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The sniggering and the heartache has still not died down and the memes continue to be generated. With the 2014/15 English top-flight season a full week behind us, Liverpool FC continue to be the butt of jokes, voted as the flop of the season by The Guardian's readers with a massive 33% of all votes. In fact, Liverpool's season was so terrible that the runner-up in the vote was Mario Balotelli, who has infamously cost the club £16m for each of his league goals (1 goal).
But was Liverpool's season really all that bad?
Let's clear some things first: it wasn't a good year for the Scousers. After a Luis Suarez-fuelled fantasy ride that nearly earned the title in 2013/14, a sixth place finish must feel like a tarnished, second-hand wooden spoon. Goals were difficult to come by, a large majority of the new signings didn't come good, the Raheem Sterling saga didn't help matters and manager Brendan Rodgers continues to inspire comparisons with David Brent. No trophies, no Champions League next year.
However, one must have some perspective.
It has been said time and again, but you only need to look at Barcelona since Suarez's return from his latest ban to see his impact on a side even as great as the Catalans. The loss of the Uruguayan has simply been too large and has been further aggravated by Daniel Sturridge's return to an inconsistent, injury-ridden state of normality.
A period of resurgence saw Liverpool aiming for a top four finish
It wasn't that far back when Rodgers was being praised for his astute coaching and tactical nous, having reverted to a back-three in December after months of dithering performances. After having lost 3-0 at Old Trafford in mid-December – with some poor finishing from Sterling to blame – Liverpool turned it around, going unbeaten for thirteen league games.
The resurgence was such that a top-four finish was being talked of as more than just a possibility by mid-March, as Jordan Henderson lifted the club to an away victory at Swansea, getting the reward for pure effort and persistence with a fortuitous goal.
The pick of the victories in the 13-match unbeaten run was against Manchester City, when Phillipe Coutinho and Henderson rolled back the years and showed the sort of long-range striking that has gone down in Anfield folklore. Steven Gerrard may be leaving for The New World, but Liverpool's maturing crop of midfielders were seemingly able to fill in his shoes.
Even the defence was getting it right, keeping eight clean sheets in that 13-game streak. Simon Mignolet, vilified vociferously at the beginning of the season and dropped by Rodgers due to poor form, was surging from his line, punching and pouching crosses like a gloved-up kangaroo. It was all coming together, and with the team in the FA Cup semi-final against a struggling Aston Villa, the possibility of silverware could not be counted against.
But with the Mancunians set to come to town, it all unravelled.
Liverpool’s season falls apart in March
It all started post the away win at the Liberty Stadium. Mario Balotelli uploaded his bizarre "shut up" video on Instagram on March 17. Midfielder Adam Lallana predicted on March 19 that "Chelsea, City, us and Arsenal” would finish in the top four. Rodgers revealed on March 20 that winger Raheem Sterling had put negotiations over a new contract on hold until the end of the season. Emre Can was compared to a Rolls-Royce, Michael Ballack and Bastian Schweinsteiger the very same day.
And on March 22, it went completely downhill. Trailing by one goal at half time, Captain Fantastic was brought on to replace the injured Adam Lallana. 38 seconds later, he was walking down the tunnel, sent off for a stamp on Ander Herrera. But that was not the end of it. Martin Skrtel received a three-match ban for another stamp on David de Gea.
The death knell had been sounded for Liverpool. Had Manchester United been beaten then, Liverpool would have replaced the Red Devils as the fourth-placed team in the table. So fine were the margins.
What ensued has been well chronicled. Sterling went rogue on April Fool's Day with the legendary "I-am-not-a-money-grabber" BBC interview, which came a mere day or two after celebrations and a reminder of what could have been, as Luis Suarez, Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso, Pepe Reina and Jamie Carragher descended on Anfield for a charity match.
Liverpool's league games post the United loss make a poor reading: four defeats, two draws and two wins against Queens Park Rangers and Newcastle United. A goal difference of -8, helped by the astonishing 6-1 meltdown against Stoke City right at the end. In the past, Liverpool's season-ending form was a force to reckon with. This time around, there was no force left.
Liverpool’s bizarre transfer strategy needs to be questioned
One would do well to ignore the tribulations at the start of the campaign. A flood of new signings, injured personnel, and a new formation meant there was bound to be uncertainty and lack of clarity. However, some eyebrows remain raised, particularly with Rodgers being well aware of the fact that goals would have been an issue post Suarez's departure.
The purchase of Rickie Lambert puzzled one and all, although his romantic story from being released by the club as a teenager, his short stint in a beet-root factory, through the lower divisions and finally, a return to his boyhood club and a send-off of sorts with Champions League football overpowered everything else. Lambert is good, but not Champions League-good.
Mario Balotelli, on the other hand, isn't even good. To use the word mercurial for him does grave injustice to the word.
The curious case of Fabio Borini deserves a film of its own. Rodgers' first acquisition at Liverpool, the Italian has struggled to impress in the few minutes afforded to him. Attempts to sell him to Sunderland and QPR last summer were rebuffed by the player, who wanted to prove himself at Liverpool. Fair play to Borini, but Rodgers and his transfer committee have clearly failed in the goals department. And to continue the nightmare, incoming striker Divock Origi has been voted in the Worst XI of the French top division.
Liverpool's 2014/15 season was not a season of two halves. It had a volatile, uncertain and troubled start that supporters were willing to understand. The resurgence had everyone purring for four months, with a top four finish in sight and the FA Cup a real shot at a trophy. It must also be remembered that the Capital One Cup final was only missed out on by a whisker.
What unfolded post the Swansea victory, however, reeks of a lack of composure, something one can expect to continue given the inexperience in the side. With Gerrard and Glen Johnson's exit, the little experience that was available has also been eroded.
Can Liverpool return to the top four in the EPL?
Former defender Alen Hansen infamously said at the beginning of the 1995/96 season that Manchester United could not "win anything with kids". Liverpool, with all their kids, will not be able to do a United as they don't have a force of nature as a manager. Rodgers, for all his man-management skills, tactical astuteness, eloquent phrases and philosophies, is a kid in managerial terms.
Sir Alex Ferguson was nine years into his United job when Hansen made his pronouncement, having previously managed Aberdeen to three league titles, six domestic cups, a UEFA Cup Winner's Cup and the Super Cup. Rodgers is some distance away.
Was it a poor season? Yes. Were the targets achieved? No. Will top-class footballers be willing to join Liverpool in the summer for Thursday night football in distant, Eastern European nations? Probably not.
However, a modicum of patience must be exercised. There were "plenty of positives" as Rodgers would say, and they must be capitalised on. It's only a sign of rising expectations that a failure to finish in the top-four is leading to calls for Rodgers' head despite nearly having pulled off the impossible a year ago.
