IN THE aftermath of Liverpool's undeserved defeat to Manchester United, Brendan Rodgers pointed to Arsenal's poor start last season as reason for hope.

That rather conveniently overlooks the fact Arsenal had a bloke called Robin van Persie playing up front for them at the time.

It's too easy for Liverpool to talk about hard luck. They were unlucky against United, but that's only a part of it.

For me, Liverpool still don't get enough players in the opposition box. Steven Gerrard got into the box and got his goal against United, but that's only their second goal from open play in five league games this season.

When did you last see Joe Allen in the box? Fabio Borini got in there a few times but it's not enough.

Because Liverpool's build-up is obvious and deliberate, it doesn't really allow for players bursting into the area.

Rodgers is trying to get the team playing in the same manner as Swansea City were last season, and the job was done in keeping them in the division. But Liverpool are four stages above that. They need to do more.

They are almost on the cusp of supporters thinking 'we are playing nice, but we are not going to win'.

But they need a goalscorer. Would Barcelona be anything like what they are without Messi? Would they heck.

With no striker to hand, this is how it's going to be until January.

Performances shouldn't matter now for Liverpool, they just have to start winning games. They have to build confidence and, even if it's a scrappy 1-0, they have to start getting over the line.

However, I fear it's only going to get worse if they keep playing precisely the same way.