Just two years ago Liverpool were at cusp of winning the English Premier League and had a forward line which was giving nightmares to defenders across Europe, fast forward to the present day two players from that Lethal trio have left the club and the third is missing from action for the past year. The sizable sum of cash that Liverpool acquired after the sale of Suarez and Sterling, has been used to bring in reinforcement so that the club can again compete with Europe’s best.
Liverpool started the season with a one nil victory over Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium, ironically enough it was in the same venue that Liverpool suffered a humiliating 6-1 defeat on the final day of the last season. This time Liverpool battled hard and a late Coutinho stunner was enough to secure all three points. Fans saw a glimmer of hope, their players worked hard to erase the memory of last May.
This year Liverpool didn’t waste anytime getting involved in long drawn transfer sagas, instead they finished all their summer business before July 22nd, which gave enough time to their new players to settle down and get used to the playing style under Brendan Rodgers. They managed to bring in two defenders in the form of Joe Gomez and Nathaniel Clyne, both of whom have had a promising start to their career in Merseyside. After an excellent last season in Bunderliga, Brazilian midfielder Roberto Firmino moved to England to join Liverpool. Maybe the smartest piece of business done by Liverpool all summer was the capture of James Milner from Manchester City on a free transfer, he has been one of the most consistent players in the League for past three-four seasons and will bring solidity to the Liverpool midfield. The club also bought the highly rated Belgian striker Christian Benteke from Aston Villa to solve the goal scoring problems of last season.
The Belgian international opened his account with the winner against Bournemouth on match day two, however the goal was highly controversial after it appeared that Coutinho coming back from an offside position made a failed attempt to connect with the ball. Bournemouth gave Liverpool a few scares in the second half but weren’t able to bypass Simon Mignolet. In their third match against Arsenal, Liverpool were considerably better and could have easily snatched all three points if it weren’t for the heroics of Petr Cech, who made some brilliant saves to deny the likes of Coutinho and Benteke. In the second Arsenal did manage to push Liverpool back and controlled most of the possession but the match ended goalless to the shock of many supporters.
Liverpool were soon brought back down to earth after West Ham ended their 52-year wait for success at Anfield with a 3-0 Premier League victory over Liverpool, that also saw Philippe Coutinho sent off after a straight red card. The most shocking thing was the manner in which Liverpool’s backline crumbled, allowing opposition players to glide by them.
It’s still early days into the new season and players are just starting to get into their rhythm but there is no doubt that the defeat to West Ham would have left many Liverpool fans wondering whether the top four is a dream too far for them right now especially after selling arguably their two best players in the last year. Brendan Rodgers still needs to do a lot of work on the training ground to get the best out of his team otherwise qualifying for Europa will be a difficult task.