Life has been quite bittersweet for a Liverpool fan this year. From January to the end of April, this team seemed invincible and were top of the league. Then a defeat at the hands of Chelsea soon followed and it capped off with losing a 3-0 lead against Crystal Palace in a game that was so crucial for the title race and put a dagger through our hearts. But it was an extremely successful season nonetheless, as this team that was supposed to contend for a top 4 finish ended up challenging for the title itself. Young players like Sterling, Henderson, Struddige and Couthinho had breakout years, Brendan Rodgers was hailed as the new messiah for Liverpool, and an automatic berth into the UEFA Champions league was sealed after 5 years of exile. It seemed like Liverpool were back with the big boys once again.
Things started to become quite interesting during the offseason. After Luis Suarez's inevitable departure to Barcelona for a fee of 75 million pounds, it was time to see to see whether Brendan Rodgers could sign the right players to replace the huge void left by the cannibal Suarez. It was clear that Liverpool lacked depth in the squad and had a huge amount of defensive woes (considering they conceded 52 goals last season) and now also had a huge void upfront with their attacking options. Therefore, rather than spending a huge amount of money on one or two players, a huge amount of players were bought and Southampton FC was also raided in the process. Before the transfer window closed, the signing of Mario Balotelli was announced which got fans quite excited to see what he was going to offer for the football club.
Since I did not write a Liverpool article for so long, its quite difficult to break down in detail about how the season has panned out so far. But it has been so worrying to watch this team play. Before I get to recent incidents, I can break down Liverpool's problems with 2 major points:
1) The departure of Suarez: While people like to downplay his importance to this team, he really was a driving force and was at the heart of things last year. He made every other player look better on the pitch and constantly reminded the world as to why he was the Premier league's best player last year.
2) The lack of firepower upfront: While Sturridge's injury does hurt Liverpool big time, Balotelli has been so bad and Borini and Lambert will not get any team into the top 4 (No offense to those 2 players). Its just not going to happen. Liverpool have scored a total of 1 goal in their last 4 games. That's right. ONE!) Our defense seems to be leaking in fewer goals, but our offensive production has come crashing down.
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| Ok, we get it Cristiano |
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| I miss these days |
Some Liverpool fans think it is time for Brendan Rodgers to be sacked. I think that is just a knee jerk reaction or an irrational one at best. After all, he overachieved big time last season and managed to get this team play in a cohesive exciting manner that I personally missed when Dalglish and Roy Hodgson were in charge of this squad.
The title is certainly out of reach for this year, a 4th place finish is still however very much in play. I can't see Southampton and West Ham united keep going at this pace. To stay alive in the Champions league, Liverpool have to beat Basel and Lugadorets to get that 2nd berth for the knockout stages. They're still alive in the League cup and the FA Cup hasn't event started yet. So this season isn't all doom and gloom yet. But things needs to start picking up pretty fast. Speaking of Southampton, they're 2nd in the table and are 11 points ahead of Liverpool. Didn't we pay them 60 million pounds so that we can take away their best players? Guess that wasn't the case.
It's hard to digest a year where it has been such a roller coaster ride for Liverpool fans. Its still early days and maybe all it will take is for Liverpool to start scoring goals more consistently and for the team to get in a 4 or 5 game winning streak. Of course, that is much easier said than done.
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