When Kenny Dalglish took over from the disappointing Roy Hodgson last season, he promised to get Liverpool Football Club back to winning ways.
The Carling Cup may not exactly be the Champions League; however it certainly signified a change to the red half of Liverpool.
It should act as a massive confidence booster for Dalglish’s men, as the main aim is to make the club a real threat in Europe like they were under Rafael Benitez who led them to two Champions League finals and one victory.
It’s debatable whether Liverpool have a team similar in quality to those who won the Champions League under Benitez, however one thing is certain: if Liverpool wish to become European giants again, a top four finish is imperative and despite any optimism, it is looking less likely that will happen this season, especially after their recent 2-1 home defeat to Arsenal.
Due to winning the Carling Cup, a place in the Europa League is booked for the Reds and will give them a chance to reconstruct their European profile, which Liverpool need to snatch at. Many football fans know that they are more than capable of doing just that.
On the other hand, the Europa League could act as a hindrance for Dalglish’s team. As extra games will be added to an already exerting season of football, will Liverpool take it seriously? Or will they take Tottenham’s approach and field the Reserves as they push for a top four finish?
Manchester City and Tottenham are two teams who did not stand in the way for the Merseysiders when they were previously dominating Europe, therefore the battle for the Premier League’s top four places is undeniably much tighter now. To secure Champions League football, there are issues that Liverpool need to address beforehand:
To start with, their home record needs to be vastly improved. Anfield has witnessed too many dropped points and draws this season; in fact, there have been 8 draws there-teams like Swansea and Norwich (who you would usually expect Liverpool to beat at home) have left with a valuable point, mainly due to Liverpool’s inability to put the ball in the net. Form on the road has not been perfect either; the 3-1 defeat at the Reebok stadium to a Bolton side lacking inspiration and points will live painfully in fans’ memories, especially after Dalglish publicly (and rightly) criticised his players’ poor performance.
This point fits in well with the next one. Andy Carroll (who everyone is sick of hearing about) needs to begin to show his full potential, begin a rout of goal scoring and build upon recent uplifting performances in order to convince Liverpool’s fans, manager, owner and the wider footballing community in addition that he was worth even a quarter of the £35m spent taking him to the North West (to be fair however, the price tag results in nearly all of the media attention). If he cannot, does his future lie elsewhere?
Adding these two factors together will most definitely bring about change, as they need to begin to play much better as a team. On paper, Liverpool should have ran away with the Carling cup; however (and not taking anything away from the incredible effort from Cardiff) it was unexpectedly prolonged to extra time and penalties due to an unconvincing Liverpool whose performance reinforced the fact that they look like a team lacking the ability to claim a Champions League spot this season.
If Carroll is regarded a 35 million flop,Suarez is also a 24 million flop.10 goals in 40 appearances,diving all the time,getting angry with teammates for making a wrong pass,damaging the club with the Evra and Fulham situations,being regarded as top class yet wastes a lot of chances.either change attitude and start scoring goals,otherwise get the f*ck away from Liverpool Football Club.You’ve already made a lot of damage to the club’s status Luis.YNWA
U F#CK OFF u idiot
Until someone brings results to Liverpool,then,he would be worshipped by the fans,owners and everyone at the football club.Work is all about bringing results and LFC is no different.Sometimes the club puts more emphasis on rubbish while other clubs like Barca only worry about results and their players like Messi too.I see no problem with Suarez having problem with teammates who make wrong passes but if he can hunger more for goals,be a Lionel Messi or a Xavi or Xabi kind that only worries about playing better and productive football,then,he would fit in well at LFC.Even though I still doubt that he is his own class,only if LFC can find ball passers and classy wingers I think Luis would get serious!!!!