5 Things Pre-Season Has Taught Us

WITH the Hawthorns getting itself sorted in preparation of a Red invasion in the coming week and our European campaign up and running the new season is well and truly upon us.

I don’t know about you but the feeling of excitement mixed with dread that accompanies the mighty LFC is returning.

I have mentioned previously my theory on ‘Kopitis’ (trademark!!), where before any game I am the most pessimistic Red and can’t see us getting anything regardless of the opposition, but 90 minutes later I am the most optimistic Red going regardless of the result. The symptoms include goose-bumps, an inability to keep still and an incredibly annoyed wife. All these are returning and I can’t wait. However, before the new season dawns there are a number of lessons that pre-season has taught us, so let’s discuss.

Brendan Rodgers

Let’s start with the boss. He had the unenviable task of replacing the King and the last boss to do that at Anfield was less than successful. Not only was he replacing Kenny but he was replacing Kenny after the King was sacked with most of the fan base up in arms. Coming into a huge club that is clearly in a transitional phase needing work to right on and off the pitch and dealing with a potentially hostile fan base was not going to be easy, but Rodgers has shown to date the passion required to be involved with the Reds, a humble approach, a respectful approach and a desire to do things right, to do things Liverpool.

Of course he will be judged on results and signings and the like but whereas Hodgson alienated fans, Rodgers has seduced and effectively bought himself a longer grace period. Most normal, rational people will see that Liverpool needs to make up ground and this will not be instantaneous, each decision to be made by the club is crucial and from what I have seen it is my belief that the decision to bring in Rodgers was correct.

Youngsters

With a new man in charge and slates wiped clean there are opportunities abound for everyone at Melwood. Whereas the hardcore fans will have known about many of these names before, this summer really has seen the likes of Sterling, Suso, Morgan, McLaughlin, Ibe (well done on his international call-up) in particular, along with Sama and Wisdom come to the fore closely in the footsteps of Shelvey, Robinson, Flanagan and Kelly.

These names coming through our own academy or brought in at a young age and seemingly taking their chance to impress at a senior level is extremely important for the future. It is well known that FSG want LFC to be self-sustainable and this is crucial if we are to avoid future catastrophes like H&G and an investment in youth along with an investment in a manager who wants to promote youth and play the right sort of football is the way forward.

Defensively speaking our future is bright in both full-back slots and Kelly will be our future centre back, but it is the likes of Sterling and Suso where the focus on youth pays dividends. Both look ready and mature enough to have a real impact in the first team and should they continue their development how much will we have saved? Papers talking nonsense are already saying Spurs want Sterling for £7.5m for example. Morgan also looks like he is taking the opportunities handed to him and if he can be half as successful in front of goal as other home grown strikers like Owen and Fowler then again we have saved millions.
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Transfers

So as I have mentioned our youth look set to save us millions in the transfer market, the retention of senior players and the progress of fringe stars like Coates and Henderson will strengthen the squad, the new boss will want to bring in his own players. It is pretty clear from what has been said and how Liverpool are starting to set up in these first few games that Rodgers is looking to continue the model he successfully deployed at Swansea.

The model shows a clear ball retention policy and built on passing, passing and more passing. At the time of writing Borini is our only signing, and whereas some are bemoaning him as a flavour of the month after one decent season I see him as a chap Rodgers has worked with a lot and knows his game inside out. The potential signing of Allen and the failed bid for Sigurdsson shows that Rodgers knows who he wants and who can work in the system.

I won’t lie, it is disheartening to see our rivals spending money and bringing in players early but realistically we have an unsustainable wage structure at the club which is a hangover from H&G and unfortunately this needs to be addressed first and foremost. Aqua, Kuyt, Maxi, Aurelio were important departures and will have freed up funds. I don’t believe the owners are skint or tight but you can’t have a player sitting on the bench regularly on or around £100k a week, we are not Chelsea/Man City.

It is clear Rodgers has a strategy which is vital. We are not targeting/buying simply good players who we have to adapt to; we are targeting/buying good players who can fit in to our way of playing. It needs to be remembered that the transfer market is open until 31st August and whereas we all want early signings this isn’t always possible and people need to reserve judgement until 1st September 2012 when we can properly assess what has/hasn’t happened.

FSG

Our American owners seem to be increasingly dividing opinion amongst fans. On one hand we have a lot to be thankful for in that we haven’t mirrored the plight of a Portsmouth or a Rangers thanks to them, they returned the King to his throne and begun to sort lucrative sponsorship deals, whereas on the other they subsequently dethroned the King in a less than glamorous fashion, failed to show any significant development on the stadium issue and kept fans on tenterhooks in regards to favourites.

What can be said from pre-season in relation to the owners is the return of ‘The Liverpool Way’ with a lot of work being done behind closed doors, which in my mind is the correct way to conduct business. This is something us fans demanded for years when owned by the cowboys as we grew sick of our dirty laundry being washed in public, but in today’s social-network enlightened world is a hard pill to swallow. Behemoths like Twitter are filled with ITK’s spouting nonsense or half truths, opinions presented in a flash and all involved having to deal with a bit story that has gathered the momentum of a runaway train that people assume it’s entirely true as so many are talking about it.

FSG do have bridges to build with the fans, in part to our previous experiences with H&G leaving even more cynical and in part their own decisions (Kenny), but they face the tough task of maintaining ‘The Liverpool Way’ whilst dealing with the modern thirst for knowledge in 140 characters, which brings us nicely to….

Patience

This is the most important word for any Liverpool fan at the moment. It’s not the easiest word, it’s not the most exciting word but as we often sing ‘walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain, though your dreams be tossed and blown’, and ‘at the end of the storm is a golden sky’. We have been through differing dark days in our history and in recent times we almost lost our club.

FSG and Kenny have, between them, stabilised the club on and off the pitch and now it falls to Rodgers to build. I could bore you with ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ or ‘good things come to those who wait’ but I won’t. I will leave you with: ‘walk on with hope in your heart and you’ll never walk alone’, we are Liverpool, this isn’t just a football club, be Red, be proud, support, sing, cheer and as another famous four said: ‘Come Together’.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far! Come find me on twitter @timdibs
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