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It's time for Agger to come back

I think the time has come for Daniel Agger to return to the Liverpool side for Saturday’s game with Fulham at Anfield.

Agger is too good a player to be out of the team for too long and after a defeat like Saturday I expect to see him back in the starting line up.

In pictures: Arsenal v Liverpool

We haven’t been defending particularly badly but we haven’t been keeping clean sheets.

Agger has been at the club a long time and is a real stalwart. The vice-captain has been patiently waiting for his chance over the past month and deserves a recall.

Agger is so comfortable bringing the ball out from the back, he reads the game well and also provides a goal threat.

Once again on Saturday we were undone by another long range strike.

I know it was a wonderful goal from Aaron Ramsey and it sounds hyper-critical but you can’t afford to back off players of that calibre.

We didn’t close him down quickly enough and that’s cost us a few times already this season.

Kolo Toure, Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho haven’t done much wrong and I’m not sure which one will make way, but I just think the backline will be stronger with Agger in it.

In general we showed Arsenal far too much respect and they didn’t have to play that well to beat us.

We sat off them in the first half and didn’t get forward as much as we could have done. The frustration for me was that centre-backs Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny were not really tested.

We weren’t able to get much supply to our front two. It was left to Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge to carve out opening for themselves.

We were sloppy at times and didn’t keep the ball as well as we should have done.

Your player ratings: Arsenal v Liverpool

It was only at 2-0 that we started to really create openings and by then it was too late.

Saturday showed we’re certainly off the pace in terms of challenging for the title but I think we all knew that already. The top four is the target and I still believe we can achieve that.

We’ve got 20 points after 10 games and we would have certainly settled for that before the season started.

This is a massive season for us. We all know we have to finish in the Champions League places if we want to keep our star player.

Finish in the top four and maybe Suarez will stay put but otherwise the manager will be faced with another rebuilding process.

We’ve got some big away games coming up at Everton, Tottenham, Man City and Chelsea so we need to learn from losing to Arsenal. We need to show we can carve out results at tough grounds.

After we lost at home to Southampton in September, we won at Sunderland and we need to bounce back in the same way against Fulham this weekend.

They aren’t great away from home and their manager Martin Jol is under pressure. They are there for the taking and need to be put to the sword with a convincing display.

Coutinho comeback is big boost

The one real positive on Saturday was the sight of Philippe Coutinho back in a Liverpool shirt.

The Brazilian showed some lovely touches when he came on in the second half.

He’s a creative influence with his amazing ability to pick a pass and he’s also a goal scorer.

The manager has to play a system which ensures we get the best out of Coutinho, Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge over the coming months.

Whether he sticks with 3-4-1-2 and plays Coutinho just behind the front two in the centre or changes to a flat back four and plays the Brazilian on the left hand side, I’m not sure.

But we certainly need all our match-winners out there as we don’t have enough of them.

The worry for me is that if our front two don’t score then where do the goals come from?

Stevie Gerrard can score and I’m sure he will get his fair share this season, but there’s not enough from the other midfielders and that is a problem for the manager.

Just look at Arsenal. Two of their midfielders – Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramey – made the difference with brilliant finishes on Saturday.

We can’t always be relying on Suarez and Sturridge for goals and hopefully Coutinho’s return will help to ease that burden on them.

The bench did look strong on Saturday and that’s a good sign that we’re getting players back.

Sometimes refereeing lacks common sense

Liverpool didn’t deserve anything from the game against Arsenal but they weren’t helped in the first half by a shocking decision.

When Bacary Sagna brought down Luis Suarez, the striker did brilliantly to spot the chance to take a quick free-kick. He found Daniel Sturridge who crossed for Jordan Henderson to score.

What did Martin Atkinson do? He pulled play back so he could book Sagna and made Liverpool take it again.

I don’t care whether the letter of the law says that was the only time the ref could have booked Sagna. What about giving the advantage to the attacking team?

Liverpool would have much rather the goal was awarded and Sagna got away without a yellow card.

We’ve all seen how referees love to throw their arms in the air to show everyone how brilliant they are allowing a game to flow. Atkinson would have been applauded for a great decision but he used no common sense.

Exactly the same thing happened to me once in a game for the Republic of Ireland against Scotland at Hampden Park. I was fouled and took a quick free-kick to Mark Lawrenson who scored and the goal stood.

Intelligent play like Suarez’s should be rewarded not penalised.

We're a better side with Glen Johnson

Glen Johnson was a big miss at the Emirates but I thought Jon Flanagan did well in that wing-back role.

You couldn’t fault him as he was solid defensively and tried to get forward when he could. Considering he hadn’t played for so long, he coped well in a difficult game.

But there’s no doubt we missed Johnson’s creative talents in the final third. We’re a better side with Johnson in it.