Liverpool on opening day – The critical difference

Liverpool FC – A new beginning?

Opening day of the 2012-13 Premier League season for Liverpool FC began at the Hawthorns with great hope – as was covered in voyeuristic detail from behind the scenes by the infamous ‘Being Liverpool’ documentary. There was a new manager, a new vision and a dream for a new resurgence.

A red-card, two penalties and three West Brom goals later, this fledgling hope was brutally crushed with a comprehensive 3-0 away loss. Daniel Agger was suspended for three games, Liverpool had squandered chances aplenty and the on-air commentator exposed the most glaring problem when he despairingly remarked ‘Who is going to score the goals for Liverpool this season?’

In the week that followed, reading any opinion pieces about the club was an experiment in masochism for a Liverpool fan. The new manager’s acumen was questioned, the owners were again labelled as ‘Yanks who don’t care’, the new signings rubbished and a general sense of despondency was littered across every Liverpool-centric page.

This dull smoke turned into a mushroom-cloud of gloom over the next month as Liverpool approached October with just two points from 5 games, which played a decisive factor in the club finishing 7th in the league – despite a bright resurgence towards the end of the season.

Fast forward to 17th August 2013; Liverpool were to open their Barclays Premier League 2013-14 season account with a home fixture against Stoke City.

The build-up to the game was clouded with the uncertainty of retaining 30-goal striker Luis Suarez and the more worrying certainty of not having him available the next 6 games, serving out the remainder of a 10 match ban for biting Branislav Ivanovic.

More despair piled on due to a lack of marquee signings and missing key transfer targets like Mkhitaryan and Diego Costa owing to lack of European football.

A win was expected against a weak Stoke side but reasons for a defeat, before it even happened, were ready, hiding under a cloak.

The game was a tense and hard-fought affair. Liverpool dominated possession – as they often have under Brendan Rodgers – created chances and finally broke through with some magic by Daniel Sturridge’s left foot.

The game went on with more Liverpool domination till the river turned and a late Stoke free-kick into the Liverpool box by former Liverpool player Charlie Adam found the unwittingly upraised arm of the new vice-captain Daniel Agger. A penalty was awarded and a hush descended upon Anfield.

The same Liverpool story of dropping points at home was in the offing and the despair writers must’ve already started sharpening their pencils when debutant Simon Mignolet made a stupendous double save to deny Stoke a late equalizer. Liverpool held on for a 1-0 win and a welcome 3 points to put them (very briefly) on the top of the table.

Suddenly, everyone involved in the victory, from Mignolet to Sturridge to Coutinho to Rodgers to even FSG, is being feted. There is unbridled enthusiasm for the season, hope for 4th place and even hushed whispers about challenging for the ever-elusive title.

The pessimists (or realists), however, point out to issues that are getting overlooked in the euphoria. Multiple missed chances, the perennial clinical finishing problem, poor defending from set pieces and the obvious blunder from Liverpool’s best defender. A fortuitous penalty save by Mignolet, they say, is all that’s keeping everyone from despair and gloom, so why all this fuss?

They’re right – Mignolet’s save is all that’s holding the questioning of why this season would be any better than the disappointing last one. But Mignolet’s save is, if only a small sample, of what is different. It is a save born from the change Brendan Rodgers has been trying to effect at the club.

The early transfer policy, the recognition of Reina not being the top keeper he once was, the decision to send an established keeper out on loan while entrusting a young prodigy with a big responsibility.

Rodgers and the management are attempting to make changes to cover that difference that exists between Liverpool and the top 4 in the league. Once such change has gotten the team a crucial three points in a home game. A change that gives the players and supporters confidence that they’re on the right track and sets an optimistic tone for the games to come.

Liverpool’s league campaign is just one game in. It’s been a win but it’s only one game. The supporters needn’t go overboard thinking the Top 4 is firmly in their sights. But I wouldn’t fault anyone who believes that Rodgers is attempting vital changes, like the Mignolet save, to cover the differences in between.