What’s Wrong With Liverpool FC?
liverpool FC is not just a football team. Since the day the legendary Bill Shankly too the reigns at Anfield, liverpool FC has been different to every other team in the world. The fans became accustomed to success throughout the Shankly years, playing football the way it should be played and winning trophy after trophy at home and abroad. Even after Shankly retired this tradition – often referred to as ‘the Liverpool way’ – continued through the successes of Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish. Although the post Dalglish era has brought trophies to Anfield including an unprecedented fifth European Cup, it’s still twenty years since the Kopite saw their team lift the championship. So just what went wrong?
Dalglish – The aftermath
Kenny Dalglish is a one-off in modern football. A man who made the transition from star player, to player/manager to manager with ease and led the side to title after title. Life immediately after Dalglish was difficult for Liverpool fans but Liverpool were still reigning champions at the time and locked in a title battle with arsenal. Despite an aging squad, this was a side still boasting the likes of John Barnes, Peter Beardsley, Jan Molby, Ronnie Whelan and Ian Rush – more than capable of pushing for the title the following year. With Ronnie Moran at the helm until the end of the season Liverpool finished a distant second behind arsenal that year but looking to preserve ‘the Liverpool way’, Another passionate Scot was lined up to lead the side.
Souness
Graeme Souness was an icon at Liverpool. He returned to the club he captained to so much glory from a successful stint as boss of Rangers and seemed the natural choice to succeed Dalglish. What did seem unnatural though, was how he quickly dismantled what was in effect a Championship winning side. Molby, Whelan, Beardsley, Nicol, Staunton and Houghton were all shown the day at barley 30 years of age. In came Dean Saunders, Don Hutchinson, Mike Marsh et al, all good players in their own right but not of the title winning caliber of those they replaced. Liverpool finished 8th that year and many fans point to this ruthless cull of one of the leagues strongest squads as a turning point in the history of Liverpool FC. Within a year, Liverpool had gone from title challengers to a mid table side. The one bright spot being the emergence of Steve Macmanaman and Jamie Redknapp.
Back to basics
Despite winning the FA Cup in ‘92, the fans and the board quickly lost patience with Souness and after suffering a serious heart attack he was replaced by one of the famous boot room – Roy Evans. Under Evans, Liverpool became know for their attacking flair and expansive style. ‘Pass and move’ was the philosophy and playing a 3-5-2 formation saw men pile forward as a young Robbie Fowler terrorized defenses. The Reds however, also became know for their soft centre and a string of defensive signings that failed to make an impact. The likes of Phil Babb, John Scales, Rob Jones, Stig Inge Bjornebye and Bjorn Kvarme all made good starts but made little difference to Liverpool’s defensive frailties. Some top four finishes and appearances in the Uefa cup gave brief hope but Evan’s side never really pushed a resurgent manchester united. In 1998, the board moved to bring in former France manager Gerrard Houllier to work along side Evans as ‘co-manager’. The idea was doomed from he start and Evans was gone before the season’s end.
The French revolution
Houllier began what he described as a five-year program to rebuild the team, starting in 1999. That summer, Paul Ince, David James, Jason McAteer, Rob Jones, Tony Warner and Steve Harkness were all sold, while Steve McManaman left for Real Madrid on a free. At the same time seven new players, Sami Hyypiä, Dietmar Hamann, Stephane Henchoz, Vladimir Smicer, Sander Westerveld, Eric Meijer and Djimi Traore were all signed. Also, Liverpool’s training facilities at Melwood were thoroughly overhauled.
The rebuilding continued the following year, with the signings of Markus Babbel, Nicky Barmby, Pegguy Arphexad, Gregory Vignal, Emile Heskey, Gary McAllister, Igor Biscan and Christian Ziege, but the departures of David Thompson, Phil Babb, Dominic Matteo, Steve Staunton (for the second time), Brad Friedel and Stig Inge Bjornebye.
The efforts yielded a result in the successful 2000-01 season, when Liverpool won a cup treble of the League Cup, the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup and finished third in the English Premier League. Liverpool went on to win the FA Community Shield against manchester united and UEFA Super Cup against Bayern Munich. However, Liverpool still failed to trouble the top of the Premiership and the 00/01 season was as good as it got for Houllier.
In 2002-2003 season Liverpool finished in the fifth place in the Premiership, failing to qualify for the Champions League next season. Critics blamed Houllier’s unsuccessful summer signings in 2002, namely El Hadji Diouf (Lens, £10 million), Salif Diao (Sedan, £5 million) and Bruno Cheyrou (Lille, £4 million), and his failure to make Nicolas Anelka’s loan move permanent in favour of signing the ineffective Diouf. Liverpool had gone backwards and in May 2004 Houllier left by mutual consent.
Viva le Rafa-lution
Rafa Benitez arrived on Merseyside with a big reputation. He’d led his valencia side to the La Liga title, breaking the monopoly of Real Madrid and Barcelona and when the Reds had met Valencia in Europe they were out played and soundly beaten.
The 5 year plan under Gerrard Houllier was been torn up and re-written with yet another rebuilding of the squad. However, Liverpool fans expecting the starts of that Valencia side to follow Benitez to Anfield were sadly disappointed. benitez signed a string of average players from La Liga with only Luis Garcia, Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres having any real impact.
Despite a shock Champions League win in 2005, an FA Cup and finishing 2nd in the Premier League, much of Benitez’s time at Anfield has been marked by poor transfer policy and negative team selection. Out of the 37 senior first team players Benitez has signed since arriving at Anfield, 21 are no longer at the club. Players such at Craig Bellamy and Peter Crouch were ditched while Robbie Keane’s £20m dream move from Spurs was doomed from the start.
So what has actually gone wrong?
Change. Too much, too soon. From the moment Graeme Souness overhauled a title winning squad each Liverpool manager has had a major rebuilding job on their hands but each time one rebuilds the finished article is never what it should be, leaving the next manager to rebuild a squad rebuilt by their predecessor.
Since Graeme Souness took over, Liverpool have spent £355m on transfer and recouped £179m and yet after all that money and 4 managers it looks like another rebuilding job is necessary as Liverpool currently sit in 7th place in the Premier League at time of writing having lost 7 games so far. With the American owners still promising a new stadium but offering no money to fund new players, a change of manager is not even an option this time as Benitez only signed a new 5 year contract in the summer the club simply cannot afford to part company with the Spaniard.
You can’t help but wonder whether things are going to get worse before they get better.
Rich Kinsella is webmaster of http://fantasyfootballinfo.co.uk and an avid Fantasy Football player for more than 15 years.
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Liverpool Completes Rodriguez Deal
liverpool have successfully signed Maxi Rodriguez from Atletico Madrid on a free transfer. Rodriguez has signed a three-and-a-half year contract with the club. He may make his debut for liverpool in the weekend game against Stoke. This is Rafa Benitez’s first signing in this transfer window. He has already sold Andriy Voronin and Andrea Dossena.
Liverpool FC’s performance in this season is worst among the so called “top four” clubs. They are out from the champions league, they are out from Carling cup and most recently they are out from FA cup. Seeing the current position and performance one can easily think of Liverpool not finishing in top four this season in the premier league, so they can be out from next year’s Champions league also.
Why so many problems to a club who were second in the league last season? In fact their performance was very good in the premier league last season. Some snapshots of their performance are as below:
o Liverpool lost only two matches in the premier league in 2008-09 season.
o They got double (won both home and away games) against Manchester United (league winners) and chelsea.
o They were on the top of league for more than six months.
o Liverpool won 4-0 against Real Madrid in Champions league.
Now in this season Liverpool have not shown any sign of being a threat to the league winners. Seeing Manchester City’s and Spurs’ performances it will be very difficult for Liverpool to finish in top four.
The club’s problems are not only on the field but also off the field. They are in huge debt, team boss Rafa Benitez has already said that they may sale Torres and Gerrard for the future of the club. Team’s ace striker Fernando Torres is also very much concerned about the team’s bad performance this season and he has told the owners to buy some quality players. He said “If we want to compete with United and chelsea we need a much, much more complete squad. We need more genuinely first-class players and we can’t let our best players leave.”
The main reason behind Liverpool’s bad run in this season can be the absence of Xabi Alonso. Liverpool have sold their midfielder Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid during the summer transfer window. They bring Alberto Aquilani for the Spanish Alonso.
Liverpool’s recent game against Reading has added a lot to Liverpool’s problems list. Liverpool lost the game 2-1 in extra time, moreover they lost three first team players in this game. Striker Fernando Torres will be out from action for six weeks, while Steven Gerrard will be sidelined for two and Yossi Benayoun is set to miss a month.
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English Premier League – Liverpool Maintains Its Lead by Beating Blackburn
The 18-time champion of the Premier League, liverpool, vindicated its leading position on the table this past Saturday by beating Blackburn Rovers 3-1 on the road in an amazing way. The game was well-played by the two teams but the consistency and determination of the Reds were higher than the Rovers in the second half, when they had trouble on their defense in various occasions.
The Reds for their part, played with conviction and its tactical plan was one that gave positive results to Benitez and his players at the end of the game. The Reds did not score any goals in the past two Premier League matches that finished in draws against Fulham and West Ham, but their effort in this game to find their winning strategies, gave them what they deserved, the victory.
This lost was the 5th consecutive for Blackburn in the Premier League, which remains in the relegation zone with only 13 points. Its coach Paul Ince is trying to find the way to win but some injuries on his key players and the clueless tactical plans in the matches have not helped to get a triumph, even when his players are playing hard.
On the other hand, liverpool is working hard to maintain their pole position at the table and add more points to achieve their big ambition; winning their 19th title of the Premier League. However, we have to mention that liverpool has also had struggles and difficulties, but even so they have managed to remain at the top.
In Saturday’s game, Blackburn started with more chances than liverpool during the first 10 minutes of the match, but they couldn’t convert due to the fact that “Pepe” Reina was amazingly saving all of the Blackburn’s attempts. Even so, the Reds didn’t have any clear-cut opportunities during the first 45 minutes and the team’s frustration started to show.
Nevertheless, in the second half things turned around for the Reds, who entered more aggressive and with more conviction than ever. Gerrard and Xavi were doing a great job in the midfield to create spaces and convert opportunities of goals. So at minute 68, Xavi Alonso opened the score with a great goal by an assist from Gerrard. Only 11 minutes later, Benayoun scored again for Liverpool placing a 2-0 in the scoreboard. Then at minute 86, Roque Santa Cruz scored the only goal of the match for Blackburn. Finally, to close the game at minute 90, Gerrard wrapped up the victory by scoring the final goal for Liverpool, finishing 3-1. This victory gives Liverpool a total of 37 points in the table, just one point ahead of chelsea.
Moreover, Benitez was delighted with his team performance, as even when things were not completely on their side; his team took every chance to win. “We know we can play a lot better than we have been but what gives me confidence is that we can come to places like this and get results, even when we are not at our best,” expressed the Spaniard Coach. “Clearly it was an important three points for us. We are in a very good position and we want to stay there.”
Benitez also stated that players like Mascherano and Gerrard will improve with the time and that key players like Torres and Skrtel will be back to the field soon. That could help to balance the team and given them more support in the attack. The next match of Liverpool will be against Hull City on December 13th at home.
Ally White is a top senior copy writer for the English Premier League games as well as the sports betting industry.
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Liverpool Football Club – It’s Time to Relive the 80s!
The English Premier League has become somewhat of a spectacle in recent times. Thanks to intense media coverage and vast quantities of money paid to the league for broadcasting rights it has surpassed every other league in Europe. The biggest names in the world are lured over to the Premiership with the promise of money, glory and success. If you look at the Champions League competition over the last couple of seasons it has been dominated by the English teams. This shows the strength of the English sides and the power of the Premier League. As with all leagues the Premiership has a select group of teams that are a cut above the rest and one of the sides representing the cream of the Premier League is liverpool FC.
liverpool are one of the most decorated teams in England posing 18 league titles, 6 European titles and have many other trophies to their name. The 1980’s were dominated by liverpool. But unfortunately they have not won their domestic league title since. In 2005 Liverpool won the UEFA Champions League title coming back from a 3-0 deficit to win on penalties against AC Milan and since then have really made this competition their own. The likes of Manchester United and chelsea have outgrown Liverpool and it has been a while since they have gone anywhere near the Premier League trophy. In 2006 the current owner of Liverpool football club David Moores decided it was time to move on. He wanted to sell the club to someone that had capital to invest in the club on both players and a new stadium. After much thought and negotiation he agreed to sell to two American businessmen, Tom Hicks and George Gillette.
Hicks and Gillette promised to make the purchase of Liverpool FC with their own money and no debt would be involved. They were all for current manager Rafa Benitez and said that they would allow him to look after the team decisions. A new stadium was to be built directly after the takeover but this has been put on hold due to the current economic situation. Since the takeover the club has plundered further into debt and the relationship between Hicks and Gillette and manager Rafa Benitez has become somewhat strained. This became most apparent during the Gareth Barry saga that went on over the summer of 2008 where Benitez implied that he was allowed no control over his team. The fans as you would expect have taken sides with their manager. Hicks and Gillette have been falling out with each other of late which can only hinder the team’s performance. The two have extra police protection on rare visits to the ground due to the fans discontent.
But things are looking up for Liverpool. Over the last few seasons they have brought in some top signings during the transfer windows. After a successful start could this be the season where Liverpool football club relive their glory years? Only time will tell.
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Watch Liverpool Vs Blackburn Live Online – EPL Match Preview
liverpool had a lot of tough games in recent weeks, away from home and with quite a few injuries. This Saturday sees the away trip to Blackburn, a game liverpool lost 2-1 last year, with Blackburn currently flying high and a defeat to them would see Liverpool slip back down the table and seriously undermine their title challenge. However, a win against Blackburn will put it within three points of arsenal and United, with both playing each other at the weekend.
Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez reckons Harry Kewell can be like a new signing after the Australia winger put six months of injury misery behind him to help his side reach the League Cup quarter-finals. The 29-year-old seemingly perennially injured star received a standing ovation from the Anfield fans when he came on as a 70th minute substitute during Wednesday’s 2-1 fourth round win over Cardiff after recovering from a thigh problem.
Kewell’s Liverpool career has been hunted by injuries, but Benitez hopes that he can use his appearance against Cardiff to put his problems behind him. Benitez said that it was important for Kewell and the team that he went on and he could be like a new signing for Liverpool. Benitez is unlikely to rush Kewell into his starting line up for fear of aggravating another injury, but Kewell is likely to be on the bench again when Liverpool travel to Blackburn in the premier league match on Saturday.
On the other hand, Blackburn coach Hughes was delighted for McCarthy who shot the team to League Cup victory at Portsmouth. However, the gloss was taken off Blackburn’s seventh consecutive victory when South African team-mate Aaron Mokoena, 26, was forced off with what looked a serious injury. Hughes said that It looks like something gave way in his leg and they are worried that it could be a bad injury.
Jesaiah is a die-hard football fan and have watch Live Football Matches Online using a special software with high quality streaming video. You can click here to download the software.
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