Liverpool FC: Expectations
Article by Red Phil
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It is all about expectations. Teams like Liverpool quite realistically have different expectations to clubs like Fulham, West Brom and Hull City so, the burning question is at which point does a club with numerous European trophies, a clutch of league titles the envy of almost every other club (God, how it hurts me to say that!) and a history and heritage 99% of other clubs could only dream of begin to down-size expectations?
In the glory days of Shanks and Bob Paisley we used to buy one top star each year with somebody, even many a fans’ favourite, heading down the tunnel towards the exit gate once a certain age had been reached or if performances had begun to drop off as age caught up with them. Sadly, that was the way of the world, then, with few players lasting beyond a realistic shelf-life.
The fans have not changed their desire to win every game we play, every competition we enter and, with our wonderful heritage, it is simply not acceptable for the club to lower their expectations either.
We’ve gone down a path of getting mainly young players and, hopefully, that will pay off handsomely in future years if players like Sterling, Can, Markovic and Coutinho can grow into the Liverpool legend status as many great players have done before them. They have the talent but, often, talent is not enough and they need top, top, top players around them.
Under Shanks and Bob Paisley we didn’t have players who got by by “being able to do a job”. We’ve currently got several players who we know will never be regulars, they’ll never pull up the trees, they’ll never be considered to be top-draw or win man-of-the-match awards but they routinely get picked even though they wouldn’t have been allowed to sell programmes thirty years ago.
I’m talking here about the likes of Lucas, who can do a job but is never going to be the top defensive midfielder a TOP club needs, Enrique, so far past his best . . . which wasn’t that good come to think of it, Kolo Toure and Mamadou Sakho who are both accidents waiting to happen every time the ball goes near them and the three strikers who, over halfway through the season haven’t got one goal between them!
One or two of the above can “do a job” but whilst we should be saying that if a player wouldn’t get in the team at Chelsea, Untied, City or Arsenal then why the Hell should Liverpool employ them?
We’ve got the basis of a good team but at what point did we decide that barely average players had a role at Anfield. Does anybody seriously think taking Glen Johnson off and replacing him with Senor Enrique is a step in the right direction? Or what about putting Rickie Lambert on for Fabio Borini?
Money is not an endless commodity, obviously, but Lucas has been tried and tested for quite a few years now and hasn’t improved much, if at all, during that time. How long does it take to tell a succession of managers that any player, not just him, aren’t up to the standard required? it’s not rocket science!
For us to persevere with certain average players for far too long just consigns us to mediocrity because our main opposition don’t put up with that mediocrity. I sincerely hope that Chelsea make bids for all of the players mentioned above but does anybody seriously, even momentarily, think they will . . . and that is why we are miles below them now and almost certainly will be for several years to come!
It’s time for a cull, or do we finally admit that we now aren’t aiming for the top!
© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
Subscribe to the e-Football Podcast for FREE!
It is all about expectations. Teams like Liverpool quite realistically have different expectations to clubs like Fulham, West Brom and Hull City so, the burning question is at which point does a club with numerous European trophies, a clutch of league titles the envy of almost every other club (God, how it hurts me to say that!) and a history and heritage 99% of other clubs could only dream of begin to down-size expectations?
In the glory days of Shanks and Bob Paisley we used to buy one top star each year with somebody, even many a fans’ favourite, heading down the tunnel towards the exit gate once a certain age had been reached or if performances had begun to drop off as age caught up with them. Sadly, that was the way of the world, then, with few players lasting beyond a realistic shelf-life.
The fans have not changed their desire to win every game we play, every competition we enter and, with our wonderful heritage, it is simply not acceptable for the club to lower their expectations either.
We’ve gone down a path of getting mainly young players and, hopefully, that will pay off handsomely in future years if players like Sterling, Can, Markovic and Coutinho can grow into the Liverpool legend status as many great players have done before them. They have the talent but, often, talent is not enough and they need top, top, top players around them.
Under Shanks and Bob Paisley we didn’t have players who got by by “being able to do a job”. We’ve currently got several players who we know will never be regulars, they’ll never pull up the trees, they’ll never be considered to be top-draw or win man-of-the-match awards but they routinely get picked even though they wouldn’t have been allowed to sell programmes thirty years ago.
I’m talking here about the likes of Lucas, who can do a job but is never going to be the top defensive midfielder a TOP club needs, Enrique, so far past his best . . . which wasn’t that good come to think of it, Kolo Toure and Mamadou Sakho who are both accidents waiting to happen every time the ball goes near them and the three strikers who, over halfway through the season haven’t got one goal between them!
One or two of the above can “do a job” but whilst we should be saying that if a player wouldn’t get in the team at Chelsea, Untied, City or Arsenal then why the Hell should Liverpool employ them?
We’ve got the basis of a good team but at what point did we decide that barely average players had a role at Anfield. Does anybody seriously think taking Glen Johnson off and replacing him with Senor Enrique is a step in the right direction? Or what about putting Rickie Lambert on for Fabio Borini?
Money is not an endless commodity, obviously, but Lucas has been tried and tested for quite a few years now and hasn’t improved much, if at all, during that time. How long does it take to tell a succession of managers that any player, not just him, aren’t up to the standard required? it’s not rocket science!
For us to persevere with certain average players for far too long just consigns us to mediocrity because our main opposition don’t put up with that mediocrity. I sincerely hope that Chelsea make bids for all of the players mentioned above but does anybody seriously, even momentarily, think they will . . . and that is why we are miles below them now and almost certainly will be for several years to come!
It’s time for a cull, or do we finally admit that we now aren’t aiming for the top!
© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
Not a truer word said!
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