. Harry Redknapp has claimed that this is the worst Liverpool FC side that he has seen in years. We recall three sides, since 2009, which were arguably worse.
Liverpool FC have qualified just once for the Champions League after being dumped out of the group stages in 2009-10 season. The same fate was thrust upon Rodgers men in 2014-15 when they crashed out into the Europa League from the group stages.
Since the second-place finish in 2008-09, the club have had just one top four finish: the close run-in to the title in 2013-14. One of the major reasons for the problems at Liverpool has been the lack of stability, both in management and in the squad. The club have had four managers in their last 6 seasons. The have also made three 50m GBP+ sales in the last five years, losing some key players and replacing them with multiple mediocre ones.
Liverpool, basically, have taken the route of building a squad rather than a quality starting XI. In the process, they have paid the price with their sub-par league finishes. And while you have to strike a balance between the two, the Reds have clearly failed in their attempt at that too.
Having once again overhauled their squad, Liverpool brought in Firmino, the Bundesliga star with the most assists in the past two seasons. They also have a new forward in Benteke who averaged a goal every other game with a relegation-battling Aston Villa, a right-back who is an England international after two very good seasons with Southampton, and a title-winning player in James Milner that Manchester City were desperate to keep. Not bad as transfer window maneuverings go.
However, former Spurs manager Harry Redknapp has claimed this is the worst Liverpool FC side he has seen in sometime. Well, we disagree. There are 3 worse Liverpool sides we’ve seen since 2009.
1 a 2010/11 under Roy Hogdson
This was one of the most turbulent periods of the club in modern times. Owners Hicks and Gillett staged a leveraged purchase of the club and were using the revenues to pay off their loan. Thus, they had little or no money to spend on transfers. A side consisting of Milan Jovanovic, Paul Koncesky, Cristian Poulsen writes itself into this list. Liverpool FC also had the likes of Kyrgiakos plying their trade at centerback. To put it all in the context, David Na gog played in 38 games for Liverpool FC that season. Let that sink in.
Awful Scale Rating: 5/5 By far, the worst side in Liverpoola s modern history. Poor Roy, was sacked in January as even stars Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard were having sub-standard seasons too.
2 a 2011/12 under Kenny Dalglish
The return of King Kenny was complete when he signed on as a permanent manager for the Reds after stabilizing the ship when Hogdson was sacked in January 2011. The club went on another poor spending spree as they recruited Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam to add to the recruitment of Andy Carroll in January. Although the signing of Jose Enrique and Jordan Henderson was a success, it would prove to be scant consolation.
The side was as poor as any in recent times, with Charlie Adam making over 30 appearances and Jay Spearing playing in 25 games for the Reds. To add to it all, Andy Carroll played in 47 games despite flopping for the majority of the season. And then, there was Stewart Downing, a player who made a mammoth 47 appearance despite being barely average. Not surprising, considering none of these players played or went on to play for a Top-7 club in the Premier League and Jay Spearing was not even a part of Premier League again, after leaving the Reds.
Awful Scale Rating: 3/5 A woefully inept side that finished 8th– their joint-worst finish in the Premier League era. Steven Gerrard with 5 league goals was the second top-scorer for the Reds. King Kenny did manage to win the League Cup and reach the final of the FA Cup, but the Redsa performance in the league sealed his fate.
3 a 2014/15 under Brendan Rodgers
Liverpool FC were in the Champions League for the first time in 5 years this season after going the closest to winning their first league title since 1990. The club had sold its best player in Luis Suarez in the summer and went on a 125m GBP spending spree. However, despite having the money to spend, Liverpool made a hash of it and failed to adequately replace Luis Suarez. Instead, they bought Dejan Lovren, Lazar Markovic, and Mario Balotelli in the side for 56m GBP out of that 125m GBP in their coffers.
Balotelli had a miserable season, scoring just once and Dejan Lovren cannot shake his disastrous form even as Brendan Rodgers continues to persist with him. Lazar Markovic has been deemed not good enough for the team right now and been shipped off to Turkey.
Other recruits like Ricky Lambert and Javier Manquillo were sold and in the case of Manquillo, his two-year loan was terminated mid-way after his first year at Anfield.
To compound it all, an ageing Steven Gerrard had, easily, his worst season in a Liverpool shirt and still managed to finish as the top-scorer. Such was the state of the squad that Liverpoola s player of the season, Philippe Coutinho, had actually been dropped from the side for loss of form early on in the season. The fact that a 22-year-old playmaker, who could not get into Brazila s team till the end of that season on a regular basis, was the Reds’ best player sums it up.
Awful Scale Rating: 4/5 Liverpool FC finished a disappointing 6th in the league and Brendan Rodgers shipped off a majority of the newly-recruited players. And unsurprisingly, none of them were taken on board by any of the major sides in Europea s top 5 leagues. It got so bad at one point that Rodgers had to recall teenager Jordan Ibe in the January transfer window from Championship side Derby County. He turned out to be one of Liverpool’s better players at the business-end of the season.