End Of Season Review – Liverpool

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusSHARE

Another year and another football season comes to a close. In this series we will be asking fans to tell us how the 2016/17 season has gone from their perspective. Today we hear from Liverpool fan Danny Ward.

 

 

Overall verdict on the season, hit or miss?

 

Hit: For most Liverpool fans the season just ended will be seen as a hit. It may also be seen by those same fans as a missed opportunity. For me, with success short on the ground of late, I’ll take Champions League Qualifiers and a glimmer of a brighter future.

 

In modern football, fans expect it all and they usually want it all now. Rarely are managers afforded the luxury of a bedding in time like Klopp had last season, but with that time comes pressure from fans to see a cohesion, a development of the group of players and at the very least the foundations put in place to spark excitement and hope for the coming seasons.

 

 

 

I think Klopp has provided enough enthusiasm and insight in these areas to suggest that the season just ended can qualify as a success. Success seems to be measured by winning a trophy or qualifying for the top four. It’s difficult to see progress when one or all of these objectives hasn’t been met. That’s the modern day fan I suppose. I dread to think what our children will be like when supporting their team in the future, I’m hoping for more Mr Calm (leader of the Rowdies) but I fear they will be more Veruca Salt (I want one now!).

 

Best Moment ?

 

The highlight of the season for me wasn’t a goal or a single performance. It was a mindset . The last two games of the season, were massive games for obvious reasons. Arsenal were flying and had won their last five. We needed to prove that we could handle the pressure of the last two games and we did that. I’d say I’m like most Liverpool fan’s, we’re always waiting for the wheel’s to fall off. We fear the worst, history has given us a mindset that we’ll mess it up right at the death , just like the Gerrard slip, or the no show in the second half against Sevilla.

 

 

I wanted that pressure on the team, so it could prove it had learned from the seasons before it. Pressure and dealing with it gives inexperienced players something to cling onto when these situations arise again. Sometimes just getting the job done, gives players an extra shot in the arm. A belief that they can handle the pressure and deserve to be up there fighting for titles and trophy’s. Next season will hopefully prove this to be the case. Stay strong. We are Liverpool !!!

 

Worst Moment ?

 

Without a shadow of a doubt for me it was Bournemouth away. To lose any game is tough to swallow and takes the next few days to get over. But this one really hurt. We were flying at the time and cruised into a 2-0 lead courtesy of Mane and Origi. It was all too simple.

 

It was early December and I had a family lunch to go to, which meant missing the last half hour. Just before I left the boozer, the Cherries pulled one back and I didn’t think much of it. By the time the missus had picked me up, Can had made it 3-1 and the game was done. Sitting down to lunch my LFC whatsapp group started to light up. 3-2, 3-3 aw FFS! I jumped from the table to watch the last few minutes and the sense of ‘here we go again’ was all too real. Liverpool’s all too familiar lapses at the back were rearing their ugly heads again.

 

 

It was a clanger from Karius that cost us the game that day. It was the feeling that we hadn’t addressed the flaws that had been prominent since the Benitez days which really hurt. As the season would go on, that same horror show popped up too many times to suggest that we’ve put it right since.

 

Player of the Season ?

 

This for me is a tricky one. Liverpool more than most of their competitors are a sum greater than their parts. There are plenty of seven out of ten or a  8/10 players,but no one who stands out as world class, not yet anyway. But the first who will reach that level below the Messi and Ronaldo’s of this world will be Philippe Coutinho.

 

 

He will fit quite comfortably alongside the Bales, Hazards and Lewandowski’s very soon. Coutinho started the season off with a bang, playing on the left side of a front 3. His free kick in the open against Arsenal gave us a taste of what he’s capable of. He contributed more goals and assists this season than in any which preceded it. That is all that has been lacking in a player who learned his technical ability playing futsal on the streets of Brazil.

 

His low centre of gravity makes him a nightmare for big centre halves which means his shift to a number 8 position late in the season could be the making of him. It gives him the opportunity to drop the shoulder and run straight at defenders who aren’t used to having to defend against players like him, full backs can show players outside or inside but centre halves don’t have that option.

 

 

Liverpool’s mid-season slump was put down to sadio Mane’s African Cup of Nations adventure, but Liverpool s form began to wane before that, after an injury to Coutinho against Sunderland in November. He knits all that is good about this Liverpool side together and the longer Liverpool keep a hold of him the better chance of real success in the future.

 

Goal of the Season ?

 

Easy, the people have spoken. Emre Can, take a bow son.

 

 

Areas that need strengthening for next term ?

 

There are a couple of holes that need plugging. With Moreno sure to depart, a new left back has to be one the area’s the manager looks to bolster the ranks. Milner had a solid season there last season, contributing defensively and offensively, but it’s a lot to ask him to play every game there next season.

 

 

We also need to prioritize a new centre half. Matip and Lovren had a decent relationship when  they played together last season, but that didn’t happen too regularly. Too many niggling injuries means they can’t be be trusted to play with niggles unlike a Jamie Carragher. For that reason, I think we need a new number one centre half. What he’ll need in spades, is a greater sense of concentration than the others around him. The reason being, Liverpool don’t usually have to do much defending, as they usually have most of the ball. But what’s needed is someone who keeps his mind sharp when called on. Let’s see if this happens, it will take deep pockets to get a deal done.. . ( at the time of writing, van dyjk looks set for a move ).

 

 

Lastly, a bit more pace is needed. Top teams have to have pace and bags of it. It’s a defenders nightmare.Blistering pace and trickery like Mane is hard to find, but it’s vital to the way Liverpool play against teams who sit in . Pushing them onto the backfoot with pace opens up spaces for teammates to arrive into the box and punish the space left by defenders with heads spinning…

 

Honourable mention to Simon mignolet, if I had been asked to write this article 6 months ago a goalkeeper would have been top of the pile. No more. Fair play.

 

Written by Danny Ward


Anything to add? Feel free to leave a comment below.

You can like/follow us on social media using the links below.

Facebook , psfootball

Twitter @_ps_football

Instagram @psfutball



 

 

 

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusLIKE/FOLLOW

Comments

comments

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.