Hi! I'm new here, and knowing what I'm like I'll either blog everyday or this will be my last time. My name's Isaac, I'm 20 and I've always loved sports.
I'm a passionate Liverpool fan and thought that I would make my first blog about the club in 'turmoil'.
Liverpool are, as of Sunday, on their worst run since 1954, but I don't believe that Kenny Dalglish is to blame, as many of the news outlets would have you believe. Many of the same news papers, etc, are also claiming that Kenny's record is now worse than that of Woy Hodgson, which isn't the case. Dalglish's winning rate is 47.69%, in comparison to 41.94% for Woy.
Whilst I am disappointed with the recent slump I can also see why it is happening, firstly there are the injuries of key players, then there is the large amount of transfers, and the large tags that were put on the players heads and finally, and possibly more controversially, is what the board are looking for.
Injuries
For a long part of the season Liverpool had the best defence in the league, this was largely due to the consistency of having the same back four and the good understanding between Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger. This partnership moved Jamie Carragher to the bench, which I believed was the right choice due to his declining form and lack of speed. Since Agger's injury Carragher has come back into the team and old frailties have been shown again. The injuries to Glen Johnson and also Martin Kelly have also meant the young Jon Flanagan playing at right back, who is a good young player but at times he shows his lack of experience.
The injury to Lucas was a big one because it meant that the midfield was no longer balanced, having only signed more attacking midfield players in the summer the Liverpool defence was now at more risk from opposition attacks. Lucas was successful in 76.47% of tackles before he was ruled out for the season.
Transfers
In the summer Liverpool signed seven players, plus Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez in January. A lot of these players were signed for inflated prices due to them being young(ish) and British. The £20 million placed on the heads of Stuart Downing and Jordan Henderson just increased expectation, when in reality Downing has always been relatively average and Henderson in a future prospect. £35 million for Andy Carroll was an extortionate amount of money, and the very definition of why you shouldn't do business in January.
Carroll, who I believe has the potential to be a very good striker, had a huge price put on his head after a good season in the Championship and a half decent half season in the Premiership. In my opinion he should be loaned out, but I'll save that until a later entry.
The lack of gelling between the new signings and existing players has been a real concern for me, other than Jose Enrique, the players haven't seemed to fit into the squad.
The Board's Policy
When the new owners took over they said something along the lines of signing young players would be their priority. Whilst this has the potential to be excellent for the clubs future it has little impact in the present. This means that you have to wait for results, unlike clubs like Manchester City and PSG who are currently buying, or attempting to buy, them.
This strategy means that the clubs supporters need to be more patient and the reward will be a long spell of success once all the players have reached their full maturity. I, personally, am looking forward to this. Personally, I think that a lot of our players will shine next season, and with some additional investment we should definitely be in Champions League contention.
Thank you for reading, I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.
