Twelve months ago, only the most ardent Liverpool fans would have thought that their club would still be in the hunt for that elusive league title on the final day of the 2013-14 season.
As it turned out, another Premier League season has come and gone and once again the Reds of Merseyside have failed to finish first past the post, with cashed-up Manchester City taking out their second title in three years.
Over the past few days I have seen and heard many a pundit, fan and even Liverpool’s highly praised manager, Brendan Rodgers, claim that running such a team so close is a great achievement and one that the Reds can be proud of.
This is very true, however, many people are already touting Liverpool to do the same, if not go one step further, next season.
A measly two points was all that separated the sides in what many have said to be one of the most exciting Premier League seasons in recent history. City’s squad is the most expensive one to be assembled in the history of football, with the club having spent over 640 million pounds on transfer fees since 2008.
On paper this seems a commendable effort but it’s hard to give Liverpool too much credit. It must be remembered that they had one hand on the title with three matches to go before spectacularly throwing it away in a haze of slapstick defending, mental fragility and tactical naivety.
All of this after they came from fifth place, following a spectacular 16-game unbeaten streak stretching from New Year’s Day to late April.
For me, this begs the question: are Liverpool really back or did they blow their big chance this year? I am personally inclined to go with the latter. This may seem rather harsh but here are some points of discussion.
This season saw last year’s champions and perennial challengers, Manchester United, endure their worst league season in 24 years. Eventual champions Manchester City suffered from horrendous away form during the first half of the season, Chelsea never quite got going under new manager Jose Mourinho and Arsenal performed their usual disappearing act just as the season approached ‘squeaky-bum time’.
It seemed the planets had aligned for Liverpool to finally break their duck in the Premier League era. They were playing enterprising attacking football that seemed nigh on unstoppable. They had no major injuries and were exempt from European duties having failed to qualify the season before.
So what went wrong?
Personally, Rodger’s insistence on playing ‘his’ way is both admirable and naïve. Deciding to go out and attack Chelsea on that fateful day at Anfield, despite possessing the knowledge that the Blues would sit back, proved to be pivotal.
Jose Mourinho totally outclassed Rodgers on that occasion which shows that the Northern Irishman still has a way to go before he can be ranked among the best in the business. This was further highlighted by his inability to see the growing threat of Crystal Palace a week later, opting to bring on a player further up the park rather than shoring up an under-fire defence.
Ah, Liverpool’s defence. Their free scoring ways often led the world to overlook the fact that the Reds shipped goals like they were going out of fashion. It was 50 goals conceded in 38 games, which left them with only the 11th best defensive record in the league.
You simply cannot concede that many goals and expect to win a championship and that has to be addressed next season.
What makes the fixing the defensive aspect all the more valuable is that it’s hard to imagine Liverpool having such an incredible run of fitness and form in the front third ever again.
Luis Suarez missed the first five matches due to suspension and then played in every one of the remaining 33 games. Daniel Sturridge had the standout season of his career so far having only ever been a promising talent before.
Raheem Stirling was a revelation out-wide and is being touted as England’s next big thing. Can all of these guys reproduce the same form next season?
They’ll need to because extra matches in Europe will heap stress on a paper-thin squad that needs investment in a number of areas – they’ll need strengthening at the back and some back-up forwards of genuine quality.
The steady decline of captain Steven Gerrard, who had his least influential season in 10 years, is well under way and the omnipresent danger of talisman Suarez moving on will weigh on the mind of the manager who doesn’t really have any replacements as it stands.
The other contenders will be spending. Diego Costa looks to be on his way to Chelsea, Manchester United will look to sling-shot themselves back into the hunt with a host of big signings and City will throw money at whoever they want.
Brendan Rodgers will need every penny of the predicted £80 Million that he will have in his war chest to keep up next time around. Even then, that might not quite be enough.
I guess only time will tell.
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