Liverpool FC, 2012/13 season, failure or success?
At the end of the 2011/12 season, Kenny Dalglish was sacked for poor results after finishing the season in eighth place; 12 months on, Brendan Rogers guided Liverpool to one place higher, still a massive twelve points off a top four finish, which was the target set for Rogers by the owners at the start of the season. If you go by this alone, this season has to be called a failure, but that’s not the full story, Rogers should be given another season to prove himself; his first season would definitely be described as bumpy claiming zero silverware and failing to qualify for the champions league!
Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons again and ended the season on the sidelines being banned for 10 games by the FA for biting Branislav Ivanovic, which is seen as harsh by many, but in my view his past conduct has worked against him. Suarez was banned for seven games in 2010 for biting PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal while playing for Ajax.
Let’s move onto the results, Liverpool claimed 16 wins, 13 draws and nine losses, which doesn’t sound so bad but in my view there were a lot a lost points with draws against lower positioned teams. The problem is Liverpool’s inconsistency, in today’s top flight football, teams can not be dropping points against lesser teams if they hope to win titles and qualify for Europe.
As I said previously, Brendan Rogers deserves at least another season, I don’t believe sacking managers is the solution, just look at the success of Manchester United under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson, the Scot was in charge at Old Trafford for 26 years and in that time claimed 13 top flight titles including this season, multiple domestic cups and two Champions League titles.