What Happens Now?

A tweet from my friend Jonny summed up last night's performance. How can a Liverpool team with still a fighting chance of Champions League Football put in such a horrific performance against Hull City?

On paper have we already got a top 4 team? and as it stands with the squad we have available now; would a different manager be able to achieve more success from these individuals? Alternatively, is it a major change of personnel on the field that is needed as we simply currently have too many average players at Liverpool?

These are the questions I'm pondering over right now. While Rodgers in three years has already spent £212,380,00 million on 25 players, with no trophies won. Therefore, should he be trusted with another transfer kitty? Or has he proved that he will just never get it right and straightforwardly, he just isn't good enough to manager Liverpool Football Club.

Looking at the graphics below would you agree with me that when all these players are fully fit and on form, not many players that we "realistically" could sign would take their place in the starting XI?

GoalKeepers: 

Simon Mignolet, for me, should keep the number one jersey going into next season. It's obvious that he had a dip in form before Christmas. However, I strongly believe he has redeemed him himself. He looks a lot more confident between the sticks and his clean sheet record is one of the best in the league. As well as making strong and important saves in almost every game, simon has the potential and ability to be our keeper for many years to come. Liverpool would struggle to sign a better keeper than him this Summer. Saying this though, I would replace Brad Jones with Peter Cech, as providing the squad with an experienced top quality goalkeeper would only add healthy competition to this position.

Defenders:

We currently have the 5th best defence in the leauge only conceding one more goal than Man City who sit currently in 2nd place. Therefore, strengthening our central defenders shouldn't be a priority this window. However, if we continue to play the wing back system , I'd definitely bring in an experienced right wing back to replace Glen Johnson. Nevertheless, strong pre-seasons for young Jon Flanagan and Jordon Ibe could also put them in contention to start in this Role.

Midfielders:

This area will need strengthing as Steven Gerrard is obviously moving on. In addition, with Lucas's future also in doubt, we only could have Jordan Henderson and Joe Allen's services in the central midfielders areas.

Attacking midfielders, such as, Raheem Sterling (if he decides to sign and stick around) Coutinho'o'o'o, Lallana, Marković and even young Ibe are very talented young footballers. However, one of our problems this season has been our inability to be clinical in the final third. Apart from Coutinho, we have been lacking that extra bit of quality, which makes the difference. Yes, Lallana and Ibe have struggled with injuries and you could argue Raheem and Lazar have been played out of position by Rodgers. Resulting in, these lads failing to reach their full potential this season.

Forwards:

This is where our main problem has been all season and needs to be adressed as a matter of urgency. It goes without saying, no team wins anything in football without players who can put the ball in the net. Liverpool, have played all season basically without a striker. We've scored 54 goals less than last season and 12 less than 4th place Man United.

Daniel Sturridge has been injured for practically all of the season and needs to be replaced as our "number one" striker. I don't mean sell him, but how can an injury prone player be our number one goal scorer? impossible!

Ricky Lambert, Fabio Borini and Mario Balotelli aren't good enough to play for Liverpool. One will be replaced with the arrival of young Origi from France. However, even still, with Sturridge always injured, we need to prioritise signing two top quality strikers if we want to have any chance of challenging for anything next season.

On the other hand. What if these three gentleman below were replaced? Not only would this bring in new signings, but also with a change in management brings fresh ideas, methods and a whole new philosophy. After three years' of Brendan, Pascoe and Marsh, is this what is needed?

In a previous  article "To be the best we have to beat the best" and Rodgers and his team's record against top four opposition in the three seasons he has been at Liverpool (As you can see from the graphics below) has been abysmal.

Liverpool Football Club need to be playing Champions Leauge football year in, year out and I'm not convinced Brendan has the capabilities to achieve this. His European win percentage at 35% (7/20) after three seasons and that simply isn't acceptable for a Liverpool manager.

Brendan himself wasn't anyway near a top manager when he joined Liverpool. He did have a successful spell at Swansea but that was it. He was brought in because "potentially" he could become a top manager. Liverpool Football Club can't be waiting around to find out if a manager will be successful or not. We are in need of a Top European manager someone like Klopp or Benitez, someone who's CV fits the role to manager a club as big as Liverpool.

Finishing this season trophyless and a 1/3 Champions League qualification record, witnessing our club underachieving, fighting for Europa Leauge qualification is simply not good enough. If FSG don't act now, how many seasons do we have to wait until we start reeping the awards of this so called "progress" Brendan keeps banging on about? I appreciate, Brendan has always put the club first and I'm not saying he hasn't tried at this job. Instead, I feel he simply hasn't got what it takes to be the manager of Liverpool Football Club and the dire, effortless lacklustered performance last night at Hull was the final straw for me.

@anfieldeurope

Thanks for reading.

Please leave any comments below on Twitter.

Time For Change

Our performance yesterday was the final straw for me. Going out of the FA Cup in that fashion to a mediocre Aston Villa team was embarrassing. Ultimately, Brendan Rodgers needs to take responsibility. I'm sick to my back teeth of listening to him going on about making progress, What progress? I ask. 

With the financial injection he has received, three years is more than enough to stamp your authority on the club and transform Liverpool into a consistent 4 Top team which was his sole objective when he took control three years ago. 

As it stands, we currently need to make up 8 points from our final 6 games, a task which looks and feels highly unachievable. As fans, Champions Leauge qualification is what we demand. I'm not saying that we have to win the leauge every year or win trophies every season. However, converting Liverpool Football Club into an established top 4 club is the least we can expect. Brendan Rodgers has been unable to achieve this and lacks the capabilities and skills in order to do so. Therefore, for me, Mr Henry has no other option, than to move him on. He's failed.

With only six league games to go until the closure of the current campaign, Liverpool Football Club and Brendan Rodgers are about to finish the current campaign unsuccessfully. Our inability to secure a Champions League spot and not deliver silverware in the form of the FA Cup means our improved form on the field has meant nothing. The 2014/2015 season is now deemed an unsuccessful and disappointing one, not only for just finishing outside the top four but also for falling at the first hurdle in both European competitions we took part in.

Therefore, the next 6 weeks or so will make or break The Rodgers' Reign. Or has it always been broken for a long time now? Everything we have competed in this season has seemed to drift slowly away from us, The Leauge, The Champions League, The Europa Leauge, The Leauge Cup Top 4 & now the FA Cup.

Delivering silverware and securing Champions League qualification would have been enough to keep FSGs faith in Rodgers. Whereas, finishing outside of the lucrative European spots and finishing another season without picking up any honors is now going to really test our owners’ patience. Not only our progression as a football club would be halted but also the financial side of the club would suffer greatly.

 

Entering the Champions League next season must have been an absolute minimal requirement for Rodgers due to the extensive investments FSG have put into the club in order for Liverpool to be able to compete with the best teams, not only in the Premier League, but also across the continent. 

 

Since Brendan took control of Liverpool we have signed 25 players for £212,380,00m with no trophies won. Therefore, no fan can complain that the owners aren't supporting us and are doing their bit towards the cause.

 

Before the Man United game on the football field Rodgers seemed to be getting it right again by taking 20 points from a possible 24. Beating Manchester City at Anfield last month showed how far we have come since that dreadful result and performance at Crystal Palace before Christmas. 

Furthermore, it was encouraging hearing Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher's incredible statistic in that the three seasons Rodgers has been at the helm, we only have lost four League games since Christmas.

 

Despite this encouraging statistic, I was refrained from getting over excited. Without wanting to sound too negative, back then only a couple of bad results would have dampened our chances of a top 4 finish. Loosing at home to United and then getting beat comfortably at the Emirates really put us off track and proves what talked about in a previous  article "To be the best we have to beat the best" and Rodgers record against top four opposition in the three seasons he has been at Liverpool (As you can see from the graphics below) has been abysmal.

I have to admit now that after our horrific Champions League campaign I lost faith in Rodgers. I can be quoted in a previous article of mine saying: "why should Brendan Rogers deserve more time than Kenny Dalglish got to put things right? Has he earned it? He hasn't won anything. If he was replaced now by "the right replacement" how much harm would this inflict on our current situation?"

I would say the reason for my negativity towards Rodgers was mainly due to my pain and sadness of waiting many years' for Liverpool's return to Europe's elite competition. To perform the way we did, after all the hard work we put into getting there, was dissatisfying to say the least. To only to notch up 1 win in 6 isn't the form of a Liverpool side in Europe I'm used to.

Rodgers himself would argue that he needs more time. His team at the start of this season had just lost one of Liverpool's greatest ever players in Luis Suarez and his strike partner Daniel Sturridge was injured before the Champions League had even started. In addition, adding a string of new recruits which have needed time to be molded into his new system reinforces the fact that Rodgers' team weren't the best prepared entering into the Champions Leauge or competing at the highest level this campaign.

Liverpool Football Club need to be playing Champions Leauge football year in, year out. As a Liverpool fan, them fixtures home and away in Europe are what we thrive on and with Brendan's European win percentage at 35% (7/20) after three seasons simply isn't acceptable. 

Roy Evan's famously said once that "European Football without Liverpool is like a banquet without wine!". I don't mean the Europa Leauge either, which without disrespecting the competition too much, isn't exactly the competition Liverpool Fans want to see our team compete in. It's The European Cup we want and unfortunately, with Rodgers in charge we are not going to get anyway near it.

 

It is unthinkable finishing outside the top 4 again. In football, managers get the sack not players. At the end of the day it's his and his coaching staff's responsibility and sole objective to make Liverpool Football Club a success. If they don't come up with the goods and fail, then in my view they should be moved on. Three years in football is more than enough to show and prove your abilities as a manager.

Liverpool fans as a whole don't look forward to changes in management. Managers don't just look after the first team but also have to instill their own philosophy, system and way of thinking right from the youth ranks up until the first team. More importantly, every manager change brings a shape up in personnel, players and a redevelopment process which could take years to build. After waiting three years for Brendan to bring us success and glory, it will be like we'd be starting all over again. However, this would depend entirely on who he was replaced by. Bringing in a Top European manager with years of experience at managering and winning at the top level would obviously need less time to get going, than giving the job to another young inexperienced manager.

Brendan himself wasn't anyway near a top manager when he joined Liverpool. He did have a successful spell at Swansea but that was it. He was brought in because "potentially" he could become a top manager. Liverpool Football Club can't be waiting around to find out if a manager will be successful or not. We are in need of a Top European manager someone like Klopp or Benitez, someone who's CV fits the role to manager a club as big as Liverpool.

Finishing this season trophyless and what's going to look like a 1/3 Champions League qualification record, witnessing our club underachieving, fighting for Europa Leauge qualification is simply not good enough. If FSG don't act now, how many seasons do we have to wait until we start reeping the awards of this so called "progress" Brendan keeps banging on about? I appreciate, Brendan has always put the club first and I'm not saying he hasn't tried at this job. Instead, I feel he simply hasn't got what it takes to be the manager of Liverpool Football Club.

@anfieldeurope

Thanks for reading.

Please leave any comments below on Twitter.

To be the best you have to beat the best.

Every now and then I like to analyze various aspects of our game. This time I've looked at how Brendan Rodgers has faired up against the top 4. 

Over the last three years since Brendan took charge in 2012 we have had some magnificent results against the top teams in the leauge. However, by and large our record is bleak.

Have a look through these graphics and let me know on the Twitter what you think? 

Kind Regards

@AnfieldEurope

A possible full XI could be gone this summer

With more "outs" than "ins" expected this summer. Liverpool could potentially move on what could be seen as a full starting XI. The departure of some players will be more straightforward than others. However, a few as you will see yourselves are more debatable. Let me know on Twitter if you agree with me or not. Thanks for Reading @Anfield Europe.

1. Brad Jones.

Ever since Brad Joined Liverpool in 2010 he has only averaged just over 5 games a season (27). The Australian never really seems to push the goalkeeper a head of him enough in order to make the number one spot his own, whether it was Pepe Reina or now Simon Mignolet. It's kind of like he's become comfortable in this role. Therefore, for his own playing career he would probably benefit from a new challenge. Although Mignolet has improved massively since Christmas, Brendan needs to freshen up this position in the summer in order to offer more competition.

2. José Enrique.

A popular member of the squad. However, unfortunately not for footballing reasons. José has failed to find the form he enjoyed prior to his injury. José Enrique's wages are far too high for what he contributes to the team. Lazar Marković and even Raheem Sterling have been preferred to Enrique to what is his natural position. With young Alberto Moreno looking to hold down a regular first team spot at left full back times up for the Fifa fanatic, instagram posing, table tennis loving Spaniard.

3. Sebastián Coates.

Another players' career halted by injuries is Sebastián Coates. The young Uruguayan will only be remembered for one moment during his 4 year Liverpool career; his wonder goal against QPR in 2012. Now up at Sunderland on loan, where he has failed to make an impact is almost certain to be moved on his summer.

4. Glen Johnson.

Glen has just recently come back into the fold and hasn't played that badly to be honest. However, on the whole he  hasn't really been at his best for a couple of years now and with his extortionate wages which the club are paying him, a move abroad, with Italy being his probable destination is on the cards. Moreover, this position is also top of Brendan's priorities to be strengthened this summer & with young Jon Flanagan & even Jordan Ibe back fit and well, both are able to slot into the right wing back position with ease, Glen's services will be no longer required.

5. Kolo Toure.

Kolo is a popular player amongst most Liverpool fans. However, I don't fully trust him. At a club like Liverpool I can't argue the case to keep a centre back solely because of his experience. If he isn't technically good enough, a contract extension can't be justified or deserved. Liverpool will have at their disposal  three "experienced" centre backs in Skrtel, Lovren & Sako. Also with young Can excelling in this position, I don't think we will need him anymore. Moreover, Brendan will be having a look at Tiago Llori and Andre Wisdom's development and most likely bring back at least one of them back to Melwood. 

6. Steven Gerrard.

I wish Steven Gerrard the very best in his new venture in America. However, let it be a brief one. There is still a lot of work to be done in Liverpool for the Huyton lad. Steven Gerrard, will return to Liverpool Football Club, although, at present it's unknown in what capacity, but he will. Steven Gerrard, is more than just a footballer to this city and as my banner says; he is "one of a kind".

7. Luis Alberto.

I've never really understood why we signed Luis Alberto and paid nearly 7 million for a young lad who only had a half decent season for Barcelona B in Spain's second tier. Obviously, he was a risk buy and our scouting network must have thought he had the potential to become the next Xabi Alonso or something. Sadly, the lad was a flop and a permanent move back to Spain is on the cards.

8. Lago Aspas.

I don't want to be too hard on him but this lad is terrible. Another failure for our scouting network, looking to sign the "next big thing". Lago made his name at Celta B and only played one year in La Liga. Certainly, not any anywhere near Liverpool FC standards. Adios!

9. Javier Manquillo.

Manquillo, again, is another example of Liverpool scouring La liga for future stars and falling flat on their feet. Just like Aspas and Alberto, Manquillo came with very little experience at the highest level. He has been given a chance at Liverpool but failed to put in exceptional performances in order for him to nail down a regular starting spot in Rodgers' starting XI. Manquillo is about to finish his first season of a two year loan deal which includes an option to buy after the first year. Obviously the fee and his wages would be an issue. However, buying him, after what we have seen of him so far would be unlikely and like I mentioned before this position is looking to be strengthened shortly either by young Jon Flango or even a new signing. Javier would be pushed back in the pecking order. Nevertheless, if Javier doesn't request Liverpool to cancel his loan deal so that Athletico could recall him, we may be forced to stick with the young Spaniard until his loan deal runs out in 2016.

10. Mario Balotelli.

Where do I start with Mario Balotelli? I could write a full piece just on Mario and he's only been here a few months. Therefore, this one has to be done in bullet form:

- Chooses when he wants to play, even when he gets passed fit by the Liverpool medical staff.

- Gets ill too often.

- A Lazy trainer.

- Was disrespectful to Jordan Henderson by not allowing him to take a penalty. (Jordan was the captain that day against Besiktas)

- Doesn't have the right attitude to be a footballer never mind a Liverpool Striker.

- Uses social media to post cringing and unprofessional videos.

- Doesn't help the team on the pitch. Not only from his inability to score goals but by not tracking back enough or pressing when we don't have the ball.

Mario wasn't wanted by Rodgers in the first place and was offered to him just before the season was about to start. Brendan Rodgers had to choose between him and Eto'o after previous efforts to sign other strikers to replace Luis Suarez failed.

11. Fabio Borini.

The only attribute Borini posseses is he's a grafter and when given the chance he'll put in a shift and play with determination and aggression (abit too much against Arsenal!). However, when we're 2-1 down or drawing 0-0, is a hard working striker who doesn't really have an eye for goal the solution? No, we need a forward who we know is going to give us a goal or change the dynamics of the team positively when he enters the field of play. Brendan's first or second changes need to be players who just miss out on the first XI and if we could play with 12 or 13 they would be on the pitch from the start. Borini is no where near good enough to start upfront for Liverpool which consequently explains the lack of joy from the fans when he comes on. We never hear cries from the Kop such as, "bring Borini on" or "is right, here comes Fabio, we'll be alright now". It's more like "Here comes Borini" or slightly harsher "what's Borini going to do?" This can't the case at Liverpool.  Brendan has to be bringing players on who can score, turn the game around that can pose an immediate threat. Sadly, Fabio Borini doesn't have anything to offer in order to carry on being a Liverpool player.

@Anfieldeurope