Frustrated Iago Aspas Needs to Adapt Quickly Else His Future Over at Anfield

Liverpool striker Iago Aspas is already feeling the pressure. The Spanish striker is finding hard to force through a move into the first team of Brendan Rodgers and has admitted that it is increasingly getting harder for him to get regular games.

The Spaniard, who joined the club for a reported fee of £7.5million from Celta Vigo in the summer, has found himself falling down the pecking orders at the club, behind strike duo Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez.

He said recently as quoted in The Daily Mail:

“I’m finding it hard to be a sub at Liverpool having started games in the past few years,’ he said.

“When I left Celta Vigo I was aware that to start for Liverpool wasn’t going to be easy,” added Aspas.

“And now the team is winning and we are among the leaders in the Premier League, it’s much hard to get a game.”

He is right. It is hard. And the worst part is it will only get harder. Simply because, no manager wants to break the winning formulae and Brendan Rodgers is no exception. The challenge is simple – either you adapt to the system or else your future lies elsewhere.

Although Aspas has done little to prove his worth so far but I think Rodgers hasn’t treated him well either. Aspas mainly plays as a striker or a left sided midfielder – but at Liverpool, due to the presence of in-form Sturridge and Coutinho, he had to play the no 10 role in the 4-2-3-1 system in the beginning and no wonder why he looked fish out of water.

Secondly, he was already struggling to adjust to the physical nature of the league; therefore Rodgers didn’t do any favour by playing him out of position.

The problem intensified when Suarez returned as Rodgers deployed 3-4-1-2 formation to accommodate both his strikers. The system will suit players like Coutinho, Moses and both the strikers more than Aspas. Rodgers must understand that Aspas is simply not suitable to play the no 10 role. Either he should play as striker or on the flanks. But, most importantly, Aspas needs to adjust quickly to everything before it gets too late.