Year Zero

      39-year old Brendan Rodgers aims for a cultural revolution at Anfield

And so, it has come to this. 22 years after Kenny Dalglish left his throne vacant, with Liverpool still high upon the mountain top of world football, the Reds have been left staring at the dawn of a new, but uncertain, era after the second coming of the king failed to deliver the success of his first. Charged with the task of ushering the club into said era has been the youthful Brendan Rodgers, a man whose past is highlighted by, amongst other things, his tenure as a coach at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho, and whose obsession with ball retention has instantly made Liverpool a club to keep a keen eye on.

Though it had taken a terrible league position - their worst in 18 years - and some controversial, backlash inviting axe wielding - sacking King Kenny Dalglish was never going to be straightforward - to prompt them into making their most recent managerial appointment, in many ways, this is exactly where the club’s owners wanted the club to be.

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May’s most memorable from TheRunningRec

Kenny Dalglish saw his second coming reach an end, but an attempt at a fitting tribute was made. Didider Drogba ended his career on as high as note as possible. The Lakers bowed out of the Playoffs to a surging Thunder squad. Rajon Rondo went off with 44 points in a losing effort, but it’s the way he did it that was most impressive. While we wondered if Mark Teixeira benefited from a double standard in New York.

No pleasure to take in Dirk Kuyt’s departure

Dirk Kuyt has scored in two of the three finals he’s played with Liverpool

It was a bit saddening to wake up to the news that Dirk Kuyt had signed for Fenerbahce this morning. He may have been over 30, and he may not have had the best of seasons, but on so many occasions, Kuyt was there for Liverpool, a big game player in his own right.

He’s scored in a Champions League final  and also hit what should’ve been a late winner at Wembley against Cardiff. He was there against Everton on multiple occasions, especially in 2010 when Liverpool won with 10 men with one of Kuyt’s signature headers off the corner, right in front of Tim Howard’s face.

When everything seemed bleak, and the manager that brought him to Liverpool was at Inter, Kuyt stayed and seemingly turned down interest from the then European champions. When Fernando Torres and LFC were at their worst, his return to the lineup helped spark an important 2-0 win at home against Chelsea, and when Torres left for the same opponents, it was he who took the goal scoring mantle, immediately forming an understanding with Luis Suarez. The Manchester United hat trick speaks for itself, and quite frankly, so does Kuyt’s whole career at Anfield.

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Hello Tumblr,

It’s been a while since I’ve been posting frequently (final exams can do that) so I just wanted to remind you about some things.

1) I like writing articles

2) I love seeing what you think about said articles

Please keep that in my mind =)

Yours Truly,

TheRunningRec

What they were saying

           Luis Suarez provided the highlight of the weekend at Carrow Road

Liverpool’s performance away to Norwich today had a real sense of familiarity to it. The Reds created loads of chances, dominated possession, greeted the woodwork, and missed loads of chances. Luis Suarez even threw in one of his patented “beat last defender, spurn opportunity” moments in the second half. Where have we seen that before?

Nevertheless, Liverpool ran away as 3-0 winners against the Canaries, and in style, with the aforementioned Suarez grabbing the headlines as the hat-trick hero. The great irony for the Reds? The three goals they scored were generated out of arguably the most difficult opportunities that they’d created on the day. And while some may see today’s result as consolidation of Suarez’ status as the front man for Liverpool, perhaps the opposite may be true, and perhaps another popular notion was bolstered by the no. 7’s brilliance.

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