For a team that had just run Manchester City close for the Premier League title, managed by a man so special he had a massive portrait of himself installed in his hallway at home, this season should have seen Liverpool in ebullient mood. But then the summer happened, Luis Suarez bit himself off to Barcelona and all Liverpool’s hopes and expectations were duly downgraded.
Heading into the new season, Liverpool fans’ confidence in their squad sat at a realistic 81%. Their confidence in the manager, Brendan Rodgers sat at 87%, which is harsh given his performance the previous campaign but understandable given the loss of Suarez.
Those figures initially climbed as high as 88% for the squad and 90% for Rodgers, until Aston Villa arrived at Anfield, helped themselves to all three points and Liverpool rapidly unravelled.
As it currently stands, with the club 11th in the table and danger man Daniel Sturridge out for possibly ever, confidence in Rodgers is down to 62%, but the real blame lies with his squad – confidence amongst fans that they are fit to mount a title charge has dropped to a season (so far) low of just 47%.
Of course it was never going to be easy to repeat last season’s heroics, but it was never meant to be this hard.
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