place at Anfield.

In defence of the Italian, and as per via Chris Young of the Hartlepool Mail, Brendan Rodgers' decision to publicly advise the player—his first signing as Liverpool manager—that it was best to leave the club will have done nothing to aid the striker's confidence.

What remains, however, is that Borini is—for now—still a Liverpool player and a Liverpool player with a lot to prove.

No. 2: Steven Gerrard

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The inclusion of influential captain Steven Gerrard may come as a surprise to many, but when push comes to shove the Reds midfielder has fallen well short of his usual high standards.

Whether Gerrard is still struggling to come to terms with the slip that allowed then-Chelsea striker Demba Ba to pounce and effectively end the Reds title challenge towards the end of last season only he knows.

The disappointment experienced by Gerrard was only enhanced when he captained England to their most dismal World Cup showing in recent memory, during which the Three Lions failed to win a single game.

David Anderson of the Mirror reports how manager Brendan Rodgers has leapt to the defence of his talismanic skipper, claiming he is not worried over Gerrard's lethargic start to the new campaign and describing the Reds No. 8 as "brilliant."

There will not be many fans or pundits in world football who disagree with Rodgers, but based on the midfielder's form in the opening five games of this campaign, the term 'could do better' certainly springs to mind.

Despite netting penalties in wins over Tottenham and Ludogorets, the former England captain has looked way off the pace and way short of the player who was so vital to his side's title challenge of 2013/14.

While the season is still only weeks old, Gerrard will surely improve as the weeks and months pass. His decision to retire from international football will surely see both Rodgers and Liverpool reap the rewards, and the player regarded by many as Liverpool's greatest-ever will be back to his influential best.

No. 1: Mamadou Sakho

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The form of centre-back Mamadou Sakho during the opening stages of the new campaign has been patchy to say the least.

The tough-tackling defender began the season as backup to Martin Skrtel and summer signing Dejan Lovren but was given his chance to shine following an injury picked up by Skrtel during the 3-1 defeat at Manchester City.

To be blunt, Sakho has struggled. His positioning, heading, decision making and ball playing has not of the standard expected for a man who cost a reported £18 million from Paris Saint-Germain little more than a year ago.

The French international's lackadaisical approach during the home defeat to Aston Villa saw him gift the visitors the corner in which stand-in skipper Gabriel Agbonlahor scored the decisive goal.

The following week during the Reds' third defeat of the season, this time at the hands of West Ham United, Sakho was again sloppy in possession and guilty of a number of misplaced passes.

The former PSG man looks short of confidence when in possession and also looked unsure during his side's 14-13 penalty shootout victory over Championship side Middlesbrough.

Rodgers' decision to allow Kop favourite Daniel Agger return to Brondby in the summer may look ever more questionable if the form of fellow left-footed centre-back Sakho fails to pick up.

In a vote published by Liverpool Echo, as it currently stands, 85 percent of fans think Rodgers allowed Agger to leave the club too early.

It is likely that the shaky form of Sakho has contributed to such high numbers voting against the decision to sell Agger as Liverpool's defensive struggles of last season carry on into this.

The Reds No.17 found himself back among the substitutes during the Reds' last outing at Upton Park. He replaced Javier Manquillo after just 17 minutes, but Sakho again failed to shore up a shaky back line.

Whether he finds himself back among the substitutes in the coming weeks remains to be seen, but Rodgers certainly needs to whip his back line into shape if the Reds' fortunes are to change and change quickly.

Which Liverpool player do you think has struggled most for form in the opening stages of the 2014/15 season? Is it one of the three included in the list or should others have been featured? As always, leave your comments below.