Prediction for
the season: 5th to 7th.
Last Season
finish: 8th, Carling Cup winner, FA Cup
finalists.
Odds to win the
league: 16-1
There has been no talk of a top-four finish from the
powers-that-be at Liverpool this
summer, no "major disappointment" quote that can return to haunt the
manager should he win the Carling Cup, reach the FA Cup final but limp home
lame in the Premier League. It is
just as well. The Champions League is key to Fenway Sports Group's vision in a
world of Financial Fair Play and a formidable target for Brendan Rodgers with
the players currently at his disposal.
Putting
the truth on the record has not always been easy for Liverpool managers as they
balance huge expectation with increased competition from their rivals, some
better financed, others having made fewer mistakes. Refreshingly, Rodgers has
adopted that course amid some fierce resistance to perceived negativity. He
will have to stand firm on his ideals and beliefs – as he did when accepting
the job – in a season that could shape the short-term future of Liverpool.
"The
challenge here is immense," Rodgers has said. "Let's be under no
illusion. The club and where it was at over the years – will any club ever do
that again? That's a big question. I certainly think with a club of our status
and value to the football world, that we can go again. It's going to take time
and whether it will be in my time, I'm not so sure."
This
from a manager who signed a three-year contract with Liverpool on 1 June. The
man from Carnlough cited the financial might of the "top six or eight
clubs" as cause for caution, adding: "They are some of the
superpowers of world football and we are competing with that, but it's not all
about money." Liverpool must hope not, despite lavishing £120m on new
players in 2011.
It
is premature to deliver a verdict on Liverpool's transfer policy under Rodgers
with the window still open and several targets being pursued, even if the
club's competitive season has begun. That fortunate 1-0 win over FC Gomel in
the Europa League third qualifying round first leg last week, incidentally,
illustrated how Liverpool are lacking in the kind of players who bought into
Rodgers' methods at Swansea City. As Rodgers said: "The make-up of the
group will change before the season starts and that will change the dynamic of
the team also."
On
the evidence so far, Rodgers has been tasked with rejuvenating Liverpool as a
Premier League force while trimming the wage bill associated with one. Fabio
Borini has arrived for £10m from Roma and the Italian international striker
should have few problems adapting to Rodgers, the pair having worked together
at Chelsea and Swansea. But otherwise it has been all about outgoings at
Liverpool following last year's splurge under Kenny Dalglish and Damien
Comolli. Dirk Kuyt, Maxi Rodríguez, Alberto Aquilani, Craig Bellamy and Fabio
Aurelio have gone since the end of last season, Daniel Agger's future is
uncertain amid strong interest from Manchester City and Andy Carroll will go
should Liverpool get their way.
The
five confirmed departures are no cause for alarm necessarily, although the £1m
release clause in Kuyt's contract was another inherited headache for FSG, but
raise doubts over the strength of the squad in the absence of replacements. Joe
Allen, Swansea's £15m-valued midfielder, is a confirmed target and Clint
Dempsey another possibility. The appointment of David Fallows as head of
scouting has been held up, however, after he was placed on six months gardening
leave by Manchester City.
As
Rodgers insists, it is not all about money, and hopes of a Premier League
recovery rest both on the clear purpose of their young manager and a myth that
has attached itself to Dalglish's one full season in charge – namely, that he
had to go on account of a dreadful league campaign. Eighth was, without
question, unacceptable but did not reflect a performance level often more
dominant and more attractive than results following the Carling Cup final
indicate. That is not to absolve Dalglish of responsibility for Liverpool's
lowest top-flight points tally since 1953-54 or to buy into the argument that
33 attempts against the woodwork and seven penalty misses represent bad luck
and not bad finishing. Merely to suggest there is ample room for improvement
from within.
Rodgers
will be reliant on Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson, José Enrique and, in the
unlikely event he stays, Carroll, to rectify last season's collective failure
for that to happen. Carroll's ludicrous price tag detracted from the meagre
contributions of other new signings last season, notably Downing, who
flourished at Aston Villa after a quiet debut campaign and is under pressure to
do likewise at Anfield, and also from his own transformation come spring. That
does not appear to have convinced Liverpool's new manager as he looks to Luis
Suárez, now secured to a new contract despite interest from Juventus among
others, and Borini to develop a potent understanding.
It
is through Rodgers, of course, that FSG hope to realise their initial vision
for Liverpool and his refusal to enter their beauty parade when first
approached to replace Dalglish, and to work under or alongside a proposed
sporting director, shows they have appointed a man convinced of his own worth
and ideas. He will need everyone to buy into them.
Rodgers
will be under far more pressure to take the game to opponents at Anfield than
at the Liberty Stadium and, for a new manager implementing new ideas with few
new players on board so far, the fixture list has not been kind. Manchester
City, Arsenal and Manchester United are Liverpool's first three home games of
the new season. Rodgers will require further assistance in the transfer market
by then.
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