Liverpool considering sacrificing Europa league to concentrate on domestic competitions
Manager Roy Hodgson has revealed that the Liverpool management are considering sacrificing The Europa Cup in order to concentrate on doing well in the Premier League. The former Fulham manager said that the European competition is going to put a lot of strain on a squad that is already stretched due to most of the players being involved in the World Cup.
The new Liverpool manager said that it will be difficult to get enough players together to play in the qualifier against Macedonian side Rabotnicki and with players such as Fernando Torres, Pepe Reina and Dirk Kuyt still on holiday due to their involvement in the World Cup final, a severely weakened team will have to be fielded. And since the pre-season has barely started, Liverpool are going to find it very difficult to be able to qualify for the Europa League.
Hodgson revealed that the value placed on the competition will have to be weighed against other factors in order to come to a decision because, as always, the league will be the top priority, with Liverpool trying to secure a top four finish at the very least.
The Liverpool manager, however, will not have to make the decision on his own and maintained that the club at large would have to be consulted before anything is decided but judging from his tone, it will not be completely surprising if Liverpool do give up on the Europa League, where they lost to Athletico Madrid last season in the semi final, since it is considered a second rate trophy which could end up costing Liverpool more than benefiting once the season is over.
Hodgson also addressed the need for addition to the team in order to compensate for the lack of depth. The major cause of considering a withdrawal from the competition is that the current squad does not look like it will be able to cope with the pressures of all the tournaments in which it will be participating.
Last season, after being knocked out of the UEFA Champions League, Liverpool’s domestic form deteriorated a great deal, leading to them missing out on qualifying for Europe’s biggest competition by a huge margin, eventually ending up in seventh place in what was one of the most disappointing performances by the Merseyside club in recent seasons.
Although a loss of form was blamed as a major cause of the collapse of the Liverpool side last season, careful analysis revealed that fatigue had a lot to do with it. Players like Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres carry the Liverpool side, and due to being rushed into matches early from injuries, Torres in particular, has suffered a lot and looked unfit in the World Cup too.
This season new manager Roy Hodgson appears to be learning from the mistakes made last season and it looks like he will use the star players much more carefully. That, in addition to some reinforcements should ensure that Liverpool climb back towards the top of the Premier League and who knows even challenge for the title since the other big teams will have one more competition to be worried about.
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