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International Business Times SportsNet - LFC article
Five Flops For The Anfield Exit
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| Charlie Adam was uninspiring for Liverpool in the 2011/12 season. |
The arrival of Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool marks another
new era for the club, so who needs to be shown the door at Anfield to make way
for new talent? Here is a list of five players who should hang up their red
shirts:
Charlie Adam
The former Blackpool star arrived at Liverpool last year
after impressing in his first season in the Premier League with the Seasiders.
Liverpool were quick to snap up the midfielder for a fee of £7million, one of
their cheaper acquisitions from the summer of 2011, however, the Scotsman
failed to live up to even that price tag.
Ever since Xabi Alonso parted company with the Reds in 2009,
there has been a lack of creativity coming from midfield and many thought Adam
would be the man to fill Alonso’s boots. The Scot managed just two goals and
six assists in 31 appearances in the 2011/12 season and failed to make an
impact in midfield as Kenny Dalglish had hoped. Adam has a tendency to give
away unnecessary fouls in dangerous positions and appeared to look off the pace
of the Premier League. He didn't
stand out in a red shirt and Brendan Rodgers will do well to replace him with a
more talented creative midfielder. Perhaps he is better suited to Championship
football.
Verdict: Sell
Jay Spearing
Jay Spearing, a product of the Liverpool academy, certainly
plays for the shirt and has all the right motives when playing for his club,
however, he just doesn't cut the mustard. The miniature bulldog like player is
exactly what the club needs in terms of coming up from the ranks and being a home-grown
product, but unfortunately he is not a player that will help the club challenge
for the Premier League and a Champions League position. His passion and energy
is his best asset, perhaps best suiting him to a position on the bench, at
best. At 23, Spearing could still develop as a player, so a season playing
first team football at a smaller Premier League team could do wonders for the
midfielder. It will provide Liverpool a chance to monitor any progression made
and give them another year to decide on his future at the club.
Verdict: Loan.
Jamie Carragher
As much as it would pain any Liverpool supporter to admit
it, our steely and ever reliable centre back is getting on and the cracks are showing
in this old rock. If the club are going to pose any real threat of becoming a
top four side again, they need to find a long term replacement for one of the
best defenders they have ever produced.
Carragher has created a legacy for himself and will always
be remembered as a hero by the Kop for his services to the club. The
experienced centre back may only have a season left in him at best and it is
hard to say whether Brendan Rodgers will consider him for a place in his
starting 11. Carragher may have to get used to life on the bench, as the
touchline is where he should be when his playing career comes to an end. He can
become a great asset to the coaching staff and his claxon like voice would be
sorely missed otherwise.
Verdict: Retire and become a coach.
Stewart Downing
Stewart Downing was another of Kenny Dalglish’s signings
that failed to make an impact in the 2011/12 season. The winger, who signed
from Aston Villa for a hefty fee of around £20million, managed just two goals
and two assists in 46 games for the club. Perhaps if the strikers converted his
crosses and passes, he might have had much better statistics from the season
just gone. At times, the England winger looked threatening, but most of the
time you couldn't help but think this is a player that at 27, isn’t going to
get any better. Is this someone that is going to help the club push forward and
get back into the Champions League? Brendan Rodgers will have to answer that
one for us, but there are plenty of wingers out there that could offer more
than Downing did last season.
Verdict: Sell
Jon Flanagan
Jon Flanagan is not a player that Liverpool should consider
getting rid of completely, but one that would greatly benefit from a season out
on loan. With England defenders Glen Johnson and Martin Kelly both in front of
him in the pecking order, young Jon Flanagan will be a bench warmer at best
next season. Two seasons ago the Liverpool youth product showed his potential,
but when called upon last season he showed he isn’t quite ready to mix it with
the big boys in crucial games. A chance to develop as a player and gain as much
playing time as possible next season would be a blessing for both Flanagan and
Liverpool, because this is a player for the future.
Verdict: Loan
Liverpool Looking To The Future With Rodgers
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| Managing Director Ian Ayre, Manager Brendan Rodgers and Chairman Tom Werner |
After a dismal league campaign in the 2011/12 season, which
saw controversy, cup finals and the dethroning of a king, Liverpool are looking
to the future after appointing Brendan Rodgers as the right man to take them
forward.
Kenny Dalglish’s second spell as Liverpool manager lasted just one and a half seasons and in that time the Scotsman took his beloved team to two Wembley finals, winning the club’s first trophy since 2006. Despite giving the Anfield faithful a taste of the glory days, success in the Carling Cup proved to be too little for the club’s American owners, Fenway Sports Group (FSG). A defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup final dashed Liverpool’s hopes of completing a domestic cup double and a string of poor results and an 8th place finish in the league proved to be the deciding factor in FSG’s decision to bring in a new manager.
The virtues of Liverpool’s ideal candidate for the vacant
managerial job were made clear immediately. The owners wanted to bring in a
talented, young manager and Swansea’s Brendan Rodgers was seen as the ideal
candidate. The 39 year old, who has worked under Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, took
Swansea from the Championship to an 11th place finish in the Premier
League last season. Rodgers signed a three year deal with Liverpool and was
promised time to build his own team, implementing his personal fashion of
tactics. The Northern Irishman’s impressive strategies and modern style of
play, were enough to land him one of the most prestigious jobs in football.
Rodgers travelled to Holland and Spain, two of the world’s most attractive
footballing nations, to study their tactics and train as a coach. He is now
known for favouring the ‘Tiki-Taka’ pass and move style of play that the Spanish
national team is famous for and was able to input those tactics on his Swansea
side last season. The Welsh team impressed in their debut season in the Premier
League and as a result, Rodgers was snapped up in a shrewd appointment by the
Anfield owners.
Liverpool fans have been longing for attractive football to be played at Anfield and after a clear out of the dead wood and a rebuild of the current squad, Rodgers is the man to bring such a change. Players such as Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing and Andy Carroll, who flopped in their first season on Merseyside, could be in for a nervy summer transfer window, as Rodgers will be looking to bring in creative midfielders and speedy wingers to help creative his style of play.
Critics would say the choice to make Rodgers manager of Liverpool is a risk, but sometimes risks need to be taken in order to progress. The employment of ‘B-Rod’, or ‘King Brenny’ as some Kopites are wittily referring to Rodgers by, is certainly part of FSG’s long term vision for the club and time is undoubtedly needed as a key ingredient for this recipe of the future.
Home Nations United
Why Great Britain entering a football team in the Olympics for the first time in 52 years is a good thing.
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| Jack Rodwell modeling the Team GB football shirt. |
The Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh FA’s put their foot down and refused their players to be involved in the Olympic team, however, they have no objections to England making up the team with their own players.
England fans have always found it bitterly disappointing and somewhat unfair that Ryan Giggs is Welsh and unable to play for England, and then when Gareth Bale emerged as one of the brightest young talents in the Premier League, the frustration escalated. What might have been if those two had been English?
Unfortunately for the Welsh FA, the lure of being involved in the Olympics has proved irresistible to Wales’ finest talent, including Bale, their captain Aaron Ramsey and the experienced Craig Bellamy. Giggs, having retired from international football, is on Team GB manager Stuart Pearce’s radar to link up with his former Manchester United teammate, David Beckham.
It would be a great shame if Bale and Ramsey were denied the chance to represent Great Britain in the Olympics. It is every sportsman’s dream to be involved in the pinnacle of sporting events and have the chance to win a gold medal and for the Welsh FA to stand firm and not allow their players to participate would be a huge blow to their professional careers.
The Olympic rules state the football teams must feature players below the age of 23, with the exception of three experienced heads. It is essentially a youth tournament with the luxury of adding accomplished players into the mix, Giggs, Becks and Rooney perhaps? The new wave of young English talent in the Premier League, combined with the possibility of adding the best young players from the home nations, means Team GB will have a squad worthy of a podium finish. As a collective, this is our big chance to win a tournament.
Going For Gold
The top Team GB athletes to look out for in London
It has been 64 years since the Olympics last turned up in London and after bidding for the games for the last 20 years, it is back for its third showing. In 1948, Great Britain managed a total of 23 medals, finishing in a miserable 12th place in the overall standings. Team GB’s hopefuls will aim to prevent history from repeating itself in front of the home crowd.
The African dominance in Olympic long distance running is under threat, as Mo Farrah has been causing a stir in Europe. The man who was born in Somalia, but now a Londoner, will be hoping to impress his home fans when the Olympic games arrives on his doorstep. Farrah impressed in the European Championships when he took it by storm, winning the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres event. We’ll all be hoping he can take his current form into the Olympics and bag Great Britain some golds.
Just like Team GB’s football team, the dynamic duo of Pete Waterfield and Tom Daley combines experience and youth. With his old partner, Leon Taylor, Waterfield won silver in the 10-metre event at the Athens Olympics and his decision to pair up with the extremely talented Daley has already proven to be a success. The second event they competed in together saw them defeat the lethal partnership of Cao Yuan and Zhang Yanquang. Finishing in front of the Chinese pair doesn’t happen often and when competing against them, most divers think of silver as gold. Waterfield and Daley have a natural synchronization and when it usually takes years to perfect timings, the British hopefuls look a real contender for a podium finish already.
Liverpool vs. Everton - Match Preview
Everton will travel across Stanley Park to play out of form Liverpool in the rescheduled Merseyside Derby.
This meeting at Anfield will be the 217th between the local rivals and carries with it a few more pub facts, for the keen statistician. Everton boss David Moyes will have officially been at the club for a decade come Wednesday and what better way to celebrate such a landmark than to win the derby and go one point clear of strugglers Liverpool. The Reds slumped to their third straight league defeat on Saturday, away to Sunderland, who along with Everton, are now only two points below Kenny Dalglish’s team. The loss against the Black Cats meant Liverpool are now on their worst league run since 2003 and ironically, the last time they lost four on the bounce was ten years ago, in 2002.
Continuing the stat theme, Liverpool’s skipper, Steven Gerrard, will make his 400th Premier League appearance against the Toffees, if selected. Gerrard, who limped off with a hamstring injury whilst playing for England against Holland, made a substitute comeback in the defeat against Sunderland on Saturday. The Liverpool captain has labelled his team’s consistency as ‘not good enough’, which is an understatement considering their recent form. Dalglish will be hoping the Merseyside Derby will bring some fight and passion back out of his players, who have not been pulling their weight recently.
Liverpool’s League Cup success and their Quarter-Final FA Cup fixture against Stoke on Sunday, may highlight how they have built a team for competing in the domestic cup competitions and one that is lacking the quality to qualify and even play in the Champions League. Dalglish is working with a newly constructed team, who are showing signs that they have not yet jelled and are in need of some extra fire-power up front.
Everton will be going into the crunch derby fixture high in morale after defeating high-flying Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 on Saturday. An added incentive for Moyes’s men is to go a point clear of their rivals and to give the red half of the city a run for their money as the season approaches it’s final stages. The last time Everton finished above Liverpool in the league was seven years ago and if they can achieve a victory at Anfield and hold them off for ten more games, history may well repeat itself.
Predicted Line-ups
Liverpool (from): Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Carragher, Enrique, Adam, Spearing, Downing, Gerrard, Bellamy, Suarez, Doni, Kelly, Coates, Shelvey, Henderson, Rodriguez, Kuyt, Carroll.
Everton (from): Howard, Heitinga, Baines, Distin, Hibbert, Neville, Cahill, Drenthe, Osman, Fellaini, Stracqualursi, Jelavic, Coleman, Barkley, Jagielka, Anichebe, Gueye, Mucha, Rodwell, Pienaar, Vellios.
Cardiff City FC vs. Liverpool FC – League Cup Final
Seven times winners of the League Cup, Liverpool, will take on the Championship high-flyers Cardiff, at Wembley.
A sea of red and blue will transform the home of English football as the Merseysiders look to add to their famous trophy cabinet against the Bluebirds. Kenny Dalglish’s men will be making their first visit to the new Wembley and haven’t featured in a final since beating West Ham United in the FA Cup in 2006, ironically, at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
Liverpool have had a tough run so far in the cup, seeing off Brighton, Stoke, Chelsea and Manchester City to get through to the final. Their Championship counterparts, Cardiff, have overcome the likes of Leicester City, Blackburn Rovers and Crystal Palace and will face their toughest test yet when they square up to one of the giants of the Premier League.
Having not tasted the sweet taste of success for over six years now, Liverpool will be hoping that the return of the King brings fortunes in the form of silverware. Malky Mackay’s Cardiff are no strangers to the big stage, having last visited Wembley in 2011, losing out to Reading in the Playoff Semi-Finals, after being runners up to Blackpool in the 2010 Playoffs.
The Underdogs, Cardiff, will have their work cut out against a Liverpool team who crave success under the new regime. A place in the Europa League awaits the winner and you can watch all the action live, on Sky Sports 1 and HD1 from 3.30 on Sunday 26th February.
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