IT’S never too late. Well not at the start of February.
Football is just a mirror vision of life in general really; defeat can be snatched from the jaws of glory as easily as a hopeless cause can be rescued from the precipice. There will be ups and there will be downs, but more often than not you and your football club will end up in the position you deserve to be.
I can kind of see where Dave Martinez was coming from with his ‘Too Little Too Late’ piece, I can even agree with many of his points, but I can’t aesthetically agree with the premature message.
We’ve all been frustrated with what has often been a ‘after the lord mayor’s show’ sort of season, while on a sliding scale we’ve all quite rightly let rip at some point or another. Was this season ever really going to be anything but largely frustrating though? It was more a question of how quickly we could emerge from that fug of frustration.
Brendan Rodgers could have helped matters sooner, there are no two ways about that, but the fact that he has now seemingly found the right path has to be embraced as a massive positive. I’ve said before about this football club and its fans’ propensity to hit the self-destruct button in the wake of a near miss on the title. This was the acid test for Rodgers and the outcome can still go either way, but the signals are positive ones now — we are looking more and more like Liverpool FC with each passing performance.
Rodgers’ biggest early season mistake was attempting to continue with the same pattern of play that served us so well last season. With the departure of Luis Suarez and the loss to injury of Daniel Sturridge we no longer had two of the most important ingredients that made the 2013-14 recipe bubble so deliciously. I was staunchly in the camp advocating a switch of formation to one that suited the players we now had. Yet had Rodgers made that call earlier than he did there is no guarantee it would have worked as well as it is right now. As frustrated as I was at the time I can still understand why he did it. You also have to take into account how stubborn Rodgers can be at times.
This season has more closely resembled Rodgers’ first season in charge. Some sizeable lessons have been handed out and they took longer than hoped to be taken on board. But they have been taken on board in sufficient enough time to correct ourselves and reach the target of a top four finish. Chelsea and Manchester City have detached themselves from the pack to an extent, but the four sides directly above us aren’t particularly superior ones are they? Given the way we are playing it is far from outlandish to suggest that Liverpool can or even will overhaul their rivals for a Champions League berth. Most bookies have now reduced the odds of that happening to 4-1, even if there are still some factors stacked against the Reds.
There will be set-backs to come between now and mid-May, and how we deal with, and respond to them will be key. Confidence doesn’t seem to be an issue at the minute and the return of Sturridge can only provide added bounce, as seen with his goalscoring re-emergence from the bench against West Ham yesterday. Hopefully he can maintain a clean bill of health from here on in.
5 – Daniel Sturridge has now scored in five of his seven league appearances for Liverpool from the bench. Sharp.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 31, 2015
The upward arc in the form of Raheem Sterling and Philippe Coutinho, added to the extra body in central defence, plus a more composed version of Simon Mignolet all point to a collective cohesion coming together. Lazar Markovic shows flashes of the player he may yet mature into and Lucas has proved swathes of us wrong with his form and his importance to the team, while Jordan Henderson is simply Jordan Henderson. The manner of the wins against Aston Villa and West Ham over the course of the last two league games in the absence of Steven Gerrard also reassure of a future we can embrace without him.
8 – Liverpool have won eight of 12 PL games that Lucas has started this season (67%) and just three of 11 when he hasn’t (27%). Key.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 31, 2015
The coming week is a huge one. We now enter the part of the season where most weeks we enter will be huge ones. Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup and the trip to Goodison on Saturday are a timely test of the mental and physical capabilities of this set of players. We’re on a bit of a roll and the next six to eight weeks will dictate whether or not we can enjoy another snowball effect. If that snowball can gather the momentum we know it can then we will sweep most of our obstacles aside.
As fantastic as it would be to see Gerrard walk away from Anfield with another winner’s medal from the FA Cup and/or UEFA Cup, the greatest gift he could give us is a top four finish and a return to Champions League football for next season. With a top four finish gained the growth of this Liverpool side would be combined with Champions League exclusion for presumably either Arsenal or Manchester United. A set-back that we know only too well is very difficult to recover from. This is quite a pivotal point in time for us. We can level the uneven Premier League playing field at least by a few degrees with a top four finish. It’s all about evolution rather than revolution.
Talk of this sleight-of-hand Liverpool resurgence being ‘too little too late’ is around two, maybe two and a half months too early. We are Liverpool and we are still capable of something beautiful this season. I said it back in August that this season would never be a continuation of last season’s insanity, but instead the beginning of a new odyssey. It’s not about a finish line that we reach this May, but one we are building for that is waiting for us in May 2016 or May 2017. It’s all about finding that upward trajectory again and there is evidence we’re back on the rails. This May is more of a marker we need to hit rather than a finish line. The insanity can still return.
Good things come to those who wait. It’s far from too little too late.
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Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda
Spot on! Always like the tone of your articles.
My only concern is our fixtures seem a lot harder than the others around us.
Momentum and form Robin, momentum and form can blow them all away. We are moving through the gears and when we purr we can beat anyone.
Yeah, I agree. Although Spurs are in good form too, they don’t worry me at Anfield. City will be tough but they haven’t impressed me much and Utd’s defence is still vulnerable. I think we can get 7 points in those. The away ones are tougher but then we’ve done ok on the road and matched Chelsea last week. It’s important I remember that football isn’t as predictable as it looks or we’d all be walking round with millions of pounds in our pockets from betting accumulators. I’m confident!
Genuinely think if we keep sturridge fit we are going to play at a similair level this half of the season as last years final half. Yes we dont have suarez but defensively we actually look really solid for the first time ever and offensively with sturridge in the team we look like we can score plenty each time we play. Only issue could be an injury to Sturridge and fixture congestion.
We do have hard fixtures but genuinely feel all but Chelsea away we should feel confident about. The games against those around us I see as a good oppurtunity to gain points on the rest, paticularly united and southhampton who I definitely think we look significantly better than at the moment. Arsenal have hit some form so may be a tough game away and potientally hard to catch but I do think we should be aiming for third, 5 points is nothing and right now feels like we can hit a similair level to last season. If we were 2 points of Chelsea I genuinely would back us to give them a run for it.
Lets get the atmosphere going like last season and I reckon a double and top 4 finish is well within our grasp which would set us up incredibly for next season!
Nicholas, it’s not just the defense, either. We are a much more complete team right now. Last year, Flanno was the only one of our fullbacks we could count on for quality play. This year, we can count on both wing backs to defend and contribute to the attack. We can count on two out of three our centre-backs to advance the ball and provide meaningful passes. Hell, one of them can be counted to play well a,, the way to the opposing penalty area!
Was Suarez amazing? Yes. Is he worth all of the above? Not as long as Sturridge stays healthy and maintains the goal-scoring form he had when Luis wasn’t playing. Let us not remember, we had games that ended up disappointingly when Suarez couldn’t get it going (Villa, anyone? West Brom?). I rather think yesterday’s Liverpool would have done better than those otherwise memorable and loveable lads.
Agree mate! I was thinking to myself though, how could we improve our first 11. Sounds mental but I think Mignolet could be a good keeper. His command of his box has improved so much in the last month that combined with the fact he’s a good shot stopper, he could be ok. You’ve probably heard him shouting a lot recently too. If he can improve at this rate for another couple of months we’ll be alright. Clearly need to buy another but I wouldn’t be surprised if Mignolet keeps his place long term. Anyway, back to my point, I decided the only place I think we could strengthen is the wing backs. The back 3 aren’t under scrutiny. Higher up the pitch Sterling, Coutinho and Sturridge certainly aren’t and not many would want to break Henderson and Lucas us at the minute. Markovic and Moreno impress me, in spells, enough to be optimistic about their futures and to get there they have to play games but I just think if we had 2 there at the level of Sturridge, RS, PC, JH, Sakho etc then we’d be invincible. But, agree the wing backs give cover and contribute in attack. With Henderson’s work rate and Markovic and Moreno to be fair, it feels like we have a 7 man defence in 2 variable banks that’s always there when the opposition has the ball yet we play good attacking football. Weird! It’s a brilliant system for us. I know we’ll have to change to 4 at the back against Chelsea on Tuesday because quality players will get in behind us and tear us apart for definite. It’s only good against bottom half teams. Oh apologies, that was last week. Just left wondering why that clown Rodgers didn’t think of it earlier and realise those random decisions to change new players positions would work so well. Stubbornness probably!
Great post!
When I think about our wingbacks, I inevitably think of them in the same context as our strikers, our back three, and the central midfield positions. That is, I think of the question marks in regards to depth for the sake of rotation.
Let me be clearer for a second. Do I think Moreno or Markovic are the starting-quality product the club needs right now? No… but fuck it, while they haven’t dazzled in every game, they’ve done a man’s job and didn’t shy from the likes of Chelsea over two legs. That has to count for something. It’s not *optimal* that we have to rely on them week in, week out during an absolutely crucial season but I’m almost glad we didn’t go for a panic buy. They haven’t just been tossed into the deep end of the pool; they’re in an angry North Sea right now. Sink or swim!
Where that depth is concerned, Manquillo has been reliable, but I wish he had more of the offensive/striking spark Markovic has shown. That’s probably a tad unfair, since Lazar is a winger by trade, whereas the young Spaniard is a fullback. My hope is that Flanno will show some of the feistiness he had last year in the final third, but will combine that with more discipline on defense. My pipe dream is that Glen Johnson will be an impact player coming off the bench.
In the midfield, Joe Allen *has* to show that he can fill in for Lucas or Hendo. A lot is going to fall on his shoulders soon. Lucas and Hendo won’t be able to play every game. Stevie will be able to fill in for Hendo quite well now that his minutes are being managed, but pulling Can from the back three simply answers one question at the cost of raising another.
Which in turn means that Lovren simply has to take notes. Sakho is being hailed as colossal right now – rightfully so – but I think we can objectively recognize that he wasn’t exactly as consistent or great last year. In that sense, we can’t write the Croat off yet, but rather have to hope that he’s been getting the same treatment/putting in the same effort as Mamadou.
Where Daniel is concerned… Let’s not even go there.
My complain with the argument about how unprecedented it would be for us to overcome a 7-point deficit and finish in the top four is that it compared apples to oranges. How many of those clubs that failed to achieve this in the story of the Premier League were also clubs had one of the preceding season’s two top scorers and also were deprived of said scorer (and, really, any striker capable of scoring) for half of the season in question?
I’d be willing to bet that the answer to that question is “none”.
I don’t think there’s anything absurd about saying that, with Dan, we could already be in 4th place or higher. It’s basically saying that we don’t lose to Newcastle, don’t fail to score versus Hull or Sunderland, and don’t draw against Leicester. That’s seven very realistic points right there, which put is in third place.
Yes, we’re facing a brutal schedule in February, but didn’t we also have similarly brutally stretches in the first half of the campaign? Games like those against Madrid aside, were the losses we suffered then predominately due to the frequency of the fixtures, or the absence of a quality striker? I’d be willing to bet it’s the latter.
So yeah, finishing fourth isn’t doesn’t sound unreasonable to me. The sides above us will drop points. So’ton isn’t invincible – we already proved that, they showed it again today, and they have to play us soon. Arsenal and Tottenham can’t *both* win in six days. Take at least a point from City – and it’s been more than two years since they beat us fair – and the unprecedented will be oh-so very realistic.
Isn’t it the case that winners of the Europa gain entry to the champions league next season? If so, and much and all as I live the FA Cup, then a tandem charge at 4th and the EL should be the priority.
I think getting top four depends on if Sturridge stays fit. If he does then i think Livepool will score enough goals to win the required amount of games to get top four but without him i just don’t see us scoring enough goals. Finally Rodgers has realised we defend better without Johnson and Lovren so as long as he continues with a back three of Skrtel, Sakho and Can then i don’t see any other problems. The only way we don’t get top four if Sturridge stays fit is if Rodgers decides to play Johnson and Lovren more regularly in the back as we’ll start conceding more goals again but i think he’s finally got the message albeit a bit late.
Adam I think its a bit harsh to say we defend better without Lovren or Johnson.
The recent defensive improvement has been due to the new shape of the team and the henderson-Lucas combo shielding the defense much better. Yes Sakho and Can have added something but we now rarely look stretched or out of position which makes defending significantly easier. I know everyones unsure about Lovren but I bet if he went into the back 3 at the moment he would look much better because the teams functioning well. If you put a new player into a team which has a bad shape and isnt functioning its never going to be easy.
Its not a coincidence he looked good at Southhampton a team which played with a good defensive shape and had a good midfield shield.
I think not playing Gerrard in the midfield 2 is the biggest lesson in terms of personell in defence, he can play as an advanced midfielder or the deepest in a diamond but in a 2 man midfield required to do shuttles he doesnt have the tactical awareness or legs required. Henderson and Lucas’s impact on our defensvive record cannot be understated nor the move to the back 3.
Reckon we can finish as high as 3rd with possibly one last trophy for Gerrard to lift if Sturridge stays fit and we can start to chain wins together anywhere near the level of last year. If not we’ll be somewhere between finishing where we are/just missing out and coming unstuck in the cups. That’s how important he is. If he gets injured during another international break Roy Hodgson’s getting dropkicked.
I’m really enjoying the renewed optimism on here.
Personally, I think 5th is the most likely outcome for us if we can maintain a good run to the end of the season. This would probably be at the expense of Southampton, who can I see dropping points. If we get 5th, behind the 4 teams who have greater resources than us, that would be very creditable, given the challenges faced this season.
The Arsenal fans I know are pretty optimistic, and with good cause. Arsenal look like they are hitting the run of form they usually deliver at this time of the season to get top 4, and with many of their attacking players back from injury, I just don’t see them dropping many points to the end of the season.
If we are to get top 4, I think it will need to be at the expense of ManU, and wouldn’t that be sweet! They have as difficult a run in as anyone else and need to come to Anfield. Van Gaal has been flattered by the performances of their keeper, and I don’t think they have yet found a set up that he is comfortable with. With Carrick out for a while and the defence looking soft, they could struggle. Here’s hoping.