By Andy Wales
The summer break often has mystical powers when it comes to football fans. Any disappointments from the previous season become fading memories and the positives can be somewhat embellished; a few new signings and the magical optimism returns. The excitement builds as your team travels to the four corners of the world to play either a Premier League team for a strange looking trophy, an all-star pub team or one of the European giants for some other kind of tournament. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking the world tours as football is a global sport and it means fans in different part of the world get an opportunity to see their favourite team play, even if it’s purely a revenue raiser for clubs, but that’s for another day. Anyway, during all this pre-season goings on, too often hope, optimism and expectation become detached from reality of just what lies ahead.
Make no mistake, we’re in for a really tough start to what could be an uncomfortable campaign for those with expectations of Liverpool finishing in the top 4. After somehow hanging on to his job, Brendan Rodgers must’ve thought the Premier League were trolling him when the opening day fixtures were announced; a return to the scene of the most embarrassing performance in living memory. It will be a test to see if there are any psychological scars and if we’ve learned lessons from the final day 6-1 massacre. A fortnight later, it’s away to a strong Arsenal, with trips to Man United, Everton, Spurs, Chelsea and Man City all to come in the opening 13 Premier League fixtures. There’s also home games to Southampton, Crystal Palace and bogey team Aston Villa in that run. I believe it’s fair to say that the opening third of the season could define our campaign. Make no mistake, Brendan Rodgers is a man under intense pressure and scrutiny. There’s very little margin for error and if he was a cat, he’d have used up 8 of his lives; he has no more excuses and simply has to deliver this season. So, whilst many fans are freshly invigorated for the new season, the wounds of last season are sores that will quickly be re-opened should we have a bad start. That’s not to say I think he will be sacked if we lose 2 or 3 of our opening 5 fixtures, but if we are well adrift in November and lost half of those opening 13 games, the pressure could be insurmountable. Not only did the owners decide against sacking him after a calamitous season, they also backed him heavily in the transfer market; so whilst they’re unlikely to get trigger happy too early if things don’t go to plan, that grace won’t last for long. Simply put, this is a make or break season in Brendan Rodgers’ career as manager of Liverpool Football Club.
So much has been said and written about Liverpool’s 2 major signings of the summer: Roberto Firmino and Christian Benteke, that I don’t want to cover old ground here. What I will say is that Benteke’s Premier League goal record suggests that he can help take the burden off Daniel Sturridge and allow him the time get properly fit. My concern is that the big price tag is often a difficult thing for players to handle, as their performances are often judged in relation to their cost. Also, his success at Aston Villa came in a counter attacking team, so whether he can adapt to a different style and strike up an understanding with the creative talents of Firmino and Coutinho will be a test for him. Firmino is a signing that excited many and rightly so, he has the potential to become a star and having seen him play in the Bundesliga, I feel confident he can adapt to British football. He has many positive attributes and is a player that I feel is on the cusp of mainstream recognition of his talents. They should help to address the lack of goals that hampered us in tight games last season, but the issue of a leaky defence is still a question that appears unanswered. Nathaniel Clyne is a definite improvement at right-back and should represent great value at a potential £12.5m, but our unwillingness or inability to upgrade on Martin Skrtel and our baffling blindness to the importance of a quality defensive midfielder could come back to haunt us.
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