Liverpool FC : 5 Reasons to Look Forward to the Next Season

Liverpool FC are a work in progress and need continuity. Most will say that this has been a pretext for far too long to make sense anymore. I strongly disagree.

Arsenal have had continuity for so long. I am sure that most will agree with the argument that Chelsea have a much better squad than the Reds. Yet, both of them are vying for the fourth spot against a club embroiled in turmoil for most of its recent past.

If Liverpool do not achieve the fourth spot this season, it will be seen as a catastrophe by most of the Reds' supporters. They will quite simply condemn it as "not good enough" and start calling for Kenny Dalglish's head. Considering this, I am sure achieving fourth next season will again be seen as failure as supporters would have raised their unreasonable expectations to winning the title.

All said and done, let us look at five reasons to be positive while considering the Reds' fate next season.  

Return of Lucas

Lucas is Brazilian and people wanted some flair from him when he arrived. That did not happen. What did culminate in the end was a genius in the making. Lucas' form this season till the moment he got injured was one of the best for a holding midfielder in the league at least, if not the world.

I will not be surprised if some club does bid for him at the end of the season. His impact is telling, and Liverpool have sorely missed him since they have had to do without his services. His positioning and tackling ability lend an assurance to the rest of the team.

At the start of next season, Liverpool will be getting Lucas back on the pitch after more than seven months. That will be almost like signing a new player. Having him fit allows for some more options as he is the only reliable and consistent defensive midfielder that the Reds have in their squad. No disrespect, but Jay Spearing has a lot to learn to get to Lucas' level.

Let us just hope he returns with the form he was in before the injury, without him taking much time to rehabilitate and hit the ground running.  

Second Season Together for the New Signings

Most of Kenny Dalglish's signings, which may be argued whether they were actually his or not, have not made the impact that was expected of them. This certainly does not translate to these players not having it in them to play for Liverpool or the forecast that they might never come good.

All the players bought since Kenny's arrival that have taken the field have shown some sort of spark and ability on at least one occasion. I am not saying that Liverpudlians should wait for that one piece of brilliance for the whole season and be appeased with what they see. A team filled with such players will undoubtedly subside into mediocrity.

The thing is, Liverpool haven't. Even with their poor and inconsistent showings and a frustrating inability to break teams down at home, the Reds are within reach of fourth spot and have a chance of achieving still more silverware.

Just imagine the limits this team might extend its horizons to when they have been a team for some while. Stewart Downing has had a woeful season, yet he dispatched his penalty the other day in the final of the Carling Cup at a crucial point without showing nerves. He had a good game that evening.

People might say it was only Cardiff, but then compare the performance to Steven Gerrard's. Liverpool's captain is one who is made for big occasions and he had a poor game, to be honest.

Apart from Downing, Jordan Henderson knows how to pick out a pass and I am sure we will see more assists from him and more thunderbolts from Charlie Adam during the next season. Expect more headers to hit the back of the net from Andy Carroll as well.   

Investment

Liverpool are not far away from mounting a serious title challenge. If last season is anything to go by, I expect John Henry and Tom Werner to splash more cash for acquiring players this summer. 

Furthermore, as most of Liverpool's signings have been questioned regarding both price and the talent in the player bought, expect at least a few of the next signings to be very shrewd indeed. Kenny Dalglish will make sure that he gets what he has been lacking in his team so far this season. 

That points to a clinical striker, another young winger and a creative goal-scoring machine from the midfield. I expect at least £30 million net to be spent next summer on player acquisitions. Add to that about £10 million that Joe Cole and Alberto Aquilani might give us leverage on.

The flaw with this argument is that we are not taking into account that other teams will strengthen too. True, but that is not in our hands and falls into a huge set of variables that are hard to forecast. My point is simply that Liverpool will be better as a team if this amount is spent wisely.

I do hope we do not pay over the odds as we did last time.   

Silverware

Scenes after the Carling Cup victory at Wembley expressed how much it meant to the players and the management, including the owners. The new regime has just won its first success and it will expect to do more. 

Kenny Dalglish has delivered a trophy once again and will instill in his players a hunger to win and persevere with a similar attitude that got them the win in the penalty shootout. For most of the players this was their first trophy in England and the delight was portrayed on their faces. 

It might be called a Mickey Mouse Cup, but if Liverpool get transformed into a juggernaut next season, this victory and silverware will be seen as the dawn that brought about the transformation. You can call it by the name of the Disney character at your own peril then. 

Rafael Benitez always stressed "winning mentality." The victory against Cardiff has inculcated that winning mentality in the players if they did not already have it. The stubbornness with which the players did not throw in the towel in the final after missing the first two spot kicks will eventually translate into league matches as well. 

The Next Generation

Like most Liverpudlians, I too await the arrival of the next generation's squad of players into the first team. It must be said that the wait has been long enough and it might be finally coming to an end. Next season might be the one when the likes of Raheem Sterling, Suso and the like are given opportunities with the first team.  

These players have talent in abundance and given a chance to develop, I am sure they could well be propelled in their quest for becoming world-beaters. There might have been a reason that Kenny Dalglish avoided going in for another winger, a creative midfielder and a striker for the first team. 

Buying such players would have meant that the youngsters would have been moved further behind in the pecking order. I hope that is the case and Suso and Sterling are played in midfield and on the wings next season, when they do come of age and signal their arrival to the world on the big stage.

Thanks for reading.