DISCUSSING Liverpool right now feels a lot like the moment Bill Murray wakes up on February 2 at six o’clock to I Got You Babe by Sonny & Cher. Again and again and again.
Instead, in the Scouse version of Groundhog Day, we wake up and someone tells us we still need goals in the side.
Again and again and again.
Let’s not do the goals today. Instead, let’s look at the idea of a “par” season, as suggested by Brendan Rodgers. Some fans seem surprised that their fellow Reds are pissed off with what has been served up this season. After all, it’s “par”, right?
This idea of “par” has arrived from what we know of Liverpool’s spending power and ability to pay transfer fees and wages versus Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City. I’ve read the analysis. I understand the correlation. But, nevertheless, a record budget was available to Liverpool last summer. It was spent and the club’s gone backwards. Are we supposed to be happy about that? And all that with the much-heralded “lure of Champions League football”, albeit for the first time in five years.
The idea of par being put forward by the manager publicly doesn’t sit comfortably, for me at least. After all, it wasn’t long ago when talk centred around title challenges, Champions League and trophies. On his arrival at Liverpool, John W Henry talked of a “primary focus on returning the club to greatness” while Tom Werner later claimed “we certainly have the resources to compete with anybody in football”.
More recently Ian Ayre said “this is our competition” of the Champions League return while in August Rodgers told of “an excitement and a belief inside the club that we can challenge again for the title this time”.
It’s gone wrong and the manager must spin it some way as the public face of the club, but “par”? There’s got to have been a better way to fight your corner.
Fifth place in the Premier League and two cup semi-finals tells some of the story of Liverpool’s season but those bare statistical facts aren’t the sole dictator of the feel good – or lack of it – around the club and among the fans.
If “par” is what is normal, or what is expected, how have Liverpool fared against that standard in terms of quality of result over the season?
Expectations and definition of the criteria will obviously vary from fan to fan. Subjectivity is central to what follows. But I make it that from the 53 games Liverpool have played this season only four of the 25 victories the Reds have managed are a bit special — or ‘better than par’ (apologies if I’m contravening golfing parlance here. I have absolutely no interest in the ‘sport’).
So the quartet of results better than the norm: away wins at Spurs and Southampton — both traditionally tough aways and teams also pushing for top four — the 3-2 Anfield win against Spurs, same reason, and the nature of the win, and the 2-1 victory at home to Manchester City (they’re rich, good and won the league last May).
The other 21 wins are against, in my book at least, teams Liverpool should expect to beat. A win that makes you raise a glass hours with a nod later on rather than punch the air and go on a three-day bender.
Drawn games — and this is often forgotten — are important, too. Of the 13 matches Liverpool have drawn after 90 minutes this season only two jump out as decent results: Liverpool 2 Arsenal 2 and Liverpool 1 Chelsea 1. The rest? Nothing to get excited about — and many must surely rank as ‘below par’ (to clarify the contradiction in terms — ‘a bit crap’), in particular Anfield draws with Middlesbrough, Everton, Hull, Sunderland, Basel, Leicester, Bolton and Blackburn.
Drawing at Goodison was also disappointing given Everton’s form and how the game panned out, while Saturday’s 0-0 at West Brom might have been an “outstanding” performance in the manager’s eyes but few in the away section of the Smethwick End agreed. I’d conservatively estimate most had paid around £80-90 for the privilege to be there. Coming away from the ground the only consolation was that we don’t have to watch Tony Pulis football week in week out.
Then there are the defeats Liverpool have suffered so far this season – 15 of them. No loss is deemed ‘acceptable’ by supporters but some defeats feel more like a missed tap in on the green than others. I make it seven reverses that we should be able to live with to some extent (one with a caveat) and eight that represent a result that jolts with the conscience.
Every defeat is a kick in the teeth, particularly when you’ve forked out a small fortune to watch it. But a defeat away to the reigning Premier League champions, or home and away to the European champions, aren’t the biggest shocks (a caveat there for the team Rodgers fielded in Madrid. Theorise all day, but field your strongest team and lose and no-one bats an eyelid. Drop your best players and do the same and inevitable claims of waving the white flag follow).
Chelsea home and away; Man United home and away — defeats that are understandable at least given the gap in resources, difference in squads and so on. But losing at home to Villa and away to West Ham, Basel, Newcastle, Palace and Besiktas? Succumbing away to Arsenal in that manner? By that many goals? Villa in the semi at Wembley?
I understand that all is very subjective. I haven’t assessed relative spending power or analysed odds, injuries, historical context or the value of location in recruitment of players. But what I have done is be honest. This is what I think. As a fan. For all the biases, gaps in knowledge, whatever; this is what I think. And I don’t mind betting many feel the same — “par” hasn’t left us with too much to shout about when the football-sized hole in the bank account is taken into consideration.
By my back of a beermat reckoning, I make it that 18 results out of 53 this season have been disappointing. That’s 34 per cent stat fans. I have 58.5 per cent of results that are ‘par’; normal, standard, OK, alright. And at the other end of the scale, again by my subjective standards, I make it just four really good results — 7.5 per cent. When you think of what we watched last season, well….
The idea of “par” and what’s acceptable for Liverpool shouldn’t be — and isn’t — measured by results alone. The subjective side will always play a part. It’s not just what are perceived as good and bad results, either. It’s the other immeasurables: how good is the squad and has the manager squeezed the best he can out of them? Who is more responsible for the successes and failures, the manager or the players? Could another manager do a better job?
FSG may favour a data-driven model to run a football club but most of the people clicking through the turnstiles will use the age old methods of judgement — their eyes and ears. This season we simply haven’t seen enough good football and we’ve heard too many excuses.
That’s why some fans are pissed off.
And that’s why golfing terminology — particularly of a defeatist nature — should be saved for the greens.
Liverpool are neither in the bunker or on the fairway right now. And there are still five more shots at putting it right before the season finishes. Win all five and maybe it’s time to use the phrase “outstanding”. In the meantime, that’s a term best left buried in the rough, especially after an uninspiring draw against relegation scrappers.
OUTSTANDING/UNEXPECTED/BETTER THAN AVERAGE WINS
Tottenham 0 Liverpool 3
Liverpool 3 Tottenham 2
Southampton 0 Liverpool 2
Liverpool 2 Manchester City 1
GOOD/OK/EXPECTED WINS
Liverpool 2 Southampton 1
Liverpool 2 Ludogorets 1
Liverpool 2 West Brom 1
QPR 2 Liverpool 3
Liverpool 2 Swansea 1
Liverpool 1 Stoke 0
Leicester 1 Liverpool 3
Bournemouth 1 Liverpool 3
Burnley 0 Liverpool 1
Liverpool 4 Swansea 1
Wimbledon 1 Liverpool 2
Sunderland 0 Liverpool 1
Aston Villa 0 Liverpool 2
Liverpool 2 West Ham 0
Bolton 1 Liverpool 2
Crystal Palace 1 Liverpool 2
Liverpool 1 Besiktas 0
Liverpool 2 Burnley 0
Swansea 0 Liverpool 1
Blackburn 0 Liverpool 1
Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0
DEFEATS ‘YOU CAN LIVE WITH’
Man City 3 Liverpool 1
Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 3
Real Madrid 1 Liverpool 0 (but not the team fielded?)
Liverpool 1 Chelsea 2
Man United 3 Liverpool 0
Chelsea 1 Liverpool 0
Liverpool 1 Man United 2
POOR DRAWS
Liverpool 2 Middlesbrough 2 (won on pens)
Liverpool 1 Everton 1
Liverpool 0 Hull 0
Liverpool 0 Sunderland 0
Liverpool 1 Basel 1
Liverpool 2 Leicester 2
Liverpool 0 Bolton 0
Everton 0 Liverpool 0
Liverpool 0 Blackburn 0
West Brom 0 Liverpool 0
DECENT DRAWS
Liverpool 2 Arsenal 2
Liverpool 1 Chelsea 1
BAD DEFEATS
Liverpool 0 Aston Villa 1
West Ham 3 Liverpool 1
Basel 1 Liverpool 0
Newcastle 1 Liverpool 0
Crystal Palace 3 Liverpool 1
Besiktas 1 Liverpool 0
Arsenal 4 Liverpool 1
Aston Villa 2 Liverpool 1
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Winning at Swansea is a Better Than Average win.
Drawing at Everton is a decent draw.
We went most of the 1990s without winning there, and even the very best Liverpool teams in the 1970s/1980s often failed to win both derbies. It’s just the nature of the derby.
The home draw with them is disappointing in the manner it happened – last second equaliser.
“Par” for Liverpool has always been higher than what reality dictates. We have always aimed higher than maybe what we’re capable off. Other clubs call it delusional, but it’s that constant ambition and expectation (even if unfounded) that keeps us at the very least up closer to where we want to be, instead of just fading away. Without that attitude, nights like Istanbul wouldn’t happen
We constantly aim ridiculously high and strive to punch above our weight. My worry is that anyone at the club starts accepting reality and embrace it, that’s when we’d really be pushing shit up hill.
FSG in theory should also be looking to aim high. Underpromise over-deliver and all that. We’ll see what they’ll do this summer, it will show their true colors
Meanwhile the manager has to stop doing a bit of a Hodgson and dumping down expectation
Think it is a bit harsh.
1) Swansea result home is a bit more than par. In the same way Cardiff away and say west brom at home last season were a bit more than par. Thrashing a poorer team is par
2) By the logic of the article a par performance for liverpool will almost win you the league – no team wins every game they were meant to – some are better at it than others (arsenal) some are better at the big games (chelsea) but if you did this “par” analysis with all the other teams at the top of the league “par” would probably still end up at 5th for liverpool
3) last week on the pod you criticised them for raising expectations. Now you are criticising the defensive comments of reality. I agree with the point but I think the reality is no win unless we exceed expectations. If at the beginning of the season he says “par / logic dictate 5th is our most likely position” everyone will be saying “we are Liverpool such lack of ambition is ridiculous” but if he says we can challenge and we don’t then it is his fault for raising expectations too high and if he can’t meet them it’s his fault.
4) yes we had money to spend but the club didn’t or couldn’t spend it on the players we wanted. Imagine where a Sanchez and a remy puts us now. This can’t be put at Bredans door but I think get forgotten.
Overall it comes down to this. A Liverpool manager can only win in these circumstances if they raise our expectations beyond par and then match or exceed their own forecasts. This is a hard thing to do. But it is even harder to do it year in year out. We did so well last year – should we really be so short-sighted to get so dismayed at “par” this year? After all there are other good teams out there who are also trying to improve and achieve the same aims but on a bigger budget – there will always be fluctuation. In my mind stability and youthful promise in a manager is the only way we win this unfair game and – if you take Klopp out of the equation – I think that means we have to show some patience here. It isn’t about “3 years, the team should be his” it is about fluctuations happen however good a team is in whiever’s image.
I was thinking a lot about this after Saturday’s draw. If you look at the results in Rodgers’ 3 season reign – and especially how they are distributed throughout each season – it’s clear that whatever else Rodgers is, ‘par’ he is not.
First 19 EPL games:
W D L
2012/13 6 7 6
2013/14 11 3 5
2014/15 8 4 7
Second 19 EPL games:
W D L
2012/13 10 6 3
2013/14 15 3 1
2014/15 9 3 2
To sum this up, the first half of each season is sub-par (with the possible exception of last year and 36pts), and the second half of each season is above par (with the possible exception of his first season and 36pts – it depends whether you regard 72pts as ‘par’).
Point is, this is not the record of a manager or team that consistently trots our ‘par’ performances – neither scintillating nor woeful. The only thing ‘consistent’ about this record is its inconsistency.
First half season average 40pts(*) or a 80pt+ season
(*)assuming we get 3 more wins this season
So ‘will the real Brendan Rodgers please stand up’.
The way I look at it, this record shows that Rodgers is capable of getting LFC to play at a level that not only challenges top 4, but is genuinely title-challenging form. A team that begins the season showing 5th place form, continues through Xmas in the same vein and then finishes as it started, doesn’t show that. There’s ‘par’ and there’s *par*.
Of course, Rodgers’ detractors can spin this the same way: maybe his early season form is the true indicator of his abilities as a manager and he got lucky with the way the team has finished these last few years? It’s possible and the truth is no-one yet knows. But at least this is a manager who has shown he is capable of getting this team to perform at top-4 and above levels for extended periods. It is, surely ,easier to fix whatever it is that’s going wrong August-Dec than it is to turn a plodding, consistently 5th-placer into an elite manager capable of producing elite team performances?
Rodgers’ challenge is eradicate the errors, to stop repeating the same mistakes; not to find a level of performance that we’re not even sure he is capable of. He’s proved he is capable of operating at that level, which is why – even as a so-called ‘par’ manager – he’s worth persevering with.
I knew that wouldn’t come out right.
Someone, on another site I think, said that we’re only 4 goals behind the pace of last year. For the goals we gave up! And that’s with Migs keeping all these clean sheets.
That’s wrong. BR’s first year leaked 46, last season was 50, today we stand at 36; leaking just over 1 a game.
Agree with most of your list other than:
– The home league win vs Swansea was one of the better games this season, I’d say; played some good stuff and scored enough to at least demonstrate there is some muscle memory from last season. In a season of injures and general lack of sharpness, Lallana got to look like the player we signed which was nice to see.
– Felt much worse about the United away result than Arsenal away. Arsenal at home felt like a missed opportunity also because we outplayed them. I like Brendan, but saying 5th is par with us being behind who we’re behind in the league when he started Brad Jones against Arsenal and United in December makes me want to scream.
– The Middlesbrough game’s a funny one to rate because it led to the maddest shootout ever which we won. At season’s end, that’ll probably count as one of the fonder memories of 2014/15 sadly.
Unless you’re City or Chelsea no one should have any interest in ‘par’. Nothing seasons where you get to semis and finish where your wage bill dictates you should are a waste of everyone’s time and money. Be disappointing in the league and get to finals or not really bother with cups and have a mad go at the league. Preferably the latter but I’d take the former if needs be.
Been doing some thinking about how miserable the Champions League campaign was. So we bullshitted ourselves for 5 years talking about building our way up to top 4 to then attract the players to challenge for the league. Then all in the same calendar year(!) we come so close to winning it, didn’t attract world class talent in the summer because of the new horse shit excuse of ‘London’ and then end up looking fairly pathetic in front of all of Europe anyway.
Neil’s ‘may as well try for 1st as 4th’ mantra is speaking volumes to me at this point and I’m hoping decision makers at the club are thinking in those terms over the summer as well. We haven’t won the league for a quarter of a century. Christ, it’s a decade since Istanbul. So never mind basically saying, ‘yeah, it’ll take the likes of City a couple of decades or so to surpass our trophy haul.’ What? Do you mean like United nearly have? Or as you referenced Gareth, the fella brought in to the club by Tom Hicks coming out with the “our competition” shout before we get made tits of in said competition.
From everything I can glean, people who have won nothing finding the time to be publicly arrogant is the antithesis to our much vaunted past. Essentially, I think what I’m advocating here is for someone like Ronnie Moran to come in the day after the last game away at Stoke and tell Ian Ayre to fucking shut up and get on with it. The 2015/16 season would be starting there for me.
It’s the wrong question.
I liked Ian Salmons piece on here recently. Summed it up for me. I’ve got no idea about anything anymore. There’s been good and bad over his 3 seasons, there’s been a lot of decisions that felt bad at that time and were proven to have been bad with hindsight, there’s mitigating circumstances for why we’re so poor but then no excuse why we didn’t win some of those matches. There’s been the kind of runs which are, in effect, title winning runs except we didn’t play like title winners outside of those runs. Then there’s the new holy trinity – the owners, the directors and the manager and us not knowing to what effect one is nullifying the others. It’s genuinely unclear. I’m calm now though. The seasons gone. It’s appears Rodgers is staying. There are hints that some of the mistakes of last summer will be rectified. My thinking is, I don’t think we can know one way or another why things have been so poor. Every one certainly has an opinion and I think by now we all know each others. One thing I think is certain is that by this time next year there can be no doubt about Rodgers. Regardless of how the other areas of the club perform we’ll know whether Rodgers is taking us or, can take us, forward. I think he’s still on the cusp of excuses having any credibility. If we don’t exceed ‘par’ next season then it’s over. We’ve all heard Neil’s views but finishing in the top 4 is definitely gonna be an unwritten goal for next season and failure will be a deal breaker. For me personally, I’m going in to it with a clean slate. I know nothing and I don’t care about anything. When the season starts it’ll be like I’ve never heard of him and my opinions will be formed by our form / results / position and those alone based on the season to date. This year will be irrelevant to me, last year will be irrelevant and a good run will be irrelevant if preceded or followed by shit. It’s up to Rodgers to prove himself or say goodbye. I’m pretty sure that would have been the word from Boston and I can live with that.
Robin, your sunny response to adversity is admirable, but misplaced. The mistakes of last Summer MAY be corrected, but the in-season mistakes surely won’t. Some people have no tactical feel and Brendan Rodgers is no more tactically aware than Kevin Keegan.
I don’t actuslly mind us losing games, but I resent us giving up. We should never forgive Ridges for his craven approach to the CL, for his inept selections in the Europa league, and for his chronic inability to outthink even the most moderate EPL managers.
Everybody has a point of view, and all are entitled to them. But even Brendan Rodgers most trenchant supporters are now shifting ground, even if only to say ‘Ah, he’ll learn from this!’ Well my cynical view is he hasn’t and he won’t. And cynics never get unpleasant surprises. I happen to believe that we have not a bad squad and a canny manager could do something with it. Brendan is not canny.
I have a level one coaching certificate but would never progress to coaching beyond under 15 level because I wasn’t up to it. Rodgers should have made the same decision.
Haha,
What I meant by hints of rectifying it related to it being April and the club are clearly trying to get Depay. There’s no question they met near Manchester Airport, hence the Utd link a day or two earlier. I’m taking peoples word for it he’s good but it’s what I want to be seeing. The press reported he said he was impressed as well (but was waiting to see if Utd are interested before making any decision, lol).
I’m aware Rodgers makes mistakes. Don’t get me wrong, if you can guarantee you’ll find a better manager tomorrow I’ll happily be on board. My counter arguments have been said a thousand times so I’ll just say I’m not trying to take a ‘sunny response to adversity’, it’s not my way. I prefer to come out fighting. I just don’t believe we’re at that stage with Rodgers and that’s why I’m not prepared to go on the war path. I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely convinced about him but I definitely feel calm at the minute. I’m certainly not advocating wasting a year because like I say, alarm bells are not ringing loudly yet but I’m convinced we’ll know for sure this time next year. I wouldn’t like to predict which way it’ll go but I’m hopeful yet apprehensive. Like I said above, I’ve no idea anymore but after the summer we’ll start getting an idea
…If you can guarantee you can find a better manager tomorrow…’ I’ll do better than that;- I’ll find you one TODAY. Rafael Benitez. If I
was John Henry I’d sign him up now. That would wipe the smirks off the faces of Chelsea and Manu, and there’d be no more watching 2- 0 and 3-0 leads evaporate while out manager stood and watched like a boggled bunny, absolutely clueless.
Or Klopp…
Europa semis, 3 points from CL qualification as it stands. Coppa semis.
We should be raiding Napoli for Higuaín rather than Rafa.
Shit season Klopp though, he may have won stuff and that but that’s all history and if there’s one thing we don’t stand for, it’s history!! Brendan will get us there and look, he has no history so its win win!! ;)
Btw for all it being a shit season for Dortmund, they are 8th and only 3 points off 5th!
Klopp’s not available though. He left Dortmund for a reason and it wasn’t to join Liverpool. He didn’t just leave for the sake of it. He clearly had a plan and that plan involved one of the leading clubs approaching him.
There is no plan Rob Crimes, he is actually planing to take a year off…
He said he wants a new challenge and news will come out soon that Gundogan, Hummels, Reus will be leaving and then it all makes sense, he is tired of loosing the best players and this summer he would loose plenty..
Absolutely spot on. There is a marked difference in the attitude and words of Rodgers supporters now comparing to November. Its like night and day. I think deep down they know the likes of you and I have been correct all along and just don’t want to admit they were wrong.
There is absolutely no evidence that if we keep Rodgers (still a big if and given recent offensive PR blitzes from the mayes of Rodgers in the media I think he knows he’s in big trouble) anything will chance. There is absolutely no evidence that he’ll learn from his mistakes.
Don’t get me wrong, all managers make mistakes. As someone who loved (and still do) Rafa, he made plenty of mistakes as LFC boss. But he learnt from every one. Example: he buys a player he wanted, like Kromcamp, that he told the club would be his no 1 in a certain position, realises after a short time the new player is not up to it, doesn’t play him too often (2nd choice in rotation system) then sells him. He does not play him for 90mins 19 times in a row, making him a major contributor in having the worst start in 50 years, just to prove a point that he was right to buy him in the first place. Rodgers does.
Does anyone see Rodgers learning from other mistakes? Like no rotation? Like us performing a lot better in Europe? Like choosing a right hand man who wasnt a postman 5 years ago? Like not changing formations every 3 months? Like actually playing players in their correct positions? At least he’ll have no Gerrard to deal with so there might not be a chance to show us what a coward he is, but then again whats to say he won’t pick another pkayer, as he has done Mario, and throw him under the bus when the pressure comes on – which it will do if we get off to a poor start in August and September – and judging by his previous starts thats exactky what will happen. What about the idiotic comments that make him (and by extension us) look like a tit? He’s done it for 3 seasons so why not a 4th?
It was Palace away after anninternational break that I gave up hope Rodgers would learn from his mistakes. Im now of the opinion anyone still waiting on that happening is deluded.
“Rodgers does.”
And now Lovren has been one of best performers over the last half-dozen games, including tonight at it happens. Admittedly, the competition put up by the other players hasn’t been particularly fierce, but on current showing it looks like there is a player in there after all. Who knew?
Rodgers, apparently.
So to wait all season for two good performance in meaningless games is justifiable? What did he see in Markovic that he doesn’t see now? Manquillo? Why don’t they get 19 games straight? What didn’t he see – and probably doesn’t see even now – in Sakho, that almost everyone else does?
Lauding him for moderately good performsnces from Lovren (who I believe CAN be quite good, by the way) is a bit like Spike Milligan’s headstone: “See, I told you I was sick.”
Par should have been top 4 considering the money we spent last summer and the fact Man Utd came 7th last season and had a new manager who didn’t know the league. Utd are still stumbling, but Rodgers was too incompetent to take advantage by winning at West Brom.
But this is my point with the stats above. Whether people think par is 5th or 4th, and whether they believe Rodgers is a chancer or the second-coming, drawing at West Brom would not be seen as “incompetent” were it not for the fact that we find ourselves in a position where we’re needing to win every game we play to hit a target.
Our league form since Jan is good. If we miss top 4, it’s not because we drew at WBA in the midst of run where we’ve taken 30 points from 42 (with the only two losses in that series being to Arsenal and Utd); it’s because the start to the season was such a colossal cock-up.
But if we’re being honest, in the context of the season (or even the lack of strikers we have) are irrelevant in explaining our performances lately, most noticeably Villa and West Brom. Ok, I’d probably still try and pull the strikers one but there’s more to it. That team, regardless of the season gone or the personnel not there or the system played, was good enough to give Villa a fight, was good enough to wear West Brom down, yet it wasn’t and didn’t. That has to be the issue with ‘par’. I can excuse some losses, I can appreciate sometimes we’ve done everything we could but it wasn’t good enough. Sometimes I understand that travelling across Europe and having no sleep takes it’s toll and you can be second best to the ball. Sometimes you lose games you’re not expected to. But I can’t accept that for a lot of our games this season we haven’t turned up mentally. When we have that look that we’re up for it we’re genuinely unplayable. Again, I don’t know if it’s the players we have, the manager, the system, the lack of an outlet – I simply don’t know but it effin winds me up. I liked your comment earlier. I found it intriguing if nothing else. There is a bigger picture but at the same time there’s also clear issues that are separate to the overall picture.
I understand your point and I’ll admit to some concerns recently re the ‘not turning up’ thing, but ultimately those sorts of performances happen from time to time, including to the clubs that are out-performing us. Chelsea at home to Bradford, Utd at Leicester, etc.. The difference is that when you are already having to chase the season from the mid-point because you started like a bag o’ shite, those no-show games are brought into sharper focus.
The reality is that if the league started on Jan 1st I think we’d be second, 2pts behind Arsenal. Okay, it didn’t, but point is the odd no-show against Arsenal away etc. happens to every team and doesn’t irreparably destroy your season. Starting with 4 wins and 2 draws in your first 12 games is what does that.
But it wasn’t ‘the start of the seasian, it was almost half a season with the same bloody-minded selections and the same fathomless substitutions. A clever manager learns game by game, not when he’s forced to play sidelined plsyers by force of injury. and I never thought Id ever see a Liverpool manager pick a ‘weak’ CL team in order to save some players for a league game. He’s just not ‘our’ sort of manager. Academy-class, maybe. not EPL,
Good point that – we were well into November by the time he changed anything and of course lets not forget Sakho only came in due to LOvrens injury ( and was binned when Lovren returned)
Funnily it was the same for the 2nd season too wasnt it. But hey, Brendan’s learning!!
Transfer spend has to be given as net, as only that takes proper account of the quality you’ve had to sell. Our net last summer was around £35m. The Mancs was £114m. The media tells us that an 8-point improvement for them is poor return for £114m. But, they get £45m for CL qualification, which we lose. It’s a swing of £90m. Adjusted for CL revenue (which is probably not the done thing for accountants, but I need to get this out), our transfer business this year actually cost us £80m (£35 + £45), whereas they effectively get a £45m rebate, taking their transfer cost to £69m (£114 – £45).
This is based on reported fees, estimated CL qualification money, & ignores wages (which are related to revenue anyway).
But this is why FSG got it badly wrong.
Our ire should be directed at them. They’ve hamstrung Rodgers. He proved last year what he can do with decent attacking options.
(Ps. I’m no accountant or financial expert, but I can do elementary maths.)
“If you know your history,then you know where you coming from.”
In most cases what was regarded as a “par” gets better and improves over the years.Maybe better bats or raquets;better running shoes or fitness levels.Better grass in the case of golf? Either way a par improves.
Our par (in the case of Liverpool Football Club) was set when John Smith was appointed Chairman from 1973 till 1990.Bill Shankly started the revolution and John Smith presided over the most successful period in the Club’s history.He was replaced by Noel White in 1990 (just check out his credentials along with his business partner Peter Swales of Manchester City).
White was replaced by David Moores about 12 months later and he (White) left in about 2006 after giving an interview criticising Benitez for wanting to spend money the the Club didn’t have.
But going back to 1991 that was when certain clubs started to realise the potential of the new premier league.We were betting a £1 win on some outsider in the Grand National while they were putting serious money on the favourites on the big “form” races. And if we won a few quid we’d buy another lottery ticket in the hope that our number would come up. They reinvested and accumulated.
“Pick up my guitar and play.Just like yesterday.But I get on my knees and pray.We won’t get fooled again.”
So,we’re still doing the same thing and getting the same results.And 25 years later we’ve got the “New boss,same as the old boss.”
Our par was set between 1973 and 1990;not last season!
And yes,I am that Buffalo Soldier!
Glad you acknowledge the subjective nature of these judgements Gareth.
Just looking at the performances in the league since we turned things round with games since the win at Burnley in December, you seem to have below par (as in not meeting expectations). During that period, only Arsenal picked up more points (+2). So looks like your view of par is to be the best performer in the league.
No harm in setting you sights high!
Two season out of 3 we start the season with no strikers and therefore no goals, Premier league is hard enough without giving ourselves a massive handicap. There is obviously a disconnect between Rodgers and the transfer commitee, when Sanches said no we went for Loic Remy, that at the time smacked as lack of understanding or ambition, we ended up with Balotelli and it seemed like him or nobody.
The transfer commitee can justify 20 mil + on Markovik Lallana and Lovren none of whom are strikers yet can only find 10 mil to replace a 75 mil striker, and in the end spend 16 mil on a striker that does not lead the line or fit into any of the systems we play.
This is not a one off Aspas Alberto illori played no part in our title challenge, the only successful window we had was the first winter, the last two winters no new players.
We don’t know if Balotelli can play with Sturridge we don’t know if Sturridge can play with Origi and whatever system you play I don’t know where Lallana and Marcovik fit in and it’s a lot of money to have on the bench.
It’s one thing buying a player for a position and them not being very good (Downing) its another thing buying players that have no fixed position and hoping for the best, oh and could they contribute about 25 goals playing somewhere up top.
A lot of this maybe Rodgers fault but anyone can see its not working
Regarding par
At the end of last season you sell Suarez and with the 75 mil only you buy two strikers you would expect top three and a crack at the title.
With the players that were bought then 5th is about par
That is what is so frustrating, it’s not that the other teams are better it is that we have given ourselves a handicap, that’s what I find hard to swollow is that it is self inflicted.
By definition “Par” is the norm – the expected most reasonable outcome
So in a game of golf a golfer with a handicap will probably hit his own par 90% with the odd under par and the odd over par
It very much appears here LFC have been FAR from achieving par results and the manager should be brought to account
To put this season in a golfing Liverpool has set of to play 18 holes and left their putter in the boot of the car, you still play well tea to green but getting the ball into the hole becomes a lot more difficult if you are putting with a 4 iron, and as every golfer knows it not how but how many