Campagne ending to a bizarre season. SA A 4-1 thumping of Swansea City means the Reds can ring in the New Year in good spirits and the next challenge for Brendan Rodgers is to sustain their current form Peter Staunton was at Anfield for the last game of 2014 and has this to say, it has been a bizarre year for Liverpool. They had the Premier League trophy in their hands for a fleeting moment only for it to be frittered away against Chelsea and Crystal Palace. They played scintillating football, the best anywhere in Europe, but then turned in some horribly turgid display and struggled to crack the code following the summer break. They qualified for the Champions League but performed with inhibition and, in the Santiago Bernabeu, with scant pride. Brendan Rodgers has negotiated the peaks and the troughs and is certainly a more battle-hardened coach now than he was coming into the year. He bears the scars. Liverpool bid farewell to 2014 on Monday night in good heart with a 4-1 home win over Swansea. They were applauded off and deserved to be. It was their best performance of this season; their best, therefore, since the sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona. The shadow of that Uruguayan forward still looms large over Anfield. He is the reason why they started the year so speedily and pummelled so many teams into submission. Without him, they have not been hammering teams. He is the reason they had so much money to spend in the summer. Those players brought in by Rodgers have become a constant stick with which to beat the Irishman. The victory over Swansea, however, suggested that new life could yet be breathed into this Liverpool season. The new boys played a significant role. While Mario Balotelli and Dejan Lovren have work to do to even find their way back into the team, let alone into any sort of form, Alberto Moreno, Emre Can and Adam Lallana gave succour to the Anfield faithful who had begun to fear that their entire transfer campaign had been a washout. Crucially, a change of system for Rodgers has brought out the best in his new players. He proved with Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling and the aforementioned Suarez at his disposal that he was willing to relinquish his possession-heavy brand of football for something altogether more counter-attacking. That swiftness in attack was what brought Liverpool so close to glory last term but Rodgerss football without Suarez this season became ever more stagnant. He is nothing if not a thinker, however, and he has proven in the latter stages of this calendar year that he is capable of reinventing Liverpool all over again. To do it, mid-season, with half a squad of new players, would be certainly a source of encouragement. Sterling up front is a work in progress and very much a back-up option for Rodgers. He has found the football, now, to replace Suarez but not the striker. Sturridge will make a difference when he comes back but a bid for Wilfried Bony, who has few equals when it comes to bringing team-mates into play, would be a wise move. Moreno excelled when freed of outright defensive duties. He proved at Sevilla that he was as good going forward as any left back in Europes top leagues but was, and continues to be, suspect going the other way. No matter here, as Rodgers had Mamadou Sakho mopping up after the Spaniard. Instead, he was at liberty to rampage forward from his berth wide in midfield. His goal was the type Rodgers would dream of. It was constructed along the ground from back to front with Moreno, Lallana and Jordan Henderson all heavily involved. Emre Can was bought as a midfielder but looks as good a third centre-back as any in the Premier League. He is not in the team, either, for his rugged defensive capabilities but he distributes the ball with confidence and acts as a spare man for possession when Liverpool are in their own half. Lallana, playing alongside Philippe Coutinho in a role just off Sterling, performed as confidently as he has done in a Liverpool shirt. There were two goals here and plenty more besides. His first could be described as a one in a million shot; so, in fact, could his second. The movement and footwork from Lallana and Coutinho was a joy to behold. The dribble and finish was appropriate in following what came before. This was a demonstration of what Rodgers has in mind for Liverpool in 2015. No Suarez, of course, but no Steven Gerrard either. The captain engaged in some warm-ups but was not summoned. Henderson, instead, took the armband and the responsibility. He is a better player now than Gerrard, there is no plainer way of saying it. He is more mobile, physically stronger and sees things quicker. If its going to be one or the other in the line-up, then it has to be the younger man. So, Liverpool turn the page on the calendar and, perhaps, a page in their season. Their record reads a little more respectably since that 3-0 chastening experienced at the hands of Manchester United a fortnight ago. That, and the Basel draw, reflect poorly on Rodgers but there is hope, at least. Consecutive league wins have been achieved. They have not won three in a row this season. Until Monday night, they had not scored four, either. Alls well that ends well.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 23:26:20 +0000
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