Despite ending in what was ultimately failure after Manchester City pipped them to the title in 2013/14, for the most part, Liverpool enjoyed an incredible campaign that term whereby they swept most teams aside with the abilities of Luis Suarez in a near-perfect assault on the title.
That made last season all the much harder to take for Reds fans to take who without Suarez to call on, toiled for the large majority of the campaign, eventually ending up in sixth place while qualifying for the inferior Europa League.
During most weekends of the season, our resident Reds fans were often found shouting at our large projector screens here in the tavern with their disgust aimed at a certain few individuals in Brendan Rodgers’ team.
Going down 6-1 on the final day to Stoke City in what was Steven Gerrard’s last game in a Reds shirt, the game was too much for several of our Liverpool fans who wanted to be woken up when the 2015/16 season kicks off.
With that game now long forgotten of course, Liverpool have been quick out of the blocks to secure deals for both James Milner and Danny Ings who will strengthen the Reds in the midfield and attacking areas.
With the Reds now reportedly turning their attentions to Sevilla’s Carlos Bacca, Hoffenheim’s Roberto Firmino and Zenit Saint-Petersburg’s Salomon Rondon, there will be further additions to come, that’s for sure.
With new faces set to arrive, certain members of the current crop will need to improve in order to maintain their place in Rodgers’ team.
That’s why our punters have devised a shortlist of five Reds players who simply need to up their game next season.
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Click on the image below to reveal the 5 Liverpool stars that must improve next season.
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Adam Lallana
Our resident Liverpool fans have been split on the subject of Adam Lallana and just how good his debut season at Anfield can be considered.
Some Reds fans think he was one of Rodgers’ better signings in an otherwise poor summer of recruitment last time around while others claim he was only a tad better than the likes of Lazar Markovic and Mario Balotelli, falling way short of the standards required to succeed on Merseyside.
In his time at Southampton that ultimately secured him the move, we grew used to Lallana’s game dictating abilities and successful Cruyff turns inside the opposition half but this was all in too short supply at Anfield last season.
While every Reds fans will admit that playing in such expectant surroundings at Anfield is bound to have an impact on form, they didn’t expect Lallana would look so jaded in several games that passed by without him causing so much as a dent in the opposition rearguard.
Part of the problem is that Liverpool have got it so wrong in the wide areas in years gone by with Mark Gonzalez, Milan Jovanovic and Stewart Downing all failing to make the grade with a certain kind of pressure placed on new arrivals to succeed in this position.
Lallana can still come good of course but much more creativity was expected of their England international arrival.
Joe Allen
One of Brendan Rodgers’ most trusted pros in the Liverpool squad, this fact hasn’t stopped Liverpool fans from questioning just what it is that Joe Allen gives this team.
A slight ball playing midfielder, the consensus amongst our Reds fans in the tavern is that in the bigger crunch games against the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea, the Welsh international simply gets overrun by the opposition.
The fact of the matter is that Allen wouldn’t get into Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea or Arsenal’s midfield and seems to be a player who is somewhat out of his depth at Liverpool.
While he may be given the benefit of the doubt by some Liverpool fans, for more ambitious Reds supporters, they need somebody in central midfield with more presence and more of a mean streak.
With James Milner arriving and set to perform in central midfield as he successfully did during his time at Aston Villa, this could push Allen down the pecking order and considering Jordan Henderson’s better form last season, Allen will need to improve to remain at Anfield long-term.
Javi Manquillo
Currently half way through a two season-long loan spell at Anfield, could any hardened Liverpool fan really turn around and claim they’re dying to snap the Atletico Madrid full back up on a permanent deal?
Performing just 10 times in the Premier League last season, Manquillo was another summer arrival that made little to no impact at all after being lauded in the press and the next exciting defensive prodigy to come out of Spanish football with Arsenal also keen last summer.
Figuring in the opening weeks of the season, we saw that Manquillo was a little too fired up to impress on certain occassions, picking up yellow cards for rash tackles and ill-discipline.
Still young of course, Manquillo needs to improve in the second part of his loan spell and when you consider Liverpool are still fighting for the signature of Southampton’s Nathaniel Clyne, that tells you everything you need to know about the lack of impact the Spaniard made in 2014/15.
With Jon Flanagan a long-term absentee and Glen Johnson now released, Manquillo may yet receive a reprieve if the Clyne deal goes stale but Liverpool fans are hoping they won’t have to count on him so readily.
Dejan Lovren
Perhaps the second most disappointing Reds arrival of last summer, Dejan Lovren endured a nightmare first season at Anfield.
In his time at Southampton, Lovren was praised for his calm assurance in the Saints back line while boasting leadership abilities that ultimately earned him his big switch to Merseyside.
Described as an aggressive defender by Brendan Rodgers when signed last summer, we saw in games against the likes of Crystal Palace at Anfield that Lovren was too easily beaten by the likes of Yannick Bolasie and subsequently wasn’t able to catch them with his lack of pace.
Part of the problem for Lovren is that he was brought into Anfield for a whopping £20 million and with prices like this comes a level of expectation and perceived performance.
Liverpool didn’t nearly get enough solid performances out of their Croatian international defender in 2014/15 and his misery was summed up when he missed a penalty that ultimately contributed to Besiktas knocking them out of the Europa League in a shootout back in February.
It can only get better for Lovren can’t it?
Mario Balotelli
We’ve saved the most obvious selection until last.
When you’re bought into a big club for £16 million and you register just one goal in 15 Premier League appearances, surely questions have to be asked.
Whatever which way you paint the picture, Balotelli was a waste of space during last season and although he’s been branded a scapegoat in several quarters, at the same time, he simply hasn’t been good enough.
We’ve grown used to the Italian international boasting more of a calmness when faced with potentially perilous flare-ups on the field but aside from this, what other positive things did he bring to Liverpool’s campaign?
The striker simply needs to get a few goals in the early part of next season to convince Reds fans that he still wants to go about succeeding at Anfield.
With Danny Ings already in the bag and Liverpool monitoring several other strikers this summer, Balotelli will need to improve in order to fend off this attacking competition, otherwise it could be curtains!
