Thousands of faithful Liverpool supporters solemnly exited Anfield on Tuesday night after their club crashed out of the Champions League. Many, hoarse in voice after innumerable chorus’ of “You'll Never Walk Alone”, had to question when they would see a return of top flight European football to their beloved ground, the Anfield Stadium. The Red’s manager, Brendan Rodgers, had to be left wondering how much longer he would be kept at the helm.
Liverpool did themselves no favors with their play on Tuesday night against Basel, falling behind after a 20th minute strike by midfielder Fabian Frei and going a man down for a highly questionable straight red card given to Lazar Markovic in the 60th minute.
Against long odds, Steven Gerrard brought the home team level in the 82nd minute but Liverpool could not muster a second goal and walked off the pitch third in their group and destined for a spin in the Europa League.
The UEFA Europa League trophy: Liverpool's European silverware to fight for, now
Post match comments saw the captain looking back and conceding that Liverpool simply didn’t do enough in the group stage to warrant moving on. He stated:
"You always qualify over the six games and unfortunately we haven't been good enough."
Not good enough: 5 points from a possible 18 in Group B. Goodbye Champions League football! (Image source: Wiki)
Rodgers, eyeing next year's Champions League, chose to look forward and voiced the clubs objective.
"We now have to fight going forward to be in it next season and obviously our performance level needs to improve over the course of the season."
Improvement in the short term is a daunting task as Liverpool travels to Old Trafford this Sunday to face a resurgent Manchester United. The long-term picture isn’t any rosier for the 18-time top division champions of England as they presently sit ninth in the Premier League standings after 15 matches.
A year ago, the Reds sat in 2nd place with 30 points, 34 goals scored and a goal differential of +16. This year, at the same period in the English Premier League campaign, they count nothing more than 21 points and 19 goals, while conceding the same amount for a zero goal differential.
Liverpool's position in the EPL: Far away from the Champions League Football zone
Offense is obviously the missing component as Liverpool continues to reel from the loss of last season’s Player of the Year Player Luis Suarez (31 goals last year) to Barcelona and Daniel Sturridge, currently in sunny Los Angeles, California for warm-weather training to recover from ongoing injuries.
The lost production increases the heat on the belabored manager. The transfers acquired by Rodgers to fill the Suarez void, including Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana, continue to struggle to find the back of the net. Gerrard, in his 16th season with the Merseyside club, is their leading scorer with a disappointing three goals. The missing Uruguayan had that total in three separate games last season by recording hat tricks against West Brom, Norwich City and Cardiff City.
Liverpool now pins its European hopes on the Europa League. The Round of 32 will be drawn on December 15th and will fold those 16 teams eliminated from the Champions League into the second tier competition. Rodgers better hope that it won’t be the last European assignment for the Reds under his watch.
