LFC Step-up Bid to Land Greek Ace

Papa’s Top of the List

According to James Pearce in the Liverpool Echo, Liverpool Football Club have ramped up their bid to sign Greek International defender, Kyriakos Papadopoulos from Schalke.

Papadopoulos, currently of Schalke, was the youngest ever player to make his debut in the Greek league at just fifteen years of age. Since signing for Schalke for a fee of £2m, the young centre-back’s reputation has continued to grow and he’s regarded by many as one of the brightest central-defensive prospects in Europe.

Still only 21, the relative youngster has plenty of European and international experience, having played an important role in Schalke’s progression to the Europa League quarter finals in 2011/12, their Champions’ League campaign last season, and having been handed sixteen international caps already.

Liverpool are known to be in the market for central defenders this summer, given Jamie Carragher’s retirement from football and the likelihood that Martin Skrtel & Sebastian Coates could be moved on, and the Echo reports that Papadopoulos heads the list of potential replacements.

Brendan Rodgers was thought to be keen on a move for Swansea captain Ashley Williams, however the Swans’ price-tag – thought to be in the region of £12m – has seen the Liverpool boss look past his former captain, in search of better value, younger alternatives. A deal for Papadopoulos would likely cost between £12m and £15m and would represent a shrewd investment in one of the most promising young centre-backs on the continent.

With the Anfield club in need of more than one new central defender, the Echo goes on to say that the Reds are also keen to bring ex-Arsenal player Kolo Toure to Anfield. The 32 year old is available from Manchester City on a free, and would provide experienced cover to compliment Rodgers’s other options.

Meanwhile, the Reds remain interested in snapping up Tiago Ilori from Sporting Lisbon. The 20 year old defender is lightening quick and, after breaking into Sporting’s first team this season, should be available for around £3m.

Mancini Loses his Head at the Etihad

Mancini Speaks To Flop Nasri

Just eight days after Manchester United announced the retirement of their most successful ever manager, their neighbours and closest rivals Manchester City have parted company with the man who delivered them their first top flight title in forty-four years. Roberto Mancini will leave his post with immediate effect, less than forty eight hours after watching his expensively assembled side lose the FA Cup final to Roberto Martinez’s Wigan Athletic.

Those with a keen knowledge of football at the highest level had been discussing the likelihood of the Italian’s demise for some time, a few having been fairly certain that his time in charge at Eastlands would indeed come to an end this summer, and so it has proved.

Many will look at Roberto Mancini’s time at Manchester City, see the FA Cup triumph of 2010/11 –the club’s first trophy (apart from finishing top of the Championship in 01/02) since winning the League Cup way back in 1976 – and the afore mentioned Premier League title, won in such dramatic fashion at the end of last season, and feel that the City board have been harsh with their decision.

Indeed, many will feel, given the fact that major change is afoot across town at Old Trafford and another managerial change seems certain at Stamford Bridge, that perhaps City would have been wiser to stick by Mancini, use stability as a weapon and try to take full advantage of the insecurity created by the changes of leadership occurring around them.

Such points of view are perfectly valid and arise from clear lines of thought. After all, stability and continuity can be crucial to a football club’s development and three trophies (including the Community shield) in three and a half seasons isn’t too shabby either.

So, why has this decision been taken? Firstly, Manchester City have clearly regressed in 2012/13. A pale shadow of the team that set the Premier League ablaze in the first half of last season, City looked anything but defending champions, and never seriously threatened to retain their league title. Perhaps they were, as many pundits speculated, suffering from a lethargy brought about by their title success the previous season; perhaps not. What is certain however, is that Mancini was unable to rouse them from their funk and banish the lethargy cum complacency which dogged them throughout the campaign, a fact further highlighted  by their FA Cup final defeat.

The Italian’s forays into the transfer market and his relationship with members of the squad will also have been cause for concern amongst the board at the Etihad. After initial successes, Mancini has failed to get the best out of several high-profile, big-money signings – Balotelli and Dzeko immediately spring to mind. The former’s success since returning to Italy (ten goals in eleven league games)is a telling indication that Manicini’s man management lacked what was necessary to coax the best from the mercurial frontman, and Dortmund’s interest in the latter (added to his past record) would point to the fact that the Bosnian has plenty more to offer than Mancini has been able to unearth.

The likes of Samir Nasri and Stefan Savic haven’t worked out for City. Scott Sinclair, one of their only summer signings last year, has hardly featured at all for club, whilst Jack Rodwell’s succession of injuries have kept the £12m man sidelined for the vast majority of the campaign. Who could forget last season, when Mancini’s very public bust-up with Carlos Tevez and the Argentinian’s subsequent treatment almost cost City that precious first Premier League title? Those arguments happen every day at football clubs across the world, but top managers at top clubs keep them in-house.

It’s been widely reported throughout his career that Mancini is a “cold shoulder” kind of manager. That’s all very well if the side is performing to its optimum level and picking up the right results, but when things start to go wrong, that kind of approach makes a manager all the more easy to remove.

The biggest reason for City’s decision to dispense with Mancini’s services, and in my opinion, by far the most important and valid of all, is his failure to make any inroads whatsoever in European competition, in particular the Champions League.

The owners at the Etihad have spent hundreds of millions assembling a squad that they expect to be competitive, not just domestically but in Europe too. The simple fact is that there is absolutely nothing in Mancini’s CV that suggests that he may be the man to make City a force to be reckoned with on the continent. Last season they were unfortunate to go out of the competition when they did. Finishing the group stage on ten points after picking up three victories, Mancini cited a lack of European experience as the reason for their early exit. This season however, City failed to win a single Champions League game, home or away; a spectacular slide and an embarrassment for the Champions of the so called “best league in the world”.

Historically Mancini’s record in Europe’s elite competition isn’t much better. His best effort in  the competition came at his first attempt way back in 2003/4 when he guided his Inter side to a quarter final hammering by city rivals, AC Milan. Humbled 3-0, Mancini has never again replicated this early promise in the competition, never progressing further than the first knockout stage since. It’s worth pointing out  (for those who may point to Inter’s perceived inferiority in Europe at the time) that Mancini was replaced at Inter by Mourinho, who had won the Champions League by the end of his second season at the club.

With all this in mind, the decision to part company with Mancini may not be as harsh as many out there think. City want to be a top club; the owners have spent a fortune and they expect the club to be in the top bracket, nowhere else will satisfy. It won’t have gone unnoticed that PSG, on the back of similar investment, not only won the French league at a canter but also were desperately unlucky not to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, losing out on away goals to Barcelona. Neither will it have passed under the radar that, despite dropping off slightly domestically, Dortmund’s second bite of the Champions’ League cherry (in recent times) has seen them learn from last year’s experience, and advance imperiously to the final.

It’s the European failure which has forced City’s hand. The fact that Mancini didn’t listen to or get on with his players has just served to make his dismissal easier. The reasons behind his removal are sound; it seems that the board at City don’t wish to take a chance on Mancini getting it right, he’s been given his chance and it’s been a fair crack of the whip.

Just who will fill the void remains unclear at this point. Pelligrini of Malaga has been very heavily linked, but denies a deal has been struck;  Jose Mourinho is certainly a candidate, despite rumour that he’s certain to return to Chelsea. However, for me, the best candidate is Chelsea’s current boss Rafa Benitez. A born winner and one of the most tactically astute managers in world, Benitez has delivered European and domestic success wherever he has been. If City want to build a dynasty; a side which will be at the forefront of the game both domestically and in Europe over a sustained period of time, they really should look no further.

Perhaps the only mark against the man who made Valencia the best club in Spain while he was there, delivered Liverpool’s fifth European cup (amongst other trophies) and is taking Chelsea to Amsterdam for this year’s Europa League final, is his pragmatic approach to the game. However, having seen Malaga’s progress in the Champions League this year (low-scoring, gritty performances) and knowing Jose Mourinho’s philosophy all too well, perhaps it’s not style that City are looking for; maybe finally it’s substance they’re after.

Image by Ines11thiago

Ferguson Calls Time At Old Trafford

Fergie’s Last Hurragh

Alex Ferguson, it has been announced today, will retire from the position of manager of Manchester United Football Club at the end of the current season.

Yes, as we approach the end of what has been one of the dullest Premier League seasons in living memory, something has cropped up to make us all sit forward and pay close attention. Speculation over when the most successful manager of the Premier League era would finally relinquish the reins at Old Trafford has been rife for years, now, finally, we have our answer.

The timing of his decision will come as no great surprise to those who follow the game. Although his departure may be the most obvious signal of a change of era at Old Trafford, truth be told, behind the scenes circumstances have been shifting for some time now.

The change of ownership, the arrival of the Glazer family, took the most profitable club in the country from the black and plunged it deep into the red. The system of leverage, used by the Americans to obtain one of English football’s most prized assets,  means that United simply aren’t cash rich enough to compete with other clubs at the very highest echelons of the game. Given that the lion’s share of any money made goes directly into servicing the huge debt, there’s comparatively little to spend on players, a fact borne out by United’s limited transfer activity in recent years.

This is a fact that Ferguson knows all too well. Up until now, the Scot has managed to hold things together remarkably well, domestically at least, however he’ll be well aware of the fact that even he would be hard pressed to keep conjuring league titles from a bag of tricks which is in desperate need of replenishment.

Truth be told, it seems almost certain that Ferguson would’ve taken the golden handshake at the end of last season had United not squandered an eight point lead in the final weeks of the season, only to be displaced by their closest neighbours Manchester City in the final minute of the final game of the campaign. That he chose not to in the wake of what happened was hardly surprising, to do so would have been completely out of character. However, the big money signing of the 29 year old van Persie hinted clearly at the veteran manager’s mind-set – win it back, win it quickly and then I can go.

Win it back his United team did and quickly at that, the league having been wrapped up for some time before mathematical certainty was reached several weeks ago. And now, after delivering United’s twentieth top flight title, he is going.

That Ferguson won only two European Cups in his twenty plus years in charge will likely be his biggest disappointment, however with United a long way off challenging for Europe’s elite club competition again, that’s something he’ll have to live with.

What next for United? Well, word is that an announcement on Ferguson’s successor is due within forty-eight hours, so we should know who will be picking up the gauntlet by this weekend. Moyes, Mourinho, Ancelotti, Klopp, Solskjaer, who knows? The only certainty is that United will find impossible to replace Ferguson’s particular brand of, steel, pragmatism, bloody-mindedness and will to win.

The job will not be an easy one, this Manchester United side is in need of refurbishment and on a tight budget too. Whoever takes over will have their work cut out following on from the club’s greatest ever manager, and there’s every possibility the most stable club of the Premiership era will now face a few years of uncertainty  as they bid to find a manager who can take them to new heights.

Image by minhquangle87

For Whom Will the Relegation Bell Toll?

Who’ll Be Playing For This Next Season?

With around a quarter of the season left to play, the battle for Premier League survival is reaching fever-pitch.  By my reckoning there are six teams who remain in real peril and last weekend saw all of them in action (albeit not all in the Premier League). QPR, Reading, Wigan, Aston Villa, Southampton and Sunderland are those with most to fear heading into the run-in, with Newcastle and Stoke seemingly (but not necessarily) safe, nine points clear of the drop-zone.  This article will focus on these six likely candidates and attempt to identify which three are the most likely to feel the trapdoor open beneath their feet come the end of May.

Aston Villa’s 1-2 win at the Madejski Stadium could prove to be a vital result in Paul Lambert’s battle to beat the drop. A true six pointer if ever there was one, ended with the Villains taking all three points, condemning the Royals to their fourth straight league defeat and, , costing Brian McDermott his job. The victory pulled Villa out of the bottom three and, with their nearest rivals Wigan in FA Cup action, gave them a three point cushion over Roberto Martinez’s side who sit in eighteenth.

The performance, and result,  came as part of an upturn in recent form which has seen Villa’s young side win two of their last four (one goal defeats at the hands of Arsenal and City accounting for the losses in that sequence). As one crucial result is garnered so another must win game appears on the horizon, and this Saturday’s clash with rock bottom QPR couldn’t be more important for either team. Villa will enjoy home advantage over a QPR side that’s won just twice away from home all season, however, having scored fewer goals and picked up fewer points at Villa Park than on the road this year, a positive result is by no means guaranteed, particularly given QPRs revival under Harry Redknapp.

Victory for Lambert’s side would see them take a giant leap towards safety and, if Christian Benteke (the stand-out player in the bottom half of the Premier League) continues to show the form that he has so far this season, it’s entirely plausible. Villa still have Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea to play this season, however the crucial games for them will be against QPR, Sunderland and their final day match up with Wigan. If they can take maximum points from these three fixtures, I can see them staying up; a failure to do so however, would leave them facing the prospect of relegation from Premier League for the first time since its inception.

Reading, the team beaten by Villa last week, look certain to go down. As predicted on this blog at the beginning of the season (glad I got one thing right at least), they have found being amongst the elite a little too hot to handle.  Zingarevich, the Reading chairman has this week sacked manager Brian McDermott after one loss too many.  The timing of his dismissal, coming with just nine games to go, raised eyebrows, however it’s my belief that Zingarevich is banking on  capitalising on the brief upturn in form that bringing in a new manager often provides. It’s a big risk, but a calculated one and, given the Royals’ woeful run of form, one worth taking at this juncture.

Will it help? Possibly. Will it be enough? I very much doubt it. Unfortunately, Reading simply don’t have a strong enough squad to compete adequately in the top division. The quality they have to call upon is less than that of the other teams around them and, despite a valiant season-long effort, that’s the reason why they find themselves where they are.

Trips to Old Trafford and the Emirates in their next two league outings are hardly welcome and, assuming they lose those two, Reading could find themselves properly adrift of safety before long. With Manchester City and Liverpool still to face, Reading must focus on getting points from their home games against Southampton and QPR and from their visits to Carrow Road, Craven Cottage and Upton Park, all tough venues from which to emerge victorious. Whilst the Royals remain in with a chance of beating the drop, unfortunately for them, it is beginning to look more and more like a snowball’s chance in hell with each week that passes.

Harry (Houdini) Redknapp has been called in to, once again achieve, what looked only a couple of weeks ago, like the most improbable of results – keeping QPR in the Premier League. Rangers have been plum last in the table almost since their opening day humiliation at the hands of Swansea. Last Saturday, the master of top flight escapes guided his current side to what was only their fourth win of the season against a dreadful Sunderland, and what an important victory it could prove to be.

Can Harry do it Again?

QPR now sit four points off safety; still bottom of the league, however in the best form of all six sides battling against the drop, having won three and lost just two of their last ten games. Rangers’ game against Villa this week is obviously a must win if they’re going to have a real chance of survival, along with their upcoming matches against Reading, Wigan and Stoke, the latter two of which come at Loftus Road.

Failure to take at least ten points from twelve in these fixtures will almost certainly doom QPR to life in the Championship next year, especially when you consider that they face Arsenal, Newcastle and a trip to Anfield in the month of May. QPR have the momentum at the moment but they must keep it going if they are to achieve the impossible and stay in England’s top division. For my money, they do not deserve to stay up, given the way they’ve approached their time in the top flight off the pitch and the apparent lack of effort from a large number of their players on it, over the course of this and last season. However, we’re all well aware that what you deserve and what you get in life can be two very different things and it would take a brave man to bet against Harry coming up trumps again.

Wigan, Wigan, Wigan. The modern day Southampton; perennially involved in the struggle for survival yet apparently immune to actually going down when all is said and done – or so it has been until now.  Can they do it again? Can they turn around their form across the entire season and put together a run-in which will see them to safety? Undoubtedly they can, however whether they willor not could be a different matter. If they are going to, they’ll need to start this weekend when they play host to Newcastle.

The Latics’ form is not good at all. They’ve won just twice in their last ten games, losing five of those, and at home they’ve only won twice all season. Only Reading have lost as many games as Roberto Martinez’s side have this season, with just QPR and Reading having recorded fewer wins – they are, therefore, in the bottom three purely on merit.

On paper, Wigan have one of the easier run-ins of those involved in the relegation scrap. The Latics have Tottenham, Manchester City and Arsenal still to play, however, Tottenham may well be distracted by their Europa League progress, as may Newcastle who they entertain on Sunday. Teams such as Swansea, West Brom, Norwich and West Ham are likely to have little to play for by the time they come up against Wigan and, of course, the showdown against Villa on the final afternoon will almost certainly prove crucial.

The one fly in the ointment for Martinez and Wigan this year could come in the form of their successful FA Cup run. Wigan haven’t had to deal with any such thing during Martinez’s tenure to date, routinely exiting the competition in the early rounds in years gone by. That has left them the chance to focus solely on the imperative of Premier League survival at this time of year. This season however, the Latics are in a Wembley semi-final and, up against Championship opposition, they have a great chance of making it one step further to the showpiece event which used to round-off the football season in England.

Will this glittering occasion, a first for all the Wigan players, prove to be a distraction from the task at hand as it has been for other teams in the past? Will it spur the side on to Premier League survival yet again? Only time will tell. What is certain though, is that over the next eight weeks, Wigan will have Wembley on their minds.

So to Southampton and Sunderland, the two teams currently occupying sixteenth and fifteenth respectively. Saints adjusted to life back in the top flight well after a nightmare beginning to the campaign saw them stuck in the bottom three for much of the early part of the season. The sacking of Nigel Adkins was surprising, particularly as it came when the side was in the midst of a good run of results which had seen them steadily climb the table.

The new man Mauricio Pochettino began life at St. Mary’s well, without a defeat in his first three games in charge,  includeding a fantastic 3-1 victory over Manchester City. However, that has been his only victory as Saints boss and recent defeats at the hands of Newcastle and QPR have seen Southampton sucked very much back in to the relegation quagmire.

Liverpool and Chelsea are the next two visitors to St. Mary’s so any points picked up from those two games would come as a welcome bonus. Nine points would likely see Saints safe and with home games to come against notoriously poor travellers West Ham, West Brom and Stoke City (on the last day) along with trips to Reading and Sunderland to come, I have little doubt that Southampton will be playing Premier League football next season.

Testing Times for O’Neill

With four losses and two draws in their last six games, Martin O’Neill’s Sunderland are in the worst form of the bottom six clubs. Last week’s home capitulation to QPR  summed up the Black Cats’ season thus far – lacklustre. O’Neill’s side currently sit six points above the drop zone, however that would be reduced to three should Wigan win their game in hand.

With Manchester United, Newcastle (away), Everton, Chelsea and Tottenham still to play, this weekend’s home game with Norwich takes on a massive significance, with three points perhaps vital to their chances of remaining in the top flight. Seven points from the next nine games would likely be enough to keep Sunderland afloat, however if they fail to beat Norwich, it would be a struggle to see where those points will come from. The trip to Villa Park at the end of April looks like being a massive game, along with the visits of Stoke and Southampton in the following weeks. Whatever happens, it is going to be a very nervous last nine games for Mackems, that’s for sure.

It very much looks like being three from these six who’ll be plying their trade in the Championship next year. What is unusual this year is that no team has, as yet, been cut fully adrift. That’s what makes it even more difficult to predict, with any degree of certainty, just which three will be going down. If I had to make a prediction, which for the purposes of this article I do, I would say that Reading will definitely go, along with Wigan and one of either QPR or Sunderland. How correct I will be proven is anybody’s guess; to find out we’ll all have to keep on watching as, once again, the relegation battle appears destined to go right down to the final day.

Please feel free to comment with your predictions for the drop.

Redknapp image by TheSportReview. O’Neill image by dalli58

Lack of Mental Strength Still Costing Liverpool Dearly

Even Steven’s Feeling the Heat

With just twelve games left to go in the Barclays Premier League, Brendan Rodgers first season in charge of LFC is treading a fine line between relative success and what will be seen by many as abject failure. After a promising spell of performances and results over the last two months , both home and away,  Rodgers’s LFC project is under threat of being undermined by a familiar problem; a problem that must be solved if Rodgers is to succeed at Anfield.

The Northern Irishman has certainly made some improvements during his first eight months in charge: Liverpool have upped their final third pass completion, their conversion of clear cut chances, their goals to games ratio and have already surpassed the number of home wins gained in the whole of last season. However, in other areas (particularly in defence), standards have slipped. The Reds are conceding goals at a higher rate than last season and the opposition are requiring even fewer penalty box efforts before registering than they were last season.

These weaknesses have fallen under much closer scrutiny since the Reds went down to Steve Clarke’s West Brom side at Anfield on Monday last, and rightly so. However Monday’s result and performance highlighted a recurring theme that’s plagued Liverpool Football Club over the last few seasons; lack of mental strength.

Since the club’s fall from grace during Rafa’s last season at the helm, successive managers have tried, for the most part in vain, to address the issue. Finally, with the arrival at Anfield of a top sports psychologist, followed by three successive high scoring victories at Anfield and two impressive away performances at Arsenal and Manchester City, many were beginning to believe that LFCs collective mental fragility was on the way to becoming a thing of the past. Unfortunately, the events of Monday night have offered that particular monkey a leg-up right back to the place where it’d rested for so long, the home dressing room at Anfield.

After the relative heroics at the Etihad and the Emirates, Brendan Rodgers’s side should have been filled with confidence for the visit of West Brom., however right from the get-go they looked nervy and off the pace. Don’t get me wrong, LFC were by far the better side, seeing plenty more of the ball and making all the running in terms of creating chances and producing shots on goal, however the belief, which had seen the Reds find the net twelve times without reply in their previous three home games, was simply not there when the chances presented themselves.

Granted, Brendan Rodgers decision to alter the formation and deploy Shelvey (in what was his first Premier League start since Boxing Day) in the number ten role was baffling to say the least, and hardly helpful to the balance of the side with or without the ball, however the Reds created enough chances in the first half to have had the game won by half-time. In fact, if the afore-mentioned Shelvey had made more of an effort to keep himself onside when Glen  Johnson fired in an early effort, the story would likely have been very different indeed. That he didn’t however, was indicative of Liverpool’s performance; a performance which was devoid of self-assurance and presence of mind under pressure to get a result.

On far too many occasions players’ touches got away from them or their passes were woefully misplaced. Both fullbacks suffered immensely, as neither Enrique nor Johnson seemed able to get a grip of themselves  for long periods of the game (the former not helped by the howls of disappointment and derision from the Anfield crowd which greeted every misplaced pass). In front of goal it was the same story. Chances were snatched at; Luis Suarez looked once again like the downtrodden outcast of last season with everything to prove, as opposed to the confident frontman who’s been lighting up the Premier League since August. Steven Gerrard began to force things from an early point in the second-half, with a couple of long range efforts seemingly born out of desperation rather than expectation.

(There’s no doubt that Gerrard and Suarez have been Liverpool’s best players again this season and I don’t wish to single them out for criticism, however their performances on Monday were much more reminiscent of last year’s Liverpool who struggled so much at home, as opposed to the confident performances that fans have relished in the last two or three months.)

Why? Well, simply put, this was a must win game for Liverpool if the club were to realise Brendan Rodgers’s and Steven Gerrard’s  stated aim of making the top four.  Away points at City and Arsenal were a good sign, following those results up with a win over West Brom. at Anfield was however, vital. The players were obviously aware of that but, instead of backing themselves to get a result, they buckled under the pressure. Enrique’s indecision, Jonhnson’s rubber feet, Borini going after that rebound with his right foot and Gerrard’s decision to switch corners from the spot, are all examples of the crippling lack of self-belief which ultimately cost Liverpool dearly.

Equally, the performance on Monday throws a different context on the previous two results. Yes, the Reds played well at Arsenal and fantastically at the Etihad, however in both games they held the upper hand well into the second-half and on both occasions they surrendered the advantage. In light of the West Brom game, this highlights a pattern of mental weakness – an inability to see games out – something that Rodgers and his squad of players must conquer if they are to make real progress.

The Reds were totally on top against Steve Clarke’s men, in fact the Baggies didn’t manage a single shot until the 80^th minute, moments after Foster had saved Gerrard’s penalty. Liverpool had only ten minutes to hold out for at least a point following the captain’s failure from the spot, they lasted less than two. What’s more, they had ten minutes (including injury time) to come back from Albion’s sucker-punch, but were unable to produce a single shot on goal before the end of the game, succumbing instead to a late Lukaku strike.

So, Liverpool fans find themselves in an oh so familiar situation. They want to believe (at least the vast majority of them do) that the club is moving forwards, they’ve seen evidence that they’re on the right track, however every time they get a little bit of confidence and start to look up the table, they’re cruelly slapped back down. Problems that were thought to have been solved raise their ugly heads for all to see, ghosts which had supposedly been laid to rest delight in coming back to haunt them.

The truth of it is that evolution takes time and that there are always setbacks along the way. However, patience is beginning to wear thin in the face of repeated frustration (certainly amongst a vocal minority) and even those who are less hysterical, are beginning to question whether Rodgers is the right man to take the club forward.

Rodgers has twelve league games left this season, that’s twelve games to prove the doubters wrong and silence the critics, at least for a while. Bearing in mind that sixth place would count as a relatively successful first season in charge, what the side achieves in these twelve games will largely define the difference between Rodgers: the success story and Rodgers: the failure.

 

Gerrard image by WBUR.

Defining Week for Rodgers and Reds

Reds Must Summon Spirit of Shankly

It’s been a long season for Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool Football Club and it’s only just over halfway through. The Reds have  played over thirty-five competitive games in the campaign to date and could, potentially, play another twenty-five matches before the season’s end. Two of the most important of these games, however, come in the space of the next four days, against Arsenal and Manchester City. The performances turned in, away, at these two top six sides could go a long way towards defining the remainder of the season for Rodgers and the Anfield club.

So far the 2012/13 has been a bit of a mixed bag as far as results and performances have been concerned. A difficult start to the campaign saw Rodger’s side fail to pick up a victory until the season was several weeks old. Since then, the trend has been that of slow, steady improvement, however there have been a number of occasions on which that trend has been bucked, noticeably against the teams in the top half of the league.

Whilst Liverpool under Rodgers have begun to see off the teams which traditionally occupy the lower half of the Barclays Premier League on a regular basis, the so called “bigger” clubs have posed a much tougher test,  one which has found the Reds wanting on every occasion so far this season. Defeating the “lesser” teams with regularity is no mean feat for  a Liverpool boss, many of those that occupied the hotseat before Rodgers have struggled to do so with any degree of consistency. (Dalglish, Hodgson and even Benitez often came unstuck against teams that they were expected to roll over, particularly at home – a glance back to last season is all that’s needed to remind oneself of that truth.) However, simply becoming consistent “flat track bullies”, while a good first step, is never going to be enough for Liverpool, nor should it be.

Rodgers has begun to succeed in at least one of his stated aims, that of returning Anfield to its former fortress-like glory. The Reds have already picked up as many home wins this season as they managed in the entirety  of the last campaign and, as mentioned above, the team has begun to confidently dispatch the weaker sides; now however, it’s time to take the next step.

In the next four days, Liverpool fans will be able to see just how realistic a push for a European place or even a Champions’ League berth really is. If the club is to mount an honest challenge for the top six, or even the top four, then Rodgers’s side must look to pick up some points from the next two games. They must look to take points off the likes of Arsenal, who they’ll be going head to head with in the race to the finish, and they must show that they’re capable of at least challenging the likes of Manchester City, not only for their European aspirations, but also for the fans and for the players’ own self-confidence.

Both Arsenal and Manchester City came to Anfield earlier in the season, City left with one point after a Martin Skrtel error allowed them back into the game; Arsenal left with all three points after a lacklustre display from the Reds gifted them an all too easy victory. If this Liverpool side can step up and exact a measure of revenge,  by picking up at least two points from the return fixtures, then the rest of the season could shape up nicely. If not however, then things could take a turn for the worse.

Brendan Rodgers has faced criticism from a small but vocal section of the LFC support since he took over (largely unfairly although he’s not been without fault), however with the Cup defeat to Oldham still fresh in every fan’s mind, this criticism has gotten a little louder in the last few days. A victory in either of the two upcoming Premier League fixtures would go a long way towards quietening, if not silencing these critics, even a couple of away draws would be a platform to build on. However, a failure to pick up at least two points will hear the dissenting voices grow louder still and could well swell the ranks of the “Rodgers Out” crowd. This is the last thing that Liverpool needs as a football club, the fans have been divided for too long, what’s needed is something to unite behind and points in the next two matches could be just the ticket.

Rodgers Has a Lot to Live Up To

It was broadly accepted by most intelligent Liverpool fans that this season would be, if not a write off, than certainly a transitional season in which progress would be the by-word and, as long as this advancement was visible, the season could be considered a success. Whilst many still believe this to be the case, it’s hard to sit through a season where each step forward seems to be followed by an equally large step back.

Defeat to Oldham in the FA Cup was not a huge catastrophe for the club, whilst it was a massive disappointment for myself and every other fan, it’s safe to say that it wasn’t top of the manager’s nor the owners’ wish-lists for the season. Mistakes were made in selection for me, however with two such huge games on the horizon, the manager had little choice other than to name the side that he did and, in the end, the players let him down.

Apart from anything else, the defeat highlighted the deficiencies in certain areas of the squad, particularly the back five and the centre of midfield, and these areas will have to be strengthened in the summer. As far as being a marker for the rest of the season though, it served as little use. With Stoke having already been played twice, the Reds are unlikely to face such a physical approach before next season, nor is Brendan Rodgers likely to field such a hotch-potch of a side in the near future.

The league form is key, that’s what did for Kenny Dalglish and that’s what Rodgers will be judged on. So far, progress has been made and the stats bear that out. Liverpool are six points better off this year than they were last year from the equivalent fixtures, they are scoring more goals, they are winning at home and they are not losing as many games. However, many fans see performances, and especially results, against the “big” teams as the marker against which any progress should be measured and this is an area where the Reds have regressed.  If Rodgers wants to earn the respect of his critics amongst the fanbase, taking at least three points from the next two games would be a great way to start and the perfect tonic to help everybody forget about Oldham.

Both images by Ben Sutherland.

Can the Toon Go Doon?

Coloccini: Wants Away

With 22 games gone in the Barclays Premier  League, the 2012/13 campaign is well over the half-way point. One of the biggest surprises to many onlookers this season has been the steady demise of Newcastle United. Granted, many people realised that the Toon had excelled themselves in 2011/12 and that some sort of decline was likely, however few would’ve predicted that their slump would come so rapidly nor that it would be quite so pronounced.

Alan Pardew’s men produced an exceptional run of performances in the league last term, punching well above their weight to finish in fifth place, only five points off a Champions League spot. Although the Magpies season finished with somewhat of a whimper as squad limitations and fatigue began to catch up with them, their fifth place finish guaranteed them entry to the Europa League and fans remained optimistic that their beloved club was once again back amongst the big boys.

Fast forward eight months and things don’t look so rosy. Pardew’s men are currently occupying 16th place in the table, they sit just two points above the relegation zone and, with the form that they’re in, are just one defeat away from being sucked into the vortex at the bottom of  he league.

The season began in promising style for the Magpies as they kicked-off with a home win on opening day, seeing off AVBs Tottenham side 2-1 at St. James’s. An away defeat at Chelsea followed, however that was always going to be a tough match to get points from and, as the season continued, Newcastle arrived at the second weekend of November having lost just twice in the league (the second defeat coming against Manchester United 0-3).

However, following his side’s 1-1 draw at Anfield, the wheels began to fall off Alan Pardew’s merry Toon bandwagon. The Magpies’ traditionally strong home form, a major aspect of their success last year, began to crumble. The club suffered back to back home defeats at the hands of West Ham and Swansea in the following two games, and two defeats on the bounce quickly became four as the Geordies went down at Southampton and Stoke. Four defeats in a row against teams that either finished well behind them the previous season or hadn’t even been in the same league, a worrying trend, if not at that time a cause for genuine worry.

A win against Wigan in their next home game settled a few nerves amongst the St. James’s Park faithful however, as I thought at the time, it proved to be a false dawn, the 3-0 score-line having been heavily influenced by the soft, early penalty and subsequent red card shown to Maynor Figueroa in the opening stages of the match.

Since that opening week of December, Pardew’s side have registered a victory just once in all competitions, losing seven of the nine they’ve played. Taking a broader view of the Geordies form, they’ve played 15, won 2, drawn 2, lost 11, in all competitions going back to November 8^th – a run which culminated in a lacklustre performance as they were eliminated from the FA Cup in the third round by Gus Poyet’s Championship outfit, Brighton. This form has to be a massive worry for Pardew, his players, the supporters and everybody involved at the football club.

How has this happened? How has a side that did so well last year performed so dismally this? It’s hard to pinpoint one particular reason. Doubtless Mike Ashley’s unwillingness to invest in a winning team during the summer has contributed to the disaster. Utility player Vernon Anita was the club’s only relatively significant signing and he’s failed to make any real impression in his first six months in a Newcastle shirt. The extra burden of the Europa league is a factor and injuries to key players must also be taken into consideration, the loss of Cabaye and Ben Arfa for significant periods especially.

However, Pardew must surely shoulder some of the responsibility; there are plenty of small squads in the Premier League and all managers have to deal with injuries to important personnel at some point in the season or another. Pardew, it seems, has been unable to cope with the limitations in his squad and has been unable to find a way to get the best out of what he’s got. Newcastle lack creativity, particularly in the absence of the likes of Cabaye, however the stats show that the Magpies employ the use of the long ball more than any other team in the top division.

The frequency with which this hoof-ball tactic is employed suggests that it’s planned and as such, must come from the management. It obviously isn’t working and opposition teams have clearly cottoned on. Doesn’t Pardew have anything else to offer? Listening to West Ham fans is telling, the consensus amongst them (the one’s I’ve conversed with at least) is that he doesn’t. They claim that once other teams had worked them out under Pardew, he had no alternative approaches and, not only were they incapable of winning once that happened, but also the football was dire to behold. Ringing a bell Geordie fans?

To add to Pardew’s woe ( it’s not only his side’s shocking run of form that’s causing him headaches), he faces the prospect of losing several key players. Demba Ba, the club’s top scorer both last season and so far this season, has already gone, signing for Chelsea after the London club activated his supposed £7.5m release clause. Coloccini, one of Newcastle’s top performers in recent times, has handed in a transfer request, as he’s desperate to return to Argentina for personal reasons, and Hatem Ben Arfa has been making noises in several papers about a move away from St.James’s if not in January then in the summer, citing a lack of ambition at the club.

Pardew is having little success in attracting players to the club either. Granted Matthieu Debuchy has become a Magpie, the French international defender arriving in a deal rumoured to be worth £6m. However, with Newcastle struggling for creativity and goals, is he the kind of signing that they really need?

Loic Remy the Marseille striker has been a long-term target of Pardew’s and a couple of days ago looked to be a done deal, however, Harry Redknapp is also a Remy fan and and has launched an effort to bring him to Loftus Road. Remy is reportedly yet to decide between the two, however the papers are claiming that he could well join QPR, having been offered a very generous package. If Remy does join Harry in London it will be a massive kick in the teeth for Pardew and Newcastle and could make the difference between limited success (staying up) and abject failure (going down).

Bizarre as it is to be discussing a team that finished fifth last season being relegated this year, that’s exactly what could happen to Newcastle. Better teams than them have gone down in the past, Boro in 97 or West Ham in 03 for example,  and with the teams around them improving and beginning to grow into the season, Pardew has a job on to arrest the slide and rejuvenate his struggling side. Failure to see him turn things around quickly may see Pardew, Ashley and the Geordies right back where they don’t want to be; the Championship.

Coloccini image by mikebrown59