By Dave Prior
The ride was thrilling, but the ending was painful: Liverpool’s 13/14 team were born to thrill, not to win titles…
Remember ‘Being Liverpool’? The envelope? The “Steady” from Raheem Sterling? In the starry world of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, the beginning of Brendan Rodger’s reign as Liverpool manager does look a tad flabby in comparison. 2012 really was a long, long time ago. And never mind the heights of Klopp, a year made a big difference here because 2013/14 remains memorable for all sorts of reasons.
I paused before writing this to ask: what makes a memorable season? One laden with trophies, obviously, but there is often much more to it than that. Would Arsenal fans consider this past season a memorable one? There had far more success, for sure, in previous seasons, but it’s been quite a ride over the season, nonetheless.
The ending of the 13/14 season was painful for Liverpool – there’s no denying that. The rot that set in from it produced a wince-inducing following season and was probably the beginning of the end for Brendan Rodgers. The England contingent of Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge and Glen Johnson have made clear the effect it had on them going into the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Being that all five started the first two games in that tournament, you can clearly see another reason why England did so badly.
But what a season it was. I look back on it now, with the glow of the 2020 title win still burning, as a particularly memorable one.
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Brendan Rodgers had been in charge for a year, which had consisted of a bumpy ride up until Christmas, followed by a vast improvement and a strong finish to the season. Daniel Sturbridge and Philippe Coutinho had been bought in the winter transfer window, adding some much-needed impetus to the forward line. Luis Suarez had often been ploughing a lonely furrow up front by himself, a problem that reached a nadir when he was suspended for an away game at West Ham and Jonjo Shelvey had to play up front (yes, really).
2013 was the summer of the slightly protracted Arsenal bid for Suarez, resulting in them bidding £1 over £40million, in an attempt to trigger his release clause. “What have they been smoking?”, guffawed John Henry in response. Liverpool had their captain to thank for persuading Luis Suarez to stay, as the reality was that their status was far removed from the world-class status of their best player. Re-integrating- him into the squad was of razor-sharp importance, as was borne out by the season.
After attempting to take a chunk out of Branislav Ivanovic, Suarez was still serving a ban as the season started, which left Daniel Sturridge up front by himself. Liverpool started the season with three consecutive 1-0 wins – Sturridge scoring the winner each time. When Suarez did return, Rodgers had the conundrum of trying to fit them both into the team. Both players were technically superb – adept at dropping deep, pulling wide and making runs in behind. Rodgers had his faults but was tactically innovative and astute, so there was no way that he was going to play a flat 442.
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Initially, he went for a 352, enabling the numbers in midfield and relying on his two strikers for the goals. Results were a bit mixed, but a 2-0 loss at Arsenal in November convinced Rodgers to shelve that particular tactical nuance.
Sturridge got injured, which forced his hand a little and led to a fluid front line of Suarez, Sterling and Coutinho.
A 5-0 win at Tottenham was a genuine highlight. It was full of verve, vigour and quite astonishing performance from Luis Suarez, who looked on a different level to all the other players on the pitch. He probably was! In many ways, it was the blueprint of the performance that Brendan Rodgers always imagined.
There were a couple of setbacks over the Christmas period, just as Liverpool hit the front, with away losses to both Chelsea and Manchester City. The loss at the Etihad was particularly excruciating, due to an unbelievably bad offside call on Raheem Sterling. VAR definitely wouldn’t have had to bring the lines out for that one.
As the New Year dawned, so did a new position for Steven Gerrard. The buccaneering, box-to-box player was starting to recede a little and a new tactical tweak placed him in a new sitting position in front of the back four. It wasn’t an entirely new position for him – certainly in his early days under Houllier it was fairly commonplace at times. His passing range and snappy tackling helped to redefine Liverpool’s ever-evolving shape as the season entered its second part. Jordan Henderson and one of Joe Allen or Lucas Leiva played tucked in in front of him, with either Sterling or Coutinho at the tip of the diamond behind Suarez and Sturridge up front.
Carnage ensued, which was exemplified by a bonkers 5-3 win at Stoke, a back-and-forth 4-3 win at home to Swansea and a hell-for-leather 6-3 win at Cardiff. In the midst of these were more impressive wins – 3-0 at Old Trafford, 3-0 at Southampton and 4-0 at home to Tottenham. The piece de resistance was a devastating 5-1 home win against Arsenal, with Liverpool being 4-0 up inside 20 minutes and one of the best ‘would’ve been a goal of the season contender if it had gone in’ efforts from Suarez.
The win against Arsenal kickstarted a run of eleven consecutive victories. Both Chelsea and Manchester City dropped points in that period and Liverpool were left with needing seven points from the final three games to clinch the title.
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Although the results had been good, the nerves of all Liverpool fans had been shredded, butchered and bounced around from pillar to post in some of the games.
A 3-2 home win against Manchester City coincided with the 25th anniversary of Hillsborough and a packed Anfield was full of emotion, desperation and hope. A razor-sharp attacking performance in the first half was followed by a nervous, error-strewn defensive performance in the second, before Vincent Kompany’s mistake let in Coutinho to score the winner. In many ways, it summed up the season as a whole.
Norwich were beaten 3-2 the week after this, in a game which again showcased the strengths and weaknesses of the team. And then came the infamous games against Chelsea and Crystal Palace.
With hindsight, I look back now and realise that it was the Chelsea game that was the pivotal one. Although not completely out of the title race, they had fallen away a little and it looked as if it would come down to either Liverpool or Manchester City. With a Champions League semi-final a few days later, Mourinho didn’t have a full-strength team to send out and played his ultimate spoiling game. Liverpool started fast and tried to force the pace, as they had done so frequently, but crucially didn’t get the early goal they had so often.
‘Smash and grab’ did not do nearly enough justice to Chelsea’s 2-0 win – it was shithousery of the absolute highest order and took the title out of Liverpool’s hands.
The 3-3 draw at Crystal Palace came after Liverpool, being 3-0 up but way adrift of Manchester City on goal difference, set about trying to make up the difference. They have been accused since of the uttermost naivety, which they were probably guilty of, but what choice did they really have? A final day 2-1 home win against Newcastle left them 2 points adrift of Manchester City and agonisingly short of a first title in 24 years.
The pain of looking back on such a near miss, even ten years on, is exemplified by the fact that a draw against Chelsea would have left Liverpool simply needing to win the final two games. There would have been no frantic chasing of goals against Palace when already 3-0 up and things would have felt so much more under control. Chelsea didn’t need to win, so let them play their games and settle for a 0-0 if need be. Equally, Liverpool had blown teams away with fast starts and vibrant attacking play, so why change it? Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but isn’t always correct.
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Ultimately, Liverpool’s defence and attack were poles apart that season. They conceded 50 goals, which is nowhere near the level of what champions need. For context, Manchester City conceded 37, Chelsea 27 and Southampton, down in 8th, 46. There was often a lack of control and a sense of Liverpool needing to outscore their opponents, however many they scored, which left a lot of games far too open.
But that attack….oh, that attack. Suarez, Sturridge, Sterling, Coutinho, with Gerrard and Henderson holding the midfield….it was beautiful, it lit up games and was rapier-sharp thrilling in not just the goals, but the overall attacking play. To concede 50 goals, but still go so close to the title is a tribute to some wonderful players and a system in which they thrived together.
There was nothing nearly as memorable until a certain German manager arrived 18 months later and believers were born again. But that 2013/14 season made us dream again, gave us hope and gave us amazing memories. And, as a football fan, there’s a lot to be said for that.
