If Suarez leaves, and it's looking highly likely, we'll be fine. We still have Sturridge, Sterling, Coutinho, Gerrard, and Henderson, all but one are young and all will be improved. We don't need to necessarily make up 31 goals, we could actually play better defense. If we would have prevented just 5 more goals last year, we would have won the league. Last season, we lead the league in defensive errors with 42, 13 which directly resulted in a goal, that obviously has to stop.
If there ever was an example to follow, look no further than Ateltico Madrid from last season. They only scored 77 goals, 27 less than Real, and 23 less than Barça. They also only allowed 26 and committed just 17 defensive errors, which was not best in league, but only 5 off and light years better than 42. They also lost Falcao and Martin Demichelis from the season before.
Falcao scored 28 goals for Atletico in the 2012-13 season, that was a ridiculous 43.1% of their total output of 65. Suarez was 'only' responsible for 30.1% of our goals last season, but his 13 assists means he took part in 42.6%. Atletico rebounded with Diego Costa and added David Villa, we have Sturridge and added Rickie Lambert.
In fact, over the years, Atletico has lost a number of key players. Since summer 2007, they've lost Falcao, Martin Demichelis, Eduardo Salvio, Serio Aguero, David De Gea, Diego Forlan, Jose Manuel Jurado, Simao Sabrosa, Maxi Rodriguez, Martin Petrov, and of course, Torres. In that time they've won a Copa Del Rey, 2 Europa Cups, and 2 UEFA Super Cups. Their progression in La Liga since 2009-10 has been consistent to say the least, they went from 9th to 7th to 5th to 3rd to winning it last season.
They also reduced their goals allowed each season starting in 09-10 they conceded 61, then 53 in 10-11, 46 the next season, and 31 the year before last. The thing is, their goal scoring showed no such progression save last season. Over the same period from 2009-10 to 2012-13, they scored 57, 62, 53, and 65 in each successive season.
Brendan Rodgers appears to have solved our goal scoring issues, but now he needs to focus on defense. I think we'll be better because our defenders, Sakho in particular, should be more familiar with on another. Communication appeared to lack last season, I just hope that changes. Also, the addition of Emre Can gives us another option at defensive midfielder, which is the most important defender on the pitch.
Suarez leaving is far from the end of the world. Yes, he scored and created goals, but he also gave away the ball an awfully lot. Counter attack goals killed us last year, particularly late in the season. We can make up for Suarez by playing smarter defense and most of all, holding on to the ball longer and making smarter passes, though we will need to add at least one more attack-minded player. Hopefully that's Shaqiri, Sanchez, or in the very least, Memphis Depay.
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