Liverpool FC close to being back on track
This time last September, Liverpool fans were hiding their faces in embarrassment at the dismal form their team were showing. Losses to their technically ‘inferior’ Premier League opponents like Blackpool and Bolton in the opening few months of the season were beginning to suggest Liverpool had completely lost the spark that had resulted in their great success in previous years. However, thanks to several changes and an overall improvement within the club, Liverpool are now sitting comfortably in 6th position with a potential 5th place finish still on the horizon.
Some will say Big Kenny has turned the club around; others may say the departure and arrival of Torres and Carrol/Suarez respectively has caused the improvements. One thing is for sure though, something has given Liverpool the wake up call they well and truly needed. How Liverpool managed to begin their season so woefully is a mystery to most. The managerial take over by Roy Hodgson has often been in the firing line, but surely a change in management can’t have altered a teams’ performances so drastically like Liverpool’s did? What’s past is indeed, past, and if you’re going to focus on their current form you’d have to say the future looks promising.
While they’re still losing the occasional game to teams they realistically should be beating, their winning ratio is gradually improving. The season has genuinely been one of the more bizarre for the Merseyside team, in the sense that their big results have come often from the bigger games, whereas their losses have come from games against teams who are struggling themselves. To put it in retrospect, against the current top four this season in the Premier League, they have won four, drawn two and lost two. Considering their awfully inconsistent form shown for the majority of the season, that’s not bad going.
Admittedly, the season transformed for the better for Liverpool when Dalglish took over. Since his astonishing arrival in January, consistently average performances have become a thing of the past. His legendary prominence has brought inspiration and hope to the players, and is perhaps the reason for the enhancement in performance. Raul Meirleres was one of those inspired, as Dalglish’s influx caused him to score five in six for the club, which massively lifted the team as a whole.
Torres’ expected £50 million departure resulted in the arrival of two players who may not be prolific, but have proved themselves worthy of a place at the club through their own seasons at Newcastle and Ajax. Carroll looks to have settled in nicely with his first two goals coming against Manchester City recently, with Suarez similarly settled as he continues to impress the English footballing world.
Hopefully, Liverpool will be able to retain their current form and continue to climb the table. Their new partnership upfront has so far proved effective, and this will, fingers crossed, be reflected across the whole team as they look to achieve bigger and better things in the future.
