2012/2013 Season
Review:
The
season began with another managerial change, with former Swansea manager
Brendan Rodgers taking the helm. With him, he brought young Welsh talent Joe
Allen, along with the signing of Fabio Borini from Roma. The first
controversial issue of his tenure was his decision to allow Andy Carroll go out
on loan to West Ham, despite the fact that Liverpool were running perilously
low on strikers. This forced Luis Suarez into a sole striker role, pushing him
further into the spotlight. A role he took on, in both positive and negative
ways.
For
Liverpool, the season began in the worst possible way, with a heavy defeat away
at West Brom. A more heartening result against Manchester City followed, where
the Reds dominated but an error from Martin Skrtel handed City a 2-2 draw.
These performances seemed few and far between, with a narrow aggregate victory
over Hearts in the Europa League before defeats in the Premier League to both
Arsenal and fierce rivals Man Utd. Whilst their performance against United
merited more, Brendan Rodgers passing philosophy began to be called into
question, with pundits claiming that it was taking a long time for the
Liverpool players to adjust to the new system. Rodgers got his first league win
as Liverpool boss in an emphatic 5-2 win at Carrow Road, where Luis Suarez
claimed his second hat-trick in as many years.
October
was a month of frustration for the Liverpool fans. A tough Europa League group
saw one win and one loss, more struggles in the league, with only 1 win in 3,
and a disappointing home exit of the Capital One Cup at the hands of Swansea.
November continued in a similar vein, with further toil in the Europa League,
dropping a further 5 points. Liverpool’s league form began to steadily improve,
mostly thanks to the performances of Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan was having his
most successful season so far, adding finishing to his trickery, speed and
vision, and therefore chipping in with vital goals. Nevertheless, controversy
was never far from him. Brendan Rodgers found himself having to regularly defend
Luis Suarez against accusations of diving, and was eventually undermined by
Suarez himself, after he admitted in an interview to diving in a game against
Stoke.
As Brendan
Rodgers philosophy began to take effect, Liverpool’s form began to improve.
December saw 5 wins out of 7 in all competitions for Liverpool, before Rodgers
dipped into the January transfer fund to buy more attacking players. Chelsea’s
Daniel Sturridge and Inter Milan’s Phillippe Coutinho were brought in, and
seemed to make an instant impact. Another defeat against Manchester United, and
a poor exit of the FA Cup to League 1 side Oldham marred what otherwise would
have been considered a successful month. A further disappointing exit to Zenit
St Petersburg in the Europa League Last 32 put paid to Liverpool’s chances of
silverware, leaving them to focus solely on securing European football for the
following year.
Liverpool’s
claim for a Europa League place, and even the final Champions League place was
strengthened with a narrow 3-2 victory over Spurs at Anfield in mid-March,
however their chances were dealt a fatal blow in the following game. A disappointing
3-1 defeat at St. Mary’s put Champions League football out of reach, giving
them only pride to play for, attempting to usurp Everton as the top
Liverpudlian side. Liverpool responded well to that setback, going the rest of
the season unbeaten (8 games). Unfortunately for Liverpool, they drew 4 of
these, including the Merseyside derby, thus failing to gain significantly on
Everton, and finishing in 6th place.
During
this run, possibly the most controversial issue of the season occurred. During
the 2-2 draw against Chelsea, Liverpool talisman Luis Suarez was involved in an
altercation with Branislav Ivanovic, where he appeared to bite the Chelsea
defender. Suarez’s actions were subsequently condemned by pundits, officials
and the club itself, and he offered a hasty apology to the FA and Ivanovic.
Nevertheless, this did not prevent the FA handing out an 8 match ban for the
Uruguayan, which ruled him out of the rest of the season. A ban that the player
and the club found incredibly harsh, and a decision they considered contesting,
which would arguably have undermined their condemnation of Suarez’s actions.
Overall,
Brendan Rodgers first season as Liverpool manager should be considered successful.
He certainly has done no worse than Kenny Dalglish, and he has instilled a new
style of football which shows much promise. Unfortunately, this season will be
remembered more for the misdemeanours of Luis Suarez than the positive play.
Player of the Season:
Luis Suarez – Despite his problems, the Uruguayan has been a delight to
watch at times this season. Love him or loathe him, he does have prodigious
talent, and coming runner up in the Golden Boot, in a 6th placed
team, and without playing the final five games of the season, is impressive.
Game of the Season: Norwich
City 2-5 Liverpool – Instead of pointing to Liverpool’s 6-0 demolition of
Newcastle, where the home side simply failed to turn up, I feel that the
emphatic win over Norwich shows the positives of Liverpool’s game. 4-0 up
inside of 57 minutes, with a Suarez hat-trick, Liverpool were rampant, and
despite a rousing comeback from the home side, Liverpool eased to a 5-2 victory
to give Brendan Rodgers his first Liverpool league win.
Summer Transfer
Targets (What I Think They Need): After the Suarez controversies, there has
been much speculation over whether he will leave in the summer. Keeping
him must be Liverpool’s primary concern.
After that, another central defender to replace the retiring Jamie Carragher
would be useful, with Kolo Toure looking like a likely replacement. With the
signings made in January, along with the refound form of Henderson and Downing,
Liverpool look like this genuinely will be the final ‘re-adjustment’ period.
Transfer Gossip
Links:
In:
Alex Pearce (Reading, CB), Martin Montoya (Barcelona, RB),
Angelo Ogbonna (Torino, CB), Loic Remy (QPR, ST), Victor Wanyama (Celtic, CDM),
David Villa (Barcelona, ST), Douglas (FC Twente, CB), Ashley Williams (Swansea
City, CB), Cristian Tello (Barcelona, LW), Tiago Ilori (Sporting Lisbon, LB),
Christian Eriksen (Ajax, CM)
Out:
Luis Suarez (Atletico Madrid, ST), Andy Carroll (West Ham
United, AS Monaco, ST), Pepe Reina (Barcelona, GK)
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