The problems at the club go way further than the manager. That’s like thinking a change of prime minister can cure all a nation’s ills.
The owners have made it clear how much on the field matters are not a priority anymore. In 2011/12, when the club failed to meet the objectives they set, they went on a sacking cull. The director of football, the head of sporting medicine, the manager etc… We’d won a trophy, reached another final, but it wasn’t good enough for them.
Their action this Summer showed where their priorities lie now. They have made it clear there is no accountability at Liverpool Football Club anymore. We had one of the worst seasons in living memory and the only people to pay with their jobs were a couple of the coaching staff- whose contracts were coming to an end anyways.
I don’t know how they were to blame for wasting 120m odd- in addition to all the money that was wasted in the previous Summer. The club’s transfer committee has been so poor yet nothing was done about it at all. We made some of the most brain dead decisions in sporting history, like replacing Luis Suarez with Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli, but not a single person paid for it with their jobs.
There is an inertia at board level which has now engulfed the club. It’s that inertia that allows for results like Stoke 6 Liverpool 1. When all the players already have their suitcases packed for a holiday. It’s that inertia that has allowed results like that to be met with no response. It’s for that reason that when Liverpool suffer their worst home league defeat for 40 years, everyone just shrugs and move on.
Results like that should make the ground absolutely shudder. I’d wager that everywhere in the world, fans of international clubs checked the West Ham score and shuddered and shook their heads sadly; the way we would if we saw Milan had lost 3-0 at the San Siro to Calgiari. The footballing world holds Liverpool to a high standard- unfortunately, a higher standard than the football club holds itself. While they shuddered, our club just shrugged their shoulders and moved on.
This descent into mediocrity is unacceptable. It starts at the top but it goes down to chief executive, the transfer committee, the manager and the players and even the fans.
We have the 7th most expensive squad in the WORLD. The 7th.
4 of the top 6 are in England, which shows how tough it is top get into the top 4. But we are no paupers. Only 6 clubs in world football have more expensive squads than us- yet the reaction to being embarrassed in Europe by the likes of Basel and Beskyktas are met with “**** happens”. The reaction to 6-1 losses to Stoke and 3-0 home defeats by West Ham are met with “We need to improve”. What the **** is going on?
We are left with no leaders: there isn’t any leadership at the top, where there is absolutely no communication with the fans about these matters. We have no clue what the standards the club expects are anymore. There is no leadership on the pitch where a squad player from Man City can waltz in and immediately become our vice captain. Pre FSG, someone like Milner would have come in and been 6th in line for the armband. Now, he leads us out on his 3rd game for the club.
That is a sorry indictment of a transfer policy which has revolved around stats and age and completely disregarded silly things like winning mentality, warrior spirit and leadership. It explains how we moved from a player who would have kicked his baby niece’s ankle for a corner in Suarez to one who wouldn’t break his toe nail for a trophy in Balotelli. Things like winning mentality just does not seem to count for the people who buy players- or give them new contracts.
The 7th most expensive squad in world football. 270m pounds spent on players- and we only have 1 player who can create a goal scoring chance. One ******* player. How that is not cause for an inquest akin to the Warren Commission I have no clue. The transfer committee and Rodgers have sunk this football club in the transfer market. We’ve never spent so much money in our history; and we’re left with the worst team we’ve had for 23 years.
I was a the ground yesterday and it hit me that none of that front 6 would have gotten into the team that beat City 3-2 on April 13th 2014 to go clear at the top of the league. Our front 6 that day: Gerrard, Henderson, Coutinho, Sterling, Sturridge, Suarez.
3 players are still here but that’s not the point: it is absolutely bewildering that we spent 200m since then and haven’t bought a single player that can improve that front 6. Every midfelder or attacking player we’ve bought since then could only get on the bench, if that. Yet again, no standards and no accountability.
We have spent an absolute fortune on mediocrity, squad players, absolute garbage, potential and players from Southampton. I cracked up laughing at the analysis of yesterday’s defeat. When the problem is that we should have partnered Benteke up with some player who was ok for Burnley last season or a kid who was voted in France’s worst side of the year last season, then that tells you everything.
The signing of Benteke illustrates everything that is wrong with this club at the moment. I got a ban for saying what I thought about it at the time, so I’ll be more diplomatic. The moment Rodgers went for him was the moment he lost me. It was basically the tell tale sign that he was going to ditch everything he worked on for 3 years. There is no logic, no planning and no structure.
A team that was coached day in day out on playing passing football, was now going to go more direct. Instead of trying to go back to how we played in 13/14 we were going to go back to how we played in 2003/04.
Yesterday, Rodgers came out and said “ We need to be more patient. It’s too easy to go long to Benteke”. Well, sorry, but no ****? It’s the same spiel Houllier gave us about Heskey. I just cannot understand how he did not see this was going to happen. And Rodgers doesn’t even provide Benteke with width. It’s absolutely insane.
The 2003/04 side is the one this side reminds me most of. It’s amazing to think that we’ve basically gone 11 years back, after all that, but it’s true. Except this time we don’t have Hyypia, Gerrard or Owen- we have a Houllier side with all of them out and Heskey alone up front.
Mignolet for Dudek, Moreno as Riise, Lovren for Traore, Can as Biscan, Milner as Murphy, Firmino as Cheyrou, Ibe as Sinama Pongolle, Lallana as Smicer, Benteke as Heskey. It’s the same conservative , long ball style with no creativity, no entertainment and no hope. They’ve even brought back the pre match huddle from that era. We even have a white ******* away kit.
And this season feels like that one too- a season where we are all passing time, waiting for this era to end. Like in 1997/98 too except we don’t have a kid like Owen coming through to excite us. All we have now is the hope that Sturridge can come back and have the same impact as Suarez 2 years ago.
Brendan Rodgers has staked his Liverpool career on turning us into a Gerard Houllier side. He’s looked at last season and decided he needed the team to play like they did in the first half of the season, when we had our first start since 1954, and before his 3-6-1 eureka moment. That style of play got him close to the sack. Why he’s gone back to it again is absolutely insane but a proof that he feels he’s close to losing his job and decided to try and play it safe.
All of this can only end up badly for him and the club. People that think that Klopp will come in are dreaming- the owners are much rather likely to get Gary Monk in than Klopp. That’s the standards they have set.
We can even talk about the youth system. Remember when we had Borrell and Segura and all the talk was that one same philosophy would run through all the different sides of the club, from the kids upwards? How a manager would just be one part of the system, how all the sides would play the same formation etc... What the **** has happened to that? Where's the planning, consistency and standards there?
I’m sorry to end on a low note but I’ve got to say it: last year I wrote I felt that 13/14 was a watershed moment and that it would signal the last hurrah of Liverpool as a big football club. The descent to mid table mediocrity has begun in my opinion. Bad seasons are shrugged off, 6-1 defeats are ignored, worst home defeats for 40 years just don’t register. There is no accountability and an acceptance from everyone involved at the club at our descent.
It’s scary, scary times.