AFTER one of the most depressing seasons in living memory, there were probably thousands of Kopites who couldn’t wait to have a break from the game this summer.
Last season’s stress levels were completely unhealthy; the amount of terrible league results and negative headlines undoubtedly had an impact on many fans’ enjoyment of supporting the club. The poor cat suffered some terrible kicking’s, especially after all those home draws.
With the so called ‘benefit’ of hindsight, it is easier to make an even more depressing assessment of the season than it would have been in the midst of it all. Even the Carling Cup success did little to lift the dark cloud hovering over Anfield; in fact it was that victory which provided the backdrop to a disastrous run of league form.
The Suárez saga, those horrendous t-shirts, Andy Carroll’s price tag, Kenny’s thorny relationship with the media and his uncomfortable interviews, the curious case of hitting woodwork, our home form; the list of sob stories is substantial.
However, the first whistle at The Hawthorns cannot come quick enough now. Euro 2012 and the Olympics were definitely entertaining and some would say that Team GB’s dignity in victory and defeat was a refreshing respite from Premier League footballers, but nothing is anywhere near as exciting or emotional as watching the Mighty Reds. Perversely, two major sporting competitions and the amount of hype surrounding them have whetted the appetite even further. The amount of articles regarding Liverpool on the internet (added to here!) is unbelievable considering that a ball hasn’t even been kicked in our league campaign.
Indeed, there is always a sense of excitement in pre-season, and anticipation reaches fever pitch when a new manager is at the helm. Everyone has been impressed with Brendan Rodgers thus far, and rightly so. The settling in process has appeared seamless and everything he has said so far has impressed people. (One notable exception was his handling of Andy Carroll, his admission that Liverpool would consider loan bids sparked off an incredible amount of speculation and headlines, to the extent that his short term future at Liverpool has started to become a boring subject. Perhaps it was intentional and he considered it a means to create interest). The likeable Northern Irishman also appears to possess leadership qualities befitting of a big club; he exudes a sense of calm authority and appears to be the kind of person you would listen to.
The key point though is the majority of what we have been impressed with so far – apart from a dominant performance against the fifth best team in Belarus and Sunday’s friendly win against Bayer Leverkusen – has been just that: words. If the league title was decided by a manager’s PR skills and media performance, Liverpool would no doubt be strong contenders. His recent open letter thanking our fans for their support in Belarus would be considered the equivalent of a spectacular overhead kick at the Kop end.
This isn’t intended to underestimate the importance of media relationships because Brendan Rodgers may help with the amount of bad feeling towards the club – something Liverpool have not been accustomed to down the years. Where Kenny Dalglish would dig his heels in even further and batten down the hatches, the new manager will attempt to build bridges. It could be argued that this approach may help the players to some degree as bad press creates more pressure. The supposed part played by the Suárez affair in Kenny’s dismissal has probably been exaggerated, however, there can be little doubt that improved interaction with the media and having a ‘friendlier’ face at the forefront of the club formed a part – rightly or wrongly – in the decision to change the manager (no offence to King Kenny intended at all of course!)
[ad_pod id=”unruly-video” align=”center”]
Unfortunately though, everything in football is about results, and to be perfectly frank, there has probably been a bit too much ‘talk’ about our intended style of play. It is absolutely brilliant that we have a manager who wants us to play like Spain and Barcelona, but transforming our style will certainly not happen overnight. Being fair to Rodgers, he has said this himself, but there are scores of articles on the internet regarding tika-taka and Liverpool, and one wonders whether the attention this has been paid is an altogether constructive thing. You can almost sense the expectation increasing upon every reference to it.
The problem with this may be if Liverpool suffer some bad results early on, because some fans and elements of the media will be expecting us to play like Brazil almost immediately. Furthermore, a patient passing style is so easily criticised, as Spain’s incredulous ‘boring’ tag starkly testifies. Paul Tomkins highlighted this very point in his brilliant article published on the official website recently (that sounded like a plug, it wasn’t). It could be quite soon when you hear the local taxi driver saying ‘all’s we ever f****n do is pass it sideways’!
A patient style of play requires a patient fan base and that may be a key point in the opening act of the Rodgers era.
The most important thing in the adoption of a new style is the players, and again, this is a sound bite that Rodgers finds himself constantly regurgitating in press conferences. The encouraging thing in this regard is that we have several midfielders who are capable of playing simple possession football (Jordan Henderson has been criticised in the past for playing it simple too much!) and we aren’t exactly starting from scratch as some of our football last season was fantastic. For example, the first half against Arsenal at Anfield was one of the best 45 minutes of attacking football since the halcyon days of Barnes, Beardsley and Aldridge et al. However, replicating or even coming close to tika-taka will never happen, it’s a term associated with a different group of footballers, a different point in time and a different cultural background. We will have to do it our own way and let people call it what they want.
Some predictions then.
A note of caution underpins this article, and indeed, it is expected that there will be some difficult moments for Liverpool this season. Looking on the brighter side though, there should definitely be an improvement on our league position and a challenge for a Champions League place is realistic. If you look at the amount of losses experienced by teams who have finished fourth, the inconsistency of those challenging for that position, and finally, the overrated strength in depth of the Premier League, there is no reason why Liverpool can’t be in the shake up.
Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique, Lucas, Gerrard, Allen, Downing, Suárez and Borini is a very good first XI which doesn’t include any other potential new signings (but it does assume Agger and Skrtel will remain). There is no reason why a side like that cannot beat most teams in the Premier League. By the looks of things, we can also look forward to seeing Steven Gerrard in a more advanced position, and if the captain catches fire – as is always expected when he plays in his most effective role – it could make an indelible mark on our season.
After an unacceptable eighth placed finish last season, Liverpool will more than likely give strict priority to their league results, to such a degree that it may well have a detrimental impact on their performance in domestic cup competitions. However, a gut instinct is that we will enjoy an ‘interesting’ run in Europe.
Over the longer term, we must quickly get back to regular Champions League football. Only then will Rodgers be able to compete with European football’s big hitters for the absolute top quality players that Liverpool will require before taking the further step of challenging for that elusive number 19. After all, the current squad is frankly nowhere near as strong as Manchester City’s is it?
It may be several years before we mount a sustained challenge for the title again, and in the absence of oil related billions, we will have to go about things a little differently (the Academy springs to mind here) and with the requisite amount of patience.
In just under a week’s time, the talking will have stopped and the real assessment of Rodgers’ performance will have begun in earnest. Let us hope that our new manager is with us for many years and he builds an Anfield dynasty based on the fundamental and beautifully simplistic principle which gave rise to our great club in the first place.
[ad_pod id=’DFP-MPU’ align=’right’]
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at live4liverpool@snack-media.com
Follow us on Twitter here: @live4Liverpool and ‘Like’ us on Facebook
What is it the Chinese say? “May you live in interesting times!”…….
…. You want lice with that?