It is not easy for any club in the world to play without their star man when he is in top form. Same is the case with Liverpool Football Club who has lost their talisman Luis Suarez to Spanish giants FC Barcelona. It was a well-known fact for a month now that Suarez has lost his interest in playing in England and will head towards Spain. So a £75m deal was agreed between both clubs without any chaos.
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But the question now is can Liverpool cope without the player who had scored 31 goals last season and had a major say in their title push. If we look at a nearest example of any such thing happening, there are some models Liverpool should be afraid of. The most recent dreadful practise was experienced by Tottenham who after losing their key player, Bale, didn’t capitalize enough on his transfer money and had a rather disappointing season.
After performing over the par for two seasons, the Welshman decided to leave Spurs. But it was felt that Spurs played well over this request and got a hefty fee of 100 million pounds for Bale. It was once in a lifetime opportunity for the London club to build a squad of good players. After that, Spurs injected Bale’s fee in their squad and got many quality players. But it proved to be a failed experiment for Tottenham. It wasn’t due to the fact that Tottenham overpriced players but one can simply say Luck wasn’t on their side.
They bought players with huge promise but most of these Talents failed to deliver. For example Soldado who was a key player for Valencia and a goal poacher for the Spanish club simply couldn’t transform his abilities in his new side. Erik Lamela, another exciting talent was haunted by injuries so much that he failed to play in most of the season. So Tottenham fell to 6th position in English Premier League table.
New S.A.S
But the situation is not as gloom as it seems for Liverpool. It wasn’t the Uruguayan who won most points for the club but it is Daniel Sturridge who did. Sturridge who himself scored 20 goals last season, also had a brilliant campaign. When Luis Suarez was banned for 8 matches for biting incident, Sturridge stepped up and performed really well. Apart from Sturridge, youngsters like Coutinho, Henderson and Sterling also had a brilliant run last season. Sterling, one of the best youngsters in England who had excelled really well under Brendan Rodgers. So a new S.A.S is already in place in form of Sturridge and Sterling for Liverpool.
But the situation is not as gloom as it seems for Liverpool. It wasn’t the Uruguayan who won most points for the club but it is Daniel Sturridge who did. Sturridge who himself scored 20 goals last season, also had a brilliant campaign. When Luis Suarez was banned for 8 matches for biting incident, Sturridge stepped up and performed really well. Apart from Sturridge, youngsters like Coutinho, Henderson and Sterling also had a brilliant run last season. Sterling, one of the best youngsters in England who had excelled really well under Brendan Rodgers. So a new S.A.S is already in place in form of Sturridge and Sterling for Liverpool.
Confident Approach.
After losing a meaningless friendly against Brondby, Rodgers was in a confident mood. He was quoted as,
“Luis going doesn’t lessen our ambitions—we want to continually improve. He’s a wonderful player but we will move on,”
That is surely a right way to move forward. So far Brendan Rodgers has made four signings involving Can, Markovic, Lambert and Lallana. It is clear from these signings that Rodgers is going to build a squad rather than a team. Liverpool’s main problem last season was their defending. Rodgers tried different defending partnerships but all in vain. On one side, forwards were tearing other teams apart and defenders were equally unaware of their duties. So now Brendan Rodgers has the right money to buy quality defenders and defending midfielders so that his team can win matches not only by scoring goals but also by keeping their lead.
That is surely a right way to move forward. So far Brendan Rodgers has made four signings involving Can, Markovic, Lambert and Lallana. It is clear from these signings that Rodgers is going to build a squad rather than a team. Liverpool’s main problem last season was their defending. Rodgers tried different defending partnerships but all in vain. On one side, forwards were tearing other teams apart and defenders were equally unaware of their duties. So now Brendan Rodgers has the right money to buy quality defenders and defending midfielders so that his team can win matches not only by scoring goals but also by keeping their lead.
And by getting so many midfielders, it seems Rodgers is returning to its Swansea tactics in which his team enjoyed in controlling the game more often than not. In the meantime, Liverpool do need a big squad to compete well in Champions league and they can get that now with Suarez’ transfer money. So far LFC are linked with Reus and Vidal. And if the Merseyside Reds manages to get any of these players, they will surely be one to watch next season.
Conclusion:
So next season will be a tough season for Liverpool. If they can spend their money in a right way, there is no doubt that they cannot repeat their heroics from last season.
So next season will be a tough season for Liverpool. If they can spend their money in a right way, there is no doubt that they cannot repeat their heroics from last season.
Amir Bashir follow him on Twitter.
good article!
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