Let’s ignore Sunday’s demoralising defeat to Chelsea and just sit back and admire what Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool have achieved this season. Not even the most optimistic of Liverpool fans could have predicted back in August what the club’s position in the table would be. They are still top of the league despite Sunday’s results going against them. For a side who sat seventh in the table last year, being right in the thick of the race for the Premier League title, never mind the Champions League places, is an astonishing achievement.
With a place in the latter now guaranteed, it is fair to say that Brendan Rodgers has earned many fans over the course of the season.
Even if Liverpool do come up short in the end, they have had an outstanding season, painting a great picture for the future of the club. Their performances have been a great advert for English football. Rodgers’ philosophy of attacking football and fearlessness towards his club’s rivals has meant his team is the pick among many neutrals to win English football’s top prize this year.
That they lost to Chelsea, who boast the world’s finest defensive tactician in Jose Mourinho, should not dampen Rodgers’ claims to manager of the season.
In the early stages of the season, many pundits spoke of their doubts of Suarez and Sturridge being able to play together as a strike force; however Rodgers, who didn’t see the pair as a partnership but as two players with outstanding individual quality, chose to play them both together upfront. This created one of the most prolific strike partnerships of the decade and arguably one of the deadliest in Liverpool’s history. With Suarez and Sturridge on 30 and 20 goals for the season respectively, their partnership has had a large influence on the team’s success.
Even though he struggled against Chelsea’s phenomenal set-up, Suarez alone has been unplayable at times season, as his goal tally shows – but it’s not just his heroics that have put Liverpool in their current position.
Another standout performer in recent weeks has been Raheem Sterling who, at the age of 19, is one of the most creative players in the league. While Rodgers can take a lot of the credit in nurturing Sterling’s transformation from teen bad boy to one of his first names on the team-sheet, it is likely that being among a player of Suarez’s calibre has inspired the teenager and helped him to given him the confidence to roam forward at will.
This attacking threat is completed by Philippe Coutinho interchanging with Sterling at the tip of a diamond formation – just one of several variable formations Rodgers has deployed this season – with Suarez and Sturridge spearheading the attack. Many of the players who have made a great impact in the season all seem to have had their fair share of frustration which may have helped to spur the team into form.
Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho both joined Liverpool from other successful clubs (Chelsea and Inter Milian) where they rarely had a chance to prove their ability. This season they have both shown the quality they can produce. Jordan Henderson’s poor first season at the club and the large price tag he came with meant he was seen as a player not good enough to wear the red shirt, while Raheem Sterling faded often a promising start last season. Both have improved remarkably this season and have been very much part of the growth and improvement of the clubs. Henderson’s recent absence has been felt by Liverpool as they laboured to victory against Norwich and were overcome by the disciplined structure of Chelsea.
And, of course, what of Steven Gerrard? Fans of the game should ignore his mistake to gift Ba the first goal on Sunday – the captain has been immense this season, excelling in his deep-lying role and scoring some vital goals. It will be a tragedy for him if he can never win the title with Liverpool. The point is, Rodgers’ Reds have made giant strides this year, and that should be enough for most fans. The future looks bright.