After a brief international break in which Liverpool’s players did well (sorry, but not you Pepé) we’re instantly back to the grind of league football. This brings with it the every day stresses and arguments that it always does. Did Hodgson get his tactics right? Why did he play Lucas? Why on Earth did he take Torres off at 70 minutes! All stuff we’ve heard before.
The most depressing thing for me in the past week however, was Hodgson’s admission of the dire straits in the board room. I hate to go down this route once more because everybody’s heard it before in countless blogs, but we were lied too this summer and the evidence of Liverpool’s downscaling is there for all to see.
A stat circulated last week that in the last 3 years Liverpool made a £50m profit from recouped transfers. £110m in players leaving and £60m on new recruits, those numbers should be seen as the chalk on the board, in plain sight.
The financial figures also make it even more miraculous as to how we mounted such a title challenge in the 08/09 season. Unfortunately they bring a stark realism to our finish last year. We are, until further (banking notice) a club in decline.
For the season at least, we have maintained a competitive squad. It seems that a fair bit of begging and false promises were spun to Torres and Gerrard in the summer to ensure they were on board. Would it be morally right to praise the gall of Chris Purslow in convincing the two to stay over the summer? Or was he actually believing what he was spouting to us and them?
The next key date in our controversial recent history will be the refinancing deadline. RBS seem to hold some leverage over the Yanks but who knows what deals are brokered behind closed doors. I would be both foolish and out of my depth to comment on such matters. When it comes to Liverpool FC, the number one gossip club in Britain, conjecture achieves only disappointment.
On the pitch, our squad seems to be reinforced with grit. Poulsen and Meireles, between them would make a decent midfield for any team, but in comparison to the midfield of last years top 4 we may come up slightly lacking. The fact Arsenal held on to Fabregas this year is only of detriment to everyone else in the league.
Joe Cole arrived to much fanfare but his long term productivity to the team is still in doubt. In all his years in the premiership he’s never been considered among the top awards, making Gerrard’s earlier claim of him being favourite for the Player of the Year award seem a little ambitious. Although, I would happily be proved wrong on this case. I just wonder how well Cole will fit with Torres, with all the evidence hinting that Hodgson promised Cole that ‘role in the hole’.
A week away lies Manchester Utd, this will be a true test of Hodgson’s dreadful away record. I hope that Liverpool fans can see that despite the signing of Cole, we’re looking at a team designed and drilled to stop other teams. We were always tough, but if Benitez and Houllier are left and right wing, Hodgson definitely walks the line towards Houllier’s style of play.
Our main weapon in recent times was our possession. Once Xabi left, that began to drop. I don’t believe Mascherano will be missed as much as some may think, his job was a simple one and although he was very good at it, we should be a team that dominates possession rather than having to sit back and break it up.
Ideally I would be curious to see Meireles and Gerrard link up, in the same way Gerrard and Barry played together for England, but I think Roy will be concerned about the midfield being vacated.
So what says you Liverpool fan? What concerns you most about this season? And please don’t tell me Lucas and Ngog. Both have been nothing but committed to Liverpool since they arrived and never hid, for that I commend them in the face of undeserved criticism.
Although we may be a club in decline presently, we must still have no limits to our ambition. A wise man once said “To be pleased with ones limits is a wretched state”, nothing is truer to a Liverpool fan’s heart.
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Full trailer for ‘Buried’ the new thriller which hits cinemas Sept 29:
nice article…hope elnino steve and raul will be fit till jan window
It’s articles like these and writers like yourself that make me still proud to be a Liverpool fan. YNWA
what concerns me is the same thing that has concerned me for years – the lack of width and athleticism in our team.
To play the 442 at a high level, a team requires top notch wingers and a lot of pace to cover the gaps across the pitch effectively – we have neither of those components, so seeing us persist with such a formation which does not best suit the players that we have (a glut of central midfielders and wide-forwards, but no natural wingers), does concern me.
Hopefully the arrival of Meireles does see us shift to a 433/4231 with the widemen pushed all the way up the pitch and given a license to attack with more freedom