Kenny had 6 months of last season to take a look at the squad, see who he wanted to keep and identify the areas that needed strengthening. He then went and spent big money on securing the players he wanted to move this club forward, and the owners made it clear that top 4 was a priority.
We didn't have european competition to distract us this season after we blew up in the last two matches of last season, and this would help us focus on domestic matters, eradicating issues such as fatigue and the increased chances of injuries to players as we had fewer matches and longer recovery periods between games. We would be able to field our strongest eleven in most games and have less need to rotate, meaning we could go into games in the best possible shape and with more recovery time between games we would have players playing with fewer niggles and strains. The extra days in between each match could be spent preparing for the next opponent, identifying their weakenesses and coming up with game plans to help us achieve success.
Our opponents for the top places were all competing in europe and a couple of them were also in the process of reshaping their team/squad with new faces. Arsenal were losing 2 of their best players whilst Chelsea brought a manager in with little experience, an ageing squad and as we see now are trying to adapt to a completely different style of play. Man Utd lost a lot of experience and spent big on future faces who may not be big players today but would be in future years, whilst Spurs decided to make minor alterations to their squad by bringing in 3 new faces for relative peanuts and selling a few squad players (This was a Spurs side who narrowly pipped us to 5th spot and who would have to face Europa League football) Only City made clear improvements to their squad with a couple of big money signings, and at the start of the season the majority of Liverpool fans felt top 4 was a real possibility and some even thought we could get into the mix for the title race.
Now, almost half way through the season we are being asked if we should accept this as a transitional season? This was never seen as a transitional season in September, it was seen as an opportunity to make progress on last season. With the money invested in the summer we had to improve and right now we seem to have stalled. In the last 18 games of last season under Kenny, and with an inferior squad which was often patched up with kids, we gained 33 points. This season, under Kenny and with big investment in the summer we have achieved 31 points and are already playing catch up to the top sides.
So many other clubs this summer spent money on reshaping their team/squad, and brought in a lot of new faces. Look at Newcastle, who brought in 5 or 6 new faces like we did and they have gone from strength to strength and sit one point behind us when last season they finished 12 points behind us. Pardew, like Kenny, took over part way through last season and is now well on the way to turning them into a competitive side on a much lower budget than we have had. We even took their best player off them last season and we still can't bloody outscore them!
Sadly this summers recruits have failed to impress on the whole, and as a team and a squad we have underachieved in the league. At the moment Kenny has a lot of work to do to convince myself and it seems many other fans that the club is capable of getting back into the top table of not just domestic football but European football, where Liverpool Football Club should aim to be.