Liverpool's 5 Biggest Regrets over the Past 12 Months
A year ago on March 31, Liverpool sat proudly at the top of the Premier League, two points ahead of Chelsea and four clear of eventual champions Manchester City.
Brendan Rodgers' side had recorded six wins in succession and fans were beginning to dream of the club ending their 24-year wait for the title.
It wasn't until a month later that those dreams began to fade, with a crushing 2-0 home defeat to Chelsea ending an 11-game winning streak and handing the advantage to City, whom the Reds had beaten at Anfield two weeks earlier.
A second-place finish, scoring more than 100 goals and qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in five years still represented an impressive campaign for Rodgers' team.
Now, though, they find themselves on the eve of two games that could define their season. The Reds travel to Arsenal in the Premier League and then Blackburn Rovers for the FA Cup quarter-final replay. Defeat in both of those would virtually end their season, leaving them trophyless and without a top-four place.
After working so hard to get back among Europe's elite, it would be a bitter blow to the club's development.
It's been a torrid time since the departure of Luis Suarez. The club suffered their worst league start since 1964, per BBC Sport, and they were eliminated from both the Champions League and Europa League at the first opportunity.
So where did it go wrong? We take a look at the Reds' five biggest regrets of the last 12 months.
Going for Goals at Palace
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While supporters of other sides will point to last May's 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace as being the match in which Liverpool lost the title, it wasn't.
In terms of title hopes, the damage was done a week earlier by their defeat to Chelsea at Anfield.
But psychologically, that game at Selhurst Park had a huge impact.
"I think we got carried away and lost the defensive structure to our game," said Roders post-match (h/t The Telegraph).
"We said at half-time that the most important thing was to win the game. We lost our shape a little bit, we maybe thought we could play Roy of the Rovers football and make up the goal difference."
Had Liverpool seen the game out at 3-0, it would have put pressure on Manchester City when they played their game in hand against Aston Villa two days later. Instead, City knew the pressure was off and cruised to a 4-0 win.
The manner of the late capitulation at Selhurst Park left Liverpool players—and supporters—shellshocked, and some were still seemingly sporting the after-effects when the new 2014/15 season began.
Failing to Sign Alexis Sanchez
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When Luis Suarez signed his new contract with Liverpool in December 2013, it would have been naive of the club to believe he would see out the full length of the new deal.
As with previous big moves in Europe, it only meant that Liverpool would get the best valuation for their player when he moved the following summer.
Even if the club believed Suarez would stay, they lined up Alexis Sanchez as a potential replacement and, just as naively, perhaps thought that they had the deal done.
Sanchez opted to join Arsenal and Liverpool were left without the player who could have adequately replaced Suarez.
Sanchez, like Suarez, offers aggressive pressure in the final third, tenacity and a hunger to win. He can play in any of the roles across the front three or in tandem with another striker, as he did for Chile at the World Cup.
Instead, Liverpool were left scraping around for Suarez's replacement.
Signing Balotelli / Not Signing Another Forward
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Eventually, Liverpool settled for Mario Balotelli after a move for then-Queens Park Rangers forward Loic Remy broke down at the final stages.
Balotelli's arrival from AC Milan was what Rodgers later called a "calculated risk," per the Guardian.
It has proved to be a gamble that hasn't paid off.
The Italian doesn't suit Liverpool's system and Rodgers opted to move Raheem Sterling into the main centre-forward role during Daniel Sturridge's extended absence.
The failure to sign another—or different—forward as a suitable replacement for the injury-prone Sturridge has to be a huge regret for Rodgers.
Not Changing System Sooner
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Speaking in March, Rodgers admitted that he wished he'd changed Liverpool's system earlier, per the Guardian.
Lacking a mobile centre-forward and with players looking hungover from losing Suarez, missing out on the title, World Cup exploits and a change to a 4-2-3-1 shape, Rodgers' side endured a miserable first half of the 2014/15 campaign.
It wasn't until mid-December that Rodgers finally implemented a change in shape that caused his side's resurgence.
Picking This Side for a Must-Win Champions League Game
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Seriously, Brendan, what was going through your mind when you picked this team to play FC Basel in a must-win Champions League game in December?
Jose Enrique and Glen Johnson as full-backs is something we definitely shouldn't have been seeing this season, while a front two with what was then a combined age of 66 is one of the oldest the Champions League will have ever seen.
After working so hard to get back among Europe's elite, Liverpool's Champions League campaign was a huge disappointment.
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