Could Raheem Sterling Be the Solution to Liverpool's Attacking Problems?

Something is amiss at Liverpool. Some will point to the loss of Luis Suarez over the summer, and of course the sale of the Uruguayan striker to Barcelona has hit the Reds hard. But the issues at Anfield go deeper than that.

Five games into the new Premier League season and Liverpool have claimed just six points, simultaneously struggling in the Champions League and the League Cup. Anyone who has watched Brendan Rodgers’ side this season knows that the spark that lit up their play last season is gone, or at least flickering.

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Perhaps this is down to the scattergun approach of Rodgers’ transfer strategy over the summer, with no less than nine players arriving at Anfield for a combined total of £130 million.

Subsequently, Rodgers has experimented with a 4-5-1 formation, allowing his side more of an outlet in the wide areas following the capture of Lazar Markovic and full-backs Alberto Moreno and Javier Manquillo. Without his strike partner Suarez, Daniel Sturridge carried the Liverpool attack.

But that system was devised before the signing of Mario Balotelli late in the summer transfer window. Now with two top-tier strikers at his disposal, Rodgers will likely switch back to 4-4-2, because you can hardly ignore someone of Balotelli’s quality.

However, a thigh injury suffered by Sturridge while on England duty has disrupted any sort of rhythm Liverpool had been building. The Reds have felt the full force of Sturridge’s absence.

The injury to Sturridge came at just the wrong time for Rodgers and Liverpool. With the task of tweaking the lineup to deal with the loss of Suarez they now have to make do without their second top scorer, when Mario Balotelli is being inducted into the team.

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It’s a far from ideal situation for Rodgers, who also seems unsure of how to best utilize Rickie Lambert, admitting to Sky Sports after the penalty shootout win over Middlesbrough that his side didn’t provide the front man with the kind of service he thrives on.

For a club that came so close to winning the title with a brand of fast and furious attacking play, Liverpool have been strangely ponderous in the final third this term. They didn’t just lose their top scorer when they sold Suarez, but also a significant chunk of their identity as a side it would seem.

The one shining light in Liverpool’s somewhat gloomy season thus far has been Raheem Sterling, the 19-year-old who has now taken to carrying both club and country on a regular basis.

By trade Sterling is a winger, possessing all the natural traits that make up a great wide player. But Rodgers has realized that by playing him in a more central role, his influence can be amplified further.

So with Liverpool struggling for mobility in attack, and with Balotelli unwilling to run the channels in the way Suarez or Sturridge do, could Sterling be a temporary solution as a striker?

“Daniel is a massive miss for us,” Sterling himself admitted, as per Luke Augustus of the Daily Mail, “with his goals and the way he plays in behind defenders.”

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The point could be made that as something of an inverted forward, Sterling’s influence on the front line is already profound, but his movement in behind the opposition defence in a more central role could see Liverpool find a makeshift Suarez replacement.

Balotelli is a different kind of forward to Suarez. While the Uruguayan was a hub of perpetual wriggling and dynamism, Balotelli is a more physical presence. He asks for the ball to be played into him, not played somewhere for him to run into.

Alongside someone like Sturridge it is a strike partnership that could, in all theory, work. But with the English striker out injured for at least a few more weeks, Rodgers must start the search for a temporary solution.

The addition of Adam Lallana and Lazar Markovic, as well as Emre Can in the centre of midfield, mean that Liverpool have plenty of depth in the attacking midfield positions.

Should Sterling be pushed up top, Rodgers would have sufficient cover to make up for his absence in midfield and out wide. If Liverpool are in desperate need of mobility and energy in attack, Rodgers only has to look at his most mobile and energetic player to find it.