Can Liverpool Recover?

It has been quite a turbulent year for Liverpool fans. Last summer there were whispers amongst the "Pundits" and "Experts" that the Reds could potentially lift the Premier League crown, as well as being annual favourites to challenge for the Champions League. Despite this being an annual event, annoyingly for every other football fan, it has always been the case that Liverpool have promised but never quite delivered.

Over the past 20 years, amazingly dating back to 1990, they have lifted; 1 Domestic League, 3 FA Cups, 3 League Cups, 3 Charity Shields, 1 Champions League, 1 EUFA Cup and 2 EUFA Super Cups. However, despite being an impressive list of trophies, one any rival fan would be envious of, they have never won the Premier League. Certainly, Arsenal have won only 8 Trophies in the same period, 4 behind their Scouse rivals, so by that margin, why aren't Liverpool as dominant in the Premier League?

At the back end of last season, it seemed Liverpool couldn't manage the push into the 4th spot, even after Rafa Benitez's (or David Guest) daft claim they would reach the coveted Champions League qualification places. It seems that despite the successes of the past 20 years, Liverpool have slowly deteriorated as a force and now suffer the embarrassment of playing in the new restyled Europa League - for a club like Liverpool, this is an under performance and no disrespect to the clubs who successful qualify for this honour.


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In addition, the doomed takeover of the club by Tom Hicks and George Gillett (the worst a man can get) has devastated the business, whacking a huge c£400m debt on the company, reducing ticket sales, additional debt from failed player transfers (a discussion point a little later) and all the while attempting to build a new home at Stanley Park - oh dear.

So how has Liverpool gone from being a force in the 70's - 80's to finishing 7th in the Premier League?

History. Liverpool, like Man Utd and Arsenal and latterly Chelsea during the 90's and 00's, dominated the domestic game during the 70's-80's. They were a formidable team which won 11 domestic titles, 3 FA Cups, 4 League Cups and 7 European Cups while being lead by football legends such as; Bill Shankly, Kenny Dalglish and Bob Paisley, as well as notable managers Graeme Souness, Gerard Houllier and now Roy Hodgson. In addition, despite being a successful club, they were feared. Fear is a great asset to any club, Man Utd used it skillfully to lift titles during the 90's and recently Chelsea, who under one Jose Mourinho, won several Premier League titles as many clubs simply gave up at the starting whistle due to Chelsea's strength. However, many clubs enjoy spells of success before the quality of player or direction of the manager fails to continue the rich vein of form. Man Utd, under Ferguson, rose to prominence, much to Liverpool's dismay, and brushed them aside as the current force in English Football.

Players. In the past, Liverpool have boasted some of the best players in their respective eras. Ian Rush, Roger Hunt, Kenny Dalglish, Phil Neal, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, Peter Beardsley, Robbie Fowler, Steve Mcmanaman and Jamie Redknapp. However, today only Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres (subject of a lot of transfer speculation) and Jose Reina are of any World Class quality. It is a widely known fact that without Gerrard and Torres, Liverpool are an average team, proved by the run of form which rewarded them with 7th place when the two players were out through injury during the latter stages of the 2009/2010 season.
During the torrid tenure of Houllier, a stream of average to poor players came and went, such as Henchoz, Biscan, Heskey, Lucas and Traore. In addition, Benitez purchased a staggering 53 players during his tenure, such as; Pellegrino, Bellamy, Keane (for 5 minutes), Pennant, the pitiful Veronin, Itandje, the sick note Aquilani and Nunez. All these players, while adequate for the mid-table, will never win major trophies. Therefore, Liverpool have spent poorly in the transfer market with the notable exception of Torres - but then any Manager can spot he is a quality player with no real effort. It seems while other Managers have exploited a vast network of scouts and cast their eyes over more promising prospects, Liverpool seem to have had a scatter-gun approach to player transfers, either wasting vast sums on the likes of Robbie Keane (a loss of c£9m) or not spending enough on key areas such as attack, with Veronin and Kuyt who have not played to the reputations since pulling on the red shirt.

So where do Liverpool go from here? I believe that in Roy Hodgson, they have finally landed a manager who can manage. While the likes of Benitez and Houllier exploited vast Bank loans to pay for success, Hodgson is proven to create cohesive teams with small transfer budgets. Notably at Fulham, Hodgson assembled a team who reached the Final of the inaugural Europa League, no small feat for the West London club, a season which also saw Hodgson voted Manager of the Year. Hodgson is a players manager, a motivator who can take an average player and get the best out of them. Players such as Danny Murphy and Damien Duff were castoffs of the Sky Four, however their experience and performance saw that the small club of Fulham stood on the precipice of greatness.

Hodgson also has vast experience of English and European Football. Starting in 1976, Hodgson managed Halmstad in Sweden, moving to Bristol City in 1982 and then back to Sweden to manage Orebro and Malmo FF respectively. Notable appointments include Inter Milan, Switzerland, Udinese, UAE and Finland marking a very chequered career for the Englishman. Therefore, despite not being a fashionable or "sexy" manager, Hodgson has a solid track record and brings no flamboyance but a "John Smiths" style of management and game which Liverpool need.


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Therefore, now Liverpool have the Manager, where else can they improve? Here are my steps to take Liverpool from the 7th position they deserved back into the Sky Four.

1) Players - jettison players such as Lucas, Mascherano, Aquilani, Babel and Itandje who have been purchased at a high price but offer little quality on the field. There needs to be adequate cover for Gerrard and Torres should they be injured and the gormless Carragher should be dropped. Hodgson should ensure future players, such as Joe Cole, are good value and perform.

2) Stadium - I would immediately drop any plans to move to a new stadium. Anfield, like Highbury was for Arsenal, was Liverpool's spiritual home and, frankly, the huge debt drawn up by the Americans needs to be paid and controlled before any pie-in-the-sky plans are pursued. Any plans to take out a mortgage for a new stadium will inhibit the clubs ability to purchase new players and afford, comfortably, players wages.

3) Board - Gillett and Hicks need to go, they need to be lanced like a boil. Despite being out of Hodgsons control, Liverpool need secure, stable and sensible Directors who have the interests of the Club at heart and aren't installed to make a quick buck. Americans do not understand the Premier League and only see investment potential, which, if you know anything about the sport, are anything but. However, it remains to be seen whether a viable bidder can be found, my guess is that another set of Arab Sheiks will takeover, making yet another sugar-daddy club in the big league.

4) Table consolidation. I believe Liverpool will bounce back, however in order to deal with their current misfortune, they need to accept they are no longer the force they were. Liverpool are a lot like the England Team - massively over hyped and never perform. All the talk of lifting the Premier League and another Champions League title is hot air as they consistently fall short. I would add that that Champions League win was a flash in the pan, as the Reds have never repeated success of that scale since. However I remain to be proven wrong.

Therefore, I do believe Liverpool will bounce back. Its not always a foregone conclusion that Liverpool will always remain in the top 4 and play European football every season. With the likes of Man City, Tottenham and, to an extent, Aston Villa knocking on the door, Liverpool need to improve and act like a great club, instead of living in the past. It also remains to be seen whether Hodgson can wave his magic wand and sort out the club, which is crippled by poor leadership and debt. I would suggest any Liverpool fan expecting a top four finish this season to reassess their beliefs, and hope to be at least in contention. Maybe 4th is possible, but that will require outstanding managerial leadership and for the likes of Gerrard and Torres to lead on the field, only then can this once great side reaffirm their place amongst the Sky Four.

Eduardo da Silva; Arsenal, July 2007 - July 2010

It was a sad day the 21st of July 2010 when it was announced Eduardo da Silva, the most popular player in the Arsenal squad (players and fans alike) departed to Shakhtar Donetsk for a reported c£6m. This marked the end of a players Arsenal career which really was a "game of two halves" which will probably be remembered for the brutal way a potential world class striker was denied the opportunity to shine after a widely recognised brutal challenge in February 2008 against Birmingham during a Premier League match.

While I will (try to) avoid making this post come across as bitter and melancholy, it was truly a sad day when this fantastic player was cut down in his prime and is now another casualty of the wet Referee epidemic sweeping the game. While that is a discussion for another time, surely Referee's need to clamp down on reckless challenges and properly punish players who's challenges severely inhibit a players career? More needs to be done at both FA and Club level to ensure this is minimised. However, that is for another time.


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As an Arsenal Fan , it is quite difficult to swallow the amount of reckless challenges that fly into players which result in injury that are waved away as harmless or "innocent" challenges. All too often I heard last year that the only way to stop Arsenal from playing was to be rough and "go in hard" in order to disrupt their game. I am no purist, or naive, as I fully understand the need for football to become more a mans game and not the soppy, diving-ridden sport an outsider may think looking in. Whats more, there is no problem sticking a "reducer" on a pacy winger if it means you have won the mini-psychological battle which is fought during 90 minutes.

However, in the case of Diaby, Eduardo and more recently Aaron Ramsey, these players need protection from others who either tackle to injure or players who lack the ability to challenge properly and thus cause injury. Martin Taylor, now plying his trade in the Championship with Watford, probably meant no malice - however this doesn't detract from the fact he has significantly altered another professionals career. I, like many fans, know Managers encourage their players to use either hard/dirty challenges if it means securing a point or three, just because a player may be honest as the day is long, they are different on the field of play. We will never know if Taylor meant to harm Eduardo, his post-tackle reaction suggested it wasn't meant, however watching replays of the incident suggest either Taylor is a pretty poor defender (hence now at Watford) or over-estimated how much he intended to send a message to Eduardo in order to inhibit the performance of a possible threat during the game.

Enough conjecture, the incident happened two years ago and has been written about enough. My point was that Edaurdo could have been brilliant, and still could be, but we may never know.

Why am I so certain he could have been prolific? His record speaks volumns. While at Dinamo Zagreb, he scored 83 goals in 123 appearances, not too bad at all. He was named best player in the Croation league during 2004, 2006 and 2007 while also winning two Croation League Titles and a Domestic Cup. In addition, he also won the Croation SuperCup in 2006, helping to win 4-1 over Rijeka. He was at his most prolific during 2006/2007 for Dinamo scoring 18 goals in 18 matches.


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In 2007 he transferred to Arsenal for a reported c£ 7.5m (therefore generating a loss on sale of c£1m - however there could be additional sale clauses which mean Arsenal break even on his transfer out) and became a regular during the 2007/2008 season due to injury to Robin Van Persie, scoring a particularly delicious goal against Man City in a 3-1 away victory. After returning from injury in early 2009, Edaurdo demonstrated some of the outrageous skill he offered during on/off sub and starting appearances. During one particular game against Burnley in March 2009, which I was in attendance, he scored the most outrageous outside-the-boot flick to contribute to the eventual 3-0 victory. A further brace against Cardiff in a previous game in February 2009 gave the supporters hope he had truly recovered both physically and mentally however it wasn't to be.

After struggling with several hamstring injuries and recovery set-backs, his absence was noted by the Arsenal faithful. For a while supporters, myself included, questioned whether he was being carried by the team as it was evident the Edaurdo of old had disappeared and the flashes of brilliance were just that. It is a real shame a player of that calibre is now gone from the Premier League. I, as many Arsenal supporters, wish him well. A prolific player in his prime, Eduardo will surely go on to have a successful career with Donetsk, but I am sure his will always be a career overshadowed with "what could have been".

An extremely likable player who was well loved and respected. He will be missed and remembered as a real fox-in-the-box, a superb player gifted with outrageous skill and an ability to entertain and astonish.