Liverpool Can Take Huge Positives from Champions League Loss at Real Madrid

Ultimately, it was a defeat, but Liverpool can take plenty of positives from their 1-0 loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

The only goal of the game arrived on 27 minutes when Karim Benzema finished Marcelo's excellent cross from low range.

There were other chances for the Spaniards, the reigning champions and quite arguably the best team on the planet, but Rodgers' decision to field a very rotated/weakened/second-string team was certainly not proved to be a bad one.

As much as ITV, in their post-match analysis, attempted to distort this match as an opportunity lost for Liverpool, what it actually was was an opportunity well taken by fringe players such as Kolo Toure, Emre Can, Lucas Leiva and Fabio Borini.

There were also positives from the performances of Simon Mignolet, Alberto Moreno, Joe Allen and Adam Lallana.

Changes

The knives were already out for Rodgers pre-match, with plenty of supporters and high-profile media personalities expressing their displeasure at the decision to keep with only three outfield players who started the defeat to Newcastle at the weekend.

"

Selecting a weakened side in Europe's premier competition, especially against Real Madrid, is unbefitting of a club of Liverpool's stature.

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) November 4, 2014"

While some may have had a point in that, traditionally, playing a weakened team on the biggest stage is not what a big club does, that goes against pragmatism.

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

And the pragmatic view is that, actually, Liverpool's supposed strongest team was defeated 3-0 at home to Madrid a fortnight ago—and Madrid took their foot off the gas that night with El Clasico on the horizon. That same strongest team had also failed to score in their last two games and has looked defensively weak all season.

So the chances were that even if using his supposed strongest team, Liverpool would still have lost. So why not give the fringe players their biggest opportunity to prove something and at the same time rest key players and perhaps give them the proverbial rocket up the backside some of them have looked like they've needed in recent weeks?

Performances

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

It is no coincidence that this, along with the League Cup match against Swansea last week, was Liverpool's best defensive display of the season. The major reason for that is Kolo Toure's presence at centre-back.

Liverpool's team as a whole lack leadership, and Dejan Lovren has struggled with being the leader that Rodgers has sought. Martin Skrtel looks better with Toure alongside him, visibly and vocally leading the back four while Mignolet, too, seems to have more confidence with Toure marshalling in front of him.

Mignolet's confidence will have been boosted by his performance, pulling off several good saves again. The Belgian has been under fire recently, but he hasn't been helped by a fragile defence in front of him.

Another plus in defence was Alberto Moreno. The Spaniard was superb at left-back, and of the summer arrivals at Anfield, his looks most like being a success in the long term so far.

Moving into midfield, the trio of Lucas, Can and Joe Allen were everything that Liverpool haven't been this season—combative, dynamic, hustling, tackling and industrious. Gritty isn't always pretty, but it is needed.

Liverpool have craved people to actually put a foot in, close players down and win challenges both in the air and on the floor. Finally, we saw this—against what is the strongest attack and midfield in Europe.

Lazar Markovic was improved on the right of midfield/attack as was Lallana on the other side. Borini worked relentlessly up front and certainly showed why he deserves a chance in his strongest role through the middle in a Premier League game.

Age

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Liverpool's XI was littered with youngsters; Can, Markovic and Javier Manquillo are all only 20, Moreno is only 22, and Borini's just 23. The average age of the starting XI was 24.5 years. That's extremely young when you consider the stage of this match and Toure bringing that up considerably by being the only player over 30, at 33 years old.

What this shows is that Liverpool's policy of signing young players for the future has promise, and these players have been given an experience they will desire in the future, something that they will seek to earn again. They weren't outclassed, and they did show hunger, desire and professionalism.

Some will grumble at the result and Rodgers resting so many players as he did, but those same people would be happy enough had the supposed strongest XI put in this performance, so they can't have it both ways.