10 Reasons Luis Suarez Is Irreplacable At Liverpool

4. The Leaky Defence

Last season, Suarez' goals covered up a number of deficiencies throughout the Liverpool squad. Without the formidable SAS partnership, the Merseyside club would have been average mid-table side, with a leaky defence conceding 50 goals - 13 more than table-toppers Man City, and two more than 11th placed Crystal Palace. Mamadou Sakho's lack of a command of the English language meant that he flitted in and out of the squad, failing to grasp an authorative side to his game. This, in turn, had a ripple down effect for the rest of the backline, as it left Slovak Martin Skrtel constantly uncertain who his partner would be. As a result, his play was unsure, and at times, quite sloppy. Kolo Toure, who incredibly was at one point the better brother, lost all of the confidence he built up after a strong start, and the less said about the injury-ravaged Danish centre-half Daniel Agger the better. Right-footed local lad Jon Flanagan was thrown in the deep end at left-back following a season-ending injury to Toon old boy Jose Enrique, while £18 million right back Glen Johnson continued to display another textbook season-long tutorial of 'How Not To Defend'. Without the Uruguayan ready to bail his side out of trouble, Rodgers knows that he has to invest in a couple of decent centre-halves, and at least one full-back. Dejan Lovren for £25 million, you say?