I just don't know where we are anymore or where we are going and I've felt that way since the summer really. I don't know how people can comment with any degree of certainty what's right or wrong for the Club going forward.
I have felt from the summer that there has been so much negativity around the Club and the players, especially Gerrard, that this season was always going to be hard and we just had to fight our way through it. I haven't been happy with large parts of it but I haven't let it get me down.
The negativity surrounding Gerrard, which has dragged on all season whether we liked it or not, then Gerrard announcing he was leaving and more pressure being heaped on him and the players to do something 'special' for him, crashing out of the CL, being piss poor in the EL, having so many injuries particularly with Sturridge, Sterling and Henderson's contract situation and facing this season without Suarez - all of it has been hard to deal with.
We scored 101 PL goals last season, with Suarez and Sturridge getting 52 between them. We essentially lost that this season. It was always going to be hard to replicate that, that's why we all wanted a better defence, a better defensive midfielder in place and someone who can compete with Sturridge who can chip in with goals. We got a slightly better defensive performance on stats alone, but no-one to help out with the goals. Whose fault that is has been discussed to the death on here.
I just don't think any amount of money could have prepared us for losing Suarez and then Sturridge to injury. And Gerrard to an extent too, with his goals and set pieces. You can't magic that back. Add to the mix a host of players coming in and needing time to settle, some not setting at all and some being absolute disappointments.
It's alot for a mananger and a Club to manage. What other Club would have had that upheavel to then go and challenge again or finish top 4?
We peaked too soon IMO. We put the accelerators on and went for it, and then it fell apart. Players left, egos were dinted and there has just been a total sense of failure and negativity around the Club.
I love Steven Gerrard and everything he has done for this football Club. I will miss him and I will remember him forever. But I cannot wait until he leaves. We need that downer surrounding him gone and off our shoulders. I am personally finding it hard to move on whilst he is here. I think that's why this season I've felt like I've taken a back seat as a fan and not got too invested in CL push or get my hopes up. I just want this season done with and I've felt that since last August.
Every single player needs time to settle and adapt - whether they move domestically or internationally and for me, Lallana, Moreno, Can, Lovren, Ballotelli, Markovic etc... are all the same. They need time to settle. Some have settled better than others and some could quite possibly leave in the summer. I don't think we'll see the best of those players until next season. But the biggest thing is the manager finding a system he can identify with and the players slip into.
We have far too many players who 'can do a job' and not enough masters in those positions. Again, injuries play their part but when you bring on a new signing, a winger (Markovic) to play through the middle of the pitch to give you an outlet with the ball, when your best ball-playing midfield (Can) is sitting in defence, then you start to ponder whether the manager is entirely happy with the system or the personnel. He needs to get that right and he needs to start playing people in the natural positions.
Don't have a decent right back? Go and buy one. Don't have a decent striker? Go and buy one. I am so fucking fed up watching Ibe, Markovic, Lallana, Sterling etc... playing wing back. Or Countinho or Sterling upfront alone. It doesn't work.
Find your system, drop your ego and let players you brought in go if you need to, and sign the right players for the system. Don't go the Harry Redknapp route of throwing enough shit against the wall in the hope that some of it will stick. If we want progression then we need to progress and we won't do that by filling round holes with square pegs.
Personally, if we can get £30m for Balotelli, Borini, Aspas, Coates, Alberto, Enrique, Lovren then I would take it and spend it on a striker, and give them Steven Gerrard's wages. And Johnson's too if need be.
We desperately need better resources upfront.
Sterling, Ibe, Coutinho, Markovic and Lallana are a decent set of options playing across the front 3 behind a striker. Sturridge, another goalscorer and someone like Danny Ings would be plentiful IMO.
Ideally, we would sign a quality goalkeeper, rightback and defensive midfielder too but the number one, absolute priority has to be a striker.
Brendan deserves another season at this. My only concern is that we don't have the bottle for it and that makes signing the correct players this time around massively important. Winners - in whatever form they come in.
