In part one of our interview with Simon Hughes – freelance reporter for the Telegraph and the Independent, and author of Men in White Suits and Red Machine, we discussed Liverpool’s summer business in detail, and the importance of Liverpool gaining momentum at the start of the season.
If you haven’t already, you can read that HERE.
If we look at Stoke on Sunday – you would expect Nathaniel Clyne and James Milner to slot straight in, but there are only really a handful of players that we can confidently say will start. We don’t know who will partner Martin Skrtel, or who will play at left-back; we don’t really know how the midfield is going to operate; and the personnel that will be in the front three is still anybody’s guess. How do you see them lining up?
I think the team will probably be largely made up of the players that have been there since the start of pre-season. Having said that, I’d be surprised if Christian Benteke didn’t start. He scored last weekend against Swindon, and if you’ve spent that amount of money on a striker, you want him there in the first game of the season – and he seems pretty fit.
Out of the other strikers that they signed – if they decide that Benteke isn’t fit enough or quite ready to play in the system that he wants – I would think that he might go with Danny Ings. He has got experience in the Premier League, and he scored two for Burnley at Stoke last season. You get a feeling sometimes for certain grounds, and Rodgers might look at that and think he could play.
I think the team that played against Helsinki will be pretty close to what he goes with. Coutinho will probably play, because he’s settled at the club already – although he has missed quite a lot of pre-season.
Players like Roberto Firmino, although they’ve spent a lot of money on him, is a slightly longer-term project whereby I think he will play a certain number of games and not be an automatic starter every week from the very beginning. Liverpool are quite strong in that area anyway. They’ve got Coutinho, Adam Lallana and Firmino who can play in that role. I think he’ll be eased in more than any of the other signings.
The big question mark for me remains at centre-half. I just don’t think that Brendan Rodgers has managed to figure out – since he has been the Liverpool manager – what combination he wants at the back. Ultimately, if you want to have a really successful season, you need to have a pretty reliable and consistent two in central defence. Liverpool just haven’t had that at any stage in the last three years.
I would think that he might go with Dejan Lovren and Skrtel. Purely because Lovren is the most expensive defensive signing the club has ever made. If Rodgers decides now that he’s not worth it, then that would be a sign to me that he has given up on him. Plus, Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho played together at Stoke last season and obviously let in six goals!
Do you think some of the players that played in the 6-1 may still be a bit mentally scarred from that? And must Rodgers keep that in mind when picking the team?
You would look at that from a defensive point of view. Emre Can had an absolute nightmare. I’d be amazed if he played at right-back ever again for Liverpool.
Alberto Moreno is another one. He has got to prove that he is able to play two games a week for Liverpool. He doesn’t look, for me, mentally fit or equipped to play two games a week. I think there are big question marks over Moreno. He kind of went under the radar last season in terms of criticism being dished out. He had quite a poor season. I wouldn’t expect him to play at Stoke.
It’s how the team defends, obviously – not just the centre-halves. But I would think that if your defence has let in six goals, then you’re still quite brittle, especially as it was your last competitive game and it was at Stoke.
I would like to think that this Liverpool team will play with a bit more pace. That was part of the problem last season. Their best games under Brendan have been when they have counter-attacked. I know he likes to play the passing football, but they were too pedestrian in a lot of games last season. What he has done over the summer with his signings is injected the team with more pace in the wide areas. I think Jordon Ibe will play a lot more, and he will contribute towards that.
Stoke’s home record wasn’t actually that great last season. Away from home they had a really good run. It is kind of forgotten how different they were at home. I covered quite a lot of Stoke games for the Telegraph and I didn’t see many wins, to be honest. It was only at the back end of the season that they got a bit of
form together. I don’t think it’s as formidable a place to go as it was under Tony Pulis.
They have recruited well this summer, and brought in some players that you wouldn’t necessarily expect them to. But they have lost Steven N’Zonzi – one of their better players in the 6-1 and that kind of physical midfielder. Do you think they will be a different prospect
this time around?
N’Zonzi is a big loss, I think. In the Stoke games that I saw last season, when he played well the team tended to play well. But I don’t think he played particularly well against the top four, five, six teams. I’d include Liverpool in that, just about! They needed him to produce against the bigger teams and he struggled to do that at times, but against the lesser teams he really did do well. But when you’re lining up and you see somebody that size, you know that you’re going to have to be on your game that day. It will be interesting to see how Mark Hughes goes about changing the shape of the team.
I know some reporters that have seen Marco van Ginkel play in pre-season, and he looks really sharp. I imagine he has gone there with the objective of playing a lot of games, because he has missed a lot of football. So that should see Stoke change slightly in their approach.
Stoke still aren’t a pretty team to watch but their full-backs get a lot higher up the pitch. When they do go direct to the corners, they have a winger and a full-back to double up on Alberto Moreno for example – and he will struggle in that kind of situation.
They have tailored their approach over the last few years and become a better team to watch; but they are ruthless when they have to be. Just like all Mark Hughes’ teams. When he was the manager of Blackburn Rovers, they were a really difficult, horrible team to play against. And he has managed to get that into
Stoke.
They have definitely improved, and signed some good attacking players. I can see them having a good season and probably signing some more players before the transfer window shuts.
Liverpool have got to use what happened last season as a massive incentive to go and prove people wrong. I hope Hughes will be wary of that as well. The fact that it was such a convincing victory for Stoke – to go and replicate that performance again would be a pretty special thing to do. If Stoke could go and beat Liverpool two or three-nil, or any kind of win for them would be a massive result. He’ll be wary of any kind of complacency, which does sometimes drip into teams a little bit at the start of the season when they’re not quite ready.
What do you think Brendan Rodgers will be expecting from this season? Will the aim be to win the title? Liverpool have been accused by some of just aiming for fourth last season and it is thought that that was a contributing factor to the poor campaign.
If Brendan Rodgers can win a cup this season and get Liverpool into the Champions League – that’s a good season. That would be more than enough for him to keep his job.
I’m not saying that it’s acceptable by any means but he did get them to two semi-finals last season. It was a terrible performance against Aston Villa, but they were quite unlucky against Chelsea – I thought they definitely shaded one of those legs and could have gone through.
He’ll take some encouragement from the fact that he has been able to take Liverpool into the latter stages of knockout competitions.
I think he needs to target Manchester United. I still don’t think they are anywhere near the level that they were a few years ago when Alex Ferguson retired. I know they have some really good players but I’m still struggling to see how it all fits together. A bit like Liverpool, they’ve brought in some players that don’t even have experience in the Premier League. It’s going to take them time to click as well.
A cup and a place in the Champions League, certainly from the owners’ point of view, would be judged as a good season and would give them enough support from the fanbase to carry on for the season after.
Obviously another way to qualify for the Champions League is by winning the Europa League. How seriously will Liverpool take that competition and will it be helpful or a hindrance for them?
This culture in recent years of not being competitive in the Europa League – I don’t like it. I think that if you are Liverpool’s manager, you should be able to have the squad depth – which he does; it’s a very big Liverpool squad – to fight on all fronts.
People forget that Brendan Rodgers is learning on the job. He’s still a young football manager. I think he can take a great deal from the Europa League. He can learn what it takes to go and get results away from home and stink a stadium out, and have the home fans booing at you for getting a 0-0 draw – there’s a lot to be said for that.
You look back to Gerard Houllier in the treble season – it was just as difficult then as it is now. Especially when you look at the teams that Liverpool had to play in order to get to the UEFA Cup final in that year.
It’s ultimately down to the lack of financial rewards in the competition. But I still think that if Brendan was to win a European trophy, then people abroad – other clubs and other players – would recognise that Liverpool have won a European trophy. It’s important. I think we’re too quick to dismiss it.
He has to make sure that he either treats it as a serious competition all the way through, or treat it like Tottenham Hotspur have – bringing some of the younger players through in the early rounds. He mustn’t be caught between the two approaches, whereby he treats it not that seriously, and plays some young players, and suddenly they’re on the verge of getting knocked out and he brings all the senior players back. I think you’ve got to go one way or the other.
If he can bring through some of the younger players and give them experience of being on the bench in Europe, travelling with the team – that’s great.
As far as I’m concerned, Liverpool is a club that should be winning trophies. This is another opportunity to win one, and Brendan needs one. He should be taking it seriously; I don’t think he can afford not to.
Who do you think will be Liverpool’s key players this season? We know what Coutinho can do, and we know what Daniel Sturridge can do when he’s fit; but now that Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling have gone, is there anyone in particular you can see stepping up and being a real star for us in 2015-16?
From the manager’s point of view, he needs the striker to do that. Benteke needs to be the one. He has to score a minimum of 15-20 goals – that’s a bare minimum to give Liverpool the firepower that they didn’t have last season.
Had Liverpool had a striker that was capable of scoring 15, 20, or 25 goals last season and broke that barrier, they probably would have finished in the Champions League. You really need a forward to score that number of goals. If Benteke can be that person that can prove to do that, then it could be a really good season for Liverpool. The only concern with him is: can he do it when the focus is on him?
There’s a lot of analysis about how he’s a player who thrives on crosses and he’s not really a Liverpool type of player. But I have seen quite a lot of him over the last few years and he’s a got a lot to his game. The only question is: mentally, can he deal with the expectations of a club the size of Liverpool, where the focus and pressure is on you all of the time? If he can, the fans will take to him straight away. There’s nothing better than seeing a big, bruising centre-forward swat aside a centre-half like he has done to Martin Skrtel on quite a few occasions. If he can do that for Liverpool, he’ll get the fans excited.
He has to be the one. If he has a good season, I think so do Liverpool.
And by ‘a good season’, do you mean finishing in the top four?
Well, yeah. To be honest, they weren’t that far off last season when you look back at it.
Despite the disappointment of how it finished and the way it petered out – the results against Crystal Palace and Stoke – up until the United game at home, the majority of people were quite convinced that Liverpool were going to be in the top four.
Obviously Sturridge was out for so much of last season and Luis Suarez wasn’t there, and that’s ultimately what cost them.
If Benteke scores 20 goals this season, then I think that could be the difference.
Let’s hope so!
Thanks again to Simon Hughes for talking to us, and make sure you check out his books: Men in White Suits and Red Machine.
