Where From Here?

 Saturday’s defeat leaves us really struggling to qualify for next season’s Champions League, in order to finish in the top four we need Arsenal to go on a bad run (not impossible) and we need to go on a long winning run ourselves (not impossible but the frequency with which we’ve drawn games makes this look unlikely). Finishing 5^th results in Europa League qualification but we already have this from out Carling Cup win so realistically it makes no difference if we finish 5^th or 8^th and in this scenario it is easy for players to lose motivation and a team’s season kind of drags slowly to a close.

 We are three wins away from a domestic cup double, we have a home draw in the quarter final of the FA Cup and Arsenal, Man City and Man Utd are all out of the competition. With Chelsea unimpressive this season and Spurs having a few poor results lately everyone left in the cup must feel they have a chance of winning it and we are no exception. The question can be asked what would Liverpool consider a successful season? Both domestic cups and a 7^th place finish or no trophies but finishing 4^th? Not an easy decision but in my opinion there’s no point being in a competition unless you want to win it so it’s trophies every time. Long term our league placing must improve otherwise serious questions have to be asked but in a season where we have had a lot of disruptions with injuries and suspensions to key players aswell as bedding in more new signings than normal cup success has to be looked on favourably. It would be a boost for the club’s fans and finances if we reached the Champions League but on this season’s form how would we have fared? It’s anybody’s guess but after seeing how the other English sides have done it’s difficult to imagine we could have offered much more to the tournament.

 After next week’s derby we haven’t really got any big league matches left, only the visit of Chelsea late on, so Kenny has a big job on his hands keeping the players focused. The majority of our first team have reasons to impress, whether still trying to win over new supporters and team mates or trying to prove to the management they are worthy of a place at the club there is an incentive to perform well for almost everybody. There’s no doubting we have a squad packed with ability but the rest of our season should provide a good indicator of who has the mental strength required to succeed at a top level club and who needs to be moved on. It’s interesting comparing players like Henderson and Spearing, it’s obvious Henderson has more ability and has played some decent passes this season. He’s not fully found his feet yet but he has shown talent on more than one occasion. But he doesn’t seem to quite have that drive needed at Liverpool, that never give up, any ball is winnable thing that all the greats have. Spearing on the other hand has ability but not to the levels of Henderson, he can pass the ball simply but doesn’t have that creative edge. But he has grown up around Liverpool Football Club and has been a part of it for many years and has the attitude that is expected of a Liverpool player and as a result he is being given the time and the opportunities to improve and develop his game and he has been important for the first team of late. Henderson looks like being given the time to work on his game at Anfield but it’s the mental side as much as anything that he needs to get right. Andy Carroll is another in the same category. It’s easy to say we need to give these players time and it’s quite likely true that the rewards will come but for a team trying to climb it’s way up the table it’s difficult to accommodate as many of these players as we are currently having to.

 I think for the rest of the season Kenny needs to choose a fairly settled side with players playing in positions they are suited to and see where that gets us. Due to injuries at the back end of last season the first eleven more or less picked itself for a run of matches and we had a decent winning run up until out final two games and the manager found out a lot about a good number of his players. We need to play for the present while we still have something to play for but playing for the future could bring us greater rewards over the coming seasons.