This year represents one of Liverpool’s biggest seasons in recent memory, with a new manager at the helm attempting to reverse the team’s slide down the Premier League, but it has not been a promising start.
Brendan Rodgers came to Anfield with a plan to make the Reds competitive again, but with no wins in their first five Premier League games and Liverpool stuck in the bottom three, the new boss clearly has a lot of work to do.
The club’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, fulfilled their desire to bring in a youthful manager who will provide fresh ideas in the form of Northern Irishman Rodgers after the departure of club legend Kenny Dalglish.
First up for Rodgers and Liverpool was FC Gomel, of Belarus, in the Europa League. Liverpool comfortably won 4-0 over the two legs, with Fabio Borini netting his first Reds goal in the home leg, securing a tie against Hearts in the final qualification round.
September 26 – West Brom (League Cup)
September 29 – Norwich (Premier League)
October 4 – Udinese (Europa League)
October 7 – Stoke (Premier League)
October 20 – Reading (Premier League)
The opening match of the league season saw former assistant manager Steve Clarke’s West Bromwich Albion beat Liverpool 3-0 in a game where Joe Allen made his debut and Liverpool continued last season’s habit of hitting the woodwork instead of the back of the net.
Liverpool then entertained defending champions Manchester City and started brightly, taking the lead on two occasions, but individual errors cost Rodgers’ side badly and the Anfield encounter ended 2-2.
Following a narrow 1-0 first-leg victory in Scotland, a cagey 1-1 draw, courtesy of a very late Luis Suarez equaliser ensured European football was back at Anfield for the season in the shape of the Europa League at the expense of Hearts.
Still to find their first win of the season, Liverpool were comprehensively beaten 2-0 by an impressive Arsenal side 2-0 and, despite dominating possession, then had to come from behind to secure a point from a 1-1 draw at Sunderland.
Rodgers opted to field a team largely composed of the younger members of his squad in their first Europa League group match, against Young Boys. A topsy-turvy clash in Switzerland eventually ended 5-3 in the Reds’ favour.
Despite taking the lead against old foes Manchester United, ten-man Liverpool could not hold on, eventually losing 2-1. As well as losing the match, Daniel Agger, Fabio Borini and Martin Kelly’s names have been added to the list of long-term injuries, which will cause their manager a selection headache for upcoming fixtures.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF6uTYy_cUs