There has been no other Liverpool manager I've wanted to succeed more than Kenny Dalglish, when he returned to rescue us from the desperately dark but mercifully short reign of Roy Hodgson. I'd grown up on the stories of King Kenny, for so many the Reds' greatest player, a three-time league championship winner as manager, and the man who sacrificed his own health, and ultimately the job he loved, for the people of Liverpool in the aftermath of Hillsborough. He was back to finish the job he'd started and left in 1991, and what a story it would've been if he could've taken us all the way back to the top.
Likewise, there are few who will have as much admiration and respect as I do for Rafael Benitez, both as a coach and as a person. Istanbul rightly makes him a legend alone, after which he developed the best Liverpool team since Kenny's last title winners, gave us another European final and took us so close to the promised land of number 19. His departure under the cloud of Hicks and Gillett's ownership was one of the lowest points of a low period in the club's history.
There are plenty of fans who will share one or both of these opinions with me, but this is not a piece debating whether or not either man should've been removed from their posts at Anfield in the first place. The problem is so many chose to use them as sticks to beat Brendan Rodgers and FSG with, ignoring any progress on or off the pitch, casting aside results and twisting any interpretation of events to fit their agenda - that one of the aforementioned legends should be manager today, and that the club is lost without them. They also have one or two high profile sports journalists whipping them into a frenzy over the subject after every draw or defeat, every player bought or sold and every trophy missed.
I, for one, completely understand why FSG parted company with Kenny Dalglish, and likewise, why they did not approach Rafael Benitez to replace him, and I'd go as far to say I admire them for the brave decisions they took in the summer of 2012. At worst, this makes me a bad wool, which I can handle. But it has nothing to do with the coaching abilities of either, nor does it affect the place these two men have in this club's history, or suggest that I was happy to see either of them leave initially.
This is the reality of the situation that faced FSG at the end of the 2011-2012 season. Kenny Dalglish was never meant to be Liverpool's permanent long-term manager after he arrived to steady the ship that Hicks, Gillett, Purslow and Hodgson had seemed intent on consigning to its final chapter. The remarkable turnaround during the latter half of the 11-12 campaign led to Kenny rightly and respectfully being offered a relatively short extension on his temporary contract, and he would become a victim of his own success when league form took a severe nosedive during a campaign which would do more damage to Liverpool's image than any other in recent memory.
But why not, given the two cup final appearances, give him one more season? And if we absolutely have to turn our back on a legend, why not approach another, and a proven, modern manager to boot, to replace him?
FSG may not be experienced football men, but if their Boston Red Sox tenure hadn't already given them a rounded understanding of the fiercely political nature of top professional sports clubs, then the sales process of LFC alone would've been a severe eye-opener. They had been right to extend Kenny's stay given the impact he'd had on return, but they were now faced with an almost impossible decision with regards who they actually envisaged as the right man to take this club forward for the next decade and more.
Brendan Rodgers, Andre Villas-Boas or Roberto Martinez would've been FSG men, managers they were responsible for hiring, overseeing, advising and perhaps firing. Kenny Dalglish was our man. Rafael Benitez too, was our man. Not just in the sense that they were our first and second choice managers, but they were also kindred spirits amongst the Kop, club legends and idols, more than just trophy winners and technical achievers. They are not exempt from balanced criticism, but they are rightly untouchable in status.
To employ either, is for FSG to place a divide up between themselves and us fans before a ball is kicked, and we would be keeping the manager for ourselves and our battles. Rafael Benitez had already been a key figure in our protests and forcing-out of Hicks & Gillett - while the complexities of the financial situation of the club didn't always translate to the man in the stand, their treatment of a European Cup winning manager did, and as such he was the obvious focal point. Having already decided, painstakingly, that Kenny Dalglish was never going to be the long-term manager within an FSG structure, Rafael Benitez was never going to stand a chance in the interview process. This was going to be FSG's selection, and their responsibility, who would be handed over to supporters for them to judge for themselves, rather than a man the owners must disproportionately raise their game for.
It was a shame, but it was understandable, and my personal feeling is that it could pay dividends in the future given the gradual progress we are seeing under Rodgers, which we can debate daily, unclouded by our affection for Dalglish and Benitez. My hope and belief is that Kenny will return to the club in an ambassadorial role one day, as and when the club is in a period of success so as not to spark rumours of him being groomed for another caretaker role. Rafa too, may one day be back at Anfield in some role or other, but for now I wish him all the best in his exciting job in Naples.
As I wrote a year ago, Rodgers made the perfect start to his Liverpool career by accepting Anfield's friendly ghosts, including Dalglish and Benitez, rather than distancing himself from them in the way that Hodgson did. It was a moment that made me feel the right decision had been made, despite a summer of anguish watching club legends pass us by.
Wednesday, 14 August 2013
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
My First Footballing Love
There are times when you just have to take the plunge, because life is simply too short. Forget the risks, ignore the stacked odds against satisfaction and success, and disregard every sensible reason to leave this nagging, deep-lying desire alone. Some plump for the mundane, such as running a marathon or climbing Everest, while others quit their job to start a business or move abroad. Then, there are a tragic select few who chose to write about their hero.
First-Love Footballers
The first cut is the deepest. In his book 'Changing Relationships', Dr Malcolm Byrnin says that the secret to happiness in a relationship is to 'skip the first relationship'. In an ideal world, you would miss out childhood and youth altogether and wake up in your second relationship, because the first love ruins it for all the others, yet you must never, under any circumstances, go back.
When it comes to our footballing heroes, this issue is magnified by the unique nature of the emotional attachment, in that puberty isn't a pre-requisite. It is the one phase of life that isn't age-sensitive; more intense than a teenage crush and resistant to being rescued by the more pragmatic approach of adulthood. As such, it is the most enduring of admirations. All the other childhood fixations - a security blanket, a particular favourite toy or a cartoon movie - all fizzle out, only to be revisited in later life on nostalgic whims, promptly discarded when inevitably the novelty wears thin.
The attachment that makes you compelled to wear a daft plaster on your nose during your U11s Sunday league matches is the same that makes you forget it's your anniversary when you proclaim to your partner in the moment your hero re-signs for Liverpool that it's 'The Greatest Day of My Life'.
On January 27, 2006 I got the call.
That phrase makes it sound like I'd just been called up to my first senior England squad, and I imagine the level of euphoria is very similar. Robbie Fowler's return felt like one of those joyous days when you realise there are certain elements of supporting a football team that are far more important than the football itself.
To many on the outside, Fowler was merely a remarkably gifted striker, often referred to as the most natural finisher of his generation. But to some of us, he was untouchable. He was, and still is, 'God', and no one, not even John Barnes or Ian Rush before nor Steven Gerrard or Luis Suarez since, is quite capable of filling that void. While the pain of cup exits or missed opportunities in the title race can be soothed by the release of the next fixture list or the arrival of a new signing, once your first hero has been moved on, a fan's journey moves into a new era. For many of us, it was Liverpool AD between December 2001 and that magnificently unexpected day in January 2006.
This was because, for the boys living and breathing football 24/7, nose-plasters and all, he was the local lad who banged the goals in every week, living the dream we all dreamt in the playground. Meanwhile, to those who had stood on the Kop for decades prior, Fowler was a throwback to the original goal machines, drawing comparisons with the likes of Rush and Jimmy Greaves. He wasn't an athlete-cum-footballer, or a player moulded and manufactured out of sports science, but a pure, authentic marksman. An instinctive game defined by an acute sense of space in and around the box, and an unparalleled ability to find the one square-inch of net that a 'keeper couldn't reach, from any distance or angle, with any part of his body. When the ball fell to Fowler in the box, even if it was his only chance in 90 minutes, you always got that split-second rush of blood in anticipation of the net bulging, which for most other players, would take a gaping goal and an already sprawled 'keeper.
Furthermore, after each and every one of his 259 career goals, there was never a pout or posture, no 'ssshhh' or cupped ear to the public. Only outstretched arms and a beaming smile accompanied every goal. The simplicity and normality with which he approached and played the game, made him someone that fans of any age could relate to.
But perhaps most pertinently of all, to many thousands of Liverpool's support, Fowler was the shining light that helped guide the club as it sought to emerge from its darkest hour. Four years on from Hillsborough, both club and city were still coming to terms with the impacts of the disaster and the ongoing injustices and cover-ups that, as it would turn out, were still only being concocted. The on-pitch fortunes of Liverpool FC were offering little solace, as football had so often done for the masses in previous decades. Kenny Dalglish had stepped down, a golden era of players retired around him, and Graeme Souness hadn't managed to pull off the impossible job. Liverpool were distinctly mediocre in mid-table, out of the European competitions that defined us in the previous three decades, and playing in front of dwindling crowds while Manchester United began building their dynasty.
Dwindling crowds - like the 12,541 who turned up at Anfield to watch Liverpool play Fulham in the second leg of a League Cup second round tie in 1993. Two weeks earlier, Fowler had made his first-team debut, scored once and had a hand in two others as the Reds won 3-1 at Craven Cottage. On this occasion, he scored five; three with the left, one with the right, and one thumping diving header. He was just 18 years of age. It's impossible to imagine the extent of the country's reaction if an English teenager repeated the trick in 2013 and beyond, and we'll probably never know. This wouldn't be the last time Robbie proved to be one-of-a-kind.
English football would soon enter a period of seismic shift from the classic to the commercial, with Fowler bridging the old and new eras. Emphasising the early impacts of the newly formed Premier League, he was the first teenage British footballer to sign a £1millon contract and he became a global superstar overnight. He'd soon be playing in front of crowds in excess of 40,000 at Anfield every other week, regardless of the opposition. Yet as the years went by, even when a 'broken toe' became a 'fractured metatarsal,' Fowler never changed.
A year after the fiver past poor Jim Stannard, the Toxteth Terror produced another unprecedented moment. Somewhere, there is a family of people who, on August 28, 1994 switched over for the weather forecast or to catch an over of Dominic Cork during England's one-day international with South Africa, and missed the lot. Fowler scored a hat-trick in four minutes and 33 seconds, ghosting through the meanest, most experienced defence in the country, and plonking the ball three times past Arsenal and England's No.1, David Seaman.
Others would've succumbed to the adrenaline, or the law of averages, when presented with a half-chance less than a minute after opening the scoring during the first home game of the season. But Fowler - bang, through Dixon's legs, bang, bang - three times he found the handkerchief-sized patch of net just inside the far post, something he could do like no other of his generation.
There were countless other days that made us delighted he was ours. Only Robbie could've dominated the headlines the day after Eric Cantona made his comeback from a nine-month ban, when he scored two stunning goals past Peter Schmeichel in 1995. Only Roger Hunt had reached 100 goals faster for the club, when he put four past Middlesborough a year later, in his 165th senior game.
In 2001, he was skipper and man-of-the-match after scoring a spectacular dipping volley and clipping in a cheeky shootout spot-kick in the League Cup final win over Birmingham City. He would then lead the Reds to an unprecedented cup treble, scoring as a substitute in the 5-4 Uefa Cup final win over Alaves. On the final day of an incredible season, he struck perhaps the two most important goals in his career, in a 4-0 win away at Charlton, which sent the Reds back to the European Cup for the first time for over a decade.
More Than Just Goals
However, for all the goal-scoring exploits, it was always what Fowler represented beyond the statistical that mattered most to Liverpool supporters. He once even tried to sacrifice a scoring chance, in a vital top-of-the-table clash against his favourite bunnies, Arsenal, at Highbury. His attempts to convince Gerald Ashby to reverse his penalty decision when he hurdled Seaman's lunge and fell to his knees are unlikely to be seen again in a match of that magnitude, if at all.
But the gesture which best sums up his relationship with Liverpool supporters, came during a Cup Winners' Cup tie against the Norwegians of Brann Bergen in 1997. I'm not talking about his volley in the first leg, which followed a ridiculous piece of skill that has to be YouTubed to be believed. In the second leg, he struck with typical aplomb at the Kop end in the second half, his second of the match, and revealed a t-shirt pledging support for Liverpool's sacked dockers that would earn him a UEFA fine, but also the admiration of the city, even the reluctant blue half.
This is what separates true cult heroes like Fowler from the rest. Fans could watch him from the stands or on TV, and no matter how much money he earned - the famous property portfolio, the cars and the worldwide fame - when he took to the pitch, he simply seemed like the one of us that got lucky, and nothing more. That's why, for a few brief moments in 2006, when a bleary-eyed Robbie stumbled through a press conference, referring to 'Mr Parry' and 'Mr Benitez,' we could watch a footballer talking about a 'dream come true' and genuinely believe every word.
Breathless
For all of the above, we all have our own distinctive favourite moments.
My first visit to Anfield, in April 1997, would effectively end Liverpool's hopes of a title challenge, after goals from Coventry City's Noel Whelan and Dion Dublin inflicted a painful late defeat. But I had the most thrilling experience.
High in the Kop, when Robbie latched onto John Barnes' lofted pass, we all rose in unison. As he unleashed a right-footed volley towards the roof of the net, I strained to see over the crowds and could see the ball dipping under the bar, yet had to react on a split-second delay, requiring the roar of those around me to confirm it hit the net. I remember turning to my Dad and trying to bellow the words 'What a goal!'. I didn't make it to the end of the short sentence, and had to take a deep breath before repeating myself, again at the top of my voice as his name rang out around us. I can look back now and appreciate that when people talk about breathtaking experiences, it doesn't have to be figurative.
Closure
Almost 10 years to the day since Fowler left me breathless, I watched him miss an absolute sitter of an open goal from six yards against Fulham at Craven Cottage, on his penultimate Liverpool appearance, at the same ground he opened his account as an 18-year old. But thankfully, now as a fully grown, cynical adult football supporter, I had savoured every single minute of his second coming, and was fully prepared for the second closing.
In his second spell, Fowler scored 10 goals, including his first and only two in the Champions League, and surpassed Dalglish in the scorers' list for good measure. His contribution in the final months of the 05-06 season allowed Benitez to rotate his forwards, securing third place in the league and an FA Cup win in Cardiff. After limited but always whole-hearted contributions the following season, another third place finish and a second European Cup final for the club in three years, he was given the send-off against Charlton that he missed out on in 2001, and was replaced by the phenomenal Fernando Torres that summer. Closure.
Increasingly, outside of his following, Fowler's ability and achievements will be lost in the swamp of obsession over what constitutes 'greatness', where people are more concerned with establishing the criteria of a 'great' player rather than allowing fans to follow their hearts. Don't succumb to those who were more concerned with whether London 2012 was the best Olympics of all time, but just savour those unique memories and the feelings they gave you.
Robbie Fowler may not have been the best, but he was definitely my greatest.
First-Love Footballers
The first cut is the deepest. In his book 'Changing Relationships', Dr Malcolm Byrnin says that the secret to happiness in a relationship is to 'skip the first relationship'. In an ideal world, you would miss out childhood and youth altogether and wake up in your second relationship, because the first love ruins it for all the others, yet you must never, under any circumstances, go back.
When it comes to our footballing heroes, this issue is magnified by the unique nature of the emotional attachment, in that puberty isn't a pre-requisite. It is the one phase of life that isn't age-sensitive; more intense than a teenage crush and resistant to being rescued by the more pragmatic approach of adulthood. As such, it is the most enduring of admirations. All the other childhood fixations - a security blanket, a particular favourite toy or a cartoon movie - all fizzle out, only to be revisited in later life on nostalgic whims, promptly discarded when inevitably the novelty wears thin.
The attachment that makes you compelled to wear a daft plaster on your nose during your U11s Sunday league matches is the same that makes you forget it's your anniversary when you proclaim to your partner in the moment your hero re-signs for Liverpool that it's 'The Greatest Day of My Life'.
On January 27, 2006 I got the call.
That phrase makes it sound like I'd just been called up to my first senior England squad, and I imagine the level of euphoria is very similar. Robbie Fowler's return felt like one of those joyous days when you realise there are certain elements of supporting a football team that are far more important than the football itself.
To many on the outside, Fowler was merely a remarkably gifted striker, often referred to as the most natural finisher of his generation. But to some of us, he was untouchable. He was, and still is, 'God', and no one, not even John Barnes or Ian Rush before nor Steven Gerrard or Luis Suarez since, is quite capable of filling that void. While the pain of cup exits or missed opportunities in the title race can be soothed by the release of the next fixture list or the arrival of a new signing, once your first hero has been moved on, a fan's journey moves into a new era. For many of us, it was Liverpool AD between December 2001 and that magnificently unexpected day in January 2006.
This was because, for the boys living and breathing football 24/7, nose-plasters and all, he was the local lad who banged the goals in every week, living the dream we all dreamt in the playground. Meanwhile, to those who had stood on the Kop for decades prior, Fowler was a throwback to the original goal machines, drawing comparisons with the likes of Rush and Jimmy Greaves. He wasn't an athlete-cum-footballer, or a player moulded and manufactured out of sports science, but a pure, authentic marksman. An instinctive game defined by an acute sense of space in and around the box, and an unparalleled ability to find the one square-inch of net that a 'keeper couldn't reach, from any distance or angle, with any part of his body. When the ball fell to Fowler in the box, even if it was his only chance in 90 minutes, you always got that split-second rush of blood in anticipation of the net bulging, which for most other players, would take a gaping goal and an already sprawled 'keeper.
Furthermore, after each and every one of his 259 career goals, there was never a pout or posture, no 'ssshhh' or cupped ear to the public. Only outstretched arms and a beaming smile accompanied every goal. The simplicity and normality with which he approached and played the game, made him someone that fans of any age could relate to.
But perhaps most pertinently of all, to many thousands of Liverpool's support, Fowler was the shining light that helped guide the club as it sought to emerge from its darkest hour. Four years on from Hillsborough, both club and city were still coming to terms with the impacts of the disaster and the ongoing injustices and cover-ups that, as it would turn out, were still only being concocted. The on-pitch fortunes of Liverpool FC were offering little solace, as football had so often done for the masses in previous decades. Kenny Dalglish had stepped down, a golden era of players retired around him, and Graeme Souness hadn't managed to pull off the impossible job. Liverpool were distinctly mediocre in mid-table, out of the European competitions that defined us in the previous three decades, and playing in front of dwindling crowds while Manchester United began building their dynasty.
Dwindling crowds - like the 12,541 who turned up at Anfield to watch Liverpool play Fulham in the second leg of a League Cup second round tie in 1993. Two weeks earlier, Fowler had made his first-team debut, scored once and had a hand in two others as the Reds won 3-1 at Craven Cottage. On this occasion, he scored five; three with the left, one with the right, and one thumping diving header. He was just 18 years of age. It's impossible to imagine the extent of the country's reaction if an English teenager repeated the trick in 2013 and beyond, and we'll probably never know. This wouldn't be the last time Robbie proved to be one-of-a-kind.
English football would soon enter a period of seismic shift from the classic to the commercial, with Fowler bridging the old and new eras. Emphasising the early impacts of the newly formed Premier League, he was the first teenage British footballer to sign a £1millon contract and he became a global superstar overnight. He'd soon be playing in front of crowds in excess of 40,000 at Anfield every other week, regardless of the opposition. Yet as the years went by, even when a 'broken toe' became a 'fractured metatarsal,' Fowler never changed.
A year after the fiver past poor Jim Stannard, the Toxteth Terror produced another unprecedented moment. Somewhere, there is a family of people who, on August 28, 1994 switched over for the weather forecast or to catch an over of Dominic Cork during England's one-day international with South Africa, and missed the lot. Fowler scored a hat-trick in four minutes and 33 seconds, ghosting through the meanest, most experienced defence in the country, and plonking the ball three times past Arsenal and England's No.1, David Seaman.
Others would've succumbed to the adrenaline, or the law of averages, when presented with a half-chance less than a minute after opening the scoring during the first home game of the season. But Fowler - bang, through Dixon's legs, bang, bang - three times he found the handkerchief-sized patch of net just inside the far post, something he could do like no other of his generation.
There were countless other days that made us delighted he was ours. Only Robbie could've dominated the headlines the day after Eric Cantona made his comeback from a nine-month ban, when he scored two stunning goals past Peter Schmeichel in 1995. Only Roger Hunt had reached 100 goals faster for the club, when he put four past Middlesborough a year later, in his 165th senior game.
In 2001, he was skipper and man-of-the-match after scoring a spectacular dipping volley and clipping in a cheeky shootout spot-kick in the League Cup final win over Birmingham City. He would then lead the Reds to an unprecedented cup treble, scoring as a substitute in the 5-4 Uefa Cup final win over Alaves. On the final day of an incredible season, he struck perhaps the two most important goals in his career, in a 4-0 win away at Charlton, which sent the Reds back to the European Cup for the first time for over a decade.
More Than Just Goals
However, for all the goal-scoring exploits, it was always what Fowler represented beyond the statistical that mattered most to Liverpool supporters. He once even tried to sacrifice a scoring chance, in a vital top-of-the-table clash against his favourite bunnies, Arsenal, at Highbury. His attempts to convince Gerald Ashby to reverse his penalty decision when he hurdled Seaman's lunge and fell to his knees are unlikely to be seen again in a match of that magnitude, if at all.
But the gesture which best sums up his relationship with Liverpool supporters, came during a Cup Winners' Cup tie against the Norwegians of Brann Bergen in 1997. I'm not talking about his volley in the first leg, which followed a ridiculous piece of skill that has to be YouTubed to be believed. In the second leg, he struck with typical aplomb at the Kop end in the second half, his second of the match, and revealed a t-shirt pledging support for Liverpool's sacked dockers that would earn him a UEFA fine, but also the admiration of the city, even the reluctant blue half.
This is what separates true cult heroes like Fowler from the rest. Fans could watch him from the stands or on TV, and no matter how much money he earned - the famous property portfolio, the cars and the worldwide fame - when he took to the pitch, he simply seemed like the one of us that got lucky, and nothing more. That's why, for a few brief moments in 2006, when a bleary-eyed Robbie stumbled through a press conference, referring to 'Mr Parry' and 'Mr Benitez,' we could watch a footballer talking about a 'dream come true' and genuinely believe every word.
Breathless
For all of the above, we all have our own distinctive favourite moments.
My first visit to Anfield, in April 1997, would effectively end Liverpool's hopes of a title challenge, after goals from Coventry City's Noel Whelan and Dion Dublin inflicted a painful late defeat. But I had the most thrilling experience.
High in the Kop, when Robbie latched onto John Barnes' lofted pass, we all rose in unison. As he unleashed a right-footed volley towards the roof of the net, I strained to see over the crowds and could see the ball dipping under the bar, yet had to react on a split-second delay, requiring the roar of those around me to confirm it hit the net. I remember turning to my Dad and trying to bellow the words 'What a goal!'. I didn't make it to the end of the short sentence, and had to take a deep breath before repeating myself, again at the top of my voice as his name rang out around us. I can look back now and appreciate that when people talk about breathtaking experiences, it doesn't have to be figurative.
Closure
Almost 10 years to the day since Fowler left me breathless, I watched him miss an absolute sitter of an open goal from six yards against Fulham at Craven Cottage, on his penultimate Liverpool appearance, at the same ground he opened his account as an 18-year old. But thankfully, now as a fully grown, cynical adult football supporter, I had savoured every single minute of his second coming, and was fully prepared for the second closing.
In his second spell, Fowler scored 10 goals, including his first and only two in the Champions League, and surpassed Dalglish in the scorers' list for good measure. His contribution in the final months of the 05-06 season allowed Benitez to rotate his forwards, securing third place in the league and an FA Cup win in Cardiff. After limited but always whole-hearted contributions the following season, another third place finish and a second European Cup final for the club in three years, he was given the send-off against Charlton that he missed out on in 2001, and was replaced by the phenomenal Fernando Torres that summer. Closure.
Increasingly, outside of his following, Fowler's ability and achievements will be lost in the swamp of obsession over what constitutes 'greatness', where people are more concerned with establishing the criteria of a 'great' player rather than allowing fans to follow their hearts. Don't succumb to those who were more concerned with whether London 2012 was the best Olympics of all time, but just savour those unique memories and the feelings they gave you.
Robbie Fowler may not have been the best, but he was definitely my greatest.
Tuesday, 6 August 2013
Credit Boss For Steady Rise
It's the first pre-season friendly of the summer; 56 days of traipsing alone through goalpost-ridden parks with only a fold-out fixture list for shelter from the drizzle, and 56 nights of falling asleep to the season review DVD, are gone in an instant, replaced by new rays of hope and optimism in the Preston sunshine.
Midway through the second half, one of the most talented and exhilarating young footballers in the country times a run to perfection, breezes round the goalkeeper and nonchalantly tucks the ball home as if it was, and will be, an everyday occurrence.
Raheem Sterling is still a teenager, tremendously gifted, and Liverpool Football Club's for the long-term after signing a new contract last December. He's back with renewed hunger and a clean bill of health after an extended rest from his induction to the physical and psychological rigours of Barclays Premier League football. He is ready.
Permission to get preposterously and disproportionately over-excited? It's a bit late for that. Marquee signings provide a buzz, but there is an additional dose of pride when a special talent makes the breakthrough from the Academy to Melwood. We don't just marvel at his footballing promise, we deeply root for the lad too, which makes every progression a thrill.
While Sterling has been warming up for the new campaign with a goal at Preston, and another in Jakarta, most eyes seems to have been on another young English talent, Wilfried Zaha, who by all accounts has hit the ground running in pre-season for Manchester United.
Zaha's decision to represent England last year when he lined up alongside Sterling for their debuts, coupled with a £15 million move to the champions in January, came with a guarantee of unrivalled attention during what could be a pivotal season for his new club.
He may not have played a Premier League match in his life, but the comparisons will be to both the league and United's past and present elite, and conclusions relating to the size of his fee and the extent of the hype will be drawn and re-drawn each week.
Meanwhile, Sterling was not even the most talked-about young Englishman on the pitch at Preston, with Jordon Ibe rightly taking some plaudits, building on his strong showing against QPR in May with a crisp strike in the first half, and continuing to impress Reds fans thereafter during the overseas tour. The future looks bright.
However, the country-wide reaction, or lack of, to Sterling's latest displays of speed and skill matched the pleasantly serene nature of Liverpool's start to pre-season, when the goals flowed with ease at Deepdale despite inevitable rust, a few new faces and the absence of some experienced stars.
This is all no accident, and Brendan Rodgers must take a wealth of credit. It is easy to talk vaguely about good man-managers, or praise a coach for privately 'putting his arm round' a young player, but Rodgers made a series of brave calls last season regarding Sterling's selection, and all without the choice of disguising them from the closely watching media and fans.
These didn't just preserve Sterling's physical and mental wellbeing, but have since allowed him to operate under a seemingly decreasing intensity of external attention, particularly considering his nationality. We may all be about to witness some substantial benefits.
If Rodgers was brave for ushering Sterling into the limelight with a start against then-champions Manchester City for the first home game of last season, then the move to gradually withdraw him from the first team after Christmas showed gargantuan guts. Sterling may be a rookie who plays a high-risk game of adventurous dribbles, while quick feet caused him to spend much of his early matches being up-ended by men 10 years his senior, but he quickly became integral rather than merely impactful during the early months of 2012-13.
While there were plenty of forays into the final third, defenders twitching as he evaded them one way or another, there was also an intriguing level of street-wise guile to his play, and no little physicality, as LFC new-boy Kolo Toure will testify. Sterling showed against the Ivorian last August that he can hold the ball up and tussle with bigger, stronger opponents, and make smart choices rather than reach for the box of tricks every time.
He was catching the statistician's eye too, completing around 85 per cent of his passes in 24 matches, a fine effort for a winger and a better rate than Gareth Bale (78.5), Antonio Valencia (84.1), James Milner (77.4) and Theo Walcott (83.1), while his dribbling figures don't suffer by comparison with these more established wide men.
Moreover, while Sterling will continue to make his name as a winger and occasional front-man, he showed an unerring ability to drift in-field and dictate play when needed. A few experimental wanderings against Southampton were followed by a crucial relocation to the middle against West Ham at Upton Park, a breakthrough win for Rodgers' men last December.
With the Reds 2-1 down, Sterling moved in from the left and, undeterred by West Ham's busy, boisterous midfield, eventually linked the play that produced Joe Cole's equaliser, inspiring a comeback and the Reds' first back-to-back victories of the season. There was a sense that Rodgers' philosophy was beginning to become integrated among the squad at this point, and that the promise of some early performances was about to translate into results at the turn of the year. Sterling, by this time a full international and becoming the focus of many a 'Match of the Day' reel, signed a new contract and was close to indispensable.
This wasn't just a young kid coming off the bench to give the crowd a brief treat, but a player who arguably, alongside Luis Suarez, was keeping Liverpool's head above water while the club was adjusting to a period of rapid, wholesale change. Sterling had repaid the faith shown in him ahead of schedule, and Rodgers was left with a dilemma, less than six months into one of the most high-pressure jobs in football.
More experienced managers have stuck with their young stars in the face of the growing evidence of the infamous but genuine 'burnout' threat, so widely discussed in the English game at present. At 18, Jack Wilshere returned to Arsenal from a loan spell at Bolton, and with the London club desperate for silverware and to remain in the top four, he played 49 matches in all competitions and consequently, not a single match the following year. Question marks remained over his fitness, but he still played 25 league games last season, one more than Sterling.
While some may claim the young man 'went off the boil' in the new year, Sterling made 16 90-minute appearances before Christmas, and not a single one thereafter. Despite proving to be fearless against the best teams in the early weeks of the season, he was an unused substitute in games against Manchester City, Arsenal and Spurs in the spring, with the experience of Stewart Downing preferred.
He was drip-fed until March 31, and after coming on in the win at Villa Park, he was given the remainder of the season off to recover and nurse a niggling thigh injury. To the casual eye, his form may have dipped slightly, but in reality, this was a youngster approaching the limit, being treated with necessary care. He may have gone on to dazzle until May, but Rodgers was not going to allow one of his most promising players to hit the wall and learn a lesson to detrimental effect, like an increasing amount of young players have.
His de-selection was vindicated by a steady upturn in results, as January signings Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge added new dimensions at the sharp end, with the resurgent Jordan Henderson and Downing providing renewed depth in midfield and out wide. However, the biggest benefit could materialise in the coming years, when Sterling is able to progress unimpeded by injuries sustained by over-playing in his teenage years, while being conditioned mentally by a gradual exposure to the limelight of life as a top-flight English footballer.
With most of the attention being reserved for Zaha, Sterling, more experienced at the top level, is now a player who has had a taste of being a first-team regular at Liverpool, but also had to endure time on the sidelines to reflect and recuperate, before footballing fates could enforce that upon him. Rodgers, although desperate to prove himself as early as possible in the most unforgiving of roles, took these decisions in spite of the fact that Sterling had been one of the better players in a team striving for better results at that time.
There is always an element of luck needed in the development of every young player, no matter how talented. But by assessing the risks and standing up to the public pressures in a manner that not all top-class managers would have, Rodgers has selflessly given Liverpool's most gifted graduate of recent years an even stronger chance of becoming a Kop idol in those to come.
Midway through the second half, one of the most talented and exhilarating young footballers in the country times a run to perfection, breezes round the goalkeeper and nonchalantly tucks the ball home as if it was, and will be, an everyday occurrence.
Raheem Sterling is still a teenager, tremendously gifted, and Liverpool Football Club's for the long-term after signing a new contract last December. He's back with renewed hunger and a clean bill of health after an extended rest from his induction to the physical and psychological rigours of Barclays Premier League football. He is ready.
Permission to get preposterously and disproportionately over-excited? It's a bit late for that. Marquee signings provide a buzz, but there is an additional dose of pride when a special talent makes the breakthrough from the Academy to Melwood. We don't just marvel at his footballing promise, we deeply root for the lad too, which makes every progression a thrill.
While Sterling has been warming up for the new campaign with a goal at Preston, and another in Jakarta, most eyes seems to have been on another young English talent, Wilfried Zaha, who by all accounts has hit the ground running in pre-season for Manchester United.
Zaha's decision to represent England last year when he lined up alongside Sterling for their debuts, coupled with a £15 million move to the champions in January, came with a guarantee of unrivalled attention during what could be a pivotal season for his new club.
He may not have played a Premier League match in his life, but the comparisons will be to both the league and United's past and present elite, and conclusions relating to the size of his fee and the extent of the hype will be drawn and re-drawn each week.
Meanwhile, Sterling was not even the most talked-about young Englishman on the pitch at Preston, with Jordon Ibe rightly taking some plaudits, building on his strong showing against QPR in May with a crisp strike in the first half, and continuing to impress Reds fans thereafter during the overseas tour. The future looks bright.
However, the country-wide reaction, or lack of, to Sterling's latest displays of speed and skill matched the pleasantly serene nature of Liverpool's start to pre-season, when the goals flowed with ease at Deepdale despite inevitable rust, a few new faces and the absence of some experienced stars.
This is all no accident, and Brendan Rodgers must take a wealth of credit. It is easy to talk vaguely about good man-managers, or praise a coach for privately 'putting his arm round' a young player, but Rodgers made a series of brave calls last season regarding Sterling's selection, and all without the choice of disguising them from the closely watching media and fans.
These didn't just preserve Sterling's physical and mental wellbeing, but have since allowed him to operate under a seemingly decreasing intensity of external attention, particularly considering his nationality. We may all be about to witness some substantial benefits.
If Rodgers was brave for ushering Sterling into the limelight with a start against then-champions Manchester City for the first home game of last season, then the move to gradually withdraw him from the first team after Christmas showed gargantuan guts. Sterling may be a rookie who plays a high-risk game of adventurous dribbles, while quick feet caused him to spend much of his early matches being up-ended by men 10 years his senior, but he quickly became integral rather than merely impactful during the early months of 2012-13.
While there were plenty of forays into the final third, defenders twitching as he evaded them one way or another, there was also an intriguing level of street-wise guile to his play, and no little physicality, as LFC new-boy Kolo Toure will testify. Sterling showed against the Ivorian last August that he can hold the ball up and tussle with bigger, stronger opponents, and make smart choices rather than reach for the box of tricks every time.
He was catching the statistician's eye too, completing around 85 per cent of his passes in 24 matches, a fine effort for a winger and a better rate than Gareth Bale (78.5), Antonio Valencia (84.1), James Milner (77.4) and Theo Walcott (83.1), while his dribbling figures don't suffer by comparison with these more established wide men.
Moreover, while Sterling will continue to make his name as a winger and occasional front-man, he showed an unerring ability to drift in-field and dictate play when needed. A few experimental wanderings against Southampton were followed by a crucial relocation to the middle against West Ham at Upton Park, a breakthrough win for Rodgers' men last December.
With the Reds 2-1 down, Sterling moved in from the left and, undeterred by West Ham's busy, boisterous midfield, eventually linked the play that produced Joe Cole's equaliser, inspiring a comeback and the Reds' first back-to-back victories of the season. There was a sense that Rodgers' philosophy was beginning to become integrated among the squad at this point, and that the promise of some early performances was about to translate into results at the turn of the year. Sterling, by this time a full international and becoming the focus of many a 'Match of the Day' reel, signed a new contract and was close to indispensable.
This wasn't just a young kid coming off the bench to give the crowd a brief treat, but a player who arguably, alongside Luis Suarez, was keeping Liverpool's head above water while the club was adjusting to a period of rapid, wholesale change. Sterling had repaid the faith shown in him ahead of schedule, and Rodgers was left with a dilemma, less than six months into one of the most high-pressure jobs in football.
More experienced managers have stuck with their young stars in the face of the growing evidence of the infamous but genuine 'burnout' threat, so widely discussed in the English game at present. At 18, Jack Wilshere returned to Arsenal from a loan spell at Bolton, and with the London club desperate for silverware and to remain in the top four, he played 49 matches in all competitions and consequently, not a single match the following year. Question marks remained over his fitness, but he still played 25 league games last season, one more than Sterling.
While some may claim the young man 'went off the boil' in the new year, Sterling made 16 90-minute appearances before Christmas, and not a single one thereafter. Despite proving to be fearless against the best teams in the early weeks of the season, he was an unused substitute in games against Manchester City, Arsenal and Spurs in the spring, with the experience of Stewart Downing preferred.
He was drip-fed until March 31, and after coming on in the win at Villa Park, he was given the remainder of the season off to recover and nurse a niggling thigh injury. To the casual eye, his form may have dipped slightly, but in reality, this was a youngster approaching the limit, being treated with necessary care. He may have gone on to dazzle until May, but Rodgers was not going to allow one of his most promising players to hit the wall and learn a lesson to detrimental effect, like an increasing amount of young players have.
His de-selection was vindicated by a steady upturn in results, as January signings Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge added new dimensions at the sharp end, with the resurgent Jordan Henderson and Downing providing renewed depth in midfield and out wide. However, the biggest benefit could materialise in the coming years, when Sterling is able to progress unimpeded by injuries sustained by over-playing in his teenage years, while being conditioned mentally by a gradual exposure to the limelight of life as a top-flight English footballer.
With most of the attention being reserved for Zaha, Sterling, more experienced at the top level, is now a player who has had a taste of being a first-team regular at Liverpool, but also had to endure time on the sidelines to reflect and recuperate, before footballing fates could enforce that upon him. Rodgers, although desperate to prove himself as early as possible in the most unforgiving of roles, took these decisions in spite of the fact that Sterling had been one of the better players in a team striving for better results at that time.
There is always an element of luck needed in the development of every young player, no matter how talented. But by assessing the risks and standing up to the public pressures in a manner that not all top-class managers would have, Rodgers has selflessly given Liverpool's most gifted graduate of recent years an even stronger chance of becoming a Kop idol in those to come.
Saturday, 27 April 2013
Oh The Memories : Recent St James' Park Trips Encapsulate Liverpool's Demise
When we think of Liverpool and Newcastle United in the Premier League era, we are often drawn to the back-to-back seven-goal matches at Anfield in the mid-90s, of Collymore closing in, Bjorn Tore Kvarme poking the ball through David James' legs, and of Fowler towering above Philippe Albert. Plenty more remarkable has happened besides; Michael Owen's hatrick at St James' Park, David Thompson inspiring a second-half comeback in 1998, Jamie Redknapp scoring a header in 2000, and Xabi Alonso's 50-yarder in 2006.
However, just as those epic matches of crackers and chaos optimised the free-spirited side of the Roy Evans years, the most recent meetings of the teams in the north east serve as perhaps the most hard-hitting reminder of what has happened to the Reds over the past three seasons.
In December 2008, Liverpool visited Newcastle for the final match of a calendar year which would yield 78 points and just three defeats from 38 games. They travelled to St James' having lost just one league match in the first half of the season, a woodwork-ridden defeat to Spurs after arguably one of our best performances. There was no Fernando Torres, who'd only appeared sporadically since pulling a hamstring at Aston Villa at the end of August, and yet the Reds went into the game top of the league and confident of another three points, a mark contrast to the current mindset whereby the loss of any key player would leave most fans preparing for the worst.
Liverpool started the game well on top against a Toon who were battling relegation but found Shay Given in inspired form in the opening half an hour, as the Irishman kept out everything we could throw at him. Sounds familiar? Liverpool fans have bemoaned the man-of-the-match performances of goalkeepers, particularly at Anfield in recent seasons, and if there is no early goal, there is unlikely to be any goal. Even against West Bromwich Albion recently, when Liverpool dominated the match for 75 minutes, a failure to score in the first ten made it inevitable that the visitors would score with their first meaningful attack.
But this was a different Liverpool, the closest the club had come to re-manufacturing the well-oiled machines of the 70s, that would churn results out week after week, with performance levels of themselves or the opposition, the amount of luck forthcoming and the size of the injury list all completely irrelevant. Dirk Kuyt moved in from the right to replace Torres, while an ageing Hyypia, a young Insua, an erratic Babel, the reliable Benayoun and a raw Lucas Leiva filled other positions where others were injured or resting.
The 30 minutes of spectacular saves and last ditch defending didn't suck the wind out of the Reds' sails like it would today. It merely served to reinforce the confidence installed in them by Rafa Benitez that their game-plan was full-proof as long as the players, any players, did their jobs. Eventually, as it so often did during the 08-09 season, whether in the first or last minute, it transpired into goals. Javier Mascherano split the defence to allow Benayoun to set up Steven Gerrard, who crashed a shot past Given to open the scoring.
Gerrard had already been ten-years a star in Liverpool's midfield, a European Cup winning captain and scorer of one of the greatest cup final goals of all time, but this was as good a performance as he'd give in a season where he'd win his second Football Writers' Award. This was the culmination of five years' work under Benitez, turning him from the all-action, running, kicking and screaming box-to-box midfielder, into a ruthlessly efficient scorer and provider of goals - he'd gone from being the box office player with the big drive, to a true match-player capable of majors.
Sami Hyypia, in what was his last season for the club, headed the second six minutes later before Newcastle pinched a surprise goal from their own set-piece just before half-time. Again, if today's first half follows a similar pattern, we'll all be piling our pounds on a barcode scoring the next goal, and the next, and the next. Liverpool simply went out for the second half determined to cover-up the embarrassment of conceding a goal to Joe Kinnear's shower, and scored three more times, and passed Newcastle into submission. Babel pounced on 50 minutes to re-establish the gulf between the sides, before Gerrard raced onto Lucas' finest pass to date and chipped Given with arrogant ease. Xabi Alonso, currently one of the world's greats, was only good enough for a place on the bench that day, and the Spaniard struck a late penalty to complete the scoring.
The result put Liverpool three points clear of Chelsea after the Blues dropped points at Fulham, and a whopping ten points clear of Manchester United, who would somehow come back to win the league and ruin everything, though the disappointment in not winning a title that was in the bag at Christmas couldn't hide the progress being made under Benitez. Newcastle United were relegated.
The Toon bounced back quickly, winning the Championship at the first time of asking with the drive of Joey Barton and a useful lump up front in Andy Carroll. Liverpool, meanwhile, began a rampant collapse on and off the field, and when the teams met next on Tyneside in 2010, Roy Hodgson was Liverpool manager.
The midfield space once occupied by Mascherano and Alonso was now being over-run by Barton and Kevin Nolan, who both scored, with Carroll blasting a late third that his performance deserved, sending the media into hysteria over the English Drogba, and Liverpool towards a relegation battle. The following season, with Liverpool £35 million lighter for the acquisition of Carroll, Newcastle cruised to a routine 2-0 win, the Reds' eighth league defeat in three months, and a seventh in eight games, with goals from Cisse, Carroll's replacement at a third of the price. Newcastle moved 11 points clear of Liverpool in the Premier League table after 31 matches, with the Reds looking over their shoulders at the closing Sunderland, Fulham, Swansea and Norwich.
And so we move to today's fixture, one that fills me with dread since Newcastle need the points to move away from another relegation scrap, against a Liverpool team with precious more than pride to play for, something which seems to matter very little to the club these days. Without Luis Suarez, at least Liverpool can ensure that it is likely to be the football that dominates the headlines after the match - though that may not necessarily provide much solace, with Newcastle's powerful Francophone front-line likely to cause our mis-shapen defence plenty of problems. Liverpool's only hope is that the Daniel Sturridge who looked a phenomenon for 45 minutes on Sunday, leads an attack that proves our only form of defence, and temporarily buries the reality that memories of December 2008 bring back.
However, just as those epic matches of crackers and chaos optimised the free-spirited side of the Roy Evans years, the most recent meetings of the teams in the north east serve as perhaps the most hard-hitting reminder of what has happened to the Reds over the past three seasons.
In December 2008, Liverpool visited Newcastle for the final match of a calendar year which would yield 78 points and just three defeats from 38 games. They travelled to St James' having lost just one league match in the first half of the season, a woodwork-ridden defeat to Spurs after arguably one of our best performances. There was no Fernando Torres, who'd only appeared sporadically since pulling a hamstring at Aston Villa at the end of August, and yet the Reds went into the game top of the league and confident of another three points, a mark contrast to the current mindset whereby the loss of any key player would leave most fans preparing for the worst.
Liverpool started the game well on top against a Toon who were battling relegation but found Shay Given in inspired form in the opening half an hour, as the Irishman kept out everything we could throw at him. Sounds familiar? Liverpool fans have bemoaned the man-of-the-match performances of goalkeepers, particularly at Anfield in recent seasons, and if there is no early goal, there is unlikely to be any goal. Even against West Bromwich Albion recently, when Liverpool dominated the match for 75 minutes, a failure to score in the first ten made it inevitable that the visitors would score with their first meaningful attack.
But this was a different Liverpool, the closest the club had come to re-manufacturing the well-oiled machines of the 70s, that would churn results out week after week, with performance levels of themselves or the opposition, the amount of luck forthcoming and the size of the injury list all completely irrelevant. Dirk Kuyt moved in from the right to replace Torres, while an ageing Hyypia, a young Insua, an erratic Babel, the reliable Benayoun and a raw Lucas Leiva filled other positions where others were injured or resting.
The 30 minutes of spectacular saves and last ditch defending didn't suck the wind out of the Reds' sails like it would today. It merely served to reinforce the confidence installed in them by Rafa Benitez that their game-plan was full-proof as long as the players, any players, did their jobs. Eventually, as it so often did during the 08-09 season, whether in the first or last minute, it transpired into goals. Javier Mascherano split the defence to allow Benayoun to set up Steven Gerrard, who crashed a shot past Given to open the scoring.
Gerrard had already been ten-years a star in Liverpool's midfield, a European Cup winning captain and scorer of one of the greatest cup final goals of all time, but this was as good a performance as he'd give in a season where he'd win his second Football Writers' Award. This was the culmination of five years' work under Benitez, turning him from the all-action, running, kicking and screaming box-to-box midfielder, into a ruthlessly efficient scorer and provider of goals - he'd gone from being the box office player with the big drive, to a true match-player capable of majors.
Sami Hyypia, in what was his last season for the club, headed the second six minutes later before Newcastle pinched a surprise goal from their own set-piece just before half-time. Again, if today's first half follows a similar pattern, we'll all be piling our pounds on a barcode scoring the next goal, and the next, and the next. Liverpool simply went out for the second half determined to cover-up the embarrassment of conceding a goal to Joe Kinnear's shower, and scored three more times, and passed Newcastle into submission. Babel pounced on 50 minutes to re-establish the gulf between the sides, before Gerrard raced onto Lucas' finest pass to date and chipped Given with arrogant ease. Xabi Alonso, currently one of the world's greats, was only good enough for a place on the bench that day, and the Spaniard struck a late penalty to complete the scoring.
The result put Liverpool three points clear of Chelsea after the Blues dropped points at Fulham, and a whopping ten points clear of Manchester United, who would somehow come back to win the league and ruin everything, though the disappointment in not winning a title that was in the bag at Christmas couldn't hide the progress being made under Benitez. Newcastle United were relegated.
The Toon bounced back quickly, winning the Championship at the first time of asking with the drive of Joey Barton and a useful lump up front in Andy Carroll. Liverpool, meanwhile, began a rampant collapse on and off the field, and when the teams met next on Tyneside in 2010, Roy Hodgson was Liverpool manager.
The midfield space once occupied by Mascherano and Alonso was now being over-run by Barton and Kevin Nolan, who both scored, with Carroll blasting a late third that his performance deserved, sending the media into hysteria over the English Drogba, and Liverpool towards a relegation battle. The following season, with Liverpool £35 million lighter for the acquisition of Carroll, Newcastle cruised to a routine 2-0 win, the Reds' eighth league defeat in three months, and a seventh in eight games, with goals from Cisse, Carroll's replacement at a third of the price. Newcastle moved 11 points clear of Liverpool in the Premier League table after 31 matches, with the Reds looking over their shoulders at the closing Sunderland, Fulham, Swansea and Norwich.
And so we move to today's fixture, one that fills me with dread since Newcastle need the points to move away from another relegation scrap, against a Liverpool team with precious more than pride to play for, something which seems to matter very little to the club these days. Without Luis Suarez, at least Liverpool can ensure that it is likely to be the football that dominates the headlines after the match - though that may not necessarily provide much solace, with Newcastle's powerful Francophone front-line likely to cause our mis-shapen defence plenty of problems. Liverpool's only hope is that the Daniel Sturridge who looked a phenomenon for 45 minutes on Sunday, leads an attack that proves our only form of defence, and temporarily buries the reality that memories of December 2008 bring back.
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Prospect of Famous European Night is No Last Resort
Liverpool's Europa League second-leg tie against Zenit St Petersburg will be widely identified as Brendan Rodgers' final attempt to cling to the wreckage that is his first season at the club, and his starting selection, which will include Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez, will be seen as evidence of this. According to most outside the club, Europe's secondary club competition was supposed to be the opportunity to rest the stars, upon which our thin squad over-rely upon, so that they can lead the race for the be-all and end-all fourth place finish in the league. When Rodgers selects those stars for Thursday's match, it will be seen as one last desperate attempt for him to avoid speculation over his future when Liverpool finish outside that top-four in May.
This is all based on one of the most common misconceptions emanating from Liverpool supporters and reinforced in the wider media, that Kenny Dalglish was sacked by FSG at the end of last season purely for a failure to secure fourth place in the Premier League. The narrative was clear from the outset, that FSG viewed cup success - in Liverpool's case, one trophy and another narrow final defeat - as irrelevant, and that the criteria for any manager is reaching the Champions League, and immediately.
Consider this: FSG may not be experienced football men, but they are heavily experienced in sport, and for all their attention to statistical detail that comes with their 'Moneyball' reputation, they will be more than aware that football, like any sport, is often utter, uncontrollable chaos. They would not have based their decision on who should take this team forward for the next decade on a particular finishing position in one season, on a single point, a disallowed goal, a huge deflection or a missed penalty. Certainly not eighteen months after the club sat just above the relegation zone. Likewise the cups were not disregarded because of a perceived worth - football, like baseball or any other sport, is about the glory - but because the next ten years of progress could not be based on the result of a penalty shootout against a Championship club. Moreover, FSG aren't interested in emulating the likes of Spurs in scraping a fourth place and securing one memorable tie, take the cash and the thrashing and disappear back into the Thursday league. The aim is to be competing consistently for the major titles over the long-term, something no one has achieved at Lfc for 23 years.
The reality is had Liverpool been good enough last season to get closer to fourth, then Kenny may still be in a job, though that is far from certain, while its not a forgone conclusion that a finish outside the top-four meant an automatic sacking, regardless of what happened in the cups. Kenny was drafted in as an emergency, short-term option, with the brief to steady the ship that Hodgson seemed intent on sinking without a trace, and he fulfilled that brief without ever signing a long-term contract. FSG then took the decision, based on an 18-month assessment rather than the knee-jerk reactions most owners are derided for, that Kenny was not the right man to take the club forward. Whether or not we agree, and however much it hurts to lose a club hero, it was still a brave decision that not many owners would dare take. Even Roman Abramovich didn't have the stones to ignore Roberto Di Matteo's claim after Chelsea's remarkable European Cup run, knowing full well he'd sack him at the first opportunity the following season.
Its for similar reasons that Brendan Rodgers is not required to get fourth place this year in order to keep his job, and nor is he necessarily obliged to deliver a compensatory trophy now that the always-unlikely Champions League qualification is all but impossible. What the owners want to see is progress on the field and evidence off it that a foundation is being built for the future, so that the money they invest is not only spent on the right players, but that they arrive into the right environment to ensure everyone benefits to the tune of better results. The chaotic on and off-field events of 2011-2012 were far from convincing in that regard.
This is why, as I've previously alluded to, they didn't throw large amounts of money at Rodgers during his first summer transfer window. If the level of investment was always the key (net spends are the new yardstick for most fans), then what's the point in changing the coach at all? They wanted to see proof in the pudding, that Rodgers could take a largely inherited squad, and show that he could begin rebuilding it, developing and adding value to players who were grossly under-performing for Kenny, while establishing his methods. FSG made a commendable decision to allow a young, talented British manager without a proven track-record to take the reigns at one of the biggest clubs in the world, and rightly requested that they see him deliver a form of progression, evidence that he could walk the walk, before they reinvest the sort of sums that were thrown at Comoli and Dalglish. They responded in January with a significant backing of their manager in the transfer market.
It is also why the visit of Zenit is as big as any match Liverpool have played this season, and this would be the case whether we are five or 25 points behind fourth place. While the squad has understandably been rotated in order to give youngsters experience and fringe players a chance to impress, the likes of Gerrard and Suarez have played in all three cup competitions this season and a near full strength team was selected for the first-leg in Russia last week, three days either side of league matches. That Liverpool had all their eggs in the Champions League basket was a myth, and progress is not being judged purely on the results of league matches.
Rodgers will pick his strongest available side against Zenit again on Thursday as Lfc look to keep their European campaign running, but this won't be a desperate abandoning of a selection policy in order to keep a season alive. The gradual developments of Jose Enrique, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson, for which the manager should take huge credit, the return to fitness of Lucas and the signings of cup-tied Coutinho and Sturridge, have given flexibility to Rodgers' selections. The previously over-played Sterling, Shelvey, Allen and Suso have been able to rest and work on their evolving games, and as the Europa League reaches its more rewarding stages, both financially and in a footballing sense, the manager is able to pick a more ideal eleven for every game, regardless of how they are prioritised by those looking on.
Ultimately, the Zenit match is the most important of the season because it is the biggest test of character yet for a squad which has shown a bewildering inconsistency between the ears this season, as well as Rodgers' first big European night at Anfield, his first chance to truly etch his name into our history books. It has nothing to do with the context of the race for fourth place or the security of Rodgers' job, or whether or not the Europa League is important or not in the eyes of the owners. It is about this team showing they are ready to move forward, with an opportunity placed in front of them that should be regarded with relish rather than fear. As such, the coach will be keen to remind his players that this isn't about rescuing a season in one night, but about showing that the sharp pain of losses in between promising performances will be worth it in the long run.
This is all based on one of the most common misconceptions emanating from Liverpool supporters and reinforced in the wider media, that Kenny Dalglish was sacked by FSG at the end of last season purely for a failure to secure fourth place in the Premier League. The narrative was clear from the outset, that FSG viewed cup success - in Liverpool's case, one trophy and another narrow final defeat - as irrelevant, and that the criteria for any manager is reaching the Champions League, and immediately.
Consider this: FSG may not be experienced football men, but they are heavily experienced in sport, and for all their attention to statistical detail that comes with their 'Moneyball' reputation, they will be more than aware that football, like any sport, is often utter, uncontrollable chaos. They would not have based their decision on who should take this team forward for the next decade on a particular finishing position in one season, on a single point, a disallowed goal, a huge deflection or a missed penalty. Certainly not eighteen months after the club sat just above the relegation zone. Likewise the cups were not disregarded because of a perceived worth - football, like baseball or any other sport, is about the glory - but because the next ten years of progress could not be based on the result of a penalty shootout against a Championship club. Moreover, FSG aren't interested in emulating the likes of Spurs in scraping a fourth place and securing one memorable tie, take the cash and the thrashing and disappear back into the Thursday league. The aim is to be competing consistently for the major titles over the long-term, something no one has achieved at Lfc for 23 years.
The reality is had Liverpool been good enough last season to get closer to fourth, then Kenny may still be in a job, though that is far from certain, while its not a forgone conclusion that a finish outside the top-four meant an automatic sacking, regardless of what happened in the cups. Kenny was drafted in as an emergency, short-term option, with the brief to steady the ship that Hodgson seemed intent on sinking without a trace, and he fulfilled that brief without ever signing a long-term contract. FSG then took the decision, based on an 18-month assessment rather than the knee-jerk reactions most owners are derided for, that Kenny was not the right man to take the club forward. Whether or not we agree, and however much it hurts to lose a club hero, it was still a brave decision that not many owners would dare take. Even Roman Abramovich didn't have the stones to ignore Roberto Di Matteo's claim after Chelsea's remarkable European Cup run, knowing full well he'd sack him at the first opportunity the following season.
Its for similar reasons that Brendan Rodgers is not required to get fourth place this year in order to keep his job, and nor is he necessarily obliged to deliver a compensatory trophy now that the always-unlikely Champions League qualification is all but impossible. What the owners want to see is progress on the field and evidence off it that a foundation is being built for the future, so that the money they invest is not only spent on the right players, but that they arrive into the right environment to ensure everyone benefits to the tune of better results. The chaotic on and off-field events of 2011-2012 were far from convincing in that regard.
This is why, as I've previously alluded to, they didn't throw large amounts of money at Rodgers during his first summer transfer window. If the level of investment was always the key (net spends are the new yardstick for most fans), then what's the point in changing the coach at all? They wanted to see proof in the pudding, that Rodgers could take a largely inherited squad, and show that he could begin rebuilding it, developing and adding value to players who were grossly under-performing for Kenny, while establishing his methods. FSG made a commendable decision to allow a young, talented British manager without a proven track-record to take the reigns at one of the biggest clubs in the world, and rightly requested that they see him deliver a form of progression, evidence that he could walk the walk, before they reinvest the sort of sums that were thrown at Comoli and Dalglish. They responded in January with a significant backing of their manager in the transfer market.
It is also why the visit of Zenit is as big as any match Liverpool have played this season, and this would be the case whether we are five or 25 points behind fourth place. While the squad has understandably been rotated in order to give youngsters experience and fringe players a chance to impress, the likes of Gerrard and Suarez have played in all three cup competitions this season and a near full strength team was selected for the first-leg in Russia last week, three days either side of league matches. That Liverpool had all their eggs in the Champions League basket was a myth, and progress is not being judged purely on the results of league matches.
Rodgers will pick his strongest available side against Zenit again on Thursday as Lfc look to keep their European campaign running, but this won't be a desperate abandoning of a selection policy in order to keep a season alive. The gradual developments of Jose Enrique, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson, for which the manager should take huge credit, the return to fitness of Lucas and the signings of cup-tied Coutinho and Sturridge, have given flexibility to Rodgers' selections. The previously over-played Sterling, Shelvey, Allen and Suso have been able to rest and work on their evolving games, and as the Europa League reaches its more rewarding stages, both financially and in a footballing sense, the manager is able to pick a more ideal eleven for every game, regardless of how they are prioritised by those looking on.
Ultimately, the Zenit match is the most important of the season because it is the biggest test of character yet for a squad which has shown a bewildering inconsistency between the ears this season, as well as Rodgers' first big European night at Anfield, his first chance to truly etch his name into our history books. It has nothing to do with the context of the race for fourth place or the security of Rodgers' job, or whether or not the Europa League is important or not in the eyes of the owners. It is about this team showing they are ready to move forward, with an opportunity placed in front of them that should be regarded with relish rather than fear. As such, the coach will be keen to remind his players that this isn't about rescuing a season in one night, but about showing that the sharp pain of losses in between promising performances will be worth it in the long run.
Saturday, 12 January 2013
Sahin as a Non-Starter was a Non-Starter
In the days following Liverpool's 0-3 thrashing at the Hawthorns on the opening day of the Premier League season, I suffered something of a psychological crisis.
"Philosophy. Philosophy? Fil....oss...offy... ... ... philosophy?" Is it a real word? It didn't sound real anymore. Not even in a pensive Northern Irish accent. I began to panic. Was I ill? I was trying to make sense of it all, so I googled 'Rodgers' philosophy' and it returned with 5.1 million results. Crisis temporarily averted.
After 11 weeks of being battered to within an inch of my sanity by the 'p' word, Brendan Rodgers completed a signing that seemed a perfect match for his much trumpeted ph...way of playing. If Joe Allen had followed his Swansea manager to Anfield in order to help us 'rest with the ball' then the month-long scrap with Arsenal for the temporary signing of Nuri Sahin was designed to ensure Liverpool's opponents would never sleep.
There were few concerns over the Turkish midfielder's inability to hold down a regular place at Real Madrid, as if you're going to be second in the quarterback pecking order, you may as well be behind the world's best in that position, Xabi Alonso, at the peak of his powers. And it was with the Spaniard in mind that Liverpool fans reacted so positively to Sahin's arrival, finally filling the void left by a player who could provide the ideal balance between function and finesse, and that final 'pass before the pass' that Gerrard and Torres fed off so frighteningly in 08-09.
Such is Sahin's talent, and with Alonso's contractual situation in Madrid uncertain, Jose Mourinho was never willing to entertain a permanent deal, and yet five months and 12 games later, he's had his loan spell cut short by a club who've yet to beat a team in the top half of of the weakest Premier League division in a decade.
And Liverpool, for once, got it absolutely spot on.
For Sahin to be a Liverpool player on a permanent basis, the team would need such a stunning season that it would make us the preferred destination to working with Mourinho and Ronaldo at the La Liga champions, while Sahin's own impressive performances would only drive the fee up and attract more Champions League suitors in any case. It was hard to imagine this would be anything other than a fleeting visit, to be enjoyed while we could. Sahin's impact had to be instant and sustained over the season, for him to be worth the temporary outlay on considerable wages, on top of the initial loan fee. If all things went well and Sahin could help elevate the club to match his own expectations, to the point where he'd demand a long-term move, then that'd be a terrific, if unlikely bonus.
This wasn't a player Rodgers had brought in to develop, in the way he yesterday suggested to the media that made him the standout candidate for the Liverpool job in June. He claims to have given "added value" to players such as Henderson, Downing and Enrique, though it wasn't completely clear whether he meant that as a footballing or financial one. Sahin's value over the course of his loan deal would be judged in Liverpool's final position in May, and nothing more. But by January. Liverpool had no choice but to cut short the deal, to the disappointment of many who see him as a rare spark of genuine class within our thin squad.
For all the emphasis on an aesthetically pleasing style of play there is no room for luxury in a Rodgers setup. Sahin may have been earmarked as a creator supreme, but he would still have to adapt to a scientific approach in the three-man midfield, requiring the flexibility to help the team keep the ball higher up the pitch. He should be a cog in the machine rather than its focal point from deep, a role which Rodgers preferred Allen to fill in the absence of Lucas, providing defensive protection and simple, slick, high-percentage distribution.
Its obscenely simple to suggest Sahin failed to adapt to English football, as will doubtlessly be the narrative in the English press. Rather, and more surprisingly, he failed to adapt to Rodgers' style with the immediacy he had expected and as such, was worthless to the club by January. With Lucas, a more studious, suitable holding player, regaining full fitness gradually, and with the experienced Gerrard showing class is permanent, Sahin had not been able to find his niche as Liverpool's roving, reliable talent, to the extent that Rodgers has compromised the fitness of his favourite, Allen, over the past three months. Jonjo Shelvey has had more games than expected too, while when Liverpool needed additional industry in midfield at West Ham, Raheem Sterling proved more than capable coming in-field from the wing, dovetailing with the makeshift striker when carving out Joe Cole's equaliser.
Shelvey is far from the finished product, and his long-term future at the club is not certain, with the next five months likely to tell Rodgers whether or not he will consider cashing in come the summer. But it is not worth compromising the development of a player who has a value under a permanent contract, with one that hasn't, if the latter isn't going to deliver consistently excellent performances in any position which he is selected. Sahin had not found a way to become indispensable, and while progress is undoubtedly being made in a less tangible way than points, Sahin would have to be last in, first out, despite being a potential match winner on any given day.
A broken nose at Udinese didn't help, but by that stage Rodgers would've been hoping to rest the Turk on Europa League Thursdays, from dominating Premier League midfields at weekends. A series of struggles in autumn did for Sahin, perhaps understandably in the unique Merseyside Derby environment, but tellingly amongst Roberto Di Matteo's buffet-style midfield at Stamford Bridge, where the Mata-Oscar-Hazard dream-team left gaps for Sahin to help himself. Visibly aching to receive the ball from a centre back, observe the spaces and experiment with his passing range, Sahin suffered with his back to goal over the half way line in particular, where there wasn't the opportunity to roll the ball out to his left hand side and play expansively, with strict demands on him to ensure the team were able to control the game in their opponent's half.
By the time he hinted that he wasn't willing to adapt to the subtle nuances of a midfield role under Rodgers, the decision had already been made - and it was likely that his lack of motivation had already translated in his day-to-day work earlier in the spell. But his complaints only further justified the club's decision to cut short what was a correct, calculated gamble, and an equally correct early dismissal.
The odds are heavily stacked in favour of Sahin having a great career at the top level, and he will almost certainly slot seamlessly back into the Bundesliga, and into Klopp's delightful Dortmund team. But any suggestions Liverpool wasted his talent, or would've regretted letting him go early, will be wide of the mark. Liverpool's recent track record in transfer windows may make them easy pickings, but by following the signing of Sturridge with this brave decision to send Sahin home early, Rodgers and FSG are going some way to showing they are learning from mistakes, and adding a ruthless streak to our dealings that was badly lacking in previous years.
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