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Spectre of last season raises its ugly head

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Gerrard of LFCLIVERPOOL FC went into Monday night’s fixture at home to West Bromwich Albion off the back of two encouraging Premier League away performances.

They were encouraging for a number of reasons. Firstly, the style of football Liverpool played, especially against Manchester City, was the energetic, smooth and penetrating style we come to expect from a Brendan Rodgers team.

Also, the desire and determination to win, despite only picking up a point from each game, was admirable from all the players.

Nobody can be too disillusioned by picking up a point away at the Etihad and at the Emirates against Arsenal, especially when you consider we could have easily picked up six points from a possible six. The performances of the team suggested that Brendan Rodgers was finally implementing his style of play on the players on a regular basis. This set the stage for Liverpool to finish the season in a flourish – starting with an out of form West Brom at home.

Even the most arduous of West Brom fan would have found it difficult to truthfully predict anything other than a Liverpool win, and a comprehensive one at that. West Brom were simply not playing well and were not picking up points and, although Liverpool have not collected as many points as their performances have deserved in recent weeks, the Reds were looking dangerous and after threatening to totally derail Man City’s title challenge, a home game against West Brom looked like one that would not pose a great challenge to Rodgers’ side.

The game simply never panned out the way it was expected to. West Brom’s defence thwarted and frustrated Liverpool’s attack all night and the likes of Luis Suarez, Jonjo Shelvey and Stewart Downing never got a second of time in and around the West Brom box and Liverpool’s day was summed up by Steven Gerrard, normally so reliable from the spot, seeing his penalty saved by an inspired Ben Foster.

The performance was one that reminded me of the latter stages of Rafa Benitez’s reign and the majority of Kenny Dalglish’s second spell in charge of the club – countless possession, copious attacks and numerous chances without any success in front of goal. When Liverpool have dominated a game for 75 minutes and have failed to score, the script writes itself.
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Whereas the Liverpool of old would have continued to press and nicked a last minute winner, the current Liverpool side lose all confidence and find themselves on the receiving end of a goal – usually from a set piece. West Brom managed to complete an absolute robbery of all three points but it is something Liverpool deserved after they failed to dispatch of a team that were there to be mauled.

One shocking thought that rubs salt into the wounds is that if we had lost both games to Manchester City and Arsenal yet defeated West Brom on Monday, we would be one point better off than what we are now, as well as two places above our current position of ninth. That fact puts into perspective just how desperately disappointing a defeat to Steve Clarke’s men proved to be.

For me, there is a mammoth task awaiting those in charge of Liverpool Football Club when the season finishes and the summer arrives. It almost feels like this topic is discussed every season, however, with the owners evidently looking to keep Rodgers on long-term, now is the time to attempt to take the club forward. One of the most important factors of a summer rebuilding process is a change of transfer strategy. Brendan Rodgers has in his squad enough players of a young age who will, hopefully, be able to blossom into world class footballers and this summer is the time to bring in experienced, proven and quality players to take the club to the next level.

Currently, the entire Liverpool squad harbours just four players over the age of 30 – Brad Jones, Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard. That list includes our second-choice goalkeeper, who could easily be sold in the summer, our current number one who has also been linked with a move away and our legendary number twenty-three who retires following the conclusion of the current season.

Potentially, as the summer unfolds, Liverpool could have just one player over the age of thirty at their disposal. In my opinion, that is nowhere near enough experience for the Premier League. So, FSG, now is your time to prove your worth to our wonderful football club and prove to the fans that you are in this for the success and not just the profit.

Despite the setbacks, the fans would do well to keep supporting the players and the manager as the task they are faced with is difficult enough without added and unnecessary criticism. Keep the faith in all involved at the club until we are given a reason not to and hope that one the glory days will return to where they belong.
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11 comments

  • bob says:

    there are simply too many players in our team who are useless at scoring , so when suarez has an off day , we struggle to score

    downing is a 3 to 5 goal a season guy , henderson 2 or 3 , lucas doesnt score at all . gerrard is deeper now and wont score as many as he used to .
    on the bench allen and borini are totally useless , that only leaves young sterling as a threat .

  • ste says:

    And throw in the fact that 98% of the entire squad of players are spineless chokers, cowards and serial letdown merchants.

  • Niall says:

    At least last season we had solid defence , now we r sh*t at both ends . thanks Mr Rogers

  • GAZ says:

    Cmon MrHenry sort it out ! dont wait til season over – sack him now

  • kpax says:

    Put the keys through the letter box on your way out brendan. Pathetic.

  • Oms says:

    Are you guys retards? You’re everything that’s wrong with football these days. The same kind of people who would have been calling for Ferguson’s head 25 years ago.

    • Dave says:

      Do u know anything about football ? Ferguson improved Utd instantly and had years of fantastic success behind him . Rodgers is a useless nobody with NO history of success

      U must be a retard NOT to know that

    • Jack says:

      lol. So by your standards , everyone should get 4 years , no matter how bad they are ? You must have wanted 4 more years of Hodgson ? England should have kept McLaren for 4 years too ?

      You are talking nonsense , you dont understand football

    • tommy says:

      Keep quite OMS, ur being stupid

  • red says:

    Top 4 is LFC minimum requirement. So, what are FSG waiting for ??? Find a new manager ASAP !!!

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