Liverpool FC Forum

[Kenny Kan]

Rodger's first season, Carragher's last, what has been made of yet another "transitional" season?

Was it 'death by football' or self imploded death by soundbites and envelopes, or neither?

Well, one things for sure the manager's early season vexatious soundbites can't attributed to the team's indifferent form; even though they personally felt like the perfect reason to kick the cat. We were busy losing to the likes of West Brom on the opening day of the season and to me, all Rodgers wanted to do was sound Shankly-esque and talk philosophy. This should have came once the substance was produced and I think it may have irked some, it did me a bit.

It seems a bit of a cliche for Liverpool fans now, after seeing the arrival of a new manager take the hot seat to state ' we shouldn't expect too much, it's his first season and we can expect many ups and downs through this transitional time', and that is fair and pertinent to remember when reflecting back on the season.

In our first 5 league fixtures we picked up a woeful 2 pts from a possible 15 playing WBA, Citeh, Sunderland, Arsenal, and Mancs - reality for me had set-in after typical pre-season optimism. The indifference in results where we were able to spank teams like Norwich home and away with some excellent attacking football, only highlighted how inconsistent we actually were, when we were beat home and away by West Brom and beat 3-1 at home by, what turned out to be a pretty awful Villa outfit. In fact, looking over our entire results and performances I'm reminded of a Roy Evans style team - great at attacking and capable of some lovely football but equally poor at defending and conceding soft goals.

Special mention here to the pariah of English football and some LFC fans, Luis Suarez, he has an apologist and sympathizer in me but better than that he has to be our player of the season for me, a truly phenomenal ball playing genius who has pulled Rodger's team out of the mire on many occasions and if it wasn't for the hungry little Uruguayan we'd in all probability be scrapping mid to lower half football for longer periods of the season than we did.

Rodgers rightly (IMO) honed in to make us a better, more ruthless outfit where we had previously dominated teams but not gotten the full rewards for those games of dominance. This appeared right up his alley. In doing so, I believe the defense became overlooked somewhat and if it didn't, the results and goals shipped in suggested otherwise. I think this stemmed from our midfield playing much more expansive rather than becoming a tight protective unit in front of the back four, there were less bodies to help out defensively as Rodgers had summoned them to attack. The balance wasn't right - arguably still isn't. This was also compounded however, by the lack of aerial ability, strength even, and leadership that was/is/possibly, lacking. Skertel's been made a scapegoat by fans, dropped by Rodgers and even Carragher's come in for some criticism and yet still at the ripe old age of 35 I believe him to be our best defender, that doesn't say too much really for the much lauded Agger. Who, in my opinion has escaped some truly warranted criticism this season, after all, he is a nice neat ball playing center back - Rodgers' ideal center-half I'd imagine. Yet, his defending, well more so his marking leaves a lot to be desired at times. Two games IIRC instantly pop up in my mind where he has dropped points for us, both from corners and both against Chelsea this season. His ability to stay with his man on corners and the ability to clear those threats is actually a big problem as to why we are so s.*i*e at defending set-pieces and another reason as to why we are so s.*i*e at attacking corners. Both him and Skertel were also absolutely bullied at Stoke this season and it isn't any wonder when two of our 'biggest' lads are getting bullied like that, the likes of Allen and Lucas also struggle against the same tactics. I'll say now, Rodgers could do with a 'defensive'' coach, someone in the mold of Steve Clarke to pull it all together, otherwise it maybe a case of 'you score & we'll score more than you' type gung ho football. Whichever way you look at it, at times this season our defense have lost its head and not even a lighter midfield can be blamed for the lack of aerial presence they've displayed and it was good to see Rodgers using Carragher's experience to bring back some sort of cohesion to the defense. Of course, this hasn't completely thwarted our lack of aerial/physical strength but it's what Rodgers has/d to work with and Carra has hardened our soft center somewhat. Another special mention to the 'classic scally' that is Jamie Carragher, for 18 years it has been an honour to watch the grit, determination, passion and ability of this home grown talent - Liverpool won't quite be the same without you Jamie. 

Overall the season has been peppered with poor performances and results but it's also seen some exciting, attacking, promising and absolute ruthless finishing: 4-0 Wigan away, 4-0 Fulham home, 5-0 Norwich home, 5-2 Norwich away, 5-0 Swansea home, 6-0 Newcastle away. We've scored more away goals than we have before. And even though we've struggled with the teams above us, we've managed to brush many of the sides we'd typically (in years gone by) struggle to beat. And tbh we were unfortunate not to get results against the likes of Mancs, Citeh and Arsenal even - we put in some good performances in those games too.

We should have done and treated both domestic cups better than we did and I've put this down to Rodgers' arrogance 'high on Liverpool big club FC' that he can throw out a second string and expect them to breeze past a battling Oldham in the FA cup, or treating the League cup with the same disrespect and fielding the likes of Cole, Allen, Yesil, Assaidi, Coates, Shelvey, Robinson and Jones all in the same team together against a strong Swansea side. We must treat our domestic cups better next year and not just use them as a chance to play 11 blokes who have never played together before in a KO comp. We should be playing these to win them. By all means, give fringe players a chance but don't inundate the team with them.

The mini-break Rodgers got was from the purchases of Sturridge and Coutinho in January, both these signings have hugely contributed to our second half season and had these not turned out, Rodgers could have found himself under a bit of pressure. Coutinho is a massive bonus and the icing on my cake and goes a fair way to making something up for our lack of achievements this year. Who ever spotted him deserves a magnum of Moet as this Brazilian looks the real deal and with him, Sturridge and King Luis the prospects going forward next year look mouth watering. Rodgers deserves credit here.

To summarise, the season has pretty much panned out as I'd have expected, going back to that new-ish cliche of ours 'expect ups and downs, it's the gaffers first season'. I think there is a lot of promise within this team and really Rodgers has done a good job putting in a foundational season on which to build upon, as the signs look encouraging for the future. I hope he prioritises and addresses CD & CM in the summer to help us kick on next year but for this year I'd give the Northern Irishman a big thumbs up for the massive task he has embarked on.

So, lots to add to that but how did you think we fared this season?

[Benny The Noon]

D+ - must do better

[JC_81]

I think that's a pretty fair assessment Bam, most of which I agree with.

Ups and downs were to be expected and I especially agree with the comparison with Roy Evans' team, which is something I've thought for a while.  All fans talked about in Evans' era was about how we needed a ball winning centre mid (which was eventually Ince) and a dominant centre back (which we never really got apart from Mark Wright having one particularly decent season), and they're the same two positions we need sorting now.  The similarities with good attacking play but the likelihood of conceding soft goals are also there.  The main differences however are that those problems persisted throughout Evans' reign (with this being Rodgers' first season) and Evans was also brought up as part of the bootroom so he knew the club inside out by the time he was made manager (contrast a younger manager in Rodgers who had no big club experience and one season of top flight experience).

I also agree that the attack/defence balance isn't there yet, but Rodgers has shown that he is willing to adapt his style.  Contrary to popular belief we have been playing anything but 'tiki taka' in the second half of the season.  Gerrard especially has license to hit long passes whenever he wants, and the back four do tend to mix it more and hit the odd long ball.  I think this willingness to adapt tactics to the players he has available is a quality all top managers have.

Coutinho and Sturridge have had a brilliant impact.  I didn't want either of them (Sturridge because I didn't think he was good enough, and Coutinho because the success rate of players adapting to English from Italian football is poor).  Shows what I know.  Those two and Coutinho especially have given us all a lift and made us optimistic about next season (even befote we make any summer signings).  The owners might also loosen the purse strings a bit more if they have confidence in Rodgers' eye for a player.

Suarez has been fantastic this season, but you do feel it is last chance saloon in terms of his behaviour.  Surely this has to be a wake up call.  He's 26 now and not a kid,he should know better.  But I love his fight and he does give everything for the shirt.  I think he'll stay for next season but after that if we don't make CL he could be off.

I think this Rodgers might actually know what he's doing.  Flexible playing style, sensible media-handling, good signings (recently), improved results since January and giving young players a chance.  To quote him in one of his early season interviews 'We'll get there'.

[metalhead]

Great OP,

However, I don't see much improvement from last season (except scoring more goals), maybe the signings of Coutinho and Sturridge gave us more hope to what to come in the summer and it's crucial to get it right.

Only disappointment is that we didn't try in domestic cups

[RED BEERGOGGLES]

I like Rodgers ,and I believe him when he says the obvious pitfalls of this season will make him a better manager.I love the football we're
currently playing and I love the way he has handled the media . This season was always going to be a learning curve for the manager ,and
I think with the benefit of foresight it was always going to be an arduous and sometimes thankless task ,but in my mind he has handled
the pressure of managing such a massive club and its expectant fans admirably,and I look forward to next season with renewed vigour.

YNWA

[alxy]

I too think our defending at set pieces against the bigger sized teams could be better. And our attacking at set pieces, especially corners could also be better. Have been frustrated at recent times seeing us get corners, as we never seem to be a threat at those. Wouldn't mind big Andy coming back (if he is willing to accept quite a bit of bench warming) and being used to give us that different attacking aspect when the fancy "tiki-taka" doesn't work. To sum it up, end of season - disappointed that we didn't do better, but was as per expectations. Lots of high points in those games where we seemed to score at will but equal frustrations for those that we dominated but just could not score and even worse conceded

[killerp]

We did ok although this season is not something I would want to experience on regular basis, i'm really emotionally drained after all the frustrating performances. Nothing to really rave about we just need to strengthen where we really lacked this season, defence & finishing. I'd make defence the top priority, we were so easy to score against for most of the season.

On the positive, side Sturridge & Coutinho literally saved this season from turning into a mini disaster. The fact that both of them just slotted into the team & worked is amazing. Sturridge scoring lots of goals & Coutinho filling the creativity void in midfield.

[Reg]

Ok lads, beergoggles off.  Go to the following link and click on Liverpool to see our league position throughout the season.

http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/matc ... table.html

After 5 games we were 18th, game 17 we lost to Villa at home 1-3 and were in 12th. Only after beating Norwich 5-0 at home on game 23 did we get up to 7th where we clung on til the end of the season, narrowly averting having to rise above Everton.

We spent the majority of the season under massive pressure home and away, losing 9 games out of 37 (25%). We were playing like a mid table side and felt like we were one as well, at no stage were we contenders for top 4, we rose to 6th place for a single week.

Our back 4 let us down badly for most of the season. Admittedly we had injuries but we showed no kwality in depth to cover players out.

Joe Allen arrived with fanfare then fizzled out, as did Sterling. Stevie G took a number of weeks to get going, Lucas spent a lot of the season out injured. Henderson & Downing started the season where they left off the previous one, impersonating of Laurel & Hardy, however to give the lad credit, Laurel picked up his game in the key new year period in light of the injuries and became a valued player. Hardy meanwhile survives by the skin of his teeth, especially after admitting he bottled it against Man Ure. The strikers had a good season, Suarez was clearly miles ahead until his cannibal instincts got the better of him and Sturridge shows inconsistent promise but still managed to score 11 goals in 15 games. We haven't seen the best of him yet. Coutinho has potential however I question whether he will be a long term player or seek a return to the sunshine.

We're currently 30 pts behind Ure, ie 10 victories separate us. 20 Pts behind Citeh, 14 pts behind 3rd place Wafa. That is not acceptable.

Rodgers had a restricted budget taking into account paying off Kenny, Clarke and players like Cole. He bought well however it distresses me no end to see us buying young lads who step straight into the first team then fail to perform. Sadly a sign of the times but bringing in the 2 Citeh scouts should accelerate and improve the quality of our future buys. We may lose Pepe at the end of the season which may be why Rodgers will keep Skittle to help protect a new (presumably young) keeper.

So where do we go from here?
Hopefully one or two of Ure, Citeh or Everton will stumble after their regime changes however Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal will remain strong contenders next season so realistically with 6 top sides to surmount next season, 5th place would be a good finish. The squad is still weak and there are probably 3-4 first team players who need replacing - CB, Downing, Allen (?), plus half the bench who are draining cashflow.

Rodgers has admitted to learning a lot this season so the owners knew there'd be a bedding in period. He has 2 challenges for next season, create a strong, stable first team that will be consistent week in, week out (Ure won 28/37 games) and further develop our style of play from a mid league style into a top 4 style - what Wenger and Whiskyface have done season after season for 20 years.

I'd say we're no more than 40% along the path to where we want to be and it will take at least another 2 seasons of notable progress before we are ready to challenge for top 4+. A major cash injection would sure accelerate that, but if they're serious about remodelling Anfield then the transfer kitty will remain limited for 3-4-5 seasons to come.

So:  Satisfactory performance taken in the context of what was available to the manager and as long as we maintain progress in the right direction. The fear is of course we stagnate at 7th position which would signal yet another failure and mass changes.

[Kenny Kan]

Joe Allen arrived with fanfare then fizzled out, as did Sterling. Stevie G took a number of weeks to get going, Lucas spent a lot of the season out injured. Henderson & Downing started the season where they left off the previous one, impersonating of Laurel & Hardy, however to give the lad credit, Laurel picked up his game in the key new year period in light of the injuries and became a valued player. Hardy meanwhile survives by the skin of his teeth, especially after admitting he bottled it against Man Ure. The strikers had a good season, Suarez was clearly miles ahead until his cannibal instincts got the better of him and Sturridge shows inconsistent promise but still managed to score 11 goals in 15 games. We haven't seen the best of him yet. Coutinho has potential however I question whether he will be a long term player or seek a return to the sunshine. 

[red till i die!!]

i pretty much thought the season played out as expected.
we were never going to pull up trees this year with a new manager and a lot of youth in the side. the league campaign never got going at all and we were terrible in both domestic cups so on the competitive side it was a poor season.
for me the real highlight was the signings of sturridge and coutinho who both settled very well and contributed goals and assists in the run in. without those 2 i fear we could have been 10pts worse off.
we also had some good wins with plenty of goals and exciting performances which is encouraging for next year.
the 2 worst incidents for me was how rodgers handled the fa cup defeat to oldham and then suarez's moment of madness.
we need a good summer in the transfer market and to retain most of what we have if we want to progress further next season.
more will be expected from rodgers next season and he wont be afforded the same patience as this year from most fans so its important he gets it right with his signings.
if i was to give a rating out of 10 it would be a 5.

[red till i die!!]

why are we being spammed with manure tv ad's from that feckin google bot 

[jacdaniel]

We have made progress this year.  We're playing much better football and we have more points in the league.
It will be interesting to see if Rodgers sticks with the current tactics or whether he tries to go back to tika taka.

But, it will all come down to how we perform this summer.

Rafa's last summer in charge:  We lost Alonso and Arbeloa.  Brought in Johnson and Aquilani.  We went backwards.

Roy's summer:  Lost Mascherano and brought in Konchesky, Jones, Poulsen and Cole.  Went massively backwards.

Kenny's summer:  Spent very big on Downing, Henderson, Adam, Coates, Bellamy and Enrique. Only Enrique + Bellamy improved us.  Henderson is starting to look good now though and Downing has somewhat improved.  Lost Meireles. 
Eventually went backwards.

Rodgers' summer:  Jury still out on Allen and Borini.  Assaidi and Sahin didn't work out at all.  The Carroll / Dempsey situation ruined the opening months of our season.  And of course, we lost Kuyt, Maxi and Bellamy.

Thats at least 4 years of failure in the summer.  We need a few to do better this summer and if we don't it will probably be another season of 6th / 7th.

[SouthCoastShankly]

Great OP,

However, I don't see much improvement from last season (except scoring more goals), maybe the signings of Coutinho and Sturridge gave us more hope to what to come in the summer and it's crucial to get it right.

Only disappointment is that we didn't try in domestic cups

Hopefully the failure to finish in a European competition league placing will refocus attempts to win in the domestic cups next season.

[Kukilon]

D+ as someone else mentioned. The worst part is that I'm not surprised and that's just not acceptable for our club. If we compare Brendan to Roy he is an improvement and maybe in regards to Kenny but he is still not good enough. If Rafa is available I say bring him in.

7th place for ***** sake and no real cup run either.

[maguskwt]

We need to face the reality and the reality is that this is a club in transition, and BR did quite well for his first year. First half of the season looked bad, but second half looked promising. Those who are asking rafa to come back and those who are expecting us to finish 4th are living in cuckoo land. Stick with our new manager and our new beginning...