Daniel Sturridge-Mario Balotelli Partnership Fails in Liverpool Loss at Besiktas
Liverpool struggled to a 5-4 penalty-shootout defeat away to Europa League opponents Besiktas in their last-32 second-leg clash, and the failure of the strike partnership of Daniel Sturridge and Mario Balotelli underpinned a poor performance from the Reds.
Besiktas looked to frustrate Liverpool for much of the game before hitting the gas in the second half, with substitute Tolgay Arslan putting Slaven Bilic's side up 1-0 on the night and level on aggregate.
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The resulting penalty shootout saw a host of comfortable strikes before Liverpool centre-back Dejan Lovren's miserable attempt soared high and wide to consign Brendan Rodgers' side to defeat.
Despite this disappointment, Liverpool should have vanquished their opponents in normal time.
Rodgers can thank the uninspired Sturridge and Balotelli pairing for this initial failure.
Daniel Sturridge
Missing five months of the season through various injuries, absence made the hearts of many Liverpool fans grow fonder when considering Sturridge on Merseyside—the No. 15 was held up alone as the saviour of a troubled season.
Rodgers even confirmed as much last week, as reported by Andy Kelly of the Liverpool Echo.
"We’d put in two years of work building to get through to that stage and our objectives from me personally were very clear, we wanted to make the Champions League," Rodgers professed, outlining his disappointment at crashing out during the group stages of Europe's elite competition.
"Of course to arrive in there not having the team and the way of working to go and play that way, it was, it was frustrating," the manager continued, with Sturridge's absence clearly looming large.
Sturridge returned with a great impact in his first Premier League outing back, with a goal within 12 minutes of his introduction in Liverpool's 2-0 January win at home to West Ham United.
Since then, however, the striker has struggled for form.
Thursday's loss at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium continued this trend, with the 25-year-old looking short of sharpness, despite playing just 29 minutes in Sunday's win at home to Southampton.
"Sturridge very frustrating. Taking too much out of it or not passing when needed. Decision making awful. #LFC
— Rooster Cogburn (@IrishYeats) February 26, 2015"
This was only Sturridge's second European appearance for the Reds, and the striker looked desperate to impress.
Unfortunately, this translated into greed, with Sturridge often preferring to shoot in a difficult position, or attempt to twist out of a tight situation, rather than pass to a team-mate in a better position.
This left Sturridge at odds with Balotelli who, belying his reputation, was far more altruistic.
Mario Balotelli
Having not started for Liverpool almost four months, Balotelli had earned his place in Rodgers' first team after a series of influential substitute appearances in recent weeks.
Despite two goals in his last three games for the club, and a marked improvement in form, Balotelli was criticised by his manager after the first-leg win over Besiktas at Anfield.
As Dominic King of the Daily Mail relayed, Rodgers was far from happy with the striker's application.
"We need to ensure that we have everyone working as a team and once we got the penalty he stops working," Rodgers claimed. "He needs to improve on that facet of his game—to play in his position rather than standing on the side of the football field."
The manager went on: "He needs to keep that efficiency in his game and show that he can affect the team whether he is asked to play from the bench or from the start."
With those words clearly fresh in his mind, Balotelli toiled from the first whistle.
Balotelli made one tackle and two interceptions in his 81 minutes on the pitch on Thursday, with this total equalling the output of Sturridge and Raheem Sterling combined.
As a partnership, Sturridge and Balotelli looked increasingly at odds with each other, and this was worsened with the latter being moved into a right wing position as Liverpool chased a winner.
With just two shots on goal between them, Sturridge and Balotelli's partnership proved a disappointing one in Turkey.
Extra Time
There are many causes for frustration for Rodgers after Liverpool's defeat at the hands of what should be considered a lower-level opposition in Besiktas.
Naturally, the manner of the loss and the struggles of Sturridge and Balotelli should be high up the list for the Reds manager.
That his side had to endure 120 minutes of high-intensity action ahead of Sunday's midday Premier League clash with Manchester City should be Rodgers' main concern, however.
Sturridge—who has yet to reach peak fitness since his return from injury—played 105 minutes of the clash, while Sterling—who has played the most minutes of any Liverpool outfield player this season—lasted the full 120.
Rodgers now has just two days to prepare his side for a league clash which could define Liverpool's top-four challenge this season.
Daniel Sturridge and Mario Balotelli's failure to coalesce at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Liverpool's Europa League last-32 penalty-shootout loss to Besiktas should encapsulate the upcoming struggle—Brendan Rodgers needs to find a way to mesh his side together once more and rebuild momentum.
Statistics via WhoScored.com.
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