Liverpool's ownership questions will be resolved soon enough, and once that unfolds, the club will again have to face their reality: 18th place in the league table and having scored just seven goals in seven league matches.
Even if Manchester City has joined Chelsea in buying the world, and Tottenham has opened their wallets for Rafael Van Der Vaart since making the Champions League, there's no denying that Liverpool still has top-four talent. The problem is making the pieces fit properly, and much of that comes down to formation.
Basically, the team is struggling to get the ball to Fernando Torres, and the reason is simple — he's usually physically overmatched when alone up top, and he's coming off injuries to boot. He needs a target man to get him the ball, and right now, the team doesn't have one. Milan Jovanovic has yet to settle at Anfield, and David Ngog hasn't yet learned to use his size to his advantage.
The pairing of Dirk Kuyt and Torres up top has been used in the past, but though Kuyt was a striker during his days in Holland, he is really more of a workhorse wing at this point, perfect for the flank in a 4-4-2. The team has even occasionally gone to Steven Gerrard as a forward in the past, but neither that, nor the deep-lying role that he has often been relegated to this season, is where he is at his best. He should be playing in a free attacking role in central midfield while Christian Poulsen plays as a deeper midfielder.
All of this, of course, relies on the presence of a target man, and Liverpool has recently been linked to Bayern Leverkusen and German international forward Stefan Kiessling. Kiessling, at over 6-foot-3, is a physically imposing presence who can do what Torres often fails to do — receive long balls, play the hold up, challenge defenders, and work back towards midfield for touches.
When Liverpool is clicking, Torres doesn't disappear in games, but that seems to definitively occur when the team seems out of sorts. Adding a target man like Kiessling may be exactly what the club needs to prevent that from occurring.
Fulham, Schalke and Milan all also may be interested in acquiring Kiessling when the transfer window opens in January, and while it is often unwise for new ownership or management to go out of their way to make their presences felt with acquisitions, this could be one worth considering.
It also shouldn't go unsaid that Kiessling is no Emile Heskey. He's a big forward who actually scores. He had 21 goals in 33 matches last year for Leverkusen.
Liverpool surely isn't in danger of relegation, but the team needs to find a way to make the most of its talent. When all else fails — and it has — a return to the trusty 4-4-2 is always a good fix. With Kiessling paired with Torres, that could get the Reds' offense the boost it needs to get them back in the Champions League hunt.
