Rodgers's first season - the verdict

There's so many things that we can say about Brendan Rodgers's first season as Liverpool FC's manager. I am not a 'football expert', just a normal fan that is in love with Liverpool Football Club. So my thoughts are merely for my own and I won't say that whatever is right is always right or whatever that is wrong is wrong.

But I won't deny that some of it are shared by other fans and some of it may not be agreed by others.

This season, after 38 league games with 16 wins, 13 draws and 9 losses, we finished 7th with 61 points. 71 goals were scored and 43 was on our own net. We were 12 points off the Champions League place and we finished just 2 points behind fellow neighbor Everton.

Now we can compare to the previous season, 38 games, 14 wins, 10 draws and 14 losses. 47 goals were scored and 40 goals were against. We finished 8th with the total of 52 points where we were 17 points off the 4th place which was occupied by Spurs. 

Based on this numbers alone, I'd say that Brendan had a good start as the Liverpool manager. We scored more goals, a difference of 24 goals more. Defensively, we leaked more goals than last season but the points we gained are 9 points more compared to last season. 

We can't say Brendan is better than Kenny. Kenny will always be Kenny Dalglish. Liverpool's cult hero and a legend. A 'Sir' to my humble opinion. Kenny had different personnel compared to Brendan. Kenny came in when Liverpool was a sinking ship while Rodgers had a team that was quite stable - inside and outside the Football club itself. 

Rodgers finished 1 place higher than King Kenny but the latter brought 1 cup back to Anfield. 

The fact that King Kenny had not any active involvement in any club level management for more than 20 years, I'd say he'd done a great job!!! Even Martinez could not save Wigan from relegation, same goes to Harry Redknapp. King Kenny managed to get Liverpool FC finished top 10 with the problems that we had at the club.

Looking back at Rodgers, he had to work with 1 proven striker in Suarez for the 1st half of the campaign. He also had to throw in young players into the first team. In the long run, this will do good to him and the team. We improved further when Sturridge and Coutinho came in. Plus the team was playing much better. 

Everything was about adapting to a new method and style. We could see how the players improved as the season goes by. The mistakes was much lesser. Goals we conceded was not as careless as the earlier part of the season. 

The likes of Enrique, Downing and Henderson also tells us much about the improvement that has been made by the manager. Agger & Gerrard seemed fit and we were not worried about them getting injured in every game. Even our confidence on Pepe Reina grew stronger. Overall the team did improve. 

It's part and parcel of a learning process for Brendan and his men. I'm sure the players will grow stronger in the coming seasons (if LFC can keep them) and Brendan as a young manager will grow with them too. I believed that he gained so much and he is more ready to bring Liverpool closer to being great next season. I'm not saying that next season Liverpool will be the champions, but they can sure challenge. 

I'd say give Brendan 3 years before Liverpool can start challenging and 5 years before Liverpool can win anything. Any achievement that can happen before that will be a bonus. 

So for my final verdict I give Brendan two thumbs up! My hope that he can remain as the Liverpool boss as I do believe we have a good manager in the making. Maybe he will be the one to bring back Liverpool to the top! 

YNWA!! 

 

Forget Europe for next season, go for the league title!

Liverpool FC will play as the visiting team against Reading tonight in one of their last six league games of the season. Currently lying 7th, 7 pts adrift from the 5th place and 9 pts adrift from the Champions League spot. 

On paper, Liverpool should not face any problems to get 3 pts as Reading is placed last in the table. Consistency has been the Reds nemesis for a couple of seasons now and nothing will be certain until the whistle has been blown by the referee.

I want Liverpool to win and to get maximum points. But I am not thinking about qualifying for Europe next season. I just want Liverpool to finish strong, gain as many points and see where they end up once the season is over. 

A club like Liverpool with its history and honors, it's almost unthinkable that they will not play in Europe next season. Reality bites! 

Whether it is Champions League or the Europa League that means Liverpool will play with the top clubs all over Europe. For now, Liverpool FC is no longer the elite club in Europe. We are 7th in the league with 6 games to go shows that we can't be among the elite. 

Mathematically we still have a chance to qualify for Europe but let us not kid ourselves. This is young team with a young manager who will finish his 1st season soon. We have been saying this for so long, Liverpool is in the process of 're-building'. Make sure this time around that statement counts. 

Liverpool FC can't compete with the top clubs in Europe for now because they struggle to compete with the teams in the league. We showed tremendous performance against the teams above them but then falter against the lesser teams in the league. This is not a team that should be in Europe. They should be consistent. Consistent with their performance, consistent with the results; more wins than a draw or losing a game and consistent with their approach. That is why currently Liverpool is not among the top 4 teams in BPL.

It’s bitter to swallow but that's the hard fact. 

The signs are there, but Brendan Rodgers needs more time. Not playing in Europe next season might be a blessing in disguise. Rodgers can actually start to make plans from now. Their focus will obviously to concentrate on the league. Without Europe interfering, who knows maybe next season not only we qualify for Champions League we might win BPL too! 

23 years is a long time. No European Cup but a Championship title might be the x factor that LFC needs to get them back to where they were.

YNWA

WBA ~ post match review

With 20 over shots on goal but yet Liverpool still lost to WBA who only managed 3 or 5 total shots on goal. 0-2 home lost was not the result that the fans wanted to see. 

Disappointing, in terms of the score but the performance was not above average and yet something that I can be happy about.

Prior to the match, thoughts about Liverpool finishing 4th was there and supported by the very promising and entertaining games against Arsenal & Man City. 

The boys started brilliantly and even had a goal disallowed and I was convinced that 'we' will win the game. Fate somehow had another idea and I was quickly thrown back to the fact that although Liverpool had performed courageously against Arsenal and City we are still in a lot of 'developing' to do. 

BR will be questioned when result does not favor the team, his tactics, the players that he picked and so many things. Even if BR is replaced instantly can it change Liverpool's fortune? 

I do believe that Rodgers is the man for Liverpool FC. We just need to stay with him. I think he is doing a good job. BR is a young manager and he is still learning. In time he will improve and so as the team. 

Statistics shows that offensively the figures are very encouraging. The problem is defensively. We are leaking too many goals at the moment. 

Again and again I have been saying that the 'key' to Liverpool's issue is their self confidence. This year we are seeing some improvements but since it has been broken for years, so it will take time to heal. 

Even when Steven Gerrard's penalty was saved by Foster, I can still see the determination from the players. But they really need to have that self-discipline at the back. We are talking about taking as many points from now until the end of the season and then see where we are. But are we doing this? No.

We drew with the games that we should have won, but the games that we can get a point we lost. As simple as that. 

Why I say this is a 'mental' thing? Just look at the good teams, United, City, Chelsea, they can still get something even when they are playing badly. Liverpool has been playing better than them this season but why we are not getting the results? 

The players themselves need to know when to hold or when to go in for the kill. They will definitely reach this point but we need to keep them together. 

Borini, Shelvey, Coutinho, Suso & Sterling are young players. But they will learn and only get better. 

And it's also obvious that we missed Sturridge. We have Zenit and Swansea next. I'm sure we will see a better result. 

YNWA

What I think after 2 draws against Arsenal & City

2 points from the meetings against Arsenal & the Champions, Man City. Both with an identical score 2-2. It is quite difficult to describe my feelings so far. Please? Happy? Angry? Frustrated? Ah well, it is more to like having mix emotions. 

Both fixtures we played away from home and those two teams mentioned earlier are now the English Premier League "giants". 

I can be very happy if I tell myself that "Liverpool is now a mid-table" team. Why? We are playing away and after 25 games we won 9 drew 9 and lost 7 times. That's not a championship material. The figures won't lie.

Then I am left frustrated because we played tremendously well. Against Arsenal, it was quite a balance game I'd say. We took an early lead, then scored another. But Arsenal never gave up. They fought hard and were awarded with 2 quick replies. Against Arsenal it was more difficult. 

Against City, the reigning Champions, it was much easier. We bossed the game. But again they took the lead, a very easy tap-in from Dzeko. We scored to good goals but Aguero replied with a marvelous effort near the corner flag.

Overall, I think I am happy to see the progress of the team under Brendan Rodgers. But at the same time I have to keep on reminding myself that there's still lot of work to be done before Liverpool FC can really challenge for honors. 

4 goals were scored against us in 2 games. No disrespect to Arsenal and City though, they are a good team with good world class players. But those goals can be avoided. 

Confidence has been restored by Brendan Rodgers, no doubt about that, but only to a certain level. I used to say that one of Liverpool problems are lacking the self confidence among the players. Even the best player like Gerrard looks jaded. Not a player that we used to see. 

Slowly BR has turn things around. They are playing much better now and more entertaining. The only thing that they don't have or still working on is the consistency level. To be a strong and good team, they need to maintain the level of performance from day one until the season finishes. But currently they are struggling to maintain their energy level for the full 90 minutes. 

Yes they can score now, but the confidence level has somehow shifted. Instead of not having it at all, it has become evidently clear this season that their confidence level will drop when the opponents score a goal against them. That is why they can't register any wins against Arsenal and City. 

 Fundamental error has caused them more points than what they have right now. All of these can be fixed only if they can improve on them. Maybe they just need to remember how they started playing this game. The immense pressure playing for a club like Liverpool FC can turn a world class player like Pepe Reina into a school kid based on his performances thus far. 

But if given time, I believe BR can turn this team into a world class team. As fans we really need to be patient. We have to forget about other team, do not dwell in past glory. We need to give our support to BR and his players so we can enjoy future glory!! 

YNWA

Keep the faith

After my last post, I chose to update my blog after the 'big clash' against Manchester United. It all went well for Liverpool from the very beginning. Fans from both sides were in an excellent behavior and the same goes to Suarez and Evra. 

I don't really want to dwell much on the outcome of the report from the Hillsborough Independent Panel as we all are aware about the truth right now.

Tremendous effort from the man in Reds where Manchester United was outplayed for the most of the 90 minutes, and yet we still came out as losers. The weird thing is, I am not feeling worried at all. I don't think we need to push the 'red' button yet. 

I was quite skeptical about Rodgers in the very beginning. But now I am more even convinced that he is the right man for the job. No disrespect to King Kenny, which did an excellent job last season and the season before last, but we are talking about a long term project. If he gets the best ever support from the owners and if the owners stick to their words, we will see a strong, challenging Liverpool team in the next couple of seasons. 

Going back to the Manchester game, Liverpool only got a grip of the game after about 10 or 15 minutes of play. Obviously the 'young' players in the team had a jittery start. Sterling & Shelvey looked nervous but once they've composed themselves United chased the ball a lot more. 

Gerrard started at Lucas's position where Allen and Shelvey are in a more advanced position. The captain had one of his best games (we are only in our 5th league game) and I can sense that we'll see better performances from him in the coming months. 

Nothing much can be said about the result. We lost but we were never beaten. 

Like I've said in my earlier posts, we can forget about finishing 4th this season. We might not get 4th next season too. But with the way that Rodgers wants the team to play I can see a 'scary' Liverpool in 3 years time. Players like Sterling, Suso, Joe Allen, Kelly, Shelvey, these players will be our future. 

Shelvey in particular, he reminds me of the young Gerrard. Never afraid of going into tackles ~ though it could be reckless at times. He will have to learn as how Gerrard did in his early days. Young Shelvey might turn out to be our future captain too! 

It's going to be tough. With no genuine goal scorer until January Rodgers have to dig deep. But it might be a blessing in disguise too. At the start of the season we saw Sterling, at 17, I think he is a regular. In Liverpool's last 2 games we saw Wisdom and Suso. We might even see Morgan (as Borini is out with injury) more regularly. 

This will be an exciting time for Liverpool. Yes they are young players, but they do have talent. What they need is some experience. 

5 games and we only have 2 points. It looks bad and we can't deny this. I am convinced though that we can finish higher than last season if the boys keep on playing the same way. Have faith! 

YNWA

Stop dreaming of 4th - for now

Liverpool loaned out Andy Carroll on the last day of the transfer window and never got anyone to replace him. Today the Reds lost 2-0 at home to Arsenal having no backup striker at the bench. 

There are so many things that has been said since last Friday but even if LFC did get a striker, will it change today's result? I doubt it will. 

We are in out 3rd league game under Brendan Rodgers. New manager, almost new squad (having selling and loaning out players) and the addition of Joe Allen, Nuri Sahin and Borini in the starting line-up I would say overall it is still a new setup as BR are trying to implement new ideas.

A lost is still a lost. It is still a bad result. What we need to realize and remember we are a young team with a young manager. We need to look at the game closely including the personnel that was involved. Who would dare to say that under Kenny Dalglish or Roy Hodgson things would have been different? 

I think when we are condemning Liverpool so much we are actually underestimating Arsenal. We as Liverpool fans never want to learn that we are not good enough. It has been like this since a Spaniard named Rafa Benitez left the club.

Liverpool FC had something that called stability and continuity in terms of team, personnel and style of play. We were unfortunate to have owners with no money and knowledge about football at that time.

We had world class players, Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso, Macherano, Arbeloa, Dirk Kuyt and many more. But we never had good managers. (This is after Benitez's tenure). Yes King Kenny came back but he only managed to 'stir a rocking ship' back into its course.

After a 'good' performance against Man City most of the fans are starting to talk about Liverpool finishing 4th. I'd say we would be lucky if we can finish 5th this season. With a 'brand new' football that BR is taking into the squad, we definitely need time. 

Fans are saying it's bad that we did not buy any striker. If Liverpool's 'tiki-taka' style are perfect, we do not need a striker do we? After all, the Spaniards won the European Cup hardly playing with any strikers. 

Clearly we need players, new players. But what kind of players do we really need? 

Almost anyone can play football. That's what we have in the squad now. But we need a football player with the 'football brain' and that 'little' quality in them. Players like Xabi Alonso, where he can pick any players that made a good run and just 'pass' the ball with ease. 

Players with better quality and football brain can implement BR's ideas faster. In the modern game it's not about who can dribble better or who can shoot harder or who can curl a free kick better. It's all about understanding the game. It's all about keeping the ball at your feet and moves it around. It's all about positioning. You might not be a good tackler but if your position is spot on it will be hard for any opponent to get past by you. 

Liverpool had the better possession for tonight's game but Arsenal won. Their tactics were spot on! They knew Liverpool would be pressing hard. They played the 'wait and see' game. They defended well. Making sure Liverpool does not have any clear path to the goal. 

Their chance came to a Steven Gerrard's error. A miss pass and they counter attacked. Distributing the ball well and Podolski hit the ball hard across Pepe Reina's box and into the back of the net. That's 'quality' in Arsenal. Defended and switched into offensive mode once Liverpool surrendered possession and goal! 

Liverpool continued their game plan. Press and pass. It looked as if Arsenal took controlled during the 2nd half but not for long until Liverpool was pressing them inside their own half.

Their 2nd goal which was scored by Cazorla, was due to the inexperienced of Jonjo Shelvey. Don't get me wrong. He played very well after coming in as a sub. But he is still a young player. Still learning and mistakes were bound to happen. He should have followed Cazorla. He stopped giving pressure when Cazorla pass the ball to Podolski. It was Podolski's return pass to Cazorla that he ran inside the box and had a shot towards the goal. Pepe and Skrtel could have done better in that situation but it all could have been avoided if Shelvey had not stopped his run. 

Arsenal had not got much chance against us but when they did they took it. That's the quality that they have. That was 2 goals that could have been avoided. But we are in the curb of learning and improving. We better tell ourselves Liverpool is no longer the 'giants'. We have been a 'mediocre' football team for 3 or 4 years now. Give BR another 3 to 4 years before we can start to dream of finishing in the top 4 again. 

Like I said, forget about City. No point playing good against City and falter in the next. Sunderland is next. Lets keep on supporting Liverpool!! 

Pass and Press - BR's way

Liverpool ended the game with the league champions with a 2-2 score. To those who didn't watch it LIVE would say the final score and considering the opponents were Man City it was a good result. After they had learned that Skrtel practically gifted City's equalizer, some pessimist might have commented, "same old same old Liverpool". I assured you that Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers will come good in the years to come. 

It's still early days but the good signs are there. After so long no other Liverpool team had started as what the gaffer did. He actually started with a very young team. The 'interesting' Sterling is still 17, Coates 21, we have Kelly, Borini, Lucas which was replaced by another young player in Shelvey and Allen. City never looked like a team that could hurt Liverpool that day. 

I know the fans wants and hopes that this time around we could finish among the top 4. The passing and pressing brand of football that Rodgers wants to instill into the team is still far from perfect.  Yes we had a good game against City but we were not so good against West Brom. We finished the game with 10-men with a 0-3 score line. If we were a 'perfect' team, we could still win any game with 10-men or at least get a draw.

With the players and formation that Rodgers used it was clearly we were on top of City from the very beginning. Even after we lost Lucas 5 minutes into the game we never looked troubled. Shelvey came in and did his job well. We had lost Agger even before the game started, Coates was brilliant too! 

Like I said earlier, it's still work in progress and we do not need to get carried away. City is done, next will be Arsenal then later it will be United. All will be played at Anfield. I'm sure Liverpool will put a strong performance against these top teams. In between Arsenal and United we will travel to Sunderland. That I need to see whether can Liverpool perform as what we expected. 

It has been Liverpool's trait now for a couple of season, fantastic against the top teams but to perform under-par against lesser teams. So we would not want that to keep on happening again this season. We need to gain as many points when we play at Anfield and hope not to drop too many points when playing away. We've dropped 3 points against West Brom and 2 points against City at home. That's already 5 points lost. 

From the games I've watched since BR took over, I can't see what happened the previous season to happen again this year. Yes, the team will make mistakes along the way. But deep down inside the players will learn from it and become better and stronger. 

Skrtel's header was a bullet when he scored against City. But then he laid a 'perfect pass' to Tevez to score City's second goal and dented Liverpool's hope to celebrate a famous 'victory' against the Champions.  I could understand why Brendan does not want to blame Skrtel. He likes his players to 'play' the ball and saying that it was courageous enough from Skrtel to pick the ball and try to play it. 

But as a full-international and experienced player Skrtel should have known he could have played the ball earlier. He thought he could take another touch but not until the very last minute he noticed that he was closed down and decided to turn and pass the ball to Pepe. 

1. Pepe's position was to deep and the pass was too slow. 

2. Skrtel could have 3 other options which he didn't take it early

3. His awareness - same happened when Shane Long came from his blind-side

If he can improve on this, he can be a better player. 

They've got a good manager in Brendan Rodgers. I know we should keep out feet firmly on the ground and do not hope for a miracle yet. But I would not be surprised if Liverpool finished this season very strong and qualify for the Champions League. 

West Brom v Liverpool

After 3 promising performances, 2 against FC Gomel and 1 (a pre-season match) against Leverkusen, I was optimist that Liverpool can win their 2012/13 opening league game against West Brom. I must have forgotten that West Brom worked on their preparation for the game and the fact that Liverpool was still a work in progress! 

Truthfully it was a disappointing result. 0-3 lost and Agger got sent off. It's like season 2011/12 never ended. We had much control of the game in the first half. Well everything looked well until Agger was red carded. The players just lost their focus and they were not playing like they did for the first 45 minutes. (This is what I honestly feel!)

Let me put this in various views. As a fanatical fan, I would say the referee robbed us with a decent result. We may not win that game, but the score line could have been different or it could have ended with a draw. 

West Brom's 1st goal was a fantastic goal. No doubt about that. But their second goal, the penalty which was conceded by Skrtel, I don't think that should have been a foul in the first place. Technically yes Skrtel did clip Shane Long's ankle but was that a tackle?

Long came from behind and Skrtel was not even aware of him. The timing of when Skrtel wanted to make a pass coincide with the time Long stuck his leg to take possession. It was just unlucky. But as an experience referee, Phil Dowd could have interpreted the situation better. 

Not long after that Martin Kelly was bundled inside the box but no call was given. 

The 3rd goal, well again Liverpool was unlucky. A shot was deflected into the box where most of the Liverpool defenders were already pushing up their line. The ball fell nicely to a West Brom's attacker where he got ample time to float it across the goal where Lukaku just sent in a powerful header. Game over! 

Well, we can say that we were unlucky - again. The ref didn't have a great day himself. Well that's an opinion of a fan. 

Let’s look at it from the eyes of someone that is not a fan. 3-0 score line and 2 penalties in quick succession and lots of dramas, which was an entertaining game. 

Liverpool had plenty of possession in the first half but then West Brom came out on top on the 2nd half. Even after Liverpool was down to 10-men they never really sit back. They came out attacking and this enabled West Brom to make use of the empty spaces created by Liverpool. For a football fan, credit to both teams for an attacking and entertaining game of football. 

Finally lets look at the game as a neutral fan.Credit to West Brom and Steve Clarke when they somehow got their tactics spot on. Steve definitely has the insight into Liverpool's back four and he must have told Shane Long to keep on pressing against Skrtel and Agger. Agger got sent off and Skrtel conceded a penalty! 

Joe Allen had a great game. I like his passing and I believe he'd be a great asset for Liverpool. Gerrard doesn't seem to hit it off yet. He had a great 1st 45 but poor 2nd half. Playing with 10-men does not really justify his overall performance though. 

Borini, after a good game against FC Gomel he was a mediocre. Only came out late in the game but Liverpool were already down 2-0. Suarez just picked up from last season but his finishing let him down. Had an open chance with a header which he sent the ball wide. 

Lucas obviously is still not 100% fit but he will get stronger. 

Brendan Rodgers started with Agger and Skrtel. But both of them had an off day. West Brom's 2nd penalty should have not happened if Skrtel and the back line communicate better. Shane Long came from Skrtel's blind side, but anyone could have alerted him. 

Overall, credit to West Brom and Clarke. They fought hard and deserved the win. They could turn out to be a strong team if they can keep producing the same performance every week. 

Liverpoool - as far as I am concerned Rodgers will be a success at Liverpool. We are already seeing glimpses of the type football that Rodgers wants his team to have. He said that it is still in progress. The stats somehow are promising. If Liverpool can fix their scoring woes I'm sure we can finish this season better than we did last season.