In football, the toughest assignment any manager can have is to reclaim club back to its glory period.
Supporters reminisce about the good old days, tell tales of the legendary matches, are proud witnesses of beautiful play and wonder if such a period will return again.
If that club is Liverpool, where passion often translates into fandom, then the manager surely has an unenviable task in hand.
In the 2012-13 pre-season, Brendan Rodgers gave John W Henry, Liverpool’s principal owner, a 180-page manifesto.
The document outlined the 40-year-old’s grand vision for the club, detailing his desire to play “attractive, attacking football”.
It laid out his footballing ideology, detailed a commitment to winning trophies and spoke of a desire to “bring through as many young players as we possibly can” in a season that would mark a starting point, in which the club would take a stride in the right direction.
The first season of his tenure ended and the Reds finished seventh, two points behind their Merseyside rivals Everton.
The season can be described by two factors – a return to goal-scoring but marred by inconsistency.
On the day he was presented as Liverpool manager, Rodgers was quick to identify a key weakness – goals.
In the last season, goals came at a rate not matched for almost 20 years.
Compared to the illustrious Kenny Dalglish’s team’s 2011-12 tally of 47 goals, Rodgers’ team hit the back of the net 71 times.
The tally meant that Liverpool was ranked fourth on the basis of goals scored.
At times, the team fell apart and looked mentally fragile; the result being the seventh place finish and another trophyless season.
The low points include the defeats to – Southampton away, West Brom both home and away, Villa at home, Oldham in the FA Cup and Swansea in the League Cup.
But with the strong finish at the end, with an undefeated run of eight games, hope returned back to Anfield for the next season.
In the beginning of the transfer season, a bit of a signing spree had been going on at Anfield.
In his quest to restore glory to Liverpool, Rodgers has made intelligent transfer moves – Goalkeeper Simon Mignolet for a fee of £9 million, defender Kolo Toure as a free signing from Manchester City, attacking midfielder or a false nine Luis Alberto from Sevilla for £6.8 million and Celta Vigo’s striker Iago Aspas for £9 million.
The Belgian keeper Mignolet is going to don the mantle of Liverpool’s first0choice keeper.
The 25-year-old custodian, whose performances had prompted England and City keeper Joe Hart to praise Mignolet as being the best goalkeeper in the league last season, is a long-term prospect.
The loan deal to take Pepe Reina to Napoli is reported to be on the brink of completion.
The loan deal seems to make a lot of sense as keeping two top keepers happy is a tough ask, taking into account the number of competitions the club will play in.
Moreover, the deal makes sense on a financial level too. By getting one of the biggest earners off the wage bill, the club will be saving up to £5 million a year.
With the retirement of Jamie Carragher, the need to strengthen the defence has been felt as strongly as ever.
It has often been the defence which has let the team down, conceding unnecessary goals to lowly-placed teams.
With over 100 international caps for the Ivory Coast, Kolo Toure brings with himself experience and stability.
Daniel Agger described him as a class footballer by saying, “He is talking a lot on the pitch, he is well organised and he is physically on top. He is an all-round player. He’s good.”
He further added, “Experience is important for the team. We need it if we want to reach our goals.”
Rodgers has expressed his willingness to sign a left-back too. He has targeted Chelsea’s Ryan Bertrand or a loan move for Aly Cissokho of Valencia in this position.
In the midfield, Jordan Henderson and Joe Allen (in the early months) came good last season. The return of Lucas Leiva from injury meant that Liverpool’s scoring rate doubled in the second half of the season.
Steven Gerrard, the talismanic but ageing creative legend, seems to be heading for a more defensive role with the emergence of Philippe Coutinho as the playmaker.
The 21 year-old Brazilian who arrived at Anfield in the January transfer window had seven assists and three goals in 11 appearances and in the new season, can become the pivot around whom goals are created.
The two new signings from Spain, Luis Alberto and Iago Aspas, might not start immediately and would need some time to acclimatise in England.
Gerrard had this to say about them.
“The two Spanish lads have settled in really well and I think they will certainly make the squad and the team an awful lot stronger,” he said.
“They’re both two technicians, very good on the ball and comfortable. You would expect that with them coming from Spain.
“They are two different players – Aspas is a very lively forward who likes to score goals and get shots off. Luis is more of a footballer, a technician who likes to create and pass the ball well.”
Admonishing a bit of caution he further added, “I’m really looking forward to seeing how they do, but I suppose they need a little bit more time than the likes of Kolo and Simon because they are new to the league.”
The potential targets in midfield are deep-lying playmaker Christian Eriksen of Ajax and wingers Bernard of Atletico Mineiro and Xherdan Shaqiri of Bayern Munich.
While 21-year old Eriksen has been a long-overdue, highly rated prospective signing, the Reds are locked in a duel with Londoners Arsenal and Tottenham in a £25 million battle with at least two other clubs for the flying but a bit overpriced Brazilian winger Bernard.
The signing of Shaqiri seems far-fetched keeping in mind the ages of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery.
After losing out to Borussia Dortmund for the lesser-known and a tad expensive Armenian attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, signing Eriksen should be the top priority for Rodgers.
It is the forward line of the club which will give maximum headaches to the 40-year-old Irishman.
The impending departure of the controversial genius, Luis Suarez, means that Rodgers needs to take a methodical approach.
An early call in the future of Suarez will give him the time and if Suarez leaves, the money, to make adjustments and acquisitions.
If Suarez stays, which going by his cynical comments and newspaper reports doesn’t seem likely, Rodgers will have a world-class striker who scored 30 goals and made 11 assists in 44 outings last season.
But with the goal scoring abilities comes the extra, unwanted baggage of a troubled mind.
If Suarez leaves, then it must be ensured that he is sold in excess of £45-50 million, preferably to foreign shores. Rodgers has insisted that the striker isn’t bigger than the club which supported him throughout.
“There is no player bigger than Liverpool Football Club. That is something we are very strong on and this is something we will control,” he said.
“This situation won’t be controlled by the player. I am very strong on the values of the club and how we operate.”
The departure of Suarez will leave a huge void at the front. Reportedly, Liverpool have entered the race to sign Tottenham target and Valencia striker Roberto Soldado.
If the reports are indeed true, which is a rare occurrence in the silly season, then the Uruguayan is surely on the way out as news about the lookout for a new forward signing will surely not inspire confidence from Suarez’ side.
So far, Brendan Rodgers has played it smart – making the key low-profile but effective signings early to shore up the squad while waiting for the prices of the big-name signings to settle down.
Handling and not dragging on the Suarez transfer should be the key for the bosses at Anfield; a clear signal about discipline and respect needs to be sent out in their resurgence.
It seems that Rodgers has a clear plan – build a squad for the future, play attacking football, push for a top four finish and then the marquee players will automatically come if required.
The rival fans can keep on ridiculing the approach but if the bright crop of players such as Coutinho, Daniel Sturridge, Luis Alberto, Henderson and Leiva develop into one of the most vibrant teams in the world, then the Irishman will have the last laugh.
Either he wins or the patience of the fans will run out.
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