Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool seeking to reclaim their identity against resurgent Manchester United

Once high-flying side facing a new identity crisis ahead of trip to Old Trafford, writes Richard Jolly.

From right, Liverpool's Joe Allen, Dejan Lovren, Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling walk off at the end of the match after drawing with Basel in their Uefa Champions League match at Anfield in LiveShow more

If felt like the end of an ethos.

Manager Brendan Rodgers arrived at Anfield with a 180-page manifesto and a philosophy he espoused at every opportunity. Liverpool's dismal Uefa Champions League campaign concluded with a centre-back, Martin Skrtel, thrust up front as his teammates aimed long balls at the stopper-turned-striker.

The argument in recent weeks has been that Liverpool have abandoned style for substance. The outcome indicated they have not even got that.

Yet on Sunday they return to the ground where Rodgers’s idealism seemed to reach its apotheosis: Old Trafford. His Liverpool had evolved from pursuing “death by football”, to quote the Northern Irishman, or passing for passing’s sake, to cite the accusation levelled by his critics, to produce a side noted for its pace and potency.

They won 3-0 against Manchester United in March. They were a side with eviscerating attackers, flexible midfielders, inventive tactics and an emphasis on youth. Rodgers went into a potentially season-defining game by showing he was bold enough to select Raheem Sterling in a new position, as a No 10. He made David Moyes, who is only 10 years his senior, look like a dinosaur, trapped in a tactical straitjacket.

Exciting and innovative, Liverpool had an identity then. They have lost it now. A side that once surged out of the blocks, destroying opponents in half an hour, now make laboured starts. In 11 Premier and Champions League games at Anfield this season, they have scored four first-half goals. One of those required a sizeable deflection.

They produce plodding performances, devoid of urgency and intensity. They were the most watchable side in England in the first half of 2014. Now, large swathes of games elapse with nothing happening.

The notion of a futuristic side was abandoned when, with the side struggling, a spine of Kolo Toure, Lucas Leiva and Rickie Lambert was constructed. The defender is 33, the striker 32 and the midfielder, considering his injury problems, an old 27. Each is a limited player. None possesses great speed.

The notion was that Liverpool were introducing experience to bring solidity. The fact that they are unbeaten in five games should not be used to suggest it has succeeded, not considering the limited nature of their last five opponents. When Liverpool visited Ludogorets, the tactics seemed borrowed from Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez’s handbooks for European away games: a watchful 4-4-1-1 formation. Yet they still conceded twice to the lightly regarded Bulgarian side. The Frenchman and the Spaniard may have been cautious counter-attackers, but their defences were well-drilled. Rodgers’s back four is not.

The idea that Liverpool were using the windfall from Luis Suarez's sale to build a team for years to come has been abandoned, too. Only Lambert of the nine summer signings is over 26. Had Toure been fit, he would have been the only one to start against Basel on Tuesday, too. The newcomers form a costly group on the bench, an instant indictment of the controversial transfer committee.

So it leaves Liverpool with an identity crisis. What do they stand for now? Overspending and underachievement? An enduring over-reliance on an ageing Steven Gerrard? A reversion to unhappily envying the teams in the top four? A club whose nostalgic streak extends to their golden form in the spring of 2014 as well as the glory days of the 1970s and 1980s?

For a heady spell earlier this year, they could look down on United, savouring the misfortunes of historic rivals. There has been a swift role reversal. Now United manager Louis van Gaal is the manager who overuses the word “philosophy”, arguing there will be an idyllic end point when players really understand and implement his ideas.

Rodgers still switches formation, chops and changes his players, but the impression is that he does it with more desperation than inspiration. Any semblance of a master plan seems to have been abandoned. There is only short-termism. And if Liverpool lose at Old Trafford, their immediate future will look bleak, too.

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