There are many contentious views about the season Liverpool has endured. Many believe there are a variety of barometers that should be expedient in measuring Liverpool’s season.. It was always the assumption that the Champions League was the key objective interspersed with an impressive cup run being an added bonus. Breaking back into the top four would ensure higher revenue which in turn would be spent on attracting a better calibre of player to mount a serious title challenge.
What is safe to assume is that Champions League football won’t be coming anytime soon. Mathematically impossible at this current juncture and not to mention the squad simply isn’t good enough even with the recent additions over the summer. There are number of factors behind Liverpool’s bizarre season. A simpleton can pin the blame on the manager but one has to delve deeper into the club and analyse why they have been so inconsistent.
With club lynchpin Steven Gerrard missing for half the season, one can point to his lack of influence and charisma around the club for having a rather imbalanced start to the season. The poor showing of the new pool of British talent recruited by Kenny over the summer has also illustrated the clubs fall from grace. Barring Jose Enrique, the three British Geordies have hardly illustrated an iota of the money the club paid for their services.
The eight game suspension that hit Liverpool star Luis Suarez didn’t help matters. The racism charge mingled with strife within the clubs hierarchy put the club in a negative spotlight with Kenny Dalglish drawing the ire of the press for “staunchly defending a racist” as one southern based journalist so “eloquently” put it. Instead of concentrating on football matches the club was being thrown to the wolves, unjustly so in my opinion.
Coupled with striking the bar and post on at least thirty-one occasions, (Jonjo became another victim yesterday) the club would have been much higher in the league with a better goal return. Liverpool have even dominated most of the games they have played in barring the Tottenham game at the start of the season and the game against Manchester City away, they have been pretty faultless. With a handful of wins at home this season, Kenny surely has to be mindful that luck can only be a decisive factor in so many games. It is evident a finisher is required with the utmost urgency.
But to add to the dramatic season Liverpool have had a fantastic cup run, to be correct two cup runs, that have seen them take the road to Wembley and claim the Carling Cup with the FA Cup waiting to be added to the trophy cabinet. The match against Cardiff was a typical Liverpool final, putting the fans through a tumbler before coming out the other-side unscathed. The final against Chelsea will surely define the season for Liverpool and a win there will gloss over the pain of missing out on the Champions League places, but this is where a bit of patience is required.
Two cups and a Europa League spot shall suffice for this season but the league is the bread and butter of the club that has prided itself on winning it on eighteen separate occasions. The summer will be critical for Kenny as he has to add at least three fresh new faces, Perhaps a pair of wingers and a top drawer centre forward to help take the burden off Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez. If he does that and Liverpool at least mounts a serious assault on the Champions League positions, the fans will be content. If he doesn’t then even the King may be subject to a coup as impatience has become apart of this elite league.
I personally feel that the club with the two cup runs and European football guaranteed next season has made the season a decent success. I wouldn’t swap trophies for a Champions League spot but it is a necessity. A finish above Everton would also provide bragging rights and an extra £750,000 pounds, so all is not lost in the league. But I must reiterate Kenny needs to buy shrewdly and move out some of the dead wood in the club as he did last year.
KD needed a strong Premier League finish to prove he has the mettle to mix it in with the best.
He spent a King’s ransom on the team, the most in the premier league these past 12 months and despite that the return has been dismal.
And its not enough to say “yeah yeah hit the woodwork” because that should have been eradicated in training…Man City have hit the woodwork 21 times but that hasn’t stopped them scoring a hatful of goals.
Furthermore the game against Norwhich proved there isn’t a problem scoring goals…but that was a meaningless nearly end-of-season game which implies the team’s real problem is coping with the pressures of premier league football, and that often reflects the manager’s own inability to cope with such pressures.
Additionally claiming “KD has been out the game for so long” doesn’t hold water either. He wanted the contract to prove he remains the best in the league and well…the league position is the best judge of that. And recall neither this season nor last did Liverpool face a gruelling Champions League run so KD has had a very easy fixture list to cope with
But you don;t think that winning two cups and getting Europa League is a decent season? I fully agree with what your saying. Do you think he should be sacked and if you do, who would you like replacing him?
not for the amount spent on the side. When you invest that amount champions league position becomes as absolute MUST, and that is something KD has failed to deliver fairly spectacularly.
Rafa should have been given the reins at the end of last season,. It was still his team and he should have been trusted to implement the necessary changes. The team still largely remains rafa’s. if KD is given another season I fear the worst for liverpool
I think taking Rafa back on would have been a step backwards. I do wonder how he would have faired with a similar budget. We would have been guaranteebetter quallity European players, whether we’d have made the Champions league i don’t know.
The next question is…should KD be given a second season?
I personally would never have given him the first season. As soon as Liverpool’s Premier League status was secured last season the owners should have been looking for a permanent replacement (eg rafa) especially if they were ready to invest so much money in the team.
The only reason KD is even being touted for a second season is sentimentality reasons…people want to believe he still has the mettle to win the premier league. I’m not so sure he has
That is providing fierce debate amongst a lot of fans. They feel if Rafa was given the money he would have invested in big name signings like he state din the sky sports interview, Malouda and Jovetic were amongst some of the players he wanted. he probably would have won the league with a few more star names and his defensive appraoch because he relied on the Mourinho formula, which wa sproven. However he suffered from many flaws and in the end I was glad to see him gone. I think Kenny deserves at least another season, hence why I highlighted this summer is crucial, if he buys wrong, we’re done for.
rafa was never given backing the way KD was, and I personally think he worked wonders for the relatively little amount (figures range from £40M to £60M over SIX years) he was given.
that is why you cannot justify criticising rafa…you cannot expect barcelona on a bolton budget…
Hmmm I don’t take away from Rafa’s achievements on the European circuit, he was consistent but even with a decent budget that he had, more than Arsenal’s by the way, he had many criticisms. The way he used to treat players off the pitch (often known as cold shouldered). His scathing attack on Fergy(many say he lost the battle of the mind games) His treatment of Xabi Alonso (was going to sell him for Gareth Barry?) His sale of Robbie Keane after just three months I felt cost us the league. Refusal to sign Michael Owen when he had the chance, instead opting to take back Voronin instead. And his constant stance to rotate and play Lucas in vital games against West Ham, Everton and Wigan in the year we were chasing championship cost the league because we ended up drawing those games. His overall on the pitch was to not lose first and win second. That’s what made him a good manager not a great manager. Mourinho who is similar to hmi has that Fergy mentality though, when the chips are down, he will go for the win, throw on another centre forward for a centre back.
Hmmm, now let me think, FA Cup final to come, beat Manure and Everton on the way there. Knocked out Man City and Chelsea and Stoke in winning the Carling Cup. Double over Everton in the league, also away victories over Chelsea and Arsenal. It’s hardly been disasterous.
But for the £35 spent on Carroll that prevented more sensible striking reinforcements, we would have perhaps scored 10 or 15 more goals, that would have put us right in the mix for hte league, but you could argue we wouldn’t have had the winner in the FA Cup semi or the flick on for Kuyt to score the winner against Manure.
Players like Henderson, Adam, Downing, Shelvey and Spearing are only going to get better and with the likes of Suso, Sterling, Ibe, Coady and Robinson coimng through the ranks you can’t be too unhappy.
I’m quite happy with the season we’ve had two Wembley visits and key wins in big games.
YNWA
I tend to go with instinct and if you read my previous articles I never really felt the majority of his signings would succeed. Downing has been a flop, as has Henderson and Carroll. Spearing I like and hope he grows into his role. he should have brought better players with the cash he had, that’s just a fact. But i agree, I am content with the season, though next year I reallyw ant the club to push on for top 4.
in case you hadn’t noticed…the club has gone BACKWARDS in league points and position since rafa left…hardly progress
we finished 7th in the league in rafa’s last season also. But two cups and Europa league spot isn;t too bad. Tinkering the squad around, a few more buys this summer and we’ll see what happens. this season is a must.
Buy QUALITY players.buy young spanish and brazilians.javi martinez ,iker muniain ,lucas moura ,dimiao.sell dirk kuyt(great time at liverpool),maxi rodrigues ,spearing.with these 4 players, liverpool along with king kenny will mean business again.
Also, the owner had a net spend of only 40 million in 2 years.SHAME FROM THEM if they expecting kenny and his man to qualify for the champion league.SELL the club if you cant afford.
I too would like players of such calibre but we have to be realistic we won’t be getting them. And he has to buy British because of the uefa contraints that will be coming into play soon about home grown players.
In a word-both!