Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says his team is a “little bit broken” after a slow start to the present Premier League campaign.
The ‘Kops’, eleventh on the league standing, have suffered three defeats in their first five matches this season; a situation which the northern Irish boss has largely attributed to changes in his squad over the summer.
“Our game was based on high intensity but, apart from that Tottenham game, we’ve moved away from that,” said Rodgers.
Liverpool last won a league fixture at Tottenham’s White Hart Lane on 31st August, followed by successive defeats by Aston Villa and West Ham.
They have struggled to fill the void left by the departed Luis Suarez while Daniel Sturridge’s injury has reduced the team’s firepower in the forward line. Mario Balotelli, one of the nine players to arrive Anfield this summer, has yet to score a Premier League goal since his £16m transfer from AC Milan.
“We put in a lot of hard work in the first six months to a year we were here, and a lot of those processes became natural,” added Rodgers. “The consequence of that was winning.
“But we introduced a raft of new players- you lose the core of players who were important, and that’s obviously a factor and then it becomes a bit broken.
“That’s how our game has looked for a big part of the season, but I have a group of players here who identify with that.
“We need to get back and refocus on what has allowed us win games consistently over the last 18 months or two years.”
The 41-year-old boss said Sturridge faces further tests which will determine his availability for Saturday’s clash with Everton at Anfield. The England international, 25, has been on the sidelines since injuring his thigh while on international duty earlier in the month.
“He’s someone who responds well to treatment,” Rodgers noted. “We’ll be very happy to have him back and we’re hoping that can be this weekend, but we’ll assess over the next couple of days.”