Within a span of two weeks, the club played three games producing three different outcomes.A thumping & brilliant display at Carrow road,a disappointing loss in the Europa league and the last one, & much more prominent in illustrating its regular trend of performances, a frustrating draw against the potters, thanks to a resilient stoke defense and the profligate Liverpool strike-force, leaving the club & its fans still hungry for their first home premier league win.
And a brief knowledge of the past few seasons will help your mind in letting sink the fact that, the problem has grown its roots deep into the Anfield faithfuls' minds.
Barely 4 months back, an Anfield legend bid adieu to the KOP putting an end to the ambivalent state of our minds. And why not?, even the most incredible Red supporters did not have the heart to raise their voice against him. At least not after the turnaround under Kenny Dalglish's realm. "King Kenny", as he is fondly called by the fans, took the hot seat as the manager of Liverpool Football Club, when it was in a mess. Literally,a mess! It was having its first season without playing in the champions league,the holy grail of football; lost its best mid-fielders to the two most powerful teams in the world, its captain & talisman was having to put up with more than his fair share of injuries, the one main world-class player was ready to take the club's exit door, bought a bunch of below-average and over-aged players without any control over wage management, lost its place in Europa league and league cup..and the worst of all, the owners wanted to leave the club to its own fate.Truly,a mess! And adding to the woes, the one man who was supposed to take firm control of the club and steer it away from the troubled waters, the then manager Roy Hodgson, was having a tough time proving his credentials, not least because the critics were circling above to swoop in at the slightest hint of a crisis. Truly, THE worst period any sports franchise can ever go through.
And then came forward the legend, Kenny Dalglish, accepting a tremendous challenge, letting the team out of the roaring darkness and walking them into light. He didn't really pull out magic. In-fact, he did not even revolutionize by installing new ethos or philosophies. He did it the old way. His own classic way, pretty much the way which led towards Liverpool FC becoming the most decorated British Football Club. The first thing he did, was to reconnect with fans, letting all the doubts vanish and producing the results, ON the field.He intended to do it The Liverpool Way.
Dalglish with Carling cup,ending a 6 year trophy drought at Anfield
Reverting to a standard English 4-4-2, he picked out his team with great wisdom and letting the maturity and integrity flow in every decision. He would gladly have asked Steven Gerrard to postpone his surgery.Even the skipper admitted to that. But NO, he had the greater good of the team and its future at the back of his mind , not having greed for short term benefits and immediately impactfull results. And his decision to let Torres go, which anyways was not much in his control, conveyed only one thing, only those who are worthy enough to know & respect their club will get to wear the jersey. And with the rich budget available from Abramovich's prodigal spendings, he spend the funds to establish the Suarez-Carroll partnership, trying to recreate the Sutton-Shearer strike partnership for which he was a successful architect.
And thus, by the mid-season the team had a all new front 6,except for the ever reliable Dirk Kuyt. But the results came, back-to-back. And by the end of the season, the team climbed up to end in the periphery of champions league contention. But it was to tough to realize then, that the vicious times were yet to engulf them.Backed by a decent transfer kitty, the club went on to recruit over-rated British players, pretty much ending up over-paying. May be, the old philosophy went a little too far.But no one had the courage to raise their voice, at least after a turn around half-season.
But the brilliant form couldn't be replicated for the entire next season. Soon after the Carling cup win, it plunged into a series of erroneous and forgettable performances. Losing 2-0 leads to be over run by mid-table and under performing sides, Luis Suarez displaying his profligate skills, team unable to stick to a standard formation leaving themselves vulnerable against opposition and most of all, the team on a whole lost its winning touch. And adding to that, there were around 35 poles hit and 7 penalties missed, pretty much summing up the whole season. Losing out on yet another champions league spot, Kenny dropped out. But not in a hostile conditions; even today any Supporter of the club,across the globe, would love to have him as the boss;He commands and most importantly, deserves that respect.
Rodgers sure has a lot of work to do!
And then,with an intense search for a new manager, FSG went on appointing Brendan Rodgers. A young,confident & dynamic manager trying to install his ethos & philosophies into the roots of the club. But this time, there weren't extraordinary transfer budgets filled with the desire to obtain stars, who were capable of bringing trophies over night. There was a cautious approach, which manifested itself in the interesting new acquisitions. They openly proclaimed, that they are not in a hurry. Our owner's open letter to the fans was a record of that. He went on to state, that they are not here to build the team for the next few seasons. They are here to build the team for the next few decades. They are here to not let the club fall into the turmoil they were once exposed to, financially & otherwise. Simply, they want to re-build the image of the club, getting it back to its rightful place, to where it belongs.They are here, to build the future, step by step!
And yet again a few games into the premier league, we find our selves engulfed in problems. I will leave those things for some other article, but the point is: this was expected. When the £20m players are seated on the bench and a quite a few of 18-20 year olds are stepping up from the academy to ballast the sinking ship, the harsh reality can no longer be ignored. For the Barcelona-esque style to grow & flourish, for the players to transform into a lethal force and for the manager to sort out his striking problems and induce a winning motto and confidence into the team, he needs TIME.
Not everyone can be as luck as Roberto Di Matteo to be given an exceptional crop of talented players. Rodgers is still trying to assemble the players required to execute his plans, he is trying to assess youngsters like Suso,Sterling and Shelvey and is trying to sort out his grave & pitiable striking anomalies. With the confidence he displays, which stem from a deep footballing knowledge, I strongly believe that it is not a matter of how but a matter of when before he starts delivering goods. All he needs is Patience from Anfield faithful. And given the magnitude of task asked of him, I believe he deserves it. Akarsh Sharma fairly summed it up a few months back " For the sake of Rodgers and for the sake of Liverpool Football club, give him some time". I don't know whether it can be done or not, because no one will ever know until it is done. So,as long it is not done, the curious case of Liverpool football club might persist. But for now, as an ardent Kopite, I let the case rest, with the hope of greater good for the future.
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