Brendan Rodgers had reached his first cup quarter-final as Liverpool manager 48 hours earlier but his mood was decidedly tetchy when previewing Saturday’s trip to Newcastle. “I read some of your [Swansea City] match reports,” he said, “and I thought I was watching a different game to be honest.” Cue a collective look of ‘Is he talking to me?’, the thought that at least he’s politer than the Guardian comments section and the inescapable conclusion the Liverpool manager is now operating in a different game.
There are different expectations at Anfield after last season’s thrilling, yet painful near-miss in the Premier League title race. There are different things for Liverpool to do on a Champions League night after a four-season absence from the competition and they confront Real Madrid next week with a different team. Rodgers is responsible for all of that.
His irritation stemmed not simply from a few critical assessments of Liverpool’s Capital One Cup win over his former club but a feeling the rapid progress of his tenure has been forgotten even more quickly. The daunting date at the Bernabéu on Tuesday marks the four-year anniversary of a 3-1 win over Napoli in the Europa League, when Steven Gerrard was summoned from the bench at half-time to rescue a Liverpool team containing Paul Konchesky, Christian Poulsen and Milan Jovanovic. The brief highlight of the Roy Hodgson era provides an appropriate benchmark.
Similarities, however, are the cause of the current disquiet around Anfield, namely similarities between Liverpool’s start to this campaign and events following their two previous runners-up finishes in the Premier League. As with 2002 and 2009, talk of buying from a position of strength has not transferred into performances on the field. Mario Balotelli’s most convincing act as a Liverpool player so far has been to divert attention from the rest of the club’s summer intake.
Lazar Markovic, only 20 but at £20m a more expensive recruit than Balotelli, has been a pale imitation of the player who impressed at Benfica on the few occasions – five – he has started for Liverpool. “We brought him in for the longer-term but he’ll get games in this period because we have confidence he’ll be a big player for us,” said Rodgers of the Serbia international.
Balotelli’s suitability or otherwise has been documented but there has been a knock-on effect for Rickie Lambert, his chances reduced by the need for the £16m Italian to adapt in Daniel Sturridge’s absence. Injuries have conspired against a positive first impression from Adam Lallana and Emre Can, though the former has shown flashes of form as his fitness increases. Javier Manquillo has made a steady start and Dejan Lovren has improved gradually. But, as another £20m signing who has the advantage of Premier League experience, more is required from the Croatian centre-half.
“That is the market,” says Rodgers on the price paid for Lovren. “You have to pay for players now and a big club will especially have to pay for players. But he will be a top centre-half for this club. He is a big talent. Once he has this year and finds out the levels of working here, he will do very well. The problem is that players are judged so early now. He is still very young for a central defender at a top club. He is 25 and he is a talent. You just have to be patient with him.”
The problem for Rodgers is he went down a route in the summer that requires patience, rebuilding a squad to cope with European demands plus the loss of their finest player, when a title challenge in May leaves no one with the appetite for more transition.
“That wasn’t a bold step, it’s what we had to do,” he insists. “We couldn’t go this season with the same group of players. And we lost a top player. So some of it had to be done. It was clear we needed to do that and it is clear we’ve seen the qualities of some of the young players that have come in. It’s just going to take them time to adapt.”
Steven Gerrard said this week: “When Luis Suárez left I knew it would be like that. When you come close [to the title] it is important you keep your main players. It’s not just about those coming in, it’s about what got you there.”
Rodgers was powerless to keep Suárez against his wishes for another season once the Uruguay international signed a new contract that removed uncertainty over a get-out clause last December. The manager still spoke of preferring one of two top drawer signings to another influx of potential at the end of the last campaign but, post-Suárez, an influx of potential is precisely what he got.
Only Alberto Moreno has so far appeared a convincing improvement on what came before him. Gerrard also spoke of his wish Liverpool had signed Cesc Fàbregas and Diego Costa, two proven jigsaw pieces who have fitted perfectly into Chelsea, though qualified the thought with: “But I have to understand how the owners want to do it and accept I am a Liverpool player, not a Chelsea or Manchester City player.” Nevertheless, Chelsea spent as much on Fàbregas as Liverpool did for Markovic and Can.
Rodgers maintains the long-term approach is the right way for Liverpool regardless of last season’s shot at a first league championship for 24 years, and admits the struggle to recapture that scintillating form is not unexpected. “The players we brought in were not really established,” he says. “It may be difficult for other people to understand because of where we were last season. The natural progress of the team was halted a wee bit because we lost a world-class talent but we needed the squad rebuilt.
“That decision was made knowing players might struggle initially but in the future they would be big players for the club. That is where we are at. Are we playing as fluent as we were last season? No. But is there big potential in the team? I believe there is. At the moment, without being anywhere near our best, we are in the quarter-final of a cup, our Champions League fate is still in our own hands and we are a couple of points off the top four.
“If it hadn’t been for Phil Jagielka’s equaliser in the derby, we would be [joint] fourth. The expectancy has grown here to a level it wasn’t at two and a bit years ago. We have to deal with that. I am quite relaxed about it. It is just going to take time.”
A rejuvenated Newcastle mark the start of a demanding week for Liverpool. Real Madrid and Chelsea follow and Rodgers insists his expectations have not been diminished by the loss of Suárez and the decision to go with potential this summer. He adds: “We still want to win and be competing. We set out on a journey here two-and-a-bit years ago to get the club back to the elite level in European and domestic competition. And then, two years earlier than we expected, we did that.
“My ambition has only increased because it’s shown our work can challenge at the top level. I was asked after the Real Madrid game: ‘Does that show how far you’ve got to go?’ No. It shows how far we have come and it happened because of the work we’ve done over the couple of years.”
