Liverpool’s Lucas and Ngog can prove their worth to Roy Hodgson
In many ways, the fact that Liverpool found themselves in Skopje, Macedonia, last night was the final indictment of the abjectness that was their 2009/10 season.
Rafael Benitez and his side endured a torrid time in the last campaign, leading to a seventh-place finish and the requirement to qualify for Europe’s second-tier competition via the back door. In Macedonia. In July.
Yet it looks like they’ve done it.
The 2-0 first-leg win over Rabotnicki should wipe away all of the insecurities that surrounded the club – on the playing side at least – and get the Roy Hodgson reign off to a good, fresh start. Of course it was only against a pretty poor Macedonian outfit, but the fact that Hodgson achieved the win with so many fringe and young players gives it an added air of achievement, and there is a real sense that the appointment of a new manager has given Liverpool’s players a new start, a new chance. None more so than two of their most criticised performers.
The sight of Lucas Leiva leading the Liverpool team out in Macedonia last night is one that many thought they’d never see.
The Brazilian has had his detractors – he still does – but Hodgson’s decision to give him the captain’s armband for his first competitive match as manager spoke volumes. Of course there was no Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, or many other prospective skippers, but there were three more experienced players playing behind him in the defence. Lucas, a former Brazil under-20 captain and the youngest-ever winner of Bola de Ouro – awarded for the best player in the Brazilian Championship; former winners include Romario, Kaká and Carlos Tévez – got the nod, and he could just be about to blossom under new leadership.
As he led the Reds out in Skopje, behind him stood another young man with more than a few points to prove.
To many, the continual presence of David Ngog upfront for the Reds last season was the personification of exactly where Benitez was going wrong.
Of course, a club of the stature of Liverpool shouldn’t have had to be relying upon a player who only turned 21 in April as their only recognised forward should their star striker get injured.
Benitez should have signed another forward, and it would not be a major surprise if Hodgson splashed whatever cash he has on a more experienced goal-getter this summer, but that shouldn’t detract from Ngog’s progress.
Last season, he suffered from simply not being Fernando Torres. But who is?
The continual absence of the injury-hit Spaniard meant that a tremendous burden was placed upon Ngog, and it put the forward – still very raw and learning his craft – in what was almost a lose-lose situation.
In Skopje, after a summer during which he seems to have bulked up and added an extra toughness to game, he took his first real chance to impress his new boss with two well-taken goals. It wasn’t just those strikes that had Hodgson purring though.
“I was pleased that he crowned his performance with two goals,” said Hodgson. “I thought his target play, his general movement and his ability to keep the ball for us was also very good.
“But front players need goals and that will be a very big weight off his mind. It will mean he doesn't have to worry too much about the coming matches.”
His performance was all the more impressive given that it was played out amid the ugly backdrop of racist chanting towards both him and young Reds debutant David Amoo – a Uefa charge is pending – but, that apart, it was certainly a memorable night for him.
Both he and Lucas – “a good professional and a player’s player” said Hodgson – were seen by many as the symbols of Liverpool’s underachievement during the latter part of Benitez’s reign.
They may have been expected to follow the Spaniard out of the exit door this summer, but they haven’t.
They are still Liverpool players, much to the delight of their new manager and the increasing members of their fan clubs.
There’s still time for them to be a success at Anfield, and they are going about it the right way. Their next challenge is to sustain their form.
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