Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge reckons that manage Brendan Rodgers may have missed a great opportunity to take advantage of the recent good form shown by defender Kolo Toure.
The Ivory Coast international made a rare start in the Champions League group stage match against Real Madrid. It was a surprise inclusion given thatToure had played only one minute of Premier League football this season. The 33-year-old is on the fringes of first-team and he is widely expected to leave the club in January. However, his impressive performance against Madrid has called for inclusion into the team especially at a time when Liverpool have been struggling defensively.
The club signed Dejan Lovren from Southampton for £ 20 million, but he has been a major disappointment. Despite having been partnered with Martin Skrtel almost every match, Lovren is yet to show any signs of a partnership developing between the two. This has seen Liverpool make no improvements in the defensive area of the pitch, while they have also regressed in an attacking sense. The club conceded more than 50 league goals last season and they are on course to doing the same.Aldridge says thatToure showed enough against Madrid, especially by playing against Cristiano Ronaldo, that he still has enough quality.
“Brendan is the manager and stands or falls by his decisions, but I have to say I was surprised that Kolo Toure was left out following his performance in Spain.He was by far our best player in the Bernabeu and had a great game.He is playing with confidence and I would have asked him to continue on Saturday.If he is playing with confidence, that will spread to his defensive partners and the goalkeeper – and suddenly the defensive unit immediately starts to look more secure,” said Aldridge after the 2-0 defeat against Chelsea.
