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It is interesting to note how a small error in judgement can bring down a football club’s fortunes instantly. Just like every season, the 2014/15 season was no different as we saw some clubs miss out on their potential targets due to differing reasons.Had the manager/ club thought differently about their transfer strategies, formations, long-term planning, etc., their particular seasons could have ended on a positive note. Here, we take a look at such clubs who committed some mistakes during the course of the recently concluded season and ended up failing to achieve their desired targets -
#1 Manchester City\'s over-reliance on Yaya Toure effectively
Manchester City was one of the clubs expected to battle it out with Chelsea for the Premier League title. However, the 2013/14 champions rarely looked convincing in their displays and subsequently lost crucial points during the course of the season, eventually conceding the title to Chelsea.
One of the major reasons for the club’s dismal campaign was the form of midfield linchpin Yaya Toure, combined with their over-reliance on him.
The former Barcelona man had one of the best seasons of his career with City in the 2013/14 campaign, scoring 20 goals in 35 appearances in the league, which propelled the Citizens to the title. Normally, he was expected to be their star man for the next campaign, but that wasn’t to be the case.
Toure scored just 10 goals in the league and was accused of ignoring defensive responsibilities for the club. It was also telling that City lost a lot of points when he had gone on duty for the African Cup of Nations.
Ever since his move to Manchester City, Toure hasn't had to compete with anyone for a starting berth in the team and has always been one of the first names on the team-sheet on any given day.
The club have only themselves to blame as they haven’t found another box-to-box midfielder like Toure who could chip in when the going gets tough. New signings were bought in the form of Fernandinho and Fernando who were expected to replicate that role but so far, they haven’t lived up to the hype during their time at the club.
Juventus star Paul Pogba looks like the perfect box-to-box player, who has been strongly linked with a switch to Manchester City during this summer. Such news will be encouraging for the Sky Blue fans, but with all the European clubs lurking around the French international, City can expect a tough battle.
Even if they fail to sign him, Pellegrini must make sure he signs a midfielder of the ilk of Toure to relieve some of burden on the African star or expect another disappointing season ahead.
#2 Louis van Gaal\'s inability to get the best out of Angel Di Maria
Louis van Gaal’s debut season in England could arguably be considered a success after he returned Manchester United to the Champions League fold. The Red Devils did not play in the competition in 2014/15 after having finished 7th in the league thanks to a disastrous 2013/14 campaign under David Moyes.
However, it can also be said that United could have finished further up the table or maybe even challenged for the title, had Van Gaal got the most out of his players. Angel Di Maria was one of such players who failed to replicate the form he had shown at Real Madrid.
Di Maria spent four seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu, going on to build a reputation as ‘one of the best wingers in the world’. He was adjudged the Man of the Match in Madrid’s Champions League final victory against Atletico Madrid during the 2013/14 season and was even rated by coach Diego Simeone as Madrid’s best player, choosing him over both Ronaldo and Bale.
Big things were expected of the former Benfica star at Manchester United then, who signed him for a British record fee of £59.7 million during the summer of 2014. After initially exploding on the scene for Manchester United, the Argentine crumbled under pressure as he performed inconsistently for the Red Devils.
A major reason for his inconsistency was Van Gaal’s deployment of Di Maria. He was asked to play in nine different positions by the boss which affected his performances. It was there for all to see; Di Maria lacked confidence whenever he was asked to play. His chance creation regressed to half; from 90 for Real Madrid in the league to 45 playing for Manchester United. His shot accuracy also reduced considerably at his new club, from 58% (for Real Madrid) to 46%.
Apart from some new blood at the club, Louis van Gaal must also prioritise solving the Di Maria conundrum for the next season. He should stick to using him in his ideal midfield position and use a formation that can get the best out of him, because, on his day, the Argentine winger is a game-changer. The likes of Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti can testify to that fact.
If Van Gaal is successful in doing so, Di Maria would be like a ‘new signing’ for the club and can show the fans what they were missing during the last season.
#3 Carlo Ancelloti\'s aversion to squad rotation
Carlo Ancelotti did a tremendous job of delivering the long-awaited ‘La Decima’ to the Madrid fans in his first stint with the club, in turn, becoming only the second manager after the legendary Bob Paisley to win the competition on three occasions. Along with the Champions League, he also won the Copa del Rey in what was a successful debut season for the former PSG coach.
In the following season, Real Madrid made some ‘customary big-name signings’, bringing the likes of James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos to the Santiago Bernabeu. It coincided with the departures of Angel Di Maria and Xabi Alonso, who moved to Manchester United and Bayern Munich respectively.
The goal was to deliver the league title, after winning the same the last time under Mourinho during the 2011/12 season as well as recapturing the European Cup. The pressure was even higher for Ancelotti this time around as he had to get most out of his new signings who were replacing some well-established names.
Throughout the first half of the season, Real Madrid kept pace at the top of the table, scoring goals for fun and destroying opponents. But as they approached the business end of the season, they were missing some important first-team players like Luka Modric, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale.
The reason: Ancelotti stuck to his starting eleven for a very long time without ever giving them a proper rest. This meant that players were fatigued and were unable to perform up to their optimum levels.
Add to that the fact that the likes of Illaramendi, Khedira and Chicharito were only given chances whenever any first-team player got injured and were rarely starting any matches.
Eventually, Barcelona wrapped up the league title, Copa del Rey and the Champions League, becoming the first club to win a treble on two occasions. After initially being accused of rotating his players, even resting the likes of Messi and Neymar, Luis Enrique proved his critics wrong by managing to keep all of his players fit through the course of the season, thereby vindicating his decision to rotate them at the beginning.
New Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez will do well to learn from the Barcelona boss. New signings are always needed to add depth to any squad but at the same time, it is also important to keep everyone happy in the team and keep the players fresh throughout the season.
#4 Jose Mourinho\'s dependence on injury-prone Diego Costa
Chelsea wrapped up the league title with ease under Mourinho, after finishing third in the previous season. The Blues led from the start till the end, thanks to Mourinho’s astute signings and pragmatic, tactical approach.
Apart from the league, Chelsea also won the Carling Cup, beating Tottenham 2-0 in the final. Overall, the 2014/15 season was a successful one for the Blues, as Mourinho finally got the London-based club back to winning trophies.
Looking at the bigger picture, however, the Blues were also expected to challenge in Europe, and were even regarded by some critics as the best-equipped English side to mount a serious challenge for the Champions League throne. That it never failed to materialise was unsurprising, as Chelsea actually lacked depth in their attacking ranks, with their third-choice striker being a 37-year-old Didier Drogba who clearly had caught up with age.
Diego Costa had a highly impressive debut season, scoring 20 goals in just 26 appearances for the club. Although, in Europe, he couldn’t perform as well, managing to not score a single goal in 5 appearances, the reason being that he was never fully fit to replicate his league form.
The fact that Mourinho always preferred Diego Costa over Loic Remy as his first-choice striker showed how much he relied on the former Atletico Madrid hitman. For someone who had a history of struggling with hamstring injuries, Mourinho should have rotated his striker more often.
French international Loic Remy performed for the Blues whenever he was given a chance and scored some important goals along the way in Chelsea’s march towards the league title. So it was baffling to see Diego Costa being chosen to play in almost every game, despite Remy’s form, who scored 7 goals in 19 appearances in the league, with many of them coming off the bench.
The imminent arrival of Falcao at Chelsea is set to relieve the burden off Costa’ shoulders, while at the same time, it looks like a big gamble by Mourinho as Falcao just had a below-par season at Manchester United during the last term. However, if the ‘Special One’ manages to get Falcao back to his ‘good old days’, like he did with Terry last season, it would turn out to be one of Chelsea’s best forward signings ever.
It remains to be seen how Mourinho deals with his strikers after Falcao’s arrival, as Chelsea will then boast of three injury-prone strikers. To retain the league title and more importantly, fight for European glory, which has to be Mourinho’s prime concern this season, he has to make sure that he gives each of his strikers ample playing time or else risk bowing out of the Champions League again.
#5 Brendan Rodgers\' poor signings to replace Luis Suarez
With Luis Suarez in the team, Liverpool looked like an unstoppable force as the Reds came agonisingly close to winning the 2013/14 English Premier League, eventually being beaten to it by Manchester City. Despite not winning the title, the future looked bright as the Merseyside club needed only slight adjustments to compete again next season.
However, the entire landscape was changed with Luis Suarez’s transfer to Barcelona. It was the turning point in the Reds’ season, who had last won the EPL twenty-five years ago.
Liverpool received around £75 million for the Uruguay international and Brendan Rodgers immediately found replacements in the form of Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert, who were hailed as brilliant coups by some critics, apart from bringing back Fabio Borini, who spent the previous season on loan at Sunderland.
Liverpool finally had three strikers, who could help the club erase the pain of losing Luis Suarez. The fans were delighted with the number of players that were signed after Suarez’s departure to strengthen the team’s depth and were enthusiastic about the team’s prospects ahead.
But come the end of the season, it was a sad atmosphere at the Anfield, as they finished a disappointing sixth in the league. The ending to their 2014/15 campaign was worse, as they shockingly lost 6-1 to Stoke City in Gerrard’s last match for Liverpool.
Brendan Rodger’s tactics played a huge part in Liverpool’s fall from grace, but more importantly, his signings were under immense scrutiny after most of them failed to perform under the limelight of Anfield.
Talking of the attack, it was easy to see why. The number of goals Liverpool scored decreased dramatically from 101 in the league with Suarez to 52 in the league last season with the three aforementioned strikers. Another embarrassing statistic derived from Liverpool’s strikers’ form last season is that they contributed to only half the number of goals the Chelsea defenders contributed in the entire campaign, in the form of goals and assists.
In defence, Liverpool conceded the most goals among the top six in the table, with Tottenham being the only exception. Dejan Lovren, one of Liverpool’s new signings, was a major liability in defence whenever called upon to play. The £20 million signing from Southampton never looked reassured in defence, unlike his old Southampton days.
Despite such a poor campaign for Liverpool under Rodgers, the boardroom still had enough faith in him to keep him for another season. The former Swansea boss’ next season with Liverpool will be do-or-die for him and his first task at hand will be to correct the wrongs of last season, by buying players who can adapt to his system while at the same time parting ways with players who haven’t had a major impact on the Reds.
