Posted August 18, 2012 by Footie Crisis in Uncategorized. Leave a Comment

“You were supposed to be the chosen one!” cried J. W. Henry as B-Rod stood arrogantly staring back, the flames of the burning Kop greedily eating the air.” – Segment taken from ‘Liverpool’s Nightmare Future’.

It doesn’t take much in football before the hype machine ‘gets out of hand’, but following Liverpool’s opening day humbling to their former assistant, the Reds were given a stark reminder of the task that lays ahead.

Whilst hoping that we don’t relapse to those darker times, it helps to recall what went wrong last season.

Time after time Kenny Dalglish’s men dominated games but were found wanting in attack. Even against top teams, particularly at Anfield, cries of conspiracy against the mischievous, Man United supporting woodwork didn’t make amends for profligate finishing.

Fast forward to this season, opening day against mid-table wannabes West Brom and optimism is at a long time high. Ex Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers is hoping to usher in a new era of football at Liverpool. Clearly appointed as a man who can get the best out of low priced technically gifted players, as opposed to Dalglish’s ‘all-star’ approach.

After 30 minutes of opening day play, it would’ve been obvious to those watching on with a familiar sense of dread, that there’s a lot of work still to be done here.

Luis Suarez, whilst one of the world’s most dangerous creative players, isn’t as clinical as he should be, and he didn’t set the record straight against the Baggies today.

Liverpool dominated West Brom in the possession stakes, first half passing stats showing twice as many successful passes as their hosts, but as we saw time-after-time last season, the scoreline still read Liverpool 0. All too familiar.

Once Daniel Agger gave away the penalty, the game just slipped away from us.

The performance of Skrtel and Agger was borderline embarrassing in parts. Defenders who looked so assured for the majority of last season looked as though their thoughts may have been on other things this summer.

When you play away from home on the opening day of the season, rustiness can be your biggest enemy and it reared it’s ugly head in this game.

The longer the game went on, the more vulnerable Liverpool looked.

A hard summer of travelling taking it’s toll? Possibly. The debate about pre-season travelling will only lose its impact the more it becomes standard practice. But after Lucas Leiva’s departure, 10 man Liverpool became sitting ducks to West Brom attacks, this game could of, and perhaps should of ended 5-0.

But fret not, there is some hope, however, and it comes in the form of our manager. This time last season Rodgers was on the end of another hammering.

Getting stuffed by Man City 4-0 didn’t put his Swansea team off a great mid-season run, and we can only hope this stubbornness can be applied to Liverpool, who have a killer opening run at home against Champions League teams.

Some of the positives to take from the game were Joe Allen’s passing accuracy and Luis Suarez’ general sharpness (although not in front goal).

Ambitions for this season, I feel, wouldn’t be too lofty if we expected to challenge Arsenal, Newcastle and Tottenham for a champions league spot. Both Arsenal and Spurs have lost their best players over the summer, so look like ground could be made up against them if they stall.

The key for Liverpool this season, during this ‘time of transiton’ will be perseverance; perseverance with the philosophy that the manager is trying to instil in the players, perseverance with the youngsters and new signings who will make mistakes along the way.

Most importantly, we need to be realistic in our aims. A sensible target would be 70 points. It’s high enough to be Champions League competitive, as well as being a vast improvement on last season’s floundering.

20+ wins, including a focus on home victories should steer Liverpool to a successful season. Some kind of cup run to give the players a taste of glory so synonymous with the club would be a welcome addition to a season of scrutiny, doubt but ultimately, hopefully, good football at Anfield.

Let’s hope we’ve under-estimated Rodgers’ power. Many believe he was a gamble, but Brendan Rodgers task here is evolution not revolution and we have to be prepared to be in it for the long hall.

By Chris Severs